Treasured Items... Tim Sturmheit

From riding the month long conveyor belt that connects all of the major fashion capitals to scouring backstreets beyond the beaten track, oki-ni's Tim Sturmheit's mission is to unearth all manner of future treasures. It is a task he relishes and revels in. Casting an ever inquisitive eye across the menswear spectrum, the buyer has to feed the appetite of an ever growing army of discerning customers. With the likes of McQueen, Raf and Undercover sitting alongside J.W, Kenzo, Shannon, Our Legacy all manner of exclusive product, oki-ni is a veritable feast.

Having just returned from a buying expedition to Tokyo where he was dazzled by Ikat prints in the master-piece showroom, visited the new Thom Browne store and admired the colourful photography work of Paul Smith, we couldn't resist buying him a well deserved a pint and asking him to partake in a quick spot of show and tell. Here, Sturmheit rifles through his master-piece backpack and tells us the tales behind his most cherished items.

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Tim Sturmheit and personalised fruits of game changing commerce...

"This Thom Browne cardigan is a relatively recent addition to my wardrobe but is one that I'm sure I'll keep forever. For spring/summer 13 we gave customers the opportunity to pre-order a range of exclusive show pieces, direct from Thom Browne's Paris Fashion Week presentation. The concept was that customers could see the product from the show, we then went to the Thom Browne showroom and styled it all and people could buy it the very next day. Each piece had the customers name added to label to make each piece that bit more special. It was amazing to be involved in a project like that. You're working with really interesting people, it's a great brand that you wouldn't ordinarily have such access to and you're offering one-off pieces. When I went to Tokyo last week and visited the new Thom Browne store there and the PR Manager was there and it was so difficult to even take a few pictures for the blog. Also, he admitted that he had to buy a few pieces through us rather than from Thom Browne directly. 

For me, Thom Browne is an inspiring label. From his amazing runway shows to beautiful made product, both wearable and crazy pieces, it's all about building a brand. It's a big company in terms of monetary value but there are relatively few steps to get to Thom, it enables you to do these types of projects and I'm sure there will be more in the future. One of my favourite aspects of my job is working on special projects like this, coming up with new ideas and developing relationships. It worked really well both commercially and from a press perspective."

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....and the Thai travel tees

"I picked these t-shirts up when I went travelling. I did the 'just finished college but wanted to do something before I went to Uni trip' and went on a Cambodia and Vietnam trek with one of my friends and then lived in Thailand for six months teaching in a school. It was great. I spent most of my time playing with little kids who couldn't really understand me anyway so I have no idea how much I was actually teaching them but it was fun. I used to spend two or three hours a day teaching and the rest of my time was spent lying in my hammock or exploring the area. On your travels you see lots of street stalls. At the time I was in to vintage clothes, I had lots of old Adidas tracksuits from the 70s and 80s and I used to hunt things down all over the country and I wanted to collect something whilst travelling. Also, I went through a phase of buying a TinTin t-shirt from every country or significant place that I went to but I've ended up losing everything single one of them. It was quite a challenge because I'd go to places that had no idea what or who I was talking about. I wanted to do something similar on this trip. You can't pick up too many things on the move when you need to travel quote light so I decided on t-shirts. I'd often lost the t-shirts I had brought with me anyway because it was so hot and they could be forgotten at parties. I bought about fifteen all together and came home with around five. I'd never throw them away now, I just have them to kick about in. I can't really fit in to them but they remind me of a great experience. Each has a memory of where I picked them up, if and how I bartered with them for the price, they're fun." Tim Sturmheit

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