Gappiya takes on the clothing industry one slogan at a time
Tharindu Wijesekera’s channel on YouTube, essentially a platform for his alter ego “Gappiya” to freely dispense some humorous social commentary tips from the inside of being Sri Lankan in a foreign land has slowly but steadily grown its following. Now closing in on 100,000 subscribers, the Gappiya channel has found its way in to the local apparel industry with its unique collection of t-shirts bearing the channel’s own gems of comical wisdom.
Tharindu
While on holiday a few years ago, Tharindu noticed that trying to find a Sri Lankan t-shirt with sayings in Sinhala being a tall order. Prompted by his longing to have his own clothing brand and considering the gap in the market, “ (I) decided why not start one inspired by sinhala letters,” he tells the Mirror Magazine via an email interview.
Run entirely online ‘Gappiya Clothing’ can be accessed through gappiyaclothing.com. Currently operations are run on a small scale, Tharindu tells us. However, it is still Gappiya who is at the helm of the operations. “I do all the designs myself. I take care of all the marketing and the website front end. I have a small web company looking after the back end for me.”
The merchandise while unavailable in a physical store could be purchased through the website or through Kapruka, Amazon or Ebay. The feedback has been surprisingly overwhelming, he says adding, “I started this as a hobby and didn’t think people will like it so much. However, over the last couple of months I realised I needed to treat this as a proper business.” The online store currently sells t-shirts as well as posters and sunglasses with more additions to come in the future.
With the clothing store and the Gappiya Channel itself complementing each other, where fans of the YouTube channel have now become the majority of the customers, Tharindu feels he would like to see the clothing brand be given a space to “grow its own personality,” he says. Perhaps a thinking he lives by considering the many changes his subscribers have been introduced to along his channel’s journey.
Christened as ‘Gappiya’ during his schooling years at Nalanda College, Tharindu was always fascinated by computers and especially graphic design. Having found himself in Australia for studies, the channel was born out of a curiosity to explore on one hand and boredom on the other.
Either way it has seen him sing, dance and rap and convey some comedic thoughts in typical local humour in a most candid manner. From a rapper that has seen the otherside of the expats fantasy of living overseas, to the Sri Lankan living the dream to the frustrated boyfriend who struggles to please his girl, he has played them all.
“I think for the most part, I was focusing on making quick funny videos. Now I am bored doing comedy so I’m experimenting with the long form of content with a bit more cinematic feel. I still use the same equipment,” Tharindu says of the changes in the type of videos on the channel. These days the channel uploads tunes on to google music, while also allowing subscribers to view some of his animated story telling techniques in mini cartoon short films. He has also started a ‘Gappiya School’ section teaching viewers the how- to’s of video crafting.
“I started a new positive thinking channel called Gappiya Thinking mid this year. This is aimed at young people in Sri Lanka and it’s slowly starting to make it’s own place in the Sri Lankan YouTube scene,” says Tharindu of his recent endeavours.
Having been in Australia for a good part of his career, he stays plugged into Facebook feeds to get a feel for local youth issues saying the new generation face almost the same challenges as he once did. “They still have the same issues we had so I still feel connected and relevant. I think that’s why I wanted to start this “thinking” channel in the first place. I don’t think they are thinking fresh (or different) yet,” he adds.
Putting thought into the crafting of his videos, he says he is not too worried about if the videos will get picked and go viral. For him it is about creating something he can be proud of adding “I’m focused on capturing my own feelings and hunger rather than my audience’s need to be honest.”
While Tharindu is mindful of what he creates and projects through his videos, for him it is about continuing a conversation with himself.
“Having thousands of fans appreciating what I enjoy creating is a wonderful thing. (But) I am still in a deep conversation with myself to dig down what exactly drives me. I think it changes with time but for the most part being creative excites me.”
(LHP)
Pix courtesy Gappiyaclothing.com
