Today’s urban fashion is driven by the pursuit of quality. The nuances of tailor-made, fitted clothes attract attention, and they reveal a carefully groomed image that men and women both aspire for.

Few lines feature the kind of quality seen with Onovo Royaluxe. Based in Los Angeles, the team of eight designs military-inspired garments that appeal to the urban youth with a tangible air of sophistication for people outside of the scope of mixtapes, blogs and Myspace.

Founded by industry-veteran Pete Onovo-Agbo six years ago, the line is buzzing on opposite coasts and traveling westward. Speaking to The Evil Collector, Pete, spokesman for Onovo Royaluxe, explains the line’s inspiration, foray into female lines, and offers Collector readers an exclusive 50% discount on his existing, tailor-made garments.
The Evil Collector: What is your background before Onovo Royaluxe?

Onovo Royaluxe: I’m originally from Nigeria. I came in ’82 to go to school, and I got into the Navy and all that stuff. I did the Navy thing, and when I came out of the service I went back to college. I graduated in Film and Television Production from Cal State Long Beach here in California. After that, I worked in the industry – did the acting thing; I wasn’t getting in with it the way I thought I should. The roles I thought I was good for weren’t coming to me. So I [changed careers].
When I was in the Navy, we’d stop in places like Hong Kong or Korea, and instead of going out drinking with my fellow sailors I would locate garment factories and try to visit. I have always been interested in fashion – how people dress. I finally settled into fashion design; about six years ago, I started Onovo Royaluxe.

TEC: Where does “Onovo” actually come from?

OR: It’s actually part of my last name. My last last name is Onovo-Agbo. In Nigeria, this means power, strength and comfort. That’s where the slogan comes from.

TEC: What does that slogan mean to you?

OR: “Power, Strength and Comfort” means the feeling that you get when you put on our line. You feel very powerful, very strong, and comfortable in what you’re wearing. It just reflects what we do, which is giving you the best fabrication, the best detailing and the best color and things like that in every piece that we make.

TEC: So what is the concept of Onovo Royaluxe:

OR: The concept of Royaluxe is because our collections are so richly made I wanted to carve a niche and feel for the line. So Royaluxe basically means Royalty and Luxury combined into one amazing clothing line. The feel of our fabrics and the construction of each piece gives you that feel of royalty and luxury. We create pieces that stand out, that are different.

TEC: I see your logo is a lion…

OR: Yes, I choose that logo, actually a lion’s head because as you know, lion is very strong, powerful and on top of the food chain. It never backs down. Basically, that’s what Onovo is: we are on top and we do not back down. It also has that African safari thought behind it, being that I am Nigerian.
TEC: What would you say is the fashion sense in Nigeria right now?

OR: Right now it’s kinda imitating what you see here. In all places, all over the world, there are the big cities and the slums. That’s reflected in the cities and villages of Nigeria too. Basically what you see here is what’s going on in fashion in Nigeria right now. Hip Hop is all over the world. You can’t talk about fashion and not mention Hip Hop. The rap stars are dressing American, and it’s all over the world [because of it]. The Hip Hop influence on fashion is reflected across cultures all over the world.

TEC: Looking at your line and even your models, it also appears to be a Punk or Surfer element. Tell me about the inspiration for Onovo beyond Hip Hop…

OR: Like I said, I’ve lived in this country 25 years now. From the time I got here till now, it’s been about Hip Hop; we listen to rap lyrics. We listened to Kool Moe Dee, Kurtis Blow and people like that back in the day. All my interactions in the Navy were with [black people], and all we listened to was rap music. Hip Hop influence is very strong. In fact my first gig after I got out of the service was… I had an independent record label with about three rap acts. We did what we did for a number of years before I followed another passion. What you see on our websites… we do clothes for everybody to rock. If you look, it’s not too baggy. Nobody today is wearing things that are too baggy [in rap] anyway. People are into more fitted stuff. It’s not to the point of being too tight and uncomfortable, but it’s a relaxed kind of fit. That’s what we have. It’s not necessarily influenced by Punk culture. When I was designing this collection that you see right now, it was more military-influenced. If you look at the hoodies, we have the buttons and military tags and things like that on the hoodies. Even our blazers, if you look at the linings, they’re also military-influenced. That’s my background.
TEC: So many of the California-based lines we see show that in every facet. Onovo appears to have a lot of east coast influence. What’s your opinion or vision on that?

OR: Yes. I’m happy you asked that question. In fact we are getting more love in New York than in Los Angeles, where we’re based. When you talk about fashion, it’s about New York, then Los Angeles. When you talk about movies, it’s about Los Angeles, then New York. On a trip we took earlier this year to New York, we gave out the line to a couple of friends in the industry, some rap stars and things like that. We got a lot of love. A lot of the stores that we’re in… a lot of accounts are in New York.

TEC: You mentioned giving the lines to rap stars. Nowadays that’s a major marketing move. At the price-point you’re at, how important is it to get an endorsement or just wearing your lines out?

OR: It is very important for us. When you have a rapper wearing your stuff, this guy has so much fan base, it drives the market. If you see somebody you idolize wearing a line, you’re more likely to go out and purchase that line, no matter where you get it. It is very significant, very important. We’ve done situations with a lot of rappers. Some will call up and say, “Send me this, this and this.” We do that, and we continue to do that because it’s very important to us.

TEC: Are you a four-season as of now?

OR: The future for this company is very bright. We have the women’s line coming out for spring, for the first time. We have a significant, well-known actress [endorsing] that line. We’re finishing the deal right now, so I can’t say her name right away. We’re working on that. We have a lot of stuff going on. We try to set trends in this industry, so that other people can follow what we do. We don’t have our female line available on the website (www.onovo.com) right now because we’re trying to protect our designs, creativity and things like that. People will copy. The future is very bright. We’re offering a lot of beautiful women’s designs. If you look at what we have, we’re not a t-shirt kind of line. We go above that. We do layer processes with each piece – embroidery, flocking and screen-printing. We do this so that when a buyer picks it up, they feel the weight and know they’re getting something for their money. [With many lines,] you’re getting the name screen-printed on a shirt and getting charged 300 dollars. When you pick up our line, you see what you’re getting. For example, our blazer is 100% Italian wool. We’re doing leather, novelty stitching, flocking, raw edge on this blazer. You have to touch these items to really appreciate what we do. We are also working on introducing the suit collection. As you know, every man should have at least two suits in their wardrobe, so that is in the works for our clients. And the quality is going to be to the standard of our current offerings.
TEC: You look at a line like Ed Hardy, where 14-year-olds and 50-year-olds buy it. Do you find that your line extends to an older market than most?

OR: Yes. Exactly. We try to do that and that’s what we’re doing. If you take a look at our hoodies, a 15 year-old kid can wear our hoodie, and a 55-year-old man can rock it. We try not to over-logo our line by putting Onovo Royaluxe all over it so that we offer something for everybody. We have both markets. The price-points are very good for what they’re getting.

TEC: In Hip Hop, women are bigger consumers than men. So why do so many Hip Hop-inspired fashion lines begin with men’s lines before women’s?

OR: Because a lot of these companies are started by men. For me, I started with, “What would I wear?” That’s where it started. You do things that you feel very, very comfortable with, period. You look at your friends, your coworkers, so on. Then you think about women. It always starts with men because men are a lot of the ones starting these companies. You start with yourself.

TEC: How big is your staff?

OR: At this point I have about eight people working at the company right now. We’re multi-tasking. We all contribute to the company; it’s a family thing that we have. We all do what we can to move things forward.

TEC: What other ventures are you involved in?

OR: As I mentioned before I have an entertainment entity: Coal City Entertainment (www.coalcityentertainment.com). We do music/film production and book publishing. One of my books, Loving The African Male, What Every Woman Must Know just got released by the company. By the way this book is a must-read for everybody, including men. We continue to push the envelope in all the projects we have now in development. Whatever your dream is in life, don’ ever let anybody tell you that you can’t achieve it. If one door is shut, the next door might open. Keep working on your dream. Don’t stop. Lastly, because of this interview we’re doing today, if you go to our website (www.onovo.com), we’re offering 50% off any order, just from this website.

This entry was posted on Monday, November 26th, 2007 at 4:36 pm and is filed under Interview, Fashion, Collabos, Features. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.