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Anthony Quezada aka Saint Andonis Leon
81 Plays4 years ago
This week, I welcome the super talented Anthony Quezada aka Saint Andonis Leon. We jump into talking about how Mute New York was created. Buying sneakers on the internet back in the early 00's, and how weird it is. We also touch on the art of story telling in clothing and in this podcast.
Tune-In and don't forget to leave a review & subscribe!
Follow Anthony:
Socials: @saintandonisleon & @mutenewyork
Mute New York: https://www.mutenewyork.com/
Basic Space: https://basic.space/experiences/mute-with-anthony-quezada
Follow the pod:
Got a my kicks story? email us at myfirstkickspod@gmail.com our IG is @myfirstkickspod
Linktree: https://linktr.ee/myfirstkicks
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Transcript
Introduction to Saint Anthony and Mute New York
00:00:14
Speaker
And welcome back to my first kicks. So you know what to do. You better undies your favorite pair and let's jump on in. This week, I welcome Anthony Quesada, a.k.a. Saint Anthony. And I know I say this every week, but boy, what an episode. If the teaser this week was any indication, then you know what we're about to get into.
00:00:42
Speaker
But first, I wanted to make sure you all check out his clothing brand, Mute New York, because it really has an in-depth story and you'll see why as we go into it into this episode.
Sneaker Releases and the 420 Dunk
00:00:54
Speaker
but this week we're gonna talk about some upcoming or current, like literally right now drops, especially if you're listening to this right now. We currently have the Maui-Waui Nike SBs, and they are this year's 420 dunk. And I am excited and hopeful to get a pair, as I am going pretty hard for these.
00:01:21
Speaker
But I wanted to touch on the Amman Meniere Jordan threes. I think that's how you say it, which I'm sure a lot of you, and I'm hoping a lot of people were able to get, but I'm very hopeful that it was mostly women that were able to cop.
Inclusivity in Sneaker Culture
00:01:42
Speaker
What I really would love to touch on on this amazing shoe is that it's an amazing ode to the backbone of every family, even my own. And that's to the women. The fact that this shoe and the owner of Amma Maniere made sure women were able to get a pair is amazing.
00:02:07
Speaker
As we continue to press forward and get out of this only men collect sneakers phase of sneaker collecting, I will always try to do my part to get those stories out there. And, and you know, got to shout out all the women out there. Being said, hopefully all the good vibes in this intro this week gives me good luck for those SBs.
00:02:34
Speaker
Anyway, on to where you can find Anthony.
Anthony's Social Media and Mute New York Highlights
00:02:38
Speaker
You can find him on all social medias as Saint Antonis Leon. The reason why I said it that way is because he spells it like Adonis. So Saint as in S A I N T.
00:02:58
Speaker
A-D-O-N-I-S-L-E-O-N. And make sure you hit up the Mute New York IG page at Mute New York. Comment on one of those pictures, tell them my first kick sent you. It'll be dope. And hit up that website, Mute New York, spelled out, M-U-T-E.
00:03:19
Speaker
Dot-com because you're just gonna see all his stuff sold out that man makes a basic stuff and it just sells out really fast also Make sure to check out Anthony on this new app called basic space I'ma leave a link in the description He drops exclusive colorways on there. So you don't want to miss out like I did I missed out on everything
00:03:45
Speaker
And you know where to find your boy. I am at who is Haas on all social medias. And you can find the podcast at my first kicks pod on Instagram and the tweeters and head up the link, the link tree link in the description below. Right. Oh, or, or I don't know. Is it below? Because this is a podcast episode and that's kind of like YouTube. Oh, oh well. But now.
00:04:15
Speaker
onto my episode with Anthony Quesada.
Origins of Mute New York and Creative Collaboration
00:04:37
Speaker
Hey Anthony, welcome to the podcast.
00:04:41
Speaker
Hey, how's it going, man? Good evening. Good evening, man. You know, I had to have you on. I'm a big fan of Mute NYC. Such a dope clothing brand.
00:04:51
Speaker
Thank you, man. I appreciate that. Thank you. Hell yeah, man. I mean, I feel like I helped you with the last drop though. I'm gonna call that out right now. I'm gonna call that out right now early. Nice and early. I mean, you can start with that one. I mean, I showed you a lot of the pictures of what I was working with. I showed you the trading cards. I showed you the designs. I've showed you the currency and no, I'm not going to lie. You definitely did help out and you put a lot of input and
00:05:18
Speaker
talking to people that come from different walks in life definitely offers the best fresh perspective on something that you've been sitting down and thinking about for maybe weeks to a month. So you're not lying, definitely hope. But still that last drop was really dope. And I mean, like, I'm still mad that I'm not able to cop up the crew neck, the Pantheon crew neck. Um, so.
00:05:42
Speaker
If that ever comes back or if it ends up going for mad money on eBay, hopefully I eventually get one, you know? Hey, I think that the stock price on that one crew neck should definitely start to go up pretty soon because it did air on the news on New York One. And yeah, I did feel like that's kind of the running joke that a lot of people had. They would usually say, yo, your stuff is never in stock. Like, do you even have an idea or company because it doesn't seem like you're selling anything.
00:06:11
Speaker
Yo, that's actually, yo, you just made me think of like a viral thing where I make a website of clothes and it's like dope clothes and it's just never in stock. Definitely got a lot of good word of mouth though. I'll tell you that much. Yo, we got to do that. That's it. That's our next thing. That's our collab. That's our first collab. That's a good idea. We call it though. We should call it.
00:06:41
Speaker
I don't know. We're figuring out during the, during
The Story Behind Saint Anthony's Name
00:06:43
Speaker
the podcast. We're figuring out like we can't just put it on the spot like that. You can't just. But since we, since we started off with talking about your brand, how about we get people, my listeners, uh, to know who you are. Introduce yourself, man.
00:07:01
Speaker
All right, so my name is Anthony, formerly and informally known as Saint Anthony Leon. A lot of people have a very hard time trying to find out exactly how to pronounce that and I think that
00:07:14
Speaker
It's an issue that I created myself. I'm not going to lie to you. Well, but the reason why I chose that name was first and foremost, because there's way too many people named Anthony on social media, right? Like, let's just be real. How am I going to differentiate myself amongst the ocean of people named Anthony? But a little backstory on the reason why I came down with choosing that name is because
00:07:38
Speaker
I honestly got really inspired and interested in trying to find out where my name came from. I once heard somebody say that.
00:07:48
Speaker
You're given a name at birth, right? But when you find out what your name means and where your name comes from, you're able to decide just how far you want to take your name in life. So when I heard that, I started asking myself, where does my name really come from? Like, where is the root and the origin of the name Anthony? So I started tracing it back further and further and further and further, and I found out that
00:08:14
Speaker
One of the very first uses of the name Anthony was in Latin and it was actually spelled Andoni. So instead of using the letters T and H, it was substituted for those letters N and D. And being that I am Hispanic and I'm Dominican, when I hear people pronounce my name Anthony, it sounds more like Andoni with a letter D, which is a lot closer to the Latin pronunciation. I mean, Spanish and Latin.
00:08:44
Speaker
pretty close and you know that is more or less the root and the origin of the
Inspiration Behind Mute New York
00:08:49
Speaker
majority of languages spoken in one hemisphere on earth, right? Right. So it's also the greatest opportunity to educate people and have a really complex conversation when you first meet somebody for absolutely
00:09:02
Speaker
No reason I just want to be there like every time somebody's been like, you know Who's your man's and I just be like, oh, yeah, you should ask And then you just break out you going into like like seven different pods but yeah, my name's Anthony comes from yeah
00:09:31
Speaker
Listen, it's a gift and a curse, man. It's a gift and a curse. I mean, yeah, but you base that, you got a real good story behind that, and then it led to... But did it lead to mute NYC? So the story behind that one was literally just myself shopping at Supreme way too much. So I was always at Supreme between the years of, let's say,
00:10:00
Speaker
anywhere between 2006 to 2009. I was always out there. I was always skating with my friends and we would always take pictures of each other skating and I would always be behind the camera and I would be recording my friends and we would watch skate videos too naturally, but we would also support these skate brands. But one day I asked myself with my friends, I was like, why are we spending all of our money on these brands? Why can't we just one day create our own thing? So we made this group chat on AIM
00:10:29
Speaker
I'm showing my age here. I was on AIM too, bro. I was on AIM too. So we made a group chat or chat room on AIM and we started having a conversation like, yo, if we actually created this thing, like what would we call it? We came up with all these terrible corny cliche names. Like one of them was These.
00:10:51
Speaker
because that's what you would say if somebody landed a really cool trick, you'd be like, yo, that was so steezy. Like that was hella tight. I remember that. There you go. So we just started throwing names around and then I just said mute. And then we were like, yo, that's so short. And that's actually really cool because when you think about the greatest names there are, it's usually one word and it's so close to sounding like just one syllable.
00:11:18
Speaker
It's really easy to pronounce. Like when you think about the rule of threes, when it comes to CNN, ABC, NBC, mute is kind of like right up there. It's just four letters. So it's stuck. And yeah, ever since then I started introducing myself to try to work with graphic design on Photoshop. I had a cracked version of
00:11:40
Speaker
Photoshop CS5. That's what I was running on. I mean, I was, you late. I was on, I was on seven. I was on 7.0. Cracked version of Photoshop 7.0. And I was, I was on the boards with that one. I was, I was there making, making graphics on the boards with that shout out.
00:11:59
Speaker
Listen, LimeWire work magic, and I'm not even gonna lie to you at all. To this day, anything that you purchase from me or anything that you see that I've made for somebody is made off Photoshop CS5. To this day. To this day.
00:12:16
Speaker
Actually, it's in Spanish. Oh my god. That's how free it was. It was so free that it's in Spanish. I don't know what some of the options are in English anymore because I've been using it in Spanish for so long. Oh my god. You just expose yourself on my podcast now.
00:12:35
Speaker
That's good. So now it's recorded. It's here forever and people can actually, you know, maybe it'll bring some appreciation to the extensive hard work and the staircase that I take to make and design here because, you know, I can choose to take the elevator, but it's going to take the staircase up there. Yeah, I feel that. I feel that big time. But yeah, you know, so now we, we, we jumped off the long introduction.
00:13:04
Speaker
So we jumped into the question of the podcast. What's your first kicks? What's that first pair of sneakers you absolutely needed to have, man? All right. So that's a really great question. And I have to say that it all started when I was in middle school.
00:13:21
Speaker
And being from the Bronx, you kind of, you have to find a way to make sure that every time you go to school, no one makes fun of you, right? So when I first started going to the middle school that I was going to was actually on 167
Sneaker Nostalgia and Childhood Memories
00:13:39
Speaker
and college Avenue by the car course.
00:13:42
Speaker
I realized that there was a lot of value in the way you dress because we went to school with uniforms. So there's really not much to separate you between the person who's next to you, right? Like, what are you really going to do to stand out? Sneakers were everything. So when it came to what I really, really, really wanted to have, I could probably sit here and think about, God, an entire wall that I saw at Moldell's one time or any foot action or footlock or wall.
00:14:11
Speaker
I'm going to make it easier and say that the very first introduction that I ever had formally, like consciously aware to Jordans were the Maze Jordan two lows. The white ones with the yellow wing Air Jordan logo on the tongue. So that was the very first introduction that I had formally. Like when I knew what Jordan was, when I knew what Nike was, because I actually, I had playoff eights as a kid.
00:14:40
Speaker
Okay. I had a couple of, I have a couple of pictures of myself as a kid wearing different sneakers and shoes, but like formally conscious and aware of what it was that I wanted with the power to choose with my parents. Like I want those. That was my first introduction. So that was the one pair that I needed to have. And I actually got it on clearance.
00:15:02
Speaker
So being that it was on clearance, it was actually a size and a half bigger than my actual size. You always have to go a size and a half bigger or one size up. That's the rule, man. Yeah, exactly. I was in middle school. So, you know, my parents were like, yo, your feet are going to grow. So we're going to make sure you actually get a bigger size. But yeah, I trashed them, but I use the white sneaker paint to paint them over. I used Clorox to clean them. I would bleach the laces and
00:15:30
Speaker
To make the story that much sweeter, when the pandemic started, what I started doing was backtracking and thinking about all the things that I always wanted as a kid, right? So I actually managed to find that same exact pair on Mercari pretty much close to DS for just $90. Wow. Yeah, I still have them. That's dope. That's dope. I love when you were able to like, cause like I'm still trying to do that and revisit like that.
00:16:00
Speaker
get that pair, that first pair of SBs that I copped. I copped the khaki SBs, which is my first kicks and I talk about it. But I'm still trying to get another pair of them because I did, I just, I don't know if I loved them as much as I thought, as I think I do now, but like, I think as like, just realizing what it actually meant to me, I'm just like, I need to find another pair.
00:16:25
Speaker
Yeah. So I definitely understand what you're saying. I mean, in the pandemic, that's all I was doing. I was just looking through Mercari, Depop and Poshmark. I'm like, I want to find what I had. Let me find a way to find them. And I found a whole lot of things that I always wanted to.
00:16:41
Speaker
you know, try to locate, but I think that because the pandemic happened, everyone wants, they were trying to find a way to make money off of what they had at home because a lot of people were tied on cash. Like you're stuck, you might've lost your job. And naturally there's a lot of people who were looking to spend money and you're looking through listings. And I think that both of them meeting at the same time simultaneously kind of created this rare space for collectors where
00:17:06
Speaker
I mean, look at the trading card industry right now. It's booming, but a lot of people were stuck at home and people were like, yo, let me start cleaning. Start cleaning. You're like, oh shit, I have these trading cards that are worth like $5,000. Let me start listing them.
Pandemic's Impact on the Sneaker Market
00:17:21
Speaker
I think that that was that perfect storm for that secondary market where people are just now finding that there's a lot that they missed out on in life that you could just easily find online now.
00:17:32
Speaker
Yeah, I mean like and it's also like transcended to like back in back in our time where For any of you young cats listening out there. Oh my god Back at our time like when we would just jump on
00:17:47
Speaker
ebay and just type in sb or like mikey and just start looking at every single page like now that this the pandemic brought that up because a lot of people don't know what they have or you know you run into the people that do know what they have and they don't want to let go of it like that guy who does not want to sell me a pair of vapors for 150 with no box but the
00:18:09
Speaker
The thing is just like the way we are in this circle because of the pandemic that now we're getting that, the thrill of the hunt. The thrill of the hunt, in my opinion, is kind of back because of that. It doesn't matter about the sneakers app right now, but it does matter about
00:18:27
Speaker
Yo, am I able to be able, am I able to get a pair of some like sneakers that I felt nostalgic for by going on these like other sites, these all shoot sites that are on eBay, like Macari, Depop, and just like typing in Nike and trying to find that pair again? No, absolutely. And man, I'll take it one step further. You said you were showing your age by talking about eBay, but
00:18:50
Speaker
I'm not too sure that there's a lot of people out there who are actively combing through sites like Soul Collector and ISS because that's where I came up on the majority of my SBs. My Moneycat SBs that I still have to this day, I came up on them from Soul Collector and I grabbed them for $90. I went to... Where did I get them? I went to the Manhattan Mall. I did a meetup there. Meetups. Oh, man. Sneaker meetups. Sneaker meetups, man.
00:19:16
Speaker
I got a good story about how I got my purple pigeons. That was a good, that's a good story. Well, let me just jump right into it. Why are you going to stop me? Hold on, let me section this off for 15 minutes in. Hold on, hold on. So I also found a listing for them on Soul Collector. So they were ironically enough somewhere around, I think I want to say like 80 to $90, but
00:19:40
Speaker
The meetup was set at 138th street or at third Avenue. Right. So if you're familiar with the area, you already know what that was like back in, I want to say like 2007 or 2008. So I'm out there. That's that's that's that's that's that considered Harlem still.
00:19:59
Speaker
What was that? No, no, no, no, definitely not. And that's a really popular debate for anybody who was listening. Like, I mean, it's not that close to where Harlem is, but I mean, I'll just say it to say it, but.
00:20:13
Speaker
The big debate is, is Harlem the Bronx or is Harlem Manhattan? Oh, no, no, no, don't say that on here. I don't want bad reviews now, but like get this Anthony Kidd off the podcast. I never want to hear like, what is he talking about? But you know, like you could be really close on one side of Harlem where, you know, technically you're really close to Manhattan, but yeah.
00:20:36
Speaker
as soon as you pass all of Third Avenue and get down from that side, you're pretty much in Harlem. But anyway, I was at 138th Street in Third Avenue. Yeah. Right across the police precinct. And I'm like, where is this guy at? So I'm waiting for like 30 minutes. This is before text messaging is really even a thing. So you don't even know when you're getting a text.
A Weird Sneaker Meetup Story
00:21:00
Speaker
I had a Blackberry Pearl.
00:21:01
Speaker
I'm just standing on the corner. I'm like, yo, where is this guy? Like every car that pulled over, I'm like, is that him? Is that him? Is that him? I was really young at the time. I took the train. I didn't have a car. Exactly. I'm like, where the fuck is this guy? Like, I don't know if he's coming on foot. Like you never really know because you don't really have the internet back then either. That's another privilege. You know, like, how could you access a full website on a Blackberry Pearl? You could have do those things back then. You know what I'm saying? So.
00:21:30
Speaker
I'm over here just waiting and waiting and waiting for a text message to come in. I'm just like praying that this guy actually saved my number because I'd be ummed in my number, but you know, you don't have any internet to access any of these things. And there wasn't any service on their trains either. So while I'm waiting, this guy pulls up and I thought it was the guy who was going to come with the sneakers and he walks up to me and he's like, what's up, man? I'm like,
00:21:54
Speaker
Nothing much, what's up?" And he reached out his hand to give me a pound and I'm like, this must be the guy. So I gave him the pound and he tucked it in and he held me in for a couple seconds. He's like, you look like this guy I went to the gym with, man, you're so tall, are you him? This guy is literally with his chin on my shoulder. Yo, what?
00:22:15
Speaker
I was like, I don't know you. So I pushed him off me and he jumped back when I pushed him off me and he starts laughing and he just starts walking away. He's like, I knew that was you. I'm like, what are you talking about?
00:22:30
Speaker
He's like, you strong, just like him. I'm like, what are you talking about? So I'm really confused. And at this point, at least 30 minutes pass by, but the guy finally pulls up. He comes in a Chrysler Pacifica, opens up the door, and he's like, yo, here you go. And I'm just like, wow, this was all worth it. I have purple pigeons now. You got a weird dap. And he waited 30 minutes.
00:22:57
Speaker
I would have been like, yo, you need to come down 20 dollars. You can't believe what happened to me. Seriously, right? But as a kid, you really don't think about any of these things or how close you are to danger or anything possibly happening to you anywhere at all. You're just like, I need these shoes. This is the thrill of the hunt for me. And this is going to be an amazing story later on. My friends are not going to believe what happened to me yesterday. And I got these shoes. Forget about it. This is the greatest story ever.
00:23:26
Speaker
I mean, my purple picture story is not as good as that, because mine was just like, I bought a pair off of NSB.org and. Oh, man, you took it back. Yeah, I was big on that. That was insane. Everybody know me. Shout out to NSB.org. I didn't get the lace locks, but and I should have I should have gotten the lace locks, but shout out to everybody on there. But mine was like the dude, the dude posted them.
00:23:53
Speaker
And he was just like, I just want 120 or something like that. And I was just like, all right, cool. And then he's just like, he's like trying to get me for extra money on top. And he's just like, listen, man, I'm telling you, man, like these are straight DS. I'm telling you, like I only wore them once. I went on a date and we didn't even walk anywhere. I just went to the movie theater.
00:24:16
Speaker
I went to the movie theater and that's it, man. I just went on a date, man. Come on, give me the full, like I was, he, I think he wanted like 150. I talk him down to 120 or something like that. And then I got the box. And then I look at the box, this dude bought them off a flight club. So they have the flight club price on it. And I'm like, yo, I got this dude hard. Cause he paid 180. It says it, right? I still have the box. Still says 180 on it. And yeah, it's crazy.
00:24:45
Speaker
Let's not even mention the fact that the quality for photos back then on listings was so poor. So bad. You could barely make out that there were stars on a dunk. You would have to ask somebody to hold it in a specific lighting setting. Go outside at 3pm and make sure that you tilt the shoe so there's no shadow.
00:25:10
Speaker
There's no time between the internet to the point where you know that you're going to get a DM and your phone is going to ring and you see the banner with the message notification. No, you really got to refresh a page. 30 times, go to AOL Mail to see if you got the email because the website was slower. Man, forget about it. I bought an actual camera, but it wasn't just for that. I used to like taking pictures.
00:25:34
Speaker
So I bought an old Sony and I would just take pictures. My pictures wouldn't look bad because I would just do that. But what used to piss me off is the people that'd be like, yo, these are like 65% stars. And then you look at the shoe and there's no stars on the goddamn thing. Even worse, when they would hold the picture or they'll take the picture at a specific angle.
00:25:56
Speaker
and you'll never see the heel drag. Oh, yo. And you open up that box. Oh, my God. You'd be like, where's where's the heel? Yeah, 90 degree angle.
00:26:08
Speaker
Like, do you walk backwards? Like, when you're walking in these shoes? Like, what happened? So for people, just because a lot of people ask me, like, what are we talking about sometimes? So for people who do not understand this, stars, so on dunks and air forces, there are actual literal stars in the front of the shoe towards the bottom of the shoe, right? Where the soul is. Please tell me you know what the soul is. Not you, Anthony, but the people that are listening.
00:26:36
Speaker
But that's what we're talking about, stars. And usually when you walk, they start disappearing. So people would, when you 100% stars, that means there's all the stars that are there. But once you start looking at the bottom of the shoe and you're walking with the shoe, the stars start disappearing. So people would be like, hey, we've got 80% stars now. We've got 70% stars. And then a heel drag is if you were dragging your feet whenever you walk, which I do. So all my sneakers do tilt at the back. It's the back of the shoe. They just get beat down.
00:27:04
Speaker
But yeah, that I mean, what was it? So so how how early did you get into sneakers? And were you able to like afford them during like high school and stuff like that? Because I was a late bloomer. I didn't I didn't I didn't really get to it to it until like before before college.
00:27:21
Speaker
Right, so I was really obsessed with sneakers in middle school and the best introduction that I had to sneakers around that period of time was, ironically enough, I was at the doctor's office waiting for a physical and Oprah was on. Who was on Oprah that day? Michael Jordan. Oh, I thought you could say Chris. Chris from flight club.
00:27:46
Speaker
Michael Jordan was on that day, but he was promoting the book driven from within. So for those who are not familiar, you can do a quick Google search, but this book had come out around the time that they were celebrating the Jordan 20. So it was literally a documentary style book or an autobiography or biography rather.
Fascination with Sneaker Design
00:28:09
Speaker
because it wasn't told by him. It was kind of semi, you know, Tinker Hatfield was in the book speaking and then Michael Jordan was in the book speaking. So it was from the perspective of Michael Jordan, the player and Tinker Hatfield, the designer. This is when I first found out who Tinker Hatfield was in middle school. And the most amazing part about the book is that it was full of all of the sketches.
00:28:30
Speaker
Tinker Hatfield had made the original, original sketches. So you can see what the Jordan 7 was supposed to look like before the Jordan 7 was the Jordan 7. Or you can see the early sketches of the Jordan 8 low top before it became the actual Jordan 8. Or the Jordan 11, what it was supposed to look like before the Jordan 11 came out. And it was like, I unlocked the cheat codes to life when I got that book.
00:28:55
Speaker
I would literally bring that book to school every single day because every single day, people were coming to school with new sneakers. And I would be like, oh, look, this is what your sneaker was supposed to look like before it came out. Like these are the original sketches. And for me, that was like unlocking the encyclopedia to design. I thought you was about to say like, and these people would tell me, get away from me, nerd.
00:29:27
Speaker
I had a lot of friends in middle school. They were friends, I promise. So these are like the design, like the like the behind the scenes of designs for you.
00:29:40
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. So I love drawing as a kid. And this was like adding one tertiary layer to my brain. I was like, whoa, I can learn how to draw sneakers now. So I would start tracing a lot of the pages and I would start teaching myself how to draw sneakers. And that's when I really realized that.
00:30:00
Speaker
there's architecture to sneakers because what you're literally looking at is something that's a house for your foot. It's housing your foot. And reading about Tinker Hatfield's story and what his background was and where a lot of his inspiration was drawn from. So you would actually be able to see in that book that the Jordan 13 is inspired by a lot of different things. Or you would be able to see that
00:30:26
Speaker
these laser etched designs on the Jordan 20 all have specific stories. And if you actually zoom in to each and every little intricate design, it's actually a reference point to certain points in Michael Jordan's life. But just looking through that book made me become obsessed with
00:30:45
Speaker
all of the ideas that sneakers can lead to and it's not just a shoe, it's more than a shoe. It's literally the foundation of how your day starts because how are you going to walk outside and go about your day in New York City without wearing shoes? I mean, you walk outside, you got no shoes on, people are going to ask you two questions like,
00:31:04
Speaker
Are you, you know, I don't want to use the term homeless, but people will look at you and you know, they'll ask you, yo, like what's going on at home? Like, why don't you have shoes on today? Like, did you get robbed in the early 2000s? That would be a really common question. You know, kids would get robbed for their shoes. They would ask you, Hey, did you get robbed? Like what's going on at home? Like, why don't you have any shoes on? It's the foundation of how your day starts, right? You know, you put on your socks, put on your shoes.
00:31:32
Speaker
And that's like, even still with that, it's just like, we all, as New Yorkers, and I don't know if this is relevant for people outside of New York, but you're always looking down, whether it's to avoid stepping on dog shit, or whether it's just basically you don't want to make eye contact with people because you don't want to get jumped. So, you know, like it's...
00:32:00
Speaker
So like, you know, the just just simple stuff like that, where I mean, for me, I'm always looking down because I like looking at my feet in dope kicks, you know, yeah, yeah, whether something. No, yeah, go on.
00:32:15
Speaker
No, you were saying whether the sky? No, I was going to say whether the sky is gray and gloomy or, you know, like I've just had like a long day and I'm looking down because of just like, I just got beat down by the world today. Like that's going to bring my head up just looking down and be like, yo, but these kicks are fly. So. Yeah. I mean, it's definitely a part of your confidence too, right? I mean.
00:32:39
Speaker
There's a lot of elements that go into an outfit that can bring somebody's character and somebody's confidence up. But I think that a lot of people play it really safe when it comes to uniform sneaker colors, but a person who's really expressive with the color choice or the options that they use for their shoes is usually somebody who, you know, really carries themselves with a different set of
00:33:04
Speaker
visual perspective, I would want to say, right? Because not everybody is willing to walk outside with like four inch military boots or creepers or, you know, platform shoes, right? I mean, certain styles are becoming a lot more popular now, but you have to have a different type of confidence to walk out with a specific shoe, right? Right.
00:33:26
Speaker
Offwhite is a lot more common now, but a lot of people might still ask you, why is there an orange tag on your shoe? Like, what is wrong with you? Yeah, I remember that. Those first couple of months where when Virgil started putting the tag on his clothes and people would just be like, what do what do we like? I remember it being like a legit question on Reddit or something like that or some forum of what do we do with this tag? And I'm like, are you serious? Just either take it off or just leave it on. I don't know what the
00:33:57
Speaker
No, exactly. I mean, I actually came up with my own answer to it because I, again, at the onset of the pandemic, I actually had a lot of time on my hands when I was working from home and I was just like, hey, perfect time to start doing things I always wanted to do. So I always wanted to start working on shoes and
00:34:17
Speaker
through working, well, part working with Nike, they actually gave me a lot of discounts for, you know, part-time work that I was doing for them, not necessarily part-time work, but I did work with them in part with wear testing. And they gave me a couple of discounts here and there. And I was like, this is the perfect time for me to finally make a Nike ID. Like I've never made one before. Let me take this opportunity. So after making a handful of different Nike IDs, I finally told myself,
00:34:44
Speaker
maybe it's time to finally grab that all white Air Force Ones that I wanted to do something with and start doing something with it. So I started pretty much reverse engineering the Air Force One. And I was like, let me cut this out. Let me take this off. Let me see where does this actually take me. Right. So I ended up coming across a couple of tags from off white shirts that I had. And I was like, this is a tool bag.
00:35:12
Speaker
If you really want to think about it, if I take this tag, cut it and take this string and take these plastic tags, I have a tool bag. Just like when you order something from Ikea, you pull out that plastic bag and you have Allen keys in there. You have a set of instructions. I was like, maybe these hang tags.
00:35:32
Speaker
And everything that comes with it as far as branding is concerned can actually be used as an additional tool bag to make something else that I want. So I started taking all the labels that I had from shirts. Like I cut out, I actually cut out a couple of labels or two of them to be specific from two off white shirts. And I took a tongue from a Chuck Taylor two that I have. It's actually really nice pebble leather and it's all white.
00:36:02
Speaker
And I cut it out from both pairs and I took it to the Air Force One and I started retooling the shoe using the hang tag pieces and trying to come up with an idea for what this shoe would look like as a hybridized Frankenstein. Just like, I'm going to compose all these pieces together and now this is a shoe.
00:36:25
Speaker
So I think that when we look at something like that, we kind of don't give ourselves the opportunity to create something brand new. And it's actually the idea that I had for the, the basic space collaboration that I had with mute. So I had all of these hang tags and I had two options, right? I could either place these hang tags on these hoodies or I could just sell you the hoodie with no hang tag.
00:36:54
Speaker
stitched into the hoodie and put it inside of a bag and let you decide whatever you want to do with it. You now have two products that you can own that are branded by Mute now. You can take this hang tag and you can sew it into an Air Force One that you want to make, right? Now you have a Mute Air Force One. Or if you want, get a blank shirt and sew this label into that shirt. Now you have a t-shirt by Mute and you have a hooded sweatshirt by Mute.
00:37:19
Speaker
So I think that if we took that approach to products a lot more, we'd realize that from the standpoint of consumers, we have a lot more power when it comes to deciding what a finished product is. We're so used to just receiving a product and saying, this is a finished product. But when have you ever taken a step back and asked yourself, what does a finished product really look like?
00:37:43
Speaker
Is it what the company is deciding as a finished product or is it me, the consumer who is actually a lot more creative than the company who has this piece that I could pretty much retool and make it my own now?
00:37:58
Speaker
I mean, do you think that the DIY spirit is more active now or do you feel like it's dwindled down and this is something that's just like,
DIY Spirit in Sneaker Culture
00:38:12
Speaker
you know what? I'm going to inspire myself into doing this stuff.
00:38:17
Speaker
I feel like you and I, we've definitely been a part of a lot of these conversations for the past couple of months, right? But when it comes down to it, I think that I'm going to continue having the same exact standpoint. Like, let's be honest. Let's be upfront. A lot of what you see for the most part has very little thought process behind it. And it's absolute trash. It's garbage. It's just fluff for the sake of being able to say, listen, I made this and I'm cool. I have clout.
00:38:47
Speaker
In the ocean of all of that, there's going to be a couple of kids out there who are actually going to create something that's going to lead to something greater, right? When I think about when I started graphic design and when I started printing my own t-shirts, I was in a class on Skillshare with the one that Jeff Staple hosted that there were over thousands of submissions, right? But at the end of the day, if you were to take a look at those classes, how many of those people were actually still doing what they started?
00:39:18
Speaker
it takes a lot of grit and it takes a lot of effort to be a mainstay anywhere. And, you know, even if it's a mainstay to you, to yourself, to your core, whatever your idea is, at least you stuck with it. And when it comes to the DIY culture,
00:39:33
Speaker
You can easily see today who's doing it just to capitalize off a clout and make a couple of bucks and who's really got this backbone and this structure for forming a company. There's a couple of people out there. One of my really close friends, his friend, his name is Donny, and he does a dunk.
00:39:57
Speaker
but with a pair of dice on it, right? And a lot of people might be able to take a look at it and say, Hey, look, like this is, you know, something that we've seen before. But in reality, he's really got a mind for it. And he actually comes from customizing sneakers and he has a lot of good work that he's put out there before this and before the idea of him making his own shoe. But he's definitely one person that I can tell is not going to stop there.
00:40:25
Speaker
He's not going to stop there at all. He has a lot of ideas. He might just get started with this one right now, but he's, you can tell he's full of ideas and he's not going to slow down anytime soon. No, yeah. I mean, I don't know. So like I, I've been thinking about this, like,
00:40:42
Speaker
Huge explosion of just like people just redoing, uh, already made models, you know, already popular silhouettes that we've already seen for years. Like, and they're just like, Oh, I'm going to just, you know, I'm not going to call out anybody, but I, you know, I'm just going to change this check to something else. Like I'm just, you know what I mean? Like, um, I, and I don't know, I don't know how to feel about it because I feel like as somebody who.
00:41:08
Speaker
I want to say I stifle my own creative, um, ambitions ever since high school. Um, and you know, like, if you look at something and you can see envision something else, that means you are, you know, you're, you're gifted in that, in that, in that vision, like you, you're not like, when, to me, it's like, I don't know, like to me, like when I look at art and, and I studied art and all this other, and I studied art for college and, and, and, and.
00:41:38
Speaker
you know, uh, like the, the met makes me angry sometimes, but the, Oh, that's my favorite museum though. No, it's, it's dope. I said the, it makes me angry sometimes because there are some pieces of art there that you just like, why is this here? You know, but yeah, not for sure. Yeah. But like, I think it's just when, what, what I feel is, um, lacking is that your people aren't taking something
00:42:07
Speaker
and making it something else, they're just building on top of what we already have. And instead of just being like, yo, how about we do this with it? It's just like, how about we change this? You know what I'm trying to say?
00:42:20
Speaker
Yeah, I definitely understand what you're saying. Yeah. I mean, and I just wanted to know, like, you know, you're somebody who you're like, I get it like, like shirts. It's like we're, everybody can have it, but what, what, what separates shirts from another, what separates another shirt from another shirt and, and besides the fabric and the design on it, right? You know, like it's hard, it's hard to be in that space, but like when it comes to sneakers, I feel like,
00:42:51
Speaker
What essentially is the sneaker? What is essentially the selling point? Is it the logo or is it what's the story or is there so many avenues somebody can take? Because it's not about, I don't think it's a specific model sometimes, specific models hit people, but I also think is that like you can start from scratch and still captivate an audience is my thing.
00:43:19
Speaker
No, I definitely agree with you. And I think that it has a lot more to do with our our relationship with capitalism and consumption in America. Right. Just because you can do something doesn't mean that you should always do it. Sometimes some ideas are better as a conversation piece and not necessarily as a company, which
00:43:41
Speaker
At the end of the day, you're free to give it a shot and try to see wherever it takes you. But if you're not the type of person who's going to be willing to dedicate yourself to building something greater than just this funny idea that you had, then maybe you're not the right person for the business. And maybe you should get that idea to somebody who's better suited to scaling it in one way or another.
00:44:02
Speaker
You know, when it comes to the space of curation and social media, there's never going to be an end to the amount of kids out there who have money on their hands and they're like, yo, I had this cool, funny idea. How about instead of a Nike swoosh, we put a pencil with an eraser tip, right? Like we call these the erasers or the number two pencils instead of the Air Force one. It's just like, I get it. I understand. But, you know, I think we have to be a lot more responsible with how we choose to create because
00:44:32
Speaker
We live in a world that, you know, there's a lot of trash. And I can say that metaphorically for what people produce too. There's a lot of trash.
00:44:42
Speaker
And I was going to say, like, you know, everything is so freaking easily accessible. And with that, you know, we lose the curation of like, oh, you know, this brings culture. And I think like, that's my thing. Like, you know, I created this podcast to bring stories, to bring stories about everybody to the people who don't know that there are stories to be talked about. And it's crazy that, you know,
00:45:10
Speaker
Even though I don't bring it up all the time that this is like what this is is actually just a representation of culture. We don't know what the sneaker culture is, the status of it is at this moment because everything you see or hear about is either forced down your throat or by people that talk about it because they are able to get it and they have the money for it or
00:45:35
Speaker
It's just hype and it's hard to be like, yo, there's more to that than this, you know? I mean, I'm glad that you use the word culture, even though it's one of those words, right? Like we can put them on to a category of the most overused words in the past five years. Energy, culture, and there's a couple of other ones, but culture as a pure definition is
00:45:59
Speaker
definitely what brings me closest to footwear, right? Because out of the 14 Nike ID Air Force Ones that I made, each and every single one of them is inspired by some aspect of some culture that has influenced me and shaped me as a person over time.
00:46:19
Speaker
When it comes to those stories, those are the stories that make people fall in love with collaborations. When it comes to these companies that get together, like where is the culture, right? That's what we look for the most when it comes down to these
00:46:35
Speaker
these legendary moments that you could look at and be like, Hey, look, this is the shattered backboard Jordan one. Why is it the shattered backboard? Well, let's have this historic conversation about culture that defined a person's career and it defined so many lives in America.
00:46:52
Speaker
when they were watching this basketball game or something even as close to, you know, the air mag, like that is a cultural moment in America where this is pop culture, right? This is a movie that so many people reference back to the future.
00:47:09
Speaker
And these are the stories that bring people closest to their childhood or what they love the most. And that's what I love the most about the sneaker industry or just footwear in general. The fact that it's less about the actual shoe when it comes to these stories that you have, because you can have a conversation at a bar. Somebody might look down at your feet for five seconds and be like, yo, what are those?
00:47:32
Speaker
What's the story behind these shoes? Then you guys sit down at a table. You're no longer looking at each other's feet. You're looking at each other face to face or having a drink and you're having this long conversation about culture. And it's an overused word and it's lost its meaning. But when you really think about it, when you said nsp.org, I was like, man,
00:47:54
Speaker
I just remembered all the days that I would sit down there and literally source that website like an encyclopedia. Go to the legit check and be like, I want these shoes one day. I just want to read this story. Like, what is the story behind the Heaven's Gate SP? Let me flip down this way. What is the story behind the Dia de los Muertos? Like, why does it have skeletons? Why is it purple and black? Oh, wow. Not only did I learn about this, but I'm able to see what they look like when they're fake.
00:48:23
Speaker
and when they're real.
00:48:25
Speaker
I was able to spot out fakes in high school forever because that website too. Yeah, yeah. That's neither you nor they. Oh, no, you got to have to tell the story. You what? What did you call out somebody for? Oh, man. So I don't know how else to explain this, but anybody who listens to this, if you guys went to high school with me, you guys definitely know it was literally me and not to sound full of myself, but it was me and at least four of my closest friends at the time.
00:48:55
Speaker
We were the only guys who were wearing Supreme and we were the only guys who were wearing Nike SBs. And this was around the time where none of this was cool. So we were actually like culturally, we were setting ourselves back because we would get asked questions by girls like, why are you guys wearing a hat that says Supreme on it? That's stupid.
00:49:13
Speaker
Or we would walk into school wearing a pigeon shirt, and they'd be like, why is there pigeon shit on your shirt? You're like, wow, you bozo. And it's just like, no, you don't understand. There's cultural value here. Like, let me tell you the story. And it's just like, no, beat it.
00:49:29
Speaker
But man, we were the only guys who were actively going out there into Soho during the period of time where people would go into stores like Stephen Barry's and buying Marbury's or going to Manhattan Mall and going to Araposto. We were just like, we were going to Soho. We're going to Kid Robot. We were walking into Bape. We were going into Supreme. We were going into stores like clientele. We were like,
00:49:51
Speaker
this is our niche. We can skate everywhere and we could steal stickers off of stop signs and come back with these crazy stories and see people shooting heroin on the stoops. It was like this whole entire world was just unlocked. Just like when you play a video game and you're on a map and the map is black, but then when you walk through the map, it like unlocks itself. That's what life was like when we started going to Soho, but
00:50:15
Speaker
There were a couple of kids in school that I guess they started to find out shortly after, because this was around the retro phase where kids were wearing colored skinnies. Then you started seeing kids come to school with red jeans and mork and mendis. And we were like, that shade of silver is way too dark.
00:50:33
Speaker
We were like, that is not it. There were kids who would come with uncle dunks, with the duncles. And we were just like, nah, the Fatura logo does not look like that. The back of that shoe is not right. And there was this one kid who would come with the Dia de los Muertos dunks and we're just like, nah, that is way too orange. That is not how the shoe looks. And there was a kid with Heineken dunks. The star was off center. They look like Stella Artoa dunks.
00:51:04
Speaker
Like, bro, he has the Corona dunks off. He got, he got the Heineken with no alcohol in it.
00:51:15
Speaker
Yo, that's crazy. I wasn't able to be part of that. I've never been able to spot a fake in real life. So maybe I'm lucky. I remember I told the story of how I got my tweet as bees. It's my grail, one of my grails. And I remember looking at the legit check page and trying to see if I could tell these were fake.
00:51:40
Speaker
Because I'm just like, no way, this is like 100, this is like 120. And I'm just like, no way these are real, no way these, I'm looking and then I get them in and I'm just like, okay, let me line up the box, let me see, let me line up all the plaid on it, let me look at it. I mean, to me, they legit, I don't know, man. I might have to show you a picture so you can tell me if they're fake. I mean, at this point, they're real, I don't care, that's it.
00:52:04
Speaker
I'm not showing you. I'm not showing you. Nevermind. Man, the best one actually was there was this kid who, I mean, I still don't know to this day if he even knew they were fake. I'm pretty sure he didn't because he just like, if anybody asked him, he was just like, bro, my mom bought me. He's like, I don't know.
00:52:24
Speaker
He really like, it wasn't even him selling the story. Like he truly didn't know what they were and his mom bought them for him, but they were Melvin's. And the black ones, the black ones, we just knew they weren't real. We're like, the stitching is off. The embroidery on the back is not right. Like the swoosh is a little way too low. The panel on the lateral side is not matching up. It was just all man. Like we would just go in with ourselves. Like we wouldn't.
00:52:52
Speaker
We wouldn't be forthcoming with telling kids that their shoes were fake, but, you know, when we got together and we would just sit down at the lunch table, we would see kids walk by. We'd just be like, I know you see what I'm seeing, right? Those are not real. They'd just be like, hold on, let me try to go to the trash can really quick and get a little bit closer. So then they come back and be like, nah, man, those are those are not real. No, no, no.
00:53:19
Speaker
No, we're not going to tell them. It's all right. Oh, man. I feel I would. I would feel bad. I would feel bad. I would. I don't know if I don't. Yeah. I think you guys did it right. I don't think telling them because like because during that that era, it was like you could tell a fake Jordan and people will be like, yo, then you get you get clowned. But you can wear a pair of fake dunks in high school and people not know because people weren't really messing with dunks during that time.
00:53:47
Speaker
No, not at all, man. And when I really think about it, I don't think that people like us give ourselves enough credit for literally being ahead of a multi-billion dollar industry before it happened.
00:54:04
Speaker
Let's estimate that value at multi-trillion dollar industry because Supreme alone sold for $2 billion to the Carlyle Group. So let's include the macrocosm of footwear into that with the resale market and just say that we were literally ahead of a
Exploring Soho's Streetwear Scene
00:54:23
Speaker
multi-trillion dollar industry before it ever even happened.
00:54:27
Speaker
Nah, yeah. And it's crazy because people don't realize that we are the consumer. As the consumer, we have the power to be like, yo, this is what's going to be next. Or like, this is where my heart of money is going towards. In the beginning, like when you're a kid, or like a kid's now these days, they just look at it and just be like, oh, I got to spend my money on this because I don't want to be out of trend.
00:54:55
Speaker
I hate saying back in the day, but I'm gonna just say it back in the day. It wasn't about being in trend. It's about being ahead of the trend. I mean, at least that was it for me.
00:55:06
Speaker
Yeah, no, no, no, for sure. Like that, that was definitely what we felt whenever we were going to these stores, like Kid Robot, we were like, man, they have some really cool clothes, but they have these really cool vinyl collectibles that are actually a lot cooler to showcase in your room because you can't put your t-shirts on a rack and put them on a shelf. Like these figures can go on a shelf. And this was before anything else to the point where Kid Robot,
00:55:34
Speaker
was priced like bait back then. And not too many people even know that. Like there was literally a period of time where if you walked into kid robot, a sweater or a hoodie or a jacket would probably run you anywhere between 150 to $200. And this was when they only use the robot head logo. Man, it was a different time, but we were just able to forecast all of these trends to the point where
00:56:03
Speaker
We just don't give it, we don't give ourselves enough credit because then if you take a look at what everything is to this day, none of what we see as popular culture, again, using the word culture would exist without us being the consumers first, right? Because, you know, like me going to camp out for the Japan box logo t-shirt, me along with everybody else who was on that line at that time,
00:56:32
Speaker
we're responsible for helping Supreme get one step closer to saying, Hey, we did really good on these shirts. Let's do it again. Right. And it wasn't just me myself as an individual. Again, I was standing on that line with a couple of people. It was probably just about like, let's say at that time, maybe 70 of us, maybe 50, maybe 40, but as the day goes on, you have another 70 people come and as consumers,
00:56:58
Speaker
That's what drives a company to scale from just one small store to selling at an estimated $2 billion to the Carlyle Group and opening up down in Brooklyn, moving from that first storefront all the way down to Bowery, having stores in Japan. It's just this touring concept that you have to keep on bringing to the masses.
00:57:21
Speaker
let people understand that there is something that's scalable here to the point where Nike SB was Nike SB, but now you have Nike SB.org. Now you have Strictly Supreme. Now you have Soul Collector, all these offshoots that are just... ISS. Yeah. It's just the same story of people nerding out like us. And I don't think that people understand that
00:57:42
Speaker
geeking out about the culture of things and being a nerd. I hate to use the word nerd, but it's probably the easiest word to describe what it is when you're in a fixinado of something. It's what drives the company to become a lot more popular.
00:57:57
Speaker
you take a look at somebody like Virgil and you listen to the way that he speaks, I'm pretty sure that anywhere between 20 to 25 years ago, people probably thought this guy is a geek or a nerd. He's obsessed with architecture and he's obsessed with clothing. There was nothing cool about it at that time is what I'm trying to say, right? Like in my day back in your day,
00:58:20
Speaker
being a nerd. I think we're around the same day, man. Yeah. My yesterday is yours. Yeah. And I mean, like, I get that, like, um, you know, people think we're, I, and I still
00:58:35
Speaker
people don't understand, like, you know, we have excess of sneakers and people are just like, oh, why don't you just sell them? But I'm just like, you have an, or like you, you talk to them and you're like, but what do you collect? And then they're like, oh, you know, I collect, you know, uh, comics, or like I collect the, uh, Pokemon cards and, and, and you're just like, yeah, because you enjoy them. But like at the end of the day, they're sitting in the house and
00:59:02
Speaker
You can't really take them out because you're like, oh, I'm going to devalue them. Right. So that's the same thing as sneakers. Like, you know, like you can look at them as it's just a collectible or you can look at it like, yo, I'm wearing my stuff like or, you know, how some people take out their collectible figures and put them on a shelf because they're like, you know what? I'm enjoy this. Like, I don't have to keep this in the box. I could just put this up on the shelf and enjoy it. Right. So, you know, it's a lot of people don't realize that it's a double standard when it comes to like
00:59:31
Speaker
I always thought like that people people just look at sneakerhead people or people who are sneaker enthusiasts as like they're just crazy. And you're just like, well, why? You know, just because the box is bigger and it takes up more space that now that now we're crazy looking. Trust me, man, as a Dominican, well, as a first generation Dominican born American, right? My mom, when she started seeing
01:00:01
Speaker
the way that I was building up my sneaker wall with all these boxes, she was like, what are you doing? She's like, why is there a wall of sneakers in your room? What's going on with you? Why are you doing that? The concept, and I'm not going to lie to you, the concept of having a sneaker room or having a sneaker wall
01:00:24
Speaker
They didn't really click in my mind or register. I thought that at the time, because I didn't have disposable income, I was still a kid. I didn't think that the idea of having multiple sneakers was something that made sense until I started realizing, no, there's a lot more value in collecting this and keeping them as not only options to wear throughout the week, but this is art that you can showcase.
01:00:47
Speaker
There's no difference between having a sneaker on a shelf or having a book on a shelf or having a figure or having a statue or sculpture. Honestly speaking, they're all aesthetically pleasing. And there's a reason why you have the Whitney Museum or you have the Met or you have the MoMA. But then if you go to Toronto, you have the Bata Shoe Museum.
01:01:09
Speaker
It's a really small museum. I'm not going to lie. I actually visited there about two years ago, but at the end of the day, it's a touring concept. You can take this around the world and showcase a product that people really value because there is value there.
01:01:23
Speaker
Or, I mean, you can treat yourself as the museum and just be like, yo. Yes. I was thinking the same thing. Yeah. I curated this because, and like, I'm just going to chill with my peoples, but everybody around me understands that this has a meaning or this, like, you know, like, I don't, I don't, I always stress, you know, don't dress for other people, always dress for you. But, you know, like if you want to stunt, I will not hate on that. You know what I mean?
01:01:53
Speaker
Black's culture is definitely something that either ruins everything or amplifies it or it leads to NFTs and that's just where the world is at. Oh my God. No, don't put me down another hole, man. As we end up towards the end of the podcast, man, I got to ask you the question, which we kind of started talking about. What does the thrill of the hunt mean to you?
01:02:24
Speaker
To me, the thrill of the hunt is what makes you wake up in the morning, right? You all have a morning routine when you wake up in the morning. You all have schedules, these things that you want to get done throughout the day, but we all leave space in our minds for something that is either driven by leisure or something that's driven by personal interest or hobby or something that you might just have been obsessing over the past couple of days that you have an open page on your tab on the internet.
01:02:53
Speaker
For me, it's that. It's the idea that's always running in the back of my operating system that I would call my brain. For me, it's the difference between how much you spend to acquire something and where you want to acquire something. Because again,
01:03:13
Speaker
wrapping it back to the conversation of how people go to insane lengths to just have a flex in today's society. To me, it's not about how much you spend.
01:03:24
Speaker
And you can apply that logic to anything, whether it's cars, whether it's food, whether it's any industry that we all take a part in on a daily basis. To me, there's a lot more value and sentiment than there is on a price tag. And the thrill of the hunt for me is always driven behind what kind of a story am I going to tell when I get back home or when I finally meet my friends later or when I go to this barbecue.
01:03:51
Speaker
what is it that's really gonna grab people's attention? And it's not that I think about grabbing people's attention first, it's whatever grabs my attention first. And when it comes down to the thrill of the hunt, I'm definitely a lot more driven by the value and sentiment.
01:04:08
Speaker
because that's what's going to make anybody scavenge the earth. There's a lot of things that I still would love to have for my childhood, but guess what? I'll never be able to have these things ever again because either they don't exist anymore or the technology wasn't there to record these moments anymore. And when you get closer to that, that's the reason why all of these industries run on a retro cycle and things keep on coming out over and over and over again to the point where
01:04:35
Speaker
You know, Nike has a specific department that's dedicated to literally archiving their own work and making sure that they recreate that same exact model so that their archive doesn't deteriorate preservation. Preservation is what I, preservation and sentiment is what definitely fuels a throw for the hunt for me. Yeah. Perfectly put. Let everybody know where to find you.
01:05:05
Speaker
Got it. Well, you can definitely find myself, my personal page on Instagram at, at St. Andoni Leon. That's S A I N T A N D O N I S L E O N. You can follow my business page at New York.
01:05:22
Speaker
And you can find the website at mute new york.com as well. We just had a collaboration with basic space, but all those sweatshirts are sold out. That's the running joke. That's the team sold out. This podcast is sold out now either be doing a really good job at
01:05:40
Speaker
making things that people like or not enough of a good job at keeping things in stock. I keep telling you, it's a good problem to have. It definitely is, man. It definitely is at this point. Yo, thanks for jumping on. And for everybody out there, you know what I say, wear your kicks. Peace. For sure.