The list of leading figures in the German fashion and streetwear scene can be reduced to a few names. One of these people, Moubarak Assima the founder of MOUBSEN.COM, should be known to most, we had the honor to talk to him about his work, his history, and of course about shoes.
But let’s let him speak for himself:
Hi Moubarak how are you? Can you introduce yourself to the Afew Fam?
I am fine! I hope you are too! My name is Moubarak Assima and most people call me Moubi. I am 26 years young and grew up in the north of Munich.
How did you get into streetwear and the fashion culture? What was crucial for your development?
Through hip-hop, I found my way to streetwear/fashion. I’ve been celebrating rap music for as long as I can remember. The first artist I ever listened to was 50 Cent. In 2006 on Viva, I saw a music video of him where he was really dressed up. I can’t remember exactly which track it was, but it influenced me a lot.
Around 2011, when I was 14, I started a mandatory internship at 874. Every Munich resident who loves streetwear must know the store. The internship appealed to me, so much that I worked there, and was paid with clothes. During that time, I got to know brands like Stüssy, Dickies, Bape, Lee, etc. It quickly became clear to me that I definitely wanted to make a living in fashion and work with cool brands. Those were great times.
How would you describe/define your current style direction, what makes you stand out?
I hate it when I get asked the question hahaha. I like simple streetwear, I like casual wear, but I also like high fashion. I think my style reflects those elements.
One brand always stands out on your Instagram account and in the magazine: C.P. Company. Where does the affinity for exactly this brand or for functional clothing itself come from?
Back then, when I was getting to know and researching Stone Island, I came across C.P. Company. However, I was way too broke, to buy any of their pieces at the time.
In 2018 I got my first C.P. Company cooperation request through Fake.PR – a PR agency. I’ve been able to work very closely with them and I’m very pleased that C.P. Company is getting recognised more and more within the German scene. Simultaneously the interest for functional clothing in general has definitely risen in Germany as well. This is also where my affinity for functional wear came from.
What is your view on the rest of the culture in Germany?
I have to say that the German scene is moving very slowly. It is slowly improving; however, I think it lacks personality. The hype still makes many blind. But I enjoy every single fit I see, where you can tell that thought has been put into it and it just fits.
Your magazine moubsen.com should be a familiar name to most readers, what brought you to your own magazine and what is the exact concept behind it?
My photographer at the time encouraged me to start a blog because we took a lot of pictures for Instagram, and we had so much content left over. She also had a blog at the time and suggested the idea to me.
I just thought to myself: “Why not?”. However, my grammar was really crappy, and I just uploaded pictures until Adrian Bianco urged me to start writing the magazine. Greetings go out to Kaj and Adrian!
The concept is simple: I write about what I like.
In your magazine, everyone who takes place in fashion culture will find an interesting article. Which of your projects was the most interesting for you personally?
Good question. There are really some things that I think are cool. My first big editorial for adidas. The Serious Klein interview. I also really like all the C.P. Company editorials. I just can’t decide.
What was your highlight of last year? What was underrated? What had the potential for an article?
I think my highlight from last year was the Zig Kinetica II from Asap Nast. The colors and the Silhouette work super well together. I really didn’t think much about something like that, which was ‘underrated’. But if anything was underrated, it was the Nike Shox from Skepta. When they came out in 2019, I went to Solebox with a homie (greetings go out to Benno) and bought them there. We thought that something would be going on but on the contrary. Nothing was going on. Today the Stockx prices are ridiculously high.
What hype I also found cool and will always find cool is the one around the Nike Air Max Plus aka TN’s. It is a classic and always will be. You can see it wearing almost every teenager in Munich. Since I was 18, I wanted to buy the ‘Sunsets’ but couldn’t afford them, because the resell prices were also very high back then. Unfortunately, I missed the 2018 release because I was broke again. The TN even made it to moubsen.com. A shoutout to Jonathan for the article.
What’s coming up for you next year?
My team and I are currently working on the launch of my brand “Harakiri Studios”. For a few years now, we have been working on a total of five pieces. Three have been finished. I am so happy about the output because the pieces are really good. The quality is on point. We can say that we’ll go online soon. The first pieces we will go online with are a black shirt and pants made of Tencel and light spandex, which is a set. And last but not least a balaclava made of merino wool. A shoutout to Jannik, Retro, and Iris! I really have the best team.
