Wholesome; a new independent streetwear store situated in the heart of East London.

When Kyle Miller and Kyle Hougham, both previous employees of Natterjacks in Kingston, set up shop they aimed to push the London streetwear scene forward. Equipped with an extremely favourable location, larger than life personalities, and a fan base that is rapidly growing, Wholesome have all the ingredients they require for organic growth and success. They boast accounts from leading US brands such as 10.Deep, Mishka, Rebel8 and The Hundreds, as well as some smaller London based brands such as Too Much Posse, like anyone else I instantly became fascinated by their project and so took the opportunity to speak to Kyle H and find out a bit more on just how much work goes into setting up and of course running an independent store.

When did you first become interested in streetwear clothing?

KH: I suppose I always skated when I was younger, into other things like music, and just being that little bit alternative, its kind of a bit of a dodgy term to use nowadays though isn't it, calling yourself alternative but it is like an alternative culture. I think I have always been into it since I was younger, so when you grow up its not just about going out all day on the street and skating or going to a show, it manifests itself differently, you get into different clothing because you don't want to be the same as anyone else.

How did the whole idea of setting up your own store come about?

KH: I met Kyle when I worked with him at Natterjacks so the dynamic of me and him running a store was already there, just it was for someone else. I know it’s a bit of a cheesy cliché but it’s always been a dream. I think it’s good to have a goal to want to do something for yourself.

How did working for Natterjacks, a leading store in the UK streetwear scene, help you?

KH: I think it helps big time in all the smaller things that you never thought you would have to deal with. Its all the really boring stuff such as the banking and the returns that you can really only learn through experience and hard work.

Has there been added pressure in opening a store in such a creative area of London?

KH: To be honest I think that's the thing that has helped us. Its a lot easier if you are in an area where people are creative. I mean Wholesome is different but not too different; people are very open minded here because they are creative. The mixture of people that we get coming in here is better than I thought it would be; we have all manner of different people from different walks of life. Some stores in this area are a lot crazier and are pushing things in a very fashion forward way so when someone steps in here and sees basic menswear and trainers that isn't too shocking, its fairly simple in comparison.

What brands are doing it for you guys at the moment?

KH: There are a few new ones that are really doing it for us that are coming into the store in the near future, like aNYthing, Acapulco gold, and Articalizm. Stuff that is already in the store that I think work really well is the new Mishka collection and same with Rebel8 which has sold really well, you've got to have love for those brands that are doing well for the business. And for brands that aren’t already in the store or coming in has to be Nike. I think they are one of the best brands but with 1948 up the road we are never going to end up stocking them. To be honest though I would rather that store was there than we had it and it wasn't, I think its a sick look for London and its good that we complement the area, so yeah that's probably the main one.

Do you have any interesting projects at present?

KH: The website, it sounds really simple because every store has one but ours isn't fully there yet. We are going to do things in a real simple, clean, classic way, similar to what we are trying to do in the shop. Other than that the Too Much Posse party in June is going to be the next project that we are going to be working on.

Can you tell us a bit more about what you have planned for the Too Much Posse event?

KH: Yeah, they have a new collection coming out for the summer and so instead of us just taking all the products and hoping to sell it, were going to showcase it in the shop. We are going to take down all the clothing that's in store and just have there stock repeated. We are going to get a friend of ours Luke Kempton, a tattoo artist, to give out free tattoos on the night right here in the shop, plus his artwork out on display and then maybe another artist exhibiting some of his work. Free drink, free food, people, music, all in store but I'm sure we will spill out onto the street which should be really good. We're not trying to big ourselves up and say that it's going to be the most amazing thing in the world but some free beer, fresh products, faces you know; I mean it can't go wrong really.

Are you looking to have more of an exhibition space around the shop or open up downstairs at any time?

KH: Yeah I suppose you could call that a project. I hope by this time next year we will have shop space down there as well, whether that will just be footwear down there or something else, I don't know quite how we are going to do it yet. Exhibition wise, we had Ricky Powell when we opened with those signed prints and we have another guy called Alex Swayder, who is a music photographer and has such sick prints of artists like Jay-Z, Ice Cube, The Game and stuff like that, which should be going up in the next week or so. I think they are going to be a little bit cheaper than the Ricky Powell prints, so hopefully it will be something that we can actually sell, which is good for him and good for us.

What do you want to have accomplished by the end of the year?

KH: I think just to have a cool store that people want to come to still. I think we have created that vibe in here and people do support us so we want to try and give something back by doing more events and just to build up something we have already started really. I can't really name one thing that we definitely want to achieve, like we want to be millionaires by the end of the year, but just to still be here with a cool store would be more than enough.

What three items are essential to get you through the day?

KH: Coffee, if we are going in order of the day that is, Skate 2 soon to be replaced by Skate 3 and probably just a sense of humour. If you let things bog you down too much it's difficult to get through the day, you see so many stressful things and encounter so many problems that its good to just learn to laugh them off

Interview: Sam Blenkinsopp

Photography: Shola Branson