Collection:
Komono Softies
Anton Janssens and Raf Maes are former professional snowboarders who spent a decade distributing fashion brands after their riding careers.
In 2009 they asked themselves a simple question: why do we keep doing this for other people? Fashion had discovered accessible luxury, but in accessories the gap remained wide open.
And so Komono was born in Antwerp — Japanese for small things: watches and eyewear carrying design from the city of fashion avant-garde, at prices that don't sting.
Antwerp is no mere backdrop.
Komono has long collaborated with the city's renowned fashion academy; collections have referenced Belgian art including Magritte, and a partnership around Basquiat's legacy followed.
The recipe worked: two snowboarders became a brand sold in more than 80 countries, with shops from Antwerp to Tokyo.
Yet the essence stayed small, exactly as the name suggests.
Watches that tell the time and pretend nothing.
Eyewear bold enough for colour and experiment, because it doesn't cost a month's salary — go ahead and buy three for different moods.
Komono pulled off something rare: translating the radical vision of Antwerp's fashion school into everyday objects without turning it into caricature.
Avant-garde with no admission fee.
And because the collections rest on timeless shapes rather than seasonal flash, pieces from the earliest years work just as well today.
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