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Nothing's Misplaced with John Geiger
118 Plays1 day ago
This week I am joined by John Geiger, and we talk about his journey to where he is now. We speak on his early days playing ball and causing a brawl. Putting his city and his back and what it meant to him. We get a guest appearance by Iman Shumpert and he sets the record straight. Sean Davis jumps in to talk about the business side and how big John's presence is. This was recorded in Vegas before ComplexCon, plus we go more!
Filmed and Edited by @frontpageaaron
Follow John:
IG: https://www.instagram.com/johngeiger_/
Twitter: https://x.com/JohnGeiger_
Shop John Geiger: https://johngeigerco.com/
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Podcast Linktree: https://linktr.ee/myfirstkicks
Sign up for the Patreon: https://patreon.com/MyFirstKicks
Music by The DoppleGangaz: https://thedoppelgangaz.bandcamp.com/
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Transcript
Building a Personal Brand vs. Giants
00:00:00
Speaker
against the grain. You're like, I'm gonna do the opposite. I'm gonna make this shit work. So like for you to do that and then having to like everybody being like, oh, let's do misplaced. Let's do misplaced stuff. Like, how does that make you feel where, you know? I just didn't like that that would get so much recognition. And then I would like either say these were gonna come out everybody write about it. Yeah. But since soon as I would post like my own brand, it like wouldn't get the same recognition. But I had to realize that had to be built up like that. The Nike name, the swoosh, that's built on years and years and years people know that. And again, that was the mind frame of being like business wise being like, I had to realize that now that that ego being like, I have to, that's why I want to build now. I want to be back. So when it's independent now, I'm cool with you saying that, but still compete with these brands. I still release on their days. I still sell out on their days. So if someone had a hundred dollars, $200 that day and they were like, going to buy a John Gagerson of Nike, I'm competing with those companies.
00:00:51
Speaker
And that's why I'm cool with the whole independent thing. But my whole thing was like, want to compete with these companies and Maybe it's on the same scale, but it's honestly still competing.
John Geiger's Fashion Journey
00:01:05
Speaker
What's good, everyone? Welcome back to My First Kicks. This episode 243, and this week we got the absolute legend, the man of the community, John Geiger on the podcast. I appreciate your time. No, I appreciate you. We're in the most awkward position right now. We're in a hotel room in Vegas, in the boardroom of a hotel room.
00:01:23
Speaker
hey i don't know how else to explain it, but... Look, you're the only person I know that would have a boardroom inside your hotel room. Like, what? Yeah. I don't know. We got to figure out why. like are there like Is there a meeting that would happen here specifically that they're just like, we have to have fucking table here. usually Usually when I have friends or if I'm traveling, i have friends in that area come over to a hotel room.
00:01:47
Speaker
And then when I was checking in, they were like, you can have 20 to 25 people at a time. My ears were like, pshh. Let's kind of like, let's have party. Everybody back. Everybody back to my room. Don't break anything. Don't break anything.
00:02:00
Speaker
ah But you're here to answer the question that i ask everybody each week. And that question is, what's your first kick? What's that first pair sneakers you absolutely needed to have? I would have to say Air Force One. I think growing up in Pittsburgh. I grew up in Bloomfield.
00:02:11
Speaker
um In East Liberty, a place that's called David's. um It was a bad, it was a kind of, at the time, it was a bad area. Yeah. But I would ride a bike there. And I would always want Jordans or I'd want the higher end shoes. Mm-hmm.
00:02:22
Speaker
at the time they were hiring. But we would do like Air Force Ones or, you know, I was very big on like changing colors for outfits and stuff. That's when I came into fashion, maybe like third or fourth grade. That's I really like was into it. But Air Force One was like my go-to. Was there like, ah was it like Nelly? Man. Nelly?
00:02:40
Speaker
yeah Yeah, probably, but I think more so just like that's when they started just doing all the different colors. I think when I was coming out of high school, they did that remix to Kicks like Philly. Yeah. Everybody in blue one. Yeah. And we went way to Philly to get it.
00:02:51
Speaker
And that's when I kind of like fell in love with that silhouette and that model. That, I mean, is low or high or mids? Which one? ah See, in Pittsburgh, we rocked mids and narrow everybody hates them. I'm mids We have an amusement park in Pittsburgh called Kennywood. Okay. And every sk school in the summer, don't if you guys did this, but every school in the summer,
00:03:07
Speaker
we would have Kennywood Day and you would get like a fit for that day. so we would always go to Philly. I remember being like the first one in Pittsburgh with Dub Zeros and they came out and stuff like that. oh man But
Influence of Community and Culture
00:03:15
Speaker
mids was my thing. yeah when they had like I remember it was an all white with orange outline stitching.
00:03:20
Speaker
I think that was like, mids were my thing. Mids were my thing too. So I had InStyle Shoes 1999 Tom on. And we talked about this, one of my favorite mids. it's ah I grew up, this is this came out in 2000s.
00:03:34
Speaker
It's a navy blue and gray mid. And I've been searching them for years. until Any edition? It it was just a regular ah could have been an NYC edition. ah favorite yeah I think it was NYC. I think it was NYC. And i remember going to Modell's by my house, getting them.
00:03:50
Speaker
got I got them to the, you know when you wear Air Force Ones back in the day i don't know if this happens now. But you wear them down to the point where you see the squares. yeah you that was I was like I was like ah wore of them to the squares and became flat again. yeah like That's how bad I wore them. and I've been trying to find them again.
00:04:07
Speaker
but yeah I'm a mids wearer. We talked about it on there where where the reason why everybody hated mids because of Clark Kent. Clark Kent said if you wear mids You ain't valid. And I was like, no, man. we got I'm wearing mids. I'm wearing mids. I don't give a shit originally from New York, then? Yeah, I'm from New York. You know, from Queens. got you know And I have not spent a ton of time in Pennsylvania or aff Philly. But like I've been to Philly a couple times.
00:04:32
Speaker
But I've never stepped foot to Pittsburgh. yeah So like what is what is it like like? What is the scene like out there? Is there a sneaker scene? Is there like, what is it like? the the say that i came from pittsburgh pennsylvania to where i am now is probably mind-blowing yeah there's no one of the arts uh you know we have mac we have whiz we have athletes but no one of the arts and you look at like maybe andy warhol there's no one that came out of there for like fashion or foot specifically for footwear that's been like okay this person's from pittsburgh so it's kind of like the fact i got this far from that city
00:05:07
Speaker
You know, when coming from a bigger city, it's kind of a little bit of oomph. You got a little backing. um Pittsburgh, there was none none of that. Yeah. I went to school for criminal justice, so. Wow. Yeah. Oh, I didn't know that at all. I got a criminal justice degree. Really? Yeah. Like you went full
From Basketball to Design: A Creative Transformation
00:05:21
Speaker
all the way through. mean, I don't have like a law degree, but I have criminal justice. Yeah, I was going to be a cop or something. Yeah. I mean, you was going Yeah, you would. Hopefully. But yeah, that's what I went to school for. i mean then you got it And I say that to say this, that I learned about like the art school in Pittsburgh when I was already like done. And everybody was like, why didn't you do that? And I was like i didn't really know about that. you know Yeah, which is is's tough because, well, I don't know, because you said you grew up in like a ah bad type of neighborhood. like where
00:05:46
Speaker
And I mean, I grew up in the city where it's just like, Your guidance counselors aren't really like guidance counselors. They're not really trying to help you get to where yeah you think you should be. yeah So it's like really hard to find your way into what you want to do. And you kind of just like, oh, I saw you know this is could be successful. Let me try that. But then it's just like once you start taking those chances into being like, all right,
00:06:09
Speaker
all right, I should try these things or I should, you know, try doing that. Then you find yourself not using your degree. Like, I went to school for print. Okay. And I... I'm not going to see that, though. Like, print, like... What type print? Like, I'm talking about, like... journalism? No, like magazine. Like, I went to school for... Like, I'm a... By trade, I'm a project manager. That's artsy thing, though. Yeah. So I can lead into, like, very artsy things. Yeah, for sure. But, like...
00:06:32
Speaker
I didn't know i was picking the wrong, like, because I can do graphic design. But I'm over here being like, oh, I can do graphic design. So I should become a printer so I can make my own stuff. Yeah.
00:06:43
Speaker
I feel like there's the best stories, though. So everybody starts where they, you know. yeah And now look at us in Vegas in a boardroom in a hotel. In hotel. I don't want to move floor on. We've got sushi getting delivered right now. That sushi was banging. Was it? That sushi was banging.
00:06:56
Speaker
um So, like, when you're when you were, like, trying to figure out where you're trying, well, trying to figure out if you want to go to criminal justice, like, were you still collecting sneakers? Or, like, when does sneaker culture find you? Because, like you said, ah Pittsburgh is, like, I wouldn't say culture desolate, but, like, yeah.
00:07:14
Speaker
I would probably say that, It wasn't necessarily sneakers. It was more so like fashion and art. So second, third grade, I was going to a Catholic school. At the time, I was really good at basketball.
00:07:26
Speaker
But the I was going to a Catholic school, so I had like nuns. So they would always deem me as like an issue or, you know, I was that i have a story that my mom says that I went to... um at Christmas time they would draw your family and make a card or something like that. I drew me with Ninja Turtles wearing like Jordans. yeah let's go And they said, like my mom to this day is like, i look back and been like,
00:07:48
Speaker
we we everybody scolded you for being like that
Challenges and Triumphs of an Independent Brand
00:07:51
Speaker
but holy shit were you like artistic at the time yeah and i think that's what it was it wasn't necessarily like footwear i think it was more so like arts and then it led into fashion um i moved i was really good at basketball so moved around a lot i went to five schools before high school wow so those were all different areas so i got to see different genres different areas of pittsburgh uh how people dressed and stuff like that and that's kind of what brought me into like footwear And then playing basketball, i was like right on the shoes, customized them.
00:08:20
Speaker
um So think that's what really started. Like footwear was when I started like changing every shoe. I would get a brand new shoe and I would change it. just My whole thing was I just wanted to be different from everybody else. Yeah. Yeah. well So because I'm big on that too, like being different or like.
00:08:34
Speaker
showing your individuality. yeah Like, where'd you, where'd you learn that? did but Is that something from your family? i think these two things. I think that one, my family, but two, it was basketball in art.
00:08:46
Speaker
Basketball was like Dennis Rodman, Iverson, penny penny iss Penny. Penny was a bit, yeah, funny that we're cool now, but like Penny at that time was like my, yeah. Just casually drop that? Um,
00:08:59
Speaker
one of the first people to buy misplaced checks. Really? Yeah, we still talk to this day. I have signed pennies at my house. That's crazy. That's what we did in exchange. Yeah. um Anyways, off topic. it But like that was my like view of I was playing basketball, but my way out of school or any family issues at that time was like fashion. So it was because of basketball or music. Yeah. My dad put me on the music videos, and I remember, you know,
00:09:22
Speaker
I remember Snoop Dogg on the front of the handlebars, and he was wearing a Pittsburgh Penguins jersey. So then I you know i wasn't wearing teams at the time. Then I started getting into teams because of that yeah yeah did that. Did that help with your like city pride? Because when you're so when you're... I mean, Steelers were running it for a hot minute.
00:09:38
Speaker
It's crazy now because ah if I'm at the... I mean, since I just had like a newer collab with like Lids and and MLB, I wore other teams because if i was in those cities. But like my My uniform is a pirate hat.
00:09:49
Speaker
I ride with all the teams in Pittsburgh, but pirate hat's like my thing. yeah So that's my uniform. So now when people see me and now I don't have a team on, they're like, I thought it was you, but you didn't have a pirate hat on. So that's like my uniform. But I think that didn't happen until I older because, again, i was coming into like, this is my uniform. how I'm going dress and this is how going to be noticed or I'm going to represent the city.
00:10:07
Speaker
And that didn't happen until probably after yeah after college. represent Representing the city is tough, too, because it's just like... Well, the Pirates. Well, as a... Not good. They're not great right now. They're not great right now.
00:10:20
Speaker
It's funny. I'm a Mets fan. I mean, you know that. Yeah, so like I'm a diehard Mets fan. And so I remember when... Man, who's that player that went from the Pirates to the Mets? It was like a dude that played in a right field. I forgot his name.
00:10:33
Speaker
i don't know want say... Those are the good ones that left. Barry Bonds left. Yeah. um I don't know who that was. I was going to tell you. Xavier Nadez, I think, is his name. Buzzword.
00:10:43
Speaker
Bobby Bonilla left. Bobby Bonilla left. Yeah. That's crazy. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. yeah paulki paul Hopefully pauls ski Paul Skeen. Paul Skeen's got to stay in Pittsburgh. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Paul Skeen's got stay. He's going to get a bag somewhere else, but I mean. Pete Alonzo. Pete Alonzo. Please stay.
00:11:00
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. take god Don't worry about it. Pete Alonzo, please stay. You're the best pitcher in there. I'll be. He's coming in a bed. But the city pride is is something that I've seen, you know, especially now.
00:11:13
Speaker
But like growing up, did you did you feel that the the earnest to put the city on your back or just like like where was where was that moment where you were just like, I want to rep where I'm from? I think I had started like seeing, like but i I don't even know when that started, to be honest with you. I think that just like naturally it happened.
00:11:31
Speaker
And I think that people started saying, like I moved around a lot after college. Lived in New York, lived in Miami, lived in l LA. they moved back to Miami, now live in Tampa, half the Puerto Rico. So now when I would travel and move around, i would see, I want to be known from where i'm from. yeah And i' was putting on, that's where i'm from. Yeah.
00:11:47
Speaker
And then everybody always wanted to say like, you know, where's he from or, you know, where he grew up. Because what starts happening is like they want to put a face with like a city or ah background on it. And that's kind of like where it happened. So Pittsburgh was always my like, know. don't know how to really explain it really. That's really just about it. Yeah. Because like I want to I'm curious about like your sense of community because like.
00:12:08
Speaker
Like, in' in in cities, it's a lot easier to build community. And so, and I think what's what's dope about you is that you do build community around you. Yeah. So, like, I was wondering where do you find that? Like, how did you find that ability?
00:12:21
Speaker
Man, they're in the room right now. Everybody's here right now. But I think that, like, i don't want to say, like, the wrong thing because I don't even know how to explain it. But it kind just happened organically where, like, I would see people doing shit that, like, I thought it was really cool. Yeah.
00:12:33
Speaker
You know, like, I knew about Aaron, right? But like when he posted a video talking about him, oh, he gets it. And the same thing with AD or you. And so like you get it. So then you kind of like mentally think the same thought process. And that those are the people that I want to be around or be spoken for, like, you know, speak up for or try to help in any sense I can. yeah So that community helped because like-minded people were doing whatever they did in life. They could be completely doing different things, but the way you think or the way you're processed or the way you feel about other situations, that's kind of like how we all connected. Yeah.
00:13:04
Speaker
the The community thing kind of just like help and happens because of right that, you know? Yeah. I mean, especially with because like i I was thinking akin to like when you're playing ball, like do you see it that as a like we're all in this kind of together? Because I feel like that's what I get from it, too. Because I'm always... If you ask Aaron and A.B., I'm always just trying to... like you know, build. I'm trying to bring more people up because if we're all doing this together as like a team effort and that's what I got from basketball.
00:13:29
Speaker
So like, <unk> kind to I guess I never looked at it like that, but kind of that's what it is. yeah right like oh yeah Yeah, right? You have any crazy basketball stories? Oh, man.
00:13:41
Speaker
do Do a little bit of Googling right now. um i was really good at basketball. Moved around a lot. But my junior year, or my, yeah, my sophomore year, My junior year, I played in the state championship in pittburgh in Pennsylvania.
00:13:54
Speaker
And we played a the year before we played Jerry McNamara. He ended up going to Syracuse and winning the championship after. That was my 10th grade year. I started my 10th grade, 11th grade, and 12th grade year. And a couple kids that played AAU all to the same school.
00:14:06
Speaker
My 11th grade year, a huge brawl breaks out at Hershey Arena. And I was the cause of it. if you just If you just do like John Geiger fight, if you do like john gager fight Yeah, and then Shane Gillis was on that team, and he spoke about it lately. i don't know if he's seen it. Maybe like a year ago. but you you Wait, first, I did not know Shane Gillis played basketball. he i don't think he I don't think he played. was there. But he spoke on the – he went to the school, spoke on situation. Yeah. And had to come on and be like, that's me in the video.
00:14:33
Speaker
He was like being like, this kid's crazy. He's punched people on the court. And this whole the whole thing cleared out. Hershey Arena cleared out. And it was his big brawl, and it was me. Yeah. the Yeah, so if you if you just Google like John Geiger, Storock's fight, state championship fight, you'll find the video. That is crazy. I definitely got there. It's bench clearing like 100 people on the floor punching each other. Like Malice on the Palace. yep Yes. Yes. You had Palace. Running the stands, punching people. Yes. Geiger in the Palace. Google it. Go look it up. I swear.
00:15:05
Speaker
and Yeah. That's what you were like, basketball is done for me. There's this is like, ah you i mean, you were around with me, the way I speak, the way I talk. Like, I can turn it off and be very business. That's I am. But my true self is, like, funny, like, just a shit talk. no Yeah. You know what I'm saying? Tell a story about your first denies.
00:15:26
Speaker
yeah question i would you absolutely the fight Is he messing up the podcast? No. He's my business partner. He's just there. Come on. Come on. Come on. You might as well come on. We're turning to you every single time. Basically, after that fight.
00:15:45
Speaker
Well, introduce him first. This is
Collaboration and Networking in Fashion
00:15:47
Speaker
Sean Davis, my business partner. if I wouldn't be anywhere I was right now if it wasn't for him. Stay behind the scenes. Yeah, very behind scenes. um You're going to touch shoes and like, um But my junior year when I got into this fight, after that we wanted to come up with t-shirts for like the next year.
00:16:02
Speaker
I was like sketching stuff and it was like ah unfinished business. Because we lost my sophomore year, lost my junior year, and third year we were seniors and when go back to state championship was kind of like the third time in a row.
00:16:13
Speaker
And we played the same team we got into fight with. And we came these shirts that said unfinished business and all this stuff. And it was like, now thinking back, was like, damn, was designing t-shirts. Not knowing that that was going to be a storytelling, which I'm really good at now, of being like, this was the reason for the design. Not knowing that 20 years, 15 years later, it's going to be right now.
00:16:33
Speaker
You're going to be yeah killing now. have to keep him? I'm talking. I don't Sometimes it's like is like his business partner, he'll tell me stories along the way like that. It'll stick in my head. I'm like, oh, this makes perfect sense. You were a great basketball player.
00:16:44
Speaker
You got in a fight. Basketball career was almost over. You designed these shirts. Oh, boom. Boom. Yeah, you pivoted. Outside, he's not thinking about that. He's just like, yo, this is something that happened. yeah Oh, you you should take some time to process that because that's kind of what led you there. yeah yeah Yeah.
00:16:56
Speaker
So, like, I mean, you talked about Ninja Turtles, like drawing the Ninja Turtles. I'm like, where does that creativity come from? Because... you're not yeah It seems like you're always forward thinking, right? Like you're you're you're thinking about the next design, you're thinking about the next... like i'm From me watching your career, I've always seen you just like think about the next thing or like what's the next, how do I make this better? There's so many things going on one time, but like...
00:17:19
Speaker
I think the storytelling and the ideas coming up with them on the spot is kind of like I teeter on this two things. I teeter on like the business side of our company and then I teeter on the design side, which I would love to just sit there and design, but there's a business side to it, which we get pulled into every day with issues and stuff.
00:17:38
Speaker
So then I teeter on that and then teeter on like, yes, we have to run a business, but also I just want to like do what I want. Yeah. It also has to make sense. Right. So this in between of being like, this company that we're building has to be successful financially wise over here.
00:17:53
Speaker
But then I want to make this shoe that doesn't make any sense. But like I have to do it on the right time because I can't use all the finances. yeah I guess i'm what I'm trying to say is I teeter on both sides for design as well or business.
00:18:04
Speaker
But I'm talking about from korea aside from the from the point of that shirt. Like where you where where do you see be like, all right, cool. Now I got this. I did this shirt. And now you're like, oh, what else can I do?
00:18:15
Speaker
Like where does that creativity? I think John. Do I have to hand this to me? Yeah, because when you're talking. I hope you've been enjoying this episode with John Geiger. And if you haven't yet, please like, comment, and subscribe to the podcast.
00:18:30
Speaker
And if you want to go the extra mile, if you're listening to this on Apple or Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts, please leave a five-star review and leave a review. I will read it at the end of an episode.
00:18:43
Speaker
And if you want to go the extra, extra mile, sign up to the Patreon at patreon.com slash myfirstkicks. I got two tiers there. Get a shout out at the end of the episode.
00:18:55
Speaker
But back to the episode. I know. Me and John met back in like whenever he was just he was in college. So I just got out as sports agent at the time and he was for sports. was You you was his were his agent? No, was an agent for NBA. nba Yeah.
00:19:10
Speaker
What? Yeah. Give us a little give us a little run through. So you'll see now that now he's doing this. Yeah. You'll see little sprinkles of like how I know all these people. Yeah. Yeah. Like Iman, the other day when I joked around about the t-shirt and we posted it, it's because he had Iman. Shout Iman, bro. From Pittsburgh, yeah, Iman's the best. The first NBA player to talk shit back to me in the comments. There you go. I was going to comment back. Yeah, because I was like, that's so funny because I love Iman. Iman's... My favorite. But he took... So my bad for cutting you off. But he took... When he was on the Knicks, he took one of the buses to go to Atlantic City.
00:19:52
Speaker
And then he posted that he was waiting on line to come back. And I was like, damn, ballplayers got to take the bus to go to Atlantic City? FaceTime him. FaceTime FaceTime him. Should we FaceTime him about the story? See if it's real? So then he responded to the comment. He goes... He's not going to remember. He's not going to remember. He's a psycho. He remembers everything. He's not going remember. He comments back. He goes, not all ballplayers something.
00:20:21
Speaker
And he called me Shorty. He was like... He was face down he's like yeah yeah He was like, not all ballplayers... Yeah, FaceTime, let go. but Fly or everywhere or something like that, shorty. That's what he said. you keep going Yeah, I think that... No, but yeah, your background, your background. my story is I was in high school or after college, I was like, I want to i want to be a sports agent. I know and didn't know anybody, to know anything. So I just like kind of just... Can you hear him? I just was like, right, well, how do I figure this out?
00:20:51
Speaker
So I just started like networking. I move i like knew one basketball player in Turkey and moved to Turkey. And I ended up- Hito Tuckerlou? Nah, he's like some somebody random. yeah Then I moved to this, ah then I, long story short, I met this guy, Happy Walters and he was like big in music. He was like, found a Korn in Incubus and he used to manage all these hip hop artists and he was- Yo, you got it then?
00:21:13
Speaker
I'm not putting you on the spot right now. But hear me out. I'm doing a podcast right now Vegas. I'm in a room doing a podcast. right? All right? There's a story. He's not going to remember this. There's a story that what year was this?
00:21:28
Speaker
Damn, he was on the Knicks. He's not going to remember it, bro. he told He's not going to it. Atlantic City. Atlantic City. And you tweeted, like, i'm waiting for the bus to go back to New York. You posted it on IG. Something to you like, oh, why are you taking the bus? And you like went off on him on Instagram.
00:21:44
Speaker
Do you remember this?
00:21:47
Speaker
Wait, what did you say? What it was the comment? It was like, it was like not all ballplayers take planes everywhere, shawty. That's what you told me. You said, not all ballplayers take planes everywhere. Yeah, train i train. It could have been. I don't think a train goes to Atlantic City. didn't go to Atlantic City. That's what you thought. All right, bro.
00:22:12
Speaker
I'll meet you after. I'm going to take your t-shirt to the news, though. fuck Iman Shumpert. We're going rob him. We're going to rob Iman Shumpert. I'm on Shumpert. It's your first appearance on my podcast, bro. I appreciate it. I'll hit you a little bit.
00:22:29
Speaker
So anyway, I was the train train me train. I don't think a train goes to Atlantic City, though. It does. Is there you end up in some weird situations? if Anything's possible. I was his agent his entire career. Yeah, but literally he signed with our company or their agency, but with a rap song.
00:22:44
Speaker
Oh, yeah. In a rap song that he was signing with us. And then he said and then he was he. So from the time he was bringing it up. So the time he was drafted, the time he was drafted, so now To now, the rest of his career, he was he was my client.
00:22:58
Speaker
So anyway, yeah, so I was a sports agent, and I met and John. I had known from Pittsburgh, and I was like, I went to music listening party, and John was there, and he had like couple girls with him. was like, this kid's cool. I heard about him in Pittsburgh. I knew about him. I'm fiancé now.
00:23:11
Speaker
yeah yeah yeah but people knew about him in pittsburgh so i was like oh okay he's cool you know and then like he was like working in sports a little bit with his friend and i was like hey like they're already so like hey like i'm a sports agent already like let me just we'll be friends let me just help you along the way give you some advice he was like cool so he became cool and then like along that way I was, and this is where it all ties together, is my athletes would hit me up and be like, I think it was John Wall.
00:23:36
Speaker
John Wall's agent was like, hey, like do you you know this John Geiger?
Sneaker Industry Dynamics and Innovations
00:23:39
Speaker
I'm like, yeah, like it's my front best friend. You was already making waves since then? Yeah, this was like 2015. Yeah. and Yeah, and I'm like, yeah, why? like And they were like, oh, like can you get these shoes from him? I'm like, what?
00:23:51
Speaker
like In my mind, I'm like, this is crazy. like This helps me recruit. helps me players. like But like that's crazy that people know who he is because influencer wasn't a thing. He would always tell me, like yeah, bro, i can sell more shoes than athlete. I'm like, yeah, right. like Whatever.
00:24:02
Speaker
and ah And then so I went to Art Basel with him. I went to Art Basel with him. I went to Art Basel with him, and people were like, yo, can i get a picture? I can get a picture. i'm like, oh, this is crazy. like Yo, people really think you're like, wow. And then like,
00:24:15
Speaker
not not Not people really think you famous. i mean Well, back then it wasn't a thing. like like You know, like the influencer thing now is like, yeah it is what it is. At that time, because of the Revis situation, he had his Zoom Revis was out.
00:24:30
Speaker
Nike then took a liking. Nike and whoever was like were running LeBron, i think it was like Ken Link and Trent Kasper at the time, grew a liking for me. So I was getting boxes of stuff before it would come out. Yeah.
00:24:41
Speaker
And at the time, it didn't matter to me if I was posting it because my following was growing. But like Nice Kicks and like Kicks on Fire was posting every time posted Right, yeah. um remember that. So started growing a following. and being like, I don't care if they're using me to get the product out, but at the time, no one else was doing that. I was getting boxes of LeBrons and boxes of Air Force They would let me go on id and be like, oh, there's 5K, like ten k do whatever you want.
00:25:04
Speaker
and And this just came from just creating brand. This is just from working with, no, I didn't create John Geiger yet. no No. This is from working with Revis because we would go to Nike and I would give my input. Yeah.
00:25:14
Speaker
And then his silhouette came out in I think like 2012, 2013. Yeah. Actually, you took another water. That happened after. That really easy. That after. But, yeah, we're super. Bring the mic up. Oh, Jesus.
00:25:25
Speaker
This is super all over the place. Yeah. There's no order of this. Yeah, we're going to figure it out, though. Yeah. We're just cutting it Who watches a full podcast? of Everybody does. Yeah. Yeah. My retention is pretty high. Gotcha. All right? That's good. But, um no, so, like, i definitely want to close that gap between that. So, like, how did you get how did you get on Darrell Revis' radar?
00:25:44
Speaker
Or, like... miss miss Misplaced checks. Was after. So yeah so after college, Reeves was playing in Pittsburgh at Pitt University. I was at Point Park, but we put AU from kids. yeah And we just ended up hanging out a lot towards my last years of college. He was at Pitt. only like right down the street.
00:26:01
Speaker
So my college was right by him. And then we grew to like a liking, like hanging a lot. And then once, I remember Christmas time came around, he didn't go back to school and I kind of was like, you know, still in school and i just didn't understand what was going on. yeah Then I kind of found out that he was going to to the draft.
00:26:18
Speaker
And then he got drafted to New York and then, you know, he he goes up there and everything like that. And then maybe like right when I finished school that same year, around like May or June, um he was like, hey, do you want to move to New York and like take over some of this stuff?
00:26:31
Speaker
And at the time we called it like manager. yeah And now like every athlete man is a manager. It's kind of funny. But at that time I was working with like Land Rover, Ocho Cinco News Network, because Ocho was big at the time. Nike. You had a news network? Yeah.
00:26:43
Speaker
It was called Ocho Cinco News Network with Motorola. And then I did ah Nike and Land Rover. Yeah. So at Nike, I loved it because I got to go campus. I was going to campus like every other every other month in like 2012, 2011. Trent Casper, Ken Link.
00:26:57
Speaker
Trent Casper's from Pittsburgh. Ken Link is a LeBron guy. Yeah. So they loved Revis. He ends up, we work on Zoom, Revis won. Ray Shoe, by the way. Yeah, ended up getting like points on their sales and stuff like that for like my input.
00:27:10
Speaker
And then that kind of like, that was my mindset of being like, oh I want do footwear. And was because I've seen it for something from like nothing to something. Obviously a little bit easier at Nike, but that was my first like intuition. be Like, oh, this is what I want to do. i Like, I've seen something from a sketch to this. Yeah. And that's when it kind of like really grew into that's what I want to do.
00:27:30
Speaker
That's crazy. Yeah. that's The misplaced checks was just after that. Right. Yeah. After they would just send me volumes of shoes and clothes and everything like that. And again, I would ask for certain things. Like i remember getting the Yeezys. Like Red October, we got like four pairs. I got two. He got two. Yeah.
00:27:44
Speaker
And this isn't what this wasn't like pay for them. Nothing. They were sending them. Damn. They were seeing those? There's a picture. If you look it up in Pittsburgh. When I lived in Pittsburgh if i thousand was in 2014, I could have like 5,000 pairs of shoes.
00:27:56
Speaker
That's when like I became cool with Mayor, with Clayton Clark Kent, all these people. And then... Because after that your collection was rivaling there. Yeah, crazy. I'm not not i mean probably not, but it was just like they respected it. So I worked on what Clark Kent we got to do a 112 zoom Revis that was cool. um I did all the PEs for the zoom Revis which was MLB.
00:28:16
Speaker
And then after that, I fast forward like a year and a half after that, I'll start feeding Nike ideas. And I would go to campus and I was working on like he was playing for the Patriots at the time He was working on gloves and I would always want to like go in the footwear area or go to like the kitchen I call it at the time I was on go there and they like it was football and US football at the time was the bottom of the totem pole Yeah, it wasn't like NBA or nothing like that, right? Yeah, so it wasn't like I didn't have any pool at that campus So I ah would always give ideas, give ideas, and they started looking at me like, you're you know you' a little crazy, whatever.
00:28:46
Speaker
So then I was like, like got all well when um I went on my route, like, I'm to it myself, you know? So this place, Chex was just like, I'm going to take a silhouette that's already there and change it, not thinking, like, make something from the ground up. Right, yeah. So when that then that took off, and then 2015, phone call from him, yeah and he's just like, why don't you make your own shoot?
00:29:05
Speaker
And I was like, how I did it. I saw the Zoom Rebus from nothing to something. Yeah. And then I did Customs was changing something, whatever, but never thought like, you know. And I believe that like after that, we, I don't know if we got on a plane and went to China or whatever we did, but like we fully went fat forward for it. Uh-huh. I ended up moving to Miami. Uh-huh.
00:29:27
Speaker
Because i was still releasing the misplaced checks, but behind the scenes, we're like building up the funds to do it. Yeah, yeah. um But I think we fully went forward. Like, this is what we're going to do. Because like, ah thought it was going easy transition, which sadly wasn't.
00:29:40
Speaker
um But that's kind of what started my own brand. Because then the business side checked in and was like, OK, if I'm starting this following and everybody knows me for footwear, I'm getting invited to do all this stuff. Like, I want to sell my own product. Right. And that's when the business mind set in.
00:29:53
Speaker
Because of him, you know. So then back to Sean. You know, you you jumped in. and so Yeah, don't hit the button. Your mindset of like you saw you saw this in him. Yeah. You know, like how did how did you, like was it the the influence, you know, the quote unquote influences from celebrities being like, oh my God, we should we should be You know what's crazy? It actually was the total opposite. opposite is At that time my life, I was just around people that were like doing entrepreneurial stuff. like they were just doing like I think one person started like a t-shirt company, like like and it was just and I was just like inspired by the... ah Yeah, it was like Teespring type. Really? Teespring? It wasn't Teespring. It was called Viral Style. Wow. Viral style? Oh, yeah, I remember that. Yeah. company Really? Yeah. but Crazy. But that market's kind of died. oh the the the printing? Yeah. the shirt like Like, what's it called? DTG? Yeah, on Yeah, printing on demand. But like,
00:30:51
Speaker
But like I was just around people that were doing entrepreneurial stuff. So I was like, oh, wow, like this is possible. Like, okay. Then I saw it in John. i was like, oh, like, and I just went to him and was like, hey, we should we should start your own company. and he was like, yeah, how? where they um I don't know. Because I had no business experience either. yeah I was a sports agent. Like I never thought I was leaving a sports world. Like never. I thought that was going life.
00:31:10
Speaker
That's everything I wanted out of life and I got it. And then John showed me, thank God for him. He's like, yo, like, like you you want to build something for yourself? Like, look, look you got to make a decision. At one point it came to a decision. He was like, make a decision. You're there with me and we're going to build this or or you got to do that? Like it got too big. So thank thankful for him. I mean, that's crazy. Yeah, but John, that's one thing with John. Andrew Dutton, the best sneaker photographer 2020. Andrew
00:31:39
Speaker
Representing athletes is an amazing thing. It gives you crazy life experiences, amazing relationships, at the same time, like you're not doing anything for yourself. yeah the I mean, I watch ballers, so that's my reference. It's very real. yeah very that's really That's what it is like. It's very accurate in a lot of ways, for sure.
00:31:55
Speaker
it's i don't it's just It's such a different world. like like In terms of just like being in the rooms with a bunch of athletes and the round of mut numbers didn't thrown around, and then theyre now you're in charge of getting helping them, and they're like, yeah, $15, $16 million. Yeah, yeah. No, I don't like $15, $16. Let me get $25. And you're like, what?
00:32:15
Speaker
i had a John knows I had a player that signed for four years $44 million and quit halfway through the first year. Guaranteed? How much was guaranteed? Guaranteed, all of it. All of it? He lucky he he he gave like back $22 million.
00:32:27
Speaker
Oh, I know who that is. Yeah. Larry Sanders? you Yeah. I was going to say. How's that? Or didn't Tom Brady do something similar? No. No, he did two years. Nobody in their right mind would ever do something similar to that. To the Bucks?
00:32:39
Speaker
Yeah. It insane. But yeah, by the way, so... That was it, bro. That's one thing. When you were talking we talking about John, you were talking about, hey, like how did you how did you develop like such a cult following and like how did you develop that?
00:32:51
Speaker
It's just because like he's the type of person that like he's so set in on what he's doing and he's not following anybody else. So you're either going to get on board with him and be like, I want to be part of what you're doing and I want to be inspired by that or not. yeah To me, like I was inspired by it from like a different angle.
00:33:05
Speaker
For sure. i mean, yeah, you're a huge inspiration, but definitely back to you. yeah but You're a huge inspiration for a lot of people. And so the like that first oh oh one, like, let's not tell you a really good story. Yeah. Anybody. Yeah. been You know what?
00:33:23
Speaker
My. OK. So but as I get older, I realize that my failures have not been told. So everybody looks at it like, oh, yeah. Rise. Yeah.
00:33:34
Speaker
Zero zero one.
Overcoming Launch Hurdles
00:33:36
Speaker
I thought there going this easy transition from misplaced checks to that, right? There was a year and a half transition because and didn't want to post like other shoes. Right. And I post this shoe getting made.
00:33:45
Speaker
But I didn't understand business at the time. And I wanted the shoe to be made in the USA, which is made in in l LA. And I wanted this like premium material s suede. And I wanted outsole with an air bladder.
00:33:59
Speaker
I wanted to rolled seams, no stitching, and it was $136 per pair to make. Wow. To make one pair. One pair. One pair. you'd have to And it was almost four hours long. If you go to Hypebeast right now and type in John Gargazio's or one, we had this whole process where we showed the process, and no one gave a fuck. No one cared.
00:34:21
Speaker
At the time, it was kind of like, like Ronnie showed some behind the scenes the other day of a shoe getting made, like yeah overseas in Italy. And it was like, bro, I love this. is what I love. Yeah. And it was like, yo, that's so dope. But when it came to like, at that time when I was doing it, just no one gave a fuck. Yeah.
00:34:35
Speaker
So then we're about to rule this out. And I'm going to do it in l LA on, um what's like the main street now? Sunset Boulevard. Yeah, Sunset Boulevard. Market. Yeah. And bro, I'm not lying to you.
00:34:47
Speaker
This is not is not a fucking lie. One person came. One person? One person lined up yeah to come for the release. it was ah it was a ah We sold great online. We sold seven pairs on that day. yeah We had a party at night where all the celebrities came and everything, but no one actually bought anything. anything and we got we had this Airbnb that had, like remember, open, it was Crazy View. And I remember sitting there being like, maybe this isn't going to work. like yo I just like spit. But the finances was like, this is horrible. yeah And we had all these pairs, and i remember the store being like, what do you want to do with them? I'm like, we're going to drop them online tomorrow.
00:35:20
Speaker
We sold enough to like pay for production, u like cover everything, but it was horrible. yeah and And again, it was one of the things where had to catch on, had to story tell, had to rule them out other colorways.
00:35:32
Speaker
but what you think what do you think that silhouette that model like did well was when like i mean i got a forge i don't know the first one to collaborate for jato at the time that did well and then the um ceo was sprint at the time marcello he he was the ceo of sprint he was we were making these like yellow ones over like python he's like want to buy them all for the team and i want sprint on the tongue yeah and i'm like can we like call it a collab it was like 2016 2017. and that's when like i was like okay this can work But it was still like slow. And then another good story was I didn't want to release misplaced checks anymore. ah
00:36:07
Speaker
But we needed the money. Right. So we came up with that. we I wasn't going to do it with Dom anymore. I was going just come up with someone else that was going to make them for and I was going to pay them. And I went to like a place in Philadelphia at the time.
00:36:20
Speaker
and And I was like, yo, this I have this idea, blah. blah And they're like, if you could sell enough. And then we just... like ran up real quick of like a couple ones a thousand or something like that and we put it right back in the brain but like I didn't want to do it yeah so I still had to do things to keep the brain going is that did you feel compromised doing that? well yeah you're just like yeah you hate it that's why I think now is like I wouldn't post anything if it wasn't like going on with my brain right I just I mean unless it's like i I wear my friend's clothing or something like that I wear my friend's shoes I might post them I push them and I help everybody but I'm not like being like this is my thing and I want to do this if it's not in it but
00:36:56
Speaker
Yeah, at the time, the 001 didn't really take off the way it was. And then... were on that assessment? I was going to go back to... The take-off moment? yeah No, no, no. Not even that. I was going to go back to... Because you talked about misplaced checks. And, like, you know, we before we jumped on, we were talking about being in a box. And, like, that's why I asked that. Like, you felt compromised. So it's just, like, the...
00:37:19
Speaker
Like that idea of like, did you because you are so against the grain, you're like, I'm gonna do the opposite. gonna make this shit work. yeah So like for you to do that, and then um having to like everybody being like, Oh, let's do misplaced, let's do misplaced stuff. Like, how does that make you feel where, you know, I just didn't like that that would get so much recognition. And then I would like either say these were gonna come out everybody write about it. yeah But then as soon as I would post like my own brand, it like wouldn't get the same recognition.
00:37:46
Speaker
But I had to realize that it had to be built up like that. yeah The Nike name, the swoosh, that's built on years and years and years. And people know that. And again, that was the mind frame of being like business-wise. being like I had to realize that and I had to have that ego being like, i have to that's why I want to build now.
00:38:00
Speaker
I want to be that. So when it's independent now, I'm cool with you saying that. But i still compete with these brands. I still release on their days. yeah i still sell out on their days. yeah So if someone had $200 that day and they were like, going to buy John Gagas on Nike, I'm competing with those companies. And that's why I'm cool with the whole independent thing.
00:38:17
Speaker
But my whole thing was like, I'm going compete with these companies. And maybe it's not on the same scale. But it's honestly still competing with those companies. I mean, the biggest difference is that you are a face and a name that is competing against these companies. it's it has a whole design thing. Right. They're like, oh, yeah. Yeah, we just got to, you know, come to Michael Jordan building, you know, and then you got like 80 people in there, you know, making a shoot versus like you being, well, I think it's just like, that's why it's hard for people to see you as not an independent person because you are the face and name. But when something goes wrong, they're like, I can point the finger at you.
00:38:50
Speaker
You know? It's crazy. I think people can't really. I'm not going to say anything about it. Anytime somebody like goes. Pass them like. Watch out, bud. That's what people don't don't realize. he's He's legit psycho with the business side of things, too. like legit like about how like a Legit about product.
00:39:08
Speaker
And then the thing he's the most crazy about is customer service. If someone DMs him and says anything, like, oh, I the wrong shoe, the wrong size, but if someone dms him and says anything like oh i got the wrong shoe the wrong size He's sending it to our operations and saying, yo, right away, yo, what's up with this? Do it, do it.
00:39:24
Speaker
Like, it's insane. Like, his customer service is insane. I'm to send someone free shoot than them say something's wrong with them. So I'm like, yo, if there's something them, them once. them your friend, I'm going to another one, because if it's five days we didn't answer any emails in the game, just give them.
00:39:37
Speaker
I'm going to keep you. i just i don't know what it is. I just don't like that whole, like, customer service, like, have, because if you ever bought something that had issues with customer service, or, like, you were on someone's picture and they never, like, look at it. Yeah. Bro, I'm i'm doing it. I'm not lying to you, bro. I could be four in the, that's tiff.
00:39:53
Speaker
Four in the morning, I'll do it. I'll go to the office and make sure that I send it. Yeah. I swear to God. It's that crazy. Yeah, I was going why though? like I don't know. I just feel like... i is it like is it Is it like you... I can't answer that. Yeah? yeah is it is it like I was just going to say, like is it because like it is your name? It is you? Yeah.
00:40:13
Speaker
It's because it's his name is one thing, but also like... he built the whole, he he really, the whole foundation of the company was built off of, like, making sure the customer is happy and his relationship with his commaster customer, his community. So, like, if there's anything that strays away from that, like, he loses his mind because he actually values the person and the customer and the person buying his shoes. It's not like, and I think he sees some people where, like, their egos about it, like, eh, I'm not answering that. I'm bigger than that. huh Like, whatever, you know?
00:40:38
Speaker
And think it's just, that's, like, where you come back to, like, oh, you're from Pittsburgh. Oh, you're a real person. Oh, like, you really, like, that's why you build a community because you have that type of, I guess the yeah yeah community thing, again, is kind of one of the things that's just what he just said. I didn't realize that until right now. yeah Maybe that's why people are like recognize that you know you buy a shoe from a company and you might not talk to somebody. It could be like a bot or something.
00:41:01
Speaker
If I answer you and be like, hey, I DM you back and be like, I got you. i'm i figure it out. Just chill out. I'll get it tomorrow something. And I really answer them back with new tracking. Then they're like, yo, this person's a real person. yeah Maybe that's the community thing, too. I didn't really realize. No, I think I think so i think the I mean, customer service, because, like, I mean, we can talk about the way that we grew up where it iss just, like, if you go into a store, you go to The Wiz or Virgin Marigold, I don't know what was it, but, like, you were getting talked to as soon as you walked in.
00:41:27
Speaker
And you're like, hey, and then if something's wrong, you would get that, you know, you'd get that refunded or whatever. um And I think over the years, customer service just goes go straight out the window. But then I do think the onus of, like, being your own person and, like, you grew this fan base and, like,
00:41:44
Speaker
starting your own brand and you know you are ah majority of it right you know when you bring your people have really invested themselves into you and yeah i think you feel that also where you're just like i gotta invest myself back too because that's what community is also about but you're also i think you're also breathing culture where it's just like yo yeah i'm part of this like i'm you're like i want to be part of this um um i want to you know be in the conversations. I want to be in the rooms where people are just like, oh, yo, you have you copped that new Geiger?
00:42:14
Speaker
And that's the hardest thing, especially when you're combating against big brands and they're marketing, they've got slogans and left and right, and they're throwing everything at these people. But yet you're like... Yo, something went wrong, I got you. you know That's going to go more than just do it or it's going to go more than you know like anything's possible. you know like That's going to always be brave more. Yeah, I looked at the cameras before you came out. I looked at the cameras at the office to see if stuff shipped out. was like, hey, hey, what's going i taking on? I talked to UPS. was like, yeah, you're late. like You're supposed to be here before 12. I swear.
00:42:46
Speaker
we don't see that side because it kind of comes off as like a little bit like nuts. But Tiff, we can say, it's like, you're acting a little crazy and people don't get to see that side. But I think you have to have a little bit of that in Because if not, it's like you're going to get walked all you. Yeah, for sure. I think, and after all these interviews and talking to people that are successful and some people deemed me successful, I think...
Role of Innovation and Feedback in Branding
00:43:10
Speaker
I realize you do have to be a special kind of crazy in order to be oh for successful. yeah yeah like but My favorite thing I've noticed about athletes and successful people is To be like a ultra successful person, you have to have something personality disunction dysfunction that makes you like a little bit off in certain ways, but makes you great in other ways. you know Yeah. this is like You're not going to just be oh he's a really nice guy. There's nothing wrong with him. Like, no, he might be a little bit crazy. we have this. Like, he might have crazy OCD. Yeah, yeah. You know, like there's something that's off about him that makes him great, but it also makes him a nightmare in person.
00:43:47
Speaker
So, where did it take off? Let's say... So 001. How crazy were you during that time? 001. We want to move on from the silhouette, right? But we have all these like outsoles.
00:43:59
Speaker
And I moved to LA. I moved to LA because the factory we were using was right down the street. Yeah. And I would go there like every day and like lay asleep in there, right? out back oh yeah i mean at the time we me and mac are really close that is it's funny because i tell i do this me and mac are really close to time moving to la which sadly was with him the night he passed away recipes but the work ethic really changed in la because the warehouse was so close and i would go there like at like two in the morning out of key and stuff but we were to use these other outsoles and then one day this the the owner comes in he has all those boxes of outsoles and he's like
00:44:32
Speaker
There's this new thing on the market where they're called open mold outsoles where like yeah every brand can use them. Am I holding you up? no and No, no, no, no, no. My bad. I thought he was texting me to be like, yo, you wrong two hours.
00:44:45
Speaker
My bad. We can cut off a little bit. No, no, no, no. We're good. go in the warehouse or whatever, they have the open mold soles. And I'm like, yo, wish the 002 was like kind of like, I'm going to say this because that's at the time it was like compared to it was like the high Balenciaga like water sneaker. like Like it's like tight around your foot kind of type thing.
00:45:02
Speaker
And we put it on a new outsole and I'm like, holy shit. And was like, we can get this outsole. And he was like, we can order them right now. And the next week they come in, we do the full size run. And that day, Tiana and Iman were together at the time.
00:45:14
Speaker
Tiana and he was like, I need those. Wale was like, I'm in LA. Can you bring them right now? And I'm like, let's go yeah it just changed. It just changed everything, right? And then I go to China with one of his players, Spencer, Dimwitty.
00:45:28
Speaker
Shout out Spencer Dimwitty. Yeah, I saw other officers over there. Yeah. So i go over there, and I'm like, we're about to change everything. Because I'm like now getting the keys to like changing it and doing it faster. And that verse 002 took off, and that's what real that's when like the tunnel fits, and me living in LA,
00:45:46
Speaker
OBJ was sent an uber to my house and I would send him like these shoes I've ever seen the videos him like smelling the shoes on live He signed to Nike when he went to Cleveland. Yeah, and he was there's a tooth onto the field Yes crazy who is that gap between you and oj is is bended on oh Yeah, which Ben's boss huge right now. Yeah, Ben's the one I like put me in contact with some of the people in LA Crazy stories, bro. I don't even know again, but yeah the zero to took off like Like, cool everybody who was on the Lakers was getting the shoes. Yeah.
00:46:13
Speaker
And then it just really took off celebrity-wise, which is funny now, 2025, celebrities don't, like, if I don't really seed celebrities that much because it doesn't really sell anything. Right. No disrespect, but, like, it just doesn't. Yeah. But at that time, it was moving. Like, i we were selling, a thousand, would release a thousand pairs of shoes, and it would sell in, like, a minute.
00:46:31
Speaker
um Wow. This was, like, 2018, 2019. You had no idea what we were doing. Just flying by the seat of your pants? Yeah, yeah. Just, like, being yo, like, Couple releases do a couple hundred thousand like in a minute and be like okay We're putting it right back in do the next color way Yeah, and this kept getting better and better and better and i was like holy shit and that's when we like started other models that is zero zero three and that's our GF one at the time stuff like that so I Guess the zero a two is the takeoff moment like financially that ah everything changed so I mean i don't know I think like I don't know zero zero four though
00:47:04
Speaker
I mean, he was probably the best model, but also too, that's like the comeback. like You call it a comeback? Although me and Nike are like on good terms now, yeah that took me to a place like getting sued and going through that process. yeah It wasn't even Nike's fault. It was like something that we probably could have figured out early on. But I was, again, being like, I want to fight, I want to fight, I want to fight. but The day that it happened, I was moving from Miami to Tampa. We're jumping a years ahead right now.
00:47:30
Speaker
And he called me. was like, yo, it's coming out tonight. And I'm like, let's hire the Yeezy lawyers. Let's do all this stuff. yeah It was like marketing, marketing, marketing. But looking back on it that day, he was like, let's just go on the phone with them and figure it out. Yeah.
00:47:43
Speaker
And guess what happened years later? but on the phone and figure it it out. Yeah. The same conversation that happened on day one happened on two years later yeah with me getting weight, us not doing well in sales. yeah And then they put me on this category of like lookalike shoes. And there's nothing wrong with all the brands that were doing at the time.
00:48:00
Speaker
But it put me in this category where the ZZ2 was thrown out the window. Everything I did before that was thrown out the window. yeah And it was like the ZZ4 was finally being like, right now no one even people don't even know about the lawsuit.
00:48:11
Speaker
People don't know about Revis. People don't even know about certain things. yeah It's kind of like this this art point it like, this is the starting point. yeah And again, my ego before would not let that happen. i'm like, look what I did. Look what did there. I did this before. And it's like, I'm cool with that.
00:48:23
Speaker
You know what I'm saying? I mean, that's maturity, though. You got to live some stuff before you can get to the point where you like, all right, man. But the four was like, the four, I mean, overall, I can break down that shoe to you. And it's from a designer standpoint, I'm sick of looking at the shoe. Yeah.
00:48:39
Speaker
It's because I want to be on to next. That's why you put the shroud it. But that's really fucking good though. Yeah, yeah. something different. Yeah. That's a whole other story. But like that shoe overall was so much was put into that to the point where I'd like, it's not good. I'll go to China. I'll come back. It's not good. It's not good. It's not good enough.
00:48:54
Speaker
And then they started doing this, the layering of that KPU. yeah They're like, we've never made four colors on top of mesh. And it's fused on. There's no stitching. And it was like, they're like, we never did this before. and I was like, want to that.
00:49:06
Speaker
And that was the first time. Then when the silhouette came out, no one was saying, it looks like that. It looks like this. It's our own molds. We put a bunch of money into it. And it was like, that was the first time I was like, thank you. someone People get it. Yeah. And it was like, okay. Then when the awards came out, I was like, I was on like different lists and all this stuff. And it's kind of like, that's when my marketing can come out. And that's when like the brand really got solidified to where it now. Yeah.
00:49:27
Speaker
Polys is there for, yeah. I mean, think that, but you know, you got on a space where, when the you were seeding out the to to the to community yeah for sure twitter again like doing that just by finding people that i really rocked with yeah exactly um finding good photographers too yeah so i mean ah think that that was just like i think the seating thing is not really something that's like you know like people think so deep into it yeah it's kind of like One, if people bought mad pairs and then they were also still pushing, I would like send one here and there. And that became like a thing. People were like, yo, like thank you.
00:50:07
Speaker
It was like, you're a real person. I'd them, be like, I'm going to send you a pair. And then i would do that to other friends or something like that that I would like i would see things that they were saying or talking about. It wasn't necessarily about my brand. wasn't like ego being like gift ti about my brand. I'm going to send you shoes.
00:50:18
Speaker
It was kind of like I seen what they were saying and the whole community like overall. And I would pick the people. And I told them one day, I'm like, yo, Twitter right now is better than anything. that we have going on. And I still believe it to this day. I can post on social media and I can get whatever, but Twitter is still the best to this day.
00:50:36
Speaker
i think For community-wise. Well, yeah. I think that... i mean, look, there's some people that... don't agree with that. there's ah i think it's just a mixture. I think a lot of the conversations in in Twitter can be- at It's all good. It's not my fault. I think a lot of the conversations Twitter can be related to real life conversations versus like, I think my biggest hang up with IG is just like, it's just all highlights.
00:51:02
Speaker
People are only posting highlights. But when you were like, yo, i I kind of want to have this, I have this question in mind. Yeah. that You can go to Twitter and i actually have like a, actual have like a, like yeah a real conversation behind it, you know? um But I think what I was saying, it was just like the way you, you kind of co-opted the community and everybody really bought into like, yo,
00:51:23
Speaker
John Geiger and what he's doing is this is really part of sneakers. You are part of sneaker culture and you cemented yourself with the 004 and how everybody really was just like, oh yeah, if you if you love sneakers, you really should probably take a chance on this. It's weird because I look at it like that and so do you. Other people looking at it like, oh, I don't i want i don't want that because of that.
00:51:46
Speaker
But I look at it like this. Imagine you go on Twitter one day and you saw a brand like Nike was about to start. And you're like, oh, I wouldn't have walked that. and never seen it before. you don't know what Jordan 1 is or nothing. And you got it. and you're like, I like this brand. start talking about it.
00:51:58
Speaker
And then it ends up being what it is. Could you imagine saying, I was the first one on that brand. Because isn't that really? that's don't you Don't you ever put people on a stuff and be like, I've been on that. TV show. yeah Music. yeah i put i' like I was on that. I've been on that. That's my love language. That's what saying. I love putting people on stuff. OK, so a lot of people are like that because you want to be like, I've been on that. yeah So don't look at it like you're not going I'm not saying go buy shoes. I'm just saying that you could say don't have to buy nothing. You could still support it. yeah You could support things without buying. Yeah.
00:52:26
Speaker
but you could go back and be like yo i was rocking with that shit when it first started yeah that was you know saying i'll put you on the individuality shit bro i don't know i don't know if that's like don't know if a lot of the people now want to be like that which is which is which bums me out but it because because it's just like all right look obviously you know with my podcast i'm kind of the first one to be like yo i want to hear people's stories from this point on and it's one of the best ones but that's what i'm saying it becomes hard because i'm so different from what everybody else is like oh you hear sneaker podcast and be like oh so they just talk about sneakers all day right and like no no no and i have to like explain and people are just being like oh that's just fire i'm like nobody's gonna do that besides yourself and i feel like you know i feel like you know you gotta you gotta you gotta uh champion your shit yeah you know
00:53:10
Speaker
ah What I'm trying to say is if I go on timeline and see you're talking someone, I'll usually listen to it. I'm not saying it. appreciate that. But if I go on air and know I scroll past and I see his face and he's about to say something, yeah it's always like either something super deep or like meaningful, yeah I'll fucking watch it. If he posts shoes, I usually look at it because it's good. yeah But if it's like this person just rambling, it's like, ah It's like, you saying? It's the same shit. It's like like like we see collabs now are collabing to death and it's like, okay, another one. It's good. But another one. Another one. Yeah, so like for me, it's just like there's a, you could still support everything like it, but eventually it's kind of like, all right, I'm going to listen to these people. I'm to hear this person out. I'm going to listen to what they're saying because I like their views on things. For sure. yeah
00:53:50
Speaker
So I say that because you got you took a huge swing with the 005. So 005, wanting to it, runner. you know this is yeah you go what
00:54:02
Speaker
okay so with the o five like wanting to do it you know a runner Like, whoa.
Balancing Innovation with Consumer Appeal
00:54:09
Speaker
Why take the swing? I think the 005 was basically from my weight journey up and down. I gain weight usually travel a lot or I lose weight when I'm not eating healthy because i'm just trying to work and stuff like that. But the 005 was kind of like a runner.
00:54:25
Speaker
And I didn't want to say like running them because you can. But my whole thing the my whole thing is like ah walking. So every day I'm like using like 10,000 steps. yeah And that's where my weight is at now.
00:54:36
Speaker
but overall it was kinda like want to make something that was running. But this is this... This is the first silhouette where we put like, again, I'm not trying, when I say numbers, it's not like me trying to like stunt. It's just like, that's really what it takes. Yeah. But this one is around like 80, 85K in molds and everything like that before even selling a shoe. Yeah, that's crazy. this one we like took a really big risk on because the ZZR4 is already selling well. The GF1 has been doing really good too. Yeah, exactly. The new colorways and stuff. We have other models coming out I've been just really just, now that everything's flowing, when I have an idea, know, I start working and getting a whole new silhouette new model. Yeah.
00:55:09
Speaker
Because I remember when you first started teasing them, yeah. You were like it just like... I like that you art you are teasing it, too. Yeah, it was kind of like it wasn't done yet. And also, too, is when I tease things, then I can get the feedback and like be like, oh, they're kind of right, you know?
00:55:21
Speaker
So also, too, is when I tease something at first, there's not layering to it. You know, like the Zerzer 5 wasn't 3D printed yet, but i knew it was going to be... yeah All the branding wasn't going to be where it was at and stuff like that. And it's super light, obviously. like But, but um yeah, I don't know. Oh, yeah, the shoe is mad light. Again, it's a business side where you have to, like... ah It's a business side. I'm still enamored by the 3D on that. So this this whole, like, it just changes colors. But yeah I could run you through the whole shoe or whatever. Nah, yeah.
00:55:47
Speaker
But, like, overall... um Just want the the thought process was high behind it. I just look at, like, it's a business side. doesn dont like up There's a business side and there's design side, right? Designer, I want to design something that everybody's going to like.
00:55:59
Speaker
But then on the business side, it's like, I can't keep designing the same thing. Yeah. So, like, I want to do a basketball shoe next. oh like You might not wear... might not play basketball, so you might not be like that, right? But... But my whole point is, at some point, there has to be other avenues within a company. It can't be the same thing. And I'll see people be like, oh, that's not it. Like, 004s, I want them. That's all want you to do. I'm not mad at you. That's like, you're like a Jordan 1, don't like a Jordan 2. Totally fine. That's what it's there for, you know? So I think for the silhouettes that are coming out and what's coming, it's not for everybody, but I want to hit different genres. Yeah.
00:56:33
Speaker
We talked about the 004 with the cover over it. yeah Again, this a true story, I swear. I did this when I was in China and I was like, yo, I want to do something 004 and I'm going to change it. We put this cover on it. And it's still getting changed to this day. It's going to be little bit better. But there's no laces on or like that.
00:56:50
Speaker
And that's still the most viral picture I've ever posted Ever. Yeah. It got like, I think like 8 million impressions on the brand page. And it's like, I don't have any of that could have that many on one picture. That's crazy. And it was, that was the picture. Yeah. And I was like, yo, of all the things I've done, that's done it.
00:57:05
Speaker
So that shows that like someone likes that somewhere that has, doesn't even know who I was. And the impressions were like, people that don't follow you, right? Yeah. So that, that It just blew my mind because I'm like, that's exactly what I was trying to say. yeah The skate one. People might not like it, some people do, you know? But that's the whole point of growing the company stuff like that. That's the business side again. yeah But then the design side is like, I want to make things that like everybody likes and stuff like that, but...
00:57:28
Speaker
I mean, you're taking chances taking big swings, and I love it. I think a lot of people just be like, going to just keep pumping the stuff that's making me money and then just drill it down to And that's also like the growth of the brand, too, because if I just doing the same thing, you know, AD's trying to get out of here and I keep trying.
00:57:45
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Hopefully that was good, though. No, it was great. But I got my last question, my last question, and I asked everybody.
Reflecting on Personal and Brand Growth
00:57:52
Speaker
Yeah. So I want you to visualize you, younger you, as you were about to open that. You got your Air Force Ones. You just got them, young you. Now you're you, your current you, behind your younger self.
00:58:05
Speaker
What would you tell your younger self as he opens that box?
00:58:11
Speaker
I don't know. Misplaced checks, man.
00:58:16
Speaker
The real deal. The real deal. Never know. Could happen. Yeah. just that Just might happen. Just might happen. Look at us. whisper Look at us. it Just could happen. Just could happen. That's what I tell myself. Yeah. Let everybody know where to find you.
00:58:29
Speaker
John Geiger. don't even know what's Instagram. John Geiger underscore. Yeah. John Geiger. AD underscore sneaks. Yeah. A-A-Ron. A-A-Ron. ah Yeah. Just John Geiger. Yeah. Coppa. Coppa. Cop the 005s when they come out. um You know me, who is hostile on social media. Follow podcast My First Kicks pod.
00:58:46
Speaker
Hit up the Patreon. Patreon.com slash My First Kicks. Appreciate AD and Aaron for helping me out with this episode. i We're in the boardroom. Yeah, we're in the boardroom. got You got to show the room after they we here it would do a little B-roll. Why is this here?
00:59:03
Speaker
um But appreciate everybody. Thank you for letting me interview you. I appreciate I've done a podcast a long time either, so I appreciate you. Appreciate you. yeah We're going rage tonight. Hell yeah.
00:59:14
Speaker
I hope you enjoyed that episode with John Geiger. You know, I had so much fun out in ComplexCon. I mean, you can still hear it in my voice, actually. But You know, I really want to say i appreciate every single person that came up to me and spoke to me and told me that I'm doing my thing with the podcast. It's been ah crazy week.
00:59:35
Speaker
You know, it's been a crazy couple of weeks. It's actually been a crazy year if I think about it in total. And I'm extremely grateful, you know, When I started this in my room, and i and I know y'all hear me say this a lot, but when I started this in my room, would you see here, I didn't think that it would take me to a couple cities this year.
00:59:55
Speaker
It would take me, you know, to be in notice at ComplexCon. um But I definitely want to talk about, like, just kind of the self-reflection I had when I was out there, you know,
01:00:08
Speaker
I've been doing this for five years, close to five years, I want to say. I've been saying five years, but I started this in this in November, so I will be reaching five years next month. But I started this in November 2020 just the the hopes of You know, creating conversations around sneakers that are just beyond sneakers. And that's something that I always felt was missed.
01:00:31
Speaker
And, you know, i kept trying to talk to people who I found interesting and I still do that. That's the main basis for whenever I'm recording an episode.
01:00:44
Speaker
or finding guests. I always look for just somebody that intrigues me because I'm a very curious person and I know that leads to just a really good conversation, especially when you're listening in on it. Because a lot of the conversations that I've i've had in in person with somebody in person, i feel like ah everybody around me is always like, yo, I didn't know that about that person. So when in 2020, when we were all locked in, I really just decided to to put this together. And and i never I never really thought that it would, you know, put me in the position that I'm in right now, which is I don't necessarily think I'm successful, but other people think I am successful. And I'm really grateful if you think I am successful.
01:01:28
Speaker
But To me, this is just a start. And, you know, I'm trying to build out this infrastructure so that, you know, anybody that's around me can come in, you know, join and and build community and with the community that I have. And, you know, that's something that I just always wanted because.
01:01:51
Speaker
Let's be real. I'm an only child. Like, I didn't have much of that. And and i didn't have, like, a family around me because all my family was just overseas. and Well, not overseas. down Down in Brazil.
01:02:02
Speaker
Or, you know, I don't really know a lot of my family in and Bangladesh. So it's just like, I started this because... You know, when you're growing up as a kid in New York City, you just you run into a certain people, kind of go down this wrong path. And there's this all this stuff that happens because of the community that's around you. So I've always just wanted to have a community but that's around me that's going to help me push me and and do better. And I first got a taste of that in college when I joined um this storytelling club.
Community Building and Storytelling in Fashion
01:02:35
Speaker
And ever since then, I've been so obsessed with storytelling and how comics. And sneakers tell stories and art tell stories. And so this is this has always been my love letter to finding that that passion ah for it's storytelling and people's stories. And it took me forever to find this.
01:02:55
Speaker
So now. We think about just like my first year Comic Con, a complex complex con, when I was just trying to talk to people and I was getting, I was getting, i was gonna be like, oh yeah, you do a podcast? Oh yeah. you Cause we're in that, we were in that, that era of just like, everybody's got a podcast. Right. But you know, I never take, I don't take any hard feelings for any nose that I've got.
01:03:20
Speaker
Like, I totally understand where these nose comes from. yeah, was just like, i right, cool. I just got to get a little bit bigger. I got to keep grinding. I can keep grinding, you know, working within my work schedule and trying to make sure that I'm doing as much as I can. And, you know, frustrations come in I try to build the ah a little network around me so I can like ah push off my frustrations and and see that like, you know, oh, I'm not growing as I thought I would. and And that network fell through, and and which is fine. Like,
01:03:53
Speaker
We all go through creative things where it's, you know, you think you're building the right round of people around you, but like you realize it's kind of becoming like oil and water. It's just not a lot of activity. Everybody's not really active in this. And and it kind of just boils down to just being like, all right, cool. This is this is it.
01:04:11
Speaker
It's over. move on. um And i started really embracing the community, the New York community around me, because, you know, like K.O. says, he credits himself for saying this. You got to go outside. You got to touch people.
01:04:25
Speaker
And that that really helped me find more of the people that I was starting to feel embraced by and, and inspired by. And so a lot of the people that you've seen early on are just like, you know, like Jordan Kaiser, Jamerson, like a lot of these people, you know, like Naya and Michaela, like a lot of these people were really just like around me.
01:04:51
Speaker
And so I've always wanted to talk to them and, and, I wanted to just put it in front of a camera and make sure that like these New York centric people are are being heard.
01:05:03
Speaker
And so now it's just been evolving. And i think that like last year i felt like I made ah wave. And so.
01:05:14
Speaker
The reason why I'm so heavy on CompassCon, if you follow my tweets or IG or anything like that, you'll see that like I say that CompassCon is a barometer for my impact and what i'm doing.
01:05:26
Speaker
And so last year, some people were noticing me. It was like a hit little here and there. um ah had this little tap thing. And every time I tapped, it was like...
01:05:38
Speaker
Oh, and I mean, if you look at my avatar, you'll see me holding it. But like, if you tab it, people like, oh, I've heard of this. But and they didn't put a face to the the name of my first kicks. And so this year.
01:05:50
Speaker
The strides I saw when I was walking the floor with AD and Aaron was insane. From Joe LaPuma being like, yo, when I'm going to get on, to John you know embracing me, Brian Nadav saying what's up, Westside Gunn stopping his conversation just to talk to me. like I remember just...
01:06:16
Speaker
wanting to be part of this. and now I feel like I am. and It's just when i when I reflect on this, is it's crazy. It's crazy. i I literally, when there was a tweet I sent out on so Sunday morning, and i was just kind of reflecting on just how far I've come from the first time i even recorded an episode.
01:06:47
Speaker
And I felt overwhelmed. I felt overwhelmed because... I did not know who, like, people cared about me like this. And so I appreciate everyone for tapping in. And it's crazy that I was able to, like, you know, last week I interviewed the cool kids.
01:07:06
Speaker
Like, these are people that grew, I grew, I grew up idolizing. Like, like, it's crazy. And like, now we're cool. And, and, and John Geiger, now this is an episode with John Geiger. Like,
01:07:17
Speaker
It's insane. And the people that have been hitting me up and the people that that I've met at CompassCon that said they were down and gave me their number, like y'all in for a treat next year, the end of this year, y'all in for a treat. I will try to make sure i'm keeping this as exciting, cool, you know, immersive. So make sure y'all get, you know, some merch, make sure pull up to a show. When I put a show together, I'm working on a show.
01:07:45
Speaker
um with my buddy Dylan from Real Notes CinemaSci. I always call him that. But I'm working on a live show for that. That should be coming soon. Got a hat coming soon. Hats coming soon.
01:07:58
Speaker
um Really excited. I'm trying to see if we can do some cool stuff Lambs in New York City. ah And I'm trying to see what else more i can do to make this as cool and community gathering as possible. i am reachable. Hit me up, please.
01:08:16
Speaker
Hit me up. Tell me you're my first kick story. I want to hear everybody's my first kick story, whether it be you can send me a video. You send me an audio file. You can send me just write it out like Jfire Friday. Shout out Jfire Friday. I will read this on an episode soon.
01:08:33
Speaker
But please write in my first kicks info at my first kicks dot com. Would love to see more. My first kick story. But let's do the patron shout outs. And you can also get shouted out at the end of an episode. I know this one's a little bit long, but I need to do a little bit of self reflection. So sorry. But Patreon dot com.
01:08:52
Speaker
My first kicks. Patreon dot com slash my first kicks. My bad. ah But yeah, shout out Ross Adams. Shout out Adam Butler. Shout out Jesse, Jesse G. Shout out Plox, recent recent recent a subscriber or a recent patron.
01:09:08
Speaker
Shout out to you, man. Shout out Derek, aka Fresh Proetic. And shout out Adam Neuster. My bad, Adam. ah Really appreciate y'all for tapping in and you know lock like locking it in at the highest tier, too. So really appreciate y'all.
01:09:26
Speaker
And If you want to, you know, if you made it through through all of this, i appreciate you. You can check out these two episodes right here. Subscribe to the podcast. You know, we say each week, wear your kicks.
01:09:39
Speaker
Peace.