In a dim room in the secluded basement of Morse Hall, a plum-colored glow permeates the space as a speaker emits rhythmic music. Sweaters, pants, and other sorts of colorful merchandise hang on clothing racks set up in the room. Here lies the home of Kidokoma, an on-campus clothing brand, run and refurbished by students with an interest for designing.
“It’s the only club on campus that’s a student brand, so that’s really unique, in addition to the fact that these students actually find time in their busy schedules to make clothes and put their effort towards their products,” said their winter pop-up attendee Lilly Yager ’21.
Ian Hurley ’19, Co-Founder of Kidokoma, first decided to create Kidokoma to express his passion for designing.
“I made this club last spring because there were no clubs designed around fashion or designer business, so I started up. [Co-Founder Sam Yoon ’19 and I] had a shop that we paid for out of pocket last time, and it seemed to go really well. So we applied for an Abbot Grant and we got one so now we’re kinda just spending that money and having a good time making clothes,” said Hurley.
According to Chi Igbokwe ’21, a club member and an organizer of the winter pop-up, Kidokoma takes hand-picked vintage clothes and finds a way to incorporate its brand name into the item, often in the form of patches or custom embroidery.
“We picked out the clothes; we went to vintage stores and sewed on the patches and stuff. We were like the curators of [the clothes]. It’s kind of like our designs and our creativity that are put into these products. So people are buying stuff that was made by students on this campus,” said Igbokwe.
According to Hurley, whenever a pop-up or sale occurs, a new wave of students join the club, having discovered an interest for designing. Because there aren’t many opportunities to pursue fashion design in the Andover curriculum, Hurley hopes that joining Kidokoma can allow students interested in fashion design to pursue their passions.
“I wanted to do something that’s not really offered in school. [Andover has a] costuming [course], but I never really got into that until this fall, because I just wasn’t accepted into it. [This club’s purpose] is mainly just to create an outlet for students who are interested in this kind of stuff, but they don’t really have a place to do it,” said Hurley.
