WEBVTT - NOAH CLOTHING: How a Former SUPREME Creative Director and an Interior Designer Built Their Own Menswear World 0:00:01.960 --> 0:00:04.400 You can have tons of money and still being measurable, right, So, 0:00:04.519 --> 0:00:06.680 like that was what I was going through at the time. 0:00:06.720 --> 0:00:08.160 It's like kind of like reckoning this. 0:00:08.200 --> 0:00:10.719 Understanding of like no amount of money is going to 0:00:10.800 --> 0:00:13.520 make me happy if I'm doing things I don't love, 0:00:13.560 --> 0:00:14.120 if I'm not. 0:00:14.120 --> 0:00:17.680 Contributing the way I think I should be. And you can't. 0:00:17.880 --> 0:00:19.919 You can't run away from that, you know, Like, once 0:00:19.960 --> 0:00:22.040 you know it, you know it. And I knew it, 0:00:22.120 --> 0:00:23.800 so I was like, I need to go do something else. 0:00:34.560 --> 0:00:38.000 Welcome to Idea Generations All Angles, a podcast about culture's 0:00:38.000 --> 0:00:44.040 most influential brands and the teams that built them. If 0:00:44.080 --> 0:00:47.320 you're an entrepreneur, creative, or anyone interested in harnessing the 0:00:47.320 --> 0:00:51.080 power of collaboration, join me Noah Callahan Bever each week 0:00:51.120 --> 0:00:54.880 as we dissect the most dynamic companies in culture, because 0:00:54.920 --> 0:00:57.520 the only way to truly understand success is. 0:00:57.480 --> 0:00:59.160 To look at it from all angles. 0:01:00.560 --> 0:01:03.760 Idea Generation's Ball Angles is a Will Packer Media podcast. 0:01:12.319 --> 0:01:15.560 In two thousand and two, accomplished Supreme creative director Brendan 0:01:15.600 --> 0:01:19.440 Babinzian took his first swing at entrepreneurship and launched Noah, 0:01:19.840 --> 0:01:22.640 a men'swear brand born at the intersection of nautical living 0:01:22.880 --> 0:01:29.520 and skate culture. However, despite critical acclaim in downtown Cool, 0:01:29.959 --> 0:01:32.440 the brand barely made it a few seasons before Brendan 0:01:32.520 --> 0:01:34.640 was forced to put Noah on the back burner and 0:01:34.720 --> 0:01:37.880 resume his role at Supreme. But after a decade in 0:01:37.880 --> 0:01:40.280 the house that James Jebia built, in which he helped 0:01:40.280 --> 0:01:42.920 take Supreme from a local skate shop and Soho to 0:01:43.000 --> 0:01:46.560 a global brand, Brendan decided it was time to revisit Noah, 0:01:46.840 --> 0:01:48.640 and with the help of his then new wife, a 0:01:48.720 --> 0:01:52.280 Stelle Bailey Babinzian, he relaunched the brand in twenty fifteen 0:01:52.440 --> 0:01:57.880 to industry fan a free In the eight years since, 0:01:58.280 --> 0:02:01.440 Noah has grown slowly and steadily while maintaining the core 0:02:01.480 --> 0:02:05.800 philosophical commitments to animate Brendan and Estelle, Noah is a 0:02:05.840 --> 0:02:09.360 beacon of hope and men'swear in fashion, exulting virtuous values 0:02:09.360 --> 0:02:14.320 like sustainability, quality over quantity, and forward leaning but timeless designs. 0:02:15.960 --> 0:02:18.240 On this week's episode of All Angles, we talked to 0:02:18.280 --> 0:02:21.440 founders Brendan and Estelle, as well as brand energy director 0:02:21.520 --> 0:02:24.160 Johnny Napp to hear the full story of Noah and 0:02:24.240 --> 0:02:26.079 find out how the little shop on the corner of 0:02:26.120 --> 0:02:29.560 Mulberry Street in Lower Manhattan, became an industry thought leader 0:02:29.600 --> 0:02:31.040 and a global brand. 0:02:32.480 --> 0:02:34.400 But before any of that happened. 0:02:34.280 --> 0:02:38.000 Years before collaborations with Puma, Adidas or being tapped as 0:02:38.040 --> 0:02:40.880 the creative director of j crue Men's, Brendan was just 0:02:40.919 --> 0:02:43.720 a teenager at East dicelip Long Island looking for his 0:02:43.800 --> 0:02:44.480 first job. 0:02:47.320 --> 0:02:50.040 My first job was at the shop surf Shop, skate shop. 0:02:50.240 --> 0:02:52.040 Back then, most shops were like surf. 0:02:51.760 --> 0:02:54.960 Skate This is Brendan Babinzian, founder of Noah. 0:02:55.400 --> 0:02:57.880 For the most part of that job is a couple 0:02:57.919 --> 0:03:00.960 of years, four years, maths, right high school or whatever. 0:03:01.560 --> 0:03:03.200 But I was fortunate enough to. 0:03:03.280 --> 0:03:06.560 Start when I was thirteen, so I went from thirteen 0:03:06.600 --> 0:03:07.160 all the way to. 0:03:07.160 --> 0:03:08.000 Like twenty one. 0:03:08.200 --> 0:03:10.240 So when I first started working there, the shop wasn't 0:03:10.240 --> 0:03:11.680 even a full blown shop yet. 0:03:11.840 --> 0:03:12.840 This is in my hometown. 0:03:12.960 --> 0:03:15.880 It was called cards and stuff, and it was like 0:03:16.120 --> 0:03:17.919 greeting cards and birthday cards. 0:03:17.600 --> 0:03:20.560 And magazines and cigarettes and like all this stuff. 0:03:21.080 --> 0:03:23.840 And several years before I started there, some of the 0:03:23.880 --> 0:03:27.919 really older guys who were kids at the time were like, hey, man, 0:03:28.000 --> 0:03:29.680 you should sell skateboards or whatever. 0:03:29.760 --> 0:03:32.280 So he brought in a few skateboards, and then that 0:03:32.440 --> 0:03:34.840 aisle in the shop grew and then there was like 0:03:34.920 --> 0:03:37.240 boogie boards and stickers. 0:03:36.840 --> 0:03:39.000 Started popping up behind the counter and this and that, 0:03:39.040 --> 0:03:41.920 and like over time it really got taken over and 0:03:42.040 --> 0:03:43.600 became more of a serf skate shop. 0:03:43.720 --> 0:03:44.960 And then we moved. 0:03:45.320 --> 0:03:47.200 And the move is really what put the shop on 0:03:47.240 --> 0:03:50.760 the map because we moved into like a freestanding house 0:03:51.320 --> 0:03:54.280 that had been there forever on a street called Carlton Avenue. 0:03:54.760 --> 0:03:55.480 The house was. 0:03:55.400 --> 0:03:58.400 A former funeral partler, so it's like old and holy 0:03:58.600 --> 0:04:00.360 creepy and had like multiple rooms stuff. 0:04:00.360 --> 0:04:02.880 But like you converted it and turned it into a shop. 0:04:03.400 --> 0:04:05.760 I think at thirteen you have you don't have expertise 0:04:05.760 --> 0:04:08.600 and anything, but like I was a pretty good skateboarder 0:04:08.640 --> 0:04:11.160 and like I knew kids, and I was into cool stuff. 0:04:11.560 --> 0:04:14.320 So I got the job and then started just as 0:04:14.360 --> 0:04:17.960 like behind the counter kid my primary responsibility when I 0:04:17.960 --> 0:04:20.400 first started, pulled the T shirts, pulled the sweatshirts, put 0:04:20.400 --> 0:04:23.159 the skateboards together. When people came into buy gear, you know, 0:04:23.320 --> 0:04:26.679 that was it. And then within a year or two 0:04:27.360 --> 0:04:29.680 I started going to the trade shows with Rick that 0:04:29.760 --> 0:04:34.600 was my boss, and started like participating in the buys. 0:04:36.960 --> 0:04:39.039 By fifteen, I was like buying. 0:04:39.200 --> 0:04:41.359 By fifteen it was like, hey, go take that appointment 0:04:41.400 --> 0:04:44.520 with you know, name them bill a Bomb, Quicksilver, this 0:04:44.560 --> 0:04:47.039 one that one go do the buy right, plus finding 0:04:47.080 --> 0:04:50.719 new stuff, right because at this time surf and skate 0:04:51.000 --> 0:04:53.760 they're pretty much what you think of the surf and skate, 0:04:54.520 --> 0:04:56.839 But there was this whole other thing happening, right Like 0:04:56.960 --> 0:04:59.560 we were into other stuff, right, Like you listened to 0:04:59.600 --> 0:05:02.360 hip hop, you know, not just like punk and new wave. 0:05:02.400 --> 0:05:04.440 We listened to other things, and coming out of New. 0:05:04.400 --> 0:05:08.560 York, we were seeing other things, like from a clothing 0:05:08.560 --> 0:05:11.600 perspective and mixing it all up. 0:05:12.080 --> 0:05:14.000 So we were like, what are those things that you 0:05:14.000 --> 0:05:15.680 can pull in to this world? 0:05:15.720 --> 0:05:18.039 And you know, to be fair, most of that stuff 0:05:18.080 --> 0:05:20.599 came through the skateboarding lens, not the surfing lens. 0:05:20.839 --> 0:05:23.919 Surfing was surfing for the most part, Quick Silver. 0:05:23.640 --> 0:05:26.320 At Billibomb, there was companies like Instinct, there was a 0:05:26.400 --> 0:05:28.680 ton right, so that was kind of its own thing. 0:05:28.720 --> 0:05:32.840 But like skateboarding, you could bring in other things and 0:05:33.080 --> 0:05:35.560 it would work for your skateboard customer, right, Like you 0:05:35.560 --> 0:05:38.000 could bring in brands that had very little to do 0:05:38.040 --> 0:05:42.919 with skateboarding specifically, but tangentially were really interesting, right, So 0:05:42.960 --> 0:05:46.120 like I was really into like music and dance and whatever. 0:05:46.279 --> 0:05:48.720 So like I mean, there was all these weird little brands. 0:05:48.720 --> 0:05:51.160 We sold a brand called Label Whore, We sold a 0:05:51.200 --> 0:05:52.240 brand called Swank. 0:05:53.520 --> 0:05:55.479 As the head buyer for Rick Surf Shop at just 0:05:55.520 --> 0:05:58.840 fifteen years old, Brandan set out to find exciting underground 0:05:58.839 --> 0:06:01.279 brands for the store to care. He didn't have to 0:06:01.320 --> 0:06:03.640 go far to find one brand in particular that would 0:06:03.640 --> 0:06:07.000 be very influential, both on the market and in Brendan's life. 0:06:07.560 --> 0:06:11.120 Another Long Island native, Don Busweiler, had started his own 0:06:11.160 --> 0:06:14.200 clothing line, Pervert, and was starting to gain some momentum 0:06:14.240 --> 0:06:15.240 in the local scene. 0:06:15.880 --> 0:06:19.039 Pervert, for instance, Don started making T shirts in eighty eight, 0:06:19.360 --> 0:06:21.600 and we had Pervert T shirts when he made them, 0:06:22.240 --> 0:06:24.160 right like a few months after he started making, were like, hey, 0:06:24.160 --> 0:06:26.520 we want to carry those. We were like a dozen 0:06:26.600 --> 0:06:28.560 or two dozen of every design he had. I think 0:06:28.680 --> 0:06:31.159 he was still in high school probably right. I meet 0:06:31.200 --> 0:06:35.719 Don in Sabo, Long Island at a carnival. I actually 0:06:35.760 --> 0:06:37.440 met him when I was around thirteen. It was really 0:06:37.440 --> 0:06:38.680 a group of people I met. 0:06:38.760 --> 0:06:40.080 He was one of them. Right. 0:06:40.160 --> 0:06:42.280 So there was a whole crew from this town called Bayport, 0:06:42.360 --> 0:06:45.680 Long Island. My friend Chris Nicosia, his nickname is scrubb, 0:06:45.720 --> 0:06:49.160 his brother Stephen, his other brother Larry, Don was part 0:06:49.200 --> 0:06:50.760 of that crew, and there was a whole bunch of guys. 0:06:51.120 --> 0:06:52.680 And there's a bunch of us that went there to 0:06:52.760 --> 0:06:55.400 skate at the carnival. Like we're like, oh, we'll just go. 0:06:55.480 --> 0:06:57.480 It's like in like a parking lot. We'll just skate 0:06:57.480 --> 0:07:00.400 and hang out or whatever. So like two groups of 0:07:00.480 --> 0:07:04.920 kind of outcasts met and became friends. I really became 0:07:04.960 --> 0:07:09.920 close with scrub Chritis and his whole crew, but Don. 0:07:09.800 --> 0:07:11.760 Was part of that. Over time, Don and I got 0:07:11.800 --> 0:07:12.720 closer and closer. 0:07:13.440 --> 0:07:15.480 He eventually moved to Miami to go to college, and 0:07:15.480 --> 0:07:17.480 he was a little bit older, so he was gone. 0:07:18.280 --> 0:07:21.160 He left all of us. He went out to the world. 0:07:23.480 --> 0:07:26.120 Don moved to Miami to continue to build Pervert, which 0:07:26.160 --> 0:07:29.000 became one of the defining streetwear brands of the early nineties. 0:07:29.320 --> 0:07:31.600 Soon everyone from the Beastie Boys to get At Jackson 0:07:31.680 --> 0:07:36.120 were rocking Pervert. Meanwhile, Brendan, still on Long Island, tried 0:07:36.160 --> 0:07:36.800 to figure out. 0:07:36.640 --> 0:07:38.440 What his move was going to be. After high school. 0:07:42.120 --> 0:07:44.040 I go through high school. I work in the shop. 0:07:44.320 --> 0:07:45.920 You know, it was a funny time because I was 0:07:46.000 --> 0:07:49.800 so into skateboarding and surfing and music and at that 0:07:49.840 --> 0:07:50.960 point now snowboarding. 0:07:51.360 --> 0:07:54.760 We got snowboarding pretty early and just all just different shit, 0:07:54.960 --> 0:07:55.560 you know what I mean. 0:07:55.920 --> 0:07:57.880 I liked the music nobody else liked, and like it 0:07:58.000 --> 0:07:59.800 was always like I always felt like I wasn't connecting 0:07:59.800 --> 0:08:03.120 with But I also had this whole other life where 0:08:03.120 --> 0:08:06.400 I played lacrosse. That was something I did right, and 0:08:06.520 --> 0:08:09.280 like it was very complex for me because lacrosse. I 0:08:09.320 --> 0:08:12.080 actually loved the sport. I don't necessarily love the tangential 0:08:12.200 --> 0:08:15.080 culture of it all the time, but the sport itself, 0:08:15.520 --> 0:08:18.480 the origins of the sport being like you know, a 0:08:18.560 --> 0:08:21.240 native sport and the way it's played and everything behind it. 0:08:21.280 --> 0:08:23.560 I think it's a great sport. But I wasn't like 0:08:23.600 --> 0:08:26.720 a jock. But I was good. I was like quite good. 0:08:26.800 --> 0:08:29.000 I played on the Empire State team, which was a 0:08:29.000 --> 0:08:31.200 pretty big deal. I probably could have been better if 0:08:31.240 --> 0:08:33.360 I committed myself more of that kind of thing, but like. 0:08:33.360 --> 0:08:34.400 I was good enough to. 0:08:34.440 --> 0:08:37.360 Like have college be part of the conversation for a sport, 0:08:37.559 --> 0:08:39.960 right I was like, Okay, I guess that's what I'll do. 0:08:40.320 --> 0:08:42.120 I didn't know anything, dude. I was like, I guess 0:08:42.160 --> 0:08:44.040 I'm going to try and go to college and play lacrosse. 0:08:45.240 --> 0:08:48.559 Brenda headed to Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania to play lacrosse, 0:08:48.960 --> 0:08:52.160 but he quickly realized that it wasn't for him disaster. 0:08:52.559 --> 0:08:53.880 I hated it. I didn't fit in. 0:08:54.640 --> 0:08:57.880 I missed the ocean, I missed New York. It was 0:08:57.920 --> 0:08:59.240 like nice place, great. 0:08:59.080 --> 0:09:01.840 School, people were, but like, I didn't connect him anybody. 0:09:01.840 --> 0:09:02.680 So I just left. 0:09:02.880 --> 0:09:04.320 I went for a year and I didn't go back, 0:09:04.400 --> 0:09:06.040 and then I just bounced around trying to figure out 0:09:06.080 --> 0:09:06.480 what to do. 0:09:07.120 --> 0:09:08.840 And at that point that's when Donald was like, Hey, 0:09:08.840 --> 0:09:11.520 come work with me. Let's do this thing. 0:09:16.840 --> 0:09:19.679 Don's brand Perbert was blowing up and he needed some help, 0:09:19.960 --> 0:09:21.680 so he'd reached out to Brandan to see if he'd 0:09:21.679 --> 0:09:24.280 be interested in joining him in Miami to continue to 0:09:24.280 --> 0:09:25.120 build Pervert. 0:09:25.640 --> 0:09:27.040 He got to a point where he needed help and 0:09:27.040 --> 0:09:30.280 he needed people he trusted and knew the history and 0:09:30.400 --> 0:09:31.560 he knew kind of like thought like. 0:09:31.600 --> 0:09:33.320 Him and everything. So eventually I went to work with 0:09:33.400 --> 0:09:34.640 him after. 0:09:34.400 --> 0:09:39.000 The shop, helping Don build Pervert in Miami sounded amazing 0:09:39.040 --> 0:09:42.240 to Brendan, but he'd have to make a short detour first. 0:09:42.760 --> 0:09:45.640 I moved to Ohio first. His partner was based in Ohio. 0:09:45.800 --> 0:09:49.000 He was partners with a guy named Jimmy George, whose 0:09:49.000 --> 0:09:53.440 family owned a shop and the Midwest skateboard distribution company. 0:09:53.800 --> 0:09:56.520 So the warehouse for Pervert was based in Dayton, Ohio 0:09:56.880 --> 0:09:58.760 because that's where this guy was from. 0:09:59.000 --> 0:10:00.720 So I had to go to Date for like two 0:10:00.760 --> 0:10:01.760 months to. 0:10:02.200 --> 0:10:05.560 Clear out the warehouse. Felt through as much stock as possible. 0:10:05.559 --> 0:10:07.760 We were like calling the shops being like, hey, you 0:10:07.760 --> 0:10:10.280 need some stuff whatever. We're like trying to get get 0:10:10.400 --> 0:10:11.679 rid of it so we didn't have to move it. 0:10:12.120 --> 0:10:15.640 And that was a really difficult, difficult thing to do 0:10:15.679 --> 0:10:17.800 because I was I hated Dayton, Ohio so much. I 0:10:17.840 --> 0:10:20.080 was so depressed being there because all we did was 0:10:20.120 --> 0:10:22.480 work for eight weeks straight in a place where we 0:10:22.480 --> 0:10:24.880 didn't know anybody, where the weather was bad. It was 0:10:25.160 --> 0:10:29.120 super depressed and I just was like, this is brutal. Eventually, 0:10:29.160 --> 0:10:32.120 we packed up a thirty foot rider truck. I drove 0:10:32.200 --> 0:10:35.400 the truck from Ohio to Miami without a cofirre. 0:10:38.040 --> 0:10:41.160 Finally, after putting in some time in Dayton, Brendan headed 0:10:41.200 --> 0:10:42.480 to Miami to work with Don. 0:10:45.520 --> 0:10:47.240 When I first went to work with him, I was 0:10:47.240 --> 0:10:49.440 like helping the sales and just doing whatever. 0:10:49.679 --> 0:10:52.960 Right, it was Don's saying he was the designer whatever. 0:10:53.160 --> 0:10:55.400 But it became it's. 0:10:55.320 --> 0:10:58.640 Kind of complicated because like I wasn't officially designing, but 0:10:58.720 --> 0:11:01.280 like everything I was saying is making and then some thing, 0:11:01.440 --> 0:11:03.560 you know, it was like hey, you know what I mean, Like, hey, what, 0:11:03.640 --> 0:11:05.760 let's still let's do this or whatever, and then I'm like, Don, 0:11:05.720 --> 0:11:07.720 I'm gonna go do it right, So, like I don't 0:11:07.760 --> 0:11:08.400 know what you call it. 0:11:08.480 --> 0:11:09.839 I was just like doing whatever. 0:11:11.559 --> 0:11:14.240 While Brendan acted as a pseudo designer and creative director, 0:11:14.480 --> 0:11:18.680 he helped Don take Pervert national. Unbeknownt to Brendan, over 0:11:18.760 --> 0:11:22.040 four thousand miles away, his future wife and business partner 0:11:22.280 --> 0:11:24.640 was also getting her feet wet in the world of fashion, 0:11:24.920 --> 0:11:26.880 but having a much different experience. 0:11:29.840 --> 0:11:32.760 I grew up in England. I grew up in West Sussex, 0:11:32.880 --> 0:11:34.800 which is thirty miles outside of London. 0:11:35.240 --> 0:11:38.600 This is a stale Bailey babinzeean co founder of Noah. 0:11:38.720 --> 0:11:42.480 I studied fashion communication and promotion at Central Saint Martin's 0:11:42.480 --> 0:11:46.720 in London. I was feeling really disheartened by the fashion industry. 0:11:46.880 --> 0:11:51.240 It was quite vapid. It was really pretentious, very self serving, 0:11:51.520 --> 0:11:54.640 and also at that time, not at all diverse. It 0:11:54.679 --> 0:11:59.240 was basically high society, very white, a lot of cocaine. 0:11:59.480 --> 0:12:02.640 I didn't take drugs. I'm a person of color, and 0:12:02.720 --> 0:12:05.080 I was just didn't even though I went to an 0:12:05.080 --> 0:12:07.520 incredible school and I loved my school, you know, it 0:12:07.559 --> 0:12:09.280 was like the best fashion school in the world, and 0:12:09.320 --> 0:12:13.120 I love their ability to, you know, really look at 0:12:13.120 --> 0:12:15.920 things in a really truly artistic way and not just 0:12:15.960 --> 0:12:19.439 a commercial way, which was amazing. I just didn't really 0:12:19.440 --> 0:12:22.679 fit into the industry there, and I started feeling like, I, 0:12:23.040 --> 0:12:25.200 you know, I've always wanted to have a purpose driven 0:12:25.240 --> 0:12:28.480 life and career and be part of something meaningful and 0:12:28.800 --> 0:12:30.640 that could actually kind of make a difference in a 0:12:30.679 --> 0:12:35.560 positive way. So I started thinking, well, if it's not fashion, 0:12:36.200 --> 0:12:40.360 maybe it's I love music and music changes people's lives, 0:12:40.480 --> 0:12:42.400 you know, Like, maybe I need to be working in 0:12:42.440 --> 0:12:45.800 a creative role in the music industry. So then I 0:12:45.880 --> 0:12:48.120 came for my year out. I came to New York 0:12:48.200 --> 0:12:49.720 and I was looking for a job in the music 0:12:49.760 --> 0:12:52.080 industry in a creative role, and I got really lucky. 0:12:52.559 --> 0:12:55.520 My school approved it. Through a friend of a friend, 0:12:55.559 --> 0:12:58.160 I got connected to Dominic Trinier, who had a label 0:12:58.160 --> 0:13:01.480 called Tuba Sound, which was part of the Records and 0:13:01.559 --> 0:13:06.320 we had DiAngelo and Mark Ronson and Nika Costa and 0:13:06.640 --> 0:13:10.920 just by luck, his assistant Jody Patterson, who's amazing. She 0:13:11.200 --> 0:13:13.800 was going to be taking maternity leave and he was like, Okay, 0:13:13.840 --> 0:13:15.440 you can take her job if you want. I was 0:13:15.480 --> 0:13:18.560 like perfect. I moved to New York, got involved with 0:13:18.559 --> 0:13:23.400 the music industry. 0:13:23.280 --> 0:13:25.800 Eager for a new experience. Still, moved from London to 0:13:25.840 --> 0:13:28.559 New York to begin working in music. But it didn't 0:13:28.559 --> 0:13:30.840 take long for her to discover that the music and 0:13:30.840 --> 0:13:33.160 fashion industries really aren't all that different. 0:13:37.960 --> 0:13:41.280 The music industry also proved to be not really a 0:13:41.320 --> 0:13:46.120 great place for women. It was total boys club, and 0:13:46.120 --> 0:13:48.720 you kind of really had to compete with other women 0:13:48.920 --> 0:13:51.440 as well, and competing with the men and having to 0:13:51.480 --> 0:13:53.880 be a bit of a bitch really to sort of 0:13:54.000 --> 0:13:56.520 like make a difference or sort of climb to the top. 0:13:56.600 --> 0:13:58.840 I was like, this isn't the life that I want. 0:13:58.880 --> 0:14:00.960 This isn't conducers. I want which is I love music, 0:14:01.000 --> 0:14:04.240 this isn't making me happy, and I don't want to 0:14:04.280 --> 0:14:06.600 compete in this way and I don't want this lifestyle. 0:14:06.679 --> 0:14:09.080 So I had to went back to the drawing board 0:14:09.160 --> 0:14:12.640 of just well, you know what, if I always loved 0:14:12.280 --> 0:14:15.960 what do I really want to do? I had always 0:14:16.520 --> 0:14:20.200 loved just brand creation, and even with artists, that's what 0:14:20.280 --> 0:14:24.160 I was really interested in, like creating the lifestyle, the brand, 0:14:24.440 --> 0:14:28.040 all of the things around the music, the expression of it, 0:14:28.160 --> 0:14:32.040 the visuals. I always had this dream of having a 0:14:32.080 --> 0:14:35.160 concept store, like I love to collect concept store, and 0:14:35.160 --> 0:14:38.920 I always had this idea of creating a brand and 0:14:38.960 --> 0:14:42.040 a store that was a little bit more purpose driven, 0:14:42.720 --> 0:14:48.640 was also kind of rooted in creating or manifesting change, 0:14:48.960 --> 0:14:53.920 somewhat in responsibly sourced and made and more ethical practices 0:14:54.440 --> 0:14:58.240 and sustainable practices, but also was cool and not crunchy guanola, 0:14:58.240 --> 0:15:01.680 because at that time, anything that was like use the 0:15:01.680 --> 0:15:04.280 word responsible or sustainable or all those things was like 0:15:04.600 --> 0:15:05.680 totally hippie. 0:15:05.920 --> 0:15:06.120 You know. 0:15:06.320 --> 0:15:08.760 It was even before birkenstarts were cool. You know, it 0:15:08.840 --> 0:15:11.960 had a really different perception to what it means now. 0:15:12.280 --> 0:15:14.760 But that was sort of something I wanted to be 0:15:14.880 --> 0:15:18.520 involved with, and I also loved interior design and store 0:15:18.520 --> 0:15:21.680 design and just hospitality in general, and how to kind 0:15:21.680 --> 0:15:32.600 of combine all of those elements into one. 0:15:30.680 --> 0:15:33.560 A still's desire to world build letter to directing photo 0:15:33.560 --> 0:15:36.040 shoots and helping brands with visual merchandising. 0:15:36.400 --> 0:15:39.560 You know, I was producing photo shoots art directing photo shoots. 0:15:39.720 --> 0:15:43.200 I started working back in fashion and interior design, and 0:15:43.240 --> 0:15:46.520 I was doing this like store design with Donna Karen 0:15:46.640 --> 0:15:50.520 and Victoria's Secret and visual merchandising with on a freelance 0:15:50.560 --> 0:15:53.800 basis for different brands. I did have a network already 0:15:53.840 --> 0:15:57.160 from just my music industry days and then also just 0:15:57.240 --> 0:16:02.960 you know, producing photo shoots and just having relationships with 0:16:03.000 --> 0:16:06.080 people that knew my work, that knew my creative ability 0:16:06.160 --> 0:16:09.120 that I could help them, whether whether it's a logo 0:16:09.280 --> 0:16:12.320 design or a photo shoot. I was never really a 0:16:12.320 --> 0:16:15.520 corporate girl. I was always an entrepreneurial and always liked 0:16:15.560 --> 0:16:18.280 to work for myself and do my own thing. So 0:16:18.840 --> 0:16:22.040 it was just about finding the jobs that fit, and 0:16:22.080 --> 0:16:24.720 they tend to find me too. So for a minute, 0:16:24.800 --> 0:16:27.360 when I decided to leave the music industry, I just 0:16:27.400 --> 0:16:30.840 started freelancing and I got some great projects and It 0:16:30.920 --> 0:16:33.800 was great, and I actually made some incredible friends from 0:16:33.800 --> 0:16:36.880 that time up staying up late, you know, doing visual 0:16:36.920 --> 0:16:40.680 merchandising in stores, like doing all nights, and it was 0:16:40.800 --> 0:16:43.440 crazy time. It was good, it was good money and 0:16:43.760 --> 0:16:47.040 made some incredible relationships from that time. 0:16:50.720 --> 0:16:52.760 As a still gainer footing in New York and honed 0:16:52.800 --> 0:16:55.200 in on her career, Brendan's work was about to take 0:16:55.200 --> 0:17:00.520 a one to eighty. Don Buswiler, Brendan's friend, founder of 0:17:00.560 --> 0:17:03.160 Pervert and the reason that Brendan had moved to Miami, 0:17:03.600 --> 0:17:06.200 decided to leave his brand at the peak of its popularity, 0:17:06.400 --> 0:17:09.760 give up all his possessions, and join a mysterious religious 0:17:09.800 --> 0:17:15.439 cult known as the Brethren. In an instant, Don was 0:17:15.480 --> 0:17:18.800 gone and wouldn't be seen or heard from again for years. 0:17:20.440 --> 0:17:22.480 So eventually Don left. 0:17:23.160 --> 0:17:25.399 That's a story, right, I mean, I don't know if 0:17:25.440 --> 0:17:27.840 I can even start that story, because that's you know, 0:17:28.200 --> 0:17:31.520 trying to abbreviate it and say, like Don basically decided 0:17:31.520 --> 0:17:32.480 one day he was going to. 0:17:32.520 --> 0:17:35.520 Leave with these dudes and live like Jesus. 0:17:35.480 --> 0:17:39.280 Gives all the way all his possessions, signs his clothing 0:17:39.280 --> 0:17:42.080 brand over to his one partner, his other business, which 0:17:42.119 --> 0:17:44.800 was a retail store in Miami called Animal Farm to 0:17:44.840 --> 0:17:48.120 his other partner, and six weeks later or so. 0:17:48.200 --> 0:17:51.240 He's gone. I was like, Okay, I guess I guess 0:17:51.240 --> 0:17:52.200 I'm going back to New York. 0:17:53.160 --> 0:17:56.040 Though his future was uncertain, Brendan's return to New York 0:17:56.160 --> 0:17:58.880 was coming at the perfect time. Another up and coming 0:17:58.920 --> 0:18:02.480 streetwear brand I had just launched in nineteen ninety four, 0:18:02.800 --> 0:18:05.840 and its founder, James Jeba, was looking for some help. 0:18:07.480 --> 0:18:08.800 When I was coming back to New York. 0:18:09.040 --> 0:18:11.040 James at the time had a Stuicye store in Miami 0:18:11.440 --> 0:18:15.840 and his brother was down there, Dan Jeba and Bianca, 0:18:15.880 --> 0:18:19.400 who is now wife, mother of his children, was down there, 0:18:19.680 --> 0:18:21.439 and I guess she told him or somebody told him, oh, 0:18:21.440 --> 0:18:22.640 Brennan's coming back to New York. 0:18:23.840 --> 0:18:25.480 We didn't really know each other. I mean, we might 0:18:25.520 --> 0:18:28.000 have met once or twice. I'd shopped in the store. 0:18:28.119 --> 0:18:31.120 They were buying Pervert from us, so he was like, oh, cool, 0:18:31.160 --> 0:18:33.360 maybe I'll talk to him about coming to Supreme. 0:18:34.560 --> 0:18:36.679 The time, the shop was like multi brand. 0:18:36.760 --> 0:18:39.359 He was doing stuff already, just not a ton of it, 0:18:39.440 --> 0:18:41.600 and it was kind of my job to figure out 0:18:42.320 --> 0:18:46.560 how to do it, find resources to make stuff, use 0:18:46.600 --> 0:18:50.520 his existing resources to get stuff made, just like literally 0:18:50.600 --> 0:18:52.639 helped build it from like the very little bit he 0:18:52.640 --> 0:18:55.080 had done thus far. It was multi brand, but also 0:18:55.080 --> 0:18:56.800 had he had like Supreme T shirts, he had hats, 0:18:56.840 --> 0:18:59.120 had some sweatshirts. He'd had like a Jack Eber too, 0:18:59.160 --> 0:18:59.959 Like he had stuff. 0:19:00.240 --> 0:19:00.840 It was probably like. 0:19:00.880 --> 0:19:03.960 Ninety six at that point or something, and like, you know, 0:19:04.000 --> 0:19:05.840 but he was going to do it one way or 0:19:05.840 --> 0:19:06.120 the other. 0:19:06.200 --> 0:19:07.879 Right, It's James. It was going to get done. 0:19:08.000 --> 0:19:09.800 I just happened to be the guy that like got 0:19:09.840 --> 0:19:11.320 in there at that point and was like, Okay, I 0:19:11.359 --> 0:19:13.200 can help try and figure this out. 0:19:15.920 --> 0:19:19.000 Over the next years, Brendan helped James grow Supreme, but 0:19:19.080 --> 0:19:21.520 the idea of starting his own brand was growing as well. 0:19:22.359 --> 0:19:23.720 I knew I wanted to do my own thing at 0:19:23.760 --> 0:19:25.399 that point. Eventually, I want to do my own thing, 0:19:25.480 --> 0:19:27.600 and I had other things I wanted to do. Right, 0:19:27.760 --> 0:19:31.439 Like Supreme was Supreme. The brand was fairly solid at 0:19:31.440 --> 0:19:32.840 that point, like it was going to be what it 0:19:32.920 --> 0:19:35.760 was going to be. And as someone who grew up 0:19:35.960 --> 0:19:38.600 as a skateboarder and into the things I was into, 0:19:39.240 --> 0:19:40.800 I think at that point I was like I was 0:19:40.880 --> 0:19:43.480 young enough to still be like holding on to like 0:19:43.720 --> 0:19:46.159 the pureness of things, and I was like, ah, this 0:19:46.320 --> 0:19:46.880 is getting. 0:19:46.720 --> 0:19:47.399 Kind of bigger now. 0:19:47.680 --> 0:19:50.320