After a year in the making and many years living inside founder Gemma Shiel’s head, Oafy is here. Our brand-new kidswear range, Oafy encourages kids to express themselves confidently and grow into the curious and silly individuals they’re meant to be. Through durable, playful and inspiring clothing made for self expression. We’ve sat down with Gem to talk about all things Oafy from ideation to creation and seeing it finally go out into the big wide world.
Hey Gem!
Hiiii
For anyone who doesn’t know who you are, would you like to introduce yourself?
I’m Gemma, I’m the founder and creative director of Lazy Oaf and now – Oafy!
Oafy is finally out in the big, wide world. What made now feel like the right time to venture into kidswear?
We’ve been working to create Oafy for well over a year, but it’s been a tiny idea we’ve been carrying around for so many more. Everyoneeee has asked me do a kidswear range, it’s probably the question I get asked the most. So with turning 25 years old this year, this special birthday felt like the right time to bring this idea to life. There’s a whole generation of people who, since discovering us for the first time, now have families of their own and we get to kit them all out.
It’s a huge feat for Lazy Oaf taking on this new chapter as an independent business, how are you feeling about it?
I’m nervous but proud. My team has worked soooo hard on pulling this all together to create the Oafy world. I’m nervous because I feel like I’m birthing something into the world - what’s it going to look like when it’s grown up? It’s really exciting to have a new project as well as to get to learn so much with it too.
The idea of Oafy has been there for a while. When brainstorming what it would be, what were the keys to bringing it to life?
When initially building out Oafy, one of the key ingredients was expression, and having as much of it as we possibly could. There needed to be bright colours and bold patterns, all of which are vital ingredients that go into Lazy Oaf too. Along with this, we wanted it to be genderless and that it can all be thrown together to be worn however Oafys want it to be. From Lazy Oaf, we’ve always heard how much people resonate with the silliness and creative expression that our clothes allow them. That’s an element that we really wanted to be present when dressing the next generation of Oafs.
Lazy Oaf is of course Oafy’s parent! What values have you pulled from Oaf for dressing the younger generation?
What was really important to take from Lazy Oaf into Oafy was the core values of play, creativity and expression. Encouraging creative play for kids is so important, it was such an important part of my childhood. Through having a pen and paper I was able to draw and express myself, which is why I feel it’s so crucial and why the Oafy is full of prints.
The best part of clothing is finding your own style, as a kid, what was your go-to outfit?
As a kid, I was obsessed with clothes and drawing myself outfits – I always wanted to be a fashion designer. So, my favourite outfit was probably this psychedelic, hooded t-shirt with white kickers and a side pony. It was the 80s and it probably did all come from Walthamstow Market.
What’s one of your favourite pieces from this first collection?
I’ve got a few but I love the Shut It Gilet, especially seeing it in teeny tiny sizes. The whole studio melted when the very first sample arrived at Oaf HQ.
If you could describe the feeling of this launch in one word, what would it be?
If I could describe the feeling in one word…it would be…HuggghHhHhh. It really can’t be translated.
Can you give us any hints on what we can expect from Oafy in the future…
More exciting projects, collabs and new product categories. I’d love to do more [events] that you can get fully immersed in. We’ve already started working on the next season, it’s full of animals, interactiveness - I’m looking forward to going through the development process. It’s only gonna get better!
Any last words?
DON’T EVER GROW UP!!! Please just be silly, be kind and hope you like it!
