Passionate about sustainable and ethical fashion? Get to know Australian brand, Tanouk
What started as a passion project in 2011, has evolved elegantly into an ethically produced, hand-crafted clothing brand. While finding joy in creating unique and fun garments for herself and friends, Nikeisha Coulter, founder and creative director of Tanouk took a few years out to travel and during this time, found new inspiration in the local communities of South America. “The local people hand-crafted the most beautiful textiles and patterned prints,” shares Nikeisha. “I was so inspired to focus on Tanouk when I returned home.” As the return from her travels came with a new found muse, collided with bumping into an old friend with marketing experience, Tanouk was taken to new levels in 2018.
“It really starts with the print,” Nikeisha comments when asked how the design process of Tanouk’s innovative pieces begins. “Print development and creation is our unique point of difference,” she continues to explain. The focus is clear when exploring this collection. Unique colour-ways and brush stroke patterns adorn youthful and innovative silhouettes. Scarf tops and mini skirts, legs-for-days trousers and unisex shirts give off carefree, summer evening vibes. “We have a number of different garment designs that we keep current and change the print on,” shares Nikeisha. With a loose demographic and range of ages in mind when designing, it is the brands hope that the much loved silhouettes will stay within the range each season, taking extra care and time to create the perfectly on trend but timeless style for each piece. “I spent a lot of time in Indonesia and loved the locally made soft rayon designs,” Nikeisha highlights. “They are effortless to dress up or down from the beach, to a night out and easy to tie to fit/style. Our designs have been heavily influenced by my time spent on the island.” While timeless yet stylish pieces are at the forefront of Tanouk, there are two collaborations coming up this year which will introduce new designs.
The organic and go with the flow appearance of the brand is true to the core and transpires through to how they find artists to collaborate with. Connecting with artists through social media, events or mutual friends with a print or collection concept sparks the collaboration. Taking the brief that was collectively created, the artist will create a new piece of work for the brand, which Nikeisha states can take up to a few months to get right or just a matter of days, if turning an already created original into a digital print. A recent collaboration for the brand was with artist Cara Sanders, aka Owlet Art. Through launching at one of Cara’s exhibitions with a runway show, Tanouk encompasses creativity and freedom from each angle.
For new start up brands in today’s climate, sustainability is a word that hangs in the air heavily. For Tanouk however, this was an element of the brand that was never in question. “Since Bonnie and I established the brand this has honestly been our main goal,” explains Nikeisha. “To create clothing that is still fun to wear and good for the planet.” The brands fabrics are printed using EcoTex and are all 100% naturally woven with absolutely no polyester or synthetic fabrics used. What’s more, the pieces are made locally in Australia so they can keep a close eye on manufacturing standards. With no surprise, this sustainability keen brand is growing followers all over the world, with hopes for a store in the US in the near future. In true Tanouk creative fashion, moving forward - they aim to have a runway exhibition for each launch. So if you’re a budding artist be sure to get in touch!
Visit tanouk.com to check out their latest collections.