OSSOM_B+B by George Papachatzopoulos

Ossom: Beavis and Butthead wearing Mohxa shirts

Let me present you the two Greek, young men who stand behind Mohxa. George Papachatzopoulos and Iason Pachos are the two sunny boys with the great business spirit. A brand that its name is inspired by the state of awaking, liberation and freedom in this life. Isn’t that great? If you are a man who knows what he wants and who has a good eye for adventures, I think I found the perfect clothing brand for you! If you are a woman, it’s still fine, as they plan to have clothes for us, too. In all cases, that’s a funky read, because these two are funny and witty. Plus, they find our name confusing and they have a good argument on that.

Mohxa by Daphne Iliaki

The Mohxa founders – Photo by Daphne Iliaki

To start from somewhere, what does the name of your brand mean? It sounds very exotic!

Mohxa {mò_xa} is a miss-heard and misspelled ‘moksha’, originated from Sanskrit. It’s the word for liberation from the vicious circles of life enslaved to ‘wants’ – it’s karma business, right there. There’s also this herb, ‘moxa’, from Japanese (mogusa, ‘mugwort’), used in moxibustion, as an ancient oriental remedy. We just blinked at that word, before we even grasp what it really means. It took the meaning of our liberation from a crisis infected sticky swamp to independent freedom land!

You know each other since you were kids. What was the moment when you decided that ‘hey, let’s start making clothes’? Take as on a flashback trip, we want to know your story.

We met when we were yay-high. We used to hang out and play football at the main square, started inline skating together and along with our gang of friends-it was all play for nostalgia. Although we were separated by circumstances in our late teens, we synced again at the space time of Paleo Faliro, in Greece, in May 2013. We had covered each our personal journeys, that led us, once again, at the same page of the ‘life book’, if you don’t mind the expression. The one had adventures with a camera and sports, the other sold clothes in every form possible and played music at night. We were both at the stage that we wanted to produce something. Something ours, that would suit our style and attitude. Something that we would ‘dress it’ with our imagery and visions. Something to gain our independency with it. So, one good morning, just from a regular and chill coffee drinking, we started putting things down. It was all clear for both of us, as the very next day we went for fabric scouting. Within two weeks, we had a first collection of shirts.

George Papachantzopoulos by Daphne Iliaki

Mohxa founder George Papachantzopoulos – Photo by Daphne Iliaki

Why did you go for men clothing? Except from the obvious reasons, that you are actually… men, is there another point on why you decided for it?

Well, you hit the nail on the head really, we’re men, we know what we like, we do it. We just needed a starting point. Men are simple, elegant, thrash-y… simple. None of us is a proper fashion design graduate to go for more elaborate designs, that probably women would appreciate more. That’s not our field. We ‘re more about that shirt you can wear to do your morning chores, go to work, steam out on a skate, go have dinner and maybe a drink at a bar-still on the same shirt and feel good on it, all day. Not saying that Mohxa won’t ever do women’s, though (hehe, sounds funny). We have a complete clothing brand as a target, that keeps pushing us, and there are great professionals to work with out there!

Let’s get down to work. What’s your creative process?

We cover a lot of needs for the brand, all of them, as a matter of fact, so there are always daily runs from yesterday’s tasks. There’s, also, a variety of directly or indirectly related activities such as drawing, designing, photographing, curating (pics, web, thrash etc) skating, walking around, drinking beer, playing ping pong, picking up fabric, printing.. from drawings, cards and stickers to fabric and authentication certificates for the clothe bought, designing and diagraming for print, handwriting for signs and DIY stickers, tie dying shirts, time scheduling new drops, testing products, negotiating with producers and suppliers, searching for materials technologies and solutions, setting priorities, daydreaming about next season, oh gosh this can go on for ever.. but yeah, it’s fun!

Jason Pachos by Daphne Iliaki

Mohxa founder Iason Pachos – Photo by Daphne Iliaki

On the tag we can read the brand’s name and under it ‘Paleo Faliro’. Paleo Faliro is your hood in Athens. How much does the area you grew up inspire you? What is so special about it?

It is indeed, it’s where we both grew up it’s where we ever did all we liked to do, where we met each other and this amazing core of friends, driving down from the centre of Athens its the first neighborhood that spreads by the sea, only 8 mins away from Acropolis, into the depths of the Saronic gulf. Paleo Faliro raises you street wise, and amazingly you can find a lot of ubiquitous uniquities,such as this word! There’s a wave breaker that one can climb and chill fish or dive, 6 meters high above the sea, it even has a shitty little left point break of a wave, just to make you feel good! Some kind of a carte-postale from another place, a message from California or something! The only difference is that there’s no bowls and skateparks around. Only that.

What else does inspire you?

It’s music, the albums, the Ep’s, the vinyls, the cassettes. It’s the sound, the live show, the dance, the groove, the flow, the guitars, the drums, the baseline, the expression, the party. It’s the lifestyle of appreciating all that. Also, the outdoors, the waves, the mountains, the lakes and rivers, the trees, the plants the animals, the concrete jungles and the uniqueness of each one’s ‘line’ through one’s moments, and the art of this. People that have something to show, people with a good taste, and the things that people with good taste have to show. It’s inspiring to indulged.

What are the challenges of starting up a new clothing brand?

Everything is a challenge, even to discover the challenges is a challenge. The biggest challenge is to accept the challenge.

Mohxa - Photo Gertrude Gary Milk

Photo by Gertrude Gary Milk

We live in the era of the social media overload. How much do they help to get you rolling and to spread the word about Mohxa?

It’s what gave us the strength of belief. It would be a whole other game without it, for everybody. It’s almost like a parallel universe scenario, there’s a home for everybody on the web. We’d love to see and meet everybody in the web, getting informed, seeing what others do, talking-exchanging… buying Mohxa clothing… it’s amazing!

From your own experiences, what advice would you give to someone who is about to start?

Just do, envision and do. Repeat. Learn. Repeat. Every beginning is hard and sometimes beginnings endure years.

I have to say here that I love your clips on Vimeo. I find them very smart and I have the feeling that you are starting up something fresh there. There is this chilled out vibe and the descriptions under are a wonder! What’s the idea behind these clips?

Hahah, thanks, not a big idea really, its more sharing our own moments with you, kinda as it is. We like making videos, all kinds! They don’t have to be huge, serious or high end productions in order to say what we feel like saying.

Mohxa - backpack 1

As I noticed, you focus a lot on the skate and surf subcultures. Would it be something interesting for you to collaborate with a sports brand? Is it something that you are planning or wishing for?

It comes naturally with our wish to do these things, the focus part. We also love collaborations-we already had one with color skates, a local skate shop. Good stuff, real hard working skaters and workers, who made these shirts and video awesome experience and we surely daydream with more. It’s a great way of interacting, productive interacting!

Tell us some words on your new collection.

Navy blue, velvet terracotta, ceramic cotton, mustard yellow, cotlé sweat or shirt, broid skulls, wet ying yangs and ossom aliens. Raglan.

Very important: how can we find you?

On mohxa.com . Hub to our shop, Vimeo, Instagram, Facebook and Ossom blog. And soon, we’ll have a new page!!!

Last but not least, our magazine is called ‘Nothing But Hope And Passion’. What does that mean to you?

It’s a beautiful name, but with all respect, I would stop at ‘Nothing but hope’. Hope drives you to the next day and the next, so why not put on a good CD, while you’re at it. The mix of passion and hope scares me. Passion, I want to do it, now-hope is in the future, passion for hope-hope for passion…Totally different meanings, conflicts. It’s charged, I’m confused.