A fashion designer's love of art spurred him onto creating a clothing brand now worn by some of the latest up-and-coming musicians.

Romi Benjamin Abiodun, from Strood, started the brand Vfour in 2017 and has gained a community following online, with more than 1,000 views per advert on social media sites such as Facebook and Instagram.

The 28-year-old was born in London but spent his secondary school years in Nigeria before moving back for college.

The clothing line specialises in street-wear for men and women made for comfort, such as hoodies, t-shirts, jogging bottoms and cargo trousers.

He says his time overseas helped him to see a different side to life.

He said: "My upbringing in Nigeria was interesting. It helped me to realise who I was and what type of person I am.

"It also made me help to see the world from a different perspective and think differently.

"It opened my eyes to the arts of the world. The way I see art is so different, I could see art in someone talking.

"I feel it was a lot about self discovery."

After returning to the UK he came up with the idea for his clothing line Vfour, street-wear designed for comfort.

He continued: "The inspiration behind Vfour came from being idle, to be fair.

"Fashion was something I was always into and before the creation of Vfour I had a business called Romi's Angels.

"That had more to do with modelling and offering their services to artists and other people who needed them, basically.

"After I had finished with that, three to six months later I started Vfour."

Taking the Roman numeral V, for five, and English spelling of four, the brand had a name.

Romi continued: "Vfour started in 2017, but I originally came up with the idea in 2016 when I was at Loughborough University.

"Vfour is an expression of my thoughts and what I do – it's about giving my work a name.

"I wanted to invent using my two most important numbers which is five and four.

"I'm a spiritual guy. Four and five are my divine numbers, the numbers are very personal to me.

"Anything I do which is artsy or related to my creativity, I name it after Vfour.

"Clothing is an expression of what I feel on the inside.

"I told myself any piece of art that I create would be under this category of Vfour.

"It's not just clothes, it has a number of forms, even featuring other people and what they do is Vfour."

Romi, who has sold his designs from pop-up shops in Chatham's Pentagon shopping centre, said he felt great when he saw people wearing his brand, especially locally, but things had also moved on.

He said: "Two years ago I would've been over the moon if I saw someone wearing my brand locally.

"I still am, but now I feel like it's something I've worked at, dreamt and attracted.

"Now I am trying to expand and move towards cities such as Manchester and Birmingham."

He has a number of clothing collections which include the Blue Moon series, Red and Blue Pill, Voltage, and most recently Limescale.

He went onto explain how the production process plays out when creating a new collection.

He said: "From production to sales is a long process. For me, planning starts almost a year before.

"For example one of our latest pieces, the Limescale collection, began a year-and-a-half ago.

"Production takes place six months before the actual release date.

"I'm a very quirky designer so sometimes I do the mock-ups myself. I'm not the best at drawing but I've got ideas which I pass on to the manufacturer.

"After that, we review them and shoot them off to the manufacturer.

"My productions vary as I have manufacturers in China, Pakistan, Turkey and the UK.

"The UK, though, are the least used as they are the most expensive. I use them if I need something urgently or if I want to be there to specifically see how it comes out and how it looks.

"But in general our manufacturers communicate with us on a constant basis, based on the materials that need to be used, the styles and samples."

Romi's latest collection – dubbed Limescale, a break from winter – promotes summer wear which includes nylon shorts, caps, sunglasses, t-shirts and socks.

He said: "I tested the market with one or two pieces to see how they responded and people really liked them. Everyone was saying it was my best piece so far.

"So with that, I decided to drop a summer collection from that series.

"Everyone who has bought the latest collection has said they love the design and the persona.

"One of my major selling points is comfort.

"I like people to be comfortable in anything I make, regardless of how it looks."

Some notable people who have worn Vfour clothing include recording artists Blanco, Ms Banks, Naira Marely, and Paul Stephan.

All the artists have thousands through to millions of followers on Instagram, helping to boost Vfour.

Others include Instagram motorbike enthusiasts, oneway.alff, who has 25.5k followers on Instagram, and Leebikelife who has 17.9k followers.

Romi continued: "A lot of known people have worn my clothes, but I try to not let it overwhelm me.

"The focus is more trying to get the authentic nature of the brand across

"I feel better when I know I haven't given the clothes to someone and they've bought it.

"I want my clothes to have an element of luxury, comfort and exclusivity."

There is no such thing as an average day for Romi. He said: "An average business day varies. If we are not doing a pop-up shop, I'm constantly working on the next thing.

"We're always trying to upgrade the brand whether it be the website, working on a collection, content or new and creative ways to bring people and attract customers.

"It can get very overwhelming, though. It's harder when you don't have a constant team, but that's down to capital. A lot of the funding comes from personal work.

"You get emails from different people, companies and you have to just be on top of everything, taxes and all the other stuff.

"Everything in this industry involves money."

The link to Vfour's website can be found here.

In his spare time, the designer said he likes to relax and rejuvenate within nature.

He said: "People call me a caveman, a herbalist; I'm in-tune with nature. When I go out, I walk without shoes, meditate, stay in the sun.

"I am very much natural, I see the beauty in everything when it comes to nature. I don't kill insects, because we're connected to them. Life is nature.

"I go hiking, I do a lot of walks in the woods. I was inspired by a very colourful spider last year, I saw what the spider was webbing and I created something from that.

"Being spiritual and connected to nature is the same thing. You have to see past what's in front of you, or past things are being told to you, I think it's a gift.

"My Blue Moon collection was inspired by a point in time in my life, I was always noticing the moon, I'd feel like it was talking to me."