Yoki’s Garden X Newport Harbor
The city of Newport Beach is always finding new ways to be innovative, and its local highschool, Newport Harbor, is doing just that. Newport Harbors’ FIDM Fashion Club, DECA and Green Team have partnered with Jeff Yokoyama and YokiShop to create the Yoki’s Garden x Newport Harbor collaboration, where they upcycle and repurpose old into new, modern, apparel.
What is YokiShop and who is Yoki? Jeff Yokoyama, “Yoki” is not only a resident of Newport beach but also a designer. Yoki has founded, owned and/or designed for Maui and Sons, Pirate Surf, Stussy, Modern Amusement, Generic Youth, Pidgin Orange, Yoki’s Garden and YokiShop. In 2008 Yoki started YokiShop, a store along the bayside of Pacific Coast Highway. His mission statement is “Design different, Make different, Sell different”, promoting sustainability in the world of fashion. Which led to Yoki’s 2009 creation, Yoki’s Garden. This innovative program is an extension of YokiShop, in the terms of upcycling and sustainability. To create Yoki’s Garden, Yoki teamed up with schools and brands like USC, UCLA and Mater Dei to rework old uniforms and gear into new apparel. Because Yoki works with schools, he asked to team up with Newport Harbor students to create Yoki’s Garden at Newport Harbor.
@nhhsyokisgarden on instagram, @isabellegphotography
The FIDM Fashion club at Newport Harbor was the perfect club to approach for this partnership. Co-Presidents Scotlynd Bruns and Kiara Cortez, seniors, work with Yoki as the creative side of the project. Working as the program’s Creative Director and Head of Design they, and a select group of students, work together to come up with ideas for the apparel, and then create it either at YokiShop or the on-campus FIDM and DECA work room. The business side of the brand is run by DECA, Newport Harbor’s business club. Two of the three Co-Presidents, Logan Hardy and Isabelle Goodman, seniors, work on the project, Hardy as President and Goodman as Head of Marketing. Them, and a team of DECA students work together to run all things business like marketing and selling. Finally Newport Harbor’s Green Team is incharge of all things sustainability. At Newport, students can donate old clothes or teams can donate old gear and the Yoki’s Garden x Newport Harbor team will turn it into cool new apparel for students, parents, and alumni.
Left-right: Josh Dodman (DECA member), Isabelle Goodman (DECA Co-President, Head of Marketing), Kendall Stake (DECA Co-President), Logan Hardy (DECA Co-President, NHHS Yoki’s Garden President), Scotlynd Bruns (FIDM Fashion Club Co-President, NHHS Yoki’s Garden Creative Director)
What is it like being a part of NHHS x Yoki’s Garden? I asked some of the team and here are their responses. According to Bruns, Yoki’s Garden is, “ a group of passionate students who are trying to impact the campus in new, innovative, and sustainable ways. We are the first of our generation on campus to take responsibility for ourselves and are trying to reduce the waste we’ve produced by creating clothes from old, but not unloved, spirit-wear and jerseys. We give insight and learn how to start a business from scratch, from marketing to selling to sewing”. Goodman says her favorite part of the project is “all the learning opportunities I've gotten from the program and knowing that so many other students will be able to learn and grow from it as well”. Finally in the future, Hardy foresees, “a future of growth for the Garden, both in popularity and in our sales. We’re projected to make a profit well into the 5 digits by the end of the fiscal year, which is very promising for the first year of a program as ambitious as this one.” The experience of the project let alone the idea and impact is unbeatable and the Students of Newport can truly attest to that!
@nhhsyokisgardren on instagram, @isabellegphotography
So far this year Yoki’s Garden at Newport Harbor has made a tremendous impact on and off campus, along with an equally tremendous profit. The group of students that work on the project are truly an inspiration to their peers and community as they are taking Newport a step further into the world of sustainability. The future of Newport and our world is in the hands of kids like these, and based on the project so far, I’d say we are in good hands.