Interview: Winston Chow of Aegis Coop

Winston dropped his corporate life of suits, business pitches, and water-cooler small talk in order to spark a new element of style in Shanghai; he opened Aegis CO-OP. This boutique doesn't waste its time with generic streetwear or overly hyped designer goods. Instead, they present a selection of refined products for the 21st century gentleman: the guy who rides a black bicycle with leather grip and saddle, the one who wears clothes that fit, keeps his dates in a Moleskin planner, and embraces select accessories. We recently chatted with Winston about trends, cycles, and my bemoaning having large feet in China.

When did Aegis Coop open? How did the idea for Aegis Coop come about?
Aegis Co-op officially opened on May 1st, 2009. Aegis Co-op was born from the observation that Shanghai and China had a lack of boutiques for men seeking refined products that still had personality and soul; essentially, Aegis fits in somewhere between street and couture, a place where you can find cool, unique, and hard to find pieces, or our version of “relaxed luxury.” Also, we wanted to make sure there were some nicely designed lifestyle accessories and grooming goods to complement the product range.

Another very powerful concept we wanted to deliver was the idea that a retail store didn’t have to have a retail feeling. It is a difficult feat to get most guys to go shopping, so we wanted to offer something in addition to our product selection. Aegis is a real, physical place for social networking, especially amongst other men, and a place where we are actively building a community of our own -- somewhat like a real, live Facebook. New friends regularly stop by the store and hang out for hours at a time. People have no pressure to buy anything in the store, ever; everyone is welcome to come hang out and make some new friends in a cool environment.

It will be only a matter of time before people starting looking for something beyond branding and hype – and more about design and quality. We might be trailblazing a little early, but I find it much more interesting and challenging pioneering a concept than playing catch-up with the market.

I’m happy to see that there’s an interest in fashion and products beyond “streetwear” developing amongst Chinese youth. In a lot of cities, like NYC for instance, street culture is losing a lot of momentum. Do you think this is the case in Shanghai as well?
I’m pretty happy to see that our concept has been well-received in the small groups of people who have noticed our store, and especially pleased that there’s been a growing group of local Chinese followers.

As someone who grew up as a participant of several style/fashion trends, I noticed that starting about a year ago, there was a distinct dying-off, or evolution taking place among street brands. Street culture is distinctly different in cities such as NYC and HK/Shanghai, with stateside styles being more attuned to skate and hip hop; comical designs, hyper colorways, and cute characters dominate a majority of what is considered street in Asia. However, one thing is very consistent: most of the brands rely on hype and logos/names to push product sales. I believe that with the maturing of consumers, as well as the designers themselves who started these brands, people in general are starting to feel streetwear has become quite jaded and relatively immature. Stronger brands with more foresight have started to evolve themselves to align closer with hi-fashion and couture labels, focusing on design, quality, and refined simplicity. I think this change has not yet taken place in China, but I strongly believe that more and more people will start going this direction in the next 1-2 years.



Who’s your average customer?
Our average customer is someone between 22-40 looking for refined and unique items. A majority of our customers are in the creative field, or appreciate design or fashion.

How do you decide what products to stock in your store?
I actually just choose what I think is cool. I truly believe that not all good things are expensive, and not all expensive things are good. I try to pick dope products within a large price range, a little something for everyone.



How do you feel about blogs like Selectism, High Snobiety, Curated? Do they create or kill trends?
I have very mixed feelings about these blogs. I admit I frequent their sites, as they do provide useful information. However, I am pretty tired of how they deliver the info. They should either choose to be completely objective and offer no opinion on the product releases, or just be truly subjective; praise what is legit, slam what isn’t. I know that style and art are highly subjective, but I also know that they don’t honestly rave and go nuts over everything that comes their way. One of these blogs should really develop a backbone and start offering some constructive criticisms.

They create and kill trends at the same time with how they operate. Most of these sites operate purely off hype, and when there’s little distinction between something that is really a piece of art versus a t-shirt with 5 different brand logos slapped on as a “collaborative” project, you’re doing some major injustice.



Best sneaker of 2009 so far? Watch? Glasses? Bag?
Best sneaker of 2009? Tough question. I would have to say Clae, Generic Surplus, and Gourmet all have some beautiful products. I have to choose a trio: Clae’s Khan, Generic’s Pointy Oxford, and Gourmet’s L’Due. Sorry!

Best watch would be Nooka's Zirc in Mirror, and best bag is the Flying Scissor Gravitational Tote – classic yet unique piece.



Which accessory could you not live without?
I love music, so it would have to be my ipod + grado SR80 headphone combo.



I've noticed a beautiful black fixed gear bike in the shop. What kind is it?
The bike is a custom fixed gear from Speedcat, specially crafted to look like a “gentleman’s ride.” It sports a some more retro looking parts, including the Brooks saddle and grip. The bike is actually a piece that can be custom ordered from our store only, ranging from 3500-4000 depending on the accessories.

This is a pretty personal question, its been remarkably difficult to find a size 46 (US 12) pair of kicks that I want. Anything you can do for me?
[Laughs.] Depends on what you want. If you’re looking for Nike and Adidas, your choices are highly limited. If you’re looking at any other brands in my store, I can definitely pick up a size 12 for you. We usually stock up to 11 on most sneakers, but I can easily custom order 12s for you. Stop by, let me know what you like (I also have future order catalogs with a bunch of sweet sneakers), and I’ll place the order.



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For more on Aegis CO-OP click here.