Vitunleija founders Baka and Akseli Tuulispää break down the success of their social media and the brand’s growing community
When I ask Vitunleija founders Bakari Diarra, better known as Baka, and Akseli Tuulispää what the name of their brand means in English, they both start to chuckle. “Fly as f***,” says Baka, the brand’s creative force. “You just learned your first Finnish swear word,” adds Tuulispää, who handles the business side of things. Though the name has made the brand a bit tricky to cover in mainstream Finnish media, it’s this exact brash cheekiness that’s made it such a hit among Finnish youth. Yesterday evening, Vitunleija’s success in building its community was celebrated when the brand claimed the award for ‘Most Engaging Social Media’ at the very first Finnish Fashion Awards.
Vitunleija co-founder Baka wearing a t-shirt of his own design. Photo: Vitunleija
While the win was certainly appreciated, it didn’t come as a total surprise. “It’s quite nice to get some recognition,” says Tuulispää, smiling. “But it also low-key kind of feels like a no-brainer.” He has a point; Vitunleija’s TikTok (well, Baka’s personal TikTok that acts as a brand account) boasts nearly 140k followers (his most-watched post has over eight million views). Over on Instagram, the brand has a following of a cool 49k.
Vitunleija events draw massive crowds of Helsinki youth. Photo: Vitunleija
Vitunleija’s popularity has just as much to do with its cool graphics (all artwork is created by Baka and his and Tuulispää’s circle of friends) as it does with its events, concerts and giveaways. “Since the beginning, the thing that’s kept us going forward is that we’ve been giving back so much,” says Baka, noting that when he was growing up, there “wasn’t so much going on” in the Helsinki streetwear scene. Last year the brand threw its own music festival, a raucous event they’ll replicate this summer. “We do these events that get all the kids out and we give away free stuff. We do fun shit for the kids that’s for free.” Then there’s the social media content itself, which boasts an air of impulsive, unpolished authenticity. “It’s all about our crew and it’s super organic,” says Baka. “We do everything with our friends.”
It doesn’t hurt that Baka was well known in streetwear circles himself ahead of launching the brand in 2020. Not only is he a rapper (he takes the stage himself at Vitunleija events and oft features on tracks the brand produces – last summer they their song ‘Make-up’ became the number one song in Helsinki), Baka was already well-known in the streetwear resale community. “I was doing all the fit pics, influencing in the Facebook groups,” says Baka. “We were hustling, spending every day in the thrift shops,” says Tuulispää.
These days, the Vitunleija community is only growing both outside of and within Helsinki. “Everyone in Finland knows us for sure,” says Tuulispää. “Nowadays you can see moms wearing our stuff.”