Aryan is a psychologist who wanders around looking for a goal. Finally, he went into business and built NBDN in 2011. Meanwhile, Hamzah (Co-Founder) only joined NBDN in 2015 while working at an offshore company for an oil company in Indonesia. They have experienced the ups and downs of NBDN together. Not taking any profit for a full year was the toughest challenge for Aryan and Hamzah and they tried to survive on their savings and struggled to build a brand so that it could stand firm.
The name NBDN or nobrandedon sparked when Aryan saw Levi’s. He notices the new jeans are blue and after wearing them, they start to fade and have an effect on certain parts. This fascinated Aryan because a pair of jeans would have a unique character on everyone. From this, the name nobrandedon was born, which consists of two syllables, namely no branded and branded on. “From something that was nothing to something valuable.”
At first, NBDN received little appreciation from local Indonesians, so they finally tried to change the concept, starting with leather patches, paper patches, and fabric patches, and finally, they tried sashiko patches. Even though it’s heavy, they make sashiko patches almost every day until 2 am. This Sashiko patch was the turning point for NBDN and eventually received a lot of appreciation from many communities such as America Denim Hang, Europe Denim Hang, Thailand Denim Bro, and so on.
Why should Sashiko patch? They say that NBDN has the concept of Human-made, Human-taste. Based on WABI-SABI from Japan. “A perfection in imperfection”. Starting from word of mouth, from reviews here and there. Finally, in 2018, NBDN received an invitation from Amsterdam Denim Days to represent an Indonesian brand for the first time. At the same time, NBDN made it into the Inazuma Festival in the same year and even made it into Lightning Japan magazine for the first time.
Being an Indonesian brand that is included in ADD, Inazuma Festival and Lightning Japan magazine is certainly a matter of pride for NBDN. Uniquely, Aryan once dreamed that NBDN would be able to enter the Inazuma Festival. That time, in 2012, Aryan wrote down his dream on a kite “I want NBDN to enter the Inazuma Festival”, then he flew and broke the string and the kite flew somewhere. After 6 years of hard work, the dream was finally achieved in 2018.
Without having a physical store at all, NBDN can penetrate the world market. Then nothing is impossible if you struggle. If you want to buy the prouct they have, please kindly check their official website at www.nbdndenim.com or their official instagram @nobrandedon_ina. Watch the full story on Youtube Indonesian Denim Anthology Asamgaram EP.1 – Penetrating the International Market Despite Not Having a Physical Store.