KLTRD Nobody City Transit: Connecting Communities Through Purposeful Collaboration

Cubao and Makati, geographically, often feel like worlds apart. The thought of going from one to the other is filled with images of cars flashing red lights, minutes spent spacing out into the windows , or seemingly-endless queues and packed trains.

But there’s also one common thing that runs through both of these cities—the six-mile line, EDSA. This line connects and brings the two worlds together, making us feel that it really isn’t so far apart after all.

The same analogy goes for the subcultures in these cities. While Makati is known as the fast-paced ‘No chill city’ and Cubao is its laidback and chill Northern counterpart, they find commonality in a budding and established street culture that eventually led to local, purposeful brands—best represented by KLTRD and Nobody. And representing Makati and Cubao, respectively, they came up with the KLTRD Nobody City Transit Collection to harp on this connection. And to talk more about the KNCT project, we met up with the brands’ members; Finn and Kyle from Nobody, and Tofu, Mong and Mojo of KLTRD.

Connecting Makati and Cubao

It was through their mutual love for local street culture and movement that they found themselves in a ‘tambay’ session one day discussing their first collaboration with one big idea in mind—to connect.

It started as simple as a single T-shirt collaboration, which eventually evolved into a full-blown collection, with a much deeper meaning. “The process took time. We brainstormed a lot so our idea expanded from one t-shirt to an entire collection with a variety of product range,” said Kyle of Nobody.

“Even our big idea grew throughout the process. At first, our big idea was just to connect our cities, Makati (KLTRD) and Cubao (Nobody),” Mong of KLTRD echoed. “However, we realized that we wanted to have a deeper meaning in what we were doing. It’s not just simply combining our design aesthetic. We wanted to celebrate and inspire future creators to go beyond just the products when they create.”

Going Beyond Fashion

While design will always play a role in what they do, both KLTRD and Nobody want to highlight the importance of utility and purpose. Aside from clothing that represents both brands’ identities, the City Transit collection includes products like an umbrella, jackets, towels, and a multi-purpose card, which you can also use in the MRT—these are items that a regular Filipino commuter uses.

“At the end of the day, we look at these items as means for us to deliver our concept. It will not end with just us coming out with our product line. It will ultimately lead to our desire to connect—Makati and Cubao, with our audience, and the community,” said Kyle.

Doing it for the Community

Four months of hard work, countless MRT rides, numerous late-night Facebook conversations, and multiple tambay sessions later, the KLTRD Nobody City Transit evolved and embraced a much bigger vision. And they can’t wait to show this to the rest of the community during their collection launch on March 17, 2018 at PURVEYR Post.

“It’s so much bigger than ourselves now. Of course, we still want our fans to see it, but we want to bring brands and creators together, and to create and talk about ideas among one another. We want to bring excitement back to the local street culture through exciting projects and collaborations,” explained Mong.

“Through the event, we want our supporters to be exposed to other brands as well because there are such vibrant scenes in different areas in the country like Bulacan, Davao, and Escolta that only few people know about and the event can be the vessel for that” Finn added.

And that, to them, is taking their big idea ‘to connect’ even further. It’s not just about connecting Makati and Cubao anymore; it’s about connecting the community as a whole.

The KLTRD Nobody City Transit Collection will be launched on March 17, 2018, 3PM at PURVEYR Post. Visit this page for more details.