Every aspect of Jaffry Mallari’s successful clothing brand, Resurgence, is managed by himself out of his parents’ basement, and it was all born from mocking and failure.
Mallari’s story in the clothing world hasn’t always been as successful as it is now. He says his first venture into clothes was an ill-advised attempt in high school.
“One of the seniors made hats, and everyone bought it. I was like… ‘If this guy can do it, I can do it.’ So, I made my own and it failed miserably. People were mocking me. They were like, ‘Why are you trying to be like this guy?’”
Even Mallari’s parents originally doubted his dream.
“My parents, back then, they weren’t really supportive of this thing — they were like, ‘It’s just a hobby, go focus on your studies,’” said Mallari.
As a result, naming the brand was easy. Mallari says it reflects his comeback from his failure in high school and serves as a response to all of the hate he received.
“One of the main things Resurgence was built on was negative energy — but instead of looming over it, I used it to create.”
This second venture into designing clothes has been going much better than the first — Resurgence recently hit 10,000 followers on Instagram.
Mallari remembers the time one of his pieces went on sale after he promoted it on the social media site, Reddit.
“I remember I was at KFC, I was in the drive-thru, and I put my phone on this metal table, and it started ringing like crazy, right? And when I looked at it, I got like 300 orders in an hour.”
Reddit is one of the main sources of Resurgence’s rise in the clothing world. The brand’s presence online has attracted fans such as Dustin Wang, who’s gone on to buy more than 10 pieces from Mallari.
“I saw a Resurgence post and I was like, ‘Dang, this is sick, and it’s cheap.’ I just love the Resurgence aesthetic…and I love supporting smaller brands and seeing them grow,” said Wang.
Now that Mallari’s main focus is the brand and not school — he graduated from SAIT in 2018 — he has a lot more time to spend on Resurgence.
“Back then — even on Sundays — I had to go to school to do work. And when I get home, I stayed up until 3 a.m. to work on Resurgence, then wake back up at 6 a.m. to go to school the next day. So, it was really time-consuming, to say the least, but it was worth it,” said Mallari.
Mallari’s work ethic has impressed one of his frequent collaborators, Yams, the creator of Los Angeles-based clothing brand Get Some Sleep.
“This guy is down for his stuff, you know? He’s ready to work…I always knew he was someone who wasn’t just a talker, he was doing it,” said Yams.
Mallari takes care of every facet of the brand alone, including everything from designing to shipping.
“When I wake up I have to do all these chores…I still live with my parents and sometimes they want me to do some stuff, so I do it in the morning, along with the packing, and then get them shipped off before around 6 p.m. Then I travel…to drop off my packages and stuff like that and for the most part I work on the brand from like 1 a.m. to 4 a.m,” Mallari explains.
Resurgence’s clothes are available to order on their website.
Editor: Casey Richardson | Crichardson@cjournal.ca