Nong Rak: The full story behind the knits that everyone is talking about

Cherry, you grew up in Arizona, and Home, you’re originally from Bangkok, Thailand. Can you walk us through how you crossed paths?

Cherry: Home is from Bangkok Thailand and I grew up in Arizona. I had tried to go to university. I got accepted but I couldn’t afford it. I got into school at Camberwell in London and it didn’t work out so my mom helped me travel. I went to Japan and then I decided to move to Asia. I then got a job as a teacher in Thailand.

Home: That’s how we met.

C: We were walking in the market and he just said hello to me.

Was there anything in particular that drew you to Asia or was it just an instinct that you just decided to follow?

C: Well, I had always wanted to go to Japan since I was a little kid. My parents couldn’t explain why, but I was always attracted to everything that was there. I met an exchange student when I was in kindergarten who came and really changed my thinking. It’s really hard to get a permanent visa there, so it was kind of off-the-table since I didn’t have a degree. After that, I was trying to find somewhere that I could teach abroad but in Asia. I feel so grateful to have been able to spend time living there.

H: Yeah, we hope to be able to move back to Thailand one day. Our dream is to one day open up a shop in Japan.

C: Japan or Thailand. The thing about Thailand is that it doesn’t really work because it’s so warm all year round, but that doesn’t mean we couldn’t do sport-weight things.

“We loved to be creative, but there was no room for it.” – Cherry W. Rain-Phuangfueang

It seems like you’re really inspired by the places you’ve lived in. Having this multicultural lens, how does that influence the pieces that you thrift or your final designs?

C: That’s a good question. We’re not doing too much resale anymore just because we found it really hard to juggle the two now that there’s a growing demand for the knits.

H: But we have to say thank you to ourselves for when we did vintage. We spent a lot of time touching and learning our materials and at the end of the day we realised that our favorite stuff was knitwear, so then we started thinking “Why don’t we start our own brand?

C: To circle back to that idea of multicultural inspiration, we were both so interested in being immersed in busy environments, and we’ve found that it’s not the healthiest lifestyle to live. We really love to people-watch and get inspiration from every place that we’ve ever been.

“At the end of 2020, our vintage shop had started to struggle a little bit and we didn’t know if there was ever going to reach a point where it could really sustain us.” – Cherry W. Rain-Phuangfueang

Looking at making Nong Rak, what was the point that it went from an idea or a hobby to really being a brand and a business? What was that transitional moment?

C: I think there were two. There was when we first started Nong Rak as a vintage shop because it was just going to be a creative project, photos of us styling people.

H: At first we photographed our friends wearing our clothes.

C: Back then, I was still an English teacher and we had our baby and Home was working a minimum wage job. We loved to be creative, but there was no room for it. Even looking back at it, I don’t think that we were that crazy into fashion at the time, but at some point, we got inspired by the nuances of design and craft. We were doing it more as a hobby with our friends and then we had this opportunity to rent a little shop that was right by our apartment. At that point, we had already started to think about it and we had put some money into a small inventory. It was all by credit because we didn’t have any money, and then we were like, “Now we really have to figure out how to sell the stuff.” We moved in with my mom in California, far from there, and then we said, “Ok, let’s see what we can do now that we have more freedom.” After a few months, it seemed like it was going better and we were like: “Maybe this could really be something.” After about 6 months we tried to move to New York to start doing in-person shows. In 2020 things really changed. We kept doing vintage that whole time, even up until now—we haven’t quit it. At the end of 2020, our vintage shop had started to struggle a little bit and we didn’t know if there was ever going to reach a point where it could really sustain us. I don’t really know if I started to learn how to knit and crochet because we wanted to change the brand, but, in a way, it was that. There was no real moment where it was a hobby. It was just like: “I’m going to learn this, and we’re just going to pivot because that’s what has to happen otherwise we’re just going to lose all the stuff we worked really hard on for years.”

“It’s really a big surprise to get any kind of recognition for our work. We were always making minimum wage. In fashion, things look really glamorous when they’re not.” – Cherry W. Rain-Phuangfueang

It’s interesting to hear just how resourceful you both are and how you were able to pivot at that moment especially when the virus hit. You rebounded and that is not something that everyone was able to do.

C: We got really lucky because when we left New York and we moved back here, my dad had been over there working in a little restaurant in New Jersey and he really didn’t want to be there anymore either. We all decided to come back together, and he lives in the guest house behind our house so we’ve had a lot of support from family to help us around. I’ve always struggled with my mental health so over the last year I was taking knitting a lot more seriously than I would have ever done. It’s really a big surprise to get any kind of recognition for our work. We were always making minimum wage. In fashion, things look really glamorous when they’re not.

“It’s just impossible to have a brand if there are not enough people.” – Cherry W. Rain-Phuangfueang

You’ve already touched on some of the ways you both work together.  More specifically, what does the creative process look like for you as a duo? Do you sit down and plan things out or is it more organic?

H: We start with sketches and colors first.

C: Honestly we don’t sketch much, but if he’s trying to explain something that he’s thinking to me then, yes, sometimes we’ll use drawings.

H: Sometimes it’s like just pick it up and do it, even on the machine.

C: I would just start and see what shape it gets, but now there have been 4 mini-collections this year of the knit, and the last one was the one that seemed really well received. We’re kind of trying to figure out, “How can we make this at any scale at all?” But up until now, things have been really organic.

H: One thing about knitting is that you can just take it down.

C: He and our son help a lot with unraveling stuff and winding it back up.

H: We just take it down and save it for the next project.

C: It’s just impossible to have a brand if there are not enough people. That’s the next step; trying to put together a small team that we can work together with.

What are some of the other long-term goals for the brand?

C: The goal is really to continue having an air of one-of-a-kind or access to some kind of singular thing that feels valuable in a sentimental kind of way. How can we do that and scale at the same time? How can we do that without being astronomically expensive? We do want to figure out a way.

H: One direction that I would like for Nong Rak is to be more like art. You can show our clothes but it’s not just on a rack or on a body like sometimes you put it on a wall and it could become an object there too.

C: He also likes to do sculpture so we thought before that it could be fun to do some installation work using some of our materials. I’m trying to also be a realist and think about at this point how we can have a viable business that could grow. We still have a lot of naivety toward that so I guess there are probably still quite a few more mistakes to be made. Hopefully, we’ll figure it out without falling straight down on our face, but we’ve done that before, so we could figure out how to stand again.

“We just want to be able to do our work and not have to worry and struggle. That’s the dream.” – Cherry W. Rain-Phuangfueang

One question that I want to bring up ties into some of the practices that you’ve spoken to, unraveling and reusing yarn when pieces don’t work out, using deadstock fabrics. Your brand has such a strong image of sustainability. I want to know how you would define sustainability in terms of fashion. Could you talk about some of the sustainable practices that are at the core of Nong Rak?

C: How we became a sustainable brand was just that we are the kind of people who shop only secondhand. Even if we had more money, would we buy more stuff or would we buy differently? It feels like the best way we can consume, but we’re not perfect by any means. I have friends who are way better than us. I think obviously things like veganism are also really important to sustainability which we’re not. There are so many facets of it.

In the lens of fashion, I think that mass production is one of the scariest things. Having something that is very special and also trying to use deadstock and second-hand materials, even things that have been reused. I found that on eBay some people will unravel sweaters and rewind the stuff that they found at Goodwill. There are good cashmere sweaters and things, so why not? Obviously, it’s hard to find on a mass scale, but I don’t think either of us when we think about scaling Nong Rak we would ever want anything even relatively large. We just want to be able to do our work and not have to worry and struggle. That’s the dream.

I do think that I want the brand to be a sustainable brand, but I’m not an expert by any means, so I don’t want to come out saying: “Oh, wow, we’re saints.” I keep all the trimmings of the yarns and I found this person who can turn them into recycled yarn, so I’m gonna try to use at least the knit scraps that we have around to try to be minimum waste.

“We wouldn’t have been able to do anything without it, but social media is so hard. ” – Cherry W. Rain-Phuangfueang

That is so honest and authentic because there’s so much virtue signaling lately and a lot of brands try to gain points with whatever small sustainable act they’re trying to do, so it’s actually really refreshing to almost get the opposite from you wanting to be honest with where you’re at with sustainability and what your practices are. 

C: We would love to be more so but I think we both need to be more knowledgeable. Also, I’ve seen other people in the vintage community too coming up and saying vintage isn’t 100% sustainable. Really the only sustainable thing is not buying anything, but obviously, we have to be realistic too.

“Everyone works hard, but you have to work harder than hard. ” – Cherry W. Rain-Phuangfueang

I’m curious looking at your brand, what is the hardest part about running Nong Rak?

H: Having to talk with people is pretty hard, communication is hard.

C: And it’s getting harder, next to impossible. In terms of communication, what we would have to get better at is Instagram. It’s also the thing that has been the most important to our growth. We wouldn’t have been able to do anything without it, but social media is so hard. We have friends who have a really hard time in the vintage community too because I don’t know what happened with Instagram but the algorithm keeps changing and tons of people aren’t having any of their stuff seen. Then there’s this niche few, and we just became a part of that. We used to have just a few hundred likes and then we’re at a few thousand and it’s like, what is even happening?

H: Just two months ago it was like no one‘s messaging us, no one is buying anything, and then boom somehow 100 messages.

C: It just hasn’t stopped. We’re totally thankful for it because obviously, we wouldn’t have a brand if we didn’t have people to show and share things with and to be interested in the stuff and wear it, but there are so many people asking so many things. I’m usually, most of the day, making things and can’t be in front of the phone. I don’t think a lot of people realize that you just really are working all the time.

“There just hasn’t been time for a social life or shopping. I haven’t even wanted anything in a year. I just want yarn to experiment with.” – Cherry W. Rain-Phuangfueang

Is there any advice you would give to students or young designers that are looking to start their own brand?

C: Everyone works hard, but you have to work harder than hard. This is going to sound really cynical, but you have to be ok with working past the point of comfort and past a point of even necessarily healthy. That really sucks to have to say, but that’s just our situation. Obviously, people have other kinds of resources, I’m not just talking about money. Some people might know someone, someone may have money, someone might have really good skills from school or something they can ride on, but for us, there were just so many times where I felt like I couldn’t work anymore. I was so sick, I was losing weight. I’m sure so many people in the fashion industry have been there time and time again so I don’t think I’m alone on that. I don’t really talk to my friends or family anymore. Obviously, we have people nearby so that’s nice, but there just hasn’t been time for a social life or shopping. I haven’t even wanted anything in a year. I just want yarn to experiment with. I guess that’s the lucky thing about doing what we like because, for Home, he just likes to be creative and do his photography or sculpting or drawing or just being around doing his thing and then me, I really like to be into something so we’re lucky that it kind collided. For us it’s worth sacrificing all of that; we still feel some kind of visceral fulfillment from it.

One of the things that I love so much about your brand is the look. Everything is so whimsical and there is a sense of nostalgia built into these very unique pieces. In the past, you’ve looked at opening a Nong Rak brick-and-mortar location. Considering the magic and whimsy of your pieces, what would that space look like?

C: Oh my gosh, we talk about that all the time.

H: All the time.

C: I think the funny thing is that what we would want for it to be hasn’t changed much from when it was going to be a vintage shop to our own brand. We’ve always wanted it to be an experience, something very textural, something interactive and multi-functional. It would have to be an immersive space.

H: Like people come in and it’s confusing like: “Is this an art gallery or…?” I want to have a food truck that’s filled with Nong Rak knits. We could drive around New York City and do pop-ups.

C: That would be so wild.

H: The whole shop would be made of knit things, covering the seats and everything with knitting.

C: Ultimately the space we would like to have is a space in the big city that way we could interact with more different kinds of people because Arizona is really beautiful and gives us a lot of headspace, which is a big part of us figuring all this out too.

“We’re the kind of people that are so thrifty that we would make every single dollar count—make it worth it.” – Home Phuangfueang

I really hope that you make that space someday because I want to see it.

C: Now we need investors which is funny because neither of us would know how. Even my mom is like: “You guys are way more artists than business people.” She’s always so irritated with us but I’m like: “Mom, we’ll figure it out.”

You’ve made mistakes that have allowed you to grow in so many ways already and I know so many people that want to start their own businesses or fashion company, but so often it just stops there with the desire because they don’t feel ready to take those initial risks or they’re waiting to get $100,000 from investors to get started.

C: Maybe one day. Just think of what would happen with $100,000. We could run with $100,000.

H: We’re the kind of people that are so thrifty that we would make every single dollar count—make it worth it.