Talking about What Matters: Gray Matter’s Kristian Gray
With trends ever-changing and the need to seek timeless essentials that look great in one’s capsule collection or simply one’s fit, curating pieces isn’t an easy feat, and finding the right place to scout them has proven to be a task on its own.
Take it from archivist and curator, Kristian Gray, who had his fair share of struggles as a selector - individuals who pick and buy pieces from thrifts, and ‘ukays’ to collect and sell. 6 years in the game, he established Gray Matter, a showroom with his share of handpicked, coveted pieces from an array of esteemed brands and designers, be it streetwear, avant-garde, Americana and the like, which cater to the fashion savvy.
To know more about what it's like to be a selector, The Third World team sat down one-on-one with the archivist and curator himself, Kristian Gray, who gave us an exclusive tour of the showroom and talked about his process from starting off as a buy-and-sell to developing Gray Market as a whole today.
Q&A
TTW: Thank you for taking the time to sit down with us. Please introduce yourself, and tell us how the concept of Gray Matter came about.
Kristian: So, here I am, I’m Kristian Gray of Gray Matter, and we are here today at my showroom. Everything here is for sale, for rent, or other purposes like pull-outs.
Gray Matter has been up for 6 years, so I’ve been doing this over the years, but it’s been a decade since I started doing buy-and-sell stuff in general. I started as a sneakerhead - I buy something that is on hype and sell it before the hype goes off. I made a lot of profit on it, so that’s how I got the funds to create the brand, Gray Matter.
So everything here is from thrifted, second-hand items, and these are all handpicked pieces chosen by me. Eto yung taste na binuo and those I’ve been looking for and have collected over the years until now.
T: We also heard you were verified on Grailed, which not a lot of curators have in the Philippines, and a lot of people vouched for you. Tell us more about that.
K: When Gray Matter started in 2018, I was also doing buy and sell locally in the Philippines. That time, I also started doing Grailed to sell pieces internationally. Everything [sold on Grailed] were handpicked and curated pieces from well-known brands - luxury, streetwear, avant-garde, workwear, Americana, and the like.
Gray Matter on Grailed achieves the ‘Verified’ status.
T: What was the most expensive item sold on Grailed? How much did you get it for, and how much did you sell it?
K: This Louis Vuitton Monogram Bomber Jacket from 2021 after the era of Virgil Abloh. I didn’t get this from a thrift store directly, but I bought it from somebody who’s also from the same line with me as a selector. Selectors are what we’re called, and are those who pick and buy pieces from ukay ukay. So, I bought it for around P55,000, and I sold it for around $2,800. It’s one of my highest-sold pieces.
T: You first started thrifting at Ukay Ukays to build your inventory. Now that you’ve become a go-to, how’s the process of being at the openings of the Ukay Ukays to now dealing with deals online or on call?
K: That experience is something I still look for. It’s really different when you buy from the Ukay stores. You will see the feeling, the vibe, the excitement, the fear. It gets messy and there’s a lot of riots and chaos over wanting to get pieces inside the ukay ukays, so there’s competition.
Now, I’m making negotiations and deals online as I don’t really have much time to go to thrift stores anymore. I just buy through selectors who still get pieces from the Ukay Ukay.
T: What was your best, and worst experience at the Ukay Ukay?
K: This best experience for me was this huge thrift store located at Olongapo. It’s far from Manila, but they have the best boxes and supply, and they dropped a lot of gems, like mostly luxury brands. The racks had a lot of legitimate luxury pieces. The curation there was really good, and we really got a lot of awesome pieces - archive, rare, and of high value. So, that was the best experience when I went to the Ukay Ukay.
Worst experience? There were a lot of times that were kind of near-death experiences, not just for me, but also sa mga kasama and kawork ko. There were times where glass doors were broken as we were about to enter, so there’s chaos. From time to time it happens, until now, it happens more frequently, because there’s a lot of new people going with us who are also selectors, and are from the new generation. So as time goes by, the number of selectors is going up.
T: Have you ever had any problems with sourcing, or dealing with scams?
K: A lot of times, and until now I still experience this, but it’s important to communicate with other sellers and people. It can happen anytime – there’s no perfect bill, and there can be undeclared flaws from the sellers. So, there are cases where a lot of pieces I receive are fake.
It’s just how you handle it with the seller – how you talk to them, how you’ll make the deal lighter ganyan. Some sellers are usually open to resolution lagi, and it depends on how you communicate with them. If you approach them when you’re mad even though kasalanan nila, they won’t be open for resolution, so you have to take it lightly, and you have to be professional.
T: On a more positive note, who were your favorite people to work with?
K: One of my favorites are yung mga local hiphop clients dito sa Philippines who helped me from the very start and helped me have a showroom in BGC, and in Poblacion dati - si KARTELL’EM (@kartellem). They helped me fromthe start nung wala ako sa position especially si Nebs (@ne7in) from Dial 7, Waiian (@waiianworldwide), Yorko (@blimpshady), and everyone from Kartell’em. Sila No Limit (@nolimiteverywhere_) rin, they helped boost *apescape (@apescape.tv), which is the account that features my Bape collection.
Internationally, yung mga favorite people na kawork ko, or well-known who bought from me – sila Lil Yachty, Drake, and Jennie from Blackpink. There’s a photoshoot where Lil Yachty wore the piece na binili niya s’akin, and that was before pandemic.
T: From selling clothes and starting Gray Matter online 6 years ago to having this showroom in BGC, do you have any plans on having a bigger showroom, or expanding?
K: I want to expand more, especially with space. For location, I want to bring it back to Makati – maybe Poblacion, or somewhere in Ayala, especially where people can appreciate archive pieces.
Besides that, I want to bring Gray Matter internationally. I’ve been working with a lot of people, even in LA until now, kasi I worked with higher level sellers, who are also selectors with the same purpose as me, except they get pieces para sa mga hiphop artists abroad.
I want to target countries that have fashion-centered cities, such as Paris, Tokyo, LA, even Dubai if ever, or any country that would be open to this type of business.
T: Given the selective community and lack of curators and selectors in the Philippines, what would be your suggestions, or advice on people interested in getting into this path, and stepping up their game?
K: I’ve been in the game (as Gray Matter) for six years already pero sa 5th year ko, I experienced yung pinaka-malaking step up, or adjustments sa pieces ko.
I also had to consider marketing, and connecting with people. So, it’s about networking din. There was a time I went to my shop in Poblacion just to connect with people, and putting up a shop is investing a lot of money, especially now where online lahat. Every transaction’s done through post, so it wasn’t ideal to have a physical store. I set up my first store in Poblacion in 2023 with a mission to network and connect, and dun nagstart kung bakit meron ako ganito ngayon – I just really connected with people.
I went out a lot of times, attended events, projects, and photoshoots – kung ano man yan basta lumabas ka at magusap ka sa mga tao and build your brand, because you’ll have to start from there.
I-serve mo talaga yung purpose mo, because before, I kept focusing on money and selling, pero ano ba talaga purpose mo talaga sa ginagawa mo? You have to do something that’ll change the community, the world, or something meaningful.
Assisted by: Xavier Bautista & Maj Veloso