Natty threads
Fashion meets function in Ehsani, a new brand of versatile streetwear with eco-kindness at its heart. Stephanie Smith talks to its founders, childhood friends Jordan Bassue and Chris Powell.
We expect more now from our clothes than we ever have. After a year of lockdowns and pandemic measures, there is a fresh attitude to fashion. We want, and need, it to do more, both for us as human beings, and for the world in which we live.
Leeds-based fashion brand Ehsani launched in May last year to offer ecofriendly streetwear. It began with its Global tees, designed to style down, perhaps with jeans, or up, maybe with a blazer and leather trousers. “We also bring a sense of functionality and versatility,” say founders Jordan Bassue and Chris Powell. “Our Defiant Hoodie embodies this with our MA1 front pouch, which stores and holds everyday essentials.”
Ehsani’s first venture into loungewear came with the Deviant tracksuit, described by the pair as “our lockdown piece”, made in fleece cotton, in olive with black embroidery. “Again, we wanted functionality with this so we used
zip pockets, hardly revolutionary, however, so vital and appreciated in loungewear as it is common for keys, phones and make-up to slide out of pockets while slouched on a sofa for hours into a Netflix binge.”
The resulting comfort and practicality means this has become a bestseller for the fledgeling brand. The tees are made mostly in California via a Leeds-based supplier, with other designs made in Pakistan. The Memento Mori tee has a skull design. “Our intention is to remind people that we only have one chance at life,” says Chris, who leads the design process, although heavily influenced by Jordan. Their working relationship, they say, is one of trust in each other’s visions and strengths.
Chris is single, and has three children with his former partner. Jordan lives with his partner. Both are 30 and from Leeds. They first met when they were 13, then they both went to Notre Dame Sixth Form College in Leeds. “Since GCSE Business Studies in high school, I knew I wanted to own my own business one day, but needed money to live, so I chose not to go to university and started working,” Jordan says. His parents now work for the council but had multiple jobs to provide for himself and his sister as they grew up. For inspiration, he looks to Jerry Lorenzo, American fashion designer and founder of luxury streetwear label Fear of God, and also Denzel Washington for his persistence and overcoming rejection.
After school, Chris studied Sports Coaching Development at Leeds Metropolitan University. Music, art and the environment are his greatest influences. “How art can be worn, how it is synonymous with music. Clothing has always been a statement for me,” he says, adding he was particularly inspired by Kanye West as well as UK garage music, the fashion of the 90s and 2000s, and by his mum, Deborah Powell, who works at Leeds Art University. “I was surrounded by eccentric art, loud fashion and was inspired by how vibrant the college was,” he says. His auntie, Kaz Shaw, showed him how to be bold and different through her famous Leeds club night, SpeedQueen.