Street goes urban with CEO of Ova Da Wall Apparel and founder of Koherent Records, Wharton senior Sean Koh.
Street: Can you tell us about your fashion label?
Sean Koh: It's a fashion company that specializes in high-end urban couture. It was founded by visionary Jabir A. Rahman to show the injustices of the prison system, judicial system and parole system. Ova Da Wall encompasses everyone. Everyone has a story to tell. Everyone has some point in their life when they turn a negative into a positive.
Street: Where do you sell your apparel?
SK: Right now we are specializing in high-end boutiques so we find ourselves in the Culture Shop and also in Fusion on South Street. We have plans to expand to New York and the West Coast.
Street: Do you give clothes to people in prison?
SK: No, we don't. But the company was founded behind the prison walls by Jabir.
Street: Why was he in prison?
SK: It's a long story.
Street: How did you meet Jabir?
SK: We met each other through my recording company, Koherent Records. My legal name is Sean Koh, but as an artist, I go by Eskoh.
Street: Can you tell us about your designs?
SK: Yeah, we're trying to make them work with emerging fashions. No longer are people wearing the big white T-shirts and the large baggy pants. They're dressing up more, because hip-hop icons like Jay-Z and Kanye West are dressing more formally. We're trying to take advantage of those trends.
Street: Who are the designers?
SK: Jabir is our only designer.
Street: Why would black people want to buy clothing from an Asian kid who goes to Penn?
SK: Cause I'm nasty. Just kidding. I understand that they wouldn't want to buy stuff from a kid at Penn, so we have Pounds, a street rapper, and other street artists wear our clothes.
Street: Who are you selling these clothes to?
SK: Right now, we're selling to more white people than black people.
Street: Is anyone famous wearing your apparel?
SK: Yeah, last year at the Music Fest in Allentown, Pennsylvania, we got our clothes to Neo, Black Butterfly and Sugar Hill Gang.
Street: How much do these killa threadz cost?
SK: Well, right now, because all of our clothes are hand-designed and hand-made, we charge up to $100 per shirt. A blazer would go for a couple of hundred.
Street: What ad vice do you have for other entrepreneurs?
SK: Make sure you build a firm foundation with a solid product. Don't try to hustle something that's not solid in the first place.
Street: You're a Wharton senior now, so what are you going to do after you graduate?
SK: I'm trying to consider all my options. I might pursue an independent music career. I might go along with Ova Da Wall, which is what I'll most probably be doing.
