WEBVTT - Episode 233 "Yeezy, Yeezy" 0:00:00.080 --> 0:00:02.920 You know, I met with all the Adida's people. Everyone 0:00:03.040 --> 0:00:05.320 was just super nice, and you know they can't One 0:00:05.320 --> 0:00:08.639 of the gentlemen came into the room and he was like, Yo, 0:00:08.720 --> 0:00:11.360 we want to take you to Calabasas to meet to meet. Yeah, 0:00:11.880 --> 0:00:13.640 oh word. I was like, damn, I didn't think that 0:00:13.640 --> 0:00:16.160 ship was going to happen Calabasas. Like all right, so 0:00:16.200 --> 0:00:18.200 they take me, you know, they take me over there 0:00:18.200 --> 0:00:20.119 and like they take me to this spot that he 0:00:20.160 --> 0:00:21.959 had and I'm sitting in this room like waiting and 0:00:22.040 --> 0:00:24.480 I can hear like he had a studio in there 0:00:24.480 --> 0:00:26.080 and he was like working on some music or something 0:00:26.079 --> 0:00:28.600 because I could just hear like music like pounding through 0:00:28.600 --> 0:00:30.120 the walls and just kind of sitting there, wait and 0:00:30.160 --> 0:00:32.960 wait and waiting. And then he finally like comes into 0:00:33.000 --> 0:00:36.400 the room, and I'd never forget like that, Like that 0:00:36.440 --> 0:00:39.760 first image of like him, you know, walking into the space, 0:00:39.800 --> 0:00:42.440 I just envisioned like light being behind him. He walks 0:00:42.479 --> 0:00:44.280 in all you see it's like a silhouette. It was 0:00:44.400 --> 0:00:46.159 not It was dope. It was like like I just 0:00:46.200 --> 0:00:48.960 like walked into like another it was on another planet 0:00:49.040 --> 0:00:50.680 or something like that. But he came in. We had 0:00:50.720 --> 0:00:53.479 this meeting, and you know, he sat across from me 0:00:53.560 --> 0:00:56.680 for forty five minutes just like you know, very like 0:00:57.440 --> 0:01:00.920 very attentive and like, you know, interested in what I 0:01:00.960 --> 0:01:02.760 had to say. And we were talking and I had 0:01:02.840 --> 0:01:06.600 my portfolio U in my iPad and put it in 0:01:06.640 --> 0:01:08.560 front of him and he's like flipping through. And then 0:01:09.000 --> 0:01:11.040 you know I knew, like, you know, we were both creative, 0:01:11.080 --> 0:01:13.400 so like we're talking about like what we're creating and 0:01:14.000 --> 0:01:17.280 what's and and and projects that I worked on and um, 0:01:17.319 --> 0:01:19.080 and we were just vibing over that and it was 0:01:19.120 --> 0:01:22.119 like forty five minutes. It was just like uninterrupted time. 0:01:22.160 --> 0:01:23.959 You know, he wasn't looking at his phone and like 0:01:24.240 --> 0:01:26.600 waiting for when the meeting was gonna be over anything 0:01:26.640 --> 0:01:28.360 like that. It was just like it was just a 0:01:28.520 --> 0:01:31.000 dope conversation. That was my first time meeting him, in 0:01:31.080 --> 0:01:33.600 my first interaction with him. And then in the end 0:01:33.640 --> 0:01:37.319 he was like, yo, like let's let's go. We worked 0:01:37.360 --> 0:01:39.880 on all that stuff. Question the yeasy slides, remember the 0:01:39.880 --> 0:01:44.000 first ones were orange. Yep. Was it was the inspiration 0:01:44.080 --> 0:01:47.200 from the prison shoes because that was the that was 0:01:47.240 --> 0:01:50.400 the trend, that was the rumor going on circulating online 0:01:50.440 --> 0:01:54.440 that the prison shoes looked like this, and Yeasy came 0:01:54.520 --> 0:02:01.720 up with the prison shoe look alike. Borrow with me here, 0:02:01.760 --> 0:02:05.160 you know, BT so low shout out Oct, no color 0:02:05.240 --> 0:02:07.840 what we see? Who get in the blaree? But you 0:02:07.840 --> 0:02:10.000 can't stand on the home Susi Ilad. You know he 0:02:10.040 --> 0:02:12.120 can't ball with me because you have with the square 0:02:12.200 --> 0:02:22.120 to me, they get they called to me. Welcome to 0:02:22.160 --> 0:02:25.799 the Bowler Show. Podcasts available everywhere. You get your podcast made. 0:02:25.800 --> 0:02:28.040 Sure you like to share and subscribe to your YouTube 0:02:28.040 --> 0:02:30.359 page at ball Alert. I go by the name of 0:02:30.400 --> 0:02:32.960 Ferrice Simmons. Hey, y'all world, I'm your bestie Sue Solo. 0:02:33.200 --> 0:02:36.680 You know bt OCT with that special guests in the building, 0:02:36.760 --> 0:02:44.359 it's mister Omar Bailey name Lord. You know Rory think 0:02:44.400 --> 0:02:47.040 they're friends now because we just found out all them 0:02:47.760 --> 0:02:50.560 that you guys are from the same place. Automatically yep, 0:02:50.680 --> 0:02:53.119 shout out to the five six one about this place 0:02:53.200 --> 0:02:55.200 you guys come from, because y'all was just so into 0:02:55.280 --> 0:03:00.160 with man west Bown Beach known as the county that 0:03:00.200 --> 0:03:04.680 messed up the election? What was it? Which election was that? 0:03:04.680 --> 0:03:07.720 That was? That was the Bush election? Bush election? Yeah, yeah, 0:03:07.800 --> 0:03:10.080 we we were the county that messed up that election 0:03:10.320 --> 0:03:13.400 years ago. Very small, very small county. Is it Trump 0:03:13.400 --> 0:03:15.880 close to West Palm He lives in West Lago, Man, 0:03:15.880 --> 0:03:19.200 it's right across the water. Oh really Yeah, the islands 0:03:19.280 --> 0:03:23.160 like our South Beach. Yeah city, and then you go 0:03:23.480 --> 0:03:26.000 across the bridge to the beach park right right, and 0:03:27.520 --> 0:03:31.680 we're not allowed. Well, I mean they don't say that. Yeah, 0:03:31.720 --> 0:03:32.919 so if you go over there there, said, I know, 0:03:32.960 --> 0:03:34.920 you don't plan. The fifth grade field trip was at 0:03:34.920 --> 0:03:38.360 the jail there and it's very nice. Yeah, it was 0:03:38.360 --> 0:03:41.720 a jail over the jail over there, and it's very nice. Damn. Yeah. 0:03:41.800 --> 0:03:43.440 It sounds like you guys had a lot going on. 0:03:43.640 --> 0:03:48.040 But what was it for you that led you to 0:03:48.120 --> 0:03:51.920 fashion from West Palm Beach? Oh? Man, Well, there's nothing 0:03:52.280 --> 0:03:57.160 that fashionable about West Palm Beach. Sounds like cargo short. Yeah, 0:03:57.280 --> 0:04:01.440 and like uh and uh what's those uh those shirts 0:04:01.480 --> 0:04:06.080 that people will be wearing. Umama exactly took the words 0:04:06.120 --> 0:04:09.320 right out of mouth, Tommy Bahama. Um So, the way 0:04:09.360 --> 0:04:11.800 the story goes real quick is that, like you know, 0:04:11.840 --> 0:04:15.920 I start, we moved from from New York to Florida, 0:04:16.040 --> 0:04:19.320 and and they knew about my parents knew about to school. 0:04:19.320 --> 0:04:21.640 They wanted to put me in this school, but you 0:04:21.640 --> 0:04:23.600 had to audition to get in the way that it works. 0:04:23.960 --> 0:04:26.960 So so it was either that or John F. Kennedy 0:04:27.000 --> 0:04:29.080 Middle School, right, And I was like, I don't want 0:04:29.120 --> 0:04:31.800 to go to JFK. Actually, you know, I remember when 0:04:31.800 --> 0:04:34.440 we moved to Florida, there was a kid who got 0:04:34.480 --> 0:04:39.480 shot over borrowing us um nba jam on Sega genesis 0:04:39.520 --> 0:04:42.680 from another student and he didn't bring it back, so 0:04:42.760 --> 0:04:46.520 you got shot. I remember being like you sending me 0:04:46.640 --> 0:04:51.000 to that school like so so, and then I had 0:04:51.040 --> 0:04:53.160 to go and I went there for a year, and 0:04:53.200 --> 0:04:55.240 then I had to wait for the audition time and 0:04:55.279 --> 0:04:58.000 I end up going to audition my mom, you know, 0:04:58.320 --> 0:05:00.960 you know, she's Jamaican and and you know, she's like 0:05:01.040 --> 0:05:03.160 very strict about her rules. She was like, you need 0:05:03.200 --> 0:05:05.359 to be home at this time. So I go to 0:05:05.440 --> 0:05:08.200 audition and then I left and I did part of 0:05:08.240 --> 0:05:10.359 my audition, but I didn't do the whole audition because 0:05:10.440 --> 0:05:12.279 I was looking at the clock and I was home 0:05:12.360 --> 0:05:14.400 when she told me to be home, and then we 0:05:14.480 --> 0:05:16.839 ended up getting like an incomplete or I didn't get 0:05:16.839 --> 0:05:18.560 into She's like, what happened? And then she ended up 0:05:18.640 --> 0:05:20.920 later finding out that, like I left at the time 0:05:20.960 --> 0:05:22.800 she told me to leave, she thought the interview would 0:05:22.800 --> 0:05:24.520 have been done by that time. So I had to 0:05:24.520 --> 0:05:28.920 go to Kennedy for another year as a result of that. 0:05:29.120 --> 0:05:31.039 So then the next year she was like, don't come 0:05:31.080 --> 0:05:36.919 home until you finish your audition. Okay, yeah, yeah. I 0:05:36.960 --> 0:05:38.080 was like, you told me to be home at three, 0:05:38.080 --> 0:05:40.240 So I'm at home at three, and that was it. 0:05:40.320 --> 0:05:41.720 I was like, I ain't trying to you know, I 0:05:41.760 --> 0:05:43.520 don't want to get hurt like you know, so I'm 0:05:43.520 --> 0:05:46.479 trying to get home. So anyway, so um so so 0:05:46.760 --> 0:05:49.440 fast forward. I ended up getting into the school and 0:05:49.520 --> 0:05:52.120 that's where all this started. And then, as I mentioned 0:05:52.279 --> 0:05:55.719 drawing and sketching sneakers, I was a terrible student from 0:05:55.760 --> 0:05:58.520 the perspective of my academic classes. I was very good 0:05:58.520 --> 0:06:01.360 in my heart classes, but not great with my academics. 0:06:01.520 --> 0:06:05.800 Most artists are yeah, yeah, exactly. And my teachers, you know, 0:06:05.880 --> 0:06:09.400 saw that, and they supported me. And then one magical day, 0:06:10.160 --> 0:06:12.080 I think it was the end of my junior year, 0:06:12.200 --> 0:06:14.520 going into my senior year, a school came to visit 0:06:14.560 --> 0:06:17.560 on a college recruiting visit called the College Cat Studies 0:06:18.080 --> 0:06:21.839 in Detroit, Michigan shout out to CCS and they showed 0:06:21.880 --> 0:06:24.960 their portfolio of like students who, you know, all the 0:06:25.000 --> 0:06:27.080 different types of work, and there was a shoe in there, 0:06:27.080 --> 0:06:28.599 and I remember they're doing the power point and I 0:06:28.640 --> 0:06:29.880 was like, what is a shoe? What is this? And 0:06:29.960 --> 0:06:32.599 they told me about this program called industrial Design and 0:06:32.680 --> 0:06:35.520 many students who study industrial design go off and they 0:06:35.640 --> 0:06:38.320 design in cars and shoes and other products. And I 0:06:38.360 --> 0:06:39.960 was like, that's what I want to you know, that's 0:06:39.960 --> 0:06:41.560 where I want to go to school, because before that, 0:06:42.120 --> 0:06:43.880 I didn't have a plan if I was going to 0:06:43.960 --> 0:06:45.800 go to college or not. Right like, I'm at the 0:06:45.880 --> 0:06:48.360 end of my junior year. Everyone's talking about where they're 0:06:48.360 --> 0:06:50.840 going to school at the end of next year. I'm 0:06:50.839 --> 0:06:52.839 trying to figure out what I'm gonna do. I'm thinking, like, 0:06:52.880 --> 0:06:54.400 how do I become a shoe design or do I 0:06:54.440 --> 0:06:56.359 get a job at foot locker? Like that's literally what 0:06:56.400 --> 0:06:58.320 I thought. Okay, maybe I get a job at foot 0:06:58.320 --> 0:07:01.760 Locker selling shoes, and somehow I'll meet somebody at Nike 0:07:01.839 --> 0:07:03.880 and they'll give me a job design and sneakers. That's 0:07:03.920 --> 0:07:06.720 what I That's literally what I thought until this school 0:07:06.760 --> 0:07:08.599 came and then they laid this whole thing out in 0:07:08.640 --> 0:07:11.320 front of me and and sort of exposed me to 0:07:11.400 --> 0:07:14.040 this world of industrial design, and I became obsessed with it. 0:07:14.360 --> 0:07:16.400 You know. I made up all the classes that I failed. 0:07:16.440 --> 0:07:18.280 I went to summer school, I did night school my 0:07:18.320 --> 0:07:20.600 senior year, made up all the classes that I need 0:07:20.640 --> 0:07:22.520 to in long story short, I ended up getting into 0:07:22.560 --> 0:07:24.320 the school and got a little bit of a scholarship, 0:07:24.520 --> 0:07:26.760 and I moved to Detroit, Michigan site unseen, which is 0:07:26.760 --> 0:07:31.080 a whole other conversation in itself. So now you're in college, Yep, 0:07:31.560 --> 0:07:34.040 what happens next? You know? I get to Detroit, and 0:07:35.040 --> 0:07:37.680 the first thing that let me know that I was 0:07:37.760 --> 0:07:40.840 in the right place was I met other like minded 0:07:40.880 --> 0:07:44.680 individuals like myself. Be specifically, like some brothers that like 0:07:44.760 --> 0:07:48.560 became my brothers, you know, like living similar experiences in 0:07:48.600 --> 0:07:51.640 their cities that they came from, you know, like you know, 0:07:51.680 --> 0:07:55.320 my also also doing shoes, my boy Jason Maiden. Shout 0:07:55.320 --> 0:07:58.520 out to Jay who's like gone and done incredible things 0:07:58.560 --> 0:08:01.440 with working with the Swoosh and brand Jordan. You could 0:08:01.440 --> 0:08:03.440 look him up and see all the incredible stuff that 0:08:03.480 --> 0:08:06.600 he's did that he's done over there in his resume. 0:08:06.920 --> 0:08:10.400 You know my other boys, Jonathan, Duane Drew, you know, 0:08:10.560 --> 0:08:13.440 they were all doing footwear and very interested in it. 0:08:13.520 --> 0:08:16.520 So like, you know, we became close very quickly, and 0:08:16.560 --> 0:08:19.080 I got to see like, oh wow, these dudes are 0:08:19.080 --> 0:08:21.239 on the same wavelength than I am. But what really 0:08:21.280 --> 0:08:23.160 did it for me was, you know I just mentioned 0:08:23.240 --> 0:08:25.720 Jason Maiden. You know, he was a designer. I was. 0:08:26.440 --> 0:08:28.960 I went in as a freshman. He was in a senior. 0:08:29.400 --> 0:08:32.640 He just did an internship with Nike in the Jordan 0:08:32.920 --> 0:08:37.520 Brand Jordan department. He was working on the air Jordan seventeen. Right, 0:08:37.559 --> 0:08:40.319 so like number two, yeah, yeah, so that that shoe 0:08:40.360 --> 0:08:41.920 was dope. That when I came in that and that 0:08:42.000 --> 0:08:44.160 came in the briefcase. You remember the league in the 0:08:44.240 --> 0:08:47.520 silver briefcase. So think about this for a second, right, Um, 0:08:47.720 --> 0:08:50.840 eight like six months earlier, I didn't even really know 0:08:51.400 --> 0:08:53.200 or just at the beginning of that year, like I 0:08:53.240 --> 0:08:56.000 didn't know if I was going to college or not. Right, 0:08:56.040 --> 0:08:57.560 I'm thinking, I have to get a job at foot 0:08:57.600 --> 0:09:00.920 locker to design shoes. I get into this college in Detroit. 0:09:01.000 --> 0:09:03.440 I moved to Detroit. I meet this dude Jason and 0:09:03.480 --> 0:09:08.360 I see Jason working on the air Jordan right like that, Yeah, 0:09:08.400 --> 0:09:11.640 that ship was like mind blowing, like knowing where I 0:09:11.679 --> 0:09:14.839 came from and seeing that, and I'm like, damn, I'm 0:09:14.840 --> 0:09:17.400 in the right place. I better not fuck this opportunity up. 0:09:17.640 --> 0:09:19.680 But I think it became something that was more tangible, 0:09:19.679 --> 0:09:21.120 like you got to see it, you got to touch it. 0:09:21.200 --> 0:09:23.640 You know this person who's working on it. Yeah, man, Yeah, 0:09:23.640 --> 0:09:25.520 And I told him like that changed my life. That 0:09:25.559 --> 0:09:28.360 moment changed my life because I was like, like you said, 0:09:28.400 --> 0:09:30.880 it's attainable. It is real, Like now I see somebody 0:09:30.880 --> 0:09:34.080 that looks like me, that's that's in a place where 0:09:34.120 --> 0:09:36.560 I'm trying to get to, And for the first time 0:09:36.559 --> 0:09:38.880 in my life, I felt like I made a good decision, 0:09:39.080 --> 0:09:42.720 like by being in Detroit, Michigan, at this at this school, 0:09:42.840 --> 0:09:45.560 so that you know that. To me, that's kind of 0:09:45.559 --> 0:09:48.960 how it all, how it all started, from the sketching 0:09:49.080 --> 0:09:51.440 on a piece of paper to knowing like damn, like 0:09:51.520 --> 0:09:54.160 I can I can I if I do the things 0:09:54.160 --> 0:09:56.240 that I need to do, I can be exactly where 0:09:56.240 --> 0:09:58.320 he's at. So you go from being around you know 0:09:58.360 --> 0:10:00.640 all these people that are actually doing it aspiring you. 0:10:00.760 --> 0:10:04.720 But how do you go from that to the infamous 0:10:04.720 --> 0:10:08.160 timeless Supreme New York slides, because that's a part of 0:10:08.200 --> 0:10:10.360 your history that I was shocked to learn, you know, 0:10:10.360 --> 0:10:13.520 when I finished When I finished college, you know, the 0:10:13.520 --> 0:10:15.319 first thing I did was I knew I wanted to 0:10:15.320 --> 0:10:17.080 work for myself. I had an opportunity to do some 0:10:17.120 --> 0:10:21.880 incredible internships with Adida's Casewists and worked with Timberland and 0:10:21.920 --> 0:10:25.840 a bunch of different different shoe companies. I knew immediately 0:10:25.880 --> 0:10:27.720 that the corporate route wasn't for me. That was what 0:10:27.960 --> 0:10:31.400 came out of that. That experience for me was like, Okay, 0:10:31.440 --> 0:10:33.079 I don't want to go corporate. I want to work 0:10:33.120 --> 0:10:35.040 for myself. That's just the way my mind is wired 0:10:35.080 --> 0:10:38.400 and you know, to be independent creator. So what I 0:10:38.440 --> 0:10:41.160 did when I finished school was, you know, I started 0:10:41.200 --> 0:10:44.320 my own company working for myself. First two people that 0:10:44.360 --> 0:10:47.160 I worked with professional athletes, and then that brought me 0:10:47.440 --> 0:10:49.760 Gary Sheffield and Alan Houston to be specific, shout out 0:10:49.800 --> 0:10:53.760 to shout out to Chef and Allan Shot. Both great 0:10:53.760 --> 0:10:56.840 people gave me an opportunity to help them like build 0:10:57.040 --> 0:11:00.959 footwear products for themselves, and that brought me to China 0:11:01.120 --> 0:11:04.600 for the first time. And I bring that up because 0:11:05.080 --> 0:11:07.080 that was where I got to see how the big 0:11:07.080 --> 0:11:10.719 machine works. It's one thing to like design a shoe 0:11:10.880 --> 0:11:13.160 and sketch it on a piece of paper. It's a 0:11:13.200 --> 0:11:15.800 whole other ball game when you're actually bringing it to life. 0:11:16.040 --> 0:11:18.880 And the time that the fifteen years that I got 0:11:18.920 --> 0:11:22.040 to spend overseas not only in China, but I lived 0:11:22.040 --> 0:11:24.559 in India for three years. You know, I spent significant 0:11:24.600 --> 0:11:29.120 time in Brazil, Argentina, South Korea wherever shoes were made, 0:11:29.120 --> 0:11:31.079 which was not here in the United States. You know, 0:11:31.120 --> 0:11:34.760 I spent significant time in these countries understanding what the 0:11:34.800 --> 0:11:37.400 process is like from A to Z and scaling a 0:11:37.440 --> 0:11:40.280 product and bringing it to market. Right. So the Supreme 0:11:40.280 --> 0:11:43.360 Project came about because you know, they were aware that 0:11:43.400 --> 0:11:46.040 I had this background, right. I was this this bridge 0:11:46.160 --> 0:11:49.720 or this liaison if you will, between a brand and 0:11:49.800 --> 0:11:53.640 a factory. Right the factories over in Asia, specifically in China. 0:11:53.679 --> 0:11:55.880 They loved me because you know, over there, they ain't 0:11:55.920 --> 0:11:57.720 looking at me as like a black man. They're looking 0:11:57.760 --> 0:12:02.120 at me as an American that can bring them business. 0:12:01.360 --> 0:12:03.880 That's that's what They're looking at me, as like, Yo, 0:12:03.960 --> 0:12:08.120 this dude, is like, the is the gateway for opportunity 0:12:08.800 --> 0:12:11.439 in the United States, Which that's all they wanted at 0:12:11.440 --> 0:12:13.720 the time, is they just want business coming in because 0:12:13.920 --> 0:12:16.040 the United States was the you know, one of the 0:12:16.120 --> 0:12:19.079 more profitable markets and still is, you know, all the 0:12:19.160 --> 0:12:21.679 other countries are catching up in different ways, but like 0:12:21.840 --> 0:12:25.280 but but nonetheless that's where That's how they looked at me, right. 0:12:25.320 --> 0:12:29.520 So so knowing that this opportunity was Supreme came up. 0:12:29.559 --> 0:12:31.520 They needed. You know, this is the first time that 0:12:31.559 --> 0:12:34.440 they wanted to develop and create a product that that 0:12:34.760 --> 0:12:38.160 a footwear product, specifically without collaborating with a brand, Like 0:12:38.400 --> 0:12:40.160 you know, it's like, when have you ever seen Supreme 0:12:40.800 --> 0:12:44.920 do a shoe independent of a Nike or Louis Vatan 0:12:45.480 --> 0:12:48.240 or something else, right, is usually a collapse. So this 0:12:48.280 --> 0:12:50.120 is the first time that they wanted to create a 0:12:50.120 --> 0:12:52.720 piece of footwear without that and I was and I 0:12:52.840 --> 0:12:55.439 was the person to help facilitate that. So they reached 0:12:55.440 --> 0:12:59.480 out and I was able to uh to help create, develop, 0:12:59.679 --> 0:13:02.120 and produce at scale that product. We sold out a 0:13:02.160 --> 0:13:05.440 ten thousand pairs in thirty minutes aline and across their 0:13:05.440 --> 0:13:09.840 four stores from Tokyo, La, New York and London, Um, 0:13:09.840 --> 0:13:12.400 and I hope you do that shoe. I created the shoe. 0:13:12.520 --> 0:13:15.320 What was that process? Like, it's you know, developing a 0:13:15.360 --> 0:13:18.160 shoe is a is it's a it's I like to 0:13:18.240 --> 0:13:20.960 use the word a heavy lift, right, because that's where 0:13:20.960 --> 0:13:24.680 you're solving all the all the problems to building a shoe. 0:13:24.720 --> 0:13:26.920 And you know, and and and I know it's probably 0:13:27.200 --> 0:13:29.080 very new for a lot of people that are listening. 0:13:29.200 --> 0:13:30.760 You know, you say, oh, it's just a shoe just 0:13:30.800 --> 0:13:32.960 falls out of the sky or there's a machine that 0:13:33.000 --> 0:13:34.760 pumps it out or whatever. It's like, that's not how 0:13:34.800 --> 0:13:37.400 it works, right, Like the way it works is you know, 0:13:37.520 --> 0:13:41.200 you have you have specific executions that you want to 0:13:41.200 --> 0:13:44.400 come up within the shoe, whether it's material execution, a detail, 0:13:44.760 --> 0:13:48.520 a design element. Specifically, you need to identify the method 0:13:48.520 --> 0:13:50.840 of make, the method of production, and material that's going 0:13:50.880 --> 0:13:53.120 to use that determines what kind of mold you're going 0:13:53.160 --> 0:13:56.400 to make. So all of these speak to all of 0:13:56.440 --> 0:13:59.640 these like technical things you need to really know and understand. 0:14:00.000 --> 0:14:02.040 And it's almost its own language that you need to 0:14:02.040 --> 0:14:04.920 know how to speak to the factory in. Right. So 0:14:04.960 --> 0:14:07.600 it's like, how do I take what a client wants 0:14:07.640 --> 0:14:10.960 like Supreme, right, and then I translate that into a 0:14:11.080 --> 0:14:14.079 language through what I can communicate verbally, but what I 0:14:14.120 --> 0:14:18.000 can also communicate on engineering documents and drawings back to 0:14:18.080 --> 0:14:21.200 the factory. So the execution can be as close, if 0:14:21.240 --> 0:14:25.120 not one, to what the client is looking for. And 0:14:25.160 --> 0:14:29.120 that's like, that's kind of that's the space that I operated, right, 0:14:29.160 --> 0:14:32.800 It's like bringing it from paper to real life. And 0:14:32.840 --> 0:14:34.800 that can take anywhere from you know, it could take 0:14:34.800 --> 0:14:36.360 a month, it could take two months, it could take 0:14:36.400 --> 0:14:38.800 three months, it could take ten months. It really kind 0:14:38.800 --> 0:14:41.480 of all depends on the client and like what their 0:14:41.600 --> 0:14:44.840 expectations are or what their demands are. You know, Supreme 0:14:44.960 --> 0:14:48.440 was definitely like up there in terms of their expectations 0:14:48.440 --> 0:14:52.120 and rightfully so right like their world would not renown brand, 0:14:53.120 --> 0:14:56.480 and there's and there's a certain expectation level that's coming 0:14:56.560 --> 0:14:58.600 from their customer base when they put a product into 0:14:58.600 --> 0:15:01.480 the world. So I effected that like you know, the 0:15:01.600 --> 0:15:04.880 demands and like what they want is justified, right, Like 0:15:04.920 --> 0:15:06.840 they need to make sure that like you know, there's 0:15:06.880 --> 0:15:09.440 no air bubbles coming up in the molds when every 0:15:09.480 --> 0:15:12.160 part is shot in the in the mold, or like 0:15:12.440 --> 0:15:14.800 you know, we need or during quality control, we need 0:15:14.840 --> 0:15:17.560 to have like extra eyes on the shoe and make sure, 0:15:17.600 --> 0:15:21.680 like you know, there's no imperfection on it at all. 0:15:21.760 --> 0:15:24.200 So these are all things that get managed, you know, 0:15:24.240 --> 0:15:27.480 through that through that process, where did your inspiration come from? 0:15:27.800 --> 0:15:30.520 For the making of the shooting? They wanted their own 0:15:30.640 --> 0:15:35.160 version of the ADDI light Adida's slides. Okay, so they 0:15:35.200 --> 0:15:40.400 had already what they wanted. You just yeah, exactly, yeah, yeah, exactly. 0:15:40.520 --> 0:15:42.800 It's like, you know, this is this is a super 0:15:42.920 --> 0:15:45.920 popular like slide. We want our own version of that. 0:15:46.000 --> 0:15:49.560 And that's generally how like most projects start, right, I 0:15:49.640 --> 0:15:51.560 was going, I was like, do most people say because 0:15:51.600 --> 0:15:53.720 I see like a lot of shoes from different brands, 0:15:53.960 --> 0:15:56.080 they all kind of like look similar. Like you'll see 0:15:56.080 --> 0:15:58.600 like a popular shoot and you'd be like, wait, Nike 0:15:58.720 --> 0:16:01.360 got this shoe out. It looks like that. Now, yeah, yeah, 0:16:01.360 --> 0:16:03.520 that's I mean, you just hit the nail on the head, 0:16:03.600 --> 0:16:06.760 my friend. There's a method to badness. You know. There's 0:16:06.760 --> 0:16:09.080 a lot of reasons for explaining it, but I think 0:16:09.120 --> 0:16:11.240 part of it is, you know, listen, at the end 0:16:11.280 --> 0:16:15.120 of the day, like big brands and companies have you know, 0:16:15.240 --> 0:16:18.440 certain milestones and KPIs that they have to hit at 0:16:18.440 --> 0:16:20.840 the end of the day, right, and certain boxes have 0:16:20.960 --> 0:16:24.680 to get checked because they have to move certain volumes. 0:16:24.680 --> 0:16:29.400 And sometimes those goals and ambitions don't align with the 0:16:29.440 --> 0:16:33.240 creativity that the designers want to put into it. So 0:16:33.400 --> 0:16:36.720 sometimes it can cause a little bit of friction, if 0:16:36.760 --> 0:16:39.920 you will, but not it's not so much because at 0:16:39.920 --> 0:16:41.480 the end of the day, of designer wants a job 0:16:41.600 --> 0:16:47.200 like that's like they got yeah. Yeah, But that's a 0:16:47.240 --> 0:16:50.960 big reason why. Like to answer your question, why you 0:16:51.160 --> 0:16:53.800 see some things that look exactly it's like yeah, and 0:16:53.920 --> 0:16:55.960 it's selling. You know that the this is what the 0:16:55.960 --> 0:16:58.520 consumer is getting. So if it's working at this company, 0:16:58.640 --> 0:17:01.120 I want to work over here, how does new fit 0:17:01.200 --> 0:17:06.240 in the fold? That's that's also a very interesting thing, 0:17:06.320 --> 0:17:11.159 right you need you need bold founders and CEOs and 0:17:11.320 --> 0:17:16.879 designers um who are willing to sort of like ignore 0:17:16.960 --> 0:17:21.119 the status quo and like create things that they believe 0:17:21.200 --> 0:17:24.800 that they really believe in, right, yeah, one or even 0:17:24.800 --> 0:17:28.560 thinking easy right, like thinking about Virgil and like even 0:17:28.600 --> 0:17:31.080 you know, Jerry fear of God and you're seeing more 0:17:31.600 --> 0:17:34.600 you know, and and and more of it um happening 0:17:34.720 --> 0:17:37.679 out there too, you know as well. So there's a 0:17:37.760 --> 0:17:41.360 there's a few hand handful of like independent creators and 0:17:42.000 --> 0:17:45.119 designers out there shout out to to um uh to 0:17:45.280 --> 0:17:50.600 say a collective. Uh. Delvin Carter, he's another one. Yeah, man, 0:17:50.640 --> 0:17:52.760 that dude is out there crushing. I've been following him 0:17:52.800 --> 0:17:54.399 for a while. I don't know him personally, but like 0:17:54.440 --> 0:18:00.400 I've been and he's been, he's been. Are you trying 0:18:00.400 --> 0:18:04.000 to get a pair? Are you trying to open up 0:18:04.080 --> 0:18:09.720 my DM DM spend money with? There? Is You have 0:18:09.760 --> 0:18:11.959 a question though, Yeah, because we're talking about all this 0:18:12.000 --> 0:18:16.160 stuff right right, there is a fake sneaker network. There 0:18:16.280 --> 0:18:20.560 is an unofficial versions because for example, remember you saw 0:18:20.600 --> 0:18:22.840 you talked about the mold having bubbles, right those are 0:18:22.920 --> 0:18:25.959 supposed to be thrown away. Yep, yeah, sometimes they're not. 0:18:26.200 --> 0:18:30.280 Oh you know your stuff. I got a sneaker room. 0:18:30.280 --> 0:18:32.280 I don't got a closet. Oh man, I was about 0:18:32.280 --> 0:18:34.320 to just break that down. Are you breaking it down 0:18:34.440 --> 0:18:36.840 right now? And I know these people take these shoes 0:18:36.880 --> 0:18:39.439 and sell them on the black market. Oh you have 0:18:39.560 --> 0:18:46.240 a there's a defection um uh period or percentage right 0:18:46.320 --> 0:18:49.280 like that? That like every factory's trying to keep as 0:18:49.320 --> 0:18:52.600 low as as possible, right, Like it could be five percent, 0:18:52.640 --> 0:18:55.399 ten percent or more. That like, you know, one of 0:18:55.440 --> 0:18:57.600 every ten pair of shoes you make don't pass the 0:18:57.680 --> 0:18:59.800 inspection that it needs to in order to go into 0:18:59.840 --> 0:19:02.399 like the main sort of run that's going to be sold. 0:19:02.520 --> 0:19:04.879 So then that shoe goes into a basket you know, 0:19:05.000 --> 0:19:08.399 over here, and if and if it doesn't meet the 0:19:08.440 --> 0:19:11.440 standards of the brand, like it's you know, they keep 0:19:11.440 --> 0:19:13.360 going in that basket. Then at the end of the day, 0:19:13.400 --> 0:19:15.399 all of a sudden, you know, out of a million 0:19:15.400 --> 0:19:18.320 pairs of shoes that were made, you got thirty thousand 0:19:18.400 --> 0:19:21.119 of these like effective shoes that to your point, it 0:19:21.200 --> 0:19:22.800 might be like a little fit, It might be something 0:19:22.800 --> 0:19:27.040 that you wouldn't even care about the average person. Probably. Yeah, 0:19:27.160 --> 0:19:29.480 it's like a thread is off or like this color 0:19:29.600 --> 0:19:32.159 bleeds into this part of the soul just by a 0:19:32.160 --> 0:19:34.720 little bit, and you would never even notice it. Right. 0:19:35.000 --> 0:19:38.440 But then what happens after that is the brand has 0:19:38.480 --> 0:19:41.119 two choices, right, they can either pay the factory to 0:19:41.240 --> 0:19:44.919 destroy those shoes, which cost them more money, or you 0:19:44.960 --> 0:19:47.360 can let the factory keep them, and at that point 0:19:47.400 --> 0:19:52.680 they can do whatever they want. The answer to that 0:19:52.680 --> 0:19:55.520 that is how a lot of those shoes stand up 0:19:55.600 --> 0:19:57.560