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Air Jordan Tres Leche's with Andy Martinez
136 Plays4 months ago
This week I am joined by Andy Martinez, he is the person behind the Air Force 1 cowboy boot. We touch on his upbringing going to school for art. The inspiration he received in the hallways of his high school. How'd the &e Boot came to be. Going viral and how he views his brand, also what is next for him and much much more!
Where to find Andy:
Socials: IG: https://www.instagram.com/0831am/
Site: https://0831am.com/
Podcast Linktree: https://linktr.ee/myfirstkicks
Intro Music by The DoppleGangaz: https://thedoppelgangaz.bandcamp.com/
Outro Music by Gordon Bombay: https://thegordonbombay.bandcamp.com/
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Transcript
Introduction of Andy Martinez
00:00:15
Speaker
Let's get everyone to welcome back to my first kicks. This is episode 198. Yes, that's right. I'm naming, I'm numbering them again. Cause now we're on the right track. So this week we're had to bring in one of my friends and one of the originator of the Andy boot.
00:00:32
Speaker
Andy, or I don't know, I always was like, ah for some reason in my head, I always call you 0831. Bro, people till this day call me 083, like they just massacre all the numbers. It's just Andy and the ampersand E or Andy, or if you want to say my whole government, Andy Martinez.
00:00:52
Speaker
Welcome to the podcast, man. Thanks for having me. This is a long time coming. ah I know I was hitting you up pretty early on and being like, yo, you got to pull up, you got to pull up and we just never. Bro, and what's crazy is like, i don't I'm not really outside and I saw you in two venues where I was outside.
00:01:10
Speaker
Yeah. What was that? The first one? The first music venue. Yeah, they went to Knockdown Center to watch, it was like the rap genius. There you go. Barbecue, I think it was. Exactly. And that was closed by the clips, right? Exactly. Yeah. The only reason I wanted to go was to watch the clips. But then I ran into you at House of Glory.
00:01:33
Speaker
And then that's what we were like. House of Glory and in Long Island for that AEW thing. Yeah. yeah za Yeah. Yeah. We went to that too. And yeah. Yeah. So three different occasions and now we're here. No. I think it was just like the coincidences that kept we kept having to run each into each other.
Connection with Jovan
00:01:53
Speaker
But you know shout out to Jovan. Jovan always recommended you for an episode. you know that That's our boy. Yeah, that's our that's the connect over here shout out to Jevon Newsom so wholesome there' um King if you wanna if you wanna King motherfucking Tut if you want to follow him ah You know, he lists dozens to his podcast and then he was like, you know You gotta to have my boy Andy on I was just like I was like ah that sounds familiar and then you're just like yeah he's the dude that does the the cowboy Air Force ones and It was funny because I'm gonna bring this full circles. I've never told you this, right? um
00:02:27
Speaker
private party was teaming up with Adam Page. And that's the cowboy dude, right? He does the cowboy shit and he's like the cowboy themed wrestler. But this was like two, three years ago. And- Okay, got you, got you. I was like Adam Page. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But he's an AEW, whatever. That's why I'm like, this is- Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:02:52
Speaker
um So they were teaming up together and they posted, do you remember when the, the the like, the the fitted, but it was like the 360 fitted where it was going viral? um So on Twitter, i they said, ah private party, I think it was like Isaiah Cassidy was just like, oh, I want Hangman to wear that. And then I copied it and I was just like, I responded and I was just like, and he got to wear these and I posted the Andy boot.
00:03:21
Speaker
dan that And that took off and people were like, why are you not crediting Andy? I was like, I know Andy. I don't know how you like, it wasn't like I was stealing it from you. Seriously. The internet gets so funny with that because it's just like, oh, that's his image. And it's just like, there's only so much you could do with with crediting people and like photos is like, yo, maybe you're just feeling that
The Viral Andy Boot
00:03:41
Speaker
in the moment. So just like post it, you know? And yeah, what's crazy was that hat.
00:03:48
Speaker
and my boot were, it it was like a perfect moment online where the hat was going viral and then the boot was going viral and then Virgil's Louis Vuitton boot was going and viral. So it was just like this like whole, on like all the press that I got was from the shoe going viral and people commenting on it and making memes about them and stuff. so Yeah, it was it was a cool time. It was a cool time. No, yeah. I think that because you we were talking about when we when we first met, we were talking about the tweak season. Yeah. And how I remember watching it and just dying because man, that was that was some of my that was like my best.
00:04:33
Speaker
de directorial debut on Instagram. Like that was just like composed to the T. It was so perfect. I do love because like so recently today I saw West NYC drop, you know, their T's. Yeah. And it's super fire. They do. They're doing a um like a find the wizard thing. They did it today. It was like three o'clock. If you find a wizard, you get a chance to get the pair. Did you find them?
00:04:55
Speaker
No, I'm not on the west side. I was downtown, man. By the time I saw it, it was over for me. I wouldn't be able to go up there and get it. But it looks like a great shoe. I know you got a pair. Yeah. But shout out to Wes. Shout out to Wes. Here, Lester, Mike, the whole team.
00:05:12
Speaker
But I know that you did your first release there. Yeah. And we were were talking about it before. um What was that even like? but It was it was, again, back to the pictures going viral, like on sneaker Freaker.
00:05:27
Speaker
ah Nice kicks. So I had a pair that was like doing it circles around around the Internet and I was actually looking for a pair. So, you know, let me go and check ah West. Maybe West might have them. And then what color? What color was they were the the ones with the red swoosh in the gum bottom. OK. And then I had like a like a tan upper. So I was actually making that pair for this comedian, same as John B. Christ. So he ah he requested that pair. And when I showed up to to the store, just like, you know, stalling around, and then Mike, who's the store manager, he's like,
00:06:05
Speaker
Oh, that's interesting. I've never seen a cowboy boot monarch before. And then that's when I did my little turn. I'm like, actually, I made them. He's like, oh, that's funny because I just seen a pair on sneaker freaker. I'm like, yeah, I'm the guy that I'm actually looking for this exact same shoe in a 10 and a half. He's like, holy shit.
00:06:24
Speaker
So we, uh, that became, uh, like now I'm, I'm known like in that story, like, Oh shit. Yeah. That was a kid that did that. But right when, when that happened, he took a photo of them and sent it to the, to the owner of the store, which is Lester, Lester's in tip top, a few doors down. yeah And on my way out of the store, he's like,
00:06:48
Speaker
I'm like, you know what, let me go and check in Tip Top and see what kind of cowboy boots they have there. I know it's going to be a lot of money, but, you know, it's it's a few blocks away. yeah Might as well check it out. So when I walked in there.
00:07:03
Speaker
Lester has his phone on his hand. He's like, dude, I just, and now you're here. It's so crazy. Hi, how you doing? Blah, blah, blah. And he just introduced himself. in After that, we just all became cool. And then funny enough, that experience wouldn't have happened like in any other leg.
00:07:21
Speaker
ah retail spaces because I was able to get the boots from tip top and the air forces from West and then mash them all up together and stuff. And that's crazy. Yeah. Yeah. So that's how the Kismet man. Yeah. It's like, is this supposed to happen? Yeah. It was, is all organic. Just like every piece of the puzzle just kept on falling into place. And then what
Challenges of Made-to-Order Production
00:07:43
Speaker
was like that release? Cause I know we only like that. Like you actually releasing your boots at West It was it was a it was a crazy experience just because, you know, again, everything is falling into place as as I go. This is the first time that I'm doing a size. right Yeah, I'm doing size six all the way to a 13. And yeah, like I never had that many just like.
00:08:10
Speaker
all at once. Like I do everything made to order. So me chopping up all these tops and then cutting off all these seams. I'm like, man, this is a lot of work. And then I'm still getting orders in between that. So I have to stop doing what I'm doing here and then take care of like the, like the customers that, that, you know, I was doing everything just like through DMS. Oh, okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. This is before the site. Before the site. So, um,
00:08:38
Speaker
Hypebeast hits me up to do ah to do like a short like ASMR, like cutting the shoe, putting it all together. they I remember that. So I'm like perfect opportunity to show the friggin boots that I'm going to be displaying at West. Boom. That happens. Adir, who who works at at West at Tip Top, invited me to this J. Crew event.
00:09:03
Speaker
Jacob Gallagher from ah Wall Street Journal was there. Takes a picture of my boots. Two days later, he's like, hey, I want to I want to write about you. Now I have a right. So all this like all this press was just like happening all organically, just like by me wearing the boot and just being there. You know what I mean? And I always tell people i'm like, OK, like you can have like a brand and ah the most important thing is, is for you to actually wear it because if, if someone else, yeah, if you're confident in it, you got to wear it. And like, you just never know who else is going to, you know, see it. Yeah. So, you know what I mean? Like take a picture and be like, yo, I really need to figure out a way to get it. And then before you know, there's times that I'm on the train and people,
00:09:50
Speaker
try to Google it. They're like, yo, Air Force One cowboy boot. Then you just see my pretty ass just sitting there just like hype beast XYZ. You know what I mean? So they're just there. Google it. they look They look down and they're like, they're like, wait a minute. How are you wearing it? And then like, yo, congratulations. I'm like, thanks.
00:10:13
Speaker
Oh, man. But you're here to answer the question that I ask everybody each
Sneaker Obsession Beginnings
00:10:17
Speaker
week. And that question is, what's your first kicks with that first pair of sneakers you absolutely need to have? Shout out to the hard pivot. That was great. um The first sneakers that I had to have?
00:10:29
Speaker
Okay, so at first I thought you you said like the first sneakers I remember having, but the first sneakers that I had to have were the aquaates Aqua Eights. Aqua Eights? That's so left field. I didn't even expect that. Hey, the Aqua Eights, like, come on. that's that that It's between the Aqua Eights and the Olympic sevens.
00:10:52
Speaker
You were a big Jordan head. Like I was, I'm i'm a Jordan head. That's how Jevon and I like became like cool in college. yeah You know, I was never like, I'm not like the most athletic. Actually I'm not athletic at all, but I wear Jordans cause I'm Spanish.
00:11:06
Speaker
where you Where'd you grow up initially? ah washington nights Washington Heights. Washington Heights. Yeah, I think that's like a big big Jordan in area back in the day. Back in the day, you you didn't even know when Jordans were released. Well, at least I didn't, because I didn't have like a computer right away. but you would be able to see every Jordan release on the one train. You would be like, all right, cool, everybody got shadow 10s now. Everybody got Olympic sevens. You know what I mean? If the hood is wearing that, if there's a Jordan that dropped the hood is wearing every single person and everybody wore them the same way. They would skip the laces, have them hanging like the the pants. It was, there was like a whole science, even the little thumbtack on the back, you know,
00:11:49
Speaker
That's crazy. I never, so like, for some reason, I didn't, I thought you were from the Bronx. I was like, of course. Of course. Of course. Of course. But it is, it's funny cause I thought you were going to be like, yeah, uptowns. And then, you know. I mean, it's borderline Bronx. If you think about it is we're right by the cross Bronx. You know, we're like a ah nice little hybrid, but we're, we're preparing Manhattan for the Bronx. That makes sense. No, you're preparing Harlem for the Bronx.
00:12:20
Speaker
What's crazy is so West Harlem, I still consider that the Heights. okay if you're If you're on um on the 140s, like on Broadway, that's still, but there's I feel like there's more Dominicans there. Actually, no, it's just the continuous like from 135th on the West side. Well, Broadway and like before Amsterdam, u that's all little DR, literally. I mean, and then when you get to Dykeman, you are in DR. You're literally in DR. It's just, ah yeah, exactly.
00:12:49
Speaker
it's like it's like it's like It's like Chinatown. No, actually, it's like you're in Miami. That's like high class DR. Everybody wants to go up there and like smoke hookah and sit in like white lounge chairs and stuff. you know but i mean I've been to Dykeman a handful of times and every time I always feel like, one, it's way too hard to get to. like if you're not If you don't live in an area that is easy to get to Dykeman, it seems like it's impossible to get to Dykeman.
00:13:18
Speaker
And then it's crazy up there, too. Yeah. And then, yeah, at the same time, it's like you get there and you're like you're transported into like hookah lounges left and right. You got like legit hookah lounges bars, loud music, loud music. Yeah. Everybody's playing dominoes on the street. Like, yeah. Well, it's if it's the summer. Yeah. Man.
00:13:41
Speaker
Oh, Dyckman. But I'm from the Heights. I mean, actually, no, it's still chaotic over there. And especially like my block. It was parallel to the George Washington Bridge. So not only are you getting the streets chaos, but you're also getting the chaos from Jersey. All the trucks and you know what I mean? Smog. Smog's essential. It's honestly like the best place to get away. That's where the sniper got away from.
00:14:10
Speaker
He rode his bike from Central Park, took the bridge at the bus terminal on 179th Street and or 181st Street, forget, and then took off to Pennsylvania and then wanted a McGriddle of all things. I guess so, man. In Pennsylvania. In Pennsylvania, he's like, let me go to Altoona and get a a nice, you know, seriously Big Mac in. They get popped. He's like fuck.
00:14:39
Speaker
So like where's your, cause your fashion sense is extremely zany all over the place, I think, in my opinion. Zany? What is that? because there's nobody that's going to be like, I'm going to put, I feel like there's no, like you have to be looking at something and be like, I think I could upgrade this like crazy and it needs this cowboy aesthetic. So like that, you know, or even, even, even when we first met or when we first met in person, when you had on the Chinese slipper hat, like you're like, as even though it was your boy that made it, like that is like, you were just,
00:15:16
Speaker
you you It's part of this, like, your aesthetic of like, yo, I like cool shit, um been a rocket I'm it, I'm gonna be, like, I'm gonna even make it cooler. It's all about owning it. yeah yeah Just own it, just put it on, and it's just like, all right, cool. But boy is that door um um where does come from?
00:15:40
Speaker
you know Sorry, that's the and wrong word. I was like, zany. i'm so like for example the only reason The only reason I say that is because so I got the new J-tips, right? The Matrix. And to me, that's a zany shoe. That is a zany shoe, for sure. it so And so for me, i've been used it's my it's my word that I'm using.
00:15:59
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, but wild and wild. You know, I come I went to the high school of art and design. So art and design, if you know anything about like just like the history of just people that went there. Yeah. It's a bolt like our hallways were basically runways. You know what I mean? I i learned about more about sneakers being an art and design like my locker. Forget about it. Like I used to share my locker with my girlfriend at the time.
00:16:30
Speaker
and And it was nothing but sneaker boxes. And it was just like, yo, meet me on the fifth floor. All right, cool, you got them? And then we'll just like, and it was like this funny trend, like people would just have like these big Supreme bags, but my bad. I always do this. I go this way. And like the question was being at art and design made me way more. It's fine. And I was watching some of my interviews and I just go like this and then that way. And then like, it's called the weave. we've I feel you. I feel you. It's it's probably the editor's fault. They never ended down. yeah But
00:17:05
Speaker
my My zaniness comes from being at Art & Design and just absorbing that energy from all my classmates.
Influence of Art and Design Education
00:17:14
Speaker
like Everybody had like their own style. and you know just seeing color palettes and then just like, all right, cool, I can like mix this baby pink with with this light blue denim and mash it up with this with this one t-shirt and then throw on some Aqua Eights. That, so like you, were you always artistic or was it always like? Artistic? No. or Artistic. I definitely said it correctly. Don't pay me in the box. very Like from middle school on where you just like, were you always drawing? all right what How did you end up at Art and Design? Because I wanted to go to Art and Design and I didn't get accepted. So how did you?
00:17:56
Speaker
bro so I went to, I've always been drawn, that was like my first love is drawing. Since I was a kid, all my, like I used to get in trouble for, I mean, for all the wrong reasons. I mean, but obviously like you're wasting time in school if you're just going to class and doodling all over your binder. Like I never took, I had zero notes. I don't even know how I freaking graduated college. Cause I was looking at some of my college stuff and it's still the same thing. It's just like do now. and
00:18:30
Speaker
Bart Simpson drawing, you know, and yeah um I was always ah drawing and my eighth grade teacher, her name was Miss Winchell. I haven't seen her ever since, but I hope she's doing good wherever she's at. and One of my biggest fans, shout out Miss Winchell. She saw that I was ah was nice at drawing and she was like, yo,
00:18:55
Speaker
would you want to get into this program to help you prepare for your high school portfolio? So at the time, everyone wanted to go to LaGuardia. Jevon went to LaGuardia for and for like performing arts and stuff. or I think he went for drawing. But let's go with performing art perform arts. He's a big performer. He's definitely yeah performing arts. And um yeah,
00:19:19
Speaker
that's when I first started doing still lifes and doing a lot of like the more traditional um art stuff and, you know, walking around with the, with the big old like um portfolio, or portfolio book, just mad dorky and stuff. It was, it was, it was a good time. It was such a good time. And I didn't make it to um ah LaGuardia, but I made it to art and design, which, you know, I wouldn't have it any other way, you know, the, I mean, so then like,
00:19:48
Speaker
In there, do you find your love for fashion? Because like, at what point do you go, all right, I think I can actually make stuff instead of like, all right, this art stuff is still my thing. So back to like the peers that I had in art and design, they were much older than me, but from a distance, I always used to like admire and look up to them. So there was this dude name with this dude. There was a there was this graffiti artist by the name of Smurfo. Smurfo used to go crazy with like sneaker customizations. Jay West, he was an amazing painter and Osby, which was another he does tattoos now and was customizing and just used to wear the craziest coat like that little bit of green that you have on your on your on your shoe. You would have the perfect hoodie to go with it and the hat. And it was just like with the steep tech. And, you know, just being around that
00:20:47
Speaker
I was like, damn, how can I take that and just make it my own? right So by default, just being around that kind of energy, you have me today. you know i'll I'll run into one of them every now and then like at a party. I'm like, yo, if it wasn't for seeing what you did back in the day, I wouldn't be doing what I'm doing. And this is so random. And it's just like, oh, damn, like I inspired the dude that makes the count. I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing, but thanks, man.
00:21:15
Speaker
He told me I I hope he did your you're tattoo then. that he not I mean, but hopefully, hopefully soon. yeah Hopefully I'll get a tattoo done. Full back piece and of of the monarch, the monarch book. That would be crazy. Full back piece would be insane. I'll just get like loyalty or some shit. I that terrible phase of just yeah the pirate. Who had that? That was like, was it um tito Tito Ortiz that had that? it was like i think I think after that, that's when and they were like we're good. yeah I mean, Izzy, Izzy has like chosen something like that, chosen chosen land or something like that on on his chest.
00:22:03
Speaker
I'll get, I'll get something maybe shoe. You know what I mean? Shoe boot. Shoe boot. Yo. Is that a shoe dog? Yeah. Someone, I saw like someone's last name and it was like shoemaker, but it's not shoemaker. It's like, you know. David Shoemaker.
00:22:18
Speaker
And I'm like, yo, I wish that was my fucking last name. But actually, no, Martinez, Andy Martinez is just like, I'm i'm part of a freaking novella. Yeah, you know what I mean? You are. And then, oh, if you came out on on like a novella and then with the boot, and you like to do the tap, you're doing Pero doña. You're trying to find a Cristina.
00:22:44
Speaker
Adonestaba.
00:22:47
Speaker
Oh man, so like, I wanna talk about what you were talking that you were like, what you were just saying about, I go to the left. Before what you were saying, I wanna know more about. but Sneakers in the locker room, and the lock in your locker. So like, sneaker culture, how did you find out about it? where what did What about it started grasping you so that you would have boxes of sneakers in your locker? Bro, fucker I mean, you know, I didn't even have like my first job until I was like 15.
00:23:16
Speaker
i I was working at Jimmy Jazz at the time, making $150, if you will. A day? I wish. I mean, that that that sounds good. That would have been lit back in the day. What? No, but like a week, you know? So that was like, you know, that that was just sneaker money yeah at that point. but ah And you were tapped in, you was at Jimmy Jazz. Yeah, I got the Cardinal sevens, to the the Tor yellow fours, a bunch of cool stuff came out in the the vomit fives back when they were the vomits and not the olives. yeah you know um But,
00:23:56
Speaker
It showed me this ah this other form of currency. If like, all right, cool, you have ah these these ah the Chicago twos. What do you want for those? yeah And then you'll get the headcracker like, all right, cool, I want i want your ah ah want yeah flip threes, I want this and that, and that's an even trade. You're like, fuck.
00:24:22
Speaker
All right. I really want those. Yeah. Here. Meet me on the fifth floor.
00:24:30
Speaker
You know. Yeah. So like you're part of did you do like the forums at all? Like I was on ISS for a bit until until.
00:24:40
Speaker
maybe like a sophomore year in college. After that, I'm like, man, fuck this. like Everybody thinks they're too cool. You know, everybody was just like way like in around that era, there was like a ah bit of a shift. Like, you know, people weren't so into buying like used stuff anymore. They're like, yo, you know what? I'm going to buy the countdown packs. Forget buying the old threes, you know, that like. So that transition, did it like made you not really like sneakers at that point? were Like what? Or was it just like I'm going to start doing my own thing? Well, that transition
00:25:20
Speaker
I was living in Brooklyn at the time. I was dorming at Pratt. So I was just so that this is after. So like you did you did that during high school during during during high school and a little bit of of college. But in college, you don't really have time to like do sneaker meetups. Oh, yeah. Walking around with the CVS bag, a Duane Reed bag and a and a pair of Jordans. And unless you were unless you were you had some money, you went to Supreme and you got the big Supreme bag and the Supreme bag with the last.
00:25:49
Speaker
You will just be rocking the Supreme Bank. Mad wrinkle. And like they'll have it like nice and folded under their yeah their mattress and stuff. Gosh. But ah I was living in Brooklyn at the time, so.
00:26:05
Speaker
I was just going to Buffalo Exchange, Beacon's Closet, and whatever I can find there, I can, you know, just like finesse and just rock flip. yeah like You know, like I found a pair of ah um What are the thirteens that they're like all black and they have the yellow circle? They're not the playoffs. that They might be the playoffs. Flu? No. But they were a pair of thirteens just brand spanking new. i I'm terrible with Jordans, I'm sorry. Thirteens, black. They have the the little yellow yeah on the on the tongue and everything is just black.
00:26:44
Speaker
That's not bread, is this just bread? No, I think they're, let's just call them playoffs. Okay. They're gonna probably just- I'm sorry. Yeah, same. In the comments, comment in the comments. Which one? Yeah, I got those for like 20 bucks, 30 bucks, brand new. You know what I mean? Like in college, you know, you're on your own, so you're trying to save up as much money as you can. Yeah. You know, I was saving up to buy a camera at the time and, you know, just eating. Ramen? Yeah.
00:27:13
Speaker
Just nothing but ramen. Actually, no, I had a meal plan. Okay. So it was just nothing but turkey cheddar focaccias and crepes and whatever. That sounds mad good. OD good. Like the freshman 15. Pratt had it like that. Yeah.
00:27:29
Speaker
That was like the best thing on the menu. Yeah. Yeah. The tortellini Alfredo's and yeah, they went in. They didn't have that in my college. I'll tell you that. They didn't even have a, I don't even think they had a lunch room. No. What school did you go to? I went to City Tech. So I was supposed to go to City Tech and then on graduation day, I'm here taking pictures with everyone that's like,
00:27:52
Speaker
Yeah, City Tech. So I take the photo and then I'm like, wait, hold on a second. And then back then I had a little flip phone. I'm like, hello. Prat. Oh, oh, I got accepted to the HOP program. Guys, never mind. I'm not going to City Tech. he owe You know, they they all just like kind of like looked at me like, son of a bitch. Yeah, I would have been too. It was just such a moment. I'm like, ah You know, good luck guys. So like, yeah, I mean, I've only heard about Pratt. I've never of like experienced it, but you know, obviously you pivoted in into this budding career that you have now, but where was that moment for you when you were in college that you're like learning this stuff and like, what made you want to learn more about it? Like more about fashion and.
Shift from Cartooning to Film and Video
00:28:40
Speaker
um I think I've just always been around it. I mean, I didn't take any fashion classes, but my roommate was doing fashion. What did you go to school for first? So I went to school for cartooning and animation. Okay.
00:28:56
Speaker
at first. And then I started, they kind of like gave us this whole scare about like, oh, it's gonna be hard to, this is a dying ah art. This 2D thing is not- The Looney Tunes aren't around anymore. yes I was like, i was like but yo, you're absolutely right. So everything was was ah transitioning into 3D. And I didn't want to like, I wasn't really interested in doing three dimension, like cartoons and stuff. So I did the next best thing. I'm like, oh let's do film. I can get a job.
00:29:25
Speaker
doing film, you know, and yeah, that that's I graduated with a film and video degree. That's crazy, okay. So I guess like the the animated, the ah the character that you see here, I mean, I guess like I'm um i'm in my own film. ge like yeah yeah there's ah There's a lot of ah this thing called storytelling and and and footwear. I am the story, yeah you know? yes Cause the only reason I laugh is cause now everything, all your stories, all your story posts make sense to me now. So I'm like really realizing what you needed because- Yeah, it's full circle back to the Tweaks season thing. I literally got two of my friends that I've always thought looked like police officers. They're like kind of like frat bro-y, kind of like brolic dudes. And I'm like, yo,
00:30:18
Speaker
who would be a funny ah pair to have standing around in a train station and pretend to arrest someone. And around that time, there was a lot of, especially around here, like in this area, there was a lot of people getting busted for hopping the turnstile. And it was like these hipster cops with like,
00:30:35
Speaker
with like, ah um just like decked out fresh out of like L train vintage. And it was just like, yeah, you're not fooling anybody. So I was like, you know what? I'll take that same concept and throw my pair of boots on, on one of my friends. And around that time I met Tweak season at ah at West cause he does a lot of like their stuff. yeah I was like, yo, just,
00:30:57
Speaker
You could say whatever you want, just like make fun of his John Cena shorts and ah just say a few things about the cowboy boot and just like freestyle it. Got my neighbor from upstairs to hop. I was like, hey, just go through the door. He's like, no, this is my acting debut. He just like did a full hop over the train. I'm like, oh, God. And.
00:31:19
Speaker
I think what worked about that video was that I told West and Tweak Seasons are posted, I'm not gonna have any. yeah So the moment we did that, I like gave it to like the world. That shit went everywhere. It was like on Reddit. They were like, you know, you'll be in the, my friend was in the elevator and they're like, yo, you seen that video of the cop with the with the cowboy boots? And she's like, there's no way we're they're talking about this guy.
00:31:46
Speaker
you But crazy yeah the cool shit about that is, again, pivoting back to like what we were talking about, that was promo for my pop-up at West. right So yeah, it it was like marketing 101. Yeah, I think it was, which is very hard to find now, organic virality. And I was thinking about this recently too, where it's like everything's so manufactured Yeah. Right. But it's like you put a genuine idea together. You did it and you were like, you know what? I don't need to post it on my page. I just just everybody gets it. Everybody want is going to want to share it because it looks like my phone was legit blown up. Yeah, I bet. I was just like, yeah, I know. I was like, yo, you got police officers wearing. I'm like.
00:32:35
Speaker
I'm like, I don't know how he got through. Yeah, you know, ah they they they they they put in the order for precinct 13, man. Like, yo, funny shit is, like, those two dudes, like, between cops? No, I imagine. But they they would tell me, like, yo.
00:32:53
Speaker
Yo, now I can't buy weed no more. Like, yo, my weed, yo, my weed dude just like show me, he's like, yo, what's this? And he's like, bro, it's a fricking skit. He's like, yeah, yeah. Show me your badge, show me your badge right now. your you're ah you If I ask you, you're a police officer, you gotta identify yourself.
00:33:13
Speaker
So it was it was a good time, man. It was it was it was so fun. No, yeah. that I wish I could. I wish I just made that release. I didn't have the money to buy the sneakers. I didn't have the money to buy the boots at the time. You could have pulled up and i just like had a bed. And pizza. Yeah, there was pizza there. yeah I know Jovan was telling me all about that night and I was just like, yeah, okay. But the ah what i what I love about that- And but mind you, i didn't I was like so nervous to to show up. Why?
Nervousness Before Pop-Up Event
00:33:43
Speaker
I was like, man, no one's gonna show up. And I showed up like a half hour late. yeah My sister was there, my brother was there. And then I look around and I'm like, oh my God, there's a lot of people I gotta say hi to. I was so happy, but like, just like, oh. Do you have any ideas to do another pop-up? I would like to. I would i would definitely like to um maybe with,
00:34:10
Speaker
with a new concept or even with this one, like i honestly, like, you know, I'm open to anything. Yeah. yeah The, cause I know you posted, uh, I don't know what the artist name, who's the artist that we had it on, but somebody had it on on stage. Who was that?
00:34:26
Speaker
Recently? Yeah. You got a. As a female. There's a few. There's a few. ah Jesse Murph. I think it was that's the one I've seen before. Country. But um the most recent one, Skyla Gray. Skyla Gray. she but she's ah She's down with Shady. Yeah, I know. She came out for the Eminem. Yeah, that. So she sings a lot of like the covers for like Stan and like the Rihanna covers, Jelly Roll.
00:34:56
Speaker
the whole nine, so that was a dope moment. And what's cool about the pair that she has, she basically has like my two ah greatest hits. like Back when I first started um showing my work more online, I used to put like this Vibram spike bottom o on the on the Black Air Forces. yeah so she had that bottom and this upper so it's like a more of like a more platform kind of like look to it that's hard and it goes with went so crazy with her style and she just like oversized t-shirt the two braids in the back you know i mean you know you're talking about you're talking about changing bottoms but you know you you showed me something earlier i don't know if you want to pull it out for the for the listeners and why No, I mean, like it being that we were talking about Jordans yeah and, you know, this whole thing about like the 2018 versions of the threes are better than the. Well, first off, what's your this is like when when the interviewer becomes the host and what's your take on the on the 2024 release?
00:36:00
Speaker
So I think, so first of all, I've never owned a BC3. I've never owned a black cement three. i yeah out yeah All right. Get out of my set. And he's now the host of the podcast now. okay um I've actually never owned a BC3. My first Jordan three were the fire red threes. And that's what broke hang out of SBs. Because I was only on SBs very hard. um And then I was like, okay, yeah, this is this is an amazing show. I need to have it. so Fire Red 3s always have a special place in my heart for that. And then every single time DC 3s have come out, I haven't been able to cop because I've been too broke. And this year, the same thing happened. Went to Complex Con and then I got blessed with ah the stashes. So both stashes. Oh, the Air Max 95s and the and the voyage Air Force ones. Sick.
00:36:53
Speaker
I am like, like, like being able to cop your younger self's grails. Like, like even though it's an updated version and, you know, you think it's updated or it's an updated version because, uh, well, yeah. Yeah. and They changed. They they changed. their Like he changes. At least it's not, it's not leather on the bottom. Right. Yeah. So I think that's an update for sure. And, uh, and it's like, yeah, they, they, it's not caught. It's not, uh,
00:37:18
Speaker
Is it like nylon or something? Like on the original pair? Yeah, it's all different. like okay So it's ah totally remastered. Is that reimagined? No, it's not reimagined, maybe, I don't know. But when that came when the BC3s came out, I was like, I kind of figure out a way to move money around and get them because I do want them. I think it's a staple shoe. Yeah. And I think it it always looks classic. It looks great in anything. Right. But at the same time, I have my favorite Jordan model is the four. So I have the reimagined fours, the bread fours. And I don't know. I think I feel like i if I feel like if I got a pair of BC threes, it's kind of like I got like they're like they kind of go hand in hand.
00:38:02
Speaker
You're absolutely right. Like from a distance, you're, I mean, obviously if you know, you know, but you know, it's, you could probably live without one or the other. You don't have to have both of them. Right, yeah. Unless like you're caking like that and it's like. I mean look. I want the three's and the four's and the five's. Jordan Brand, if you want to bless your boy. Seriously. I would love a BC3 because I've never owned one and I've always wanted one.
00:38:27
Speaker
i brought Like, I got these in the mail and like, you know, so, you know, they had like all these like crazy defects and stuff. yeah yeah But I just wanted to do like a ah side by side. These are the 2015s, right? 2015s. These are the, well, I mean, guess. 2018? No. when they I don't know. These are the 2024s. These are the 2024s? Yeah.
00:38:56
Speaker
I mean, I wore him like once or twice already. OK, I so see it. Yeah. The light elephant pla pattern, as they say. It's very light, um slimmer on the on the side. Yeah. Nike air on the back. And actually, this was like such an important thing back in the day, because back when the countdown packs came out. Yeah. That's when everybody always forgets that there was a point where Jordan Brand decide decided to break off a Nike and go by themselves.
00:39:24
Speaker
Go by go by themselves. And that's what we got that. Imagine opening up your box and this comes out. These are insane, bro. Like, Jordan, what's going on? What's going on? How'd you say? How'd you get these? ah I bought them like from like what sneakers with sneakers at where you're using sneakers.
00:39:51
Speaker
So, like, I mean, you know, you know, the you know, those videos where they, where they're like, like compare both of them from far, you know, those videos where it's like the guy singing. He's like, Oh, he's got the perfect. What's his face? ah I think I follow him. He's like, Oh my God. What the What the hell?
00:40:16
Speaker
That, what, so like obviously, Andy made these. I should love to hit them up and just like, yo, peep these threes and just do the voiceovers or something. But this has been- What compelled you to create these? Well, honestly, so my whole project is to upcycle all the materials that, you know,
00:40:36
Speaker
I have available to me.
Focus on Upcycling and Unique Footwear
00:40:39
Speaker
So technically I'm upcycling the bottom part of that cowboy boot. right So I literally just plopped it off. ha That's what it used to look like, but that's what this would look like if they were to like come together. You know what I mean? So yeah, I didn't put that together. that's I did a, I did a, um,
00:41:03
Speaker
In 2022, I had a ah workshop with Nike yeah and I did my Air Force like that. Since um my my main thing is the Air Force One, I ended up just like wrapping up Air Force One pieces and turning it into a like a dress shoe. But like if you look at, I mean, if you look at the, ah what are those new balances? They're like half sneaker, half loafer.
00:41:24
Speaker
Oh yeah, I know you talk about those. I mean, it's not in that realm, but like there's something fun and like kind of exciting happening with, you know, I think it's coming with age because a lot of us are already like in our thirties and, you know, like not, you know, I got, I got to still like represent and wear my sneakers and stuff, but I could be like classy too. You know what I mean? So that's a, and. I can't wait till you make a diesel shoe out of a Jordan. A diesel shoe would be crazy. Or like. A diesel Jordan hybrid. Or like this would be a crazy opportunity for Jordan to bring back the two three. Uh huh. I don't know if you remember when he had like all those like dress shoes. Yeah. And stuff. But it's also paying homage to that. Yeah. And stuff. The what what what always intrigued me about that, about like your stuff is that you do take those chances. Like you got the crazy soul was at the Air Force with the looks like 80 different souls on her. Yeah, literally. It was a.
00:42:22
Speaker
Size 6 to 13 just hand stitch all the way up crazy, you know and It was was funny is like just like reading like the comments and the comments are like the the comments are the The story is just writing itself. You know what I mean? I'm just like Snatching like what people say is just like I had this idea years ago. I'm like really so why didn't you do it? Oh, okay I mean, even, so let's touch on this, because I definitely wanted to bring bring this up, because it was mentioned on Sneaky League Pod, shout out to Sneaky League. The Croc boot, right? That, like, everybody, the soonest that was posted, everybody was like, oh, y'all just copping Andy. yeah What did that make you feel?
00:43:05
Speaker
I mean, what's what's cool about it is is like we're we're living in a world and a I like how this is going because we can like go right back to this, but the 2024 version is not going to be anywhere near.
00:43:19
Speaker
like the 2018s and the 3,005s. You know what I mean? like There's gonna be different versions of the same product. You know what I mean? So the fact that Galaxy, not Galaxy, was it was the...
00:43:36
Speaker
ah Gallery department gallery department. Yeah made those uh cowboy boots, right? Crocs um es skate brand whatever um Everybody else that bites me You know what I mean? Like yeah i'm in I'm on top of that mountain of like, all right, cool. Like I'm not saying that I created this cause like Jeremy Scott made a pair. ah The original one is Tony Lama. So there's these variants, you know what I mean? Of the same thing and it's all different. So at the end of the day, like copy all you want. ah The Croc version looked like you could buy it at rainbow. They should have just went straight to the source and I'll leave it at that.
00:44:21
Speaker
yeah yeah the What I also found like I also find it like cuz you saying that you're upcycling stuff and I think that We living in this world with that's like I feel like it's a buzzword It used to be a real thing and once the NFT thing started happening all the all the companies are like, yeah, we're We don't upcycle anymore. yeah we're We're good at upcycling. yeah that That whole, let's the initiative of like let's let's save the world, let's do this. you know There are only a couple, I feel like, especially within the sneaker sneaker world, where there was I did a like a small little presentation on, ah there was this woman who upcycles, she gets like a a batch of sneakers and she puts them all she puts them together, so she'll do a,
00:45:06
Speaker
Like, ah for example, she'll do like a Romero mixed with a um like a Reebok shock, Reebok. And she makes like the textile. Yeah. And you're talking about a Helen Kirk. Yes. Helen yeah yeah ellenn Kirk definitely. Once I started seeing her like how she gets down, I'm like.
00:45:25
Speaker
That's fire. Yeah, that's dope. I think it's I think that we are out of the like, we're not doing that anymore. Like, even when you think about ah Tom's back in a day where it's just like what? I really don't understand what happened. It's crazy you mentioning Tom's because I saw a pair of Tom's earlier with a thick bottom and I was like laughing to myself. I'm like, oh, the chunky soul.
00:45:46
Speaker
This is their chunky sole version of the toms. Cause like the toms used to be so flat. The toms had like three wares. And like, apparently they went to a, for every, for every purchase, like it saved like a kid somewhere. Why don't you just gift them those shoes? They did, they did good in their shittas. All right. I can't hate on it. All right. They did. It was every pair of shoes you got. It was one kid gets shoes. Oh, okay. And then you would buy eyeglasses. You'd buy eyes.
00:46:15
Speaker
you'd you'd You'd give ah you would gift the kid a sight. You'd gift the eyeballs. Yeah. I've bought a pair of Tom's strictly off of that. Like but Tom's glasses. They were like, I give I give eyesight to the kid. I'm down. Let's go. You could have just bought the eyeballs and not buy the glasses. Listen, Silk Road is gone and we can't do that anymore. um but but There was, I bought, I bought Zapatos, right? I bought like actual shoes and that one was like, this was made out of old toms. So. That's cool. Yeah. So, you know, but then I was saying like, even with like the cosmic unity stuff that Nike's putting out, it's always like, we're doing, we're doing an upcycle, but it's like 30%. Like they're not like actually taking another shoe and making another shoe. They're just like, we're gonna,
00:47:02
Speaker
use part of it and then we're still going to use polyester yeah and all this stuff. But what are what are your thoughts on like how upcycling is like the trend of upcycling is now? I mean, it's it's dope. What what I don't like about it is that it's so damn expensive. Yeah. I mean, hey, I'm in the market to my shoes aren't like the cheapest either. But everything, once you like line everything up, like boots are expensive. Nike's are one hundred and twenty five dollars. So I mean,
00:47:32
Speaker
materials, forget about it. But um I definitely fuck with it. And I definitely like how um everyone is being more on the greener side of things. Like I'm running into so many pages and it's becoming more of like a community of just like There's there's like a bunch of like pages that are um restoring air forces and like taken the a cleaning off the bottoms of of like some 94 Barclays and then putting a brand new one on it. You know what I mean? So like just still using it keeping that same essence of ah
00:48:08
Speaker
of ingenuity and like, you know, like it it becomes real niche. It's like for that specific person that still wants that shoe yeah or wants that item. And, you know, people that yeah ah repair ah denims and like the list goes on. It's just becoming like this, this like niche, like small. um Well, not even small because it's all over the place, but yeah.
00:48:32
Speaker
It's dope. It's dope, yeah. Yeah. That's great. um So I also asked this one last question before we get up out of here. Damn, we're already? We're already, man. We've been zooming, man. I know I looked a couple times. I'm like, goddamn. But I always ask this one question. So it deals with a little bit of reflecting. And I want you to think back to when you were younger, your little Andy about to open that box with the the Aqua 8's in them. um that They were used. OK. But yeah, but now you're you behind your younger self. What would you tell your younger self? um Man, okay. I'm a brief phrase ah like your question just because my very first pair of shoes that I ever did something like that too was when I was a kid. Okay. And I was like, yo, these look so dope. They were a pair of Air Max ones. Okay.
00:49:27
Speaker
And I took a pair of like, I don't remember which year these Barclays were from, but something about like my OCD was just like, yo, if I cut the shoe at this angle and plop it together, that should look crazy. I've never seen a mid top Air Max one. And I'm here thinking that like at 14, 15. That's wild. The first. Yeah, that's absolutely wild.
00:49:49
Speaker
You know, so I was, I never took photos of it. I never, you know, shared my work like how I do now. like Now, you know, whether you get know zero views or a thousand views, like I put everything out.
00:50:06
Speaker
what I would tell Andy then, take a few Fitpicks with that shoe. yeah Go viral. put that on the foot Put that on the forums. Put that on the forums. I would have been, I mean, i mean i can I can only tell you that I did this, but if I had actual photos from when I actually first started doing this stuff, yeah it'll be something else, man. I mean, that's that's crazy. You just even hear that. because Cause we only talked about like forward moving. Like, you know, we didn't really talk about like the original, the first, the first shoe you tried to mix and match together. I don't know what you call it. and the Andy, Andy eyes it. Um, um, I don't know. Ampersand it. I don't know. Ampersand it. Yes. we're We're going with that. All Uh, I get 10%. Um, think but like we didn't really get it. Like what?
00:51:00
Speaker
I was trying to say that we really didn't touch over it because it seems like so more of something that you've stumbled upon instead of something that you came up with when you were younger. But then so hearing that, ivin I'm like, that's crazy. You have crazy foresight for you to to see that. It was always something second nature. You know what I mean? It's just like, I always look at um old photos ah and in the and the albums and I'm like, people were such great photographers. It is because like back then you had to, it was like second nature for everyone. So I think like me with the sneaker thing was just like second nature. Like it was just always,
00:51:43
Speaker
Like, all right, I'm gonna be drawing and, you know, figure out my future, but I'll still experiment with shoes and so on and so forth and figuring out ah Angelus paint and changing the colorways and stuff and, you know, SBs, like I'll make my own SBs, you know? So you were the person behind the the drunks. not The drunks? I didn't get drunk until- No, talking about the BS drunks. you're like Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. No, that wasn't me.
00:52:12
Speaker
with his banana on the side, I love those shoes. um But let everybody know where to find you, Andy. You can find me on Instagram at 0831am.com. It's much shorter if you just type it in, but I had to like emphasize, 0831.
00:52:30
Speaker
shout out shout out to your page it's a great it's great follow thank you thank you so much thanks for having been on the story for a couple times we've done karaoke together so oh my god karaoke in the airport karaoke at the airport i'd tell people about that and they're like What's your life's about? He's saying ah Casey and Jojo. Yeah, we went crazy on that one. um And you know where to find me I am who is has also for me to follow the podcast on My First Kicks Pod. ah Check out the website, myfirstkicks.com.
00:53:01
Speaker
We got a shirt there, up there for pre-sale. And if you're using my old email to hit me up, to send me your My First Kick story, stop, send it to info at myfirstkicks.com. If you were listening to this, which apparently a lot of my people listen, and ah you gotta gotta hop on the YouTubes. We've been sitting in studio,
00:53:23
Speaker
Come on, come on, i need I need some subscribers. Hit the like and subscribe. When you told me you you were gonna wait until the 200th episode, so I was like, yo, you got, and and I started like looking at all your interviews. I was like, shit. Thanks, man, congrats. Congrats on that, man. And as he said, we're on the road to 200, two more episodes. I will probably announce the guest next week.
00:53:45
Speaker
for episode 200, or maybe I won't, and maybe you'll have to wait. So we'll see. Surprise, surprise. Might just be me again. Andy's back. And you know what we say each week? Wear your kicks. Peace.