OUR SCENE | FASHION
Kaftans For Everyone! And, Swimwear, Too! BY RANDY STERN | PHOTOS COURTESY OF KAFTKO “Fashion fluid,” “gender neutral,” “size inclusive,” and “age appropriate” are terms you rarely see in the fashion world. When you consider that these ideas are wrapped up in a kaftan, then you can see the possibilities of an article of clothing that is the core of Middle Eastern culture can be brought onto the world. It is because the kaftan has always been a gender-less garment. Oday Shakar has taken the kaftan another notch. His designs elevate this traditional article of clothing into fashion lounge wear for everyone. The result is a company called KAFTKO. It is the vision of couture designer Oday Shakar and corporate attorney James Adelman. Shakar had been designing for over 20 years with his namesake brand that he shut down in 2019. “James and I met in 2016,” Shakar explained. “When my business shut down, he immediately came to my side to start brainstorming what my next thing was going to be. It was a harder time back then to get into the luxury world was. Things were kind of changing very strongly in the retail world and so we both kind of thought of doing a direct consumer brand that was more focused on the needs of the consumer we were targeting or marketing to, but KAFTKO came about as more of something that we wanted for ourselves and we didn’t realize at the time that it was going to take off the way it did as a company.” Between Shakar and Adelman, the idea turned into a more practical piece of clothing. “When [Shakar] initially came to me with the kaftan idea,” explained Adelman, “I said, ‘I don’t know, but let’s just try it.’ COVID wasn’t even on our radar so it was so interesting. We thought of the company name and the product in the Garden State Parkway and COVID hit and then he’s like, ‘What am I going to do with these samples?’ And
he went out in the back of his Lower East Side apartment, and he took all these iconic pictures with him on this New York City. You see all those original pictures from our brand or just Oday on the back during the part of the pandemic…” Those photos were taken on the fire escape of Shakar’s apartment. “We put those pictures up and we just sold through everything,” added Adelman.” We were shocked and it was wonderful, and we just went ahead and reordered and grew from there.” Along with Dana Quadri as a co-founder of the company and their marketing person, KAFTKO developed a website to sell their clothing line. Quadri acts as the voice of the brand – one that defines their clothing line as one that is truly made for everyone and every body type. Shakar’s vision came from not just fashioning kaftans into fabulous patterns and colors. “When I first started in design,” explained Shakar, “I worked for men’s sportswear brands and so I did very well in that area but it wasn’t my passion, but it was things that I wanted to wear and so, for me, when I see a traditional caftan, it’s not something that I immediately gravitate something I wanted to wear. So, I wanted to mix kind of a more fun, modern day prints and things that are more my style with a traditional garment. So, we always try to kind of have these more modern textiles and what I really learned is that I love textile design, so everything is now original prints and so it’s really about creating something that, to me, stands out and is special.” The result is a lineup that reflects their vision for the “fashion fluid, gender neutral, size inclusive, and age appropriate” consumer. The line includes kaftans, swimwear of all sorts – including the Euro Brief – kimonos, bandanas for the head, shirts, and shorts. Their size range is wide, Continue on page 100
98 LAVENDER JUNE 2-15, 2022
