Fira X Wear’s Vincent and Jasmine James on embracing licensing with Born to License

Founded in 2021 in Atlanta, GA, the idea for Fira X Wear was sparked on a pandemic walk in the park between co-founders and married couple Vincent and Jasmine James.

Vincent thought it would be a great idea to mix cosplay with swimwear. Jasmine, a well-known cosplay influencer known as @CutiepieSensei, created “beach episode” designs of her favourite characters to test the appeal on her social media. After online trolls said swimwear couldn’t be cosplay, the two decided to build a brand based on the idea to prove the naysayers wrong. While the designs can be utilised for cosplay, the main focus was to create a premium pop culture fashion line designed with everyone in mind.

Vincent, Jasmine, it’s great to catch up. You’re working with the team at Born to License to enter the world of licensing. Why was now the right time for this? What do you feel it can do for your business?
Now is the right time for licensing because we’ve proven our product and built an audience of ‘true-fans’. We’ve proven that customers desire unique, ethical and high-quality clothing. We feel that licensing would not only help to propel our business and grow our audience, but also show the world that our vision and passion is legitimate and has an official ‘stamp’ of approval.

Did you have any concerns about entering licensing?
Our biggest concern about entering licensing was our vision and ethos being distorted due to corporate objectives and processes. Our vision is to truly merge the high-quality, premium fashion world with the wonderful world of pop-culture. There is a difference between the label of ‘merchandise’ and ‘fashion’ when it comes to clothing. As a small brand that’s enthusiastic about creating partnerships in the licensing space, we also worry about making mistakes as a new entry to this space.

How has Born to License helped make this jump smoother?
Born to License has been an amazing partner to work with! They have a large network and help us tremendously by connecting us with licensors, advocating for our brand and vision, as well as just guiding us every step of the way. We are thankful for Born to License and look forward to a hopefully long-lasting and growing partnership.

Is there anything that’s surprised you about your licensing journey to date?
We’ve been surprised at how many licensors will not work with businesses that have not had a license before. It draws similarities to searching for a career. You need experience to get experience, which makes your first career impactful to your entire career. In the same way, we feel that our first licensing partnership will be pivotal for all licensing partnerships moving forward.

Without saying anything that you can’t say, what should we expect from this licensed collaboration that Born to License has helped put together with you?
Our upcoming collaboration is something many of our fans have asked for and are looking forward to. We continually seek to grow our brand’s presence in the anime community and we believe our upcoming partnership will be the perfect opportunity to bridge anime merchandise with innovative, fashionable designs. Overall, we are excited to bring something new to this audience.

Nicely teased! Now, what do you feel is the key to successful creative collaborations between a company like yours and a brand owner?
We feel that the key to any collaboration is honest communication, the ability to offer something new, and mutual respect and passion for a brand.

Guys, this has been fun. One last question, how do you fuel your creativity?
First and foremost, we are inspired by all the creative media we’ve grown up enjoying and still enjoy today! Our combined backgrounds in costume design, game design, manufacturing, and technology help us to look at fashion from a very different perspective than the typical clothing brand. Bringing the combined passions from all of these fields helps to fuel our creativity as well. Lastly, positive feedback from our customer base continues to inspire and fuel us.

Fantastic! And good luck with your licensing debut!