Speaker 1: Every day a week ago.
Speaker 2: Breakfast Club, you don't finish. Y'all done.
Speaker 1: More than everybody is. D j Envy just hilarious.
Speaker 3: Charlamagne the guy we are the Breakfast Club. Lalla Roses
Speaker 3: here as well. We got a special guest in the building,
Speaker 3: my god from far Rockaway Queens, Ladies and gentlemen, Steve Madden.
Speaker 1: Welcome morning, it could be here.
Speaker 4: I'm happy to be here. I'm such a big fan
Speaker 4: of the show and fan of you guys and girls,
Speaker 4: whatever and and so you got to take it easy
Speaker 4: on me because it's very early.
Speaker 5: You can't say whatever too, because you don't know what
Speaker 5: people identify as. You can't say boy.
Speaker 4: Ten mistakes and I've been here for four seconds. You know,
Speaker 4: girls and boys do that a lot. I say, well,
Speaker 4: this girl really has a lot of talent. I'm talking
Speaker 4: about someone in my company. And then I'll correct myself.
Speaker 4: This woman has you know, I don't.
Speaker 1: Lean this person.
Speaker 4: You know I should say I do want to be better?
Speaker 2: What about the people who transitioned in your company?
Speaker 4: Uh, you know, we have a few. It's I think
Speaker 4: it's great. Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's fine who you are.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm done with it now. It's the first time
Speaker 3: Steve has been on the show. So when we have
Speaker 3: somebody that's been on the show and as successful as you,
Speaker 3: we always like to start.
Speaker 1: From the beginning.
Speaker 3: Yes, right, So of course you're from Queens, New York.
Speaker 3: What got you getting? Got you into shoes and women's
Speaker 3: shoes and apparil? What got you into that?
Speaker 4: I want to tell you. So we're on the border.
Speaker 4: I was born in Fireroquay. We moved to the Five Towns,
Speaker 4: which is right across.
Speaker 1: The border, right right through Snake Rope.
Speaker 4: And you know, I'm from a town called Lawrence, and
Speaker 4: I went So what got me is I went to
Speaker 4: work in a shoe store in high school. I didn't
Speaker 4: have anybody in my family in the shoe business, and
Speaker 4: I just went. I was a stock boy. I mean
Speaker 4: it's you know, sweeping the basement. And so that's how
Speaker 4: I learned, you know, And I did a lot of
Speaker 4: different jobs in the shoe business and worked my way up.
Speaker 3: What made you want to start designing shoes and saying,
Speaker 3: you know what, I can do this better than the
Speaker 3: shoe designers that are out at the time.
Speaker 1: So that takes a lot of balls.
Speaker 4: Okay, So I'll tell you what happened. So, uh So
Speaker 4: I worked for company in the eighties and I was
Speaker 4: a salesman. You know, I just take the bag and
Speaker 4: go out the stores boom, and you know, you have
Speaker 4: a sample bag and you show them samples and then
Speaker 4: you know, so at that time, the the designers for
Speaker 4: this company, it was like nineteen eighty six, they were
Speaker 4: fighting with the there was like fight. So I snuck
Speaker 4: into the factory and I made a few shoes and
Speaker 4: it wasn't you know, it's like put that on that bottom,
Speaker 4: let's try that moccasin in that color. And I started slowly,
Speaker 4: you know, learning how to do that and trying to
Speaker 4: very similar to the music business, try to make hits.
Speaker 4: You know, I always compare myself to that, because that's
Speaker 4: what my business is like, is hits, you know, as
Speaker 4: opposed to a big canvas of artwork and trying to
Speaker 4: sell shoes. You know, I'm trying to make shoes that
Speaker 4: all the girls want.
Speaker 6: What made you so you were? You started selling shoes
Speaker 6: at the trunk of your.
Speaker 7: Car, like like like an artist was so the CDs
Speaker 7: out the trunk of his car, and you started your
Speaker 7: company with eleven dollars.
Speaker 4: This is true, not made up. But I thought I
Speaker 4: made it up. He told the story so many times.
Speaker 4: But yeah, I started with whatever money I had, you know,
Speaker 4: and made a couple of deals along the way, and
Speaker 4: you know, we put cases in the car, drive over there,
Speaker 4: collect the money, chase people for money. I did all
Speaker 4: of that.
Speaker 1: What made you not go high end?
Speaker 2: Right?
Speaker 3: Because you could have went the Gucci route, the Louis
Speaker 3: Vuitton route shoes that are way too expensive, but you're
Speaker 3: known for making shoes that are affordable people can afford,
Speaker 3: and that are great qualities.
Speaker 1: So what made you stay that?
Speaker 4: I was always into, you know, making shoes that everybody
Speaker 4: could buy. And and so that's just what I liked,
Speaker 4: you know. And you have to be very patient to
Speaker 4: be in the high end business. It requires a lot
Speaker 4: of very very very hard to do. I admire those guys,
Speaker 4: you know, and but that's what I do. I like
Speaker 4: to make it quick, sell it. I'm a little bit
Speaker 4: of a pirate, you know what I mean. And you
Speaker 4: know that's what my talent was.
Speaker 6: And the breakthrough shoot was the.
Speaker 4: Mary Lou, The Mary Lou, which is in that movie
Speaker 4: The Well for Wallston. If you have to get to
Speaker 4: see that movie we did and classic it is, it is.
Speaker 4: It's a good movie. I was very afraid when it
Speaker 4: came out. I was like, I didn't know how I
Speaker 4: would be portrayed, you know, And but it was pretty accurate.
Speaker 4: And I went there's a scene where I go there
Speaker 4: and and tell these you know, rapacious brokers about the
Speaker 4: Mary lou As if they gave a shit about it.
Speaker 4: You know, they just want to make And they started
Speaker 4: throwing shoes at me and doing all this shit and
Speaker 4: calling me names. And but that's how I started.
Speaker 5: Yeah, how much of your success came from just pure confidence?
Speaker 4: Zero?
Speaker 2: Okay? You know what came from eagle?
Speaker 4: No? I mean you know, you go, I mean you
Speaker 4: guys know you're successful guys. You know some days you're
Speaker 4: confident and some days you're you feel like the worst.
Speaker 4: And that's how I am. You know, it could be
Speaker 4: an hour to hour thing. I'm on top of the world,
Speaker 4: my chest is out, let's go, and then I'm like,
Speaker 4: oh shit, I'm the worst. You know, you know I
Speaker 4: can't do it, you know that kind of thing. So
Speaker 4: I have those things and it has not gone away.
Speaker 2: Sadly, a point where confidence became arrogant.
Speaker 4: I'm too insecure. I suppose that people would argue and say,
Speaker 4: I am arrogant sometimes, and I'm really not. I'm very
Speaker 4: sort of you know, I wish I was Actually I
Speaker 4: kind of wish I was that guy.
Speaker 6: What makes your insecure?
Speaker 4: No, you know, you just think that someone's got better
Speaker 4: shoes or bigger muscles, more money or whatever it is.
Speaker 4: You know, it's just those moments.
Speaker 6: It'sition you could but we're not.
Speaker 8: So before meeting you right now, every time I've ever
Speaker 8: seen you, like photos of you with like celebrities who
Speaker 8: do jobs with you or whatever, you always struck me
Speaker 8: as a very like I'm here and I know I'm here.
Speaker 4: Typically, yeah, well, fake it till you make it, you
Speaker 4: know what I mean. We call it acting as if right,
Speaker 4: So if you do that enough, then you begin to
Speaker 4: believe it. Sort of. I found that to be true,
Speaker 4: but it's certainly not the case.
Speaker 2: And you had had to be a point where you
Speaker 2: knew you arrived.
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, you know, I had it my first storing
Speaker 4: soho that was great.
Speaker 9: Uh.
Speaker 4: And you know, business getting bigger, more money in the bank,
Speaker 4: you know kind of stuff, and but it's it's very uh,
Speaker 4: it could be ephemeral. You know. I mean it's very
Speaker 4: it feels good and you get like a little jolt
Speaker 4: for twenty minutes and then you're back to what am
Speaker 4: I going to do next? You know? And I don't
Speaker 4: have enough of this? And you know all of that.
Speaker 7: What helps you in those moments though, because it seems
Speaker 7: like you have a lot more of them than one
Speaker 7: would think.
Speaker 4: I mean, everybody's got them, but they're just not honest
Speaker 4: about it. Yeah, maybe you know. I mean, does Drake
Speaker 4: have those moments?
Speaker 6: I don't know absolutely, I mean he writes albums about it.
Speaker 4: I mean I don't know. I mean it does you
Speaker 4: know Denzel have those moments?
Speaker 6: We would never know, We will never never know.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I wouldn't good.
Speaker 4: But you know I have them, and I mean I'm
Speaker 4: sure the King of England has those yeahs? Right? I
Speaker 4: mean I don't know.
Speaker 2: But is that what led you to drugs? Maybe?
Speaker 4: You know? Probably? I mean I was I definitely like
Speaker 4: getting high, you know, when I was younger, and it
Speaker 4: was definitely a release is that the right word? You know?
Speaker 4: I was just escape, escape, you know, it was in
Speaker 4: my twin knees and uh and uh, you know, it's
Speaker 4: a terrible moment. I worked, I worked for another shoe company.
Speaker 4: I got high all the time, and uh, you know
Speaker 4: it was it was terrible, but it was a relief. Yeah.
Speaker 2: A lot of that was just lifestyle. Back then. Cocaine
Speaker 2: was like weed.
Speaker 4: So that's the craziest drug ever. Cocaine, Like it's one
Speaker 4: of those drugs that you do. It makes you feel
Speaker 4: like shit, but you keep doing it. It's so bad.
Speaker 2: I smoked some some weed one time. It didn't make me.
Speaker 4: Feel you know, it depends everybody's got you know, I
Speaker 4: never did Mollie. You know. You know a lot of
Speaker 4: people that talk about Molly.
Speaker 2: I always said I would do it again on accident
Speaker 2: if you pass me.
Speaker 4: You know, a lot of weed is very big now,
Speaker 4: and weed for me was not my drug of choice.
Speaker 4: You know. I would smoke a joint and like I
Speaker 4: would think, like I had my pimples were getting bigger. Well,
Speaker 4: other drugs are like okay, I'm all right. They can
Speaker 4: be bread, you know, like whiskey. You know, oh you
Speaker 4: know what I mean, that's that kind of thing.
Speaker 3: I want to know what the vision was when you
Speaker 3: created Steve Madden in the store, right, because it's not
Speaker 3: just one store. I mean you're in damn near every
Speaker 3: mall in America. There's a Steve Madden.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 3: The other day, my wife, my daughter needed shoes for
Speaker 3: a pageant.
Speaker 1: The first thing she sai, I was going.
Speaker 3: To Steve Madden, right, And I'm like, I don't know
Speaker 3: where Steve Madden is. Is there one of his mall
Speaker 3: or it says there's one in every mall?
Speaker 4: And she was right, it's one in Bergen County and
Speaker 4: Garden State Plaza right.
Speaker 1: Close one ad American Dream Mall. Yes.
Speaker 3: So my question to you is, but not only that,
Speaker 3: you're in the department stores as well. Right, you can
Speaker 3: go to Mace's, you go to Nordstrom, you can find
Speaker 3: Steve Madden. So what was your mind frame to expand
Speaker 3: Steve Madden in that way Because a lot of people
Speaker 3: they just kept it small boutique, but you wanted expansion.
Speaker 4: You know. I'm from that school of you know, keep growing,
Speaker 4: keep growing, do more, make it better. That's just what
Speaker 4: I am about, you know, And that's what I was
Speaker 4: always about. I have my little trips that I go on,
Speaker 4: you know, but that's what I still want to do.
Speaker 4: I still want to grow. You know, We're everywhere, We're
Speaker 4: all over the world. I mean, we're everywhere, and.
Speaker 3: You're never nervous about too much because there's a bunch
Speaker 3: of shoe brands that's been out after you and before
Speaker 3: you that killed itself.
Speaker 1: Yes, but not Steve Maddock.
Speaker 4: People trying to get me all the time, take me down,
Speaker 4: try me every everything, you know. You know, it's like
Speaker 4: I always tell people, you know, when you have, you know,
Speaker 4: kill or be killed, you know, that kind of thing.
Speaker 4: I hate to put that message out. It's not really
Speaker 4: what I'm trying to say. But you know, business is
Speaker 4: a war and everybody's trying to take your stuff and
Speaker 4: that's just the way it is. But you know, we
Speaker 4: try to So when I went away, okay, my message
Speaker 4: was number one, try to make hot shoes and number two,
Speaker 4: try to make profit. You know, first was hot shoes.
Speaker 4: You know, that's where what the company is all about.
Speaker 4: Like when I say hot shoes, the product is the
Speaker 4: most important thing and everything will sort itself out out.
Speaker 4: So and that's sort of the message.
Speaker 7: What I love about Steve Mannon and why it's had
Speaker 7: the longevi of hiss Head and far more going to
Speaker 7: be for a while for a long time, is it's
Speaker 7: affordable and it's high quality. Yes, you know, yes's and
Speaker 7: that's intentional. You say that profit, but Steve Mannon is
Speaker 7: very affordable.
Speaker 4: We try to h you know, give the girlies some value,
Speaker 4: do you know? That's what we're about, and make the
Speaker 4: best shoes we can. I know it sounds corny, but
Speaker 4: we really live and breathe and we still do to
Speaker 4: this day. And in the factory in Queens that we
Speaker 4: have a sample room there and we're all, you know,
Speaker 4: the whole team is just like you know, jamming and
Speaker 4: trying to figure it out and and and we have
Speaker 4: the philosophies that everything will what kind of be sorted
Speaker 4: out after that.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I think everybody should read your book, The Cobbler,
Speaker 5: but I want to ask people. I want to ask
Speaker 5: you for people who haven't read it yet. You know
Speaker 5: your father your father cut you off after college, right, yes,
Speaker 5: and so that's when you had to figure things out
Speaker 5: for yourself financially because he cut off financial support. You
Speaker 5: know what made you want to start that shoe company? Like,
Speaker 5: what was the actual thing that clicked in your mind?
Speaker 5: I said, this is how I'm going to make money
Speaker 5: and change my whole complete life and more importantly, how
Speaker 5: did you do it? Like, how did you get that
Speaker 5: eleven hundred dollars? How did you know to go buy
Speaker 5: materials here and get shoes made here?
Speaker 4: So, uh, you know, I first thing I want to
Speaker 4: say is I learned the business. You know, he and
Speaker 4: him kicking me out of school and cutting me off
Speaker 4: was a gift looking back, you know, forty five years
Speaker 4: later or fifty years later, whatever it is, because it
Speaker 4: forced me to survive, you know, I had to survive
Speaker 4: that to eat, I had to pay the rent, just
Speaker 4: just the way it is. And uh, but so I
Speaker 4: learned my craft working for another company, you know, and
Speaker 4: then I said, you know I could do this. You know,
Speaker 4: it's really just I was like, can I do this?
Speaker 4: And so I did it, you know, And I remember
Speaker 4: waking up one morning and I had an apartment in
Speaker 4: the village, and I had butterflies, you know, that feeling
Speaker 4: said what did I do? I had such a good
Speaker 4: paycheck every week? What am I doing? And like I
Speaker 4: said to myself, just make good shoes and just sell them.
Speaker 4: You know, you'll be okay. You know it's gonna be okay.
Speaker 4: And that's what it was the biggest gift. The biggest
Speaker 4: thing that I did, I have to say. I just
Speaker 4: want to say in case anybody's listening, and is that
Speaker 4: I was able to bring higher good people, partner with
Speaker 4: people because I couldn't have done it myself. Although I
Speaker 4: take all the credit, you know, but I really needed help.
Speaker 2: Where did you go to learn the business? You said
Speaker 2: you learned a business.
Speaker 4: Shoe store, working for somebody else. He did every job
Speaker 4: in the shoe.
Speaker 8: Business was somebody when you were like in your teens, right,
Speaker 8: I worked.
Speaker 4: In a shoe store at seventeen years.
Speaker 6: Yeah, you bet on yourself.
Speaker 4: Yeah, well I don't know you. But the thing is
Speaker 4: that the messages like a lot of people want to
Speaker 4: do everything themselves, and you know, you got to get help.
Speaker 4: You got to get good people, the people that share
Speaker 4: the dream. And that's really one of the things that
Speaker 4: really because you know, some founders often get in the way,
Speaker 4: you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 3: Perhaps I wanted to know what was your relationship with
Speaker 3: IRV God.
Speaker 1: I know you guys had a tight relationship.
Speaker 4: Gotti was great and I miss him so much. I
Speaker 4: miss IRV so much, and I uh, he was such
Speaker 4: a great storyteller and he was he was a good guy.
Speaker 4: He was a warm guy, you know. He he uh,
Speaker 4: he was always trying to make deals. You know, he's
Speaker 4: always like you know, and he was very enthusiastic. But uh,
Speaker 4: but he was a great guy and he was so
Speaker 4: much fun to be with. And he would you know,
Speaker 4: he would say things like you know, and he was
Speaker 4: like I always used to joke that IRV God, he
Speaker 4: had like a white Jewish man inside his body. And
Speaker 4: you know what I mean, because he would I would
Speaker 4: be with my friends and Irv and he would play
Speaker 4: gin with them and take their money. But also he
Speaker 4: would tell stories. He would say, let me tell you
Speaker 4: about the time I was with Sugar Knight in the hills.
Speaker 4: Like who could tell stories like that? Especially to white boys.
Speaker 4: They eat that shit up, you know. And you know,
Speaker 4: he would tell stories like that, and you know, I
Speaker 4: got to hang out with him and jar Rule, who
Speaker 4: is the greatest dude.
Speaker 1: I know.
Speaker 4: I think he lives up by you guys. He's so funny.
Speaker 4: He's so funny. Ja Rule and the two of them
Speaker 4: together were like it was like you're holding your sides
Speaker 4: after forty five minutes telling stories back and forth, and
Speaker 4: I really misserved.
Speaker 1: How did you meet I.
Speaker 4: Met him at a poker game. He was a master
Speaker 4: to him and his brother played a lot of poker,
Speaker 4: and people liked me because I was the worst poker player,
Speaker 4: very nice to me.
Speaker 1: I have a.
Speaker 4: Sandwich hang out that was the worst because I didn't
Speaker 4: give a ship. I just wanted to have a good time.
Speaker 4: And you know, you really have to be patient to
Speaker 4: be a good poker player.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you have to not go in, you know.
Speaker 4: And he was great.
Speaker 2: You're not a patient personality, No.
Speaker 4: Not patient, terrible poker player. And we used to play.
Speaker 4: We used to have fun and I didn't care if
Speaker 4: I lost. He cared. You know. He used to go
Speaker 4: to the World Series of Poker. So and his brother
Speaker 4: is a great poker player too.
Speaker 2: I want to ask you something about fashion, right like.
Speaker 5: Fashion is one of the few industries where people literally
Speaker 5: wear their status art art.
Speaker 2: You think people are buying style or buying identity.
Speaker 4: Oh that's a good question. I think both. You know
Speaker 4: that certainly a lot of the you know mez Goot
Speaker 4: she that they just it's a it's just a prestige.
Speaker 4: It's almost like a uniform. You know. I got this
Speaker 4: and it's amazing what they've done. I have to tell
Speaker 4: you I admire ermez and and in my world they're
Speaker 4: buying style. You know, you got to have the right style.
Speaker 4: I don't care who you are. If you don't have
Speaker 4: the right ship, you're you're you're out. You know that
Speaker 4: you gotta have, you gotta be on it. And so, uh,
Speaker 4: it's it's tough. It's very tough, yes.
Speaker 5: Because because something can have identity would be ugly, you
Speaker 5: don't you know what I mean? Like it could be
Speaker 5: worth a lot, is what I'm saying. It could be
Speaker 5: worth a lot, but not look good, you know.
Speaker 4: I mean people rap about Gucci and fear Rouccie. Wasn't
Speaker 4: there a song Austin Gucci fear Rooccie? There was like
Speaker 4: one hundred years ago. I'm fucking old. I'm sorry.
Speaker 7: You know the one that we know is Gucci Loui
Speaker 7: pop them tags.
Speaker 4: Yes, yeah, that's right.
Speaker 6: Yes, Well how do you stay so close to like culture?
Speaker 4: Right?
Speaker 8: And like what did that stem from? Without and keeping
Speaker 8: it being authentic? Like I know your collabs are like
Speaker 8: Cardi and you just talked about IRV Gotti and like
Speaker 8: you're kind of embedded in that now, Like where's that
Speaker 8: stem from?
Speaker 4: So We're always looking to be with somebody that people
Speaker 4: would see and want to wear the shoes if they
Speaker 4: wore them. And so we've had a bunch of collabs
Speaker 4: that were very good. And I liked working with Cardi
Speaker 4: b I enjoyed it and she was good fun and
Speaker 4: she was polite and she blew up at the same time.
Speaker 4: So sometimes it's difficult they get a big head, and
Speaker 4: but she was delightful and I'm glad she had it,
Speaker 4: having a great career. And we worked with a bunch
Speaker 4: of other folks, and you know, we we even had
Speaker 4: Gaga in the beginning, and we had love the one
Speaker 4: that said I kissed the girl what was her name?
Speaker 9: Girl?
Speaker 4: I liked it and she was she's a big star.
Speaker 4: Now we had a lot of that.
Speaker 8: Is that just a good team that knows what's happening
Speaker 8: or like, do you have a like an interest in
Speaker 8: entertainment as.
Speaker 4: I would say that what I tend to like is
Speaker 4: not necessarily in favor. You know, we have a great team.
Speaker 4: And now you got all these young artists out now
Speaker 4: that are so good. You know, take mccraze of the
Speaker 4: world and all the you know, and that kind of thing,
Speaker 4: and you you know, what's the one? The blonde? There's
Speaker 4: a lot of blonde, says motherfucker in her song. Do
Speaker 4: you know that one?
Speaker 1: Everybody?
Speaker 6: Everybody a singer or a rapper.
Speaker 4: What's her name? Carpenter?
Speaker 6: That's so funny. So as you said blonde, that's what
Speaker 6: I thought of, But I think he was, Yeah.
Speaker 4: I have daughters. So I have an eighteen year old
Speaker 4: daughter and a thirteen year old daughter, and they just
Speaker 4: love Sabrina Carpenter and they love Olivia Rodrigo and so like,
Speaker 4: you know, it's like that, And well, I don't know
Speaker 4: if they could do that. It may be too late
Speaker 4: for that.
Speaker 2: What about Chris Brown?
Speaker 4: Oh god, remember when we talked about Chris gre I'm sorry.
Speaker 4: I think he's the greatest dancer I've ever seen foot upstage.
Speaker 4: And Howard Chris Brown was a better dancer than Michael Jackson.
Speaker 5: Oh ship that all was mentioned Chris Brown, And I
Speaker 5: don't know why the Howard audience reacted through like they
Speaker 5: did not.
Speaker 8: Dance. Howard HBCU campus very like, uh, I don't.
Speaker 6: Know if you call him woke.
Speaker 8: I feel like that words played out, But like, you know,
Speaker 8: because of Chris Brown's past, you probably find a lot
Speaker 8: of the black women at Howard that are like, we
Speaker 8: don't want to hear about home.
Speaker 4: Yes, but damn, but I'm just watching him dance.
Speaker 6: I understand what you mean.
Speaker 8: But I know the man Howard I could I could
Speaker 8: see the girls being.
Speaker 4: Like I was like, I'm sorry, probably down. Just like
Speaker 4: Chris Brown, I think he's amazing.
Speaker 6: So do I do you really think that he's a
Speaker 6: better dancer than Michael Jackson.
Speaker 4: I do. I think that he's got more athletic skills.
Speaker 4: I think he really Of course Michael was amazing. Yeah,
Speaker 4: you know what I'm saying. Michael was breathtaking to watch Michael.
Speaker 4: I'm the same age as Michael. I feel like I
Speaker 4: grew up with Michael Jackson.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 4: I used to watch it when I was a little
Speaker 4: boy and we were like twelve together. I feel like,
Speaker 4: and he would do stuff and it would be like,
Speaker 4: oh my god, he's you know, if he was on TV,
Speaker 4: it's like, hey, Michaels, you know, but Chris Brown, geez,
Speaker 4: I'll get.
Speaker 1: To Yeah, he's a better answer. He was probably laughing.
Speaker 5: I was taking it in because I was like, I
Speaker 5: didn't expect the audience of these young people to be
Speaker 5: upset about Chris Brown before you even said to Michael
Speaker 5: Jackson because him mentioning Chris Brown.
Speaker 2: They were like, yeah, like.
Speaker 1: Chris is different. Chris, Chris is different.
Speaker 3: Like if you really watch his videos and watch his
Speaker 3: dance routines and the things he's able to do, and
Speaker 3: not just look at Michael Jackson who he is.
Speaker 4: Chris is busy and does not gets out of performing.
Speaker 3: No, Chris biz and he does different things different times.
Speaker 1: But Christmas, I.
Speaker 5: Want to ask America, America. Clearly, America should believe in
Speaker 5: second chances. Right, do you think America really loves second
Speaker 5: chances or does it just love comeback stories when they
Speaker 5: make money.
Speaker 4: Well, boy, yeah, I think you might be right because
Speaker 4: if I faild people can't give a shit about me,
Speaker 4: maybe you know, then wear my shoes to be like yeah,
Speaker 4: like I did this in prison, you know what I mean.
Speaker 4: But people, but we are allowed to have a second chance.
Speaker 4: I think that we you know, I mean, so many
Speaker 4: people have had second chances. And it's a great thing
Speaker 4: about our country, right, you know, it is a country
Speaker 4: of second chances.
Speaker 3: Right, So look ahead, I wanted to ask, you know,
Speaker 3: you tell my second chance? Continue what you're saying. I
Speaker 3: want to ask something that you said. And I was
Speaker 3: curious of why men's shoes get into the men's line.
Speaker 3: Were you ever scared to leave what your base was?
Speaker 4: You know, I, uh, men, women buy like eight and
Speaker 4: want over men, damn right, And so I focused on women's.
Speaker 4: But we have a nice little men's business and we
Speaker 4: try to you know, I have some good shoes and
Speaker 4: we have a whole team that works on that, and
Speaker 4: I'm wearing them right now. And you know, I'm gonna
Speaker 4: show you. I'm gonna do a little modeling here with
Speaker 4: my leg because I'm so Steve Madden.
Speaker 2: I love it.
Speaker 4: It's about one hundred and forty dollars something like that.
Speaker 4: It's very good. Yes, do you do a parrel as well? Yes?
Speaker 2: I do?
Speaker 3: And how does their peril do because you know, most
Speaker 3: people are associated like shoe shoe, shoeshoe shoes, but stepping
Speaker 3: outside of that.
Speaker 4: You know our parrel does well. Yeah, we're doing well.
Speaker 4: We have good people over there. I was afraid of that.
Speaker 4: I have to tell you. I didn't want to overdo it.
Speaker 4: I just kind of when I started and I had
Speaker 4: a little success in shoes, and I thought, well, I
Speaker 4: don't want to be like you know, Calvin Klein or
Speaker 4: Pierre Karden my name. You know, I kind of want to.
Speaker 4: I wanted to make pajamas and shoes. That was like
Speaker 4: my thing, just like cool pajamas because I didn't see any.
Speaker 4: But it, you know, business takes over and people offer
Speaker 4: you all sorts of stuff and uh. And so we
Speaker 4: went into clothing and we're in handbags and all sorts
Speaker 4: of linens and all sorts of stuff. Gott to make,
Speaker 4: you know, make a little money that way. Yeah, but
Speaker 4: our focus is we have a lot of business. But
Speaker 4: what I love is making girls shoes for the girl.
Speaker 4: That's what the girl, That's what I wake up thinking about.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 3: The crazy thing is well one I had a question
Speaker 3: when when you were arrested, did you think it was
Speaker 3: over for your company? Did you say it's it's a
Speaker 3: wrap And what was your mind frame during that time?
Speaker 3: And did you have to build a back No?
Speaker 4: So what I did was just very quickly I thought
Speaker 4: it was over for me and for the company, that's it.
Speaker 4: And then you know I had put I had great
Speaker 4: people there that I had taught. Really people have been
Speaker 4: with me forever, and I get way too much credit.
Speaker 4: And and so they kept it going. You know, they
Speaker 4: didn't grow a ton, but they kind of kept.
Speaker 1: It, kept it.
Speaker 4: We didn't go backwards. They did good. So when I
Speaker 4: came out, you know, I was able to be really
Speaker 4: exploded because they had done the hard work when I
Speaker 4: was away. And yeah, I really did think it was over.
Speaker 5: That one in the downfalls of having your name out
Speaker 5: of the brain, like your actual name, let me go
Speaker 5: to prison.
Speaker 2: It is that guy you think about it.
Speaker 4: No, you know it was too late. Everything happened, and
Speaker 4: you know, you know everything, I've been lucky. I've been
Speaker 4: so lucky, and I was. Look, I met a lot
Speaker 4: of good guys. And when I was away, you know,
Speaker 4: that influenced me and gave me perspective and and I
Speaker 4: think every and made me more successful. And when I
Speaker 4: got out, in a way, you know, I had a
Speaker 4: little bit more you know, depth, perhaps seen a lot
Speaker 4: of suffering and unfairness and uh, you know, so gave
Speaker 4: you purpose. It did a little bit. I want to
Speaker 4: say one thing about human beings. I just want to say,
Speaker 4: like you have nothing in prison, You eat shitty food
Speaker 4: and eat bad food, and it's really bad. And you
Speaker 4: said Oh god, I can't wait to get out, you know.
Speaker 4: And and like six months lady, you're out and you're
Speaker 4: eating a steak and it's too burnt, and you complain
Speaker 4: about it. You know what I'm saying, my sting. You know,
Speaker 4: that's like sort of human being kind of stuff. But
Speaker 4: you try not to you try to not be that way.
Speaker 4: But it can't help but match with my steak eating
Speaker 4: slop six months ago.
Speaker 1: But oh, he's showing him Atlanta te se.
Speaker 6: What I mean is showing him ain't c LT.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's sad.
Speaker 2: What is that?
Speaker 4: That's so said?
Speaker 1: Making them suck everybody's penis and the barracks.
Speaker 4: Heard, that's okay. I've seen some bad ship. I've seen
Speaker 4: some tough stuff. I've seen some bad things, and so
Speaker 4: I'm gonna tell you something real quick. You can't show
Speaker 4: yourself to another inmate. It's a sign. It's it's a sign.
Speaker 4: You know what I'm saying. Can't do it. You gotta cut.
Speaker 4: I've seen big dudes sweatshirts, hats. They don't show ship,
Speaker 4: no real you know, guys, even when they go to
Speaker 4: the weight pile, they're like got shirts on. Nobody nobody's
Speaker 4: peeling it's not a you know, it's not a thing
Speaker 4: you do.
Speaker 8: You know your business went up so much after you
Speaker 8: came home. Do you feel like personally you took a
Speaker 8: step back from like spotlight because.
Speaker 4: You know, actually got a little bit more famous at
Speaker 4: some point, you know, and you know, so I don't know,
Speaker 4: it's back and forth. Uh. You know, Martha Stewart went
Speaker 4: away when I went away, so we had a similar
Speaker 4: sort of path and and it was almost exact same time.
Speaker 4: You know, she's a big star to star's a big star.
Speaker 4: She's a big star now. But she had a dip
Speaker 4: there for a minute. People were hating on it, you
Speaker 4: know what I'm saying. And so I kind of like
Speaker 4: went a little on the low when I got out,
Speaker 4: like stayed out of the spotlight, you know, didn't want
Speaker 4: to and kind of went that way. And then our
Speaker 4: business was so good I kind of got I was
Speaker 4: forced to come out. Yeah.
Speaker 2: You know, America loves comebacks.
Speaker 5: We love well, we used to love comebacks and redemption stories.
Speaker 5: Nowadays everybody just wants to cancel you for bullshit, But
Speaker 5: back then we used to love a good redemption story.
Speaker 4: Well, you know, it's we do. It's great it's wonderful
Speaker 4: because everybody makes mistakes. I mean, you know, you're just
Speaker 4: and uh and even bringing Chris Brown's name up, it's like, oh,
Speaker 4: should I bring it? Like, you know, should I bring
Speaker 4: his name up?
Speaker 2: You know?
Speaker 4: But I'm really you know, I just think he's a
Speaker 4: good dance.
Speaker 6: It's like your knowledge on him for his talent.
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, I hope he gets well yeah all that.
Speaker 4: But I'm just saying, you know, so it's a it's
Speaker 4: a difficult culture, you know. And uh, and so even
Speaker 4: you know, you just have to be careful all the time.
Speaker 4: One false move and you know you're cooked.
Speaker 8: I remember when you did the Cutting Room Floor podcast
Speaker 8: and I was like, black people like they've never seen
Speaker 8: him before. But then I saw TikTokers and people saying
Speaker 8: it's because you kind of got a little low after
Speaker 8: you came home. But you remember that response, like you
Speaker 8: did the podcast, everybody it was really black people that are.
Speaker 4: Like, oh, this is Steve Madden.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And it was.
Speaker 4: Like it was it was really black people, and it
Speaker 4: was it was just like it was they were making
Speaker 4: tiktoks about they were and it was so gratifying. It
Speaker 4: was so great, and I didn't think I did that good.
Speaker 4: When I was on I was, you know, I remember
Speaker 4: she said, what's the shoe you copied? And I thought,
Speaker 4: oh god, I'm cooked. It's Chanel and I make it.
Speaker 4: So what, you know, all my girls can buy it,
Speaker 4: so what, and they just went crazy. They ended up
Speaker 4: It was wonderful. It was really so great when.
Speaker 6: You begin of TikTok.
Speaker 7: I also saw a video on TikTok where you went
Speaker 7: in the store and one of your stores and you
Speaker 7: had purchased a shoe and a girl was like, thank you, Like,
Speaker 7: didn't she didn't notice you were a little young girl,
Speaker 7: didn't notice who you were. Do you like that people
Speaker 7: don't off the bed, like associate your face with your book.
Speaker 4: I do like it. I used to not like it.
Speaker 4: I wanted everybody to know who I was, you know,
Speaker 4: kind of thing, right, But now it's kind of cool
Speaker 4: to kind of sneak into a store. And of course
Speaker 4: when they ask you, because I'm older than by double
Speaker 4: everybody that works and stuff, that was this old white
Speaker 4: dude here. You know what I'm saying. But so at
Speaker 4: some point I have to say, you know that's me.
Speaker 1: Your credit card, said Steve.
Speaker 6: They think it's like a company card like when.
Speaker 4: Wet and I do like that, but I didn't.
Speaker 8: What about the conversation around Steve Matten when it comes
Speaker 8: to the business like what you just mentioned, like the
Speaker 8: remix right, because there's a good side of it where
Speaker 8: people are like, okay, this is affordable. But then there
Speaker 8: are the other side of it where you have independent
Speaker 8: designers like I remember the brother Bellyes thing, like different
Speaker 8: designers who speak out and say, well, these are our
Speaker 8: shoes and we don't get credit.
Speaker 2: Major fashion as is too. You got by like Alexander McQueen.
Speaker 4: And I'm always kidding, uh I. I would say that
Speaker 4: we do a lot of original designs, and we definitely
Speaker 4: do some dupes.
Speaker 2: And don't say that.
Speaker 4: You take my library card away.
Speaker 6: Everybody does.
Speaker 3: Do you have to settle out serious?
Speaker 4: You know when we do twists on them too, we
Speaker 4: try to give you a little you know, I mean,
Speaker 4: that's it. You know, I make shoes for ninety bucks,
Speaker 4: one hundred and twenty bucks. You know, people love them,
Speaker 4: and you know I'm trying to pay the rent, you know,
Speaker 4: I mean really, I mean you've.
Speaker 1: Been paying around a long time.
Speaker 4: See the family to.
Speaker 7: Do it, the girls trying to play to pay the
Speaker 7: rent too, and you can afford to pay Steve Mantons
Speaker 7: and deep but not deep, and then I.
Speaker 8: Can pay running from the designers who were like trying
Speaker 8: to build to where you are, to feel like you
Speaker 8: have the bigger platform. And then but we rather work
Speaker 8: together versus you have it on your platform and no
Speaker 8: one knows that the inspiration came from us.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 8: Yes, sometimes do you ever feel in those moments like
Speaker 8: have you ever been like, okay, well let's just partner
Speaker 8: or like.
Speaker 4: I would love to do that, you know, I would
Speaker 4: love to people always think I've had this thing, whether
Speaker 4: people think I'm just this big pirate, you know, this
Speaker 4: monster guy.
Speaker 6: So some of them, that was some of the tiktoks.
Speaker 8: It was like, yo, he looks like he and the mob.
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, I'm not. And I feel those people and
Speaker 4: I and I and I even talked, we talk about
Speaker 4: having a little maybe you know, a little venture fund
Speaker 4: for some small guys, and we do it. We've done it,
Speaker 4: and it's something to think about. I'm not, you know,
Speaker 4: a rapacious, rapacious I love that word, rapacious, vulture. You know,
Speaker 4: I'm just trying to make good shoes, you know, and
Speaker 4: that's it. And I do not to be such a
Speaker 4: wind bag here. I just want to know. I want
Speaker 4: to I want to tell you that he'll yell at
Speaker 4: me over here. I do think about I swear now
Speaker 4: I have a lot of money, now you know what
Speaker 4: I mean. But I do think about, No, why am
Speaker 4: I doing this? I'm feeding my family, you know what
Speaker 4: I'm saying. I try to tell my kids that because
Speaker 4: they don't make the connection. No, I'm feeding the family.
Speaker 4: I'm putting clothes on your back. You know. I'm going
Speaker 4: to the grocery store. I'm able to buy good fruit
Speaker 4: and vegetables. And I really think that way, and I
Speaker 4: know it's probably madness.
Speaker 2: But you're a billionaire.
Speaker 4: I mean, I don't know about all that with the
Speaker 4: company companies doing Yeah, we do.
Speaker 2: Well, Concret, congrats on your second quarter, aren't.
Speaker 4: Thank you very well? We have an amazing team and
Speaker 4: we have a great CEO and great president and they
Speaker 4: try not to pay too much attention to me, and
Speaker 4: they're doing great well.
Speaker 5: When you hire somebody today, what qualities do you value
Speaker 5: more than talent?
Speaker 4: Good question. I like enthusiasm, and you know, I like
Speaker 4: enthusiasm and passion. I think it's good. Not everybody is talented.
Speaker 4: It's good to have talent, though, right, it's good to
Speaker 4: have talent, but it's great to have enthusiasm and sometimes
Speaker 4: you can work and learn and be open and stuff
Speaker 4: like that.
Speaker 3: How involved are you with the company now? Why do
Speaker 3: you know every shoe and this?
Speaker 4: I'm very involved with very involved with the products. And
Speaker 4: I'm very involved. You know, things different when you get older.
Speaker 4: You know, in my late sixties now you know I'm older,
Speaker 4: Ye do much less weight now. You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 4: It's sad getting older. It's not great. Uh, it's kind
Speaker 4: of like I think about I don't know why we're
Speaker 4: talking about that, but I'm very involved. You know. It's
Speaker 4: I think about Larry Birder, I think about you know,
Speaker 4: you know, just athletes that you know at some point
Speaker 4: you know, can't boxer, can't knock a guy out anymore.
Speaker 4: It's a hard you know, it's a very hard feeling,
Speaker 4: you know, to be you know what I mean. It's
Speaker 4: you're getting older and you're getting well yeah, I mean
Speaker 4: you got.
Speaker 3: Kids, and your kids run your company. You got to
Speaker 3: trust in your kids that you know.
Speaker 4: Well, I don't want them to go into shoes. But
Speaker 4: I don't want them to do something well because we're
Speaker 4: a public company and it's difficult. But you know, they
Speaker 4: could if they wanted to. But you know, I'd like
Speaker 4: them to do something they love, you know, and that
Speaker 4: would not upset me if one of my kids became
Speaker 4: a teacher, if they loved it, because they would have
Speaker 4: the money, you know, to do that. I think teachers
Speaker 4: are underpaid.
Speaker 2: You just want them to find their passion.
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, I think it's terrible injustice in America.
Speaker 5: By the way, what makes you do so much work
Speaker 5: with HBCUs? I mean we were on a panel at
Speaker 5: how would you have a building that?
Speaker 1: No, we just have.
Speaker 2: It is it's something to how we do.
Speaker 4: We do a lot of work with Howard. Yes, we
Speaker 4: do some stuff. We have a big programs, intern programs,
Speaker 4: fashion programs.
Speaker 1: And then we did something was it Clark Clark.
Speaker 3: A couple of years ago.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it was great.
Speaker 6: Athlete campaigns to campaigns.
Speaker 4: You do things, well, let let the uh. I'm just
Speaker 4: doing what I can. I don't really know what else
Speaker 4: to say, doing what we can, that's it.
Speaker 5: But who pointed you in that direction? Like what made
Speaker 5: you say I want to start pouring into these HBCUs.
Speaker 4: You know, it's just something that I want to do.
Speaker 4: I don't really have I just feel like we're not
Speaker 4: getting into it. I just feel like it's an area
Speaker 4: that doesn't get as much attention as it should. And
Speaker 4: it's a wonderful thing, and I think I wish we
Speaker 4: could do more, to be honest with you, and especially
Speaker 4: at this time in America, was there like.
Speaker 8: A certain was that like a certain something that happened
Speaker 8: where you were like I need like what you know
Speaker 8: what I mean? Like, where was the emotional connection for you?
Speaker 8: Like what happened where you were? Like, we need to
Speaker 8: be doing more. One admit that you saw where you like,
Speaker 8: this is messed up.
Speaker 4: I don't. I was. You know, I've been very influenced
Speaker 4: by black people in my life. I have to just
Speaker 4: say it, you know, I just you know, as a kid,
Speaker 4: it was next to my town. There was a town
Speaker 4: called Inwood. You guys know Inwood, which is right next
Speaker 4: to far Acaway. I want to give a shout out
Speaker 4: to my man Jeffrey Brooks and Pucci and all those guys,
Speaker 4: and uh, yeah, there was a town called Inwood, and
Speaker 4: you know, so we grew up together and it was
Speaker 4: they were different and it was fun and and we
Speaker 4: had so much fun. And I could tell you all
Speaker 4: about that trip one day, you know, because it is
Speaker 4: an interesting sort of trip. But you know, it was
Speaker 4: it was just great. It was very It influenced my life,
Speaker 4: you know that thing. I tend to get influenced by
Speaker 4: a lot of stuff. Of course, I was in prison
Speaker 4: a lot of black folks, and you know, and so
Speaker 4: you know, another influence. You know, uh, you know that
Speaker 4: kind of thing.
Speaker 5: But that's good though. You have to be open to that.
Speaker 5: Like there's a lot of people who aren't open. That's
Speaker 5: why racism and bigotry sucks, right, because you close yourself off.
Speaker 2: From people and opening the people learning things like you did.
Speaker 4: Yeah, so my cell made was like he grabbed me
Speaker 4: by the neck and said, okay, white boy, I'm gonna
Speaker 4: teach you about hip hop.
Speaker 1: Now.
Speaker 4: It was that kind of thing. You listen to it.
Speaker 4: And so it was fun, you know, that was that
Speaker 4: was a good that was good experience. And there was
Speaker 4: a song I'm working that back I don't know how to.
Speaker 2: That was like the first one.
Speaker 4: And be on the track walking in prison and listen
Speaker 4: to that song and your neck and puts you on. Well,
Speaker 4: that was the song that I heard first. It was
Speaker 4: like so motion from me, and I thought, this is
Speaker 4: so great. And there was a little hip hop bit
Speaker 4: somebody was on that song.
Speaker 9: Too, juvenile and the older slim yeah, and it was
Speaker 9: so good like like like that so yeah, so like.
Speaker 4: I'm like, this is good.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 4: And uh, Well, when I was away, t I was
Speaker 4: very big and he was from that South. His his
Speaker 4: stuff was very you know, poppy. It was very like, wow,
Speaker 4: does the Taliban? I remember those songs and I would
Speaker 4: be like working out and every and everybody would be like, yeah,
Speaker 4: you know there was another song. You don't know me,
Speaker 4: you don't know men, we'd be working out it. It
Speaker 4: was just a moment, you know, and I thought, well,
Speaker 4: this is good. And then I got to meet t
Speaker 4: I with IRV Gotti.
Speaker 7: Yes, did you mean juvenile yet? I have not because
Speaker 7: they are going on tour.
Speaker 1: We need to go.
Speaker 4: Okay, tis music okay. But then he had that beef
Speaker 4: with money and I thought, I don't know about all
Speaker 4: that failure.
Speaker 2: I'm not sure about that.
Speaker 5: That prison saved your life, right, So how do you
Speaker 5: know when you're I guess quote unquote biggest failure has
Speaker 5: become your greatest blessing.
Speaker 4: Well, you have to think of it like that, I mean,
Speaker 4: because otherwise, you know, uh, you just drown and sorrow
Speaker 4: and pity, right, I mean, you know, and it's easy
Speaker 4: to do. You know, it's easy to do with God,
Speaker 4: you know. Uh, so you try to turn it around
Speaker 4: and try to if you can. Not everybody has the
Speaker 4: ability to do that, to be honest, and certainly it's
Speaker 4: easier if you're white, to be honest with you. That's
Speaker 4: not good and soapy about it, but it's not.
Speaker 2: So people tell the truth.
Speaker 4: That's talk about. That's that's what it is. So so
Speaker 4: it's a little bit of that. It's just you know
Speaker 4: that whole it's connected to that.
Speaker 8: Why does that make you uncomfortable to talk about those
Speaker 8: type of things?
Speaker 4: I mean, I.
Speaker 2: Understand the if Steve gets to talk and talking, I
Speaker 2: don't go back there.
Speaker 4: Stop. Yes, it is harder, and it's just that's just
Speaker 4: the facts. That's just the way it is. People talk
Speaker 4: to tipto, you know, It's just that's the way it is.
Speaker 4: So we do what we can.
Speaker 5: What do you think society is wrong about people who've
Speaker 5: served time?
Speaker 4: Well, the good news is the good news is people
Speaker 4: are less harsh about it today. You know, a lot
Speaker 4: of people do time. And you know, when I was away,
Speaker 4: most of the people were in prison for drug dealing.
Speaker 4: Just I would say I was in a low security
Speaker 4: not that it was easy.
Speaker 1: It was not.
Speaker 4: Don't get trippy by low security. It sucked. There were
Speaker 4: fucking guys with guns and fences. It was terrible. But
Speaker 4: you know, uh, most of the people were there for
Speaker 4: drug crimes, like you know, and and you know, I
Speaker 4: think the drug laws were too severe and they and
Speaker 4: you know, I mean, they tend to really disrupt communities
Speaker 4: and I think it's grossly unfair. And I know you
Speaker 4: guys know all about the crack laws, and I'm sure
Speaker 4: you've talked about it. You know, it's like just a racist,
Speaker 4: you know law. It's just that simple. There's nothing you
Speaker 4: could say about it that has changed. Guys have gone home.
Speaker 4: And you know, when I went away, also, there was
Speaker 4: white people in there deal in marijuana one hundred plants,
Speaker 4: ten years maximum minimum ten years. Everybody's smoking potts, right,
Speaker 4: What the hell guys did ten years one hundred plants,
Speaker 4: that's crazy. So the laws were you know, so she
Speaker 4: had all these people there, and it wasn't like bank
Speaker 4: robbers and stuff, although I was friends with a bank robber.
Speaker 4: Some stuff to some stuff. We had to hide money
Speaker 4: under the ground. Well, you know, anyway, it's a humbling
Speaker 4: experience and people deserve second chances. And I would say
Speaker 4: that a lot of the folks that were in there
Speaker 4: for drug dealing, you know, I would say, just try
Speaker 4: to take those skills and try to do it with
Speaker 4: something that's legal. Of course, marijuana is legal today, you know.
Speaker 4: So so I was real quick.
Speaker 1: Yes, why you didn't bring me no shoes?
Speaker 7: It's Steve real get Okay, thank you. Let me just
Speaker 7: show you the whole thing. Okay, no, no, no, I
Speaker 7: got enough, Steve.
Speaker 6: But yeah, and eat.
Speaker 7: And I want you to know because I need you
Speaker 7: to send me at least two or three shoes so
Speaker 7: I can figure out when we went.
Speaker 6: To the juvenile conference.
Speaker 4: Yes, we're gonna go, yes, and uh, we're selling a
Speaker 4: lot of dress shoes. I just want you guys to
Speaker 4: more than usual, which is interesting a lot of people,
Speaker 4: you know, the in my price is you know, one
Speaker 4: hundred and under, twenty hundred and fifty. They don't make
Speaker 4: a lot of cool dress shoes. It's kind of like
Speaker 4: really better market people like aware like Christian your or
Speaker 4: you know, something like that. And so we're doing really
Speaker 4: well with that. We're making a lot of high heels.
Speaker 2: How does social media change your business?
Speaker 4: Social media is everything? And you know, we have a
Speaker 4: whole department devoted to that. And it's really I mean,
Speaker 4: we could do ten shows on social media, couldn't. It's
Speaker 4: so unbelievable. Yeah, And and I don't really I like,
Speaker 4: just on a personal note, I really like TikTok myself
Speaker 4: and it relaxes me. Like sometimes at night, I just
Speaker 4: like I don't even put on the TV. Just grow,
Speaker 4: you know. And it's like, but you know, my algorithm
Speaker 4: is probably different than your hell, you know.
Speaker 7: Because I can't stay none of it. I'm like, it's
Speaker 7: two negative too negative. Well, right, algorithm is different though.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 4: I get a lot of movies, old movies and you know,
Speaker 4: stuff like that. Chris Brown.
Speaker 5: Has social media made style more accessible or has it
Speaker 5: made originality harder?
Speaker 4: The fun? Oh god?
Speaker 1: That's uh.
Speaker 4: You know, style is everything, trend is everything. It's just
Speaker 4: you know, what I think is like I don't remember
Speaker 4: being in school and there was a bunch of cool
Speaker 4: girls wearing certain jeans or a tan tap and like
Speaker 4: it went around. Now that cool girl thing is all
Speaker 4: over the country, you'll get to see what the cool
Speaker 4: tank top is. You know. It's sort of an amazing
Speaker 4: idea in a way, like oh, what's the cool ankle boot?
Speaker 4: Like what are the chicks wearing? You know, I think
Speaker 4: it's great.
Speaker 3: Have you ever worked too late on a trend? Because
Speaker 3: you know, when you start designing, you're designing for next year? Right,
Speaker 3: have you ever worked too late?
Speaker 4: Either too late? I've been too early? You know, I've
Speaker 4: done it all. You know, you try. Timing is very
Speaker 4: important and and I've definitely been too late. I have
Speaker 4: and I've been too early too, which is just as
Speaker 4: bad as too late, you know.
Speaker 3: So what are the circumstances of finding out like figuring
Speaker 3: out what's next?
Speaker 2: Right?
Speaker 3: Like, for instance, right, everybody knows needles was the big
Speaker 3: thing for like three months straight. I mean you couldn't
Speaker 3: find one. All these stores that ordered crazy amount of needles.
Speaker 3: Now I'm sure they got to stop power because they
Speaker 3: don't care about it no more.
Speaker 1: So, how do you decide what's going to be the
Speaker 1: next show and what you go with you know.
Speaker 4: You, well, when somebody reaches my age, you must surround
Speaker 4: yourself with young people and tell you what's up. I
Speaker 4: dig that, I like that. I like to be around
Speaker 4: that energy. You know. You know, I'm listening to cowboy
Speaker 4: music in the gym.
Speaker 2: You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 4: You know what I'm saying. That's what I'm listening to.
Speaker 4: So it's not coming. You know, I'm not really going
Speaker 4: to be directing a lot of that. But but so
Speaker 4: I have young people and great talent around me. And yeah,
Speaker 4: as a matter of fact, if if there is a
Speaker 4: musical thing that I really like this, they're likely not
Speaker 4: to be successful, do you know what I mean? You
Speaker 4: know what I mean, because I like them and I'm like, gee,
Speaker 4: I love this group, you know when they're young and
Speaker 4: what I'm like, God, I love them, and uh and
Speaker 4: I go, but I like them. That that may be
Speaker 4: no good, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 8: So that's crazy because y'all be so on the note,
Speaker 8: like even with the like the people y'all send to
Speaker 8: the Kirk.
Speaker 4: Doing great.
Speaker 1: Yes, but y'all were.
Speaker 8: Kind of early in like people were talking about it.
Speaker 8: But now it's become like a cultural like we're early
Speaker 8: on the acquisition with them. It's that's crazy to hear
Speaker 8: you say that, Like, it's not your instinct.
Speaker 4: Well, you know, you kind of have to mixed humility
Speaker 4: with vision perhaps, and uh, you know, but I do
Speaker 4: like Sabrina Carpenter, you know, and I like Taylor Swift.
Speaker 6: I know that's right, shake it off.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean I do like that stuff, you know. So,
Speaker 4: uh but nobody cares, you know what I mean. But
Speaker 4: my daughter's level of that.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 7: So when you have like like your creative team, they
Speaker 7: come up and they show you, like, Steve, do you
Speaker 7: like this?
Speaker 6: Do like that? Are you honest?
Speaker 4: We'd be like, no, yes, that's what we do. Okay,
Speaker 4: let me show you something. Okay.
Speaker 7: Now, if I was working for you right in there
Speaker 7: and saying, Steve, these need to these the next hottest thing.
Speaker 7: These need to be sold for the church ladies, what
Speaker 7: would you say.
Speaker 4: Church lady? I would say, I like to make shoes
Speaker 4: for all kinds of people. And I would be let's
Speaker 4: do it. Let's make some church ladies. You wouldn't You
Speaker 4: wouldn't want to know we put something, we put our
Speaker 4: stamp on it. I mean, we put a little signature,
Speaker 4: a little flavor, a little, a little. There's a few secrets,
Speaker 4: like Coca cola. I can tell you the secret formula
Speaker 4: to Coca cola.
Speaker 1: But you're gonna make it raight.
Speaker 6: You're gonna make use some stuff.
Speaker 4: I could make that shoe look a little if you.
Speaker 5: Don't put them just show Steve madd that Monica Woard
Speaker 5: and that uh make it right video?
Speaker 2: Yes not not? So is there a level? Okay?
Speaker 4: Yeah, I know, I'm I'm just saying, you know, I
Speaker 4: would say I was thinking about what you said. You know,
Speaker 4: it's just humility and vision and there, I mean so
Speaker 4: many times, I fucking love that shoes. I hope I'm right.
Speaker 2: You know what I mean?
Speaker 4: Yeah, you know you know that's a creative process, isn't it.
Speaker 3: You should make a special box to all the young
Speaker 3: girls that come and make it like my first heels box, right,
Speaker 3: so when the girls boy their first heels, they.
Speaker 1: Can put it in something.
Speaker 4: Right.
Speaker 1: So I tell you I bought my daughter's first heels.
Speaker 3: She warm, but she's so excited to have her first heels.
Speaker 1: Like mommy, But they're not is no way to put them.
Speaker 3: I gotta put them on the show like that but
Speaker 3: they had like a special box, like a signature.
Speaker 1: First. I think that would be like.
Speaker 4: That you could do something with that. We're doing a
Speaker 4: little thing. We're thinking about bringing your vintage Steve Madden
Speaker 4: shoes and trade them in or something.
Speaker 6: I'm thinking about something like that.
Speaker 4: We want to do. Yes, because we've been around, you know,
Speaker 4: I don't feel like it. I mean, you know, and
Speaker 4: I'm still trying to make hits, right, but like we've
Speaker 4: been around a long time. Yeah, yeah, yeah, And so
Speaker 4: you know, I go to the vintage stores in like
Speaker 4: Brooklyn and I see Steve Madden and I'm like, wait,
Speaker 4: I'm not dead yet.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 4: It's kind of like when you win a Hall of
Speaker 4: Fame award that's us. Yes.
Speaker 2: Is there a level of successful people stop telling you
Speaker 2: the truth?
Speaker 4: You know? You have some uh, you do have some
Speaker 4: people that get a little intimidated by your success and
Speaker 4: they want to There are some people that do that
Speaker 4: really like it. And then I have people that do
Speaker 4: the opposite too, they like, you know, they always trying
Speaker 4: to correct me. I don't like that either. You know
Speaker 4: that most people, if you're in my career, you're telling
Speaker 4: me the truth. You know, I'm not that's not who
Speaker 4: I am, but I know people like that.
Speaker 5: How do you protect yourself from being surrounded by yes man,
Speaker 5: oh women, yes women, yes, me and woman.
Speaker 4: You know, it's really boring being supressed, you know, you know,
Speaker 4: you do something messed up and they say, oh, well
Speaker 4: you play golf and you hit a shitty shot and
Speaker 4: they go, great shot, Steve. Then you know, like, wait
Speaker 4: a second, but I've been around dudes like that, you know,
Speaker 4: and it's not a very good way to grow. Think
Speaker 4: you know that there are people that break my chops
Speaker 4: too a lot.
Speaker 6: For sure.
Speaker 4: They take it easy on me.
Speaker 2: You know, this is my last question.
Speaker 4: It's been we got shoes, we gotta go, we got
Speaker 4: things right?
Speaker 2: What lesson? Did your pain teach you? That's your success?
Speaker 2: Never could?
Speaker 4: Well? Pain can not to be corny about it. Sort
Speaker 4: of pain can be a message or a messenger, you know,
Speaker 4: and it can be and you know you can let it.
Speaker 4: You can let it weigh you down, and I have
Speaker 4: done that, and then you can let it say no,
Speaker 4: you know, I'm coming back.
Speaker 2: You know. It's like that.
Speaker 4: There's that hip hop song bounce back. I just heard it.
Speaker 4: You know who does.
Speaker 1: It's not a.
Speaker 4: Wait song? What a message that is, Big Sean. I
Speaker 4: like that guy yest. He was on you know, Spotify
Speaker 4: has like your top songs of twenty twenty. So I
Speaker 4: put it on the other day and bounce Back was
Speaker 4: on it. It's like, what an uplifting message? So uh
Speaker 4: we take l's and we bounce back.
Speaker 3: I know that's Rice, Steve, Big Sean, Steve Madden, thank
Speaker 3: you so much for joining us.
Speaker 4: Appreciate you so much.
Speaker 1: It's the Breakfast Club. Good morning, hold every day.
Speaker 2: A weak click your glass up. The Breakfast Club finished.
Speaker 1: Y'all done.