{"id":3313,"date":"2019-03-17T20:10:36","date_gmt":"2019-03-17T18:10:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newedgemagazine.com\/?p=3313"},"modified":"2019-03-17T20:14:58","modified_gmt":"2019-03-17T18:14:58","slug":"mateja-skraba-and-her-frachella","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newedgemagazine.com\/index.php\/mateja-skraba-and-her-frachella\/","title":{"rendered":"Mateja \u0160kraba and her Frachella"},"content":{"rendered":"

“As far as Frachella goes I try to follow the flow of life without setting goals. I love being surprised. It\u2019s the same with my personal life, to which I love to add as many carefree and happy days as possible.” Mateja \u0160kraba<\/em><\/p>\n

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Tell us a little bit about yourself – what was it that you did before creating Frachella<\/a> and how did the idea for the brand come about?<\/strong>
\nI\u2019m an average girl who\u2019s in love with life and the people that surround her. Friendships mean a lot to me as do the moments I spend with these people, whether they\u2019re hard or happy ones. I love to travel, explore and I love to go with the flow of life. Before I created Frachella I lived in Morocco with my friend Katarina. It was a peaceful life by the beach, exploring Morocco on the weekends but mostly finding myself and learning about who I was in an unfamiliar environment. How big a step I was willing to take in order to leave my little bubble of comfort and live. I think that everyone should try something similar to that in order to cross the borders of discomfort.
\nWhen I came back to Slovenia I was unemployed for a while and at that time I began to create, mostly for myself. My first project that came to life was Frachella street style culture. It was me and my boyfriend photographing interesting street style, mostly on the streets of Ljubljana. Later, after I\u2019d designed my first backpack and saw the response and the big growth of the brand I decided to keep the name Frachella and to continue to create under the brand.<\/p>\n

You say that you created the tassle backpack because at the time you couldn\u2019t get ones like it in Slovenia. What\u2019s the story behind these backpacks now, four years later?<\/strong>
\nWhen I started to design the Frachella backpacks the offer in the shops in Ljubljana was really bad. That design of backpacks was just starting to blow up around the globe. Frachella and a couple of other designers caught the perfect timing of starting a brand with uniquely designed products. Today it\u2019s a completely different picture. There are a lot of backpack designers out there and our small market is quickly overflowing with similar products. That is exactly the reason why it is necessary to think outside the box.<\/p>\n

Why Frachella?<\/strong>
\nThe name comes from the kids puppet show Fraggle rock. The characters in the show were known for their colourful, fluffy hairstyles. But the name goes way back, into my childhood. I think the story goes a little bit like this\u2026 My cousin got a hand knit sweater from my grandmother. It was colourful, soft, fluffy\u2026 Just like the hair of the Fragglers. Because of that likeness my cousin called that sweater Fra\u010dela. When she outgrew it she gave it to me and the name stayed the same, deeply ingrained in my mind. When I look at a picture of that sweater today it looks like any other sweater but the imagination of children is truly limitless.<\/p>\n

How does Frachella keep up with being so distinctly recognizable?<\/strong>
\nMy style changes constantly. I\u2019m constantly evolving with the events in my life, the travels I go on and current inspirations around me. It\u2019s because of that that I find it hard to say that I keep up a very recognizable style of my brand. I think the logo is the one that really makes it easy to recognize it and is the necessary part of every product I put out. In the beginning I probably paid special attention to small details but today I just follow my wishes and visions and create products without thinking about how I have to include small details that would be typical of Frachella.<\/p>\n

What is your process behind creating new products? Where do you draw your inspiration from?<\/strong>
\nAlmost every time that I get an idea I sketch it out on a piece of paper and send it to my seamstress. After we get the measurements and calculate the consumption and production I get the fabrics and the first day that we\u2019re both free we start creating. I tried creating a whole collection but that process is just not suitable for me. I love being spontaneous. I\u2019m inspired by travelling, music (I love the era of Janis Joplin and the Doors), the people around me, my friends, movies\u2026 I can find inspiration almost everywhere. I just wait for the moment when I\u2019m completely taken by something or someone and then I just let myself give in\u2026 From that moment on, things just start to flow on their own.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s the fashion market for accessories like in Slovenia? Is it comparable to the one abroad? Where do most of your orders come from?
\n<\/strong>If I\u2019m being completely honest I\u2019m not on track with the market since I\u2019ve started my own brand. I pay attention to the accessories created by Slovenian designers but nothing past that. As far as shopping\u2019s concerned I do most of it online or abroad. Not taking into account our own designers, the market is stronger and more advanced abroad. There\u2019s a bigger offer, they pay a lot of attention to new and interesting designers that we can shop in different concept shops. It\u2019s clear that the offer is also dependent on the purchasing power of the buyers\u2026 In Slovenia the majority of them is still not ready to pay more money for a designer piece. They\u2019d rather buy more pieces for the same money and I hope that that mindset changes soon.<\/p>\n

I have a couple of friends that live abroad that helped with Frachella\u2019s growth beyond Slovenia\u2019s borders and make it more recognizable in other countries around the world. A big thank you also goes to other web shops that sell abroad. Currently most of my products are being shipped to France, Italy, Germany and Poland. A lot are also sent to the States and other continents.<\/p>\n

What has been the biggest challenge you had to face with the brand?<\/strong>
\nWhen you start to establish a brand, creating a product, shopping for the materials and searching for different coworkers every step is a challenge. If someone that came before you couldn\u2019t find a solution and helped you with it you have to go out and find it yourself. Maybe I had it a little bit easier because I didn\u2019t plan everything and it all just happened really spontaneously. I solved my problems by demand you could say. A good example for that is the online shop – it was never my goal to have one and to sell through it. We created it because of the demand; our buyers beat us to the punch with their wish for one and showed support for it in advance. It\u2019s because of factors like these that made things slightly easier for me. I never felt any pressure or burden. The thing that throws me off track completely would be bureaucracy and everything that goes hand in hand with it.<\/p>\n

Where are the products made and where can people buy them? Do you also create unique products per request \/ commissions?<\/strong>
\nAll of the products are made in Slovenia and in the last phase of creation they all pass through my hands. They\u2019re available on our website and physically currently only in the Slovenska – local made shop in Maribor. As far as foreign shops are concerned they\u2019re online as well – Asos marketplace and Showroom.
\nI don\u2019t do commissions but we do take requests as far as colour is concerned. To create backpacks designed by someone else\u2026 it wouldn\u2019t be my product anymore.<\/p>\n

Frachella also collaborates with other creators – Giakiara, Faithfully Yours and Bohemia Design. What are these collaborations like?<\/strong>
\nMateia Kogoj is the designer behind the brand Giakiara, Katarina Tav\u010dar creates under the brand Faithfully Yours. They\u2019ve both been my friends for a long time and have been with me since the very beginning, when the Frachella backpack was just an idea in my head – or even since the time of the street style blog. Our collaborations were completely natural and spontaneous – because of their qualities I\u2019ve included them in Frachella at the very beginning. They\u2019re the two people that I can share every idea, concern or worry with, the two people that I can ask for an opinion on every little detail. They\u2019re an irreplaceable part of the Frachella team. Almost a year after the backpacks Mateia came up with the swimsuit idea that I instantly supported without thinking twice and the first model of the swimsuit line was one that we\u2019d designed together. The collaboration carried on through the next year and is still lasting.
\nKatarina started with macram\u00e9 a little later, perhaps more for her own enjoyment. But I\u2019ve always encouraged her to sell her creations and show them to the public. And after years of support, friendship, crying and laughter came the only logical move – to include them into my online shop. I think of all these brands as something that is ours.
\nBohemia was the first to pop up when I was searching for woven baskets. When I was reading their story, which is very closely entwined with Morocco, I felt that this is a brand that would nicely complete the online shop. A week later their products were in my office.
\nAside from Bohemia the collaborations are like being a part of a family; not just Giakiara and Faithfully yours. There are so many people involved in Frachella\u2019s team that I couldn\u2019t imagine my life without\u2026 I consider myself the luckiest girl in the world. Man, I always get so emotional with these types of \u00a0questions!<\/p>\n

What\u2019s your motto and your plan for the future?<\/strong>
\nAs far as Frachella goes I try to follow the flow of life without setting goals. I love being surprised. It\u2019s the same with my personal life, to which I love to add as many carefree and happy days as possible. Most people would probably say that my personal motto is \u2018fuck it\u2019. The majority of the moments that make us stress out aren\u2019t worth it in the end. I work a lot on understanding negative moments, hard days and stressful situations. When I see that something isn\u2019t worth my attention or effort I just say \u2018fuck it\u2019 and move on. Take it easy and have fun.<\/p>\n

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\nAnswers:\u00a0Mateja \u0160kraba
\nPhotos:\u00a0Mark Kucler<\/span><\/p>\n

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