Ron Poisson Talks Cult of Individuality and The Future of the Brand In The Fashion Landscape
THIS JOURNAL BELONGS TO
SCOTT STANILAND
The authenticity of His fashion his label, Cult of Individuality or ‘Cult’ as he refers to it, is something close to him.
Having started out jumping between projects, it’s clear his creativity and passion for quality was always something worth pursuing.
7 MINS READ TIME
Ron Poisson is used to working with brands through adversity. His label, Cult of Individuality was launched in early 2009, when the global economy was ‘bottoming out’ as he says, so not the most opportune time to launch a brand. But in doing so, he was able to lean in on the community appeal across different audiences whilst giving retailers high quality, strong products at great margins. The brand eventually found its feet and identity. Ron found collaborating with influential artists in different genres helped grow the same product in different communities, championing and enabling wearers to put their own spin on the garments.
The rise of Gen Z shoppers on top of the pandemic has drastically changed the fashion business landscape including retail space, social media and digital activations. I sat down with Ron to learn more about his journey, his brand and his vision for the future of the fashion landscape.
SS: Tell me about your journey with Cult of Individuality and the identity behind the brand.
RP: A turning point in my career was when I took a chance on a brand called Varcity which was the baby of the place I was working. It wasn’t a brand that I was supposed to be selling but I knew there was something cool about its designs. It was worth pursuing so I secretly took it to some friends and came back to company I was working at and said, here’s a sale on those drawings, we need to find a way to make this stuff because I need a challenge. I was starting something from scratch, involved in all parts of the business and really carved my reputation in the industry for doing what needed to be done. Because of that success, I was recruited into a global sales role which had me traveling all over the world, which in turn led me to working directly with a factory brand, Anoname. It was a young contemporary denim brand that we completely relaunched. They wanted to transition into the menswear space but the name and brand was too feminine at the time and it wasn’t ‘mine’. I started playing around with names and the world ‘cult’ came to mind, you know, denim is a cult phenomenon, but it’s that individual expression of who we are. You and I could wear the exact same pair of jeans but the way we style it, dress it and carry ourselves is that unique expression of what makes you, you.
SS: Who do you see wearing the brand and how do you think it is perceived today?
RP: When we started and for a while after that, if I wouldn’t wear it then it wouldn’t go into the collection. That was great when I was in my 30’s and even 40’s but now at 52, I need to be aware of the end consumer. The only way a brand can survive is through continuing to bring in a youth movement and attracting that younger audience. Otherwise, the brand will age out and then next thing quickly comes along to replace you. The music community was really embracing the brand, and what I learned being in the surf industry originally with my first job is that for something to really be meaningful, it needs a living, breathing soul and personality. We found that in the music culture. There was no stereotype and we cross pollinate genres: rock, hip-hop, country, R&B and more. The music culture became our scene which then grew into the Cult sessions. We had a ‘rock look’ that everyone embraced.
Photo: W.A. Jones
SS: At the moment there’s a boom in monograms and logo culture, can you shed light on how you came up with the Cult of Individuality logo?
RP: We call it ‘Shimuchan’, this guy really changed the brand. We tried for a few years to come up with an icon for the brand and I was getting frustrated and just by luck I was with my band in Asia, scribbling down stuff as I always do, our band is called ‘Fools for Kings’ and I just drew the crown with the x’s and immediately I was like, this might be it. We went from a denim brand to a lifestyle brand and the logo surpassed the notoriety of the full name. Now people see the logo and buy into the brand. I took the eyes from the logo and added them to the calf of the jeans and back pocket as I wanted something to be subtle but identifiable right away and now I get people saying ‘I need the jeans with the double x’s’. A simple detail like that created a whole identity.
SS: Where do you take inspiration from, do you look at what other designers are doing?
RP: Initially when I started the brand, I wanted to recreate these vintage jeans that I had when I was growing up. I would wear them so much that they would fall to bits and I’d repair them over and over because these were the pair of jeans that stayed with you. I’m not a conventional type of designer, I don’t look much at what others are doing because I don’t really give a shit. We have a very rock n roll vibe, so whilst I might look at footwear trends for a color perspective, I’ll tend to revert back to music, and collaborate with artists and keep it as authentic as possible. I love looking at customizations and people who take denim and make it their own. We’ve also reached a point in the business where we can say that we are leading and creating a path for others to follow. Creating a vibe and mood that people love, without sacrificing quality.
SS: The wider consumer landscape is changing quite rapidly in fashion with brands being more aware of what their customers want or expect. Denim is quite water intensive, but very durable too. Do you consider things like sustainability when producing new lines?
RP: Fabric and quality is one of the most important things to me. We built the brand when people were traditionally using regular denim and we stuck with Japanese selvedge denim because it was a more durable choice and allowed me to do more things with it like wash. It was more sustainable than a regular pair of jeans from the start. For stretch denim, the quality is everything. It needs to be able to bounce back so we use only a two-way stretch, a T400 fabric, which helps with the recovery of the denim. It feels like the first time you put them on every time. You can buy a cheap pair of stretch denim jeans on the high street and they’ll sag and lose the knees and ass, it becomes disposable fashion. This also helped us build our reputation amongst artists that were wearing our denim to perform on stage. My factory is super advanced. It’s one of the top 3 denim factories and is exploring many new technologies to make the dying and wash process as sustainable as possible.
SS: Your community or ‘Cult’ is extremely wide reaching and diverse. How do you want people to feel when they wear your items?
RP: Inevitably, the thing that everybody wants to do is just feel good. Whenever you put on anything, you’re saying something about how you want people to perceive you. When you put on Cult of Individuality, you want to be perceived as this non-conventional, outside of the box, creative person that can say I don’t care what society says, let me be me. I don't care what you’re wearing, I don’t care what you’re doing, I don’t care what you’re saying… This is who I am. I think that’s the most important feeling I want to invoke in my clothing.
SS: A lot of the high street is changing rapidly. How would Cult of Individuality use a retail space for more than just selling clothes?
RP: I’ve been talking for several years about everything being experiential. You go into Starbucks and there’s so much more than just a cup of coffee. For my space in midtown, we started doing parties and hosting our ‘Cult Sessions’, giving opportunities to up and coming artists. I want to have a destination where musicians are coming into town, and they’ll do an acoustic performance, or an event and then have the retail part alongside that.