Timeline
September 2004 – Vik launches arkadash at the “Cloth” Fairtrade Fashion Show in Leeds, selling Gossypium, Epona and Hug clothes.
March 2005 – Chan launches Kitnkabu in Manchester, printing cool designs on Howies organic cotton t-shirts.
September 2005 – Chan & Vik meet at Manchester Student Market, selling not so much to the stoodents…
October 2005 – launch of arkadash e-commerce site, thanks to Paul W. Big kiss.
November 2005 - Chan says, “Let’s open a shop.”
December 2005 - Vik says, “Err, maybe…”.
January 2006 – Yes, let’s do it! A partnership is formed! (over tea and cake in Leeds Corn Exchange).
March 2006 – The grand opening of our shop, Charlie Chorlton Arkadash, at the beginning of Fairtrade Fortnight. We stay up all night getting the shop ready before opening day. We’re very excited… Chan’s band play for our launch party; it’s a chilled out vibe, man.
February 2007 – Jump forward a year and here comes baby Boris Arkadash, in Headingley, Leeds, so Vik can walk to work instead of commuting over the M62. Launch day is our biggest single day of business yet.
May 2007 – Captain Kam, tallest man in retail, comes to do a college placement with Boris and stays.
July 2007 – Chan’s got some news – she’s having a baby!
October – November 2007 – Groovy new staff arrive at Charlie, ready for Chan going on maternity – Beth, Hannah and Fi are fab.
February 2008 – The Grand Entrance of Seven Scott-Gibson, Chan’s gorgeous baby boy.
July 2008 – After much soul-searching we decide to put Boris into suspended animation. Leeds customers cry buckets.
Jan 2009 – Credit crunch, blah blah blah. We’re pretty tired and fed up and decide to put arkadash on the market.
April 2009 – Credit crunch, blah blah blah. Nobody’s buying, but there are some people who might want to buy in.
August 2009 – The buy-in doesn’t work out but we’ve got our enthusiasm back, so it’s Chan and Vik, still at the helm!
October 2009 – Lots of new ideas jumping around – a revamp in the shop, a new look for the website, new product lines, an arkadash blog, a new direction for kitnkabu!