Kenny Webster's Pursuit of Happiness

Kenny Webster's Pursuit of Happiness

Ken Webster is a talk radio personality and producer from Houston, TX. He started his career in Chicago on the Mancow show and has since worked at...Full Bio

 

Would you wear North Korea's fashion brand?

Here's a strange little slice of trivia for you. Noko Jeans was a North Korean fashion company, but it didn't do very well.

The company existed from 2007–2011 and was founded by three Swedish dues named Jacob Åström, Tor Rauden Källstigen and Jakob Ohlsson. 

Together they created the first ever foreign company to import denim jeans from North Korea.

The pants were briefly sold online through the Noko Jeans' online store (which no longer exists - I checked).

They also had a store in Stockholm which opened on December 5, 2009.

Originally they were gonna sell the jeans through the when the PUB department store company, but the corporation later refused to sell the brand because they were worried about the way it would look to human rights groups. There was a huge public debate regarding the ethics of selling clothes produced in the country of North Korea, so PUB decided not to get it involved. 

So how did things go for the NoKo brand itself? Not well. Most people weren't exactly thrilled to buy fashion from a nation that specializes in slave labor. 

The store closed on February 6, 2010 and the website went offline about three years later.

Strangely, I kind of want to own a pair of NoKo jeans, but I can't find anyone online who's willing to part with a pair.


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