Cover Fahmy Ismail at the Kerbside&Co shop (Photo: Kerbside&Co)
Fahmy Ismail at the Kerbside&Co shop (Photo: Kerbside&Co)
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The founder of local denim brand Kerbside&Co eschews trends and fashion schedules, focusing instead on exacting quality standards
At the Kerbside&Co store on North Bridge Road, you will find a trove of curiosities that will delight anyone with an appreciation for high‑quality garments. For self‑styled “denim heads” especially, it is a fashion haven. Underneath a charming sloped ceiling are racks and shelves of denim jeans and jackets, alongside shirts, belts and bags, each one put together with fine stitches and sturdy buttons. In a quiet corner sit archival magazines, some of them in Japanese, documenting the visual history of denim.
Most curious of all is founder Fahmy Ismail, whose soft‑spoken demeanour conceals a wealth of knowledge about denim. If you point out his expertise, however, he would be quick to refute it. “There’s so much more to learn. I have just about enough [knowledge] to give what advice I’m able to dispense,” he says. “I’m not the authority on certain things.”
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Above Fahmy, a self-confessed ‘denim-head’, at one point owned up to 300 pairs of Levi’s 501s
Fahmy, a self-confessed ‘denim-head’, at one point owned up to 300 pairs of Levi’s 501s
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Even so, you would be hard‑pressed to find someone else with Fahmy’s sharp eye for quality—the result of a decades‑long love affair with denim. He recalls having a “very strong affinity” for American denim brand Levi’s as a teenager, admiring the cut and texture of, as well as the history behind, its iconic 501 jeans.
By age 17, Fahmy had turned to collecting rarer jeans—at the height of his collection, he owned more than 300 pairs of 501s, most of which he ended up disposing of for lack of space. Life soon caught up with him and Fahmy found work in television broadcasting. But the call of denim was never far away and in 2014, after 15 years, he quit and studied fashion at the Textile and Fashion Federation for four months. A year later, Kerbside&Co was born.
True to Fahmy’s original love of Levi’s, the very first pair of Kerbside&Co jeans were made with deadstock denim from the now‑defunct Cone Mills, which used to produce Levi’s products.
Getting the brand up and running, he shares, was a “steep learning curve”—on top of the cost of the deadstock, Fahmy had it sent over to Singapore, then to production in Japan, all of which added up to a “pretty penny”.
Now, Fahmy’s business acumen has sharpened, but his commitment to quality is the same. He makes it a point to purchase denim made in Japanese mills, which is woven using dense yarns and vintage machinery requiring “tedious and rigorous” maintenance by “skilled technicians”. These mills produce far fewer yards of denim compared to generic factories, but the result is a sturdier denim with a tighter weave, making for a “hard‑wearing denim that ages beautifully over time”.
A five‑figure investment went into the Scovill buttons of his jeans, which are remarkably sturdy. And because he insists on a timeless sense of style—his designs combine the clean‑cut, polished cool of the prep style with the utilitarian sleekness of workwear—seasonal spring‑summer and autumn‑winter collections are out of the picture.
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Above Fahmy Ismail does not give into trends or fashion schedules for his denim brand, Kerbside&Co
Fahmy Ismail does not give into trends or fashion schedules for his denim brand, Kerbside&Co
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“I don’t like to rush into designing something that I really don’t like,” he says, pointing out that procuring seasonal fabrics such as cashmere and wool for winter to create clothes just to make a profit is “hasty”. As he speaks, a deep respect for craft emerges. He confesses that he has a habit of storing fabric in factories for as long as five years, until he decides what to do with it. As much as four figures vanish when sample garments fail quality control inspections (“I can’t put that on the rack, I have a reputation to keep!”).
On top of that, Fahmy spends very little on marketing; social media is the brand’s only avenue to spread the word. Small‑batch launches are de rigueur and when they happen, they are often quiet. But these are costs that Fahmy is unwilling to compromise on. “Profit is not at the top of my list [of priorities],” he insists, much to the chagrin of his accountant. “I’m not in a rush. I’m at an age where if I want to put out a product, it’s got to be very carefully thought out.”
His commitment to quality is probably why Kerbside&Co is still alive and kicking eight years into the business, unlike others that have come and gone. A loyal base of American denim aficionados keeps returning, along with a growing number of Singaporean customers.
In old mine shafts, you can find the denim garments of those who used to work in them more than a century ago. Their natural fibres have decomposed into tatters, shadows of their former selves, but still in pristine condition are the buttons on the waistbands. “I always take reference from this,” Fahmy says. However he does it, his denim is made to stand the test of time.
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Ethan is a dining writer with Tatler Singapore. Trained in literary arts and filmmaking, their work has previously been published in Esquire Singapore, Men's Folio, and with the Asian Film Archive and the Singapore International and Film Festival, across a wide range of interests from gastronomy to fashion and arts criticism.
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Ethan writes about exciting news in the F&B industry, specialising in fine dining, exclusive spirits launches, and new restaurants. They are always looking for riveting voices to bring something fresh to an already-dynamic industry.
Follow them on Instagram at @faustiangourmand.
