Designer Binh Nguyen is a bit of surprise, even to himself. A hip-hop emcee in a previous life, the 31-year-old left music behind in 2006 when his 2-year-old niece was diagnosed with cancer. After spending months with tykes at Seattle Children’s, he dramatically shifted career focus to kids’ wear, starting off silk-screening custom hoodies and teaching himself to sew. “I used to want fame, be a successful Asian-American emcee,” Nguyen laughs. “But I couldn’t care less about becoming famous now. I want to give kids like my niece some of their fun back.” In October, the Belltown resident launched his hip kids’ line Questkids (questkids.com), the first collection full of dark-wash jeans ($48), preppy striped cotton sweaters ($28) and soft knitted jackets ($48). Colorful locally made backpacks, winter-ready beanies and bold graphic tees also drip with Questkids’ funky, playful style. A portion of every sale is donated to Seattle Children’s, and Nguyen is already hard at work on a fashion-show benefit for next fall. Available at Zebraclub (downtown, 1901 First Ave.; 206.448.7542; zebraclub.com).