Vavylon - The Luxury Street Wear Brand

By Markel Collins

Rahman Farnell, the founder, and creator of the “Vavylon” clothing brand.

Since streetwear was first birthed in 1979 by Shawn Stussy, there has been a generation that has been inspired by counter-culture fashion that merges both culture and identity.

When Stussy first started I don’t think that he ever thought that he would inspire a clothing style that would touch an international base and make new creatives as well. 

The streetwear style has in fact inspired Rahman Farnell, the founder, and creator of the “Vavylon” clothing brand.

The Oakland, California-born designer has a very unique perspective since he grew up in both the states and Japan, that perspective ultimately led to him creating the name for his fashion line.

“I used to go to a Christian school when I was young so I learned about the tower of Babylon,” Farnell said, “That’s where different cultures started, that’s where everything started with different languages…” This concept made him see a bigger picture of where he wanted to go with his brand overall.

“With that concept, I was kind of like that’s how I want my brand to be, It's for everybody.” 

When it comes to fashion it is safe to say that this is something that he was born to do even before he truly realized it as he came from a fashion-centric household as both his mom and grandmother owned boutique stores.

“I grew up in a fashion household, my grandma owned a boutique store, my mom was into fashion, my grandpa used to be into fashion so I was always around that,” said Farnell.

Although the signs were there for a long time and it was always something that he wanted to do, he never really took that leap because he understood the cutthroat nature of the fashion industry, It wasn’t until he met the creative director of the fashion brand “Joe Freshgoods” who put the battery in his back in college. 

“I didn’t know who he was, one day we were just talking in a club in Chicago,” said Farnell. “He came up to me and he’s like what do you want to do when you grow up? I’m a college student and I'm broke. I don't care, I’m just like “uhh teacher or Air Force I don’t know.” 

This conversation then took a turn that led to the birth of Vavylon.

"He was like, “No, what do you want to do?” I'm like I just told you and he’s like, “that’s what your parents want you to do but what do you want to do?”

“I stopped and I thought about it… and I’m like “I do love clothes, I do want to make fashion,” said Farnell.

Joe Fresh Goods replied by saying “Then [just] do it.” 

This very simple conversation made him stop in the middle of the club and think about how important fashion really was to him, which then led to the beginning sketches of Vavylon the very next day. 

Since the birth of Vavylon in 2017 the brand has grown and has touched multiple places such as Europe, Australia, Japan and the United States. But things weren’t always easy in the beginning even if it always looks glamorous from the outside looking in.

“The first two years were pretty rough,” said Farnell, “Instagram is fake, they only show you the good part of making this clothing brand. They never see the struggle, stress, cry, or go broke. The second year I broke down because I spent all of my money on buying [stuff] and I didn’t make any money back but they (the social media audience) did not see that.”

He talked about how working a 9 to 5 saved his business when things did get tough. 

“The 9-5 saved my brand to brought it back in the third year. People don’t understand and it just kind of irritates the hell out of me. So I just want to share my message through my brand and tell them it’s gonna be hard but it’s gonna be fine, keep the 9-5 until you doubled your income from your business then you can quit your 9-5, maybe,” Farnell stated.

Vavylon recently had a fashion show in Tokyo that introduced the true transition from being a streetwear brand to a luxury streetwear brand.

“’I’m switching over to luxury, meaning it’s going to cost you more but it’s going to be better quality but less product,” he said, “Tokyo is a city of fashion, a growing city of fashion out of all the prefectures of Japan. I just want to introduce them like hey this kind of brand does exist and it’s owned by a half Japanese and African American kid.”

Farnell is looking forward to expanding his business as well as collaborating with other brands as well.

“Hopefully in two to three years I can have a shop either in Tokyo or Osaka. I want to open a shop, not even a shop, maybe at a booth in the section of a store,” he went on to say.

“I’m looking forward to just expanding my business, I hope it happens and once it happens I hope to have it in L.A., Chicago, New York, Miami, in each major city, I just want to have my brand and to expand it. I just want people to know that my brand is for everyone, it's not for one specific person.”