Reigning Champ Basics

Can you introduce yourself and your respective roles?

Kenta: My name is Kenta Goto and I’m the lead designer at Reigning Champ.

Doug: And I’m Doug Barber, the director of sales and marketing at Reigning Champ.

How does your relationship work?

K: I initiate the process of conceptualizing to designing the product line. Then I overlook the development and sampling. When we have an actual product in hand, Doug takes over and manages the sales and marketing aspect.

What is fundamental to having a productive relationship when it comes to creating fashion?

D: Understanding and respecting each other’s role is important. Clear communication is also something we try to focus on.

Where does Reigning Champ sit on the fashion spectrum? Is the design process difficult at CYC, with respect to being in close proximity to the wings+horns’ design team?

K: Reigning Champ straddles the line between fashionable and practical clothing, which I refer to as progressive and classic sportswear. We try not to consider fashion trends and focus on designing timeless clothing for the most part. Then we will inject seasonal colors and patterns to keep things fresh. wings+horns is clearly more fashion-driven and focuses on building collections, while Reigning Champ is product-oriented and focuses more on consistency and reliability. We work in the same space as wings+horns but we have separate design, development, and marketing and sales teams. I share or bounce around ideas with wings+horns designer Davidson Manaloto at times to get a different perspective.

Are the lines between Reigning Champ and wings+horns clear cut and drawn out? Or is there some permissible overlap? Is this overlap good or bad?

K: We try to draw a clear line between Reigning Champ and wings+horns, with regard to brand and design direction. But we are like-minded and do share similar ideals so this does result in some permissive overlaps. We work as two completely different brands and if there are some overlaps it’s usually in our construction details. This is a result of both brands utilizing the best techniques to yield the best results.