Born and raised in Los Angeles, Asia Hall grew up in the world of fashion. Daughter of fashion designer Kevan Hall, known for having been Design and Creative Director of the Halston brand and since 2000 head of his eponymous label, Asia launched her Neon Cowboys brand in 2014. Running country music festivals and dressing celebrities in her neon hats, she now sells her midnight boots, LED face jewelry and lightup bandanas worldwide. After showing at New York Fashion Week in 2022, her collections were presented at Los Angeles Fashion Week last year. A foray into fashion that allows her to communicate the diversity of her creations.
FashionNetwork: How did you launch your brand?
Asia Hall: I grew up in the fashion world thanks to my father, Kevan Hall who used to be design and creative director of Halston and is now managing his own brand. I’m actually sharing my studio with him. It became like a family fashion house. I went to school for computer science and grew up with internet and computers. That’s how I merged fashion and tech.
FNW: Then you started selling your hat cowboys at country music festivals?
A.H: I’ve always been interested in lights and LA is the perfect city to be inspired by signs and lights. Neons are everywhere! I had the idea to start with hats but it took years and years of manufacturing. I eventually started selling my products at various music festivals and selling my neon hat cowboys to festival-goers. I did this for two summers, touring on my own. South, Mid West, East Coast, I wanted to understand what customers want before I invest too much money. Even if I was underselling, the experience was great.
FNW: Then celebrities started to buy your products?
A.H: Miley Cyrus was my first celebrity sale. We started prototypes for Stagecoach music festival. One of her photographers saw it and did a shoot with it. I had the stylist text and asked me to make more. Country singer Kacey Musgraves reached out in 2018 and we also did hats for her tour. This was followed by Dua Lipa and Missy Elliott. More recently, we created the hats for Orville Peck’s music video with Shania Twain.
FNW: Where do you manufacture your products?
A.H: We mainly produce in China but celebrity custom hats and apparels are made in LA. LA is the perfect location as celebrity stylists are based in LA.
FNW: In addition to hats, how are you developing your fashion brand?
A.H : We really want to be a pioneer in fashion technologies. Diversification is kinda tricky because the lights process take a lot of research & development. Our customers want us to make more products, but it usually takes one or two years to develop a new product. But we diversified with boots and we just came out with wireless nails. We made them from scratch, launched a first line, then tested it with influencers, gathered their reactions, then modified it.
FNW: You showed at New York Fashion Week and Los Angeles Fashion Week. Why did you choose the fashion week format to present your creations?
A.H.: We don’t usually do active promotion, but we want to show the public the extent of our creativity. We started with New York Fashion Week. We did a runway show with lots of clothes lit up by our lights. Noah Kozlowski, vice president of designer relations at N4XT Experiences, the organization behind LA Fashion Week, convinced us to participate in their latest edition as they try to promote Los Angeles designers. We had to work on one collection, focusing on the quick techniques we could implement for customers and celebrity stylists.
FNW: A show which you collaborated with was Marc Jacobs. Can you tell us about it?
A.H: We did a collaboration with the Ballroom House of Marc Jacobs for its show on HBO. They won the first season and wore our hats during the show. I asked them if they wanted to dance for our Los Angeles Fashion Week show and they agreed. The energy was crazy. We did 24 looks and the show was a real success.
FNW: What markets are you targeting?
A.H: LA is the number-one market and Las Vegas is the number-two market, two cities that host a lot of parties, bachelor parties and music festivals. Dallas and NYC are next. We also have a strong online presence. Our main problem is border taxes. For example, Brazil is our biggest market outside the U.S., but import taxes are 60% for a hat. Next come the UK, Australia and Canada, where major music festivals are held.
FNW: Is wholesale of interest for you too?
A.H.: Yes and no. We are sold at Urban Outfitters, but customers need to see the products in action. Selling online is easier. E-commerce is where we make our money from mass produced pieces.
FNW: Any more projects to come ?
A.H: We’re starting to collaborate more in the field of experiential marketing. For example, we collaborated on the Cash App during the Super Bowl. They’ve hired us to make custom pieces such as sunglasses and lightweight pillows. And we’re working on new projects. People want to see more avant-garde and new products. So we’re thinking of working more in-house, and we’ve invested in new machinery like laser cutters and 3-D machines. Our aim is definitely to become more local.
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