01. Where it began

A few years ago a friend of mine travelled to Hong Kong in the early 2000s and on a whim I said ‘bring me back something nice’. So she bought me a belt. It had a simple design that worked well, but, as most things tend to do, degraded over time. So a few years ago I tried to find a replacement but after months of searching and buying a number of really shitty belts, I gave up.

Everything was either poorly made, super expensive or covered in branding. Nothing was interchangeable so meant I was going to have to buy multiple belts. If it was interchangeable then it had been designed with moving parts that wore out quickly and failed to work properly.

A belt felt like a thing that could be beautiful, functional and made to last a lifetime.

I decided to design YOKU.

I started by taking some lessons in 3D design, realising very quickly that this needs skills way beyond my tinkering so I started to look for someone and, through another act of serendipity, I was introduced to Mark, an industrial designer and maker with a passion for beautiful design, challenging problems.

02. Why we made it

We shared a viewpoint that good design takes time and space so firstly created that. We both believed that a belt could be an object d’art. It could be made incredibly well. It could work like magic and most importantly it could be designed and made to outlast the person owning it.

We wanted to make a product that doesn't cost too much. Not so people will be able to buy a lot of it, but so a lot of people will be able to buy it.

YOKU is designed to be the most beautiful, well made, longest lasting and versatile belt in the world. There are around 200 million belts sold every year and most last no longer than a few years. 

03. What we believe

We believe, universally, that people want to be better versions of themselves. They want to find success and have an impact and they want to find happiness and harmony. In a finite world we believe that people want to make better choices, less often and they want to reduce the usage of resources their mere existence demands. 

Making objectively beautiful objects, that are functional and durable is our obligation and this belt is not merely the realisation of that principle but an idea we think people want to take out into the world. The duality of beautiful, functional design with durability is only 2 of the 3 things required to make good design, truly, world changing great. Affordability. We want to make a product that doesn't cost too much. Not so people will be able to buy a lot of it, but so a lot of people will be able to buy it.

I like to think that with YOKU we haven’t really created a product in fashion, but an idea in fashion. The idea of ‘One less thing’ A belt for all the people who care about beautiful, sustainable design for all.