One internship: that’s all it took for @NimaZaribaf to make his mark on the fashion world. Like many of you, I want to relate to the people behind the brand, so I enjoyed catching up with Nima about his journey, love for the process and nurturing up-and-coming talent.
J.E.: Your job looks glamorous.
N.Z.: I joined a startup before it was a startup. It was at a time when paying interns was not mandatory. My responsibilities included taking out the trash and building the office furniture. Driving across town to buy supplies that were no longer needed by the time I got back. Unpacking boxes, printing shipping labels, repacking boxes. Following up, coordinating with UPS. At the end of the day, I loved every second of it. Not for a single minute did it pop into my head that I was deserving of any more.
N.Z.: For anyone who wants to enter an industry like Fashion where the workload can get extreme, you really have to fall in love with the process. People post memes about Kobe Bryant and Mamba Mentality all the time, but Kobe loved that process, he loved being in the gym. Not everyone is going to blow up on TikTok and become a millionaire overnight. You have to respect your process and those steps at the beginning, and remind yourself - If I keep working at this, I’ll be able to do something else one day. It’s a journey.
N.Z.: As an employee, the only thing you’re entitled to is the opportunity to show up and do the most you can. One of the things really gratifying to me is when we hire a new intern and I say, “I started exactly where you are and I worked to where I’m at now. If you do the work, nothing is impossible. Love that you’re an intern. Love the process.” And it’s great to see that intern move up in the organization.
J.E.: How did you arrive here?
N.Z.: Very early on in my childhood I definitely identified that I was leaning more towards creative interests. You know, very quintessential childhood creativity - drawing, writing short stories, trying to take whatever game we were playing at recess to another level. I always had a knack for telling a story.
N.Z.: My parents were really supportive of that. For immigrant parents that came from Iran - where creativity isn’t necessarily a beacon of success and going to school and getting an education is much more important, it was hard for them to understand at first. Although I felt more creative, I still showed academic talent. I was in advanced courses and my teachers reached out to my parents and told them I was running through lessons with ease and that they should find ways to challenge me. At a certain point academics stopped being an interest for me. I went from getting straights A’s to failing classes and ultimately decided to drop out of college two weeks into my first semester. My parents were definitely concerned.
J.E.: I can relate! Did you find solace during this period? Where?
N.Z.: I found solace in my creative pursuits and the greatest one became music. For the first twenty years of my life, I was pretty certain that was what I was going to do. I graduated high school, all my friends moved away. I was left in LA by myself. I was pursuing music full time and passing out CD’s in Venice Beach and paying out of pocket to perform at dive bars on Sunset. Throughout that process, no matter how farfetched my dreams and goals were, I never visualized them as unattainable. That’s something that’s been strong in me from the beginning. I always felt if I worked hard enough I could accomplish whatever goal I was going after.
N.Z.: Around that time I was approached by Mike Amiri. He had already been in fashion for many years. I was eighteen and hadn’t signed up for college classes yet. He said, “If you have some free time, I could use some extra hands around here.” I was a teenager with no experience, so he wasn’t asking me to help him run the business or do anything serious. It was taking out the trash, mopping the floor, quality control - labor intensive stuff. On my first day, I was on my feet for ten hours straight and my fingers were blistering from this quality control stuff I was doing. At the end of the day, I felt like I was at home, though.
J.E.: Did your upbringing prepare you for the opportunity?
N.Z.: The one thing I will say, Iranian parents or just immigrant parents in general have a stigma that they’re super strict and hard to please. That’s not necessarily the case. The most important thing in Iranian culture is family. That’s number one. Iranian parents love like no other. I think part of the rigidity is ultimately them wanting the best for their children. They’re thinking down the line and want us to create lives for our children and our families. My parents may not have always understood my career choices, but they always reinforced work ethic and dedication. I reference a lot of the lessons they taught me to this day.
N.Z.: My father and I always had a mutual understanding. When he left Iran, he went to Germany and got a degree in aviation engineering. When he got to the U.S., he realized engineering wasn’t his passion and decided not to pursue it. He wanted to own a restaurant. He started as a dishwasher, then server, then manager in Miami. Then he opened his first restaurant in Old Town Pasadena. He always understood that chasing your passion wasn’t just about grabbing low-hanging fruits. He could’ve gotten a job at PanAm and made a great salary, but that wasn’t where his heart was.
J.E.: Did we ever discuss the Polo G. song, Rapstar? Billboard number one, over a billion streams. He was going to name the song, “Amiri” but couldn’t clear it.
N.Z.: I wish you had told me that so we could have helped! It’s always an incredible feeling to see your work recognized. Mike has always been super organic in his approach as a designer. He didn’t embark on this journey with the mindset: I’m going to make something and get someone to wear it. His focus is making the best product possible and I think that resonates with people. He’s building the wardrobe for the modern day rockstars so it makes sense that someone like Polo G loves the brand. He’s one of the rockstars of our generation.
N.Z.: So many kids who want to get into fashion want to get into it for prestige. They see certain designers out there partying with rappers and think that’s what it’s all about. I was never interested in impressing anyone or being a cool kid at the club. I was at a pivotal point where I didn't know what my path was and I felt a lot of pressure to figure it out. As soon as I found a place where I belonged, I was fully bought in. People see how large and how recognized the brand is now, but at the time, if you told me it would become this big, I don’t think I could have comprehended it. If you told me it would be three of us in a basement design studio for 20 years, I would’ve been OK with that. It was more about a personal connection and feeling like I had a purpose. That spirit has stayed with me throughout my career.
N.Z.: I am extremely passionate about everything I touch. Everything I do, I put my heart into. I’ve been relentless in my pursuit and I never let myself feel content. Yes, it’s really satisfying to finish a report, get a promotion, get a raise. All these things are great. But as a generation, we have an issue with complacency. People feel satisfied and they don’t go after the next goal or next accomplishment. For me, I’ve always treated every step of my journey as an opportunity to go after the next thing. To this day, I’ve never been satisfied. I habitually work and do things with an effort that not every person is willing to match. Working is an addiction. I’ve been addicted for many years now and I don’t plan on rehabilitating that at all. If you’re looking for me, I’m probably somewhere working.
J.E.: What’s next for you?
N.Z.: I don’t have any interest in walking away from this painting before the canvas is dry. There’s plenty of canvas left. For me, it may be a never ending story here. Until this brand has reached its full potential and until I feel like I’ve done everything I can to help it get there, there’s no reason to do anything else. I don’t compare what we’re doing to other brands or my work to other people. You have to stay true to yourself. While I’m not in competition with anyone, I’m absolutely in competition with myself everyday. The part that people don’t consider about becoming the best is that to become the best, you first have to become the best version of yourself. Everyday is an opportunity to become the best version of myself. I am so lucky to get to go through that journey in parallel with a brand that is still ascending to its highest form. We’ll see. I’d love to have my own brand or a few someday.
J.E.: Last thing, I usually like to ask people, do you have anyone you want to shout out?
N.Z.: Special thanks to Mike Amiri, the AMIRI Brand team, and all the colleagues and friends who have helped me throughout my career. This one is for you, Dad.