About It's OOAK
Curious about who It's OOAK is, what we do and why we do it? Then you've come to the right place!
Hey Hello!
The face - and hands - behind It's OOAK is me, Willemijn :)
Together with my boyfriend Nick, our dachshund Guus (the real boss in the house) and in May our son (exciting!) I live in Tilburg. With a handy father and a creative mother I learned the art of creative thinking and doing things just a little differently at an early age.
I worked as a marketer, creative in advertising and as a concept developer at an innovation agency. Sounds like a dream, right? But honestly, I didn't really feel at home anywhere. During my last job as an employee, I ended up in a burnout that turned my world upside down. What first felt like a blow, turned out to be exactly what I needed to discover what really makes my heart beat faster:
Unique products with a story, working with my hands and inspiring people to be themselves. And that's how It's OOAK was born in 2019, a brand where creativity, sustainability and originality come together.
Psssst
Our secret ingredient
At the thrift store I was looking for fabric for a DIY. My boyfriend showed up with a tie, because the print was so pretty. "So little fabric?" I thought, but it was indeed beautiful, so I took it with me. What I wanted to make with it failed, but with the last bit I made a scrunchie.
That scrunchie (or actually tie) got me thinking and soon I discovered a treasure trove of hidden ties in attics and closets. All once worn with love and too beautiful to be forgotten, so we give them a second (or third?) life.
It's OOAK?
The abbreviation OOAK (which you pronounce as It's "OOK" for convenience) stands for “ O ne O f AK ind” – exactly what you and our products have in common!
We are all about the things that make you unique. That is what you should be proud of, and we would like to celebrate that with you!
Because the fabric of pre-loved ties is limited, we make one of each item. This way you always have something unique in your hands (or in your hair). We do this in our studio in Tilburg, where we use as much deadstock and residual materials as possible in addition to thousands of ties.
Working with existing materials stimulates our creativity and forces us to think in possibilities within 'limitations', which inspires us for new products and unexpected combinations.