Storytime: Wren and Of a Kind Go Way Back

Here’s a little tidbit we’ve been wanting to share but somehow never have: Melissa Coker of Wren was the very first designer we ever talked to about Of a Kind. When Claire and I conceived of the idea for the site in January 2010, we had no idea how anything worked. Was this concept pills crazy? Did designers want this kind of thing? How did retail even work anyway? 

I had worked with Melissa for a little DIY project for ReadyMade (RIP—frowny face), and we thought she’d be the damn near perfect person to chat with to, oh, quadruple our knowledge. She somehow agreed, and she told us SO MUCH—but not that we were insane. (Maybe she kept that to herself?) We’ve obviously been dying to get her on the site ever since. There were talks of a leopard cape back in the day, but when she told us about these batik-print shorts, we knew they were just the thing. So not only are these suckers the *ideal summer butt-covering solution* but they are also a total Of a Kind milestone. —erica