How the collection came to be.
Home has always been a loose concept for me.
I grew up between Asia and the UK, and later New York — new cities, new people, always adjusting to new environments. When you live like that, you get good at noticing the things that give a place its character.
These days, home is Jingletown, Oakland — an old mill neighborhood by the estuary, full of artists, workshops and mural-covered walls.
The idea came to me on one of my morning walks across the Park Street Bridge. I got thinking about the things we unconsciously attach ourselves to — the streets, the buildings, the old signs, pieces of history that end up being how we remember a place.
That was the starting point: local history, the current times, overlooked details, worked into pieces you actually feel something when wearing. Quality fabrics, appealing textures, and printing techniques that'll age nicely with wear.
This collection is that — a little love letter to the place I call home.
In the lettering.
A sound that started as a jingle long ago — a train passing my window, rumbling as it goes. Motion turning to change, new technology shifting the structures underneath. A wordmark symbolizing what was, and the changing times.
What's next.
The Pop Mill started as an Etsy shop in New York City in 2019 and became a company in 2024, once I'd left the city and committed to it. The shoe store came first — custom work, bulk orders, a lot of designs to choose from. This is the start of something new, and it's focused: apparel first, shoes to follow.