Transcript
Speaker: Like I wasn't a heavy graffiti artist at all. I wasn't out in the streets, um but I was very inspired by this idea of what they call getting up. Yeah. Getting up means your tag is seen in all five boroughs. Yeah.
Speaker: Right. And if you get it on the right train, then the train travels and you're like a moving billboard. yeah Right. So I was like in love with that idea, but I tried to do it in my way through branding.
Speaker: Right. So if I could get my mark on every surface hoodie, pants, sneaker, Shake Shack collab, you know, like commercial with Dell, you know, like to me it was like tagging up.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: What's good, everyone? Welcome back to My First Kicks, the podcast where i use sneakers as a through line to get to know the guest in front of me. This week, I'm joined by the absolute legend, one of my you know one of my inspirations, for real.
Speaker: Jeff Staple, welcome to the podcast, man. Thank you. Great to be here. I've seen a lot of your episodes, so not i that I'm stoked to be in the hot seat. Your shit just comes up in the algorithm. like It just gets, I don't know, it knows what I want to hear. Yeah.
Speaker: I think it's just like, I mean, i put I put pump as many clips as I can as possible. So so I'm hoping so. It's all about the clips. it's so It's so funny that like that has, that's been the common thing when people come up to me like, yo, know I see your stuff in the algorithm all the time. I'm like, all right, at least it's working. It's all about the clips. Yeah. um But I just gotta to say, you know even from the early days, I definitely gotta call this out. like I remember going to Read Space when I was a young kid and i was telling you about this like a couple years ago. Just like how much did the little chairs with the books and and like how much the the culture like how much of that inspired the culture me. Man, you took me back just now. It felt like you brought the forums into real life. And I think that like it doesn't get it doesn't get talked about now. as much as I wish it would because a lot of that was always like just the thing that grabbed me to be like, I need to know more. yeah It was, I will say 100%, always credit the forums for making me curious about sneakers, but I always credit Readspace for making me curious about street wear.
Speaker: Thank you, man. So, yeah. you know, put in a lot of blood, sweat and tears in the read space. And you're right. I wish more people were able to experience it, but it was just one store in the in the Lower East Side yeah or, you know, 2001 to 2016. So 15 years in the same space. But whenever I hear somebody say like some little detail about the store, like really, you know, meant something to them, and it makes me really happy for sure. Man, I mean, look, it's crazy. Yeah, I've been wanting to talk to you for for such a long time. And then like, we'll be we'll meet up and then or like we'll run into each other and I'll be having to stifle all my questions just so I can like. You're saving it for right now. yeah. I feel like you're going to whip out a scroll. All right. All right. So on this day. Let's start at number 92. No, man. First of all, I do want to say you know thank you for inviting me to the Flower Mountain Drop. And I wanted to ask you this. This has to be my... It's called Ikebara? Ikebara. Ikebana. Ikebana. Yeah, which is the art of Japanese flower arrangement. Yes. Is yours alive?
Speaker: ah It's at the store. I'm gonna go see it later. I'm gonna see if my team's been watering it. Yeah, I think i wear I went somewhere wrong with mine. Like, i don't know I don't know if maybe like when I was walking around with thing is wrong, man. shit True. But like, I feel like I thought the the buds on it were supposed to blossom. hu And it mine never did. okay. So I'm hoping yours did. Maybe. But that was ah that was a dope-ass event. it was a very intimate launch where um I don't think there's a wrong way to do it. The way the instructor taught us how to do the flower arrangement, like all of them had a certain wabi-sabi beauty to it. That's not what I was talking about. I'm talking about if it's getting water. Yeah, budding. But at the moment, it was nice. No, at the moment, it was beautiful. I think that was such a unique experience. It's definitely, like I i definitely got to, you know, started getting invited to a lot of stuff, but that was the most unique experience I ever had when it comes to like a shoe release or, you know. It was unique for us too. yeah You know, like we, you know, you've been to our events and parties and they tend to be like blowouts and stuff. Yeah. You know, I've recently um deliberately been experimenting with different ways of doing launches and gatherings. um And I just feel like, yeah, especially during New York Fashion Week, which was when it happened, it was nice to do something more calming and intimate. And I think... I don't know what, just in this day and age of like shit getting served to you 24, seven, three 65, it's nice to force a slowdown to happen. You know? yeah Yeah. I think that we definitely need a cultural reset, right? Yeah. like We need one of those. Yes, please. We jumping in real quick to remind y'all to like, subscribe, and do not forget to leave a comment on this episode.
Speaker: And if you're listening to this on Apple or Spotify, do not forget to leave a five star review. Leave an actual review. And if you do, I will read it at the end of an episode. And of course, if you want to help out the podcast tremendously, i got a Patreon. Patreon.com slash MyFirstKicks. You get a shout out at the end of an episode. You also get extra content on the Patreon that's only Patreon exclusive.
Speaker: And you get to support the pod directly. So hit that up. Hit the Patreon. Patreon.com slash MyFirstKicks. But for now, let's jump back into the episode. We definitely need that. ah Because I think, and we'll definitely touch on that a little bit later, because I think we're oversaturated, especially with everybody's trying to tell us stories that we need to be hearing 24 seven, you know? But it's, you know, I miss, I miss when the whole feed wasn't someone talking to camera, like every single post, like I miss a photo dump every once in a while. You know, it's so calming to be like, oh yes, a photo dump. And then, and then back to like, you know, like get ready with me. Yeah. You know, come in and I'll send you this. it's like, oh my everyone's shilling something. Oh, man. Yeah, I think we we went from experiencing experiences to now everything is, let's monetize what you like immediately. But what happens if you have like, if the entire population is shilling something?
Speaker: Like, who's actually... consuming and purchasing if everyone is in the active side. I feel like that's what I've been thinking about is like in the near future when you have a room of a thousand people randomly and 997 of them are like this. like the three people are just like,
Speaker: i you know I don't know what going to be interesting world. It's the you need the they live ah glasses. and yeah Yeah. Everybody just obey. Yeah. You know, like everybody just obey at that point. It's I mean, yeah, I've also have been having this internal monologue with myself because I do want to write about it because I do feel like, you know, I with this, I feel like I'm trying not to sell. But at the same time, i'm like, please support. yeah because it's you know and like yeah where do we Where do we go from ah please support us to to please buy my thing? And then how do we separate ourselves from that? Because it's like, if you're if you're saying like, even with the with the events at Staple, it's like, yo, come support, come be part of this adventure, you like this experience. And then it's like, oh, but we but then it's like people are like, oh, if I see then I got to go and buy something or like, you know, like we there needs to be like a there's definitely like ah how do we separate it? So it's like, no, we want we like this is support. And if you buy something that you're supporting also. Well, what we what we've been trying to do, and what we did with that event is like if we instead of spending the marketing dollars to give it to individual influencers to be like, here, we're going to pay you to post about this. We instead spent that money to try to create a very engaging event, invited cool people to it, gave them the the shoes.
Speaker: And then in the hope without, coming I mean, you could say firsthand, we never said like, must post this. We need three Instagram post. It was just like, we just invited people and we hope we created ah an engaging enough event that made you and people want to post. And one dude like made like a three minute mini documentary about the whole experience. So, and I think when the, when his followers see that, they're like, oh, that was a really cool thing. What is, maybe they don't know about me or Flower Mountain or Staple and then they dig and then maybe they support. I think that's like the type of marketing that I'm experimenting with versus like just pay to play stuff. Yeah. I mean, that's it's interesting. We'll see how i love it. I think I think we're here talking about it. Exactly. um But you're also here to answer the question I ask everybody each week. And that question is, what's your first case? What's that first pair of sneakers you absolutely needed to have?
Speaker: OK, the first one that I needed to have. This is a great question. I often get asked, what's the first shoe that made me a sneakerhead? Yeah, I actually don't like that question. Oh, see, I like that you have the nuanced difference, right? So real quick, the answer to that question is the Air Jordan 3 blacksmith. Okay, that's the one that made me a sneakerhead. But I think the first shoe that I really wanted before I thought of myself as a sneakerhead was the Air Revolution High. Hmm.
Speaker: With the pump. Yeah, with the royal blue, white, black, and it had the strap over the ankle. Oh, wait, Yeah, yeah. I'm confusing them. Yeah, yeah. Air Revolution is that one. They were famous. I mean, if you could bring it up, like there was a Beatles commercial. It was a Nike commercial, but they used the Beatles song. Yes. They want a revolution in it. And then you saw the light shining through the air bubble. Yes.
Speaker: And ah this is before sneaker collecting or, you know, it was I was still... buying sneakers to play sports in them. And so like I wanted the Air Revolution to actually play basketball in. That's great. And where'd you grow up originally? Jersey. Jersey? Yeah, yeah. For some reason I thought you grew up LA.
Speaker: No. Jersey. the East Coast all the way. Yeah, yeah. My bad. East Coast all the way. Now I'm bi-coastal. Right. LA and New York. You're living my dream. That's what I want to do. i want to be bi-coastal. Yeah. It is nice. Before i I like get old. old Give me the bike. I want that just like, oh, it's cold in New York.
Speaker: ma that yeah I'm trying to now be tri-coastal. What's tri-coastal? I want to add Tokyo to the list. Oh, wow. New York, LA, Tokyo. Yeah, I'm this close. You got this. I got this. Yeah. As long as you take with you. got couple more like, you know, ah get ready with me videos and a couple more of those. I'm ready.
Speaker: So that's I mean, look, you you growing up in New Jersey and you grew up before sneaker culture was an actual thing. yeah So it's like, how did you like seeing it grow? You actually watched it develop, right? Yeah, I watched it born. yeah And you're also part of it as well. So like, how did what was the thing that like introduced you into being like, oh, I needed to be, you know, fresh, for example, or? Okay, great question. Because people were into sneakers, but they you know sneakers were a sporting goods equipment, right? right the People who remember this, there were stores like Champs or Sports Authority or Herman's back in the day. These were like...
Speaker: It was cool because they were multi-brand stores before the concept of like an undefeated today. yeah They had mad different brands from Wilson to Spalding to Nike to Reebok, right? All this stuff in one store.
Speaker: And you would buy sneakers like you would buy a baseball glove yeah or or, you know, like a bat or something like that, right? And when the shit wore out, you would go back to the store and buy a new pair. It was a sporting equipment. Then somewhere along the lines, it became a fashion item. And for me, this started in high school in 1989. OK, freshman year in high school. 1989. I'm aging myself so hard right I'm one old then. But I had a friend in high school. Now, mind you, I'm going to give you some facts here.
Speaker: Middle of New Jersey, 1,600 kids in my high school, public school. yeah ah in my In my high school of 1,600 kids, there were three Asians and five black kids. Wow.
Speaker: and 15, somehow, 100 other white kids. okay So we were definitively the minority. yeah right And David Charles, we'll never forget him, and another kid named Darren Hudson, the three of us would...
Speaker: like before we even knew the term, we were battling sneakers in the sense that like we would wear different shoes as often as we could and rotate them and like look at each other's feet, which I know now everybody just like is checking out what you're wearing. But back then it was like every kid wore the same thing every day. Right. Yeah. And then here's these three weird kids wearing different shoes. And we were actually made fun of back then. Oh, really? Like, why you want different? It's like.
Speaker: it's gay they'd be like it's gay to wear different it's like you know that's what they would say you we were into fashion you know um to the point where like yeah we just really got into it so we were battling each other i think that's where it became less about sports and more about expression and we were trying to like match outfits to our shoes change up laces i remember when i think i want to say like david charles came in and he like painted his checks on his nikes oh and we were like Oh, you killed us. You painted them. You know, like that opened up a whole new paradigm, you know, and here's like my parents are just like, what's going on? You know, like you got like a like I remember we had ah in our in our dining room. I had like maybe 10 sneakers lined up and they're like yelling at me like, why do you have 10 sneakers?
Speaker: What do you need 10 for? You have two feet, you know, trying to explain to them and shit. how did Yeah. Well, like how do how could you explain that to them? They thought I was really, really crazy. I couldn't. But what it did do, it gave me work ethic because they said, we're not supporting this. But if you want to like deliver newspapers, work at a lemonade stand, bus tables at a restaurant, which is all the shit that I did, and go ahead and spend the money how you want. But like that's what gave me work ethic and taught me that. I made money. but Back then, minimum wage was $5 an hour.
Speaker: Okay. And so I would do the minimum wage, go to East Brunswick Mall, go to the athlete's foot and look at that wall and try to cop a pair of shoes. you know that was That was my obsession. It was really weird. Later on, after I graduated and I started Staple, back in the the blog spot days, remember Google had blog spot? I created a blog called To Darren Hudson. To Darren Hudson? I lost touch with Darren Hudson. I totally lost touch with him. yeah But this blog was to say that I'm continuing the battle. yeah Because I'm now working in sneaker culture and everything like that. so I made a whole blog just talking about you know the day in my life type shit. But it was called To Darren Hudson. um And it was mad funny because Darren reaches out to me finally after many years. And he's like, dude, like I live in like Fort Lauderdale, Florida. I'm a public school teacher.
Speaker: I think, like he said, I think I'm divorced and I'm starting to date again. And this girl that I started dating, who, you know, when you start dating, they Google you, right? And she was like, did you know there's a whole blog dedicated to you He's like, get the fuck of here. And she showed it to him and he's like, that's how I figured out it was you. was so funny.
Speaker: Yo, that is crazy. That is the craziest story. But people will remember. People out there, if you remember it to Darren Hudson, definitely leave a comment. Oh, man. that's First of all, that's fire. Because it's like like the the inspiration or of just like just to create that blog, to have that conversation with somebody you lost touch with, yeah is that's like that's that's the best part of the internet. Yeah. Because now it's like.
Speaker: The linking of it. Yeah. the link The relinking of the stories and everything. And I always try to remember like my roots, like where it all started for me. you know um I kind of say now that you're going to encounter two types of people in your life. Yeah.
Speaker: Type one is people who never forget where they came from. And type two is the other guy. Yeah. And the other guy in what sense? like They forgot who helped them up. They forgot where they came from. They forgot what it felt like to actually like go through the trenches. Yeah. and Frankly, that guy or gal will always be the one who exploits the story of their upbringing, but actually not remember the people who were there. And I always want to be the guy that like will never forget who came up with me during that time where like nobody gave a shit about what I did. yeah So I always want to like keep those people top of mind because I think it just keeps me grounded and humbled. Yeah. That's I mean, that's beautiful because it's like, yeah, you're you're absolutely right where you hear success stories, but you don't hear the people that help them become the success. Yeah. Right. You just hear like, yeah, my mom gave me this. but it's just like, cool. I know with your parents, but what about then all the other people? Yeah. Yeah. yeah the people that were in the your universe at that time that been helping you.
Speaker: Exactly. And build build you up to this person that you are who you are now. Yeah. And so that was beautiful at the end of the day. like I think it's just like more people should definitely be doing that. Yeah, I think so. And ah when it comes to like, I've always wondered this about like, do you have like an affinity for graffiti or like, yeah, because I know staple with yeah wasn't that like, I mean, I know that the graffiti is in. I remember the old stencil staple. Yeah. And I had I had a shirt. I don't have it anymore. But that like, yeah, I was very inspired by graffiti. Yeah. sure I mean, how did that really all, you know, I feel, I feel so old. Some of the things that i'm about to say are so on. I'm sorry. I apologize in advance. But, you know, if you love hip hop culture to the, to the core, yeah there's four elements. yeah Do you know about the four elements? Of course, man. Say them. I'm going to quiz you now. All right. I mean, JC says this one is not, is not an element, but okay we got breaking. ah huh
Speaker: We got, beat we got breaking. we got rapping. We got ah graffiti. Uh-huh. And we have... Now you're making without you make it as hard. Wait, breaking, ah graffiti.
Speaker: ah Isn't it Getting Fly with the fourth one? Oh, yeah, DJing. DJing. Yeah, yeah. Getting Fly is the fifth one, apparently. Is that what Jay said? Mm-mm. What did he say was not an element of hip-hop? Graffiti. What? Yeah. He said graffiti is not an element hip hop.
Speaker: Wow. OK. Anyway, those are my four elements. You nailed it, sir. So you got it right. um So they're all important to me. Graffiti is obviously like out of the four, it's the artistic one, like the actual visual artistic one. So I definitely aligned with that. And then, you know, just growing up in the 80s and 90s in New York where like trains were still covered in graffiti, you know, like just seeing it all the time was so dope. Shout out Case 2. Dondi. Dondi, yeah, yeah. Case 2. Yep. Phase 2. Yeah. Futura 2000. Taki 183. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker: So all those guys, like, you know, I and I sort of like I wasn't a heavy graffiti artist at all. I wasn't out in the streets, um but I was very inspired by this idea of what they call getting up. Yeah.
Speaker: Getting up means your tag is seen in all five boroughs. Yeah. right everywhere And if you get it on the right train, then the train travels and you're like a moving billboard. yeah right So I was like in love with that idea, but i tried to do it in my way through branding. right So if I could get my mark on every surface, hoodie, pants, sneaker, Shake Shack collab, you know like commercial with Dell, you know like to me it was like tagging up. Jumping in once again to remind y'all that I have merch, I have shirts, you can see it right here in the bottom right.
Speaker: I got merch. If you want to rep the podcast wherever you are, I have t-shirts. It's got a ah small front hit on the front. You've seen me if you've seen me in any videos where I'm at ComplexCon, I'm wearing the shirt and you too can be that person by hitting me up in the DMs or shoot me email at info at myfirstkicks. Shirts are $40.
Speaker: If you want to meet up in New York City, I mean, literally, I'm outside right now. If you want to meet up, $40 in person, $40 for shipping. If you are out of state or out of the city, just let me know.
Speaker: I would love to get rid of this box of T-shirts and would love for y'all to rep the pod. But bet for now, let's jump back into the episode. um And probably one of the one of the people that I really looked up to back in the day when I was starting out was... um Shepard Fairey slash Obey slash the Andre the Giant sticker. And I remember everywhere I went in the world, I would see that Andre the Giant sticker in the craziest places. Like I'm saying one of the first times I went to um Japan, I was waiting in line at immigration to get through the airport. yeah And you know when you stand in front of immigration, there's like this plexiglass thing where you talk to the officer to handle your passport.
Speaker: He had a fucking andre the stick Andre the Giant sticker on the immigration passport. like That is balls. like You will not get into the country if they caught you. yeah you know So like i was like, how did this motherfucker just get it right there? He probably was just did like, he got his moves, man. Yeah, he's like, oh, what's that over there? Shout out Shepherd Ferry, man.
Speaker: But I was like, man, the ability to to just get up and get over on everything like that is so dope. Now, in in graffiti, traditionally, you're breaking the law. So the risk there and the challenge is how do you do it covertly?
Speaker: In corporate America, how do you get your mark next to a corporate logo? How do you get your mark? How do you get another company, some publicly traded organization, Fortune 500 companies, to allow you to put your mark? That's a different challenge. hu And I really revel in that. i never and i never thought about it that way either. I think about it like that all the time, bro. crazy. you' often this You're blowing my mind with this one because I never thought about it that way. But now I think this is so fire. It's low key getting over. yeah Now, I got to say, politically correct, I'm not fucking over the company. There's a lot of benefit that I'm giving to the company. But at the end of the day, the childhood hip hop fan in me, I'm taking a pigeon stencil and I'm going...
Speaker: on your shoe on every shoe yeah globally yeah and still when I walk if i if I'm in China and I walk into a Brooks store and I see my shoe there I'm like I went all city on this motherfucker I went to Beijing hit a shoe and it's sitting on a shelf and like they're selling it like it's crazy that's yo yeah you got me on that one cause like even cause like when I think about it even back in the day when people were like oh yeah you do a collaboration or like when they were talking about Stash or like you know like hey he's doing the collaboration with Nike and yeah being like No, they're sellouts and this and that. like Yeah, you could see it that way, but you could also see it as like, they're getting over. Yeah, you're getting i mean you getting't paid to do yeah what you want to do yeah at the end of the day. Exactly. But also, yeah, you're right about, you know, now you've got because i I was taught very young. I had this conversation with this one kid, never knew his name. ah But like he was just like, you know, you got to treat yourself as like a billboard. You're representing these brands are in front of you. Yeah. Or like that you're wearing. Yeah. And if somebody's asking you, oh, your worship what's that you're wearing? yeah And they go, yo, that's Staple. I got it from Staple. Yep.
Speaker: Now you've just made a sale. That's exactly right. You almost have to look at yourself as like a soccer player like ah as a NASCAR driver. You know, with all the logos all over. Yeah. All those... need to be benefiting you in some way, either financially or it represents you because you fuck with the the vision of this brand or whatever. yeah and And to me, I like to even take it this far. Even if you're that guy, and we all know this guy, the guy that's like, I don't fuck with brands. I'm white Hanes t-shirt, nasty ass 501s and Chuck Taylors all day. oh the Fuck corporate America, right? Yeah, yeah.
Speaker: you're still saying something. yeah yeah You walk out, you're still you're still that dude that is, I could tell everything about you. right I could tell all the things that you're into because you ain't fucking brands. Even though Haynes is a motherfucking mega brand, Levi's is a motherfucking mega brand, and Converse is a motherfucking mega brand, you're still repping a brand even though you think you're not. You know, like, there's no way to avoid it. I gotta find one guy that's like, he's that, or they that, there's that, but then they cut everything that they, like, they literally just, no, this is, I made this shirt in my apartment. I made these pants in my apartment. I made these shoes in my apartment. That's a different dude. Yeah, yeah. I'd be like, all right, maybe I might have to talk to you. Yeah.
Speaker: He like, what, made his own shoe in his apartment? Yeah. He made his own conference in his apartment waffle iron. Oh, man. Yeah. I think like because when I when i think about the way you've evolved ReadSpace into the ReadArt department. And so like, yeah, I i think that the. ah Which is the creative agency. Yeah. right yeah The creative agency. ReadArt department. ReadSpace was the store. It evolved in the ReadArt department, which is now our creative agency. Yeah. yeah Which is, i I was very curious of how, especially when you were when you closed down you or had to close down, like what made you decide to be like, hey, let's turn this into something more? Wasn't my idea. No?
Speaker: So back then, we had the creative agency and it was called Staple Design Studio. So Staple Pigeon was the clothing line, Staple Design Studio was the agency. And then Readspace was the store. It closed down and it was closed for probably like two or three years. And um shout out to my creative director of the agency. His name is Jonathan. He pitched the whole, he actually sat the whole agency down and I was the client. So they're like, we want to pitch you something, Jeff.
Speaker: They made this whole dope presentation and deck about how staple design studios should turn into Reed Art Department and carry the torch of Reed's bass and the ethos and all that stuff. yeah And yeah I don't know who instigated the idea because it was a whole team effort.
Speaker: But, you know, Jonathan was the one who presented to me, Matt, my partner, like everybody presented. And, you know, they gave me the option to like veto it or alter it. And, you know, I made a bunch of adjustments and stuff. yeah But it wasn't my idea. It was it was their idea, which to me is like,
Speaker: you know, some some will like hate on that and be like, oh, you're like, you didn't even think of it, right? But to me, the greatest accomplishment is that the team that I helped foster in birth yeah created their own dope idea. Like that is the ultimate win for me. I don't need all the ideas to come out of me. I like the fact that I created the ecosystem that allowed for limitless, infinite great ideas to come out of 24-7. Doesn't have to come out of my fingers and hands. yeah
Speaker: And it's it's different strokes for different folks. you know Some people are like, no, every idea has got to come out of my head. you know And they just execute. But I'm like, no, I want everyone to be able to like contribute to this pot. Yeah. Yeah, because when you work in corporate America, you definitely don't get any of that. right No. Like you you're either you're either a cog in the machine. Exactly. Or you're steer you're making sure that the cogs are doing the thing. Exactly. If you're going to be a cog in the machine, work for a bank. Yeah. Get that 401k. Get that pension. You know what i mean? If you're just going to be told what to do. Right. Don't work in street wear and get told what to do. No. Yeah. At the very least, like get you know get a good benefits package out of it, right? But if you're going to work in street culture or youth culture, like I want people, they're obviously applying because they're passionate about the industry. yeah So why not let them cook? yeah
Speaker: That's I mean, yeah, that's the that's the that's the the makings of a great leader, you know, and, you know, yeah, I think that like the the the space to brainstorm and actually pitch ideas is something that in corporate America definitely needs to be a thing. Yeah. Right. But, you know, I work in advertising. do as much as I can in terms of that, like in a creative capacity. So it's like it's tough. Yeah, it's stuff I'm a great pastor. Unfortunately, I find it in corporate America because we consult, so we work within corporate America, adjacently all the time. And unfortunately, there's just a lot of politics involved. It's not about meritocracy where best idea actually wins. It's more about jockeying for position. Like if God forbid you are lower on the org chart than this person and you came up with a better idea, This person will now backstab you because you don't want to make them look bad. Right. Right. Because now this affects their annual bonus, their promotion. They don't want you to get promoted because, you know, like, it's all this bullshit. And it's like, that's why actually I think a lot of a lot of leaders, business leaders call someone like Reid Art Department and myself in.
Speaker: We're like the informants in a sense. Like we come in and we're just like the the CEO will be like, Jeff, go in there and tell me who the fuck is bullshit in this room. Like who's not pulling weight, who is a star, who's a diamond in the rough, like I need to know all that stuff. And because we don't have, and I don't have ah ah a horse in this race of a promotion or whatever, I'm just like, that person's bullshit, that person's a winner. And then I go back and report to the but to the big boss, like here's your winners, here's your A-list. I actually, I have a chart. I have a proprietary chart that I've made where I put people's names onto this chart. And I people want to see this chart. You got to pay me a lot of money to see this chart. But like I have this proprietary chart yeah where I'm like, you know, down to this person can be groomed to be a star. This person is a star. yeah This person is toxic. And then let let the CEO or the HR or the CMO see that and it it blows their mind. How did how did you develop that? Like over the years, like where did you, where was your trial and error is where you learned that?
Speaker: Oh, how did I develop the chart or the thinking? just the thinking. Okay, the thinking. The chart would, I'm not trying to get the the chart on that. That's like the Colonel Seven Spices. Yeah, yeah, yeah, Spices. Coke special recipe. What's in the gochujang?
Speaker: how did I think just ah I put in my reps. yeah That's what it comes down to. you know Next year is the 30th anniversary of Staple. if you think about It's also technically the 30th anniversary of the agency because I've had them at the same time. you know i i have all these other businesses. um i've There must be at least...
Speaker: 300 people minimum that have gone through the doors of Staple, ReadSpace, ReadArt Department, everything, right? That I've personally in one way or another interacted with, hired, fired, laid off, promoted in some capacity.
Speaker: That's my own team, not to mention the companies that I've worked with as well as clients and partners and collaboration partners, right? So I think when I say I did my reps, I'm talking...
Speaker: Everyone from like independent artists working in their best friend's basement all the way to CEO of a Fortune 100 company. I've seen these people eye to eye and broke bread with all of these people. Right. So I think in terms of like doing the reps, I've just seen people.
Speaker: I want to say, not i rarely want to sound pompous, but I do want to say that I've seen every possible iteration of an HR matrix hiring drama work issue. I've seen it all tenfold. yeah And so when a new one comes,
Speaker: I've already seen how the story plays out. I already know the solution. Not to say that like there's only one solution, but I've already seen the seven ways this plays out. right yeah it's that It's that scene from Doctor Strange where he just, he's gives possibilityies he's seen the seven billion possibilities and there's one possibility. yeah So I'm like, yeah, 30 years of reps, I've seen every possibility.
Speaker: Boss man, there's going to be one way out of this. yeah Maybe three. yeah And here's your options. The other 800, not going to work out. And how how else how else can, ah like even AI, like how else can a had a company leader buy or rent that 30-year knowledge?
Speaker: It's like really, really hard. you know So I think that's what i I bring to the table, just putting in those reps, man. I mean, ah well... Like, i'm I'm also curious, it just like, how do you explain what you do or to your parents?
Speaker: Oh, to my parents? yeah My mom is finally proud of who I am. it's i Yeah, it took a long time. It took a very long time. You you shut down New York at one point.
Speaker: yeah yeah Yeah, she was like, he rating me she's like, no, she's like, how dare you? like You're grounded. You're grounded for creating a riot. Like it took it took a while. And i I think she still doesn't quite understand because I could tell because of the questions she asks me on the day to day. Yeah. I'm like, oh, you still don't actually know what I did. but enough um And yeah, it's it's tough. But I think she does realize in some intrinsic way that the 10 sneakers that were lined up in my living room 1993 somehow turned into this
Speaker: somehow turned into this quote unquote job that I have that is not a job. She knows I don't work for somebody. She knows my company. And she knows that somehow that love of sneakers somehow turned into this. And she'll be walking around me and kids will just come up and be like, Jeff, can you sell my shoes? And she'll be like.
Speaker: Why are are people asking you to sign their shoes? You're not an athlete. Like, you're not like Michael Chang or like Yao Ming. Like, you can't dunk. You know, why are they why are they wanting your signature on shoes? So she doesn't know exactly why, but she see she realizes it. And then um and then my dad it's tough with my dad. I don't have a good relationship with my father. And a lot of it stemmed from...
Speaker: me wanting to pursue this career. You know, I went to I went to and NYU for journalism, which was like an OK thing to pursue if you're like an Asian immigrant family like yeah journalism. Fine. It's not doctor, lawyer or accountant. Right. Whatever. You know, the the the staple immigrant jobs. Yeah. Like, you know, fine. We we know Connie Chung. That's fine. Like journalism is is possible. But then I dropped out of NYU and then I went to art school. Right. Which at that point is like, OK, you're a failure.
Speaker: Like you're a fuck up and like you're going to art school. Then I went to art school. Parsons started doing staple out of there, caught a little bit of like momentum and then subsequently dropped out of art school. So now I'm a two time art school dropout. I don't even know you explain it. How do you explain that to immigrant parents who literally broke their back to come to this country to give you ultimate freedom and possibility and now you're going drop out of art school? Like you're a loser. I wonder what she saying when she went back to your aunt and stuff and just be like, oh yeah, Jeff's all right. Jeff's all right. Yo, exactly. Yo, that conversation is like, oh, my son's a doctor. drives a BMW 7 Series. Oh my, check please. Yeah.
Speaker: ah yeah um So I kind of like severed my relationship a bit with my dad when that happened for a long time, like for 10 years, we didn't talk. And then it sort of started to come back. But it's's it's hard to mend things when you've sort of been away for that long. But I'm trying to to be the to be the man and like actually be proactive about it i think I mean, yeah, you definitely got to have space for that, too, because it's, you know, you don't want to something bad to happen and you have, like, regrets. Yeah. But here's the lesson here that pertains to anyone who might be watching. If you really want to do something that you firmly believe in, in the in the depths of your soul, but everyone around you, from your grandparents to your parents to maybe your siblings to your loved one to your girlfriend or boyfriend, whatever, they're all like, yo, why are you wasting your time doing this? Like, why are you wasting your time doing this podcast in this fucking brick room? Like, where's this gonna get you, yeah right?
Speaker: People are hating on your game, you know? Yeah, yeah. There's a certain point, and there's different extremities to this, but there's a certain point where you have to say like, sorry, fam, fuck y'all. Yeah, exactly. Fuck y'all. I'm going to keep doing this, right? And that could be as extreme as I didn't say a word to my dad for 10 years until you got into a fight at the dinner table, but sacrifices have to be made. yeah And i I see a lot of people their excuse is like, I don't want to disappoint my family.
Speaker: You know, my girl was disappointed in me for doing this. So I'm just going to do this other thing. And it's like, yo, you can't make other people happy first. You have to put yourself first in ah in a place where you're content with yourself. And then you can make these other people happy, maybe, you know what i mean? um But yeah, i just think, you know, it goes back to that old like, um,
Speaker: You know, when you fly in a plane and they do the emergency thing and they're like, when when the oxygen gets low, you have to put the mask on yourself. yeah Even when there's ah your child. No, you have to put it on yourself first because if if you pass out, you can't save your child. yeah It's the same in this shit. You have to make yourself happy first and then you can work on others. yeah it's ah It's interesting you say that too because one of one of the questions I had on my mind because like just seeing and learning about you for so many years and now I have you in front of me I've always treated you as like this OG. I remember remember I told you about the the time I ran into you at at Read Space and I was like I didn't even want to say a word to you because I was just like I don't want I don yeah i remember i was just like I saw you behind me and I was like I want i remember going on the forums and being like stood behind Jeff Staple like But um when it comes to that, like, you know, you just gave such sage advice. And like um when I think about you, I also think about you like as an OG and you come up in this and you, you know, you may have, you know, push people the wrong way or says some say it says something where you're just like, yo, you got to really believe in yourself. You know, and I think.
Speaker: We live in this world where people are more afraid of like people who do believe in themselves. Right. And I think without you, you're unabashedly yourself. Yeah. And so what did that interaction or just going through life create that personality or that trait where it's just like, like, I know I believe in me and you should also believe in yourself, too. But when when I feel somebody is not believing in themselves, I'm yeah just going to be like, all right, man, it's like you're going have to you have to. what is the the term? ah Shit or move off the pot? Yeah, yeah shit or move off the pot. yeah yeah yeah That's right. Yeah. yeah
Speaker: I mean, i don't I don't know where it came from. um it comes it it definitely comes from developing a sense of confidence because trust me, if you're in anything in the creative field, you know, it's like Erykah Badu said, I'm an artist and I'm sensitive about my shit. yeah You're going to be sensitive about your shit. And you're going to feel, especially in this day and age, like, I mean, I had the luxury of starting off without social media, yeah which means I call it a luxury because while I didn't have the power of social media to spread the word of what I was doing, I didn't have the critics either. And right now, I don't understand how you could start a t-shirt brand and have 12 people in your comments be like, your shit's whack. Like people don't even know. yeah Forget about the loved ones, right? Just strangers being like, your shit sucks, right?
Speaker: So I know it's much harder to now harder now to circumvent that criticism to keep going, um but you got to do it. And what I also learned is that to what you said,
Speaker: a a word from someone like me who's seen all these things does so much for that person. yeah That sort of like one bit of validation. And I get it. If you're like, if you're a rapper trying to make it and Jay-Z comes up and like, yo, I like your shit. Keep going.
Speaker: Pfft. That's rocket fuel in your back. Nobody can tell you anything after that. Exactly. You know what I mean? I'll tell you one time, mean, this was later. One time I inadvertently met Ye in like a conference room. was A conference room, but it was only me, him, and one other person. And the the CEO of this company was like, yo, Kanye, I want you to meet Jeff Staple. Kanye gets up, turns around, gets up and says, triple OG and gives me a mad hug. And I was like, how do you know who I am?
Speaker: It was great. And then we ended ended up sitting there for like an hour and a half talking. And then when I got up, I was like, okay, going to go now. Because they were, Kanye was talking some crazy shit. was like, I shouldn't be here listening to this, right? yeah I get up and leave. And he's like, yo, yo, put your number on my phone.
Speaker: That was my face. I was like, and then I was like, oh shit. But okay. I go to the elevator to go downstairs. By the time I get to the elevator, he already texted me. It was so good connecting with you today. Please keep in touch.
Speaker: i was like, God damn, you can't tell me anything after that. Hell no, you can't tell me nothing after the that. yeah So just those small words is is so beneficial. So whenever someone says like, yo, can I show you my my stuff? you know I always try to give something because I know how important it could it could really resonate. yeah I mean, even still, like even just you saying that too, where you you're even just the beginning of this, and even before that, when you were just like, I want to do it. Or when we was at the the event, you're like, yo, I want to do it. I'll make sure we're going to do it.
Speaker: like i you don't understand like the the the the words of just like how much i've listened to you talk business of hype all this like you know you've spoken about all your collaborations and i've listened to that a million times like i just think it's just like you know i've listened and rocked your stuff like for such a long time for for you to sit across from me just thank you man it's crazy we're here hell yeah i think it's like grill me yeah you can grill me on whatever you want no this this is There's no grilling in here. um But I will say, like, you know, you talked about just getting your getting up, right? Getting it up on the ah the on just different brands, I would say, yeah surfaces. Right. the The art of collaboration, and okay, this might get spicy, I guess. The art of collaboration, right? We see it how it is now, but you've come from the pure essence of it. Yeah. and I think so. I'd like to think so. I think so. i mean, I would call it that. I think if you sat me down and explained, I i've definitely explained collaboration to lot of people, but though the way like...
Speaker: Not to just because I hate being like you made the pigeon dunk. Like I hate that. I hate that. And people do that to you a ton already. um But I think what I've loved seeing you now, the way you've evolved your collaborations where you're not just like touching on the same brands that everybody else is touching on You're just like, you know, for example, this Flower Mountain yeah collaboration or or this one or the Brooks yeah collaboration. Right. Like or this one.
Speaker: Yeah, the Snoopy one, I had to get that. I got the pullover. But it's just like you have figured out a way to kind of get your fan base, which is mainly sneakers and street wear, to touch on other things that...
Speaker: people don't really know about right and you're shedding the light on that and that to me was always the purest form of collaboration because without you i wouldn't have known like i don't know i'm trying to think of like a collaboration i got from back in the day that was just like yo they do you did that is it is this your is this your first pair of fire mountains yeah many people were like i haven't rocked brooks until you dropped them with yeah I'm still mad I didn't get those. Oh, you didn't? Damn, I'm sorry. No, no, it's all good. Yeah, that's kind of my thing, I guess. I don't know.
Speaker: ah Other other other like peers, they want to do like the... um I don't want to say the obvious thing, but it's like more like the sure-fired thing. yeah The banger, right? And maybe it's because I did...
Speaker: in other people's words, the banger of all bangers in the pigeon dunk, right, with Nike. So, like, maybe my thing now is, like, um... is like, I wanna increase the degree of difficulty. It's sick. yeah But like, you know when you watch the Olympics yeah and like the divers, like you could just do this, but if you increase the level of difficulty, you get more points out of it, right? yeah So i when I do collabs, I'm like, yo, what would be hard? Like what would be really a challenge? Like what if I took a brand, like a billion dollar performance running brand that no one in our world fucks with me at all? yeah
Speaker: and I put them on my back and I make them a thing. How sick would that be? Most people will be like, no, I could fuck my whole career by doing this. And I'm like, all in, yeah fuck it. yeah yeah Yeah. Flower Mountain, same thing. You know I mean? So like, I'm into that sort of like, let's go for a challenge. I don't know why. It's kind of like sadomasochistic in a way. it's not yeah It's not come from the confidence of like, yo, I'm going to do this shit.
Speaker: It is. It is because um ah it is a gamble. Yeah. I love this quote, by the way, by one of my mentors. He said, um I'm not a gambler, but I play to win. yeah So I am gambling, but I also, I am confident enough that I can 51% chance say I can turn this into a W, you know? So that's why I really like doing that. And I like just like, you know,
Speaker: spreading the chips and doing different things. And like, you know, you mentioned the bicycle. We've collaborated with Shake Shack a couple of times, like even like not even clothing or shoes, like outside of that, you know, watches, whatever it is. yeah um We just we just love me and the team just loves like experimenting like that. And even sometimes I'll say that even my team is like, are you sure? yeah You know, like they get scared. Yeah. But it's like, yeah, you know, like um I just love experimenting like that. And I also got you you guys. so you I also have to contribute that like nobody can use these same colors as you. yeah Because everybody's gonna like, is that a stable color? Yeah, it's so dope. that's That's one of my proudest things too. Like we've essentially trademarked a colorway. Yeah. And if anyone tries to do it, I don't even have to say anything. i don't even have to lawyer up. The comments do it for me. It's so great. yeah it's it's It's wild, I think. But it's also just like when I think about it, just the amount of collaborations ah that you've been able to do. It's like it's interesting to see that like the reception is always just like, yo, this is fire. This is fire. And it's like and then you also have people being like, ah same colorway again? just Yeah, why not? what yeah
Speaker: What's your take on that? Like when you hear someone say that, what is, I want to know what yours. It's me. That's really my take. When you hear someone say, so like this guy just puts pigeons on shit and makes the same color all the time. Yeah. For for me, i mean, my personal take is like,
Speaker: My personal take is always just like, I like it for sure. Like it's no, you can't, but that's because I'm such a homer. Like I can't, like I'm very biased. I grew up on your shit. Like, you know, like the famous Futura quote, you grew up on my shit. But like that to me, like I always signify it with you. Like I would rather, if I'd give me a pigeon, give me a pigeon in black and white, red and black, give me the pigeons in all of it. Purple pigeon, give me all of it. You know, like, Like that is, I think it's dope because it's brand, as you say, it's graffiti at the end of day. It's graffiti at the end of the day. That's what I think they're missing the point on.
Speaker: And when I say that, I say that to say that that's my fault. Like I have a point. My point is that I'm trying to get up on all of these brands with my mark, right? yeah yeah And you typing this comment in your underwear in your mom's basement,
Speaker: I'm petty as fuck, man. And you you spewing this hate, yeah you don't get it, but it's because I haven't done a good enough job of explaining it to you, right? And so going back to the Andre the Giant sticker, I was never like, yo, Shep, put up a different sticker. Why don't you do a color version of it? Why always black and white? Like, no, I understood what he was doing. yeah The repetition was the art, right? Futura's tag. why don't you change up the font, yeah Lenny? Damn, same Futura. Like, no, that's what he's doing. That's the point. Mm-hmm.
Speaker: Now you go to Ralph. Why polo all the time? yeah why yeah what It's the point. yeah exactly you know And so I'm trying to tell people that the pigeon is the point. right that's what That's the joke. yeah Is that like all these huge companies are asking me to do work and collaborate with them. and my signature is a rodent. yeah It's a thing that nobody wants, yeah but somehow I'm getting A, access, B, a bag to put a rodent on their product. And sometimes I'll even put the pigeon shit on the product. So sometimes I'm shitting on their product yeah and they want it. yeah
Speaker: That's the joke. That's crazy, man. You just brought me back because I had, I had it i have, or do i still have it? I think I still have it. yeah I have a pigeon hat. Pigeon on the front and in the shit right the back. On the new Eros we did that. yeah And I... i Did not notice it when I bought it.
Speaker: Right. So I go under a bridge and I'm like, oh, shit. Like I like I like my hat falls. I look and I'm like, oh, shit, I got shit on my hat. was like, oh, this is crazy. But I think it's just like, yeah, the way that it goes over people's heads, I don't think it's your fault. I think it's there's there's not everybody thinks there's a too much over education of things. OK. At this point now, because everybody's over explaining.
Speaker: we Now we have a video, ah you know, shout out Lord loves you. But like, you know, like he'll he'll break down street wear back in the day. He'll be like, this is read space. This is what you know, he dropped pigeon. Yeah, like he'll break it down. yeah Right.
Speaker: At that point, you cut off the curiosity of somebody. Oh, right. They're just waiting for a tick tock to explain to them. Or now we have brand rollouts and shoes being rolled out. Like, you know, for example, in Nigel. Nigel would be like, now you got a brick running through the streets. Now you know the shoe represents a brick. yeah Do we need all of that at this point? Right? Like, it's like, we want people... I think we need to build... i And this is my biggest critique. u We need to build curiosity again. yeah Shit needs to be mysterious again. i agree. A little bit of digging never hurt anybody. Exactly. and i And I think that, like...
Speaker: as As we as i go back and forth on this bro. Why? Because it's like sometimes I feel like I can't explain enough or put out enough content and people still have no clue because it's not their fault. It's because the algorithm is dumping on them. Right. right Like I'll give you an example. Last week I met up with this young designer. Love his work. He's up and coming.
Speaker: And he's like, yo, Jeff, you're like a mentor to me. I love everything you do. can we Can we chop it up and you come to my workshop and everything? He's like a big fan. So I go to the workshop, we're talking, right? And he goes to me, I hope he doesn't watch this because he'll be mad embarrassed. But he's like, yo, so do you still make clothes?
Speaker: to me. yeah And I'm like, do I still make? In my head, I'm just like, yeah, I do. like you yeah I haven't stopped in 30 years. You full ass business. Yeah, full ass. There's like flagship stores everywhere. But again, not his fault. yeah But somehow all the promotion and PR and socials and interviews and podcasts that I do, this kid who is a fan of me, who wants to meet me, did not know I make clothes. yeah Kill me. yeah Like, how much more do I have to talk about this shit? it's it is it's It's interesting, too, because yeah like yeah because i will say this, too. right You open the flagship store. yeah yo Is it considered a flagship store, 21 Mercer? You open the flagship store, 21 Mercer. Then you announce the Hong Kong one with the big-ass pigeon. yeah That shit is fire. That one is fire. I want to go visit that. like That, I will literally go and visit. It looks so dope. But then I find out that... like
Speaker: You're way bigger in China ah yeah yeah than you are in New York. And it's like, it feels like it's like a cultural, not a cultural, it's like a ah homecoming. That's what I call it. You call it homecoming. yeah But it's like, it's like more people should be understanding the ethos behind. Yeah, it was beautiful. Yeah. I went to the I went, just went to the opening of the Guangzhou location and the DJ there who we hired,
Speaker: Chinese born DJ, native. He was spinning a common record that I designed 1999 on wax. Yeah, you should talk about that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I was like, what a fucking full circle moment, you know?
Speaker: It was wild. We also opened a cafe in in Shanghai. I opened a cafe called Pigment with Hiroshi Fujiwara, Fragment. What? So we opened a cafe together and I was doing some posting on it and stuff. And it was funny. I had I had dinner last night with my family member, like my actual blood family yeah who follows the shit out of everything I do. And they're just like, oh, the cafe you opened. was like, yeah. They're like, it's in l LA, right? And I'm like, how, if you, like, you don't read. People don't read. People definitely don't read. It's not a new, why would you think it's in LA? Like, it's maybe New York. I could see that mistake. But like, why would you think it's in LA? I don't understand. Like, but again, it's, I don't blame them. I blame the algorithm. yeah I blame society. yeah And me, maybe I'm not being blamed. Like, I geotagged it, but like, no, not enough. I have to. Yeah, you gotta put it, you gotta, You got to say it in the beginning. In the first three seconds.
Speaker: Kill me. Yeah. I don't, I don't know. I do think it's like, it's also a a commentary on the audience that you want. Do you want the people that only tap in for three seconds? No, I want them all. I want everybody. Yeah. I want everybody. I don't know if i I don't think it's possible. I don't think, I don't think like creating, in order to create that thing,
Speaker: Maybe that's me just being pessimistic. I don't think i don't think we as humans, yeah I think we only have one mode when it comes to to being like, all right, I'm going to strictly get the people that are on the three seconds tip. I'm just being like, i need fast content like this. And then the long form content people. right So I feel like you'll never you'll only be able to get one or the other because one's more invested in the other.
Speaker: I want them all. i This reminds me of a debate that I had really early on with Ronnie Feige when he was just starting Kith. And we we had a sit down and we had this debate. We we saw we didn't see eye to eye on this. He said, everything that I make out of Kith, I personally have to fuck with it 100%. I will not put something out that Ronnie Feige does not fuck with. And I was like, I'm different.
Speaker: I was like, if there's a hundred people in a room and let's say 80 of them fuck with the exact same style as me, that's dope, that's easy to sell to. But if 20 people don't fuck with my actual style and they like V-neck t-shirts and tight slacks and Cole Haan,
Speaker: I want them too. yeah And I think it's a design challenge to make something out of my comfort zone that those other 20 people want. That to me is a brand. yeah Ralph Lauren doesn't wear every single thing that the Ralph Lauren brand makes. And I think that's what makes Ralph Ralph. yeah And so we had this debate on it, right? And so I'm of that mindset that like similar to like, you know, people who have high attention span, low attention span, I want to make things that are both. Yeah. Like I want, you know, organic, healthy, healthy,
Speaker: Whole Foods and junk food. yeah Because people, I think, exist on that paradigm. you know Sometimes you want a documentary, sometimes you want like a shitty you know Marvel movie or whatever, yeah just something easy. you know So like I think that's just ah the human spectrum and I want to play in all of that.
Speaker: No, I mean, I like that. I do think because- I wonder Ron, this was over 15 years ago. He probably definitely changed his mind on that. The way he's moving? Yeah, the way he's moving, 100% he changes his mind. I would love to ask him that question right now.
Speaker: Like every Monday program tea you fuck with, Rodney? He's like, he's like oh this one, I don't know. I do think i do think it's like, ah yeah, yeah. You you do you you raise a salient point because it's like, if you have the want to do that, yeah where it's like, you created this puzzle. Now you're looking at it more of a puzzle than it is like, this kind of, instead of it looking at it as like a fork in the road. um And I think,
Speaker: if you can crack that code yeah that's where you're finding the fun you're finding yeah the the fulfillment exactly yeah it's like like when i mentioned cole hon because we worked we did a lot of i know i'm mad i didn't get those and yeah but like the amount of people that reach out to me that that was like yo i'm a sneaker head but i work a nine to five in a cubicle yeah at kpmg or boston consulting group and i always have to wear the corniest hush puppies but now i get to wear i get to flex on them at work yeah That was so dope that you did that. And I was like, you get it, man. You get it. Like, I'm not fucking who wearing Cole Hawns every day, but I know there's mad people that can't wear sneakers yeah during the day. And I want i want them too. I want to make something for them, you know? That's good. That's, see, more people, but, yo, in the comments, you better, yo, because so many people be like, yo, you just do too many collabs. Yeah, yeah. Oh, you did Cole Hawns, sell out. It's like, okay. That check wasn't that big. Yeah. I mean, because like here you talk over this whole podcast, just like the whole length of it of just the the idea of pushing yourself and creating challenges, especially when, you know, i think you started at the the craziest moment. Right. And now you're like,
Speaker: Fuck, I can do better than that. And you you figured out ways to top that in other ways and other facets. And I think, you know, your parents got to be proud of you. I just wanted to say that. I hope i just wanted to say that. But we're towards the end of the podcast. And I got a last question. And that question deals with a little visualization. want to think I want you to think back to young Jeff. Yeah. He's about to get the those air revolutions. Right. yeah Now you're older. You behind your younger self. What would you tell your younger self as he opens that box?
Speaker: Don't listen to them. Believe in yourself. that yeah People are going to tell you that you're on some wrong path in your life. And you are. You're good because I'm living proof that we made the right decisions. Yeah.
Speaker: But I feel like if you really mute the haters, you're going to get so far in life, man. Just keep going. Hell yeah. Where's the live by? Everybody listening to that. Yeah. Take that to heart. Let everybody know where to find you.
Speaker: ah At Jeff Staple is me personally. um At Staple Pigeon is the brand. And then at Reed Art Department, R-E-E-D. Art Department is the agency. Yeah. yeah Make sure you cop something.
Speaker: Please. I'm literally wearing a hat right now. Get these. Get these too. These are fire. They're mad comfortable. And if you can find these, these are great too. Get those. yeah or Or get the the the friends and family. don't get anything. No, we're selling. selling. Like, follow and comment or whatever they say. But like, nots no, for real, though, like any any just, you know, just fuck with it. It's cool. facts. For real. You know, this has been a huge honor. You know where to find me. Who is awesome social media? Follow the podcast of My First Kicks pod. Hit me up. Info at MyFirstKicks.com. Cop a shirt. I got shirts for sale. $40, please. ah
Speaker: Because I am going to show. I am showing something. Please. I have a box. They've just been sitting there collecting dust. Patreon. Patreon.com slash myfirstkicks. I only have one tier, $5 tier. And I'm going to kick it to myself to do the outro. Peace.
Speaker: I hope you enjoyed this week's episode with Jeff Staple. Man, this week's episode is one for the books. I never thought I'd actually be able to speak to Jeff Staple in, don't know, thinking about just like the days of me going to read space and just like walk in New York City.
Speaker: It's like extremely dope that speak to Jeff Staple. you know Me and him actually got a chance to really connect and make this thing happen because I never thought just like making this podcast would lead to something like this or lead to these conversations that I'm having. um As you can tell, I'm recording this outside.
Speaker: ah My apartment currently is has like barely any walls in it, so... I kind of did not want to show that, but I recorded something yesterday. I'm recording this right now, Thursday. If you're watching this ah as it's on the Patreon, then you'll you'll you'll you'll understand that, like, yeah, this is different. But...
Speaker: um If you don't know, i had a pipe burst above my closet in my apartment um when when I was in Detroit. And it ended up taking out six pairs of sneakers, a lot of boxes. Now I have missing boxes, um which, you know, hurts me because I love boxes. But now I have to switch containers. Then after that.
Speaker: you know we had to dry the walls i don't know if you ever had a pipe burst within your apartment but it's not a fun experience and i decided that i was going to record this yesterday ah i got home recorded it a part of it got cut off because i think my the battery on my phone was about to die but On top of that, I just didn't like the way the video looked like.
Speaker: I felt like I was like out of energy um or being within that like atmosphere of the no walls type of thing. And like all my boxes, all my sneakers are on the on the side over here. Like it really, really like.
Speaker: drained my uh... I would say i it drained my enthusiasm for this episode so I totally was just like you know what tomorrow morning I'm a hit up the park before I go to work and let's record this outro so if you are staying and you love the outros I appreciate y'all for tapping in I appreciate y'all for watching this whole episode and watching this part too because You know, I really love doing these like self-reflections after the episode because when you're in the episode and I had this conversation recently, but like when you're during as you're recording the episode, you don't really like I'm in the episode. You can tell like I'm listening intently. I'm there trying to ask like questions that I've had in top of mind for years now. um But when it comes to.
Speaker: actually sitting with the finished product and sitting with the final episode it's a totally totally different experience because you're like well I'm watching myself like really go through this um and it does help me embrace that I've been able to come so far or ah be able to do some of these cool things and speak to these people that inspired me for years or generations and you know hopefully I myself and doing that as well impacting others and and motivating others to really pursue this thing that we all really do love and we all really want to add and preserve and kind of push forward and i think that like it's very it's very important like these are things that
Speaker: Or whatever you do, because I don't want to generalize this is just a podcast, but like whatever you do that you want to just explore as your creative adventure or your passion or whatever that you think that can be something that makes you feel fulfilled. It is important that you pursue that thing at least once or twice or whatever. How many times? Sometimes people just say no. Right. Right. But it all started as my like my first venture to read space and checking out the magazines there and seeing that, like, oh, you can really make a magazine and me venturing into making him ah helping my friend make his own magazine and like.
Speaker: helping push like, you know, some of my friends that were rappers or some of my friends that are artists, photographers, like as I was growing up, a lot of that comes from just my ventures going down to Soho or going down to Bowery or lower East Side, whatever you call it. And I think that Without that creative inspiration, I wouldn't be here right now because I've tried several things. I've tried. ah Yeah, I mean, I tried. I tried making posters. I've tried doing graphic design. I've tried. i've gone I've gone to school for print. You know, like I'm currently working within the creative, the creative in ah industry, creative agency. No, advertising creative agency, basically. But.
Speaker: In all, I say all of that because it's like you do have to keep trying. You do have to, you know, find what you're passionate about and continue to pursue that. And I think I can always accredit a lot of the people before me or the people that I've had on this podcast for that. And I think.
Speaker: Once it comes to just that realization, I always want to make sure I'm honoring that. I'm always making sure that the people ah before me and the people currently and the people that are doing things and trying things, especially within this community, are are really being at least honored in some way or giving their flowers for no matter how hard they try because it's like,
Speaker: I remember the early days of this podcast and want me wanting to quit and me thinking that like I'll never get to this point or I'll never get a chance to talk to some of these people that I really, really would love to sit across from. Or even when ajour when I was doing the Zoom, like I thought I was like, this is never going to happen for me. And...
Speaker: You know, as much doubt I tried to cast aside, it would always creep in. And, you know, you got to surround yourself with people that push you forward, that will change your mind on certain certain things. And, you know, try not to let you feel down and out on yourself because you're not seeing the progress that you're you're you thought you would see by then or you thought you put time you put time frames around.
Speaker: A lot of these weird constructs of I'm not if I'm not, you know, X age, then I'm not really doing it. And there is no real time frame.
Speaker: Like just pursue the thing, because as Dallas Penn always said, it'll take you 15 years to become an overnight success and or 10 years, 10 years or 15 years to be an overnight success. And I truly, truly believe that because Even this can be your first episode that you've ever checked out the podcast or this could be your hundredth or this can be your 295.
Speaker: But and it doesn't matter when it just matters that I kept trying to reach you. Right. I kept trying to get in front of you.
Speaker: And the attempt is always as important as the execution. And. that's a That's exactly what I want to push across here, because as many talented individuals that I've had on here, speaking like Jeff, who, you know, can live 30 different different lives and still come across as someone that can give you a wealth of knowledge within five minute conversations.
Speaker: It's I want people to do that as well. Like it doesn't have to necessarily be a big name. It doesn't have to necessarily be somebody that you're, you know, you don't like, especially if you don't know said person. Right. But if you yourself gets a chance to speak to them and they've accomplished some amazing things within their lives and whatever corporate structure or non-corporate structure, then and they're able to bestow gems on you that help you throughout your life.
Speaker: That's important. And I think everybody should be looking for that. Everybody should be instilling that. And I hope, you know, people that listen to this podcast are in influenced to do that because influencing or becoming an influencer has become muddy to just.
Speaker: ah buying things and we talk about that in this episode and I think that we can always influence each other just to better or we can always influence each other to be more than just somebody that we see on social media from day to day and we see how pop in their life is or you know somebody that we talk to and every time we catch up and they're like yo I've done this I did this and it's like That's dope as hell. That's dope as hell. And like you got to promote that within the the constructs of your circles.
Speaker: um So promoting that, you know, they're open to to speak to you about, you know, what kind of progress they've made in order to get to the goal and not necessarily just the goal, because.
Speaker: A lot of the in-betweens, like a lot of the groundwork and the in-betweens of those conversations is where you see true growth.
Speaker: Because i think when we look at it like, hey, I did the thing. We don't talk about how what it took to get to do the thing. And like the the love that I have and the passion that I have for helping people tell the in-between stories to where they got to where they are, even my own, is always going to be super fulfilling. And I so i hope that comes through in every single episode. And I'm also sorry if there's a ton of noise behind this. I will try to, like, make this sound as good as possible. But.
Speaker: I appreciate y'all for tapping in and I hope you enjoyed this episode with Jeff Staple. and i hope you enjoyed this outro because it's very different. And if you really like these outros, I will do more of these. I just need to add time ah or just like pick a spot to do it. um So if you want me to do it at a store or something like that, please comment below. If you got into the outro, please comment below and let me know your thoughts of what you think about what I just said. Because...
Speaker: I thought it was pretty insightful. But let's do the Patreon shout outs because we got to shout out the people that support the podcast directly with their hard earned money.
Speaker: So but YouTube can be shouted out the end of an episode by signing up for Patreon, patreon.com slash my first kicks. We got Adam Neustadar. We got Ross Adams. We've got Derek Lipkin. We've got Derek Hawkins. We've got Jordan Kaiser. We've got Samia Grandpierre.
Speaker: We've got AD Sneaks. We have MDOT. We have Creative Media Solutions. I think that's the the the person that signed up. um We got Plox.
Speaker: And I think that's it. And I'm sorry if I missed you. I think I missed maybe one person because I'm unsure if they still are a patron subscriber. But i appreciate each and every one of y'all for signing up for the Patreon. If you too want to get, you know, extra extra content, an episode a day early, sign up for Patreon, patreon.com slash myfirstkicks.
Speaker: So i appreciate y'all for tapping in this week.
