Then and Now questions - Eugene Leung

Each fortnight Ragtrader touches base with a brand previously profiled in the magazine to see how it has evolved in the intervening years. This week, Assia Benmedjdoub spoke to menswear brand Injury.

Company: Injury
Designer: Eugene Leung.

What were the key issues or challenges for your company five years ago? What are they now?
Trying to expose the label to the public with budget constraints, trying position ourselves in the industry when we use to work in a totally different industry, trying to make sure the product we produced was distributed to the right channel. We still have to work on these issues now but in totally different dimensions.

What was the range like five years ago? What is it like now?
The range was smaller and mainly streetwear - tee shirts, hoodies with a lot of graphic expression, graphic themes -  and now we are moving towards a full range collection with no particular restrictions on what items we must or must not have. Everything depends more on the topic and the experiment that we like to work on every season - we sort of have a different goal every season now. And also, we like to make sure it is totally different to the last one.

How many stores/wholesale accounts did you have five years ago? How many do you have now?
We started off with about six stocklists and expanded to 18 select shops mainly in Australia and a few in Tokyo and the UK.

What was the retail climate like for your business five years ago? How has it changed?
The retail climate was a bit more conservative five years ago compared to what was happening in other countries. And it has improved a lot - retailers are more educated about trends and would like to promote new ideas and edgy designs.

How many staff did you employ five years ago? Now?
We only work between partners, so we do not really have a team of staff to train [but] recently I hired a fulltime assistant.

What was your greatest moment/most significant development in the past five years?
The greatest moment was when we were invited by a Japanese buyer to go over to Japan to discuss distribution. Our significant development was the change from a pure streetwear label to a menswear label.

Any other significant comments you'd like to make?
Don't think about money, just do what you think is right and truly passionate in and then get on with it.