David Chu Interview

Raised in Taiwan, David Chu enjoyed making sketches of his family and friends. In common with some other fashion designers, he originally wanted to be an architect. He never had any ambitions of becoming a designer until as a young man he attended the New York's Fashion Institute. His teachers there persuaded him to try fashion design.


David had been difficult to pin down for this interview. Nautica was obviously keeping him extremely busy. Finally I got to ask him a few questions:

"Where do you get inspiration for your designs?"


That's a tough question. You start with the toughest one!
Actually, as a designer, inspiration comes from many different places. The places I travel, the people I meet,a whole bunch of different things.
Since Nautica is really a lifestyle concept, I get a lot of inspiration just observing different things in places that I've travelled to. Also, I look through magazines and the books that I get, so every season is slightly different.
It really is hard to answer that question. Sometimes when I travel I'll see something that is really unusual, that inspires me. I come home and design a whole collection around it.


What do you enjoy designing the most?


I enjoy designing, period. It depends on the day and the collection I am involved with. I really jump in with everything I've got. Tackle it with full engines. Because a design process is really a state of mind. It's how you think and how you solve problems. And how you see a new way to create an existing concept.
For instance, for the past six months I've been working on a home collection, which has also given me a tremendous amount of ideas of how we do our sportswear.
I've been very fortunate, because not only are we doing menswear, womenswear, childrenswear, now I'm involved with homeproducts as well as accessory products. It gives me ideas all the time. For example, when I was working on the home products, I saw this great new furniture that I'm working on - Seagrass and braided rattan chairs. How these materials reflect the light. How they combine with white canvas it gives a very clean effect, so, maybe I'll take that concept - that really dark seagrass - and take it into a bomber jacket, with an off-white corduroy, so it gives a very similar effect.
So, I might take one idea from a collection and use it in another.
This fall I'm working on Hudson Valley, New England, upstate New York-inspired ideas, so I'll take some rugged outdoor blanketing and put that into the home furnishing collection.


Your homeware collection is not just sheets and linen, furniture plays a big part?


We have everything. Sheets, towels, we're working on silverware and ceramics. Anything at all to do with tabletops, and right now we're working on flatware for next Fall. We're developing another couple of ideas, we want to include quilts and blankets.

Describe a normal workday.

There is no normal day here! Everyday is an adventure.
It's managing the chaos... we don't have a routine here. Even though I do a lot of development everyday, most of my time is spent at product design meetings. But every meeting is different, so I won't say it is a normal day. Usually when I get into the office in the morning, I'll spend an hour or so talking to our people that handle the business side, the marketing, the accounting. I'm involved in every aspect of our business. After that I'll spend from mid-morning in my studio, to about seven at night. I spend really long days here in my studio.

When you do finally get home, how do you relax?

I try get home around eight and I spend time with my family. We travel a lot together, we go to Asia, to the Islands when I can.

Where do you spend your vacations?

I like travelling. In fact next week, I'm taking a week off and going to India. I've been to many different places. I go to South America, China, quite a lot of different places.
The trip to India is for pleasure, I haven't been there for 15 years. I'm going to do some catching-up, see what's happened since I was last there. I shall probably spend a couple of days working. The last couple of years I've done more travelling, in March I was in the Galapagos Islands. Traveling gives me energy and inspiration.

What do you think of New York? Do you live in New York?

Actually I live in Greenwich, Connecticut. I'm planning to move back to the city next year. I love New York, we moved away from it two years ago, and I think it's time to move back. I'd get to spend more time with the family. If we lived in New York I could leave the office at 7 o'clock and be home at 7:15 instead of 8 o'clock.

Where do you get your clothes?

I pretty much wear the stuff that we design. We do have tailored clothing, we have casual, we have jeans, so, I choose something from the collections.
Once in while I'll see something else that I really like. I like surplus stuff. A lot of the time when I'm travelling and I see something, say at the flea market in Paris, I'll get it. I like to get ideas, looking at different things. I don't have a particular style, I like simple things like, plain khakis, a turtle neck, and some polo shirts and I'm done. Being a designer you want to be thinking less about your own look and concentrate on the product you're working on. That's more important to me.

Who is the Nautica woman? How would you describe her?

The Nautica woman is very similiar to our Nautica man. She's a counterpart to our men. It's a woman that I think is modern, young in attitude, witty, and enjoys casual leisure, outdoor type activities. She appreciates classic ideas but also wants to be modern.

Have you got any advice as to what I should be wearing, as a women?

This fall I think, a little more fitted, maybe a nice turtleneck, and a good three-quarter length blazer is a good idea. And a slimmer pant is a cool way to go about town. Fabric is very important. This year fabric with stretch is a great thing.

If I was going to choose a dress, what would I be looking for?

Something simple. Not too long, a shorter dress, again the fabric is important. For a fall dress, wool, a little more draped, with some stretch to it. The new technology fabrics are a good idea. Something simply cut, fitted closer to the body, nothing fancy. Simple and elegant in a stretch fabric. I think it's about fabric right now.

Any shopping tips?

Accessories are good. Something simple, like a good belt. In jewelry I would look for a simple design, but bold.

What goals do you have for Nautica?

Nautica today is quite diverse. It's a lifestyle design company that's involved with mens, womens and childrenswear, all the accessories, the home products. So, I think it's not really how big you want to build it, but,to stay focused on what I believe is right for our design idea. For the person that I think is almost like me as a customer. I design really for my type of generation. One that appreciates classic things.
Whereever that takes us is fine. I don't have a particular goal - how big we should be. Really, to do the best design, the best quality, give good value and that's all we're looking to do.

How did you get involved with Glen Rice?

When we launched our Competition sneakers, because it is a performance line, I wanted someone who had creditability. Glen was available to us and we chose him to endorse our sneakers. He helps us get the message out there, that this is a real performance product, not just a fashionable sneaker line.

A last question: Any plans for a website?

We're thinking about it. We haven't really got to it yet. We're working on something with some internal companies to develop something like that.