Naivety and plagiarism. Like most grassroots streetwear brands, this was the starting point for Jehucal.
While studying at university and working at a pizza restaurant to make ends meet, 19-year-old Jehu-cal Emmanuel Enemokwu (also known as Emay4k) designed his first tee. Printed with a picture of Martin Luther King, he had asked permission to use the photo from a source that will remain undisclosed, but, he didn’t really care for the response (which was, predictably, a firm no). Having maxed out his overdraft to make the T-shirts, Enemokwu dropped the release anyway and it swiftly sold out. Jehucal had arrived.
To say Enemokwu wasn’t prepared to start a streetwear brand feels like an understatement. His first brief to a factory, a bulk order of Kill Bill-inspired tracksuits, didn’t include information on how the tracksuits should fit. In the end, they were all too small and the majority got returned. And the brand’s first big drop, a collection of mainly heavyweight hoodies and track pants, was released during one of the hottest summers on record. Needless to say, the sales were poor.
And yet, unfazed by a string of rookie errors, Enemokwu built Jehucal to be one of London’s most exciting — and successful — streetwear brands.
By 2020, its Till Forever tracksuits would sell out instantly, as would its newly unveiled printed bags. The brand also started to get some big collaborations under its belt: drinks company Chivas Regal came knocking in 2022 and so did the FA Cup and Levi’s a year later (Enemokwu also tells me an NFL collaboration broke down at the last minute). Meanwhile, everyone from Arsenal footballer Emile Smith-Rowe to supermodel Anok Yai was wearing Jehucal.
However, things weren’t quite so rosy behind the scenes.
“On the surface level, Jehucal was where I wanted it to be: it was getting good awareness, it looked great, and big brands were reaching out for collaborations,” says Enemokwu. “But the problem was that the brand grew faster than I expected, which sounds like a good thing but it’s not when you haven’t sat down and made a financial plan. When I started at age 19, there was no plan other than to quit my job making pizzas.”
Enemokwu decided to take a break from the brand. A three-month sabbatical turned into a one-year hiatus, with Enemokwu rethinking the brand’s purpose and improving its craftsmanship. Now, Jehucal is back and taking its elevated streetwear up a level.
You’ve had a year away from your brand, what’s the biggest thing you’ve learned in that time?
The first thing I learned is a more personal thing: I learned what’s important. When you’re in the thick of it, running a brand and traveling and doing shoots, you start to focus on things that aren’t actually very important — like Instagram likes or what parties you’re getting invited to. That stuff is so fickle.
When I took a year out, I didn’t go to parties or events unless it was to support my friends. I didn’t really go anywhere. My health and my family’s well-being are more important to me than being a guest at a cool party and getting drunk.
What can people expect from this new era for Jehucal?
During my time off, I learned that I don’t work better under pressure. I have taken the time to structure my ideas, flesh them out properly, and really think things through. I spent so much time sitting on Adobe Illustrator, testing things out; I’ll sit down and stare at the same jumper for like 2 weeks.
You’re going to see a lot more trial and error — hopefully more trial, and less error. Also, there’ll be more consistency. Our first drop in September was over 30 items, almost the same amount as what we put out in the year before last. It won’t be that [amount of products] every time [we drop a collection], but you can expect a wider range of garments where I’m testing out new ideas. I’m taking risks with new silhouettes, new fabrics, and new colors. I was quite boring in my color selection before, but now, for example, I have a fire and ice zip jumper coming out that is an orange hot ombre [color].
I also noticed in the product descriptions for all the new items that they go into a lot of detail about the fabrics.
Yeah, [the new materials are] a massive level up. I took the time to fly out and sit down with the producers and understand the fabrics.
That feels like a development that started before you paused Jehucal. When you moved into leather accessories and bags.
You just reminded me! There will be a new Jehucal bag, hopefully [releasing] this year. I wasn’t going to do one until next summer but I got so many messages asking about the bags. It’s probably the only item we’ve made that we get a request for nearly every day. Even when we were shooting this collection, a model asked for a new bag. I didn’t realize it was that big of a thing.
The new ones will be a level up compared with what we did before. They’re not going to be printed, they’re going to be embossed.
You’ve had quite the ride with Jehucal over the years, what’s your proudest moment so far?
My family is Christian and in 2019, I got asked to do London Fashion Week by Ejder (a long-gone store that was a pillar of the London streetwear scene). The BBC News came and interviewed me and my parents told me their pastor came up to them to say he saw me on the news. That was a great moment for my family and for me personally.