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Wesley Smith - Standard H Founder Talks Creating Collections with Collectors in Mind
927 Plays5 months ago
Wesley Smith is my guest today and as the founder of Standard H, I knew we were bound to have some overlap in our interests. Wesley is a collector of many things, like every hotel room key he’s ever received, to golf scorecard pencils and bag tags, he even collected every GQ magazine at one point, amassing a collection of 700 issues. As you can tell, it’s all about nostalgia and memories for Wesley, which is a direct correlation between his collections and the brand he’s created at Standard H. He’s an enthusiast in many subjects and details are what matter most. What I love most about his collections is that it is a testament that you can collect the things that just make you happy, whether you shell out a dollar or not. Alright, please enjoy, this is Wesley Smith, for Collectors Gene Radio.
Standard H - https://www.standard-h.com/
Standard H Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/standardh_
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Transcript
Origins of the Willy Shirt Jacket
00:00:00
Speaker
the products that I'm making.
00:00:02
Speaker
I'm customer number one. So some of it is selfish, sure, but like with the Willy shirt jacket I've told the story before, it's based on a vintage military jacket that I used to own, and actually I still own it, but I couldn't buy it again. And it started to get a little long in the tooth. So it was kind of something I wanted to recreate with my own fabric and then add certain details that were specific to my own desires, I guess I could say.
Introduction to Collector's Gene Radio
00:00:32
Speaker
What's going on everybody and welcome to collector's gene radio. This is all about diving into the nuances of collecting and ultimately finding out whether or not our guests have what we like to call the collector's gene. If you have the time please subscribe and leave a review it truly helps. Thanks a bunch for listening and please enjoy today's guest on collector's gene radio.
Wesley's Collecting Habits
00:00:57
Speaker
Wesley Smith is my guest today, and as the founder of Standard H, I knew we were bound to have an overlap in our interests. Wesley's a collector of many things, like every hotel room key he's ever received to golf scorecard pencils and bag tags. He's even collected every GQ magazine at one point, amassing a collection of 700 issues. As you can tell, it's all about nostalgia and memories for Wesley, and that's a direct correlation between his collections and the brand he's created at Standard H.
00:01:23
Speaker
He's an enthusiast in many subjects and details are what matter most. What I love most about his collections is that it is a testament that you can collect the things that just make you happy, whether you shell out a dollar or not. All right, please enjoy. This is Wesley Smith for Collector's Dream Radio.
London Trip Insights
00:01:40
Speaker
Wesley, I am so excited to have you on Collector's Dream Radio today. Thank you so much for having me. It's a pleasure. Were you just in London or are you still there? Are you back home in California now?
00:01:50
Speaker
Um, so I was in London in April. It was like mid to late April. Okay. I think I just saw recently a lot of the photos that you took there. So maybe that's why I thought it was more recent.
00:02:01
Speaker
Yeah, I'm kind of maybe notorious for kind of delayed posts, that kind of thing, just to kind of get my ducks in a row and figure out what photos I want to choose and the verbiage and all the rest of that stuff. So usually things that I'm posting on Instagram are happening far earlier than the post.
00:02:25
Speaker
Yeah. Did you get a chance to hit any of those fleet markets out there?
Wesley's Diverse Collections
00:02:29
Speaker
You know, I didn't. I was actually there for a car event primarily and then had some business conversations to be had there as well while in town and then some shopping but
00:02:40
Speaker
You know, um, I, I've kind of been along, was it Notting Hill where like a lot of the street markets are and stuff like that. Um, but, but none of the flea markets actually. Yeah. Yeah. Notting Hill is cool too. I mean, some of those little stands, you could find some gems or little things to bring home. Yeah, exactly.
00:02:59
Speaker
So you're known for starting Standard Age, which is a clothing company. And you also have your podcast, which is quite popular, the Standard Age podcast. But what folks may not know about you is that you are a serial collector as I am. And I'm just going to name off a few of the things here that I'm aware of that you collect, which is golf bag tags, matchbooks, ashtrays, golf scorecard pencils, hotel room keys.
00:03:24
Speaker
Porsche-specific hot wheels, lighters, espresso cups and bowls and sculptures, bottle openers, stools and chairs, poker chips, watches, I mean, am I missing anything?
GQ Magazine Collection and Sales
00:03:34
Speaker
Nothing makes me sound more like a hoarder. I can assure you of that. But on top of that, yeah. Coffee table books, which are not on a coffee table actually, they're in my office. And then I used to collect, and we can talk about this, I used to collect, or I guess just hang on to every single GQ that I'd ever had since like, I don't know. I mean, I'd bought individual episodes prior to, but I'd been a subscriber since,
00:04:02
Speaker
2003, I think, so like 20 years worth of magazines that I'd had just from them. But honestly, over the last several years, I would say throughout COVID, and also to help fund my business, I ended up selling
00:04:17
Speaker
I think it was like 700 GQ magazines that I had. Oh my gosh. And I sold them as a big lot on eBay about two years ago for a lump sum that helped fund one of my projects for Standard
Watch Collecting and Memory-Based Items
00:04:32
Speaker
Age. So I also collect watches, of course, which I don't really consider myself a watch collector, but I do collect watches. I don't know. It's kind of more of an enthusiast thing. Who bought 700 GQ magazines?
00:04:47
Speaker
There are people on eBay apparently that just like sell them individually or buy lots or sell lots themselves, be it a group of 10 or like a full year subscription. And some of the individual ones, depending on who's on the cover, et cetera, some of them can go for a pretty penny. And then certainly if they're older, they're obviously gonna be more rare. I mean, you can find magazines from GQ from the sixties or something as far back as that.
00:05:19
Speaker
crazy. How do you even calculate shipping for that? I think we just came to an agreement that it was going to be like $150 to ship. I mean, 700 magazines, it was a lot of weight, obviously. If you've ever moved and you have a lot of books, you understand how heavy those boxes can get. Oh, forget it. And so I think I shipped
00:05:40
Speaker
Yeah, I want to say it was like six or seven boxes among the seven hundred or something like that. I can't remember, but it's it was it was a lot of weight and it may have even been more than one hundred and fifty dollars in shipping. It was it wasn't cheap.
00:05:56
Speaker
I love all the things you collect, but there's a common theme with a lot of the things that you collect, like the golf scorecard pencils and hotel room keys, right? Because they're associated with a specific memory and there's a memory attached to it. I mean, is that a big part of it for you? Yeah, 100%. And the interesting thing is I also collect ball coins, right? Or I used to. Every nice course that I would play, I would always get a ball coin from there.
00:06:25
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And forgive me for saying this because this is probably the wrong venue to say something like this, but I've heard an expression once that was, you spend the first half of your life accumulating things and the latter half of your life trying to get rid of them.
00:06:40
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But it's one of those things where with the ball coins, it's like, okay, sometimes I collect the pencils, sometimes I collect the ball coins, sometimes it's the bag tag. It just depends. I'm not one of those people that has the shelf with the different golf balls all on it. I was just like, how much golf stuff can you collect from one place?
00:07:00
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So now I started to give some of my coins away just as gifts. If I've played with somebody who's a good friend of mine and I'm like, hey man, you should have this. I think there's joy in that as well. But yeah, it's absolutely memory-based. I don't necessarily remember the date, of course, but it's more of the course layout or
00:07:24
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maybe even just like how you played that day, just all encompassing as a general feeling, not necessarily a score per se, but like, I know I played well at this course, you know, and I've got, you know, a pencil to remind me that I even played it. Because sometimes I forget what courses I've even played.
Exploration of New Interests
00:07:41
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For me, one of the greatest pleasures with having diverse collections and not just focused on one specific area, and you may agree with this, is that no matter where you go, whether it's London or the local antique store, the golf course on your vacation, that you will always find something to bring home.
00:07:59
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And I just find that to be like the greatest pleasure with being interested in multiple things, right? Because you may go play a golf course and right, they may not have the bag tag that you want, but they have a great golf ball coin, right? Or they may have a really cool scorecard pencil and you get to take one of those things home.
00:08:15
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Right, sure. Yeah, no, absolutely. My proclivity, I guess, is for modern stuff, too. I'm into certain things, and it's kind of a, I know it when I see it type of thing, but I've never been like, I only buy vintage watches, or I can only buy a vintage bowl, or, you know, it's really about shapes and aesthetics and diversification to a degree, things of that nature, like trying to find things that
00:08:44
Speaker
maybe don't look like everything else that I see, even in my own house, let alone other people's homes. Mainly, the modern stuff is driven by I want to use the product myself and really feel like it's mine. So the scratches on the watch, they're all going to be my scratches, right? I understand that provenance and things of that nature can be
00:09:10
Speaker
incredibly valuable and emotionally supported and romantic. But I think for me, it's really about maybe passing, I don't know, I guess I just think of one day being a father and passing my stuff on to my kids and having them appreciate this was dad's watch. 100%.
Collecting Influence on Brand Building
00:09:31
Speaker
I want to make sure we talk about standard age for a little bit here, and I'm curious to know
00:09:36
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How has your passion for collecting influenced the way that you approach not only building a clothing brand, but a podcast as well? Well, the podcast is maybe even the easier answer. This was the first business I've built. So because it's a conversation with entrepreneurs or anybody who's been instrumental in growing a company,
00:10:00
Speaker
It was really twofold. The first motivation was for it to be a learning tool for myself, for me to maybe learn something from these other people who have either been well established or have been successful. And then in the interest of not wanting to gatekeep, I wanted to record this and share these conversations with other people so that they could potentially either learn and or be inspired by these other people.
00:10:25
Speaker
What's been beautiful is that I have received certain messages saying that people are inspired by the show, which is great. And then also the learning capability of a two as far as like building. And then, of course, I guess the other thing, the other side of that coin with the podcast was just a community building exercise and knowing that I was limited on marketing dollars to market my own brand. This was a way to hopefully reach some people with similar interests.
Clothing Line as Personal Collection
00:10:53
Speaker
either conversationally or topically and just about life in general that we could all sort of identify with. And it's more of a birds of a feather mentality. With regards to building the brand itself, I guess I could argue it is sort of a collection of my own clothes because a lot of the products that I'm making, I'm customer number one.
00:11:17
Speaker
So some of it is selfish, sure. But with the Willy shirt jacket I've told the story before, it's based on a vintage military jacket that I used to own. And actually, I still own it. But I couldn't buy it again. And it started to get a little long in the tooth. So it was something I wanted to recreate with my own fabric and then add certain details that were specific to my own desires, I guess I could say.
00:11:45
Speaker
And so a lot of the clothing is just built out of my interest in apparel, both previously having owned it and or dare I say innovating it to the point where it's like, okay, well, I liked this thing, but I want to change that or what have you. So that it then becomes a standard age product and not just a carbon copy, which is something I'm certainly not interested in.
00:12:10
Speaker
Right. And I guess as someone with a brand, you do have to step back sometimes and apply that to a broader audience.
Marketing Through Niche Interests
00:12:19
Speaker
So even though your customer, number one, how do you apply that storytelling and that design to a broader audience? And what's that process like?
00:12:29
Speaker
Yeah, I think it kind of just harkens back to my earlier statement about being somewhat of a bird of a feather, you know, flocking together. I utilize within the color palette of the apparel things like vintage automotive paint colors for inspiration. So that immediately taps into car lovers. And I've been a huge fan of cars pretty much my entire life ever since I was like four or five years old.
00:12:58
Speaker
uh, became kind of a car guy through a car that my, my aunt's ex-husband had at the time when they were married. So that sort of tapped into the, the car market, which obviously broadens the audience of just people who wear clothes and like clothes are also, it's, I guess more of a niche, I guess is a better way of saying that. But then,
00:13:19
Speaker
marketing it and trying to find my niche through the podcast itself, I started interviewing people within the watch community about growing their businesses. And that got me sort of into the watch side of things. So then that tapped into a totally different audience.
00:13:37
Speaker
And the funny thing about that now is it's basically the automotive inspired line of apparel for watch collectors. So it's incredibly niche, a niche within a niche basically, but that's also kind of like the flip side of an expression I've heard before, which is if everybody's your customer, then nobody's your customer. So as long as you're able to tap into
00:14:01
Speaker
these like-minded people who will appreciate X or Y detail and share a certain passion. Again, community building sure, but it's really just about building the business with like-minded people and selling them products that they could too appreciate. I didn't want to just create an automotive inspired line of apparel by way of creating
00:14:26
Speaker
a bunch of screen printed t-shirts with cars on the front because god knows that's been done time and again and it's just exhausting at this point for me but but it's also i kind of. Hold my head high and knowing that i'm not doing that and i am trying to do something a little bit different.
00:14:44
Speaker
even though it's not groundbreaking. I didn't reinvent the wheel, obviously, but it is just fun to explore this t-shirt and Ruby star, which is a very vibrant color that's historically a part of what I would call my RS t-shirts, which is sort of a nod to the RS models of Porsche and sort of the PTS approach to having a more vibrant color in your car.
00:15:14
Speaker
And so it, you know, caters to those people.
Material Quality and Minimalism
00:15:19
Speaker
Sure. And then how do you get involved with Revolve as a company to, you know, use as a platform to sell standard age product?
00:15:26
Speaker
Um, it came through again, sort of just like a networking thing, probably not, not too dissimilar to like how you get your podcast guests, right? Like it's kind of a, either somebody recommends you or it's a cold call or what have you with the way that Revolve came up was a friend of mine who does some business with them introduced me to a buyer.
00:15:48
Speaker
And then that wasn't, I mean, it was a foot in the door. It wasn't a done deal. So I still had to sell them on the product. And then tell them what does well for me on my website, what I think could do well for them on theirs, that sort of thing. So it was really just a function of networking and sealing the deal, really. I know you're pretty big on materials and quality, and that's really important to you.
00:16:16
Speaker
How important is that to you in the items that you like to collect? Obviously, less in things like scorecard pencils and matchbooks. Those are pretty standard and cut and dry. But in terms of chairs and bowls and ceramics and espresso cups, how important is that to you?
00:16:32
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, it's everything really, because as much as I am a collector of all these things, I still am sort of a buy less, buy better mentality. Whereas like, I don't need 100 bowls, but if I have like six that are very different in varying shapes and sizes that serve different purposes or holds different quantities of X or Y, you know, it's really that approach. And then if it aesthetically fits into the house, because I'm not, you know, obviously
00:17:02
Speaker
buying bowls for bowls sake. Actually, I think the bowl count is probably very few compared to other things that I collect. So maybe that's a poor example. But yeah, I think aesthetics first and then quality is second based on
00:17:18
Speaker
If I don't like to look at it, it doesn't matter how well it's made. Do you know what I mean? I'm the same way. Yeah. It's going to catch your eye. It's like if you're single and you're trying to pick someone up in a bar. It's not being shallow. That's human nature. Your eyes see things before you learn their personalities. It's adjacent to that. It's a weird analogy, but it is like dating.
00:17:45
Speaker
Yeah for sure and i think the thing that you said about the you know the bowls and having very few but they're very aesthetically pleasing to you.
Defining a Collector
00:17:53
Speaker
Is is a good example of a question that i get asked a lot which is you know what's the difference between collecting and hoarding and you know how many things do you need to have to be a collector and it's really like.
00:18:04
Speaker
You don't need a lot of things to be a collector. You could have one bowl, you could have two bowls, you could have no bowls, but you could be super interested in them and know so much about them that when the time comes and you have the money to spend on one, you've now started your collection. And just because you don't buy 50 at once or 50 in the first year of collecting doesn't mean you're not a collector. And for you, it's the same thing with watches.
00:18:29
Speaker
you're actively interested looking buying hunting you know learning about watches i would argue that you're definitely watch collector. Yeah i mean i think at this point i would probably be saddled with that title for sure. Also the one thing that i do i guess collect.
00:18:47
Speaker
that has been more like journey like, you know, when I'm buying a bowl, it's because I like it and cool, let's do it. But like watches typically are more expensive. I'm not buying any like crazy historically, you know, prevalent bowls that are from, you know, I don't know, like
00:19:05
Speaker
dug out of some excavation or something. Watches has been fascinating even just for me having been a fan for so long and starting out with a Victorinox Swiss Army as my high school graduation gift from my grandmother. They just represent so many different things. It's been said time and again also that
00:19:29
Speaker
you know buying watches isn't about the time, it's about what the watch represents and or who gave it to you or marking a time in your life or all of the above, you know what I mean? So they really are special in that way and then of course the jewelry aspect of being a modern man not wearing much jewelry like my watch is sort of my jewelry aside from my wedding ring.
00:19:52
Speaker
Is there ever an opportunity, you know, for you to co-mingle the things that you love to collect with selling them on standard age? Because, you know, for example, like I'm working on some products to sell that I also love to collect and the things that I love to gift or things that I
Product Development in Leather Goods
00:20:09
Speaker
love to find. And I was like, you know what? Why not just create some of my own and put them on the website when the website's done? And, you know, are you thinking about that?
00:20:17
Speaker
You know, I oscillate only because I guess first and foremost, it's one of those things where like there's so many outlets for certain things. I think for you doing this show and selling things, I can totally see you having like a first dibs type of vibe going online, you know, like bowls or candlesticks or light fixtures or what have you. Like it's cool because you're not
00:20:43
Speaker
like pigeonholed at all, because if you collect, you collect. I think with standard age, it gets only a little tricky because I am an apparel brand first. Yes, I do sell a watch box that's a repurposed 50 caliber ammo can shameless plug, but I don't need to become another pre-owned watch dealer, if that makes sense.
00:21:08
Speaker
Yeah. But what about creating like a really cool standard age, you know, golf scorecard or, you know, like a leather, like passport holder for your, your golf scorecard or something like that? Well, okay. So timely question. Um, first of all, I did a collaboration with McKenzie, which makes these amazing pencil bags, golf, golf bags. So I did do a golf bag and I sold golf tees that were like, they said standard H on them, which were great.
00:21:35
Speaker
and logo golf balls and things like that. Full disclosure, they didn't sell great. So that's quite all right. You live and you learn and you throw enough stuff against the wall to see what sticks and golf products haven't really stuck in the same way that my t-shirts have. And rightfully so. I'm not a professional golfer. It is a hobby and I thought other people could enjoy the stuff too. But
00:22:02
Speaker
You know at the end of the day i do want to focus on the apparel i have a lot more room to grow that assortment of course but you know i've toyed with the idea of doing what straps you know but then again i'm like well does the world need another watch strap dealer i don't know but i think is far as the leather passport holder goes.
00:22:23
Speaker
I have actually been in development for some small leather goods for months and months and months. And so we're still tooling through the sampling process on a couple of small leather goods that would be also a collaboration with another company. And I hope to release those items hopefully no later than fall, definitely by holiday season this year.
00:22:50
Speaker
Again if nothing more than just a selfish endeavor that. I had a passport holder from that was gifted to me in college which i'm almost forty five so that is long gone it was just used and abused and.
00:23:06
Speaker
couldn't really be, it was beyond repair. So this is an opportunity for me to create a passport holder actually, because the pocket t-shirts I make, part of the measuring of said pocket was
Design Inspiration and Aesthetics
00:23:19
Speaker
so that it would accommodate a passport, for example. Oh, very cool. It felt natural to make a passport holder, considering the Yvonne t-shirt is sort of made for a passport as well. But
00:23:32
Speaker
So along that same line. And then the wallet that I've been carrying, which is more of a card case than a wallet, is, I don't know, 12, 13 years old now, and it's starting to look a little tattered. And so, though I still use it, it would be cool to sort of carry, quote, my own, you know, make. So those things are in development. So it's funny, you should ask. There you have it. I love it. I can't wait to see them.
00:24:00
Speaker
A question that I have for you is kind of about finding the community to sell your products in and to garner your listeners in and all that stuff. And for you, those communities already existed, right? You started making apparel for car enthusiasts with little nods to vintage cars and details of cars. How did you make your way in and was it easy to kind of garner those folks as potential customers because they were already there?
00:24:28
Speaker
It's extremely difficult.
Challenges in the Apparel Market
00:24:31
Speaker
It's far from easy. Apparel is such a saturated market that
00:24:36
Speaker
it's very often discouraged from those who've been successful even. I would talk to people who've started brands before and they're just all like, dude, don't do it. It's too hard. How are you going to be different? So that's where I started to focus on those little details of how it makes me different from just a screen printed t-shirt with a car in the front.
00:25:00
Speaker
And then in addition to that, finding the audience is difficult, and especially when you're bootstrapping a company and you don't have Silicon Valley money backing you who have all these algorithms on cost of acquisition for customers and all this technological know-how that I don't have. So it has definitely been like,
00:25:26
Speaker
a slow crawl before you walk, and I'm far from running, so I can't even say that yet. But yeah, I mean, it's a slog. Yeah, for sure. And trying to do it, I mean, I will
00:25:40
Speaker
I do pride myself on any growth that I've ever had has been utterly organic. I've used my podcast as marketing sure. And by the way, Cam, thanks for having me on this show because things like this certainly bring awareness to the brand, which is why I
00:26:00
Speaker
I love doing this stuff anyway, whether I have a brand or not. This is just a fun conversation. So things of that nature that can be done with very little to no money that hopefully raises awareness and hopefully moves a product or
Customer Satisfaction Focus
00:26:18
Speaker
two. And the good news is that I do stand behind my products and they are of quality
00:26:25
Speaker
that my return customer rate as far as buying multiple times coming back to purchase again is a very, very high percentage. And so as a result, it's wonderful that if you find me and you like what I do and you make a purchase, I can almost guarantee you you're going to be happy. And that's something that makes me happy because without my customers, I mean, I wouldn't be here. You know what I mean? Yeah, for sure.
00:26:54
Speaker
And it's kind of like one of those things, even if you had one product to sell, but it was an amazing product, great quality. And when someone found it, they stuck with it and they'll gift it to someone else or they'll buy more for their family or they'll buy more for themselves. Like that's kind of what it's all about. Yeah, totally. I mean, it's,
00:27:13
Speaker
I don't know.
Discovering Small Brands
00:27:14
Speaker
Again, in a world of buy less, buy better, but also with the interest of not having what everybody else has, finding a small brand like Standard Aids just makes you feel special. It's kind of like discovering a band and they're still playing like your local venue as opposed to a stadium tour. Now granted,
00:27:34
Speaker
I don't like, I'm not the kind of guy who's like, oh man, you guys sold out, you're playing Staples Center or whatever. It's like good for you. Yeah, 100%. Yeah. I mean, that was their goal. Why would you not want them to be financially secure? That's kind of what I liken it to.
00:27:52
Speaker
Not only do I not think I would ever become Ralph Lauren status as far as like, as far as size goes, I mean, I don't think anybody's going to really do that, but I don't really want to be that big. I mean, I don't know. He's, he's a genius, you know, obviously. Yeah, but he's an anomaly.
Admiration for Ralph Lauren
00:28:09
Speaker
You know, most people that get anywhere near his size kind of lose touch.
00:28:13
Speaker
Yeah, and well, that's what I was going to say is like, I don't know, I guess some people could say he's lost touch. But then again, he's not at all, because he's still instrumental in a lot of the decision making, I think, as far as like what actually gets made, especially like within the double RL line, I think. I know that's kind of his baby. But I'm a huge, huge, huge Ralph Lauren fan.
00:28:35
Speaker
as well as other brands. But then there's a brand like VisVim that is an incredible brand. It's incredibly expensive, but it's incredibly special and very niche and very small. All things considered, is VisVim the same as Ralph Lauren? Absolutely not. But what they do is really great quality. Yeah, and they're enthusiast-driven. Same thing that you were saying. Once you get hooked on a brand, you don't stop. As long as they don't stop, you don't stop.
00:29:04
Speaker
Right. And I mean, it is a symbiosis in that way, and it should be, right? I mean, I don't want to disappoint anybody, let alone myself, and nor do I want to cut corners quality-wise just to chase margin. I've never been interested in that. It's really just about trying to make the best product I can afford to make
00:29:25
Speaker
And as long as I can do that and continue the business and continue rolling this little snowball down the hill, hopefully, I'm not trying to create an avalanche here, but I'm also feeding the beast, so to speak. The more I can do, the better it's going to be, and the more I'm going to be able to provide and offer people that hopefully will also be interested.
Inspiration from Heritage and Design
00:29:49
Speaker
Creating a collection of clothing and being a collector can be approached
00:29:56
Speaker
in the same way, right? You have to have the same mentality. If you're gonna go and create a collection of clothing, you go deep on materials, you go deep on design philosophy, you go deep on inspiration. Would you say that the way that you create a collection of clothing kind of mirrors the same way that you collect things for yourself?
00:30:13
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. I think, I mean, it really is quite literally about the material and obviously trusting your manufacturer that they're going to sew it correctly. You know what I mean? So it doesn't fall apart. But yeah, and I think, you know, chasing good fabric is step one really, because instead, I mean, not just visually. So that's, that's kind of, you know, I never really thought about it this way, but like,
00:30:39
Speaker
Earlier when I was saying if you see a bowl in a shop or something, you're going to see it first and then touch it second. It's the same with fabrics, but you're not going to really touch fabric with the same lens that you're touching a bowl, right? Like a bowl is just going to rest. This fabric's literally going against your skin. You're literally living with it day in and day out. So it's got to be good. It's got to be comfortable. It's got to be resilient. It's got to be durable.
00:31:08
Speaker
you know there's so many other things was like a bowl could be decorative meaning it almost serves no other purpose than to look good right now like the durability as long as you don't touch it right be secondary and honestly. I sort of collect clothes in that way too like.
00:31:27
Speaker
I'm not Guy Berryman level yet, but I also don't have his bank account. I'm very choosy and I'm very picky about the things that I buy. I'm just a big fan of Timeless. I love the idea of having a garment that could have been photographed 10 years ago or 20 years from now and you don't know what year the photo was taken.
00:31:53
Speaker
Yeah, but I think having like an archive for someone like you who creates clothing, I think having a collection of an archive that you can look back on and take details from is important.
00:32:02
Speaker
Totally. Actually, my post this morning on Instagram was talking about, you know, heritage and sort of looking back and where things get their inspiration from. For me, it really does serve a purpose. It's kind of like the hotel room key, you know, like it's I remember the time when and I remember the details of that hotel or that vacation. And then it's like keeping the clothes. It's like, oh, I remember when I bought this and I remember
00:32:31
Speaker
I guess it's a better way of saying that. I feel like hotels really miss on the marketing opportunity for their hotel key. Yeah. I think it's a technology thing going from an old-school key, like a lock-in key to the electronic key card thing. I mean, some of the designs are pretty good, but yeah, I totally agree with you, which I guess begs the question, why do I collect these? I don't know. Well, it's more of a memory thing.
00:33:01
Speaker
Out of all the things that you love to collect, is there anything that has you the most excited right now?
Excitement of New Additions
00:33:07
Speaker
I'm waiting on a watch to be delivered, so I would say that. It's always the next thing, right? If you're collecting something, not to say that you don't appreciate what you've already bought, but I feel like... I know you're gonna ask me, what is it, the hunt or the ownership? But it's...
00:33:26
Speaker
I'm not copying out to say both later, but I'll say both now. Just due to the fact that when you are a hunter-gatherer, the hunt is always exciting for sure. But in this instance, I'm just excited to receive the watch because it's already been paid for. And I'm like, okay, when do I get it?
Aspirations Beyond Means
00:33:48
Speaker
Watches is always exciting. I have a laundry list of cars I'd love to buy that I can't afford, but maybe one day. As we all do.
Collector's Gene Rundown
00:34:00
Speaker
I love it. Wesley, let's wrap it up with the collector's gene rundown. You know the drill. You can answer these questions based on any of the things that you collect. Sure. All right. What's the one that got away?
00:34:10
Speaker
There's actually a couple. I'll start with the Rolex reference 1016 that was $4,400 about 10 years ago. And I couldn't afford it at the time. I was working retail. I just didn't have $4,400 to my name to really put towards a watch at the time. There was that one. And then also there's an 80s Porsche 911 around the same time that was $5,500.
00:34:40
Speaker
that it was, it was red. So I guess looking back is probably not the car that I would have bought, you know, in hindsight, like I would have wanted long-term. I don't think I want a red Porsche. Cognac interior. It was black. It was red over black, but, but for $5,500, I'd take it today for sure. 100%. Any day of the week, I'll take five of them. Yeah. So cars and watches, just like a lot of people would say. And I'm sure. How about the on deck circles? So anything besides the watch that you're waiting on that you're, you're looking after?
00:35:11
Speaker
You know, I've been hunting for the better part of eight, nine months, a 997.1 Porsche 911, and that's sort of what's on my hit list. They're still arguably affordable, and I think with
00:35:32
Speaker
perhaps be a wise investment at this time period, unless Audi just decides to come out with an RS4 Avant and a manual, that would be incredible. Well, yeah, then there's a whole different ballgame. Yeah. I mean, that's always in the on-deck circle, but I don't think it's ever going to happen. How about the unobtainable? So one that's just too expensive in a museum or a private collection, complete unobtainium.
00:35:56
Speaker
Yeah, watches the list is way too long, so I'll narrow it down to a car. I guess any roof 993. Yeah, I think anything from roof. Yeah, they're just incredibly beautiful and obviously the performance is fantastic.
00:36:10
Speaker
I missed out, Rufe did a whole collaboration with Hyacinthiidae, and I missed out on all of it. Yeah, really bummed. How about the page one rewrite? So money is no object, you could collect anything besides all the things you collect now, what would it be? Yeah, I mean, obviously cars is the go-to, but I think my final answer would be real estate.
00:36:32
Speaker
Yeah, that's one that I get every so often, and I'm a little bit more surprised I don't get it more often, because if you can do that, you can have everything else, right? I mean, that's sort of my mentality, but also it's, you know, if you could own homes everywhere you'd ever want to visit, like, then, I mean, as much as I love a hotel, you know, and having, you know, the turn down service or whatever, I just think,
00:37:00
Speaker
Yeah, I think owning homes all over would be incredible. Well, if you can afford to have homes everywhere, you can probably afford to have your own turntown service. Yeah, exactly. And whatever kind of chocolate on my pillow I want. Yeah, exactly. And that's all I need.
Influence of Early Collecting Interests
00:37:15
Speaker
Yeah. How about the goat? Who do you look up to in the collecting world? You know, he's been mentioned on your show before. I'm going to say this, and I think it's really just due to the fact that
00:37:28
Speaker
if I also had his opportunities to collect what he's collected, I would probably buy the exact same stuff. We just have very similar tastes. And that's Matt Jacobson. Between his houses, his cars, his watches, his clothes, his shoes, I'm sure he's got great sunglasses, you know? I just, you know, I hate to be repetitive, but yeah, I mean, and his timing, right? Like he's,
00:37:58
Speaker
He was like with everything in life, right? His career took off at a time where it just all sort of aligned and he was buying the right stuff at the right time and God, one could only be so lucky.
00:38:14
Speaker
Yeah. You know, I find when you see people like Matt or, you know, Arrow and all these other great collectors that have amazing stuff and we're just there at the right time, it's because they are collectors at heart, right? The people who are truly collectors
00:38:33
Speaker
in their soul when they have the funds to do it at an early stage in life and when things make sense, I mean, they do it. And that's the reason that those collectors exist. And then there's people like us from the simple virtue of time that doesn't obviously line up, but then there's the people who are just becoming collectors now. They are like, oh, I wish I could have got that stuff back then. It's like, well, these guys have been collecting everything. Max collected furniture from an early age, right? So yeah, it's definitely interesting.
00:39:02
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, a close second would honestly be Ben climber. Like, I mean, every time I see him post something, I'm like, God, I want that, you know, like, or I would have bought that as well. You know, I think Ben and I have also very, very similar tastes in that sense. Yep. For sure. All right. The hunt or the ownership.
Value of Ownership Experience
00:39:20
Speaker
Um, and you can say both. Yeah, no, it's, it's actually the ownership for me. Like the hunt is fun, but sometimes the anticipation could be stressful. Right.
00:39:32
Speaker
And because ultimately, and you learn this with washes, you may ultimately not like what it is that you've bought over time or find something that isn't working out the way you thought it would. And so I think the ownership sort of delineates that and kind of like
00:39:53
Speaker
gives you the actual experience, whereas the hunt is exciting for sure, but I think the ownership clears the air, so to speak.
00:40:03
Speaker
Yeah. And you know, I always say it's, it's, it's one or the other. If I'm looking for something that's modern and new, it's the ownership because it's a matter of being able to go and buy it when you're, when you're ready versus something vintage. It's like, yeah, it's about the hunt, finding the right example or, or stumbling upon something at a flea market or whatever that you didn't know you wanted. And that's when the hunt is fun.
00:40:24
Speaker
Well, and to, I guess, go back to my 997 search, it's one of those things where it's exciting to think about the prospect of owning it. No, God forbid it becomes a problem while I own it. You know what I mean? So there is that. I mean, there's two sides to that coin for sure. Also, just a quick shout out as far as the goat is concerned. If I were to narrow it down to houses, I meant to say this earlier,
00:40:51
Speaker
I would say the GOAT has got to be either Brad Pitt or Ellen DeGeneres, as far as real estate goes. Right. It's funny because Arc Digest constantly does recirculations of the articles that they've written on both of them, Ellen and Brad Pitt and their real estate portfolios, and yeah, it's pretty incredible.
00:41:12
Speaker
I mean, I think I go Ellen. I think I go Ellen. I think so too, actually. Yeah. I mean, I think Brad's got a very, you know, modernist sort of aesthetic. Whereas like, I really feel like Ellen's got a very diverse palette when it comes to houses. And I do too. And so it's like,
00:41:29
Speaker
I love minimalism, but then I love like an Italian villa full of stuff, you know what I mean? Right, right. And I think it's funny like what Ellen does is like she'll buy these mance, mances in like Marasito that are, you know, dream worthy for 99.9% of the world, right? And she got some. Yeah.
00:41:52
Speaker
Oh, and then we'll sell it and then potentially buy it back. Right. It's an impressive game to be a spectator for. Yeah, for sure. Most importantly, do you feel that you were born with the collector's gene?
Embracing the Collector's Gene
00:42:06
Speaker
Undoubtedly. The writing's on the wall.
00:42:10
Speaker
I love it. Wesley, so excited to have done this with you and I really appreciate you coming on today. I look forward to you either coming to Arizona or I'm coming to California, whatever it may be, but we're going to play around at golf and I'm going to take home a scorecard pencil. Let's do it, man. I can't wait. Thank you so much for having me. This was super fun. Again, kind of an honor given the guests you've had before. I really appreciate it, man. This was great. Thank you so much. Too kind. My pleasure.
00:42:40
Speaker
All right, that does it for this episode. Thank you all for listening to Collector's Gene Radio.