Peter Okatch always wanted to be involved in the fashion industry in some form while growing up in South B estate in Nairobi and he never let go of the dream at any point in his life.

Okatch sat his Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCPE) at Moi Educational Center in Nairobi West before joining Strathmore High School for his Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE).

So, when he graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in International Business Administration from the United States International University (USIU) in 2016, it was natural for him to establish King Sidney.

Peter Okatch. PHOTO/COURTESY KING SIDNEY

The designer says King Sidney specialises in men’s special occasion statement jackets.

“Of late as we continue to try to be innovative. We have begun to produce unique metal tie pins and lapel brooches. We really believe in innovation as the main driver of our business and try to always come to the table with as unique a design as we possibly can.”

PHOTO/COURTESY KING SIDNEY

Okatch says he imports his fabric from Europe then his team of tailers stitches the coats locally.

“We believe we have possibly the best tailors in East Africa. I know everyone says that about themselves and it’s something that’s really difficult to measure, but the quality of our offering speaks for itself.

“We do not custom-make. We import the fabric, make two to three ready-to-wear pieces of a singular design then close out the design. We always try to be all about the consumer.”

King Sidney with his tayloer Eshiwani Aywa. PHOTO/COURTESY KING SIDNEY

He believes custom-making all the coats he sells is more advantageous to his clientele.

“We incur all the risk on their behalf and come through with beautiful readily available pieces that he can select for his upcoming function.”

He mainly focuses on blazers because his younger brother Sidney, now deceased, used to love wearing them and he decided to name his business after him.

“So, initially we were doing smart casual blazers. But as the quality went up and we understood our customer’s needs better, we specialized in only special occasion blazers, dinner jackets and tuxedos because most men tend to bring their fashion a-game only when the occasion really calls for it.

“Otherwise these guys would wear bathroom slippers to the office if unsupervised by their lovely wives.”

PHOTO/COURTESY KING SIDNEY

Okatch has also sold some of his well-stitched pieces to a few celebrities and big names in the political arena.

His recent clients include Foreign Affairs Chief Administrative Secretary Ababu Namwamba, former Nairobi Deputy Governor Jonathan Mueke, activist Boniface Mwangi, former Transport Permanent Secretary Irungu Nyakera and media personality Jimmi Gathu.

“Sell, not give out for free. We never ever give out for free…ever! Because of the quality of our pieces and the high cost of production based on not taking any shortcut with high-quality raw materials, the trade off on a free arrangement simply wouldn’t be worth it.

“And the quality is really high. For example, we’ll use pure silk for the lining, which means, our lining could cost us as much as Sh4,500 for a single jacket. Compared to the polyester lining that most use that retails at Sh200-400 in total for a single jacket.”

PHOTO/COURTESY KING SIDNEY

He says his business is customer-oriented and does not consider his jackets as premium.

“Whenever we look at the market we do so from the point of view of the customer. So we’re not a business that sits in the category of premium jackets. We actually consider ourselves special occasion consultants for our clients and aim to sort them out one at a time.

King Sidney is partnering with other brands to do magazine-style special occasion styling for customers.

PHOTO/COURTESY

“This idea came about from real life. Whenever we sold the jackets to a customer, they’d make us shop for everything else that goes with it. And since we pride ourselves on exceptional customer service, we’d find ourselves shopping for the customer’s shoes on Thursday despite the fact that we’d already sold him the jacket as far back as Tuesday.”

Okatch has his eyes set on the regional market and eventually become a global brand.

“The goal in 5-10 years is to be East Africa’s premier premium men’s wear brand. Africa’s Gucci, so to speak, but with an intense focus on special occasion wear.”

PHOTO/COURTESY KING SIDNEY

As a designer, he looks up to Tom Ford.

“Whereas most international luxury brands can tend to have a lot of unnecessary hype around them, Tom Ford’s stuff usually tends to be quite desirable. The skill is visibly there in addition to any hype they’ve managed to create over time.”

King Sidney which operates under the site kingsidney.co.ke is located on the first floor of Karen Triangle Mall in Karen along Karen Road.