Zest Clothing was started in October 2009 by me, Junior Ngoma. I always get the same question “Why did you start Zest ?” and the real answer to that is, I actually genuinely do not know . I never grew up wanting to be in fashion or in graphics for that matter, but throughout my years at secondary school, St.Bedes Catholic Grammar School, Bradford, I found computers and graphics as a good outlet for steam from daily life and as I slowly began improving myself I began making designs for clothing.
Initially, it was a hobby but with ever growing interest in my work from friends and family, I decided to take a more public approach to my work. So, after a good few months of saving and drawing my plans for world domination, I launched Zest in May 2010. Since then interest has risen a lot faster than what I initially expected!
A lot of thinking went behind the name and I didn’t want to be like every other clothing line on the high street. I wanted to be different and that’s where the name ‘Zest’ came from . If you look at an orange or lemon or even a lime they have an outer layer known as the zest, so I’ve tried bringing the same idea of flavour and kick to the human outer layer. My designs and ways of thinking are sometimes inspired and influenced and sometimes they just come out of thin air.
Sometimes when people see something new and different they tend to question its existence and try to pick it apart to really understand it. I had this problem when i started Zest, not a lot of people understood the point of it. Maybe it was my age or maybe the way I worked and interpreted things. Whatever it was, I took a lot of criticism some good and some bad, however, I made what I could of it to better the brand and myself without losing my values or independent thinking. I feel this approach has made the brand what it is today, something which a lot of people don’t do a lot of today.
Ok, right let me simplify it .
As a designer I just want to put out my personal view of objects, stories, nature and all I can do is hope that people interact with my ideas and enjoy them.
