By, The Curator
Shortly after I started The Curator Blog’s Instagram page I came across a brand that followed me pretty early on, Impera Gear. Designs aside, I liked the vibe their feed was giving off. It looked like many other skate brands, except their page was consistent and unified which is often pretty rare for newer brands. I told them to DM me because I had a big opportunity for them and we talked about their brand for a bit. A week or two later we ended up hopping on a call and knocking out The Curator Blog’s third phone interview!
Impera Gear was created by Braden and Abdul, two friends who are based in Canada. They both love skateboarding and clothes so they decided to take a shot at making their own brand since they were heavily involved in the culture. It’s been a long time coming, but their first design was released in 2015. Braden is the creative director and handles most of the designing and marketing while Abdul mostly takes care of the business and technology aspects of the brand.
Running into challenges is a normal part of business, but Impera Gear has had their Instagram account hacked on more than one occasion. It takes a lot of resilience and dedication to repeatedly start over from square one. One thing that I’d say Braden and Abdul have done really well is build a solid core group of supporters and customers both online and locally. They’ve held multiple pop up shops and let a lot of their close friends skate at their brand’s warehouse. Skateboarding plays a big part in the origins of the streetwear culture and Impera Gear is a true skate brand. Listen to our full interview with Braden and Abdul to learn more about their brands story, the streetwear scene in Canada, how skate teams operate, and some of the important lessons that they’ve learned during the time they’ve spent running Impera Gear!
Go check out some of Impera Gear’s recent releases!
Website: https://imperaskateboards.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/imperagear/
The Curator 
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