Kody Phillips

Kody Phillips. The Weight in the Details. An Interview by 713 Magazine.

Kody Phillips started shaping what would become his world. Not from a design school or fashion house, but from his bedroom in Ohio, a place defined by sameness, repetition, and school uniforms that lasted twelve years. That monotony sparked the instinct to create difference. To make something strange enough to feel alive.

The earliest versions of his clothes were mistakes that made sense later. A burger pouch sewn on by accident. A shirt revised hundreds of times until it became myth. Chairs turned into polos, zippers into problem solving. His brand grew from those fragments, forming a language that sits somewhere between humor and discipline, chaos and control.

Today, Kody’s clothes are known for their detail and their intent. The Lasso Shirt has become an emblem, the Rip Van Kody’s a quiet classic. Together they build a narrative that feels familiar but wrong in the right way. For Kody, the goal is not perfection, it is persistence, the act of making something until it feels inevitable.

Below, he speaks with 713 Magazine about process, mistakes, and the strange freedom that comes from doing it all yourself.

You started designing at thirteen. Did you ever have a visual trigger or emotional spark that made you think, this is what I’ll do?

“I actually don’t know. I didn’t think about it. I started at thirteen and have been doing it ever since.”

Growing up with twelve years of uniforms, all the sameness, how does that show up in your work now?

“It forced me to make everything interesting. You see the same people in the same uniforms for all those years, the same exact ones, so when you glimpse anything else from pop culture or real life, it feels nice.”

Ohio isn’t Paris or New York. How did being far outside the system shape your vision of fashion?

“I hate talking about Ohio.”

Ryan Seacrest’s jeans and blazer combo was a turning point for you. What did that moment unlock?

“It helped me put together weird ass combos. He was wearing you know Abercrombie boot-cut jeans with like a sports jacket and concert tee and at the time he was on the biggest show ever so you know I figured if he could do it, why not? And then it was a bunch of things that I already had or could find at home, so it was attainable.”

The Lasso Shirt went through more than thirty revisions. What kept you pushing instead of letting it go earlier?

“When I said thirty it was actually a very conservative guess, it was honestly hundreds at least. We made ninety alone here. It was conceptually an easy shirt, but getting it done was fun. You can change the shape, the stiffness, the metals on the buttons. It was also my first time getting hardware and trims customized from specialty factories which I had a lot of fun with. When you’re selling thousands of them you want them to be the best they can be and I also didn’t want anyone to be able to copy it, and that’s all in the details.”

What’s the best mistake you ever kept in a design, and why?

“The Burger Shorts. That burger pouch was not supposed to be sewn on. It was the first thing I ever made in bulk and in the mockup drawing the pouch was on top so the manufacturers thought it was sewn on the design. When we got the first sample we were like this sucks but we just left it.”

What’s the strangest non fashion object that’s ever sparked a garment?

“A chair. There was this French chair in a cafe that actually inspired the Mesh Polo.”

You and Ryanna sold furniture to make space for the brand. How does keeping it that close to home shape your work?

“You have to do it all the time. I always worked from home so it was weird for me to have furniture. It wasn’t weird to get rid of it. We only had furniture for like a year, the rest was always a studio. You can go from your bed right to work after breakfast. It makes you crazy but you do a lot of work.”

Hidden elements like the Perfect Burger Pocket or accordion pants — are they playful secrets, problem solving, or something in between?

“The Burger Shorts were actually an accident and the accordion pants were problem solving. We weren’t and still aren’t rich enough to make separate inseams for everyone and it’s too hard to guess so the zippers helped people adjust themselves.”

How much of your brand’s DNA comes from Ryanna and the people closest to you?

“A lot of it comes from Ryanna and the people closest to me. Matt, Gio, Johnny, Diego. It’s all a mesh. I’m still the lead designer but I take influences from them. Matt is a little bit of work-weary meets cowboy so we follow his lead and I’ll design around that. Ryanna has the polka dots and accessories and then I’m just me so I design that.”

In a different world and you couldn’t make clothes, what would you want to do?

“I’d be a mechanic.”

When bigger brands imitate your details or silhouettes, do you see it as validation or theft?

“I like it. I don’t mind it at all. First of all it means you’re hot and it was such a good idea that they thought they could also make money off of my money making idea. They never do it better and they certainly don’t do it cheaper so until someone does it better and cheaper I won’t throw a hissy fit. I just think it’s flattering.”

What do you think independent designers can do that big fashion houses never could?

“Pivot. Pivot on a dime. Changes are slow even when you’re at our size but we can just drop if we want. I could stop wholesale today and go strictly DTC, I could probably take my website down and I would probably still be fine. The power of the internet and being the face of your brand is great. We can also do way more creative stuff because there’s no plans or strict codes. Our campaigns can be edgy, silly, goofy and it’s fun. Only I have to approve.”

Do you feel more like an outsider breaking into fashion, or an insider rewriting it from within?

“I’m definitely not an insider yet but I also don’t feel like a complete outsider because nobody is mean to me, people seem to like me so I don’t feel like an outsider. I didn’t go to school for it, I’m not from here, I learned online and by just doing it and people still embrace me. I’m not rewriting anything, I’m just coming in as me.”

When people talk about the Kody Phillips era, what headline should they write?

“You guys tell me!”

If only one piece of yours could survive in a 100 year time capsule, which would you choose and why?

“I’m in between choosing the Lasso Shirt or the Rip Van Kody’s. The Rip Van Kody’s will probably age better but the Lasso Shirt is so beautiful and feels like a time piece. It would definitely be one of those and if I absolutely had to choose it would be the Lasso Shirt just because I personally like it more.”

When you imagine someone pulling on your clothes decades from now, what do you want them to feel beyond style?

“I want them to feel like they got something that nobody else knows about like a grailed or thrift store piece that’s a hidden gem from way back yonder.”

What scares you most about growing bigger, and what excites you the most about losing some control?

“Growing bigger is making it harder to find people on the same page as you. You have to find someone who can execute, isn’t dumb and then is also on the same page as you which is kinda hard. It takes a lot of time because you might find people who are good at their job but then you don’t jive with them so it’s like okay you’re good but I don’t want to hang out with you for 20 years. So then you have to try again and firing people really sucks. Plus I’m making this up as I go. Losing control doesn’t excite me but I’m excited about expanding and doing more real life in person stuff.”

What role does research, historical cultural or technical, play in your collections or projects?

“I just like old shit. It’s in everything but we don’t necessarily research it. It’s natural for me.”

What are your creative references?

“Unfortunately it’s such a boring answer but it’s things like door knobs, chairs, it was even a rock one time. But obviously there are collections that also inspire me and that I reference.”

Do you think the role of the designer today is closer to being an artist, an architect, a storyteller, or an entrepreneur?

“Probably storyteller. I wanted it to be architect but storyteller because there are a lot of brands that aren’t very good but they still sell and it’s because of their branding and storytelling. But secondary would be entrepreneur because if you put the leg work in you can still sell, it’s just harder.”

How do you decide what belongs in a collection and what should remain an experiment unseen by the public?

“If your first reaction is to cringe then it’s never coming out. But we make things every day, hundreds of pieces and after about the second or third time with a design you see the potential and whether it’s working or not and how to change it and make it work. It’s like Severance sometimes with the numbers floating, if you don’t know then you just pick one.

Explore the latest from Kody Phillips, available now at kodyphillips.com. A collection shaped by trial and error, humor and precision. Built through obsessive detailing, accidental icons, and the kind of persistence that turns mistakes into language.