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The Entrepreneurial Spirit with Aaron Jones
62 Plays2 years ago
We are joined by our very first guest, the magnificent Aaron Jones, @tailortron, tailor extraordinaire, cyclist, entrepreneur, hat wearer, husband, Son of Baltimore, and much more.
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Transcript
Introduction of Podcast and Guest
00:00:00
Speaker
Hi, I'm Connor Fowler. And I'm Matt Smith. And you are now listening to Apocalypse Duds. Apocalypse Duds. Nice. So today we are in Mount Vernon, a neighborhood in central Baltimore. We are joined by our very first guest, the magnificent Aaron Jones at Taylortron, Taylor extraordinaire, cyclist, entrepreneur, hat wearer, husband, son of Baltimore and much, much more.
Aaron's Background and Entrepreneurial Roots
00:00:26
Speaker
How are you doing today, Aaron?
00:00:28
Speaker
I'm good, man. That was a hell of an intro. You know a lot about me, bro. That's awesome. Where exactly in Baltimore are you from? So I was born in West Baltimore. Growing up, I pretty much lived every corner of Baltimore City. I call myself on the inner city.
00:00:56
Speaker
a army brat, but a Baltimore city brat. So grew up in Baltimore, lives in East Baltimore, lives in Baltimore County. And these are all just like by default, mom really could make the ends meet. So we did a lot of moving when I was a kid. But I spent a majority of my childhood in West Baltimore. Nice. Aaron, how old are you? I'm a whopping 35, man. I'll be 35.
00:01:24
Speaker
couple months. So like 34 couple quarters. I bet you've seen Baltimore change like crazy, right?
Discovering Sewing and Fashion
00:01:33
Speaker
Yeah, man. When I was a kid, my grandparents came up doing a great migration from Greenville, North Carolina. And essentially what they did was, once they got here, they pretty much started businesses. My grandfather was a
00:01:52
Speaker
He was an A-Rapper, like he bought fruit. He had... Tell us what an A-Rapper is. So an A-Rapper is essentially the fruit man, right? Probably mostly in West Baltimore. There's tons of stables. Back in the day, Baltimore was definitely the agriculture kind of city, but it was also one of the largest ports in the East Coast. So to make ends meet, my grandfather and my uncles and
00:02:20
Speaker
You know, pretty much everybody was old enough to work. They had a stable in West Baltimore, not far from Hollis Market. And then every day they would throw fruit on the back of this basket, on this wheel-drawn cart, and they'd walk them down the streets, and they'd say, watermelon, peaches, peaches, yelling down the streets, singing music. And I remember, you know, as far as I can remember as a kid,
00:02:43
Speaker
I would be like in a cart handing people fruit. It's probably the coolest thing ever at that point, but I think that's where my entrepreneur spirit came from. Oh, absolutely. That's rad. I never would have thought that Baltimore was like an agricultural kind of hub either, but I guess it makes sense.
00:02:59
Speaker
Yeah, well, not for growing necessarily, but because of support, it's the first place where everything goes to get everything everywhere else. Right. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. So that's the only reason why. I mean, there's a lot of our agriculture, obviously, like in Baltimore County. People come down into the city to sell to us. But just growing up, it was tons of things. They cut down Christmas trees for the winter. They tarred roofs, big barrel of tar, and they would climb up on roofs with steel boots.
00:03:27
Speaker
You know, they were entrepreneurs for sure, man. And I'm blessed to say I'm a product of that. Yeah, that's awesome. I do still have family in the South. It's not very many. They're probably like my very, very distant relatives now at this point.
00:03:52
Speaker
My aunt still has land and stuff down there, but she's so far removed. It's been so, so long. The patriarch and matriarchs that were pretty much in my family that were still down there, they all passed away. All of theirs land in a nice old house. I can tell you tons of stories about chasing chickens and seeing a chicken in his head cut off for the first time. After that, it was a city boy ever since. You know what I mean?
00:04:25
Speaker
Mm hmm. So we're all about the same age. Yeah, go ahead, Connor.
Fashion Philosophy and Individuality
00:04:35
Speaker
Yeah, I was going to ask you sort of going off of the entrepreneurial thing, what have you what have been the challenges in terms of finding your voice? Because it sounds like there are a lot of things for you to draw from, right? Like looking at your relatives and what they're doing. So how did you end up
00:04:54
Speaker
where you are with tailoring? So the sewing piece kind of came from kind of the same entrepreneurial spirit my grandfathers had, but they came from the matriarchs of the family, right? They all sewed. So my aunt, my uncles, and grandfathers are out in the street just trying to make a dollar. They were home making dresses and stuff for all the girls for Sunday. You know what I mean?
00:05:24
Speaker
It didn't really happen that way. I didn't pick up sewing that early in. When I started sewing, it was kind of by default, to be honest. We were living in East Baltimore, not far from Morgan, in this one particular summer. Mom was trying to make the ends meet, but she also couldn't entertain me for the summer. She had to go to work. So that means Aaron has to stay home by himself, right? And then when Aaron stays home by himself,
00:05:51
Speaker
He's outside with his friends who are home by themselves and you end up running around like stealing bikes and throwing rocks at things you shouldn't be throwing rocks at. This one particular summer I got a lot of trouble and my mom was pretty much like, you know what? You're going to stay in the house until school starts. So I sat at a piano.
00:06:13
Speaker
that sucked. I tried to cook food, almost burnt up the house. I pretty much played video games until my eyeballs fell out of my head. And at that point, the internet was very new. It was AOL. So it was dialed in. So I didn't really get
00:06:34
Speaker
you know, in depth into that until it was a little bit more accessible for, you know, kids my age. So all that was left was this Reiki Dink sewing machine. My mom used to kind of sit and sew curtains and, you know, just kind of odds and stuff around the house and just from people who kind of wanted stuff at church. And then one day I was like, you know what, I had this shirt and I was like, you know what, the shirt would be cooler if it looked like this. Right. So I sat down at sewing machine, my mom came home and oddly enough, she didn't really
00:07:03
Speaker
She didn't really give me a hard time about sewing without axing. I think she was pretty intrigued by the fact that I was sitting at the sewing machine and I was actually making some progress. It wasn't very good at all. But at that point, she leaned into it. She took me to Joanne's Fabric. She said, look, I can't really pay for clothes, all the cool stuff you want to go to first day of school. But you seem to have picked up on this. So let's make some clothes. So my whole first, like,
00:07:34
Speaker
one or two weeks of school, I had an outfit every day. Oh, that's awesome. And I really, really got good at it. I mean, I kind of spoiled myself because I got to the point where I didn't have to wear anything twice. You know what I'm saying? And not to mention, I didn't have to have anything anybody else had. And I've always been a leader, but also a very lonely roller. I was never a follower. I never really got into
00:08:03
Speaker
peer pressure, you know what I'm saying? Like if people were doing something and I just didn't want to, it was cool. And if they were doing something and I wanted to, that was cool too. But either way, I was never like peer pressure to do anything. So being different and isolated is something I pretty much like leaned into forever. And, you know, during the school year, I will keep selling them in the off season of sports. So I wasn't playing football, I wasn't playing lacrosse.
00:08:28
Speaker
I was sitting in the sewing machine in a crib. I got less and less away from the neighborhood. I had tons of friends in the neighborhood who just couldn't find their way, so they ended up selling drugs and getting into a whole bunch of other shit that they probably shouldn't have. And to be honest with you, I say this every day. I think the sewing machine saved my life. I think it really, really put things in perspective for me, but also showed me, damn, you can actually love something and make some money out of it.
00:08:58
Speaker
You know what I mean? That's incredible. Thank you. Thank you. Really appreciate it. How old were you when you started messing around with the sewing machine? I think I was about, I was in the eighth grade, so I was probably like 14.
00:09:19
Speaker
Was that like the first kind of experience you had being interested in clothes or did that start before? So my interest in clothes actually came from my sister, right? So like I said, my mom was a single mom. She raised both me and my sister. My mom really didn't know what I should be wearing or buying.
00:09:40
Speaker
And my sister had a job, she worked in like Chuck E. Cheese and Jeepers and shit like that. And so when she got paid, she would go and buy me like the latest sneakers, you know, she'd buy me like, you know, because we also went to the same school. So like when I was in elementary school, she was in middle school, we went to Rollin Park. And I mean, as you know, like before uniforms were a thing.
00:10:02
Speaker
You know, if you go to school and you don't have the right stuff for a man, you get teased, you get clowned, you know what I'm saying? And my sister's defense was, make sure my little brother's fresh so nobody bothers him. You know what I'm saying? So that sparked my interest in clothes, like actually like putting things together, like these should be with that. And if I wanna wear this, you know what? Let's wear this hat with it or whatever. And then after that, I was like, damn, I can make my own clothes. Right, dude, opens up a whole new world.
00:10:31
Speaker
It's very funny because that was a question that was in the list of questions was going to be like, did you wear uniforms at school? So I was going to ask you, how do you plan your outfits? Well, what I used to do was when I was a kid, it would really just be based on loosely what trends were happening. And I would try to stay as far away from that as possible.
00:10:59
Speaker
At one point what was happening was it was all about the Jordan trend, right? Like Jordan's and having the matching color shirt and blue jeans and maybe a fitted or something. That was a thing. And then there was a Jersey era where if you had the best $300 Jersey and Air Force Ones were clean every day, like you were the man.
00:11:18
Speaker
I probably had over $3,000, $4,000 in football and basketball. Jersey was fucking ridiculous, to be honest. And then once I got towards the end of my high school career, I really, really delve into individuality. At that point, it was all about the back of your jeans. It was all about timberlands and that kind of shit. And I started wearing skinny jeans.
00:11:48
Speaker
I started wearing Chuck Taylors. I started wearing
Sustainable Fashion and Thrifting
00:11:51
Speaker
T-shirts that were considered rags. And to be honest with you, it was purely out of like, I don't care anymore.
00:12:00
Speaker
You know what I'm saying? I think I cared for so long and then I realized like I have more fun getting dressed. I have more fun getting dressed without super concern. You know what I'm saying? I think the idea for me is collecting, is buying pieces in the outfits. So when I get dressed, to answer your question, Connor, when I get dressed in the morning, it's really about how I feel today. You know what I mean? Like some days I might be like, you know,
00:12:26
Speaker
You kind of want to be suited and booted. I might throw in a suit on and some loafers or some shit. And I might not have anywhere to go but come to this tail shot. And there's other days where I might get back into that Jersey thing. I still like jerseys now because I wear a basketball jersey and some shorts and it's comfortable.
00:12:49
Speaker
You get to a point where some things don't really matter as much, but I think being a business owner kind of helps that too as well. Yeah, totally. And specifically, being a business owner that works in the clothing industry. For example, Michelin star chefs, they leave work and they love going to Taco Bell.
00:13:12
Speaker
You know what I'm saying? They can't wait to get the shitty food. They want to eat Cheetos and shit. They're not going home preparing wagyu fillets.
00:13:22
Speaker
fucking fingerling potatoes. That's not what they're doing. Because we're around it all day. And our focus is to make sure that the world is happy by way of the talent that God has given us. To be honest, I do have pockets of time where I'm getting up in the morning and I'm being considered about what I'm wearing. But obviously, with so many factors, you gain in weight and where you're going to work.
00:13:47
Speaker
what types of events you're hanging out, what types, who are your friends these days? All these things have a huge influence with how you present yourself. So lately I'm pretty much spread thin across the board in all of those factors. So it depends what day of the week it is. You know what I'm saying? Like one day I might be, like I said, I might want to dress up like Dapper Dan and another day I might be some bum on the street. You know what I mean?
00:14:12
Speaker
I think that's how it should be, you know, like people that get too wrapped up into one particular thing, like, I mean, I think everybody's done that. But, you know, it's, it's more enjoyable for me to like, especially as I've gotten older, like, Oh, yeah, like, I can, you know, I can throw on a pocket tee and like a pair of jeans, or I can, you know, I can always have a jacket on. But, you know, like, it's just,
00:14:41
Speaker
It's just one of those things. It's also really funny to me, going back to something you said a few minutes ago, how many people that are in the clothing industry and or interested in clothes start with sneakers? Because I definitely did. As a kid, that was the ship we were growing up. For sure. For sure. I mean, that was the gateway, right? You can't even fuck about anything else you have. If you got on a fresh pair of feet, shit, you can have one.
00:15:06
Speaker
holy t-shirt and all kinds of shit. Doesn't even matter. I think now though, it's changed so much for what I remember. It's less lenient now than it's ever been. And I enjoy... I don't like all facets of the world right now presently, but when it comes to clothes and fashion, I enjoy the space it's in. Oh, totally.
00:15:34
Speaker
Even the younger kids, you see them and they're like, dude, they're back to wearing Lee Dungarees. You know what I'm saying? They're back, they're thrifting again. You know what I'm saying? It's not really about having the high end Gucci shirt or the true religion jeans and all that shit. It's like, yeah, you can't even afford that. You know what I'm saying? Right. People are giving each other less heart over time. These kids are giving each other less heart over time because it's like, you know what? Let's figure out who you are.
00:16:01
Speaker
You know what I'm saying? We have these social media and all this other stuff. And now I think people's talents and their individuality is so much louder than their wealth and their worth. You know what I'm saying? Right. For sure. Where people aren't really so heavy into fashion, but the people are very respectful of it. So I enjoy it immensely.
00:16:22
Speaker
Hell yeah. It opens up a whole new world and kind of allows an escape to like, Oh, I can, I can, you know, look at this cool shit that I've made in your case or, you know, or I can think about how fucked up everything is right now. Right. Let's focus on the things that matter. You know what I'm saying? Did you, did you do a lot of secondhand shopping and thrifting like when you were coming up or.
00:16:51
Speaker
Oh yeah, for sure. I was ahead of the thrifting curve. You know what I'm saying? Oh, hell yeah. Is that where you would get some of the stuff? To like, you know, to fix up. To repurpose? Yeah, man, for sure. Like I couldn't really like, obviously mom couldn't pay for shit, right? So, you know, she tried her best, but the same experience happened again, like went to a thrift store and she saw I was taking a liking to it.
00:17:20
Speaker
and she would go to thrift store like, yo, his 30 bucks go crazy. You know what I'm saying? And it felt like a game. You know what I mean? Like you got 30 bucks, you're in this thrift store and you walk out with a haul. You know what I'm saying?
00:17:36
Speaker
And at that point, I was buying corduroy blazers. I was buying old school wranglers, dungarees, shit like that, wide legs. And I would wear a hoodie under the blazer. And I would go crazy.
00:17:54
Speaker
You know what I mean? It was so fun. It was so, so fun. And now I go into a thrift store and I get anxiety. I'm like, shit. Too much going on in here. I'm freaking out. I got a buddy named Sharif. He's a thrifter, man. He goes like these thrift cons and he sells at these shows and all that. And the thrift world is so advanced now. You know what I'm saying?
00:18:22
Speaker
Oh, it definitely is. Just like everything else. You know what I mean? I remember being able to find an old band t-shirt, and it was always going to be $8 to $10, and now they're like $4.50. You know what I mean? Right. Yeah. And I understand the market shifts and changes and shit like that, and I respect it. But at the end of the day, it's like, I don't... Shit, $4.50. I need to go into a designer store. You know what I'm saying? Right. I just can't justify. I don't understand the character and how long
00:18:52
Speaker
It's been cycled in the world. I had this concept before about thrifting clothes. I wish each one of them had some type of barcode to tell a story about where it's been. How many people have touched this? This shirt had eyes. How many concerts? How many relationships has been through? And how many spins in the washer? I wish there were some stats on things you find in the thrift store. I thought that shit would be fucking amazing. Oh, that would be incredible.
00:19:23
Speaker
Yeah, man. But I think not knowing just leaves room for an imagination. You know what I'm saying? For sure. And I think people should also think about that. In the past, I have collected clothes and handed clothes down. And since I've become a tailor, and it's shocking, nobody talks about this, but the term clothes waste is a real thing, right?
00:19:52
Speaker
How many times do people put this bag of clothes in a bag and they're going to take it to the thrift store or the Goodwill and it never makes it there. It just goes to the trash. So yeah, since we came to Taylor, I realized clothing waste is a thing. And being in Taylor, what I try to do is motivate people to like, let's save the garments that you spend your money on. So instead of buying like a new pair of jeans or a new shirt, like let's educate people on what can be fixed and what can we save.
00:20:22
Speaker
You know what I mean? It's a new found respect for how clothes should be respected, but it's also something that people never pay attention to. You know what I'm saying? There's people outside that are homeless looking for clothes to wear. Find somebody. Find a friend. Give them somebody you need to, man. Stop throwing this shit away. I've seen tons of clothes get thrown away. And also, they have these cool places. They have these rag houses, right?
00:20:52
Speaker
where there's mounds and mounds of clothing from all over the world. I'm just happy that somebody's taking the responsibility to make sure they go to a good home. It's pretty dope. Yeah, it definitely is. As a tailor, what kind of percentage would you think is
00:21:12
Speaker
you know, helping somebody save a piece that they've already got, like either make it fit better or, or, or, you know, kind of customize it, uh, versus like what you're making on your own. Um, I don't really, it's really hard to measure, you know? Um, I do have clients, uh, called a repeat offenders, right? Um, that essentially,
00:21:39
Speaker
When they come the first time to get their taste, they're like, let me see what this is alike. And then they get here and they're like, oh my God, this is the coolest shit I've ever been a part of. They really have a great time, but I'm also big in being transparent about what people are getting into. I feel like a tailoring experience should be very educational, especially for people who have no concept or understanding of like, they know they have to wear clothes and they're like, man, I fucking don't like to have to care about it. You know what I'm saying?
00:22:08
Speaker
People like us, we really, really enjoy our clothes. You know what I mean? But imagine, like, since everybody has to wear clothes, imagine the people who just really don't. And they have these really great jobs, and they have to be a part of a working society, have to go to work, they have to present themselves and such. I'm here to provide education to make sure it's not as painstaking as it might seem to them, right? So typically what I do, man, is when they come, they bring their first garment, just to answer your question,
00:22:38
Speaker
after the first time they fall in love, they're back next week with five and six pairs of pants. I don't know how much clothes they have in their closet to give a solid percentage of what they're saving, but just the frequency and how often I might see
Business Growth and Future Plans
00:22:53
Speaker
one customer at a time might give me an idea that I'm actually providing something that might help. And I think that's worth more than
00:23:01
Speaker
Anything, you know what I mean? It's worth more than anything in this world. You actually can provide some assistance in a space where people aren't very familiar with. That's what the service industry is about. It's people like you that are teaching others that, oh yeah, you can just fix the stuff that you've got already. From my perspective, you take that mentality of, say, your grandparents and whatnot, and your mom.
00:23:31
Speaker
Oh yeah, you can do this and this that will not cost anything other than a little bit of labor and kind of showing people that that mentality still exists. Yeah, and obviously classism, right? Something that we live on in America. I think it allows people who don't have the advantage to buy the things that look great already.
00:24:00
Speaker
it gives people to be able to establish their own types of identity. Even people who thrift, I think them knowing and being aware of the tailoring side of the business, I think it opens up their window to how much they can actually purchase now. You know what I'm saying? Oh, totally. If you buy this shirt, you might not buy it because there's a hole in something or some shit. You're like, yo wait, I can get this fixed. Sell me a shirt for $3 because it's holding it.
00:24:25
Speaker
And a lot of people might walk over it, like they're just like, oh, I don't want this piece of shit. You know what I'm saying? There might be a shirt and it's like, you know, it might be like three sizes too big, but you absolutely love it. You know what I'm saying? So you kind of giving people the education of what tailoring is. Like it's not a regal experience. It's not just for rich people in royalty. It's for people who just can't help from being too short or too tall.
00:24:51
Speaker
You know what I'm saying? And that's something across the board that all classes, all levels of classism have the same struggle. You know what I'm saying? So I was trying to provide awareness to individuals that like, you know, this is not just for one style of people. You know what I'm saying? Like, this is for all of us. We can do hoodies, we'll do sweatshirts, not just for evening wear and suits and formal wear. It's for all the above. So if you like it, we provide a solution.
00:25:20
Speaker
and then you can be on your way. Fuck yeah. Yeah, man. Aaron, I was going to ask you if there is a sewing machine that you have been longing after. Is there a super sewing machine that you have not purchased yet that you're trying to buy? Actually, I just bought it, to be honest. Let's check it. It's like sitting in front of you. It talks to you and all kinds of shit. It's fucking wild. Did you get it?
00:25:50
Speaker
Yeah, so Juki has come out with a Juki straight stitch machine. It's called a, I think it's D-U-N, D-N-U 1685 or some shit. I know none of that matters or whatever, but it's actually, it's a straight stitch machine, but it's the first digital straight stitch machine at this affordable cost. This machine back in, if this machine was sold maybe five or 10 years ago,
00:26:17
Speaker
It'd probably be close to like $3,000 or $4,000. Now it's $1,600. $1,600 now, you know what I'm saying? It's also like a workhorse machine. It's strictly for manufacturing. It cuts thread on its own. It tells you when it's out of oil. It tells you your working pace. Yo, you're actually kicking ass today.
00:26:39
Speaker
It tells you, it's pretty, pretty tight, man. And it's really like, just from a production standpoint and getting work done, you never realize, you're never conscious about what the bottleneck is when it comes to time.
00:26:53
Speaker
And in the bottlenecks sometimes for sewing, it's like me having to stop, take a pair of scissors, snip them, put it down, pull it from the machine. This machine will lift the foot up automatically. It cuts the thread. It is fucking insane. So as of now, that's the one that's on my radar. And it's mainly because of needs. Obviously, there's some other machines that I would really love to have. But as of now, it's pretty much the one. The one and only at the moment.
00:27:23
Speaker
Yeah, I was curious. It's sewing machine or something. I really don't know very much about it. Can we pause this for a second? Somebody's knocking at the store, unfortunately. Yeah. Hell yeah. Hell yeah. Definitely get the neon sign. Because I sent Matt a picture of the space out there. It looks great, man. It looks great. Yeah, it's incredible, dude. Thanks. Thanks, man. It's been a long time coming, to be honest. This entire shop, man. I've been here for about seven years now.
00:27:49
Speaker
And my advice to all business owners, just from this experience right here, the only way to eat elephant is one piece at a time. You know what I'm saying? Right. This shop has gotten to this point just one step at a time, man. You paint one wall one day, paint another wall, add some pieces here, refine and repeat, refine, polish, repeat, refine, polish, repeat. You know what I'm saying? And over time, man, we've become
00:28:19
Speaker
probably the number one tailor right here in Baltimore City. And it's been amazing. Easily. I don't have a lot of employees. I have one sewer and I have one, one of my buddies, he works in front of the house for me. It's kind of a huge help. And the way we kind of managed all that, like last month, we saw 70 people.
00:28:39
Speaker
70 clients, right? Wow. And that means we sold over a hundred pieces of clothing, right? Because 70 people, they all have like three or two or whatever. And the way we do it, man, is essentially with efficiency. You know what I'm saying? It's not really about the big team and the fast team. It's about the team that has the best strategy. You know what I mean? Totally. I figured if I could work on reaching my ceiling with only three employees,
00:29:10
Speaker
And with this strategy, I can assume that if I had four or five, I'd be a monster. You know what I mean? You're just going to build on top of what you... You got your base level and you're just going to keep building up on that. Absolutely. And then just get it to the point where I can just kind of take the same equation and just drop it in another store in another state.
Balancing Business with Personal Life
00:29:32
Speaker
So, butchers in New York City, butchers of DC, butchers of Vermont, butchers of wherever the fuck.
00:29:40
Speaker
Oh, I would love to, man. One of my good friends is a hat maker. Yo, it's like another addiction of mine. He's a hatter at Buckhead Village. Oh, shit. Okay. What's the shop called? It's called BM Franklin. Yeah. Really nice. That sounds super familiar. You've probably seen him before. You've probably seen him on Instagram or something like that. He's a super cool dude, man. He and I have so much in common. We're like these
00:30:08
Speaker
artisanal black men from our home cities who started business from the mud. And now we've grown to the point where we're getting some exposure and really enjoying our talents. And then in the future, I've talked to everybody. He's like, yo, come down here with me. We can do this shit together. And I'm like, dude.
00:30:30
Speaker
Let me get this one working first. So that way I'm not going to close this and move it. I just have two levels. Totally. Totally. So it's fun, man. It's a lot of fun. This shop has been, it's essentially like my man cave. I live across the street. So when I want to just get away for a minute, kind of just do my own thing. If I want to sell and be creative, I'm going to watch football with my buddies. Like this is my basement. You know what I'm saying? It just happens to be where I handle my profession.
00:31:00
Speaker
It's a blessing, man, and I love this place. It's been a long time coming. And I'm sure we'll have more, you know, add more things and subtract more things along the way, but it's just a great part of the process, man. You know, it's so much fun. I mean, there are some dark days where things are like, you're not really sure if you can actually finish, if you actually have the wherewithal to get through some things, but
00:31:23
Speaker
It's so many positive days, man, seeing people's faces when they leave here and they're satisfied about the clothing and stuff they brought here, the service and how much we have attention to detail for what they need, but also providing them like, we're real like, like one-on-one, like, yo, you don't need this. You know what I'm saying? Like, I feel like service providers, they struggle because they're so interested in making the money and they don't realize that they would make more money if they just, just be honest with people. You know what I'm saying?
00:31:53
Speaker
Don't take this person's money if you can't do this job. You know what I mean? That's one thing. And then the other side is like, tell them what they're doing. Like how many times have we gone to a mechanic and they say all these words about pieces of the car that we have no idea what it means. Like, I don't know what the fuck a catalytic, I don't know what a catalytic converter is. I don't know what the fuck that is. You would tell me, oh, you need a catalytic converter and your pistons aren't turning right. So you're going to need to get a, dude, just stop the car from making noise. And then they take seven grand from you.
00:32:23
Speaker
It takes seven grand from me. And then later on you go to another, you go to somebody else and like, yo, you just need a fan belt, man. Yeah. Right. Right. You know what I'm saying? So the transparency and honesty in the service industry, man, has been my saving grace since how we get customers through the store to make sure that like, yo, let me tell you what you're paying for. Yo. And this is why this costs as much money and it's how long it takes. Um, and then if there's a chance that I'm not going to be done on time, I'm gonna make sure I tell you in advance on time.
00:32:51
Speaker
that we're going to need a day or another hour or something like that. And it just makes everybody's life easy. You know what I mean? I feel like if people just had a little bit more humility and a less personal gain out of every goddamn thing, I think the world would be a better place.
00:33:09
Speaker
So if I can't make the world a better place, I can make sure the shop is, you know what I'm saying? And that's just like one piece of the world, man. It can be a little better than most. So that's me doing my part. Hell yeah. And Connor, you had a
00:33:30
Speaker
You had a question. Yeah, I was gonna end by asking you, Asui, I looked through your Instagram. You must have at least 20 hats. What is your favorite hat? Oh, shit. Oh, man. To be honest, this is one of them. Nice. What is it? What does it say? It's a tasting. So it's tasting chicken, right? Oh, it's tasting chicken. Nice, local. Yeah, this is probably one of my favorite hats.
00:33:59
Speaker
I have over probably 40 plus hats, but mainly, but like Brims. I have some really interesting hats. The people are like, yo, what the fuck? Only Aaron can pull that off. And I have some hats that are sentimental to me. I've worn a hat since I was shit, like a really, really small kid. When I went out the house, my mother would really, really give me a hard time. If I left my hat somewhere,
00:34:30
Speaker
If I didn't wear one before I left, and she did that all through my life, even as an 18-year-old man, where's your hat? And I'm like, dude. And my grandfather used to say, he used this kind of haiku kind of thing. He said, you need to protect your brain. He says, you need to wear a hat on your head because you need to protect your brain. It's like your helmet, right? And I never really took it that serious.
00:34:58
Speaker
It was kind of just like, oh, it's just like silly grandfather saying shit. It just kind of doesn't make any sense, whatever. And then later on, I realized I was so attached to it. And it wasn't because they were kind of enforcing it, but it's kind of a gentleman's thing. You know what I'm saying? Like wearing a ballcat, man, wearing a nice brim on a Sunday afternoon, going to church. And it's kind of a gentleman's call to standard.
00:35:27
Speaker
My grandfather used to say, a man wears a watch. A man who doesn't wear a watch has no concept or respect for time. So these kind of small things are just kind of things that are really mean the most to me. And I'll obviously pass them down to my son someday. But as far as my hat's concerned, man, I love all of them. You know what I'm saying? I've got some crocheted ski mask and shit. I've got fucking
00:35:53
Speaker
I've got hats that have wild leather laces to wrap around the chin. Or some Buffalo Bill shit. I've got some great cowboy hats. You name it, man. My buddy Brandon, he's a hatter. I have a problem every time I see him. I'm like, yo, I need this one. I need that one. I need this one. And Alicia's like, look, you got to relax.
00:36:17
Speaker
He's like $700, $700 hats. You need to chill out. So it's hard to say, man. Right now, my other favorite one is the hat I got married in. Right. That's a great one. Did you make that tux? Did you make the tux? Yes, I made the tuxedo. Very, very well done. Thank you, man. Brandon made the hat for me. It's actually a beaver.
00:36:45
Speaker
So it's a beaver and it's like, it's actually like stiff as a board. Like it's like Lord Raiden style. Like, you know what I mean? Like straight flat, high and tight. Has a moat crown at the top, like a little divot. Like you can actually pour water in and it never comes through. It's probably one of my favorite hats. I mean, not only was it the hat I wore at my wedding, but my friend made it for me. And you know, those things mean a lot.
00:37:13
Speaker
I feel like over the years I've grown to love certain things I would never love as a kid, but being an artist in and also having attention to detail when it comes to clothing and all that stuff. I'm very different when it comes to shopping in the store, because I'm really concerned about like, this is cheap ass this, and this is cheap, and why is it six and $700?
00:37:38
Speaker
So I find myself just looking for special pieces, but also really being into people who are trying to make their own brands. You know what I'm saying? I love buying from small businesses. They're just trying to get out there. Because I remember when I wanted to get out there, and I was trying to do my best to show people, these are my products, and trying to sell and tell the story. And it's really hard to do that, man. You can't really just rely on it being dope. You got to have a compelling story to pull those muscles and strings.
00:38:07
Speaker
to get people very, very in tune and wrapped into what you're trying to lay down, you know what I mean? So, you know, at this point, you know, the shop is the focal point and, you know, hats are definitely a very, very special part of my life and eyeglasses and shit. And to be honest with you, like if I had, yo, eyeglasses, hats,
00:38:35
Speaker
I can be naked. If I got that shit, I'm good. You know what I'm saying? I'm straight. Yeah, it's a lot of fun, man. I haven't really been investing in those things a lot lately because I just got married and wanted to do some traveling and stuff with my wife and who knows in the future, maybe do some baby stuff. So this point is really about focusing on the business, making sure
00:39:03
Speaker
It was solid footing and making sure our business runs properly. So that way, if I'm not around, it can still work. And that's really just been the hardest thing lately. It's just making sure they're like, yo, Aaron can't work eight days a week. You know what I mean? There's only seven. Today's Monday. And I'm typically like, I try to pull. It's pulling teeth for me to stay in the house on a Monday and not work, especially because I'm across the street.
00:39:33
Speaker
Today, though, it was kind of different. I'm working on this project with Apple TV, which is kind of insane. I should have showed you the coats before they left, Connor. But I'm working on this project with Apple TV, this movie called Lady in the Lake with Natalie Portman. With Natalie Portman, right? Oh, shit. Yeah. Yeah. So they just went out the door. Literally, Connor walked to the back, and they were going out the other way.
00:40:02
Speaker
But those types of projects are the ones that are so worth it for me, especially on these Mondays, like rainy Monday, kind of sit in here, lock yourself in, sit in the sewing machine, play some music. It kind of just makes everything worth it. So it's good. Yeah, man. Well, thank you. I know you are a busy man, and we appreciate you giving us your time and at least letting me be here. Oh, yeah. For sure.
00:40:29
Speaker
Yeah, it's been a super interesting conversation too, man. I'm stoked to know you now. Yeah, for sure. Thank you so much, man. I can't wait to come to Atlanta. Hearing your story was fucking awesome. Yeah, dude, whenever you're down here, let me know. Nah, for sure, man. I'm actually going to plan to come down soon, man. Do some thrifting and drinking, man. Yeah, yeah. Maybe we'll all go down there. Dude. Hey, let me know, man. I'm ready. I'm ready. Come on. Come on.