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Speaker 1: I'm Will Lucas and this is black Tech, Green money.

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Speaker 1: Randal Yarbro is a multidisciplinary designer with professional experience in

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Speaker 1: the fields of sporting equipment, apparel, and full weear. He

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Speaker 1: was seeing your footwear designer at Easy and It's not

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Speaker 1: leading his own label joy Shit, where he serves as

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Speaker 1: creative director. Knowing what he knows about reaching some of

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Speaker 1: the highest levels in creative direction, what would he say

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Speaker 1: is the most important non design related thing to know

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Speaker 1: about achieving success.

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Speaker 2: That's a great question.

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Speaker 3: I think one of the things that aren't design related

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Speaker 3: is kind of just being honest with yourself and with others.

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Speaker 2: That's probably the biggest thing that.

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Speaker 3: I can think of right at the top of my

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Speaker 3: head when it comes down to it, Like, you can

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Speaker 3: be a great designer, and you can do amazing things,

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Speaker 3: you can make beautiful pictures. At at the end of

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Speaker 3: the day, being very honest and truthful about what you're

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Speaker 3: doing makes it much easier to do those things right,

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Speaker 3: to portray what you're trying to portray or convey what

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Speaker 3: you're trying to convey that message or that design, because

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Speaker 3: at the end of the day, like you know, you

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Speaker 3: can't fall back on something that you make up. I

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Speaker 3: think you know what I mean. So, yeah, just being

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Speaker 3: honest and truthful about what you're doing at the end

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Speaker 3: of the day will kind of get you and guide

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Speaker 3: you into the right place.

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Speaker 1: So I was having this conversation with another designer a

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Speaker 1: few episodes ago, and we were talking about, you know,

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Speaker 1: the need for the ability of storytelling and the need

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Speaker 1: for designers to be able to tell stories because that

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Speaker 1: could potentially be just as important as having the asset.

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Speaker 1: Can you talk a little bit about that from your perspective.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, just the storytelling part, like being able to have

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Speaker 3: the ability to storytell.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, communicating your idea, because it's one thing to have

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Speaker 1: a dope shoot, I imagine it's another thing to be

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Speaker 1: able to translate that dope shoot to make people other

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Speaker 1: people know that it's dope.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, No, it's true.

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Speaker 3: I mean it's kind of like, uh, like stand up comedy. Right.

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Speaker 3: I'm not saying that Trump may people left, but just

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Speaker 3: being able to kind of like transfer everything that you

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Speaker 3: just put into that work, whether it's a building, whether

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Speaker 3: it's a chair, whether it's a shoot, and kind of

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Speaker 3: being able to share that journey. And that's also where

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Speaker 3: that truthfulness. That honestness comes back where.

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Speaker 2: You're like, I worked so hard throughout the entire process.

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Speaker 3: Once I get to that point where I'm either in

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Speaker 3: front of a bunch of people, in front of the CEO,

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Speaker 3: in front of the team, sharing the journey or sharing

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Speaker 3: what I just created or put in front of them,

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Speaker 3: you know, I don't have to fall back on made

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Speaker 3: up stories or made up things like the entire journey,

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Speaker 3: the entire process. You know, I was honest, I was truthful,

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Speaker 3: and then that story is just so easy to tell.

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Speaker 2: It's like, you know, not everybody's able to talk about themselves.

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Speaker 3: But you know, once you do have that little rhythm,

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Speaker 3: that cadence, you're able to kind of just go back

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Speaker 3: and just grab a few things, and that storytelling becomes

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Speaker 3: extremely easy. It's not something that you have to like

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Speaker 3: you have to make it up, you know what I mean.

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Speaker 3: It makes it much easier at the end of the

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Speaker 3: day when it comes to storytelling it.

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Speaker 2: But it's definitely important though.

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Speaker 3: I think lucky thing for me is I study architecture

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Speaker 3: in an undergrad and just being able to sit there

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Speaker 3: in front of like fit the other classmates in six

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Speaker 3: six Architects, you know, training, trained architects, practicing architects, and

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Speaker 3: your professor and being able to take what you just

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Speaker 3: did for over the past you know, a month or

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Speaker 3: so and put it in you know, being very like

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Speaker 3: vulnerable and sharing that story and that journey with people

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Speaker 3: in front of you is a it's a hard thing

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Speaker 3: to do, but it makes everything that you did before

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Speaker 3: it's super exciting.

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Speaker 2: It's like it's a feel good moment.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, you've said a couple of things that picked my

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Speaker 1: interest there. And I'm from the middlest also from Toledo,

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Speaker 1: which is like, you know, half an hour forty five

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Speaker 1: minutes from where you're from Detroit, and I remember I

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Speaker 1: remember growing up and designing clothes and you know, tearing

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Speaker 1: apart some genes I had with some corduroys that I

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Speaker 1: had also and putting them together and making something new

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Speaker 1: out of them. And then like the places that we

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Speaker 1: grew up, so you know, it's a lot like Detroit

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Speaker 1: and like that that isn't necessarily something that's you know, amplified,

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Speaker 1: Like there's not a lot of people trying to do

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Speaker 1: that type of work where we're from. And so I'm wondering, like,

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Speaker 1: what was the fuel in the tank, or the encouragement

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Speaker 1: you had or the self determination you had to fight

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Speaker 1: for those ideas so that it was like me. I

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Speaker 1: stopped doing it after I was probably like twelve or

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Speaker 1: thirteen because I'm like, Okay, nobody around me does this,

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Speaker 1: Like this is not what we do right here, right,

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Speaker 1: So I wonder like, what was it about your coming

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Speaker 1: of age that helped you fight for that idea?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm the number one thing. And I always said,

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Speaker 3: it's just like Gruffy Troit. I was there until I

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Speaker 3: was nine. But that entire time I learned so much

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Speaker 3: like I've seen I saw. I saw a lot of stuff,

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Speaker 3: so you're just like, you know, you grow up faster there.

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Speaker 3: But the entire time I was like, man, how do

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Speaker 3: I how I get my mom outed this? Like you know,

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Speaker 3: typically we think, you know, playing basketball, playing football, you

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Speaker 3: might do a support activity something to get that money

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Speaker 3: because it only makes sense, or you can go, you know,

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Speaker 3: a totally different route.

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Speaker 2: But the entire time I can think if I was like,

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Speaker 2: I want.

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Speaker 3: To build her a house. If I build our house,

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Speaker 3: we can get out of where we're at right now.

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Speaker 3: So in my head, that's that's what I had installed,

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Speaker 3: like building her a house. I didn't know what it

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Speaker 3: was or how to do it exactly, but I knew

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Speaker 3: I loved the idea of it.

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Speaker 2: You know, I love music, I love the buildings that

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Speaker 2: are around me.

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Speaker 3: I love shoes and all these things that were Detroit.

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Speaker 3: And then when I finally left Detroit and got to

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Speaker 3: South Carolina, that's when I i I kind of learned

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Speaker 3: about architecture and I was like, Oh, that was my

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Speaker 3: That's what I want to do.

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Speaker 2: That's where I want to be. Become an architect.

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Speaker 3: And so that was kind of like the guideline of

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Speaker 3: seeing the things around me and then finally understanding what

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Speaker 3: that goal was or what I was looking to become

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Speaker 3: to then achieve the things that I saw or the

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Speaker 3: things that I was thinking about. So it started off

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Speaker 3: as a kid and just wanted to, you know, literally

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Speaker 3: just build my mama house.

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Speaker 2: And then the love of.

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Speaker 3: Like music, architecture, footwear, sports somehow got me to that

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Speaker 3: point of like, oh, I want to do architecture.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. So what's interesting to me is that you there's

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Speaker 1: a lot of us that grow up, you know, I

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Speaker 1: want to build my MoMA house or I want to buy,

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Speaker 1: you know, my grandma car I want to you know,

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Speaker 1: do I want to do something for somebody that I love?

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Speaker 1: And part of the disconnect we have, like even in tech,

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Speaker 1: it's like so many of us are consumers of the

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Speaker 1: applications and software that we use, and not enough of

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Speaker 1: us think about there's somebody on the other side of

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Speaker 1: ability this thing, right, And so, because you're so passionate

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Speaker 1: about mentorship and teaching and you know, leading along the

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Speaker 1: next generation of black designers, what's important to you or

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Speaker 1: how is it important to you to tackling the idea

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Speaker 1: or the concept of representation and awareness to know that

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Speaker 1: there's us out here doing this work so that more

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Speaker 1: people do desire to be this. I mean I was

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Speaker 1: I was raised. I wanted Jordan's my whole life, you know,

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Speaker 1: but I never thought of I could be a Jordan designer,

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Speaker 1: you know what I mean?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, no, I mean it's definitely true. I guess

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Speaker 3: like at a certain point I got I got pretty lucky,

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Speaker 3: and you know, just less because even living in Detroit,

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Speaker 3: there were CCS, you know, ten fifteen minutes from my house,

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Speaker 3: and you know at CCS that they study you know,

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Speaker 3: architecture design, footwear design, they industrial design, they do everything there.

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Speaker 3: But I was only fifteen minutes a way and I

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Speaker 3: knew I knew nothing about it. You would think that

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Speaker 3: I was across the country, but I was just down

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Speaker 3: the street. And so I didn't have that you know,

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Speaker 3: same as you like, I didn't have that representation. I

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Speaker 3: didn't have that understanding that I could literally not walk

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Speaker 3: down the street, but I could go down the street

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Speaker 3: and I could be at a place where, you know,

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Speaker 3: all those needs that I was looking for could be

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Speaker 3: like fulfilled.

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Speaker 2: It was.

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Speaker 3: It wasn't until my last year, my fourth year of

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Speaker 3: architecture school, and I entered into full like this T

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Speaker 3: shirt competition called Future Soul with Nike and Jordan Brand,

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Speaker 3: and I was just doing t shirts, just graphics, but

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Speaker 3: it was my first time doing graphics, and I was

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Speaker 3: like trialing it out. And that's where like I kind

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Speaker 3: of got that start in that representation. They flew us

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Speaker 3: out to Nike, so the contestants there was apparel and footwear.

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Speaker 3: They flew us out to Nike, got the you know

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Speaker 3: tour the campus and I got to meet a lot

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Speaker 3: of black designers. The main person Dwayne Doctor Dwayne Edwards

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Speaker 3: who now runs Lewis Pencil College, you know, he was

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Speaker 3: the reason why people of color were in that space.

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Speaker 2: At that time, just for the future soul, and.

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Speaker 3: That's that representation and like, that's that that little drop

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Speaker 3: that I needed at the time to push.

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Speaker 2: Me and continue like push me into the right direction.

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Speaker 3: Because with his guidance, you know, East guy, Jason Maiden,

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Speaker 3: like those those guys, Wilson Smith, being able to finally

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Speaker 3: see that representation of black people not just in fullward design,

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Speaker 3: but just in in the corporate setting doing creative things

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Speaker 3: was it was just like it.

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Speaker 2: Was eye opening, you know, architecture.

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Speaker 3: The entire time there was like maybe three or four

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Speaker 3: of us, uh that that were black, and then just

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Speaker 3: seeing that there were so many more in the professional space,

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Speaker 3: it was like, oh, well, now I got that drop

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Speaker 3: of guidance. And then their words and their you know,

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Speaker 3: their feedback was telling me, hey, you get to this point.

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Speaker 3: You got to do this same thing we did. You know,

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Speaker 3: we built this bridge, you got to continue to build it.

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Speaker 3: You got to continue to give rides, you got to

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Speaker 3: you know, you got to do these things to help

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Speaker 3: pull other people up, just like you know, Hope, we

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Speaker 3: were pulling you up. And that's where that that's the

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Speaker 3: representation came from. And that's the reason why I try

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Speaker 3: to do it as much as possible when I can.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. So I was talking with a friend of mine,

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Speaker 1: Darryl Brown, who you might know was me midlest Kids

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Speaker 1: and Darryl Brown Clothing company was at one point Kanye's

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Speaker 1: he was one of the stylists for Kanye. And we

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Speaker 1: were talking about his aesthetic and if you know Darryl

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Speaker 1: or even his line, it's very work where it's work

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Speaker 1: where effectively crossed the board because he used to work

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Speaker 1: on the train, you know, the railroad, and we're both

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Speaker 1: from Toledo, and we were talking about this is because

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Speaker 1: I'm interested in your design aesthetic and how much of

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Speaker 1: your upbringing in the Midwest and Detroit may speak to it.

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Speaker 1: Like some other designers might have something in their childhood

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Speaker 1: that speaks to how they design. So is there anything

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Speaker 1: about your upbringing in in the Midwest and Detroit that

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Speaker 1: speaks to what you put to pen and paper?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I definitely think so.

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Speaker 3: Again, going back to being a kid, just like that, architecture, music,

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Speaker 3: the design, if you think about so many different things

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Speaker 3: that that kind of pop out.

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Speaker 2: Even right now, I'm wearing like Carhart my T shirt.

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Speaker 3: And not even on purpose, it's just a it's a

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Speaker 3: good feeling. So yeah, I would definitely say so at

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Speaker 3: least from my my visual aesthetics.

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Speaker 2: You know. But then when it comes to like from.

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Speaker 3: A design perspective, I would say, so it might not

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Speaker 3: always be in what I physically create, so you know, consciously,

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Speaker 3: it might be subconsciously, but even in the way that

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Speaker 3: I like appreciate certain how It's like if you if

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Speaker 3: you think about like the tall brick do places that

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Speaker 3: that we have in the Midwest. You know, the way

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Speaker 3: that we dress is a little bit different, the way

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Speaker 3: we speak is different. So there's there's a lot of

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Speaker 3: different things that that pop up. And it might not

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Speaker 3: be as I'm not I might not be like very

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Speaker 3: cautious of like yeah, me doing it. It might just

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Speaker 3: be like you know, muscle memory not even.

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Speaker 2: Noticing the h.

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Speaker 1: I was reading an interview where you talked about before

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Speaker 1: you got too Easy, and you said this in the

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Speaker 1: in the interview said when I went into the interview,

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Speaker 1: I was talking to them and I was like, Hey,

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Speaker 1: I'll do this technical designer role for now, but just

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Speaker 1: so you understand, after a year, I want to be

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Speaker 1: a footwear designer. I already had the tools and the knowledge.

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Speaker 1: So after a year being a technical designer, I was

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Speaker 1: a footwear designer that easy and so or Adidas maybe

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Speaker 1: even before you say, I'm not sure which was it

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Speaker 1: Adidas or Easy? Specifically it was.

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Speaker 2: Easy in Adidas, so it was like it was a Dida's.

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Speaker 1: Easy, gotcha? Gotcha? And so I wonder what gave you

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Speaker 1: the confidence to speak up in that way, like so

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Speaker 1: many of us just want the opportunity to get into

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Speaker 1: something that could be special. But you were effectively putting

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Speaker 1: it like yo, I want, this is what I want,

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Speaker 1: and that could even put you at risk of not

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Speaker 1: getting it, but you were you had the confidence. And

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Speaker 1: what I wonder what gave you that?

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Speaker 2: Uh man?

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Speaker 3: Just I just had to do it. To be honest,

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Speaker 3: I think it. It's just kind of my personality. It's

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Speaker 3: like at the end of the day, like you have

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Speaker 3: nothing to lose. Grandpa told me the same thing, like,

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Speaker 3: you know, you asked for what you want, all they

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Speaker 3: can say is no, and it doesn't know it really

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Speaker 3: hurts you, and I you know, I didn't. I didn't

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Speaker 3: see anything wrong with what I was saying. Also, I

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Speaker 3: just came from Skills, which was in Carlsbad, and I

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Speaker 3: was a product designer there.

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Speaker 2: So for me, I was taking a step back.

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Speaker 3: I was about to be a senior designer doing sports

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Speaker 3: performance training equipment and stuff like that, but it was

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Speaker 3: gonna be a step down. So I wanted them to

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Speaker 3: understand like where my goals were, so then I wouldn't

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Speaker 3: I couldn't like say that it was ever lost or

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Speaker 3: it wasn't heard. It was like you have to kind

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Speaker 3: of you have to speak up for yourself, represent yourself.

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Speaker 2: Otherwise you know, they'll just say, oh, well, you didn't

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Speaker 2: tell me that you wanted to do that.

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Speaker 3: I didn't know, and that's a great response for them to,

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Speaker 3: you know, kind of cover up your progress pretty much.

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Speaker 3: So it was pretty That was probably the reason why.

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Speaker 3: And then also you know, understanding that I was going

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Speaker 3: to be one of the only black people again in

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Speaker 3: the space, especially for easy. I did the same thing

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Speaker 3: at Skills, like for about two years I was the

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Speaker 3: only black person at Skills. So for me, I was like,

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Speaker 3: you know, I was gonna stick out anyway, so I

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Speaker 3: might as well, you know, make it understood and know,

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Speaker 3: you know, before I even started in the brand.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, just so I'm clear when we talked about you know,

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Speaker 1: it was Adidas slash Yeasy. I'm curious on how that

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Speaker 1: relationship between Adidas and Easy was because I know, sometimes

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Speaker 1: it's okay Easy and the team can go do whatever

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Speaker 1: they want and they just showed they show up at

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Speaker 1: the end of the day and show Adidas what they did.

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Speaker 1: But is it more integrated that relationship between that Adidas

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Speaker 1: team and that Easy team.

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Speaker 2: Yeah.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, especially footwear. Apparel was was separate at the beginning.

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Speaker 3: Apparel was like a part of Adidas as well Adidas Easy.

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Speaker 3: But for footwear it was pretty integrated. Like you know,

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Speaker 3: working with people like Steven Smith and and the team

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Speaker 3: over over at Easy, it was we were all one.

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Speaker 3: So it was a it was a group that we

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Speaker 3: were working together every single day. So yeah, it was

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Speaker 3: It wasn't like I was working in the Adida's office. I

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Speaker 3: was working in the in the Calabasas Easy office with

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Speaker 3: the team.

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Speaker 2: So actually it felt like I wasn't even Adidas.

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Speaker 3: I would go I would go to Portland to visit

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Speaker 3: the campus and stuff like that, and you felt like

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Speaker 3: you were still just Easy. You didn't really feel like

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Speaker 3: you were a data So it was it was interesting.

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Speaker 3: Nobody made it that way. It was just kind of

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Speaker 3: how it was set.

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Speaker 2: Up, you know.

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Speaker 1: And so further on the question about your transitioning to

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Speaker 1: a role that I'll say this was beneath you in

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Speaker 1: in your career trajectory, How did it make sense for you?

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Speaker 1: What was the thesis, what was the thought process you

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Speaker 1: went through to say, you know what, taking this step

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Speaker 1: back in my career makes sense.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean the biggest thing I wanted to get

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Speaker 2: in full wear.

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Speaker 3: My friend Sarah, Sarah Sabino, she she was a full

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Speaker 3: wed designer on the team, and she called me and

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Speaker 3: she just said, hey, you still want to get in

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Speaker 3: full wear?

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Speaker 2: And I was.

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Speaker 3: I was four years into my time at Skills, and

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Speaker 3: I was just like, it was like a decent trajectory.

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Speaker 3: I have products out and I had patents already already

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Speaker 3: out out and on paper it looked like a step back,

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Speaker 3: but in reality it was like, I want to get

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Speaker 3: into full wear, so I'll take this, this chance and

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Speaker 3: this opportunity to also kind of come in as like

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Speaker 3: a childlike mindset where I can just learn and learn

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Speaker 3: without trying to sit there and be like, oh, already

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Speaker 3: you know, you know, big up my chest and be

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Speaker 3: like already know what I'm doing, Like I'm good.

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Speaker 2: I was about to be a senior blah blah blah.

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Speaker 2: I didn't have to do that. I could just come

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Speaker 2: in there.

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Speaker 3: And be very open to accepting knowledge and understanding without

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Speaker 3: kind of having the fault of being like thrown in

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Speaker 3: as a fullward designer and then someone telling me like, hey,

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Speaker 3: this guy's not working out. So it was it was

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Speaker 3: kind of a blessing. Even on paper that it might

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Speaker 3: look step backwards, it felt like a major like hop

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Speaker 3: leap forward for.

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Speaker 1: The people who don't myself included, understand the whole difference

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Speaker 1: between you know, a technical designer versus a junior designer

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Speaker 1: versus a design director or a senior director senior designer.

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Speaker 1: Can you explain the differences between those particular roles in

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Speaker 1: a in the house.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, it all depends on the profession and the product

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Speaker 3: that's being made. But typically, like you can see it,

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Speaker 3: you know, very similar technical designer.

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Speaker 2: Like you know, you come in there, you're kind of

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Speaker 2: doing blueprints and working on certain certain things.

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Speaker 3: And when I say blueprints is just you know, kind

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Speaker 3: of doing like the very technical drawings to then get

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Speaker 3: it communicated with the factory in China or with the

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Speaker 3: team in general. So whether that's a tooling or an

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Speaker 3: upper shell tech pattern, you're kind of doing that baseline.

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Speaker 3: So you're doing a little bit less of designing conceptual

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Speaker 3: you know, conceptualizing, and you're taking receiving those concepts and

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Speaker 3: trying to make them, you know, turn them into reality.

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Speaker 3: When it comes to the junior designer, you're you know,

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Speaker 3: you can kind of be doing both. You can be

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Speaker 3: doing the technical work and you can also be doing

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Speaker 3: a little you know, concepting. They might have you laces,

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Speaker 3: they might do outshold design. Just's a few different things

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Speaker 3: like that. And then when you jump up to like

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Speaker 3: a forward designer, then you take on more projects and

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Speaker 3: you should be walking in from the content phase, so

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Speaker 3: like the sketch phase all the way through production.

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Speaker 2: So they bounced around a little bit.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, oh yeah. And so when you think about there

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Speaker 1: are so many easy issues particularly that have pushed the

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Speaker 1: boundary of what we think about. When you're thinking about

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Speaker 1: boots or sneakers, they don't look like any other sneakers

390
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Speaker 1: in the market, or they didn't before everybody else started

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Speaker 1: to copy the style, I should say, when you think

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Speaker 1: about that and you also think about driving market demand,

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Speaker 1: how do you balance creating something that doesn't look like

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Speaker 1: anything else and think about, Okay, this thing has to

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Speaker 1: sell also to be successful.

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Speaker 3: Yes, that's a super important and uh, that's a super

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Speaker 3: important part of the whole journey. And you know, honestly,

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Speaker 3: yeay is the reason why he's pushed so hard. So

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Speaker 3: you know, him being able to take that and then

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Speaker 3: turn it into a marketable product. You know, product is

401
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Speaker 3: a little bit different than you know, you putting it

402
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Speaker 3: behind someone else. And we can kind of see that

403
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Speaker 3: when it comes to you know, other people that are

404
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Speaker 3: part of like Adidas or other like you know, celebrities,

405
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Speaker 3: how different.

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Speaker 2: Their life trajectory were was.

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Speaker 3: You know, ya could put on a sock or you

408
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Speaker 3: could put on a shoe with a bunch of layers

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Speaker 3: and people would be like, oh, that's that's quality versus

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Speaker 3: you know someone else who might not actually have that

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Speaker 3: that reach in that convincing like manner.

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Speaker 2: So it was a little bit easier on our behalf.

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Speaker 3: But when it came to like pushing the boundaries of design,

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Speaker 3: it was very like holistic between himself and the design

415
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Speaker 3: team like him really and specific of what he wants

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Speaker 3: in very detailed and then us making sure that we

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Speaker 3: could like be very like intricate in how we created

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Speaker 3: and made something to the liking of what he was

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Speaker 3: looking for.

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Speaker 1: I want you to speak a little bit more on

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Speaker 1: that because I've heard stories about like, you know, he

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Speaker 1: actually does draw also, and he actually, you know, had

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Speaker 1: comes to the office with concepts. And I'm sure you've

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Speaker 1: worked with people who just say I want this thing,

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Speaker 1: go design it also and then have a concept. So

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Speaker 1: talk to me about the different relationship and different working

427
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Speaker 1: types there is when you have somebody who actually has

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Speaker 1: some skill and they come to the office with jawings

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Speaker 1: versus just being given a task.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, at the end of the day, like a lot

431
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Speaker 3: of people do just take what's given to them when

432
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Speaker 3: it comes from a design perspective, or they might be

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Speaker 3: a little bit nicer, you know. I've heard stories about

434
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Speaker 3: Pharrel where he's a little bit you know, as we

435
00:21:57,200 --> 00:21:59,919
Speaker 3: can all see that he has like a very like

436
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Speaker 3: caring soul. So when it comes to sharing you know,

437
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Speaker 3: footwear and designs with him, it can be much different

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Speaker 3: than when it comes to the AA where he's like

439
00:22:10,600 --> 00:22:12,879
Speaker 3: you know, you come in and you show him something

440
00:22:13,040 --> 00:22:15,840
Speaker 3: and he's liking it, but he has a specific eye

441
00:22:16,320 --> 00:22:18,639
Speaker 3: what he wants, so he might take it and sharp,

442
00:22:18,680 --> 00:22:22,120
Speaker 3: be it updated, or you know, I think his mind

443
00:22:22,160 --> 00:22:24,000
Speaker 3: works a lot different than a lot of people's, where

444
00:22:24,520 --> 00:22:28,439
Speaker 3: he has like this rolodex of designs and footwear and

445
00:22:28,520 --> 00:22:31,119
Speaker 3: names in his head and he can like kind of

446
00:22:31,480 --> 00:22:34,760
Speaker 3: call out to a specific shoe or a specific area

447
00:22:34,800 --> 00:22:36,639
Speaker 3: of a shoe and just be like, hey, can we

448
00:22:36,680 --> 00:22:40,440
Speaker 3: go get this and then translate it into like how

449
00:22:40,480 --> 00:22:42,880
Speaker 3: we would actually put it through our lens.

450
00:22:43,800 --> 00:22:46,040
Speaker 2: So it is much different working.

451
00:22:45,720 --> 00:22:49,480
Speaker 3: With you know, certain people like you might best why athlete.

452
00:22:49,640 --> 00:22:51,200
Speaker 2: You might take the shoe and.

453
00:22:51,160 --> 00:22:53,119
Speaker 3: Hand it directly to him, like I did that at

454
00:22:53,840 --> 00:22:57,040
Speaker 3: Skills where we worked on a product and you know,

455
00:22:57,280 --> 00:23:01,240
Speaker 3: it's it's less you know, apparel footwear focused. It was

456
00:23:01,280 --> 00:23:03,760
Speaker 3: more like, you know, something that they were using to

457
00:23:03,840 --> 00:23:07,720
Speaker 3: make themselves play better, whether it's football or basketball, and

458
00:23:07,800 --> 00:23:10,240
Speaker 3: so a lot of times they didn't have the the

459
00:23:10,320 --> 00:23:14,760
Speaker 3: burbage to be like giving great detailed feedback. They might

460
00:23:14,760 --> 00:23:16,800
Speaker 3: be like, yeah, that's cool and that's it, where they

461
00:23:16,880 --> 00:23:19,920
Speaker 3: might just accept the product as this and have no feedback.

462
00:23:19,960 --> 00:23:22,520
Speaker 3: But I think with Yay, it's more so the sense

463
00:23:22,520 --> 00:23:26,639
Speaker 3: where he's very just very detailed, very like that detail

464
00:23:26,680 --> 00:23:32,320
Speaker 3: orient mindset that he has is super specific and it

465
00:23:32,359 --> 00:23:34,560
Speaker 3: really does push the groundary. So you can like put

466
00:23:34,640 --> 00:23:39,560
Speaker 3: up one hundred different designs and only two might be

467
00:23:39,600 --> 00:23:42,760
Speaker 3: the one that we go forward with in you know,

468
00:23:42,880 --> 00:23:46,960
Speaker 3: concept out, prototype out, sample out, and it's just a

469
00:23:47,000 --> 00:23:50,720
Speaker 3: different way of working and that that goes through all

470
00:23:50,760 --> 00:23:56,000
Speaker 3: across his products, whether it's footwear, apparel, architecture, you know,

471
00:23:56,119 --> 00:23:56,760
Speaker 3: you name it.

472
00:23:57,640 --> 00:23:59,960
Speaker 1: So talk to me so I want to understand the

473
00:24:00,080 --> 00:24:03,800
Speaker 1: differences in these working relationships. I was interviewing Jeff Staple

474
00:24:03,880 --> 00:24:06,240
Speaker 1: for this podcast also, and he was talking about at

475
00:24:06,240 --> 00:24:09,960
Speaker 1: his level or his the way his business is designed.

476
00:24:10,760 --> 00:24:13,960
Speaker 1: There's a bunch of designers there obviously, but there's designs

477
00:24:13,960 --> 00:24:18,200
Speaker 1: that he had nothing to do with one and some

478
00:24:18,359 --> 00:24:21,400
Speaker 1: he's and some he said he probably wouldn't have even

479
00:24:21,400 --> 00:24:23,840
Speaker 1: put up. He like he wouldn't even wear that, But

480
00:24:23,960 --> 00:24:27,560
Speaker 1: he understands where he's at, like this is what you know,

481
00:24:27,680 --> 00:24:29,600
Speaker 1: I guess the market is the many I'm I'm I'm

482
00:24:29,640 --> 00:24:31,880
Speaker 1: pair of phasing that part, But talk to me about

483
00:24:31,880 --> 00:24:35,640
Speaker 1: like the different ways these fashion houses work and these

484
00:24:35,720 --> 00:24:38,920
Speaker 1: labels works where you can have somebody like a Jeff

485
00:24:38,920 --> 00:24:42,000
Speaker 1: Staple who's got you know, these things out in the

486
00:24:42,040 --> 00:24:44,680
Speaker 1: marketplace that he has ain't nothing to do with and

487
00:24:44,720 --> 00:24:47,800
Speaker 1: be you know, probably wouldn't wear it himself because it

488
00:24:47,840 --> 00:24:49,880
Speaker 1: doesn't sound like easy. Would ever work that way?

489
00:24:51,240 --> 00:24:59,720
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's tough. Like outside of work with you,

490
00:25:00,200 --> 00:25:03,480
Speaker 3: I think the only thing that that I could think

491
00:25:03,480 --> 00:25:06,960
Speaker 3: of that would be similar to it just goes back

492
00:25:07,000 --> 00:25:10,679
Speaker 3: to you know, I guess what Jeff said, where you

493
00:25:10,800 --> 00:25:14,160
Speaker 3: have this idea of what you want and then if

494
00:25:14,200 --> 00:25:18,239
Speaker 3: he goes into you know, Adidas or Nike whatever, and

495
00:25:18,280 --> 00:25:21,360
Speaker 3: he's putting up his idea of what he's looking for,

496
00:25:22,040 --> 00:25:23,359
Speaker 3: does meet ten filters?

497
00:25:23,520 --> 00:25:25,840
Speaker 2: You know, that means ten designers creating something for.

498
00:25:25,920 --> 00:25:31,040
Speaker 3: Him and depending on you know, the brand, the business unit,

499
00:25:31,520 --> 00:25:36,159
Speaker 3: they might the marketing people might see a direction for

500
00:25:36,280 --> 00:25:38,800
Speaker 3: the design. The way we worked was a little bit

501
00:25:38,840 --> 00:25:42,920
Speaker 3: different because typically the marketing people they give you.

502
00:25:43,200 --> 00:25:45,679
Speaker 2: Like a brief, like here's the direction of what we

503
00:25:45,720 --> 00:25:48,080
Speaker 2: want for us.

504
00:25:48,119 --> 00:25:50,320
Speaker 3: It was different, like he would give us the brief,

505
00:25:50,880 --> 00:25:53,640
Speaker 3: not not a paper, but just like a brief like, hey,

506
00:25:53,640 --> 00:25:56,639
Speaker 3: I want a waterproof bood that could you know that

507
00:25:56,680 --> 00:26:00,399
Speaker 3: could help me fly. So you started figuring out out, like,

508
00:26:01,200 --> 00:26:03,880
Speaker 3: this is the idea of what he wants. Now let's

509
00:26:03,880 --> 00:26:06,800
Speaker 3: put it through the filter of however many designers we have,

510
00:26:07,359 --> 00:26:09,240
Speaker 3: and then, you know, make sure we have an outcome

511
00:26:09,280 --> 00:26:14,080
Speaker 3: of what he's looking for. I guess for Jeff's you know,

512
00:26:14,160 --> 00:26:16,000
Speaker 3: the way that Jeff was putting it, it is a

513
00:26:16,040 --> 00:26:19,119
Speaker 3: little bit different. It's just a different filter, right, Like

514
00:26:19,200 --> 00:26:21,800
Speaker 3: that's the that's the biggest difference when it comes to

515
00:26:21,840 --> 00:26:26,080
Speaker 3: Easy versus any other business unit or brand. You just

516
00:26:26,119 --> 00:26:29,000
Speaker 3: have a different filter or different people that are creating

517
00:26:29,000 --> 00:26:32,320
Speaker 3: the filter and then out putting the products.

518
00:26:32,800 --> 00:26:35,200
Speaker 1: I want to talk about Joys Shed a little bit first.

519
00:26:35,240 --> 00:26:37,960
Speaker 1: If you can introduce us to what you're working on

520
00:26:38,080 --> 00:26:40,320
Speaker 1: with Joys, I'm gonna give it to you to just

521
00:26:40,359 --> 00:26:42,359
Speaker 1: introduce it first. Then I have some questions.

522
00:26:42,880 --> 00:26:46,840
Speaker 3: Yeah, So JOYCECHD started off with me just wanting.

523
00:26:46,520 --> 00:26:50,200
Speaker 2: To have something of my own. I think it's important.

524
00:26:50,320 --> 00:26:52,760
Speaker 3: Like we spend so much time giving our life, designed

525
00:26:52,880 --> 00:26:56,040
Speaker 3: mind and our creations to a brand and you know,

526
00:26:56,160 --> 00:26:59,439
Speaker 3: to different people, and we have nothing to like have

527
00:26:59,640 --> 00:27:02,680
Speaker 3: for ourlves, right, we have nothing that we built ourselves

528
00:27:02,760 --> 00:27:04,960
Speaker 3: and can say that It's like one hundred percent ours.

529
00:27:05,400 --> 00:27:07,959
Speaker 3: So you know, I was thinking like what could I

530
00:27:07,960 --> 00:27:11,400
Speaker 3: create that would be you know, ultimately myself, what would

531
00:27:11,440 --> 00:27:13,879
Speaker 3: be me? And so I thought it was like basketball shorts.

532
00:27:13,960 --> 00:27:16,520
Speaker 3: I love basketball. I play it as much as possible.

533
00:27:16,520 --> 00:27:19,760
Speaker 3: I played growing up as a kid, and you know,

534
00:27:19,840 --> 00:27:20,840
Speaker 3: growing up, I would.

535
00:27:20,600 --> 00:27:22,359
Speaker 2: Just buy if I have money, I would just buy

536
00:27:22,600 --> 00:27:23,400
Speaker 2: every single short.

537
00:27:23,480 --> 00:27:26,000
Speaker 3: I go go in Ebank, get the authentic or the

538
00:27:26,040 --> 00:27:30,480
Speaker 3: replicas of UNC or Detroit Pistons, whatever whatever I could find,

539
00:27:30,840 --> 00:27:33,200
Speaker 3: just something to be you know, tangible and just see it.

540
00:27:33,680 --> 00:27:35,880
Speaker 2: And I probably I mean, I'm not gonna lie.

541
00:27:35,960 --> 00:27:38,399
Speaker 3: I probably have like a or I've had over like

542
00:27:38,400 --> 00:27:43,000
Speaker 3: two hundred pairs of different basketball shorts, different brands, and

543
00:27:43,080 --> 00:27:45,440
Speaker 3: so I was like, what can I do that's gonna

544
00:27:45,440 --> 00:27:47,960
Speaker 3: be real to myself? And that's where it came with

545
00:27:48,000 --> 00:27:50,840
Speaker 3: just the idea of having basketball shorts. The naming was

546
00:27:50,920 --> 00:27:53,680
Speaker 3: super hard, right because you know, I was born in

547
00:27:53,720 --> 00:27:56,439
Speaker 3: Detroit and left there when I was nine, got to

548
00:27:56,480 --> 00:27:59,000
Speaker 3: South Carolina. You know, it was there for nine years,

549
00:27:59,240 --> 00:28:03,399
Speaker 3: you know, until I graduate high school eighteen. And you know,

550
00:28:03,680 --> 00:28:06,360
Speaker 3: going from Detroit to South Carolina, everybody'd be like, yo,

551
00:28:06,359 --> 00:28:06,960
Speaker 3: where are you from?

552
00:28:06,960 --> 00:28:08,040
Speaker 2: And I'd be like, oh, Detroit.

553
00:28:08,119 --> 00:28:11,600
Speaker 3: So every single time for about you know, five years,

554
00:28:11,680 --> 00:28:14,080
Speaker 3: somewhere actually where I'm from, and I would say Detroit

555
00:28:14,119 --> 00:28:16,080
Speaker 3: because I've only been in South Carolina for you know,

556
00:28:16,160 --> 00:28:16,920
Speaker 3: short of my time.

557
00:28:17,520 --> 00:28:18,080
Speaker 2: But then when I.

558
00:28:18,040 --> 00:28:21,000
Speaker 3: Went to college, that's where I started seeing people. I

559
00:28:21,040 --> 00:28:28,200
Speaker 3: started getting confused myself. Where am I from? Oh I Detroit,

560
00:28:28,280 --> 00:28:29,639
Speaker 3: but I just came from South Carolina.

561
00:28:29,840 --> 00:28:31,240
Speaker 2: I don't know what to really tell you.

562
00:28:31,880 --> 00:28:35,040
Speaker 3: So anytime I would say that, you know, the South

563
00:28:35,040 --> 00:28:37,359
Speaker 3: Carolina people be like, yo, why ain't gonna leave us out?

564
00:28:38,880 --> 00:28:40,360
Speaker 3: So I had to try to find a way to

565
00:28:40,400 --> 00:28:44,200
Speaker 3: put the two together. And what I did was I

566
00:28:44,240 --> 00:28:47,640
Speaker 3: wanted to just represent both at the same time. And

567
00:28:47,680 --> 00:28:51,000
Speaker 3: so I grew up on Joy Jeord Road in Mansfield,

568
00:28:51,520 --> 00:28:55,040
Speaker 3: west side of Detroit, and when I got to South Carolina,

569
00:28:55,200 --> 00:28:57,400
Speaker 3: our first house was on Holly Shit Road.

570
00:28:58,200 --> 00:29:00,440
Speaker 2: So I was like, how do I how do I

571
00:29:00,480 --> 00:29:02,400
Speaker 2: make this right? So I took.

572
00:29:02,320 --> 00:29:06,000
Speaker 3: Joy Joy Road to Holly and shd to the first

573
00:29:06,040 --> 00:29:10,520
Speaker 3: part of that joy Shed put them together and it

574
00:29:10,640 --> 00:29:12,600
Speaker 3: just sounded right. It clicked for a little bit and

575
00:29:12,640 --> 00:29:15,160
Speaker 3: I was like, Okay, I can make this work. And

576
00:29:16,640 --> 00:29:19,400
Speaker 3: that's how it was born. Just from just from the idea,

577
00:29:19,440 --> 00:29:22,880
Speaker 3: at least the naming part of it. It's like, where's

578
00:29:22,920 --> 00:29:26,280
Speaker 3: my DNA? You know, where the two places that influenced

579
00:29:26,280 --> 00:29:29,040
Speaker 3: me the most? And how can I represent that through

580
00:29:29,200 --> 00:29:34,400
Speaker 3: a product or you know, through a look? And yeah,

581
00:29:34,440 --> 00:29:35,959
Speaker 3: that's that's where it all came from.

582
00:29:36,760 --> 00:29:40,200
Speaker 1: How do you go about repping where you're from in

583
00:29:40,240 --> 00:29:43,120
Speaker 1: a way that can translate successfully to people who have

584
00:29:43,200 --> 00:29:48,600
Speaker 1: no affinity towards you know, joy Road and how shed like,

585
00:29:48,640 --> 00:29:51,920
Speaker 1: how do you how do you do that? What does

586
00:29:51,960 --> 00:29:56,320
Speaker 1: it matter that they know what it means? I think?

587
00:29:56,400 --> 00:29:58,440
Speaker 2: What what what has worked?

588
00:29:58,600 --> 00:30:02,160
Speaker 3: Or what I feel that people being again being honest

589
00:30:02,200 --> 00:30:07,920
Speaker 3: and truthful, truthful with themselves and then that hopefully you know,

590
00:30:08,320 --> 00:30:11,000
Speaker 3: comes across the right way to the other people. Right,

591
00:30:12,040 --> 00:30:14,720
Speaker 3: so if you can like show your your honest self

592
00:30:15,040 --> 00:30:17,960
Speaker 3: and be truthful to yourself, like you know, the people

593
00:30:17,960 --> 00:30:20,600
Speaker 3: who Detroy, the people from Hormo, South Carolina, you know

594
00:30:20,800 --> 00:30:24,480
Speaker 3: obviously right off rip they'll love it just because of

595
00:30:24,520 --> 00:30:26,280
Speaker 3: the naming, just because.

596
00:30:25,960 --> 00:30:27,840
Speaker 2: Of like, you know, who I am.

597
00:30:28,160 --> 00:30:30,880
Speaker 3: But when it comes to other people, that's when the

598
00:30:30,920 --> 00:30:32,920
Speaker 3: design pustion comes in. I think people will love the

599
00:30:32,960 --> 00:30:35,920
Speaker 3: honest truth about you know why you create the brand

600
00:30:36,200 --> 00:30:38,320
Speaker 3: and what you're trying to do with it, and then

601
00:30:38,520 --> 00:30:42,960
Speaker 3: also the product will then speak for yourself. So you know,

602
00:30:43,000 --> 00:30:45,000
Speaker 3: that's why it took so long to get to where.

603
00:30:44,800 --> 00:30:45,560
Speaker 2: It's at right now.

604
00:30:45,640 --> 00:30:50,240
Speaker 3: And and as simple and simplistic and clean as it looks. Again,

605
00:30:50,760 --> 00:30:53,480
Speaker 3: I think that's where that detroited I've comes from that

606
00:30:53,480 --> 00:30:56,280
Speaker 3: that very simplistic look and not.

607
00:30:56,360 --> 00:30:59,240
Speaker 2: Being like too loud, but also being very.

608
00:31:01,280 --> 00:31:05,320
Speaker 3: You know, very like you're you know yourself that Midwest

609
00:31:05,360 --> 00:31:07,640
Speaker 3: like you're not We're not very I don't feel that

610
00:31:07,680 --> 00:31:11,360
Speaker 3: we're very loud, but we do like we do know ourselves,

611
00:31:11,720 --> 00:31:14,400
Speaker 3: and you kind of like, uh, there's like a preparation

612
00:31:14,520 --> 00:31:17,800
Speaker 3: of respect in the way you carry yourself as well.

613
00:31:18,120 --> 00:31:20,120
Speaker 3: So that's kind of how I see the brand.

614
00:31:21,640 --> 00:31:24,880
Speaker 1: You're very passionate as we discussed about mentoring the next

615
00:31:24,920 --> 00:31:29,480
Speaker 1: generation of black designers. What piques your interest in who?

616
00:31:29,920 --> 00:31:31,920
Speaker 1: In selecting who you're going to work with? I mean,

617
00:31:31,920 --> 00:31:34,560
Speaker 1: I can imagine you get a lot of emails, a

618
00:31:34,600 --> 00:31:36,800
Speaker 1: lot of d ms or you know whatever is people

619
00:31:36,840 --> 00:31:38,800
Speaker 1: reach out. You know, I want to be I would

620
00:31:38,800 --> 00:31:41,120
Speaker 1: work for free, I would do whatever just to be around. Like,

621
00:31:41,480 --> 00:31:45,480
Speaker 1: how do you what gets you excited about somebody.

622
00:31:48,360 --> 00:31:52,719
Speaker 3: I think the consistency right a lot of people and

623
00:31:52,760 --> 00:31:55,040
Speaker 3: you're right, like definitely get a lot of d ms

624
00:31:55,160 --> 00:31:57,680
Speaker 3: or a lot of emails and I try, I try

625
00:31:57,720 --> 00:32:00,840
Speaker 3: my best to respond to them all, and it's not easy,

626
00:32:00,960 --> 00:32:03,480
Speaker 3: like and I'm not I'm not even I don't think

627
00:32:03,520 --> 00:32:03,800
Speaker 3: I'm a.

628
00:32:03,720 --> 00:32:06,360
Speaker 2: Big time at all. I'm just like a small whatever person.

629
00:32:06,440 --> 00:32:07,080
Speaker 2: I'm just chilling.

630
00:32:07,720 --> 00:32:11,800
Speaker 3: And it's tough still, so I can't imagine being you know,

631
00:32:12,240 --> 00:32:18,320
Speaker 3: even more you know, face forward to the public. But

632
00:32:18,360 --> 00:32:20,800
Speaker 3: I think the biggest thing is someone being very consistent.

633
00:32:21,320 --> 00:32:24,920
Speaker 3: And one thing I've learned from having mentors myself is

634
00:32:25,200 --> 00:32:28,480
Speaker 3: once I do get that person having a conversation, whether

635
00:32:28,520 --> 00:32:32,040
Speaker 3: it's the first or second, once that person shows that

636
00:32:32,160 --> 00:32:35,360
Speaker 3: they can kind of like be very like strategic and

637
00:32:36,000 --> 00:32:38,520
Speaker 3: very on top of the things that I do share with.

638
00:32:38,520 --> 00:32:40,959
Speaker 2: Them, that really helps.

639
00:32:41,240 --> 00:32:44,840
Speaker 3: Like with one of my mentors, Jason Maiden, like anytime

640
00:32:44,880 --> 00:32:48,240
Speaker 3: that we have a conversation and anytime that he shares

641
00:32:48,760 --> 00:32:51,520
Speaker 3: his knowledge with me and then almost gives me like

642
00:32:51,560 --> 00:32:53,760
Speaker 3: a task, even if he doesn't say as a task,

643
00:32:54,200 --> 00:32:57,160
Speaker 3: I take it as a task, right, just from playing sports.

644
00:32:57,560 --> 00:32:59,640
Speaker 3: I try my best to make sure that I come

645
00:32:59,680 --> 00:33:03,880
Speaker 3: back to them with results, just so I can say, like, hey,

646
00:33:03,920 --> 00:33:06,400
Speaker 3: I didn't take what you just said and the time

647
00:33:06,440 --> 00:33:09,120
Speaker 3: you gave me for granted, I made sure that I

648
00:33:09,240 --> 00:33:11,120
Speaker 3: like went through, I built what you said and I

649
00:33:11,120 --> 00:33:12,560
Speaker 3: brought it back to you so I can show it

650
00:33:12,600 --> 00:33:12,840
Speaker 3: to you.

651
00:33:13,960 --> 00:33:16,960
Speaker 2: So that consistency and that person being.

652
00:33:16,840 --> 00:33:20,360
Speaker 3: Under understanding of like the timing and the knowledge share

653
00:33:20,800 --> 00:33:22,920
Speaker 3: and then appreciating it and then you know, finding a

654
00:33:22,960 --> 00:33:25,480
Speaker 3: way to either share it back with me or you know,

655
00:33:26,520 --> 00:33:29,240
Speaker 3: give it to the next person. That's what really really

656
00:33:29,320 --> 00:33:32,680
Speaker 3: shows me that that person cares, and it's you know,

657
00:33:32,720 --> 00:33:34,640
Speaker 3: it feels good once you see them doing that too.

658
00:33:34,800 --> 00:33:37,560
Speaker 3: So it's the best part about it.

659
00:33:38,320 --> 00:33:41,880
Speaker 1: When I think about the industries that are being democratized

660
00:33:41,920 --> 00:33:44,240
Speaker 1: in so many ways. If I want to drive for

661
00:33:44,280 --> 00:33:45,720
Speaker 1: a living, I don't have to go work for a

662
00:33:45,760 --> 00:33:48,320
Speaker 1: limo company or a bus company. I can legit, just

663
00:33:48,440 --> 00:33:50,600
Speaker 1: jump on uper and do it myself. I want to

664
00:33:50,600 --> 00:33:53,440
Speaker 1: be a musician, I don't have to get on death

665
00:33:53,560 --> 00:33:56,920
Speaker 1: Row or deaf Jam or whatever you know, or good music.

666
00:33:57,280 --> 00:34:00,360
Speaker 1: I can put out my music by myself. From a

667
00:34:00,440 --> 00:34:06,440
Speaker 1: fashion perspective, where's the opportunity for designers to find success?

668
00:34:06,480 --> 00:34:08,600
Speaker 1: Without you know, getting hired by a house.

669
00:34:11,800 --> 00:34:13,839
Speaker 3: You know, honestly, a lot of people have been doing

670
00:34:14,160 --> 00:34:19,680
Speaker 3: amazing jobs on Instagram and social media, which is it's

671
00:34:19,680 --> 00:34:22,200
Speaker 3: a lot different, right, Like they've been able to people

672
00:34:22,239 --> 00:34:25,400
Speaker 3: have been able to have their almost resume from creating

673
00:34:25,719 --> 00:34:26,799
Speaker 3: things online.

674
00:34:27,200 --> 00:34:28,080
Speaker 2: Now that doesn't.

675
00:34:27,800 --> 00:34:32,200
Speaker 3: Always turn into a product or it turns into the opportunities,

676
00:34:32,600 --> 00:34:34,200
Speaker 3: but I have seen it work for a lot of

677
00:34:34,239 --> 00:34:36,480
Speaker 3: people where you know, some you might see somebody on

678
00:34:36,520 --> 00:34:38,399
Speaker 3: Instagram and be like, hey, like let's go get them

679
00:34:38,440 --> 00:34:39,759
Speaker 3: and have a conversation.

680
00:34:40,000 --> 00:34:42,279
Speaker 2: See what else they can do. Then see you know

681
00:34:42,360 --> 00:34:44,000
Speaker 2: how they work and how their mind.

682
00:34:44,280 --> 00:34:48,120
Speaker 3: You know how their mind works. So I don't think

683
00:34:48,160 --> 00:34:50,399
Speaker 3: that they know anyone needs to.

684
00:34:50,400 --> 00:34:52,560
Speaker 2: Jump, you know to a Nike or an Adidas.

685
00:34:52,600 --> 00:34:55,040
Speaker 3: I think it's a great opportunity for people that want

686
00:34:55,080 --> 00:34:58,920
Speaker 3: to do that, but you know, nowadays we haven't and

687
00:34:59,320 --> 00:35:01,640
Speaker 3: I don't want to see easier route, but you know,

688
00:35:01,840 --> 00:35:04,840
Speaker 3: multiple routes. It's not just like you know, Nike or

689
00:35:04,840 --> 00:35:07,160
Speaker 3: Adidas or a rebod. You don't have to go down

690
00:35:07,200 --> 00:35:09,880
Speaker 3: those paths. There's other ways around it, like you know,

691
00:35:09,960 --> 00:35:15,080
Speaker 3: creating your own brand not you know, it's tough, it's tough.

692
00:35:15,200 --> 00:35:18,000
Speaker 3: But it's an opportunity that you kind of create for

693
00:35:18,040 --> 00:35:20,800
Speaker 3: yourself and then once you get to that point, people

694
00:35:21,040 --> 00:35:22,160
Speaker 3: hopefully will see it.

695
00:35:22,800 --> 00:35:23,160
Speaker 2: Uh.

696
00:35:23,200 --> 00:35:26,319
Speaker 3: And then also what's amazing now is people are able

697
00:35:26,360 --> 00:35:29,200
Speaker 3: to do like three D printing. You know, I would

698
00:35:29,280 --> 00:35:31,560
Speaker 3: speak to AI, but I'd rather jump to the three

699
00:35:31,880 --> 00:35:36,799
Speaker 3: three D printing because we've seen it become you know,

700
00:35:36,920 --> 00:35:41,560
Speaker 3: something major like Zellerfeld, you know, creating three D and

701
00:35:41,600 --> 00:35:45,000
Speaker 3: giving designers the opportunity to put their brand or you know,

702
00:35:45,239 --> 00:35:48,799
Speaker 3: put their ideas out there into a physical form, because

703
00:35:48,840 --> 00:35:54,319
Speaker 3: it's not always easy to create a product or.

704
00:35:54,280 --> 00:35:55,720
Speaker 2: Even especially not a shoot.

705
00:35:55,800 --> 00:35:59,799
Speaker 3: A shoe takes mold costs, it takes upper costs, you know,

706
00:36:00,480 --> 00:36:03,040
Speaker 3: and doing three D printing it also costs, but the

707
00:36:03,120 --> 00:36:05,759
Speaker 3: upfront it's not as much as like creating you know,

708
00:36:06,080 --> 00:36:07,120
Speaker 3: a person's own shoes.

709
00:36:07,200 --> 00:36:10,160
Speaker 2: So again, I think you're right. You don't have to

710
00:36:10,200 --> 00:36:12,320
Speaker 2: go through like a house or through a brand.

711
00:36:12,560 --> 00:36:15,200
Speaker 3: You can always find other ways, and I think those

712
00:36:15,200 --> 00:36:17,880
Speaker 3: ways are definitely being opened up, like three D printing,

713
00:36:18,600 --> 00:36:22,440
Speaker 3: even you know AI conceptualizing and sharing it on Instagram

714
00:36:22,560 --> 00:36:26,000
Speaker 3: or TikTok. There's just so many new ways of finding

715
00:36:26,320 --> 00:36:28,239
Speaker 3: finding your voice and kind of being able to share

716
00:36:28,320 --> 00:36:29,080
Speaker 3: with other people.

717
00:36:30,760 --> 00:36:32,120
Speaker 1: Two more things I wanted to get to before I

718
00:36:32,200 --> 00:36:35,120
Speaker 1: let you go. One. I just thought this was super interesting.

719
00:36:35,160 --> 00:36:38,080
Speaker 1: I was thinking about this that hip hop has had

720
00:36:38,080 --> 00:36:41,279
Speaker 1: an undeniable impact on fashion. I think we would all

721
00:36:41,320 --> 00:36:45,640
Speaker 1: agree with that. And now you have afrobeats, which is,

722
00:36:46,040 --> 00:36:48,719
Speaker 1: you know, top of the charts, you know, a lot

723
00:36:48,760 --> 00:36:50,640
Speaker 1: of music. I was reading this tweet by a little

724
00:36:50,680 --> 00:36:52,360
Speaker 1: duval the other day. You talk about you don't have

725
00:36:52,400 --> 00:36:54,680
Speaker 1: the afrobeats take over because you know, you go to

726
00:36:54,719 --> 00:36:58,239
Speaker 1: the club now all they playing is afrobeats, And I

727
00:36:58,360 --> 00:37:01,040
Speaker 1: wonder what you think that impact may have on.

728
00:37:01,160 --> 00:37:04,840
Speaker 2: Fashion just just afrobeats in general.

729
00:37:04,800 --> 00:37:07,360
Speaker 1: The culture of African the African culture number one, but

730
00:37:07,440 --> 00:37:08,839
Speaker 1: afrobeats more specifically.

731
00:37:10,040 --> 00:37:14,040
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean again, we've had we've had an impact

732
00:37:14,440 --> 00:37:17,720
Speaker 3: on America, on the world, ourselves, just being black people

733
00:37:17,760 --> 00:37:22,359
Speaker 3: in general. Like you know, they put us on marketing campaigns.

734
00:37:22,440 --> 00:37:25,120
Speaker 3: You know they don't We're not always behind the scenes

735
00:37:25,160 --> 00:37:28,720
Speaker 3: creating the product or creating the guidelines of the marketing plan.

736
00:37:28,600 --> 00:37:29,040
Speaker 2: Et cetera.

737
00:37:29,680 --> 00:37:33,759
Speaker 3: But you know, we are the reason why you know,

738
00:37:33,880 --> 00:37:35,880
Speaker 3: fashion apparel.

739
00:37:36,239 --> 00:37:37,200
Speaker 2: But where all.

740
00:37:37,080 --> 00:37:39,080
Speaker 3: These things are in the space that it's in today

741
00:37:40,640 --> 00:37:45,239
Speaker 3: now add on afrobeats or you know, the kind of

742
00:37:45,239 --> 00:37:48,799
Speaker 3: Africa it's just gonna make the takeover is gonna be

743
00:37:48,920 --> 00:37:53,080
Speaker 3: very interesting just because you know a lot of us,

744
00:37:54,320 --> 00:37:56,920
Speaker 3: even you know, being African black, you know, black Americans,

745
00:37:57,280 --> 00:38:00,120
Speaker 3: we have the ability to sit you know, see our

746
00:38:00,239 --> 00:38:03,560
Speaker 3: history here not always right. We don't see it in

747
00:38:03,600 --> 00:38:05,480
Speaker 3: our books, we don't always get to see it in

748
00:38:05,560 --> 00:38:08,879
Speaker 3: our on TV unless it's in a negative light.

749
00:38:10,800 --> 00:38:14,360
Speaker 2: But to be able to kind of have that connection back.

750
00:38:14,200 --> 00:38:19,680
Speaker 3: To Africa and just being able to open up the doors,

751
00:38:20,320 --> 00:38:23,080
Speaker 3: it's going to be very exciting. And I and I

752
00:38:23,120 --> 00:38:26,160
Speaker 3: don't and I think that it's going to be a

753
00:38:26,200 --> 00:38:30,879
Speaker 3: lot different than people might think. Whether it's like us

754
00:38:30,880 --> 00:38:33,120
Speaker 3: going being able to go back to Africa and have

755
00:38:33,160 --> 00:38:37,120
Speaker 3: an experience in that experience really challenging what we do

756
00:38:37,160 --> 00:38:39,319
Speaker 3: and how we see things today and.

757
00:38:39,280 --> 00:38:40,680
Speaker 2: Also how people see Africa.

758
00:38:41,960 --> 00:38:44,360
Speaker 3: You know, the way that it's displayed in America isn't

759
00:38:44,880 --> 00:38:46,680
Speaker 3: you know, it isn't always in the best light. But

760
00:38:47,480 --> 00:38:49,440
Speaker 3: you know, they can't put us, they can't hold us

761
00:38:49,480 --> 00:38:52,000
Speaker 3: in the dark anymore when it comes to you know,

762
00:38:52,080 --> 00:38:55,399
Speaker 3: how we travel there, how we communicate with our with

763
00:38:55,400 --> 00:38:59,440
Speaker 3: our own people, uh there, So I think that it's

764
00:38:59,440 --> 00:39:02,120
Speaker 3: going to make a difference, and just in apparel, like

765
00:39:02,200 --> 00:39:04,840
Speaker 3: not just in a bit like a visual sense, Like

766
00:39:05,000 --> 00:39:07,200
Speaker 3: visually we'll be able to see it in the way

767
00:39:07,239 --> 00:39:11,600
Speaker 3: that people wear their clothing or their garments, the footwear.

768
00:39:11,200 --> 00:39:12,279
Speaker 2: That might come from it.

769
00:39:12,560 --> 00:39:16,080
Speaker 3: But also I think mentally that's where the big change

770
00:39:16,120 --> 00:39:18,480
Speaker 3: will be, not just for you know, Black.

771
00:39:18,280 --> 00:39:21,320
Speaker 2: Americans, but for America, Europe, et cetera.

772
00:39:21,880 --> 00:39:26,600
Speaker 3: Like how influential Africa is not just in fashion but

773
00:39:26,640 --> 00:39:31,440
Speaker 3: in everything else that you know, resources, real resources, not

774
00:39:31,600 --> 00:39:37,319
Speaker 3: like paper that has been turned into currency. So I

775
00:39:37,360 --> 00:39:40,280
Speaker 3: know that was long winded, but just my mind started

776
00:39:40,360 --> 00:39:41,319
Speaker 3: racing when she said that.

777
00:39:41,360 --> 00:39:42,800
Speaker 2: I didn't know how to answer that question.

778
00:39:45,960 --> 00:39:49,520
Speaker 1: It was good, though, it was really good. Lastly, I

779
00:39:49,640 --> 00:39:51,960
Speaker 1: was listening to a previous interview were you talking about,

780
00:39:52,360 --> 00:39:56,239
Speaker 1: you know, not effectively creating in a vacuum, And you

781
00:39:56,280 --> 00:39:59,520
Speaker 1: talked about you know, design inspiration and where you find inspiration,

782
00:40:00,360 --> 00:40:02,239
Speaker 1: and you said the best place to find it from

783
00:40:02,239 --> 00:40:06,560
Speaker 1: your perspective was in nature and like literally go outside

784
00:40:06,800 --> 00:40:09,600
Speaker 1: and be inspired by what you see, the trees, the air,

785
00:40:09,760 --> 00:40:14,200
Speaker 1: the whatever. And I was I immediately thought about Michael

786
00:40:14,280 --> 00:40:16,560
Speaker 1: Jordan because I grew up as a big, humongous Michael

787
00:40:16,640 --> 00:40:20,520
Speaker 1: Jordan Fan. I remember almost every sneaker in his line

788
00:40:21,080 --> 00:40:25,880
Speaker 1: was designed after some sort of vehicle like Corvette. And

789
00:40:26,480 --> 00:40:28,920
Speaker 1: I want you to talk about two things in closing,

790
00:40:29,000 --> 00:40:34,640
Speaker 1: and what elements in the shapes of your work? If

791
00:40:34,680 --> 00:40:37,839
Speaker 1: you look at your resume, what elements in nature do

792
00:40:37,880 --> 00:40:41,680
Speaker 1: you most frequently find inspiration from? Because if I think

793
00:40:41,680 --> 00:40:44,600
Speaker 1: about it, easy, I'm thinking it probably like leaves probably

794
00:40:44,600 --> 00:40:46,920
Speaker 1: if I'm thinking about nature. So I'm gonna let you

795
00:40:46,960 --> 00:40:48,840
Speaker 1: answer that, and then I want I also want you

796
00:40:48,920 --> 00:40:55,520
Speaker 1: to talk about the idea or concept of both problems

797
00:40:55,560 --> 00:40:58,839
Speaker 1: being all around you therefore opportunities being all around you.

798
00:40:59,719 --> 00:41:05,920
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, you know, so when it comes to the

799
00:41:06,000 --> 00:41:10,200
Speaker 3: inspiration that that I take and try to like implement

800
00:41:10,560 --> 00:41:10,879
Speaker 3: in my.

801
00:41:10,880 --> 00:41:13,120
Speaker 2: Design process or just in design general.

802
00:41:13,840 --> 00:41:15,960
Speaker 3: Uh, you know, I think that the closest thing to

803
00:41:16,040 --> 00:41:19,799
Speaker 3: us as humans are you know, other animals, right, so

804
00:41:20,200 --> 00:41:22,680
Speaker 3: just being able to see like how they live their

805
00:41:22,719 --> 00:41:25,040
Speaker 3: lives and how they work. Now, I'm not saying I'm

806
00:41:25,120 --> 00:41:28,480
Speaker 3: going out and like messing around with rattlesnakes or anything

807
00:41:28,520 --> 00:41:31,200
Speaker 3: like that, but you know, even watching it on TV

808
00:41:31,440 --> 00:41:35,080
Speaker 3: is very interesting just seeing how, you know, a panther

809
00:41:35,920 --> 00:41:37,960
Speaker 3: might run, you know, same thing, like you know, how

810
00:41:38,000 --> 00:41:41,440
Speaker 3: a tinker used like a black cat to to represent

811
00:41:41,480 --> 00:41:45,640
Speaker 3: and create some footwear for for my just seeing how

812
00:41:45,840 --> 00:41:49,200
Speaker 3: you know, they live their lives and how fascinating they

813
00:41:49,239 --> 00:41:53,719
Speaker 3: move compared to the human body. But how also you know,

814
00:41:53,960 --> 00:41:58,240
Speaker 3: these animals are also more connected to the ground.

815
00:41:58,280 --> 00:41:59,600
Speaker 2: They're more connected to the.

816
00:41:59,480 --> 00:42:03,000
Speaker 3: Earth versus versus how we are where we have now

817
00:42:03,160 --> 00:42:06,239
Speaker 3: removed ourselves from the area. It's a lot more so

818
00:42:06,360 --> 00:42:08,960
Speaker 3: that you know, just in the design phase in general,

819
00:42:09,000 --> 00:42:10,880
Speaker 3: it's trying to look at like how.

820
00:42:10,800 --> 00:42:12,680
Speaker 2: You know, how do we use bironmenticry?

821
00:42:12,880 --> 00:42:16,000
Speaker 3: You know, typically vironmmicry can be you know, almost anything

822
00:42:16,000 --> 00:42:18,360
Speaker 3: that has to do with nature. But how can we

823
00:42:18,440 --> 00:42:22,680
Speaker 3: focus on like animals and seeing how they live their

824
00:42:22,680 --> 00:42:26,160
Speaker 3: lives and almost either whether it's stripped back or in

825
00:42:26,200 --> 00:42:33,759
Speaker 3: addition to create things for ourselves appareil foot where you know, prosthetics.

826
00:42:33,920 --> 00:42:35,360
Speaker 3: You know, there's a lot of things like that that

827
00:42:35,520 --> 00:42:38,319
Speaker 3: come off of looking and creating off animals. And I

828
00:42:38,360 --> 00:42:41,400
Speaker 3: think that's that's probably where I gather most of my

829
00:42:41,400 --> 00:42:44,800
Speaker 3: my information. But I definitely you know, in nature in general,

830
00:42:45,200 --> 00:42:47,239
Speaker 3: but when it comes to animals that keep it on

831
00:42:47,320 --> 00:42:51,680
Speaker 3: the TV as much as possible. And and then for

832
00:42:52,000 --> 00:42:56,080
Speaker 3: the second question, Uh, can you repeat that?

833
00:42:56,920 --> 00:43:00,440
Speaker 1: The second part was in the idea of the both

834
00:43:00,920 --> 00:43:03,840
Speaker 1: problems are all around you and therefore the solution. The

835
00:43:03,920 --> 00:43:06,240
Speaker 1: opportunity is all around you, and just if you open

836
00:43:06,280 --> 00:43:08,279
Speaker 1: your eyes, you can see opportunities all around you.

837
00:43:08,640 --> 00:43:11,719
Speaker 3: Yeah, okay, So for the second question, just like the

838
00:43:11,760 --> 00:43:15,399
Speaker 3: problems and opportunities, I think that's how a lot of.

839
00:43:15,680 --> 00:43:17,120
Speaker 2: You know, design is created.

840
00:43:17,760 --> 00:43:19,360
Speaker 3: That's you know, you might think that way, but a

841
00:43:19,400 --> 00:43:22,040
Speaker 3: lot of times it's you know, sometimes it's not. But

842
00:43:22,719 --> 00:43:28,000
Speaker 3: for me personally, it's like having an equation, right, and

843
00:43:28,040 --> 00:43:31,600
Speaker 3: it goes back to the idea of process and progress

844
00:43:31,960 --> 00:43:38,520
Speaker 3: through that process. So just understanding and seeing like there

845
00:43:38,520 --> 00:43:43,440
Speaker 3: are opportunities everywhere, how do you really take that internally

846
00:43:43,520 --> 00:43:49,200
Speaker 3: and then filter through your own lens because a lot

847
00:43:49,239 --> 00:43:52,080
Speaker 3: of people are I wouldn't call it like an opportunist,

848
00:43:52,120 --> 00:43:56,279
Speaker 3: but instead of really finding a problem, more people just

849
00:43:56,400 --> 00:43:59,960
Speaker 3: kind of like that what they're creating is not solution based.

850
00:44:00,880 --> 00:44:03,000
Speaker 3: You know, they didn't they're not solving a problem. They're

851
00:44:03,040 --> 00:44:07,440
Speaker 3: just creating extra two what's already out in the world.

852
00:44:07,960 --> 00:44:10,160
Speaker 3: And I can even say that about you know, there's

853
00:44:10,160 --> 00:44:11,600
Speaker 3: a lot of things out there that I like that.

854
00:44:11,840 --> 00:44:14,200
Speaker 2: But again, I think when it.

855
00:44:14,080 --> 00:44:17,440
Speaker 3: Comes back to what I said before, that honesty portion,

856
00:44:18,800 --> 00:44:24,240
Speaker 3: even if you're not necessarily solving a problem, you're creating

857
00:44:24,280 --> 00:44:27,719
Speaker 3: this idea of like, hey, there is a market for

858
00:44:28,080 --> 00:44:30,840
Speaker 3: what I'm creating. There are people that I'm looking for

859
00:44:31,200 --> 00:44:34,800
Speaker 3: this specific thing, and it might not be a specific problem,

860
00:44:34,920 --> 00:44:37,680
Speaker 3: but you might just be saying like, Okay, here's a

861
00:44:37,719 --> 00:44:40,000
Speaker 3: group of people here, these are the things that I

862
00:44:40,040 --> 00:44:42,880
Speaker 3: want to represent. How do I be honest with myself

863
00:44:42,960 --> 00:44:44,360
Speaker 3: and then tell a true story?

864
00:44:44,480 --> 00:44:45,799
Speaker 2: So then that that.

865
00:44:45,840 --> 00:44:51,640
Speaker 3: Opportunity then gains you know, real life customers or consumers,

866
00:44:52,800 --> 00:44:57,520
Speaker 3: but then also people that feel a part of something

867
00:44:58,200 --> 00:45:02,040
Speaker 3: that wasn't there before. So you know, not to be

868
00:45:02,200 --> 00:45:04,720
Speaker 3: like opportunists, but you're trying to create like a safe

869
00:45:04,719 --> 00:45:05,720
Speaker 3: space for other people.

870
00:45:05,800 --> 00:45:07,719
Speaker 2: You're trying to create a product that.

871
00:45:07,600 --> 00:45:12,840
Speaker 3: Represents a certain group of people that might feel not represented,

872
00:45:13,360 --> 00:45:14,320
Speaker 3: if that makes sense.

873
00:45:36,200 --> 00:45:38,600
Speaker 1: Black Tech Green Money is a production of Blavity Afro

874
00:45:38,719 --> 00:45:41,680
Speaker 1: Tech on the Black Effect podcast Network and iHeart Media.

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Speaker 1: It's produced by Morgan Debonne and me Well Lucas, with

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Speaker 1: the additional production support by Sarah Ergan and Rose McLucas.

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Speaker 1: Special thank you to Michael Davis, Vanessa Serrano, and Mayamoju.

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Speaker 1: Learn more about my guests and other Tech That's innovators

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Speaker 1: at afrotech dot com. Enjoy your black tech green money.

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Speaker 1: It's as to somebody, go get your money. He's some

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Speaker 1: love

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Speaker 2: M HM