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Interview
46 | FireFlyz
Loka!
Let’s Go
W
e
haveallheard
abou t how
important it is
to support our
local brands
and to buy
local products
to support our economy. Unfortunately,
some of these local brands are a bit
obscure and only available online and at
special vendor events. Thanks to Loka,
the best of local lifestyle brands are now
available under one roof, located in one
of the busiest malls in the city, Nu Sentral.
Howdid theearly concept for Loka come
about?
Mohamad Zhariff
: We started off by
having a campaign called Agenda Loka-
lism because we could see a gap in the
youth lifestyle industry. Our campaign
helped entrepreneurs in that spectrum to
connect with the necessary agencies and
we created an ecosystem to nurture the
movement. From there we wanted to do
something more long term as these local
lifestyle brands cannot really penetrate
malls which are mostly dominated by
international brands. It has been a dream
for all of us for many years - to see local
brands elevated to another level.
Howconfident areyouwith thequalityof
our local products?
MZ
: ‘Local’ used to be associated with
cheap and low quality goods but for the
past five years there has been a collective
consciousness and shift of mind-sets.
Local products are now high quality and
we saw a huge demand for them at big
events like bazaars and vendor markets.
Zye Ramli
: A lot of local brands have
gone international. The quality is so good
that people have no idea that it is local.
Here at Loka, we have the best of the best
of these brands.
Fireflyz sits down and
talks to
Mohamad Zhariff
Afandi
and
ZyeRamli
from
Malaysian local lifestyle
store Loka to find outwhat
makes themtick aswell
as their future plans for an
Asian invasion.
More thann just
clothes at LOKA
Zye and Zhariff posing in front
of the fruit of their labour
Captivating displays
as you walk in