Konstantin Georgakis, known as Kosta Williams, is a fashion influencer, entrepreneur and father of two children. In the 27th episode of the "Normal Gets You Nowhere" podcast, he talks about his beginnings, gives insights into the influencer business, into his own fashion label as well as his inspiration, drive and goals.
To protect his identity, the Pharrell Williams fan named himself "Kosta Williams" after his inspiration in his social media beginnings, which were around 2014. Today, this name has become kind of a brand, which is why Kosta Williams does not want to give up on his artist name.
Today Kosta has one million followers on Instagram. In addition to IG, he shares his fashion tips and outfit inspirations on YouTube and TikTok. In response to an audience question about fast fashion, he answers in the podcast that he thinks it is a difficult topic because there are people who can’t afford it differently. He tries not to consume fast fashion clothing, but due to fashion trends it is job related not always possible to avoid, Kosta says. Instead of fast fashion, he prefers high-quality and durable basics. When it comes to brands, Kosta doesn’t have a favorite, he only pays attention to the looks - no matter if it's high street priced or couture.
The influencer himself produces more than he consumes on social media, because consumption robs him of an enormous amount of time. But if he is browsing he uses Pinterest to get outfit inspiration. As a father of two, he tries to work efficiently and that is why he, for example, shares a link through which you can get the pieces to his entire outfit, instead of answering all of his followers individually via direct message. The massive trust of his followers is shown by the fact that his recommendations lead to sold out items. This success led him to advertising deals with top brands such as Fendi, Cartier, Farfetch, and also to his own collection with one of the leading e-commerce fashion platforms "About You". For his first paid deal, the creator's got 100€, which was incredible for him in his early days. Over time and with increasing reach, he has understood the value of his work for other companies which made him earn big money depending on the advertising deal.
He has built up his reach together with Daniel Fuchs (@magic_fox, 3.7 million followers on IG) and Sandro Rasà. This collaboration was a great motivation for Kosta and together they also founded their own fashion label "Foràge". The label is used to perfect fits through many years of fashion experience of the creators. Kosta’s goal is to make the brand successful regardless of their faces, so that the brand can stand for itself. Kosta’s plan for next year is to spend more time on the label to push it to higher heights. Foràge is not the first fashion label that Kosta founded. In 2014, together with Sandro, he founded the label "Cool Kids Cant Die", but the two lacked the necessary know-how back in the days, so they did not continue to work on this label.
After his training as a tax clerk, Kosta studied business administration and regardless of this background he was then hired as an art director at Snipes by Ismail Boulaghmal ("Isy B"). Decisive for this job was his social media experience, which was still a hobby at that time. Less than two years later, Kosta set up his own business as an Instagram creator in full-time and has been a successful fashion influencer and entrepreneur ever since. His drive is his passion for fashion. Now he's able to make a living out of his hobby - and in order to continue to do so, he knows he has to "deliver". That being said, the young entrepreneur will continue to entertain, educate and inspire his community by posting fashion content on a daily basis. When it comes to his own inspiration, Kosta says he's not depending on other personalities but rather finds inspiration in everyday situations, other people's outfits and social media content.
Kosta Williams chose his own path. He's born original and inspires others with his story.
Who inspires you? Shoot us a message on Instagram or via socialmedia@bornoriginals.com, so we can get in touch and see if we can arrange an inspiring talk with this person as well.
You can now listen to this and other inspiring stories as we put this talk into a podcast episode on normalgetsyounowhere.de! There you can find all episodes with links to the most popular podcast platforms. Just be aware it's in German language. Have fun listening!