SKINNY LATVIAN

Hello, my name is Ivars and I created ‘skinny latvian’.
It all starts with epiphany (a.k.a. A-HA moment). Idea about ‘skinny latvian’ was born during a walk across the Harbour bridge in Sydney (for some it’s an apple tree, for me it was the bridge). I wanted to do something on my own for a while, just was not sure what it was. I wanted to create physical things, that you can touch, feel and point at and say ‘I built that’ (you can’t do it with a powerpoint presentation). At the end, the answer was obvious, it’s been staring in my face (literally) all along.
I’m a tall, skinny guy (6’5” or 1.96m, weighing 82 kg) and always struggled to find pants or jeans that fit me. I need long legs (36”) and skinny (32”) waist and nobody does that. All the pants that I’d try would be too baggy or too short. I hated shopping. I’d go in-store or browse online and find something cool that I’d like, then I’d press on the sizing chart and inevitably my size would not be available. So close, but so far. If you’re tall like me, you probably can relate to my pain.
So then it hit me, if other retailers can not be bothered to do clothing for tall, skinny guys, I can do it myself. With 10 years of marketing background, passion for photography and brand building, I had the perfect skill set to get this going, so here I am.
In September 2013 I quit my day job in media and moved back from sunny Sydney to moody Latvia (where I grew up). As I like to joke, Latvia is a ‘halfway place between UK and China’. All our clothing is designed and manufactured in Latvia (which is part of European Union and Eurozone).