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Fashion editor's picks
Entrepreneurs’ toolkit
Colección de Iberia
Monocle magazine November 2019
The Entrepreneurs, 2019
The Monocle Guide To Good Business – Deluxe Limited-edition
The Monocle Guide to Building Better Cities
Year-round blazer
Rain jacket
Barena
Valstar
Suit bag
Boston bag
Shorthauler bag
Cabin-plus M 45 L
Fine yak blanket
SuperCD
Yoshino Hinoki Diffuser
Porto Side Table
Monocle A5 hardcover leather notebook
Pen
Hinoki-wood desk organiser
Weekly Diary 2020
Scent Four: Yoyogi
Scent One: Hinoki
Maisoru Parfum
Alpine: Body lotion
A Kind of Guise
Porter
Elka
Delfonics
Comme des Garçons
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London
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Tokyo
Luis von Ahn is co-founder and CEO of Duolingo, the world’s most popular language-learning tool, teaching more than 35 languages to 300 million people globally. Presented like a game, the platform plays to our competitive nature: a passive-aggressive owl called Duo reminds users to practise daily. The company is also expanding into literacy: new app ‘Duolingo ABC’ is aimed at helping people who can’t read or write to learn their mother tongues.
Folk’s creative director Cathal McAteer founded the streetwear label in 2002 after moving to London from Glasgow. Known for their lush materials, wearable feel and smart details, Folk’s clothes have cult status worldwide. The brand recently launched a low-impact partnership with retail giant John Lewis called It’s All Good Folk.
This New York-based fashion designer, whose career spans five decades, has always been ahead of the curve, whether reusing parachute silk, designing the sleeping-bag puffer coat that made her name, becoming obsessed with personal health or championing gender-neutral clothing. She has designed pieces for Whitney Houston, Farrah Fawcett, Bianca Jagger, Beyoncé and Lady Gaga.
Emily Brooke is the founder of Beryl, the cycling company behind a new bike-sharing scheme in London with sharp mint green bikes. Emily is also the inventor of the green laserlight integrated into hire bikes around the world. Emily launched the company, originally Blaze, in 2012 off a successful crowdfunding campaign and went on to raise more than £1M in the first few years, while being recognized with an MBE for services to transport and the economy.
Fredrik Carling is the CEO of Hövding, a Malmö-based company that makes what it calls the world’s safest cycling helmet: an airbag that inflates from a collar around the neck. The idea of industrial-design students Anna Haupt and Terese Alstin, the product was seven years in the making. After a career at Levi’s, Carling joined to help the company grow.
Chris Sheldrick is the CEO and co-founder of What3words, an easy-to-use geocoding system that the London company believes can be a new standard for sharing precise locations. It has created a three metre by three metre grid across the globe and assigned unique three-word addresses to every square. Emergency services and delivery companies are using the system to reach hard-to-find locations; Mercedes-Benz took a stake in the firm and is integrating the platform into its vehicles.
Karim Kaddoura is co-founder of Virtuo, the French start-up that’s shaking up car hire. It offers no-nonsense rentals of premium Mercedes not only from airports and train stations but in city centres across France and the UK. The company is expanding quickly, taking away the pain of hiring a car and offering something better than car sharing. Karim’s father owned a dealership and his entrepreneurial journey has been about rethinking our relationship to cars.
James Uffindell is the CEO and founder of Bright Network, a UK-based platform launched in 2013 that matches more than 200,000 graduates with jobs at more than 300 global businesses, including Bloomberg, Dyson, Goldman Sachs and KPMG. Uffindell began his entrepreneurial career after university by helping prospective students secure a place at Oxford and Cambridge. He later realised that he could help those same people get jobs to match their skills.
Stephen Ying is the founder of Spinbox, a company making portable turntables with the aim of bringing music on vinyl to new audiences. Ying is a classically trained musician who also tours the world as DJ QuestionMark. By creating Spinbox he was hoping to introduce more people to a DIY style of making and sharing music. Spinbox is made with a durable, waterproof cardboard shell and includes built-in speakers and an amplifier.
Tom Warner is the co-founder and director of Warner’s Distillery, the UK’s largest independent gin brand. It’s based on a 200-year-old farm in Northamptonshire that has been in the family for generations; now it boasts a two-hectare botanical garden, more than 400,000 bees and bountiful berries that go into a newly released raspberry gin.
Monocle’s Alexei Korolyov meets Masha Dabelka, a Russian DJ, artist and founder of Turntablista, a school in Vienna teaching the art of turntablism and nurturing women DJs. Dabelka launched the project after winning a contest and bursary from Vienna Business Agency’s creative centre Departure. The school gives students an opportunity to play music live through its collaboration with an independent radio station.
Kathryn Duryea is the CEO and founder of Year & Day, the San Francisco-based tableware company making ceramics, cutlery and glassware. In creating a brand that helps people connect around the table at home, she set out on her own, finding partners in Italy and Portugal to craft the necessary pieces.
Hiro Shinn and Ty McLaren are the founders of KOA, a New York-based men’s skincare brand inspired by the natural beauty of Hawaii. They started their careers together in investment banking but quickly decided that they were more interested in building a brand of their own.
Rob Moncrieff is the founder of Motionlab, a company that believes it has created the perfect commuter bag. Its backpack puts the weight on the hips instead of the shoulders, increasing movement for runners and cyclists while reducing strain and the risk of injury.
Peter Carayiannis is a lifelong watch collector and now co-founder and designer of Mission Watch Company, a Toronto-based watch brand. Carayiannis launched Mission in early 2019 along with Aron Solomon after spotting a gap in the market for affordable watches that didn’t sacrifice quality. Their first watch, The Mission 1, comes with a Japanese movement and is limited to 300 pieces.
Alenka Repic is the founder of Kaaita, a Slovenian company that has placed its footwear in dozens of hotels across the world. Trained as an economist, Repic launched Kaaita in 2004 as a creative consultancy helping other companies on environmental issues. Over the years, the company has transformed into a boutique manufacturer making sustainable slippers. For this week’s programme, Guy De Launey went to Kaaita’s headquarters in Ljubljana.
Stuart Wells is the global head of brand marketing and communications for Adidas Outdoor, made up of Adidas Terrex and heritage brand Five Ten, which focuses on trail running, mountain biking, climbing and outerwear. The department operates as more of a start-up and is driving research and development and collaborations with brands such as Parley for the Oceans. Wells has years of brand and entrepreneurial experience, having worked with Nokia and global agencies McCann-Erickson and BBDO.
Andrea Salinas is the founder of eco-swimwear brand Now Then. While the landlocked Spanish capital of Madrid is the unlikely nerve centre for a women’s swimwear brand, Andrea’s savvy decision to base there has allowed her to shore up business opportunities and reliable logistics. Her eco-friendly fabrics are fitted around the idea that both consumers and industry insiders need to change their ways.
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