Classic with a streetwear influence: Paperstraight is shaking up the market

Anyone who speaks to Harith el Jilali and Randell Vliet senses an unmistakable entrepreneurial spirit Chemistry. After years of working together in the music and events industry, the two are now making a splash with the Dutch lifestyle brand Paperstraight. The brand will launch at German department store Breuninger this fall and opened its own pop-up in Amsterdam in April. There are more and more requests for their characteristic shoes on social networks. The two are working hard to expand the collection to include women’s shoes and clothing. Time to visit their Amsterdam office.

It’s a sunny Thursday afternoon in April. El Jilali and Vliet are busy preparing for their pop-up. The new collection has just arrived and is still piling up in the hallway. “We were only supposed to be in this office building temporarily because it was going to be demolished. But after four years we are still here,” laughs El Jilali. The go-with-the-flow atmosphere is immediately noticeable. It is reinforced when Vliet comes along. He’s the one who came up with the idea for Paperstraight.

The collaboration began when Vliet joined El Jilali as an intern. They then worked together in the music and events industry for years. At that time they were active in the house scene and represented, among others, the Dutch DJ Chuckie. They were successful for a long time. But then urban music experienced an upswing and more and more clubs and festivals decided against the big house names. The industry changed. El Jilali sometimes doubted whether he wanted to work in this sector forever, given the long nights. The pandemic literally forced them to a standstill.

This sudden stop caused Vliet and El Jilali to temporarily go their separate ways. Vliet went back to university and completed a post-bachelor’s degree in online marketing. “I was put in a class full of e-commerce people and really immersed myself in the online world,” he says enthusiastically. He soon told El Jilali that e-commerce was the future. The two then founded a small marketing agency. “We quickly had various customers from our network, including from the fashion industry.” But it started to rub. “At some point we always argued about deals. Then I thought: ‘What a fashion company like that does, we can do ourselves.’ I have always had a great love for fashion and especially shoes.” Vliet describes himself as a shoe freak.

This passion is directly reflected in the day-to-day roles within the company. While Vliet takes care of design, branding and the aesthetic direction of the collections as the creative head, El Jilali acts as the business engine with his many years of experience. He is responsible for the financial and business side. They manage the brand together with a small team.

A niche in the market

But which product do you choose as an aspiring brand? “The most important thing was that we stay true to ourselves. Something that we can wear ourselves and therefore sell to others.” After researching on social media and websites like Hypebeast, Vliet came across a shoe silhouette that spoke to him. A classic shoe, far from all the sneakers. “I saw influencers who are always ahead of trends wearing these types of shoes and thought: This is something good to test.”

Vliet’s enthusiasm was contagious for El Jilali. “I couldn’t place it at first. People were wearing New Balance and stuff like that. Randell said, ‘Listen, we’re making these shoes streetwear. This is the new generation. Trust me, with the right styling you’ll just wear this’.” And the rest is history.

It turned out to be the right decision as the shoes were immediately popular upon their first drop. At this point, Paperstraight also offered clothing. However, the company decided to respond to the demand for the shoes. The classic and timeless leather shoe received a thicker crepe sole and colorful laces from work shoes. The combination is refreshing and yet recognizable. There is a row of them in the office window. One with black and white laces, another with bright red or green.

The producer of this first batch of shoes is still a partner of Paperstraight. Looking for a producer, they ended up in China and visited various manufacturers. When they walked in on this man, Vliet recognized a like-minded person. His style is almost Japanese and his aesthetic fit the image they had in mind for Paperstraight. “I immediately thought: He gets it.” The brand has been working with him ever since and there has been a lot of consultation about the designs. “He really thinks for himself, in the right way. The dynamic is worth its weight in gold for us. This allowed us to make rapid progress.”

Physical touchpoint

As for the next steps, a retail presence is now being added. Paperstraight is specifically looking for wholesale partners so that people can try on items before buying. The Stuttgart fashion retailer Breuninger will be joining in September and there are a few other stores on the wish list. For example, the Amsterdam store Baskets and de Bijenkorf are mentioned. “Cool boutiques that carry brands we like to be associated with.” When asked, the entrepreneurs name brands such as Filling Pieces, Paraboot, Duke & Dexter, Vinny’s, Pompeii and Nude Project.

The move into retail is also reflected in the temporary pop-up. “Every brand needs to do community building. The time is ripe to continue building.” The two admit that they somewhat neglected the Dutch market when they started Paperstraight. “This product is such a niche and we found the Dutch market just too small for it. So in the beginning we mainly focused on the international market.” The brand is now successful in Denmark, Germany and Great Britain. She also has a growing fan base in the United States. “We think it’s important to show people now that we come from Amsterdam. We represent the city as a brand and we also radiate that in our content.”

There are already wishes for a permanent store of our own. “A kind of museum,” says El Jilali. “If people want to see and touch the products, we should be able to do that too.” Nevertheless, the biggest focus remains on online business. “We get most of the data from our own channels and e-commerce, and that helps us. The store then becomes a physical touchpoint.”

The transformation into a fully-fledged lifestyle label

As if that wasn’t enough, Paperstraight’s clothing range is also expanding. Although the focus at the start of the brand was more on the shoes, El Jilali and Vliet want to expand the brand into a full lifestyle brand. The brand’s signature is the same as that of the shoes: classic and timeless with a modern twist. Think various herringbone field jackets, a knit sweater and barrel jeans. “If you only sell shoes for five or six years, you will really be perceived as a shoe brand. We want to get ahead of that. If people have a certain idea of ​​how they want to dress, we want them to find everything they need.”

There will be no mass-produced goods, assure Vliet and El Jilali. “We want to keep the drops small, with a maximum of 20 different items. We’re starting carefully and want to flirt intensively with the clothing market,” said the two entrepreneurs.

Although the duo says they want to grow organically and not too quickly, closer inquiries reveal big dreams for the future. “It would be great to be an established name within five to 10 years,” says Vliet. El Jilali adds that opening a store soon would also be a nice step ‘so you can experience the lifestyle’. “Ultimately we want that in New York and Los Angeles too. Actually in all the big cities in the world. That would be a moment for us when we say: ‘We’ve done it’.”

To get there, there is already a phased plan for pop-ups in international cities. “We just want to achieve the goals. We have a plan for three to five years and we review the goals every six months. So far we’ve always been too fast,” laughs El Jilali. He puts it into perspective: “It will subside at some point, we know that too. We have been in business for 20 years. We don’t want to repeat the mistakes we made in the past. That’s why we don’t want to rush things now.”

Who else would you like to see in Paperstraight? “Lewis Hamilton. He is a real style icon. We would like to see him in our brand, and preferably as quickly as possible,” laughs Vliet.