From No Plan To Building a Career in Sneakers ( Brendan Dunne ) EP 31

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Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

We ended up living in Spain for a while and we had these like definitely illegal under the table jobs uh teaching at a at a English immersion school in in in Madrid. It felt like I was finally somewhere where sneakers mattered because where I grew up in Idaho that wasn't the case. While I was still in college, I started right. Yeah. For uh Sneaker News and for Jordan's Daily, which was another website they started at the time, it was right when they launched it. It was one of the first people blogging on there and Freshness Magazine, which is owned by the same squad. Yeah, I don't honestly use AI that much in my workflows right now. I probably should more, and uh a lot of the people I work with are are insistent upon us using it more, and I understand that. So are you still right now? No, not really. I mean, I write scripts for some of the videos I make, but I'm not in the content world as much now since joining StockX. I work more on the comms and more on the PR side. This chapter is over and the next chapter begins tomorrow. Yeah, I mean, we did the show Full Size Run for a few years, and then we did like the Complex Sneakers podcast at Complex. How did those come about?

SPEAKER_01 0:58

Is that is that like an internal thing, or are you like putting this out on the internet as a pants man?

SPEAKER_02 1:02

Um, this is this is the first time we've coined that, so we'll see if it has any traction. Okay. Complex spot Soul Collector. They were looking to build out the team. And um, yeah, the uh gentleman named Gerald Flores was was running the editorial operations for Soul Collector at the time. He reached out to me about being kind of the one of the news writers to to really again crank out posts. And I was like, that's something I know how to do. So that was how I came into the complex gold. I don't know, maybe I'm suffering too much from FOMO. My name is Brendan Dunn. I'm the senior director of customer community and engagement at StockX. I think a lot of people know me from my work in the sneaker blogging, sneaker media world. I was a complex for a decade before that, sneaker news, sites like that. So spent a long time writing about sneakers and now working on the marketplace side at StockX.

SPEAKER_01 1:48

Okay, I feel like halfway through your journey is like when I realized you were from around the area. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then I was like, oh, this is dope. Like, and then we, you know, connected over the years, things happen, and then boom, now we're here today. Yeah, so we got a lot to unfold, and uh I always like to go back farther. Sure, yeah. Um, so me personally, I love, you know, like I just said, real estate, finance, all the other stuff, and marrying the two worlds of sneakers and how do we navigate and learn those principles and then apply them to our worlds and other aspects of investment and stuff like that. Right. So, original days, paint the picture for me. Grade school, middle school era. What was the family dynamic at home? What did you know about like finances and being able to afford your own shoes or not? Did you have to buy them yourself? Like, what were the shoes that you coveted or did you even into it at that time?

SPEAKER_02 2:35

Yeah, for sure. I I was I was definitely into it more in high school. Like I didn't have the middle school, grade school experience of really wanting specific Jordans or dunks or anything like that because it wasn't really like a sports household, like basketball wasn't on on TV. We had one channel, we would watch NFL sometimes, so I don't really have that. Like I saw Michael Jordan do this, you know, or um um, but definitely wanted shoes really bad and started coveting shoes really bad in high school and didn't have much money of my own to get them. I mean, I was doing like summer jobs, and my stepdad had a record store that I worked at, and I would save a little bit of money through that and eventually able to to buy some shoes like that. But definitely I remember first understanding what collectible sneakers were, like probably 16, 17, and and looking through like CCS catalogs and things like that, and stumbling on Nike talk and trying to figure out how to buy a pair of cool-gray Jordan threes from somebody and how to send them money over the internet and how to hold them accountable, you know. Uh I I I I think I messed up. My first PayPal transfer ever was for a pair of cool-gray threes. Okay, and I don't know, I I sent it as like an e-check or some some way that wasn't the correct way.

SPEAKER_01 3:53

Yeah, and the guy was so annoyed, he's like, Oh my god, because it's like the processing time and they hold it, and yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 3:58

But they still sent me the shoes and it worked out for me. So yeah, yeah. It was uh okay.

SPEAKER_01 4:02

So wait, when did you graduate high school?

SPEAKER_02 4:04

2007.

SPEAKER_01 4:05

2007, okay. So I was 2010. Okay. So just right behind you uh in that era. So I'm just trying to think of that that time. We're definitely on very similar track lines uh with that. So going into high school, what got you into that bug? Like for me, it was I was a 10 and a half my freshman year and a 13 my sophomore year, like going into my sophomore year into freshman year. So my foot changed a lot, and I had all the J's like growing up, yeah. But I couldn't like get new J's all the time because I was growing out of them fast. Right. Sophomore year hit, and my mind clicked, and I was like, I'm about to start collecting because my foot hasn't grown any we're locked in, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 4:42

And I was like, that's when I just like went crazy. Yeah, um, yeah, I'm I'm trying to think of what shoes it was for me, like SB Dunks back then, and just um I I your question was what got me started in it, or what really sparked that. It was watching movies like Just for Kicks was a big deal for me, having that on DVD and understanding all these storylines behind sneakers and oh, these people lining up for these things, and how can I get these things? And like I said, being on being on Nike Talk a lot back then, firing up the dial-up modem and using up the phone line for hours at a time to scour the internet for information about shoes and just trying to learn really. I mean, like I felt I felt very behind because like I grew up so like we said, I'm I'm originally from Oregon, but I mostly grew up in Idaho in quite a rural area in a high school time, yeah. Okay, but I was back and forth uh a decent amount, but um yeah, there were no there were no like certainly no sneaker boutiques, much less like a footlocker anywhere near or like anywhere to buy cool shoes. So it was really an internet gateway thing for me.

SPEAKER_01 5:47

Yeah, yeah. I vividly remember that's funny, the AOL times, like chatting on there, and then scrolling through nice kicks back when they had the fakes, and then pickyurshoes.com.

SPEAKER_02 5:58

Pickyourshoes.com for sure. Soul collector. I spent a lot of time scrolling on pick your shoes.

SPEAKER_01 6:03

I remember that vividly scrolling, just like going back to the same page, like it was like you were studying like all the colorways of the Jordan Sixes and then all the colorways of the Jordan 7s.

SPEAKER_02 6:13

I remember staring at a pair uh Olive Jordan 5s on Pick Your Shoes for forever and never ever ended up buying them. And years later, when they retroed them a couple years back, I was so hyped to finally get a pair because that was not not that rare of a sneaker, right? But one that I just never bought, and then after a while they were falling apart because they were old enough, and then they brought it back. And I was like, I need this shoe for nostalgia purposes. That's dope. Or I don't know if nostalgia is the right word when you never actually experience it the first time around. But it's a mo it's a feeling though, even when you don't get a shoe and then you finally get it, you're like, Oh my god, it hits. After staring, um, what was the website? I spent a lot of time on Kick exclusive back in the day.

SPEAKER_01 6:50

You remember that? 23 is bad.

SPEAKER_02 6:52

Yeah, and I remember just like the way that the turn of the century Jordan 11 retros looked on that site and the sheen from the patent leather and the studio lights bouncing off it, and it just had this alien type glow around that wrap and that mudguard, and I wanted a pair of Jordan 11 so bad just off of those images, and then years later finally being able to own a pair. I think maybe Cool Gray 11, the retro cool grey, cool gray 11 was my first pair ever, but you know.

SPEAKER_01 7:19

Okay, yeah, I remember like vividly growing up, and my mom she had my mom and dad both got all the OG Jordans like in the 90s. So, like she had a pair, my dad had a pair, and I was like, Well, the first person I can get to is like wearing my mom's pair when I get older. Size-wise, yeah, size-wise, and then I'll eventually one day get to wearing my dad's. My dad wears a 14, I wear a 13, so I'm always like on the cus. Some shoes I can actually wear in a 14, but like it depends. Does he still have those pairs? He still has some of that stuff. He got like a lot of the OGs that's awesome, 11s, 13s, 15s. He still got stuff in his closet uh from back then, and then now, like, I get him all his shoes. Sure, I've seen it.

SPEAKER_02 7:56

Yeah, I've seen it, I've seen it. But let me ask you this then. Did you feel like you didn't have to convince your parents that sneakers were important or persuade them? Because I feel like so many people have this story of I had to explain why I needed the $100 shoe, or why $150 was not too much to spend for a shoe, or why I might camp out overnight. Do you feel like he shortcutted it because like they were into the sneakers and it made sense to them?

SPEAKER_01 8:17

100%. But the thing was, like, so you know, back in the 90s, there was I had like all the Dion's and all the turf stuff too. Uh, but in the Jays, it was like four or five colorways that would come out each year, right? It wasn't like now where it's like 20 pairs. How many pairs of Jordan 4s came out alone last year? Like eight or 12 or something like that? A lot. You see what I'm saying? So back then it was easy, they kept me locked in, but as soon as I got to high school, it was like your rules, everything changes. Like you get one pair per year from us, and you gotta figure it out from that point on. So I'd always like wait for like the holiday time, yeah, and try to get like the 11. And it was like perfect timing around then. Initially it was like the playoffs.

SPEAKER_02 8:55

To keep it, yeah. Okay, okay, okay. I thought you were saying like to flip it and invest it and then turn that money into more money.

SPEAKER_01 9:01

Well, the crazy thing was like for me, I wasn't even initially into like or knew about like flipping kicks or anything initially. It was just I was a kid in the school that had all the kicks, and everybody was trying to get shoes from me. And I was like, well shit, oh you know, give me 40 bucks for my time. Like, I gotta pay gas my little Honda and everything. Like, give me some, you know, a little extra, right? So I'm getting 20, 40 bucks, and then I was like, well shit, if I buy like five pairs, get 40 on top, yes, and I can get mine for free. Yeah, so then I just started like scaling my collection quick, like when that happened, because I went I got a hundred pairs of my collection my first year of sophomore year, like fast.

SPEAKER_02 9:34

Dude, that's an insane flex.

SPEAKER_01 9:35

That's an insane to be in high school and you have that many, like bro. I legitimately I wore a new so going like halfway through junior year of high school, yeah. This is mind you like 08-09. Right, different half different times. Yeah, this not all this like trends and people doing stuff now. So I wore a new pair of shoes every day, my back half of junior year, and then going into senior year, I made it a point to wear a brand new pair of shoes every single day in my entire senior year of high school, and that was like a whole thing. But this was like that's a that's a big deal, no document, no like Yeah, just for the love of that game. The homies can tell you the story, but like that was just it, like whatever. And at that point, I had like a few hundred pairs of shoes by the time I got to senior year. But yeah, it was still I had all them shoes, and my parents got me one pair each year. So for my parents, I got four pairs of shoes through high school.

SPEAKER_02 10:22

Flip it and grind, yep. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:24

But on the same side, they saw the hustle, they saw the grind, they saw I wanted to grow my collection. It was obviously in the sneakers too, so they might grab some pairs when I would get some, and I'd grab something for them.

SPEAKER_03 10:33

Gotcha.

SPEAKER_01 10:34

Um, so they would come out to like the launches and like bring snacks for me and my friends and coffee for them or whoever. Like, and it was fun, like they would always like participate whenever they could. Yeah, so it was cool. Step in the line, yeah. Every now and then, you know what I'm saying? But yeah, no, that was a dope part and to be able to have them a part of it, especially with my mom and dad. And both of them, they got like right now, like maybe 150, maybe pushing 200 pairs apiece, like both of their collections. Wow, they got a good good amount. Yeah, I keep them laced up, so gotta do that. That's the other part too. Gotta do that. But yeah, no, it all it all.

SPEAKER_02 11:06

My mom's still in Skechers. Maybe I need to maybe I need to set it up for it.

SPEAKER_01 11:09

Man, I'll be hearing the sketchers is cooking right now. Everybody loves them, they're going for comfort at the end of the day.

SPEAKER_02 11:14

I guess so, man. I've never put them on my feet, so I can't I can't comment.

SPEAKER_01 11:18

I haven't either.

SPEAKER_02 11:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:19

Okay, so uh high school comes around. Did you start getting a job or what was you doing? What was you thinking like college? Like what was the mindset with all that?

SPEAKER_02 11:26

Yeah, I didn't really think about college until well after, but like I said, my stepdad owned a record store. Okay. And I mean, more than a record store, it's like CDs, video games, stereo equipment, vinyl, guitars. I sold a lot of ukulele's in my time, you know, guitar strings, random junk. We would go every weekend to a million garage sales and just like try and scoop up whatever deals he could to flip them, you know, bring them to the store. But also, like we had, you know, like I said, CDs, and then we would go through the distributor catalogs and buy the new CD releases each week. But so I spent a lot of time there, and that was probably like my first job job. Okay. But then uh in the summers, I was doing um landscaping, you know, mowing lawns. Yeah. And that was the first time I had like a little bit of money on my own. So like we would just spend, yeah, spend hot summer days ripping around with uh weed whackers and uh you know trying to cut a nice perfect crisscross dining pattern in a lawn, which I never got too good at. But that was my first like job job. Um, and I wasn't spending too much of that money on sneakers back then, but definitely setting some aside to buy shoes when I could. Okay. I guess I I guess I was I don't know what I was spending the money on at that point in time, but yeah, sneakers were were definitely a target for me then.

SPEAKER_01 12:45

Mine was yeah, shoes and cars. Yeah, like that was it. Like I had a little Honda Accord with two big ass flip-down TVs in the back. The TVs in the back, like one in the front. In high school? On some Pip Maria shit, bro. On the Honda Accord, it was crazy. That was wild times back then. But yeah, I was spending all my money on that too, and then I got fired from my dad. That's when I just stopped working forever. I've just been working for myself ever since.

SPEAKER_02 13:10

Respect. It's worked out well for you. It's worked out well for you.

SPEAKER_01 13:13

Yeah, it's been it's been crazy. Have you been posting, staying consistent, trying all the strategies that you've heard online and still not making the consistent money that you need? It's not because you're not working hard enough, it's because someone hasn't helped you build a plan that works for your specific situation. You know that Sunday night feeling when you close the tabs and you're like, I feel like I'm further behind than when I started. It's like everyone else is building something real, and for some reason, I'm the problem. I can't get to where I want to be. Don't worry, you're not. I've helped people go from zero side income to multi-six figures, from no audience to 600,000 followers, and from complete beginner to sold-out product using the same repeatable frameworks that every one of my members get access to. In my private investors club, you get access to the consistent cash flow system, a structured video training, weekly live QA calls with me personally, and a real community that holds each other accountable. The goal is simple your first consistent $1,000 a month. I kept this VIP group at 50 members and not for scarcity, but to actually make sure I give you guys the exact attention that you need. And if you show up for the first four calls and don't make any measurable improvements in the first 30 days, I'll work with you one-on-one until you do or give you a full refund. This founding member's price locks in for life and will go up after the cohort closes. Click the link in my bio to join the VIP group in the investors club, and I'll see you guys on the inside. You now got through part way through high school and you're trying to figure out college. And you wasn't working, right?

SPEAKER_02 14:30

I did go to the University of Oregon, so my journey was basically like I said, I'm originally from Oregon. I mostly grew up in Idaho, but my dad still lives in Oregon, so we were kind of back and forth, and I was always here in summer, spring break, things like that. Spent a lot of time here over the years, still do. And basically, when I was graduating high school, I didn't really have an idea of what I wanted to do, and college just seemed like the default route for people who didn't necessarily or for a lot of people who didn't necessarily know what they wanted to do. Right. You know, I like a lot of people, I think it was intentional, but it was like, oh, of course, you go to college next.

SPEAKER_01 15:01

And yeah, that was definitely the blueprint during our era. Yeah, yeah. Like this new era now, they're like a whole different mindset. They're making money online in high school and all types of stuff.

SPEAKER_02 15:09

And not just deciding I'm gonna give tens of thousands of dollars to this institution just because it's uh the normal thing to do. But so I ended up um doing this like Europe trip, like typical white guy, like jettison off to the other side of the world. One backpack. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. So I had a couple high school friends who went, we all went in this group, it was five of us, and we just like bought one-way tickets, I think, to London and traveled around Europe for like five months. And we ended up living in Spain for a while, and we had these like definitely illegal under-the-table jobs, uh teaching at a at a English immersion school in in in Madrid. Oh, y'all was getting settled in just living the immigrant lifestyle, you know what I mean? Getting getting paid an envelope of cash at the end of the day.

SPEAKER_01 15:54

Were you guys like you did that because you needed to start making more money because you were running out of funds, or like what was the situation?

SPEAKER_02 15:59

It was just that we were traveling around for not that long, and then like we had some connection. One of my friends, his mom knew somebody who worked at this school, and she just like connected them with us somehow. It's it's a lot to jog the memory. I haven't thought about this stuff in a while. But so we ended up, yeah, the five of us, and we had no qualifications, mind you. But they just wanted people who could be in the school and speak only English with these kids all day. It was like it was like an in, like I said, English immersion. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So like we didn't. We all figured out this English, we just go keep talking about it. We just pretend to the kids that you don't understand any Spanish. Okay. So we were in different classes from like age two to eighteen, um, just hanging out. And the pay was we were we were not getting paid more than like 40 euros a week or something. Right. And we were renting the apartment we lived in. It was like five of us in a loft apartment with like two bunk beds, and and we were renting it from the guy who owned the school. So the paycheck was off the the rent just came right out of the paycheck, and it was like even smaller. But like, you know, we would eat lunch at the school and take some leftovers home sometimes. But yeah, we we landed there not necessarily because we were running out of money, but just because it felt like an interesting thing to do and a way to like establish ourselves in this place that was so foreign and so different to us, and that was part of the journey. Okay. Um, yeah, so we we stayed there for differing amounts of time. I think I lived in Spain for about five months.

SPEAKER_01 17:27

Okay. And then we went to Barcelona.

SPEAKER_02 17:29

What's up?

SPEAKER_01 17:30

I went to Barcelona.

SPEAKER_02 17:31

Yeah, yeah. Bar Barcelona's poor than Madrid in my limited experience. But um, yeah, we we did that, and then eventually I kind of just grew tired of it and felt like coming back home. Yeah. And bailed on it, I think, in January. So they stayed in 2008. Uh most of us kind of floated back to the US, but I do have one friend who ended up living there for a good five, six, seven years illegally and got into some troubles with the visa and all this stuff. Um, I don't really know how he ended up resolving that, but yeah. I I'm still on the run to this day. He's sailing around the world right now. Um, yeah, so I ended up back in the US and then at that point decided to go to school. And at that point was feeling like the University of Oregon was a place for me because I had all these connections to Oregon and it felt far enough away to where it was still a new experience, and I wasn't just gonna see the same people from high school. So ended up uh at the University of Oregon in the fall of 2008. Still not really new.

SPEAKER_01 18:28

I was about to say, basically, like just starting a little late.

SPEAKER_02 18:31

Yeah, I did I yeah, I very much did the thing that I didn't want to do of like, yeah, you just do it because it's um standard and expected. I just delayed it by a year, but I I enjoyed the year, the year of delays.

SPEAKER_01 18:42

Okay, so you got in and well did you uh apply for scholarships and everything?

SPEAKER_02 18:47

Or do you what was the Yeah, I had a I had a nice scholarship package um going in. There was um I don't know if they still have the program, but it's called I was thinking it's called Pathway Oregon, okay, where they help you out a lot with uh financial aid and things like that. So I was I was um well taken care of because of my tax return situation, and you know, uh to what's the right way to put this? Sometimes if your parents don't make a lot of money and you're on their taxes, they will look at you and say, Okay, we need to help you out a little bit. So that that was my case for the University of Oregon.

SPEAKER_01 19:21

Yeah, a lot of kids. I mean, I I was in the same scenario, but then I was like, I gotta get a full ride, so then my parents don't gotta take care of it, and I don't gotta take care of it, and all that stuff. So obviously mine was through sports, playing football and everything.

SPEAKER_02 19:32

So I didn't have that option.

SPEAKER_01 19:34

I was on that path. I was like, football or nothing, like that somebody gonna pay for all my school or not, like, or I'm gonna just run my business and not do this. So I was on that same type of vibe. Like, somebody gotta pay for this because I can't do this right now. I'm not taking that when I get older. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 19:48

Okay. I still came out with a lot of loans though, but yeah, good amount of scholarship.

SPEAKER_01 19:52

Yeah, it happens. Um, okay, so you get out to Oregon and now what what did you have the same major the whole time? Did you switch anything up?

SPEAKER_02 20:02

Like, what was that I didn't know what my major was when I shut up, and it took me a couple years to figure it out. I ended up studying linguistics, which I really loved, and which means a lot to me, just like figuring out how words developed and interact historically and sociolinguistics, and I don't know, I could talk about that for a long time, but it it it did take me a while to figure that out, and um, it doesn't have a ton of overlap with my professional life, but it's something that I really love and something that I that that meant a lot to me.

SPEAKER_01 20:30

But I feel like honestly, that is something that like I was saying, it can make you an authority in the space, especially when it comes to speaking, and like you said, writing and podcasting and doing all this other stuff, it may not overlap, but I feel like there's some of that foundation where you can understand the paths of speaking and how people can interpret something or perceive something, yeah, and deliver it the right way. I feel like it's key.

SPEAKER_02 20:59

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And being at the University of Oregon was a cool environment for me because it was the first time I was ever around other people who were into sneakers, even if I wasn't directly in contact with a bunch of sneakerheads. It was the first time where I was living somewhere, I guess other than Madrid, but I I I it wasn't that big, I don't know, that big a focus for me there. But like being at the University of Oregon, I I for the first time felt like there were other people around who might have a Supreme shirt on, or like might have a cool pair of new balances on, or like were into Jordans and things like that. And it felt like I was finally somewhere where sneakers mattered because where I grew up in Idaho, that wasn't the case.

SPEAKER_01 21:35

Definitely at U of O is like all the people that was halfway doing something back home was going to U of Oregon State, and it was the same thing like you said, yeah. Everybody from high school about over here in college, like this is what people do, this is the pathway to it, and it just naturally rooted in that. So I I can see what you're saying because I again me and being 2010 class, I was a part of that crew, and then playing with a lot of the players that started getting all the Oregon PE. During that time. So I played against him in high school. Then obviously I went to school in uh Boston, but I knew everybody through that. We were trained together in the summers. So like when all their when they were getting all the PE's and stuff, boy, I was locked in. Yeah. Getting them for like 250, 300 bucks. Like, and now today is like crazy. But yeah, it was uh it was dope to see like the sneaker culture all run, especially out of there. Like when it comes to this PE culture and all that stuff, because you know, Jayhawks and all them, they had some PEs before Oregon did. Sure. But the 13s and UNC 13s and everything, but like it didn't hit like it did when Oregon came on the scene.

SPEAKER_02 22:36

Pick Crew 3s.

SPEAKER_01 22:37

Yeah, it was next level.

SPEAKER_02 22:39

And by the time the fours came out, it was like BCS championship game, Jordan 9s, things like that. Yeah, Duckman, Jordan 4s. I mean, we could go on and on.

SPEAKER_01 22:48

So out of the organ stuff, what's uh what's some of your favorites over the years?

SPEAKER_02 22:52

The Pit Crew 3 I liked a lot. That that I mean that that to me felt like the first one that really broke the mold, and like uh the only one I've ever owned in terms of a actual um PE pair Oregon Jordans. Loved those. I mean, I do think I'm not a big Jordan 9 guy, but I do think the the BCS yeah, Jordan 9 is cool just because for the for the the moment it represented, even if we didn't um take it all the way there. Um which other ones? Uh I think that Jordan 29 is actually kind of cool with the flyweave upper with just the the the duck head on it. And they're clean, they're comfortable too. Yeah, that shoe was so good as like a canvas, right? Because you could just put anything on there. Yep. That's um they did like the jump man skyline pair, right? With the original photo on there. So yeah, and then a bunch of those early Jordan, sorry, non-Jordan trainer type shoes that people saw those over there.

SPEAKER_01 23:47

Yeah, exactly. That was that era.

SPEAKER_02 23:48

Yeah, yeah, that people would just get at like the uh like the surplus sale at the end of the season or something like that. Just random Oregon Nike training shoes that have kind of been forgotten to time in this hype world. Yeah. When everybody wants to think about the Jordans, but yeah, the uh I love the heritage.

SPEAKER_01 24:04

Those would be the ones where like I get a or I get a Jordan PE from a player, yeah, and it would throw those in for like 20 or 30 bucks or something. And I'd be like, yeah, yeah, right. Let's go, let's go. And it'd just be like all the random pairs. That was a that was a good time right there.

SPEAKER_02 24:16

You know what? You know what is another random one I'll mention, and this was not a PE or or that special a pair, but it was uh the first year that they switched to the playoff system in college football where it was four teams, and there I think the Nike shoe at the time was called the Nike Hypercross Trainer. I I'm pretty sure, and it had that um hexagonal zoom cushioning on the bottom that 12 did at the time. Yep, and I bought a pair of the Oregon Ducks ones, and that was such a cool thing because if you remember, they made like four college pairs. It was like uh who and whoever the four teams were in that first playoff, they were all Nike teams, and they all had a special version of that. And it was as if Nike had predicted it or been ahead of the curve, even though these things the rankings change week by week, right? But it was who was it? It was like maybe uh Bama, Ohio State, Florida State, and Oregon. Yeah, and all four had this hypercross trainer if I remember correctly.

SPEAKER_01 25:12

Oregon played Florida State Florida State first, and then they played and lost to Ohio State. Yeah, yeah, tragic. Tough loss. Yeah, yet again. It's our year, man. This year is the year?

SPEAKER_02 25:23

No, this might be yeah. This year might be the year. For real, for real. This really might be the year. Why are you laughing?

SPEAKER_01 25:28

I hope, bro. I hope. I'm hyped, I really am.

SPEAKER_02 25:31

But Dante Moore's back. We'll see what happens with that. All right. We yo. We're making the playoffs automatically. For sure. Automatically.

SPEAKER_01 25:40

I'm not tripping about that. Yeah. But see, my problem is we're a two-loss team at worst. My problem is, yeah, but our second loss isn't the worst time at the end. But the problem is for me, is this transfer portal and the timing, and then the guys are leaving in the playoffs and everything.

SPEAKER_02 25:55

I'm like coaches, we we yeah, last year.

SPEAKER_01 25:57

Coaches and the players, and I'm like, bro, this is just ruining it all. Like, what happened? We've been waiting for playoffs for all these years. Yeah. And for the amount of time that we had it has been a small window. If you think about the grand scheme of all the years without the playoffs just ball games, yeah. And now it's like halfway through that journey, the past three, four years, it's just like people just dropping like floods, like with all this stuff. So I don't know. Hopefully, that doesn't affect us as well. Right. We'll see.

SPEAKER_02 26:26

Later. And hope and hopefully they they figure out some guidelines on how to better put that yeah, that portal season relative to the postseason and when people can actually leave.

SPEAKER_01 26:36

But it yeah, it's just like there the money behind all of it changes everything. And I completely understand because I've talked to some of the guys about it, and I'm like, yeah, bro, they're throwing, you know, four or five, six hundred thousand dollars at you. Amazing, and you're not like the top player, but you're still getting a bag to go somewhere else, and then like you gotta protect yourself, and it makes sense. I get it, and then like you trying to go to the league, like so. I mean, like, I understand that side, but the money now is like starting to I feel like ruin that part and the loyalty and wanting to stay on the teams and everything.

SPEAKER_02 27:08

I know what you mean about the loyalty aspect.

SPEAKER_01 27:10

So, and we see that even in the pro sports now at this point, so everybody's all over the place. Yeah, okay, so uh you come out of there and where does this idea of like writing you started writing first?

SPEAKER_02 27:23

Yeah, I started writing while I was still in college. Okay, I started writing in college for uh sneaker news and for Jordan's Daily, which was another website they started at the time, right when they launched it. It was one of the first people blogging on there and Freshness Magazine, which is owned by the same squad. So I was able to do that in college, and the less classes I had, the more time I had to spend working and spend writing. And I wasn't really writing anything that was that impressive or that like interesting, but I was just like there grinding out blog posts for hours a day, and I got pretty good at it and got like efficient at it and was able to bang them out quickly, sometimes to the detriment of the work, and you know, wasn't uh as thorough as I should have been, which was a painful lesson to learn over the years. But yeah, I um I was reading sites like sneaker news when I was in college, and I reached out to them once because they had a little banner saying that they were looking for people to to write for the site, and okay, yeah, they they were based in New York and I was just working remote for them out of Oregon. Funny you mentioned AIM earlier, they were still on AOL Instant Messenger then in like 2011. Really? And so that's how we would communicate with each other is we would just hop on AIM and be like, okay, what are we writing about today? What is that? That's interesting.

SPEAKER_03 28:34

They stuck on it that long.

SPEAKER_02 28:35

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was it was definitely antiquated by then, but that was that was kind of the system. And then we did a little bit of G chat too, but okay. It was mostly AIM even even then.

unknown 28:44

Damn.

SPEAKER_01 28:44

Yeah, that's wild. Okay. So uh you get on that, and now are like how does this work? You just like complete a job and you get paid per post, or like yeah, at the time I was being paid per post.

SPEAKER_02 28:55

Okay, I want to say it was like seven dollars per post or something like that. Like I probably look back in my ancient email exchanges with the guys there and figure it out. But basically, we would just figure out however many news stories there were in a in a particular day, and I would get assigned to them and I would do my best to write them up in a timely fashion and deliver the news. And it was more than just writing because it was being in the back end of the website and being on WordPress and like building the post out and adding the images and adding all the time. Like, yeah, for sure. And I appreciate those days a lot because they taught me about SEO and uh you know tagging and and all these things that are overlooked, and a lot a lot of people have the privilege of not thinking about them if if they're just a writer and they're not like building their own posts and things like that. But I don't know if anybody cares about this these days because having a blog or having a website is so antiquated anyway.

SPEAKER_01 29:49

Yeah, but it's also so interesting because so many people are like tuned and locked into that stuff, whether it's an IG page or not. Like it's still a world for sure. Yeah, um, and I think there's a lot of new, like, especially Instagram pages that are like on the rise that I keep seeing resurfacing. I'm like, man, I'm they're popping up again, they're popping again, and now look, I'm like, they on a way to a million followers and they're doing a thing, like so. I think it's definitely still a world that is, I feel like growing in a sense. Yeah, but it's just in a different way.

SPEAKER_02 30:21

Yeah, I think there are more good sources of sneaker news and information now than there were before, and more people grinding out to get leaks and get exclusives and and um less so like interviews. I think there's not not as many people doing that as maybe there once were, or maybe there should be, but I I think that there's a a wealth of information out there right now for sure.

SPEAKER_01 30:45

I like the idea that, yeah, the missing part of the interviews and that element and the sharing of collections. Like I remember vividly the 23 years back era of like seeing people's posts and their collections on there and being like, I want to have a collection like that one day. Yeah, and like just going through all that stuff. But now, yeah, after I think about that, you're right. Like everybody's just what's the new hot drop? They got the leaks, they're trying to get a different angle so they can post it as their cover image, and then like recycling all the other stuff. And everybody's like, it's also funny because some when some of the blogs be hitting me, they're like, Can you reshoot all that with a different background just so we can use a different post compared to the other one? And I'm like, I'm gonna work for you. Yeah, I'm like, uh, you could use what I got, but uh, I'm not about to be doing all that extra shit for you.

SPEAKER_02 31:31

Yeah, that's that's a lot.

SPEAKER_01 31:32

But yeah, no, it's it's interesting seeing that. And then so are you still writing now?

SPEAKER_02 31:37

No, not really. I mean, I write scripts for some of the videos I make, but okay, I'm not in the content world as much now since joining StockX. I work more on the comms and more on the PR side, but also at Stock X I do make content and shoot videos and do things like that because that's a real passion of mine, and I think I can help them with that. And also, we do work with writers and we do pitch stories and tell people, oh, we have this amount of data. Is this of interest to you? Or like uh can we can we help you tell your story in a in a more detailed way given given the market insights that we have access to? So I'm I'm I'm not a writer right now, and it's been nice a little bit to take a step away from it, even though even though I do love it, but I still do get to make videos and go to events and interview people to some extent, which which I do love.

SPEAKER_01 32:23

So part-time analytics more now.

SPEAKER_02 32:25

I uh yeah, I love that stuff. Yeah, yeah, it's that's honestly like very interesting.

SPEAKER_01 32:29

I never really thought about that, like diving into all the stats and the back end and like seeing all the sales, transactions, searches and everything.

SPEAKER_02 32:36

It's really cool. We have a gentleman named Andrew Almassy who works for us at StockX, and part of what he helps us do is take this giant amount of data we have over the last 10 years and understand it and interpret it different ways. So if if someone says, uh it feels like Supreme is back, or this last Supreme collection really feels like more interesting or more popping on resale than it has been in years, we can see and we can look at the data and determine whether or not that's accurate and say, Wow, Supreme Marjello hoodie really is going crazy right now in a way that items haven't for the past few years, that's that's of note, or like um some of the stuff I've been looking at lately with the team at StockX is like regional differences and where people are consuming certain sneakers. So, like we just did a a couple pieces of content around this, but like the ASIC Gel 1130, which feels like such a huge shoe and such a popular shoe, turns out like is not that popular west of the Mississippi. And we we published this graphic of like most popular sneakers by state since 2024. All the purchases on StockX since then, and like there's all these states in the east that have A6 Gel 1130s, but the further west you go, it just like falls off. Right. So I I'm I'm I'm super interested in that, and I think that that's something that's lacking is like this kind of empirical approach.

SPEAKER_01 33:48

I think that's like the part too that people that watch the content and they always like so judgy about other people's collections and stuff, which is also weird to me, but the fact that they still don't play that into the factor of like you're typically a product of your environment, whether you like that or not, yeah. Just what happens, like you come up around this era, you see this stuff, you admire so-and-so, your big cousin, whoever that was wearing stuff, like you like it too. So you want to get that. And if that wasn't a part of your West Coast, East Coast thing, then you're naturally just not for it. And it just is what it is.

SPEAKER_02 34:18

But it but it's hard for people to admit because everybody wants to be a free thinker. But I think it's okay to admit that you are shaped by these things or that you did fall victim to the hype sometimes, or like none of us are none of us are immune to propaganda or are are not succumbing to these things in some ways. And I think it's funny when people try and pretend like they are have more individual taste than the rest of us or something.

SPEAKER_01 34:40

That's why I was terrified. Same thing. Just buy what you like at the end of the day. If it happens to be hype, it happens to be hype. Sure. But just because it's hype doesn't mean it's a bad shoe. And just because it's a $12,000 PE doesn't mean it's dope. It just happens to be rare and somebody put a price tag on it for that. And I understand that based off of you know how they price things, but just because it's expensive doesn't mean it's dope to you. Like it doesn't have to be that. It's okay, like but I also same concept with sneakers. I'll be like, you gotta have a balance with buying what you like and not go too heavy on the like cheap, affordable, obtainable. You buy it, it goes to nothing, you just wasted a lot of money. Like, still buy what you like on the other stands, too, of like the shoes that are gonna hold a good value that you're still gonna love over all these years, that you can then leverage into real estate or whatever.

SPEAKER_02 35:24

Like on the investment tip.

SPEAKER_01 35:25

Yeah, on that side, because now you got the balance. So then later, when something hits the fan or whatever it is, you got something to fall back on, and you know, like I got a little nest egg, I'm enjoying it along the way, and I can get these shoes back if I want to, but if not, like I'm just screwed. I just gotta shoot this for 40 bucks now. Like, so I try to find that balance between that because you you can see some shoes in here that's like it ain't worth nothing, and then there's other ones that's like they're taxing for that, but you know, it's a mix, right? Like, yeah, yeah, yeah. So I've got to be. But that's what I'm saying. There's it's a balance, right? Like you, I got that, and then I got shoes over there that you're like, yeah, Nike feel general. You know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_02 36:03

Like you wouldn't get more than $40. I love that show.

SPEAKER_01 36:06

You see what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_02 36:06

So cheaply made, but I love that show. I wore them a lot.

SPEAKER_01 36:09

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 36:10

The blue swoosh one, too. I wanted that pair, never ended up getting them.

SPEAKER_01 36:14

So I don't know. That's why I say just finding that balance because you could easily say, like, oh, I got X amount of pairs in my collection. If that's what you want to do, great, but like let's look at the scale of it and the value of it all. Interesting. Interesting. And obviously, how much space does it take? The annoyance of the state. The space is a big thing.

SPEAKER_02 36:29

The space is a big thing.

SPEAKER_01 36:30

Yeah, so I always try I try to refine like multiple uh cheaper items for like a mid-tier or a high-tier item. So, like, like I said, like consolidate, yeah, and I'll kind of do that over the years and each you know, every six months or so. Kind of like, oh, I had my phone with these, I wore them, I did this, or I realized I didn't like them as much. They're cheaper. Let me trade 20 for one. Okay, trade 60 for one. Okay, interesting. In those type of scenarios. So just like I traded multiple big boxes worth of shoes for my Air Mags, uh, just to get one pair of shoes, my out of cut my out-of-pocket cost was like a balance, right? Like I hit on uh two Travis Scott's for retail on sneakers, yeah. Yeah, so it's like got it for retail, it went up in value, but then I also had some random BS shoes in there that was like barely worth anything. Yeah, so it kind of balances out. You see what I'm saying? So the shoe's worth 20,000, but my out-of-pocket cost was like 8,000.

SPEAKER_02 37:22

Sure.

SPEAKER_01 37:22

So I got that good mix in between. So I try to teach people that because I'm like have you worn the mags? Not yet. Well, I had two pairs. I wore the first one, and then I got this one, and it's like pristine box, everything is just perfect. I think it might be literally like the best size 13 I've ever seen. Ever. So that's why I'm like, I gotta, I don't know if I'm gonna ever wear those ones. Yeah, fair enough. So yeah.

SPEAKER_02 37:45

I remember there was a guy on Nike talk back in the day, his screen name was Never Wear Them.

SPEAKER_01 37:50

But most stuff though, like I tell people the same thing, like, even if it's expensive, like you even the same thing with these, like I wear those. Uh, you gotta wear your shoes because they're gonna fall apart. Yeah, so you gotta have that balance too.

SPEAKER_02 38:00

And fall apart, and so you might not ever get to enjoy them, or you might not ever get to extract if this is your thing, the value out of them that you thought you were going to.

SPEAKER_01 38:07

Yeah, so that'll also help keep the longevity, even if it's depreciating the price, but you can still have it be wearable, which then can be something else later. So, writing seven dollars a post. I think so 2000 LA. Yeah, coming from the bottom, yeah, working his layout. So uh this all happens. Now, what was next? Was it an introduction to complex next?

SPEAKER_02 38:31

Or yeah, I started working for Complex in 2014 because they had purchased Soul Collector at the time, and they were looking for people to write for the site. Yeah, and so I was hired to help contribute to the news writing at the time, and I had moved to New York by then. I moved to New York in 2012 after. So you graduated? Yeah, I graduated from the University of Oregon summer 2012. A couple months later, the sneaker news guys wanted me to move to New York and be a full-time part of the team and and sit in the office and contribute in a more meaningful way, and so I did that, made the move, another one-way ticket across the country, moved to New York, worked for them for a couple years, and then, like I said, after Complex Spot Soul Collector, they were looking to build out the team. And um, yeah, the uh gentleman named Gerald Flores was was running the editorial operations for Soul Collector at the time, and he reached out to me about being kind of the one of the news writers to to really again crank out posts, and I was like, that's something I know how to do. So that was how I came into the complex fold. Okay, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 39:32

So uh that came about what was it like the day that you were literally packing ready to leave. I'll tell you my experience. Because I moved to Boston, yeah, for uh for college, right out of high school. So I was a little bit less experienced and younger, yeah, but still that feeling of going from there to there, coming out of Oregon, going to New York is just two different worlds, right?

SPEAKER_02 39:53

Like pretty crazy, especially because I had never been to New York before. Yeah, okay, yeah, yeah, yeah. Um, it was very emotional, and it was this moment of there was such a clean break from my life as it was up to that point and what was coming next. Sometimes these things happen gradually, and you realize five years later that you were in a transition period and your life was really changing. This was a moment where it was like, this chapter is over, and the next chapter begins tomorrow. And uh my college girlfriend at the time, we were I guess still together, but we knew it was like, okay, I'm gonna get on this plane and probably never see you again. You know, it was it was the end of it. And I stayed the night at her parents' house, and it was an emotional night, and she drove me to the airport the next day, and I got on the plane with one suitcase and never saw her again. Um started a brand new life in a place where I knew nobody.

SPEAKER_01 40:51

Right.

SPEAKER_02 40:52

Took a cab, I flew into Newark because the flight was cheaper to fly from uh fly into Jersey than it was. I was like, yeah, sure, I'll fly to Newark. I was living had a Craigslist room share situation in Queens, so I it's quite a trip from Newark to Queens. So yeah.

SPEAKER_01 41:10

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 41:10

Yeah, took that long flight and uh started my new life. When I was leaving, I cried the night before. Oh yeah, I cried that oh yeah, we cried a lot.

SPEAKER_01 41:22

I cried the night before.

SPEAKER_02 41:23

I was like, I'm glad you said that because I left that out, but yeah, let's take it there. Yeah, I I cried for sure. It was like this emotional thing, especially because you know there was a romantic partner involved.

SPEAKER_01 41:38

I was like, I was like excited, but I was also scared. I was really scared because I was like, I didn't have no like connection to Boston like that. And to like You didn't know anybody there. I mean, like I met the homies on the team at the time, like you know, when you go on a recruiting trip. I don't know, but I can't. Oh, okay, okay, okay. Yeah. So like which was even crazier because I had actually moved to New Hampshire first.

SPEAKER_03 42:01

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 42:02

I played a year there first.

SPEAKER_03 42:03

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 42:04

At a small school to get a scholarship to go play. And was Chip Kelly around? So Chip Kelly's a New Hampshire guy. Right. So his coach, or uh the coach that he coached with, uh-huh, they split ways.

SPEAKER_02 42:18

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 42:19

He went to Oregon, and the other coach, Coach Perry, he went to Merrimack, which was the school that I was at.

SPEAKER_02 42:25

Got it.

SPEAKER_01 42:25

So it was like we was running the same offense, doing all the same stuff. Okay. But I was on the East Coast version of that, but from the same system, same coaching, same everything. Yeah, and they're all tied together. So that's what kind of got me into it too, because I was like, oh, that's an Oregon vibe. I love the ducks, like all this stuff.

SPEAKER_02 42:38

Very cool.

SPEAKER_01 42:38

Um, yeah, which was crazy. Yeah. So that happened, but then so when you're in school and you go on recruiting trips, like they bring you in, it's a night, it's a party. The all the older like the players on the team, they were taking care of you. Like they try to make it great. So you're like, I love it here. And then you get there and you're like, I hate it here. So uh that was all great. I met some of the homies, you know, wide receivers, DBs, linebackers, everybody on the squad. And I was like, Who's you know, who's gonna be the people I'm rocking with? Because I'm a receiver, right? So met some of the other homies, went to parties, and I was like, this is cool, but again, like that's the first initial impression, and then after that, you go back and it's like back to reality, and then you're like, wait, no, this is actually happening. And then when I went back, I was like, Man, what if I get out there and it was all fake? Like, they don't like me, and da da da, like just all the stuff. So I still had to build that up with the relationships and everything with the people once I had got there. But and same, like, you probably had met some people, and then you're like, I'm gonna meet this team, but like I had never met them in person really.

SPEAKER_02 43:34

Exactly, exactly, exactly.

SPEAKER_01 43:36

So you could have that fear of like, uh, I don't know. Yeah, but it's been working out for both of us. We're good, we're good. Yeah, it was it was the right move. It was a good move. Uh moving out there, what was the first thing you loved and hated going out there?

SPEAKER_02 43:49

Um I just loved being in a new environment that felt so infinite and deep and with with so much to learn and so much to explore. And I guess what was hard for me was that I didn't know anybody or I didn't have any friends or I would spend nights just like wandering around the city by myself because I just didn't really have any connections and it took me a long time to build those connections and find people inside the industry, outside the industry who I could relate to or talk to or you know rely on. But yeah, it was it was lonely definitely at the start because I had just put myself in this new situation that was totally foreign, not only being in a new city, but just like you know, again, I grew up in Idaho, lived in Oregon. I never I never lived in an environment like that. I mean, even when I was living in Madrid, I we were living on the outskirts. Um, so that was yeah, yeah, it it was it was an adjustment for sure. But again, it was it was the right call. I I know that for sure, but it was it was tough.

SPEAKER_01 44:49

So I think this is great that you can answer for people because a lot of people are in these positions pretty often. So, what did you do mentally to help yourself get out of your comfort zone to then go meet people and do stuff in a new environment and everything? Was it uh self-talk or like actions, or what was it that kind of made you say, This is what I need to do to get to the next place?

SPEAKER_02 45:11

I I think I was just excited to be in a place where there were industry things happening, and I felt like I was closer to the sneaker. Even though like I was in Oregon, which is like of course a hotbed for the sneaker industry, but not necessarily so in Eugene. Right. Being in in a place which was more about streetwear and more about sneaker culture in New York, like I felt like I just had to put myself in these rooms where other sneaker other sneaker people were, and people who I had looked up to, like Dallas Penn or Premium P guys whose work I'd been consuming for years at that point. So I I just knew I just knew I had to do it because I was alone otherwise. And I and I knew that in some way it would advance my work. And it's not always about the work, you know, it's also about the personal connections you make and the people you meet who who become friends, and I cherish that a lot, but it's also like I knew I had to put myself in every room I could and talk to every person I could who worked at every store in order to to better understand the industry and to better my work, really.

SPEAKER_01 46:13

Yeah. Do you have any um secret tips for that that you use or just uh ways that you go about starting those conversations with those people that you may quote unquote admire or look up to or whatever?

SPEAKER_02 46:25

Yeah, I don't know if I don't know if there's anything in particular, but I I I think it's like we all were at that position at one point, right?

SPEAKER_01 46:32

Like But a lot of people get stuck there and they don't they can't get over that hurdle of haven't starting a conversation or putting out there or feeling embarrassed or whatever, right? So they have to mentally some people say, Alright, on three, I'm gonna do this. One, two, three, and then they go, right? Like, you know how like you're next to that girl that you like, and you're like, uh eventually I'm gonna put my arm over there. Yeah, you know what I'm saying? I got a countdown in my head. So some people just got different methods that they go about it.

SPEAKER_02 46:56

Yeah, I don't know if I have a particular method. It was just like I I I have to imprint myself in these people's minds and let them know who I am, and hopefully we can work together someday in some way.

SPEAKER_01 47:07

Yeah. So you were like, I feel like that honestly, the confidence in understanding the bigger picture and where you're trying to go makes it easier for you to then say, I need to imprint myself.

SPEAKER_02 47:17

Yeah, you have to justify it.

SPEAKER_01 47:18

So basically having conviction in uh where you're trying to go.

SPEAKER_02 47:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 47:22

And I think that's probably the answer that somebody may be looking for if they were asking that question.

SPEAKER_02 47:27

And and also like the part of the reason, again, is like every single person you meet in the industry can help your work in some way. And part of what is really important about writing or being a journalist, not that I use that title to describe myself really, but is is having access to other people's information and and uh points of view. So, like it is always worth it to know another person who's into sneakers or who works at the brand who can tell you how something is going down or give you a better idea of whether or not something really happened in the way that the rumors said it happened. And you know, every single person who works at the sneaker store has uh interacted with this stuff in some meaningful way, not just the guy who the cool guy who fronts the store or whatever. So like all these people are are worth talking to. And it hopefully it doesn't sound too cynical that it's like on a professional level, but like also a lot of these people like ended up being actual friends, you know, it's not just about a transactional thing how can I extract some value from this relationship, but also just like people who you have stuff in common with because you both care about this sneaker stuff, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 48:32

And I always like tell people the same thing, like you say, like just because you got the top dog up here, like a lot of these people are the ones that actually make stuff happen, yeah, on the back end, yeah. So, like, not all their experiences are very valuable, not brushing those people off is very important because now when you actually build those relationships with those people and it's natural and organic, it just will naturally come. But those are the people that typically give the true stamp of approval or whatever, and then put you in front of that person or make it happen or whatever it may be.

SPEAKER_02 48:58

Yeah, very, very important conversations had at those levels that are not the biggest of bosses.

SPEAKER_01 49:04

It's crazy. So uh this is happening. When did you feel like you were starting to like I don't know how to explain it? Like your your voice was mattering more, like it was impacting the community on what you were saying, what you were writing, what you were doing, where you were meeting, everything.

SPEAKER_02 49:19

Um, I don't know. When did I start to feel like it mattered? I guess like I guess when I was first able to break some stories and like leak some stuff and kind and kind of try and like pry some of that information out and and report a little bit on my own because I think there's not a lot of that happening in the space in general. And once I built up enough relationships and sources and things like that, I felt like it it was impactful. And then also like somewhere in my complex journey, we started doing video stuff and podcasts and live shows, and like that also helped a lot because just having your face out there is sometimes way more impactful than just being a name on a byline.

SPEAKER_01 50:00

Now it's kind of like that next level up, yeah, yeah, yeah. So okay, so when did you start getting on camera doing all that?

SPEAKER_02 50:07

I think it was like 2018 maybe or 2018.

SPEAKER_01 50:10

Oh, so you were out there for like five years or something. Yeah, yeah. Kind of like more behind the scenes, I guess.

SPEAKER_02 50:16

Yeah, for sure, for sure. That I was I was doing a lot of writing before I ever before I ever put my face on camera. And um, yeah, I mean we did the show Full Size Run for a few years, and then we did like the Complex Sneakers podcast at Complex. How did those come about? Uh Full Size Run happened because uh they needed just like video product. They just were trying to like make complex just wanted to make videos, more videos, and it originally existed as a Facebook Live show because Facebook really Facebook was supporting publishers making content on live and like paying people to just like you know make stuff happen on on Facebook Live. So that started there, and then eventually we transitioned it to the YouTube show, and then the podcast was kind of a similar thing of like it felt like this era early part of this decade, 2020. I think we started that podcast or end of 2019, where it just was like a podcast was the new way we were communicating, and like it it felt like we should have a podcast about sneakers, not for any particular reason, other than like that's how people are talking on the internet at that point. So, like, yeah, let's do it. And we have the expertise and we have the know-how, so and we feel like we can make it entertaining. So that that's how that started, and yeah, did that for a number of years, full-size rent for a number of years, and also just trying to be more active on like social video of this thing that I think you're really good at of just popping out to places and being like people want to experience this stuff, like it doesn't always have to be a show or like you're sitting in a studio, like people want to have the vicarious experience of being at the launch or seeing what happened, and like there are so many tools right now to help us do that, where like you can go to a Levi's Jordan event and like catch the chaos and then like walk around the block and like have your portable battery charger, plug it in, pull up Cap Cut, bang bang, put it together and like give people that experience. And I think that that's really valuable, and and I'm and I'm happy those tools exist now, and I'm happy people are embracing it. I was going hard for a Super Bowl and all-star respect again. Anyone, because that's the thing, like I've always had the privilege of doing it with the backing of a company. And so, again, I have to uh you know to tilt my cap to you and anybody who does it without you know, without the backing of a big, big company, and who's just like out here making their own videos, turning them around, doing all the VOs, doing all the captions and so and you know, I do the captions myself too, but it just not not you know having to be in the field by yourself is a real thing.

SPEAKER_01 52:41

Yeah, no, that's that's for sure a whole nother journey. Well, one tip for everybody that's watching or listening when you go to these events, if you want people to feel like they're there with you, the thing that a lot of people mess up on is they don't show just like cinema. What you need to do is wide, medium, and tight shots. So you need a big shot showing them where the environment what the environment looks like, need more medium shots, just like your POV, and then tight shots on the details of the little things at the event, not just the thing that everybody's focused on, but also the other little things, whether it's food, gift bags, whatever maybe and how they accessorize what because when we, us as um whatever we are, yeah, people that go to these events that are invited to this stuff, we look at the details of like, oh, I like how they took the materials from the shoe and put it on the wall as a part of the detail of this, and then they added the accents from the aglets and switched it as the doorknobs and like just all the random things that we noticed, right? But like those are the tight shots that are valuable in the experience when you guys are watching that 30-second or one-minute video. So that's literally the sauce to having successful videos that people feel like they were there and are part of it. So remember, wide, medium, and tight. A lot of people shoot medium the whole time, or like maybe one wide or a little bit of tight, but like have a solid balance, and yeah, we talk about this with our students on the inside. We are you guys already know, but yeah, that's a good tip. Like, trust me, it works. Just watch a movie, you'll realize the same thing. So, you know how you watch a movie and you see that wide shot like established things. Damn, that was dope. How they put together like you need all that. So um, this is happening. So you got into the video space now. Were you writing just for fun now at this point, or were you still doing it as work?

SPEAKER_02 54:30

No, still as work.

SPEAKER_01 54:32

Okay, so you're so you got a schedule for filming, yeah, and you write in full time.

SPEAKER_02 54:37

Yeah, basically and managed managing a team of people who were doing the same type of stuff. Okay, yeah, it was a it was a lot to balance. And at one point, working in complex, there were two weekly shows I was co-hosting, and I was also writing and like I said, managing the editorial team around sneakers, so it was a lot to balance, but also it's a it's a blessed life to be able to be able to think about this stuff for 40 hours a week or 60 hours a week. Right.

SPEAKER_01 54:58

So what do you do for your free time, your me time, your whatever time you want to call it?

SPEAKER_02 55:05

Yeah. These days, I don't know. I'm a big runner. I spend a lot of time. Yeah, you be running. Spend a lot of time out there training. Um, I just I just love living in New York so much. I just like being downtown, walking around, yeah, hit up a couple of shops, eat some pizza, think about pants, things like this, you know.

SPEAKER_01 55:25

What was it pants? Where do you find all the pants at? Do you do custom pants or what?

SPEAKER_02 55:29

I I don't know. I'm just ups. I mean, this right, this is a this is a vintage Stone Island Tele Stella pant right now. Okay. This pant might be older than you. Okay. Um, you act like you're that much older than me. No, but the pants are. The pants are, man.

SPEAKER_01 55:44

Okay, so pants. He's the pants man now. I'm trying. So I'm trying. How do you uh is that is that like an internal thing, or are you like putting this out on the internet as a pants man? Um, this is the this is the first time we've coined that, so we'll see if it has an attraction.

unknown 56:00

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 56:00

I like it, I like it. Um, so that is all happening. Uh, what was some key moments that stood out living in New York? I know for me, like I have my splurts of like, you know, I'm there for six days and it's just like a lot of mayhem and stuff, but or some of the you know most memorable moments being out there so far.

SPEAKER_02 56:18

Well, to take to turn the clock back a little bit, I definitely remember the first time. So when I when I moved out there, it was I can I can't even remember. Which one is is it Labor Day or Memorial Day that's in that's later in the May is later later in May is Memorial Day. Okay, Labor Day weekend was the weekend of that's when we're yeah, yeah, that's before school. Um that was the weekend that I moved out to New York, and first of all, I went the first Monday before we started work, because we were starting work on that Tuesday, okay, which the Tuesday would have been my first day in the office, and that Monday we didn't have work, so I was like, let me go to the city and find where the office is in order to know where I'm going to do.

SPEAKER_01 56:59

Don't want to be late the first day.

SPEAKER_02 57:01

And I think the address was 441 Broadway or 401 Broadway, but it turns out there's a West Broadway and a Broadway in New York, which like is normal now, but like the for the first time as a you know young, young man never living or never being in a city like that. It was a it was a confusing experience. So I remember going and being like, okay, this is the office where I have to come to the next day, and then the next day realizing it was not the office at all, it was the wrong place. And then I think also at the end of that first work day, I was waiting for the train to go home, either the R train or the N train, and my boss Yu Ming, Yo Ming Woo, who who's who started Sneaker News, uh co-founded sneaker con and all these other businesses in the space. He saw me on the platform. He like walked up, walked up, and we were standing waiting for the same train. He's like, You're on the wrong platform. Like he knew he knew I was meant to go the opposite way. Saved you welcome to the game type moments, or welcome to the city type moments.

SPEAKER_01 58:04

That's also like because that was what, 2012, right?

unknown 58:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 58:08

What phone did you have? Did you have an iPhone at the time or not?

SPEAKER_02 58:10

Uh I I did. I was on Android at that time. Yeah, I had an iPhone.

SPEAKER_01 58:13

I had that, I thought it was like the Evo SL or something like that. I forgot what phone I had.

SPEAKER_02 58:16

The Evo SL.

SPEAKER_01 58:17

That's a sneaker. No. I swear it was the Evo. Evo, sure. Samsung Evo. Okay. I threw the SL because I was thinking about shoes, too. But I'm pretty sure it was the Evo. But yeah, during that time, like navigate, so people understand, like navigating on the phones and all that stuff was not the same as it is.

SPEAKER_02 58:34

Yeah, it wasn't as easy.

SPEAKER_01 58:36

You was definitely looking at maps and getting directions from people and asking questions on the streets, like compared to looking on your phone compared to how it is now.

SPEAKER_04 58:43

No.

SPEAKER_01 58:44

So this is all happening. You're having your your phone out there. Uh you said wife now?

SPEAKER_02 58:50

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 58:51

So you got married out there or back here?

SPEAKER_02 58:53

I got married in New York last year, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 58:56

Met wifey out there?

SPEAKER_02 58:57

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 58:58

That's dope. That's dope. How'd that go? It went well. It was a good?

SPEAKER_02 59:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 59:02

I found my wife on Instagram. Okay. Yeah. I was like, what's up, girl? I think I seen you somewhere before. She was like, I ain't never seen you before. But I'll get to know you. And I said, Well, what's up?

SPEAKER_02 59:13

Now you'll be seeing her every day for the rest of the year.

SPEAKER_01 59:15

Every day. And I love it.

SPEAKER_02 59:16

Wonderful.

SPEAKER_01 59:17

So uh you're basically about to be rooted out there then. She got you stuck in New York?

SPEAKER_02 59:23

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I like being there. Yeah. Okay. I'm happy being there. And like I I said, I don't know if I said this on air before, but I'm I'm in Oregon a lot and I travel a lot and I get to experience a lot of different places where I have connections and know people and love people. And so my life is a good balance in those areas.

SPEAKER_01 59:40

I'm like, I'll never leave here. I travel, lived other places, traveled around, do all this stuff, and I'm like, I'm stuck in Oregon for sure. Not a bad place. I can't I can't do it. Like I would like vacation somewhere else or have a house where I stay like maybe for a couple months throughout the year or something, but I'm like, this I still gotta come back here. Yeah. But I mean, like, if you got that balance with that, I would just miss it, bro.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:02

Yeah, I know what you mean. I miss it sometimes, but that's why that's why I come out here. I hang out for a week.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:08

I go to the coast, I see my dad, my mom comes, you know.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:12

You done you done hood to coast every time?

SPEAKER_02 1:00:14

Or I've done it for the past five years. Five years. Have you ever done it? No. It's awesome. We gotta do a team.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:19

The most I ran was like 12 miles.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:21

Respect. One time. But the hood to coast is like five miles three times. At a time?

SPEAKER_01 1:00:26

Oh, it's five miles at a time?

SPEAKER_02 1:00:28

Yeah, more or less. More or less. You could do it. You could do it. You just gotta get over like sleeping in a van through the night.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:33

Right. What's the rest time between like a few hours? Uh no, it's a good like seven or eight hours. Oh, between your turn?

SPEAKER_02 1:00:41

Yeah. Oh, damn.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:42

I thought it was like way sooner than that.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:43

Depends on how fast you are, but like uh the team I have been running with, we would finish in around 24 hours, and you run every I mean you run three times in 24 hours, basically. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:54

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:55

That's actually not that bad. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:57

What's your pace when you run like that?

SPEAKER_02 1:00:59

Seven minute miles.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:00

Oh boy. That's fast. No, it's not. That's fast for me. No, uh, it's not how much you weigh?

SPEAKER_02 1:01:05

Um, hopefully like 165.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:07

Hopefully. See, yeah, see, I'm 215. That alone is just a lot of shit.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:12

It's not the same, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:13

It's not the same, bro.

unknown 1:01:15

It's not the same.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:17

I was looking at times as people have been running on Instagram when I started running a little bit more. I used to run cross country.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:23

Okay. But then So I'm sure you're a more accomplished runner than me. Way back.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:26

But then I stopped and then I ran cross country and track two coming up. I was in the junior Olympics, all that stuff.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:31

Oh wow. Um, but how are you gonna pretend like you're not a fast runner when you're in the junior Olympics? But that's see, that's short speed.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:37

Okay. That's long that's different. Yeah. That's long and short, two different things. But I did run cross country for a while, and then when I got to high school, I stopped cross-country, focused on you know the other sports I was playing. But and then after that, I ain't been running like that. That's why I said like I ran 12 miles back in college, yeah. But then after that, I run like a 5k and be like, alright, I'm good. That's enough for me today. You could do a 10k. Probably, but I'd be cooked. I'd have to like warm up, like do training before. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I couldn't just like go out tomorrow and run a stuff.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:07

Get the tarot gun, drink your fluid.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:09

Bro, I would be cooked if I'd be alright.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:11

Get your hyper boots on, get your Nike hyper boots on, massage your feet down.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:16

I'd be cooked. Okay, so building um your name and authority behind your name is key for success in a lot of spaces, right? But this, you actually are using your voice and your words and everything as your leverage. Well, like you said, less now, but still. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Right. Yeah. But you did that to build a name, which then gave you more value and all the other stuff. Uh what do you think are some key things that people need to understand behind the power of having a voice that moves people or makes people think different ways or whatever? What do you think are some uh key things that people need to understand? That's very important because I feel like I can give you an example. Like I can push people in the wrong direction. Yeah. And there's an easy way to go, right? Positive or negative. Yeah. So am I gonna spread negative ideas and mindsets amongst my community and make people do those things? Or am I gonna use my words in the right way to put them in the right position to make them think differently or open their minds, right? So what are some things that you think of?

SPEAKER_02 1:03:25

Yeah, I I think it's just important to not compromise your own values and and steer people, like you said, in the the the direction that you believe in or what you believe is right and true, and things like that. And like once you once you take people the other way and they find out, it's it's impossible to build that credibility back. So I think that that's really important, is just like only putting out what you believe in or or what is true and things like that. And I think that it's easy for sometimes it's easy sometimes for people to bend those things and and be willing to, you know, uh make compromises in that regard, but I I think it's really hard to establish yourself as an authority if you don't if you don't abide by that. And then I think just like doing right by people and and building trust, I mean, part of what I enjoyed or what I thought I was decent at in the world of sneaker reporting was giving people an inside look at what was happening in brands, or trying to, like I said, um make information public that wasn't otherwise, uh whether it's a upcoming shoe or an internal memo or things like that, and like I was able to do that because people trusted me and and because like we knew the lines in terms of what I was able to disclose and what wasn't, and people would feel comfortable talking to me about these these things because they knew they could trust me and they could say this is on the record, this is not on the record.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:53

Right, right.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:54

They could show me a shoe that comes out in two years and say, Hey, this is between us, and they would know I would honor that. And I'm I'm I'm happy that people trust me in that way, and I think that that's been a really useful tool in my work. Or not tool, but attribute.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:09

Yeah, I think that makes complete sense because you know me, I'm in the same position. Yeah, see all the products, so like I just gotta keep it zipped and let all these bugs do their thing. I'm over here waiting. But it's tough because that part right there is a tempting part for a lot of people because they're always changing that like highlight the one that leaked the news, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:28

And I and I do and I do too, you know. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:30

So it's like you gotta let somebody else do it, and then you turn it on right after or whatever, compared to being like, Oh yeah, Ben knew about this or Ben had this, but I'm gonna just let it do its thing.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:40

Yeah, and it's always like the it it sometimes it's not the flex that people think it is of like, oh, I knew about that already. It's like, well, it doesn't really matter unless you were able to tell the world about her or unless you're able to actually make it news. It does it's not it's not worth it to anybody else to know that you knew the thing. It's worth it to your audience or to the public when you can actually tell them, right? That's the whole service we're providing.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:01

Which is tough too because people don't realize the industry side and then the consumer side and the perception of the information that people get two different ways. Like, cause if we had a conversation about something and we're on the same page about something that's coming out two years from now, but we're both like quote unquote off the record, it's great because like we have this like inside connection. Right. Like inside the world is great, but then you gotta wait for then the consumer to make their judgment, do whatever it is on the other side. So it's always fun like juggling that too. I feel like being in the middle of that, and then when you have a name and a brand behind you, you have to move differently, yeah. Compared to like you said, me, I could just like go out and make something, and whatever happens, happens, right? Like I have something I can determine my fate, I guess, with that, and somebody else may or may not determine your fate when you're behind a brand. Right, right. So you have to look after yourself and the brand image. So, what do you think about for people that are in, I would say, my position? How do they position themselves to get in that space and they are doing the information, the blogs, the updates, and everything? Or would you say it's better for them to almost stay solo? Because we see a lot of like musicians now these days going solo instead.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:23

I mean, I think you can do a lot of good work being solo, and I think that there's enough platforms these days that you can support yourself doing it. Not not easily, it's definitely a grind, and I don't obviously don't have to tell you this because uh you've been grinding at it for years, but things like Patreon or Substack, I just think that there are so many ways that that people can use their skills in whether it's reporting about sneakers or being critical about sneakers or doing reviews or or leaking them or things like that. I just think that there are enough tools that you can make that make money through that uh in the current environment because of the YouTube monetization, Instagram, TikTok, things like this. Um I I I I think there are so many opportunities there. Uh, but uh, but I do think it is tough because like on the flip side, like people don't really want to pay for anything. Right. But they want everything, they want it for free, and and they're used to getting it for free, and they get it for free from big websites because the websites run advertisements on the sites. But like, would you really be willing? I don't know. Sometimes I'm like, would people actually be willing to pay for this stuff and support people? I I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:28

That's a that's a yeah, it's yeah, it's an interesting space because people definitely want everything from you, they expect the world from you, but then you'd be like, buy this thing from me for $20, and they're like, oh hell no, right? But then they go buy something from somebody else that gives them way less value information, whatever, but it's trending, and then they're like, Oh, yeah, I'll buy that with no problem. Sure, and it'd be a hundred bucks. Yeah, you're like, I don't know how this world works, but you know, we'll make it shake. Yeah. Hey, sorry to interrupt, just wanted to let you guys know we have a special deal going on with Apothecary now. So if you use the discount code DNA show, that's gonna get you guys a discount on all your orders from their website. Also, I'm gonna have everything linked down below underneath the video and in the pinned item section where you can purchase directly from this video as well. One thing that I love about the apothecary socks is they have the ISO weave material and it is so good, it has a great comfort, flex, and even good for me at a size 13. So, again, use the discount code DNA Show. And if you ever plan on rocking any socks, make sure you guys tag me on Instagram. So, the other part now is AI. So, AI is coming into the space. How do you use it? How do you perceive it when it first came in as like the new thing? Because it's been like past couple years, we'll see it's like more prominent. Um, how how is that going for you and where do you plan on going with it?

SPEAKER_02 1:09:39

Yeah, I don't honestly use AI that much in my workflows right now. I probably should more, and uh a lot of the people I work with are are insistent upon us using it more, and I understand that. Um, I I I use it to build presentations occasionally and things like that, and help me understand numbers and kind of more conveniency type things rather than really creative type things because I'm happy to keep some of the creative work to myself or or produce that myself. So I am not I'm a little bit of a Luddite when it comes to AI, and I am not that entrenched in that world just yet, but I'm I'm sure I'm sure I'll be dragged kicking and screaming over the next decade or so.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:18

I was the same until like the middle of last year. I literally was like, I'm not touching none of this, like all the new stuff, Chat GPT and everything. And then I was like, okay, everybody's using it. What can I do? That's just kind of like the same thing, just like make my day a little bit smoother or whatever. Like, I already got the thoughts and everything written down or whatever, like put it together for me and make it smoother. So I was doing that, but then now I've definitely been integrating it a lot more this year. I feel like it's gonna it's just tough because I was talking about that before with my wife about like writers and all the stuff that's happening in this world. Same thing with the blogs and everything. I'm like, I feel like at some point the the bots are just gonna be able to create the whole page, the whole article, the whole everything, and it's like it's just gonna eliminate like all these people that were talking about this, because it has all the information of everything that's been out, so it can pull all of it, have all the information you need on this new drop and the history and nostalgia, and da da da. Like, and I feel like that's a scary place for people in that space.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:17

Yeah, I guess I would hope that if that does happen, that makes the actual reporting and critical thinking a little bit more valuable because if there's less value on the just um banging out the post type aspect, then maybe there's more value in the people who are taking time to confirm things with multiple sources and talk to people behind the scenes because AI obviously can't give you that, so that that would be my hope, but I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:43

Yeah, I feel like that or there has to be like a like a storytelling element or something with the human connection of like the writer and their experience of it before when it first came out, and then now when it's retro and like yeah, telling that you know something that the AI can't write.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:00

Yeah, yeah, yeah. The experience that you had in high school when you wanted the shoe or that yeah, those those are those things are valuable.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:07

Cause then I was saying that too. I was like, I think it could almost cause like writers to have like this subculture in there where people are looking for these writers on these blogs to like who wrote this article because most people never really look at like who wrote the article, right? They're just looking for the information when they go there. But I feel like if it has that like tied to that, they'll build their own brand within it, which again, I don't know if the companies would want that, sure, but it could create like this own little subculture amongst that, where then people start falling in love with the writers and then yeah, they're listening to some stories and everything. Yeah, which is also like another element that's not really in it now, but almost that could combat with the AI idea. Because if it's just like, oh, this came out with this, these are the materials, this is the history of it, like those are all basic things that can naturally be created.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:53

You have to understand, I just turned on Siri on my phone for the first time. Bro, I still don't have it on my phone.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:57

Okay, so I don't like that at all.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:00

Yeah, yeah. I only did it for car play for the red plug, so then I could pull up the map of the thing. No, for real, for real. As soon as I get to the plane, I'm like, it's over.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:09

That is comedy. Okay, um, so current space now. We're you've been at StockX for a year now. One year now. Yeah. One year? Um it's gonna be there, it's looks like it's gonna be a while. I feel like you're getting settled in, you're doing some stuff and some headphone videos and everything. Um where do you see things going with you outside of that? Do you are you planning on getting into other ventures, investments, other stuff? Do you want to stay in this space? Do you I mean we're not like too old yet, so like I mean we're never too old, but like we got a lot of life ahead of us. That's true.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:43

I hope so. I hope so. Um I I I I really need to like lock in with the stock X thing and feel like I'm comfortable there for a couple more years before I ever started thinking about something else, because I I'm still trying to figure out ways that I can contribute to the company and and help keep them connected with the the most vocal sneaker consumers out there, which is part of what I'm there to do. So like I don't really think about other things too much yet. I mean, I think about like the future of stock X and where we're going and things like that, but but in terms of like where else I would invest my time, it it really is sneakers one way or another, right? Because I I'm so I'm kind of like all in on this niche thing. I mean, I guess it's not as niche now, right? Collecting has become so global and so mainstream in pop culture, but this is where I think I can be most useful and most valuable to people.

SPEAKER_01 1:14:30

It's it's so interesting how people that are not in this world perceive shoes in this culture as just like stupid, dumb, waste of time, all this stuff. But then, like you say, you you could write a single article that could help somebody out or whatever it is, and it's just every single shoe has a different impact on somebody. Right. And it's so dope, like seeing it and experiencing it. And I'm sure you probably heard like some crazy stories from people just coming up to you, like when you wrote this or you said this on the podcast or whatever, and like that also the authority in the voice and all the things align with it so much because you're like it's so powerful, it's crazy. I've heard some crazy stuff with people coming up to me, and I'm like, bruh, this is such a dope opportunity to have and to know that anybody could just start creating today. It's a beautiful thing. Like, it's wild.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:23

Yeah, yeah. It's a it's uh it's a it's a rewarding space to be in, I think.

SPEAKER_01 1:15:29

I'm uh I'm not sure where I'm going next. I have my eras in my windows. I'm still trying to get to a million on YouTube. I want to do that no matter what. Yeah. Like I want to get to a million subs on YouTube.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:41

I thought I thought you meant like where you were going next, like if you're going like out of shoes or something.

SPEAKER_01 1:15:45

But that's the thing. I feel like I'm so deep into like real estate stock, building my portfolio. I love shoes at the end of the day. But I'm like, what I get most excited about is those other spaces now.

SPEAKER_02 1:16:05

Ah, interesting.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:06

So it's not like I'm not excited about shoes.

SPEAKER_02 1:16:09

It's easy to be jaded, you know, or feel like you've seen it all or something.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:12

I just get to the point where I'm like, bro, how many times am I gonna buy this retro or whatever? Like, and then there's certain clubs that I'm like, I'm rocking with these, but other ones that I'm like, okay. But like a lot of the drops and the pop-ups and all this stuff, like, it's pretty similar year over year, right? And you got the same stamp and repeat process, like Super Bowl, All-Star, Complex Con, this, that, the other. Like, you just know, like, every year, this is what we do, right? This is what's happening. I love it. And I do it, but at the same time, like, there's times where I'll skip out, like going to All-Star or something like that, and I don't feel like I missed nothing.

SPEAKER_02 1:16:51

Really? See, I'm still too obsessed because like if I miss one of those weekends, I'm like, everybody that I know is there. Yeah. And they're all participating and covering it and enjoying it in a meaningful way, and I'm just like, not there. I can't be. I'm I don't know, maybe I'm suffering too much from FOMO, but that's the thing.

SPEAKER_01 1:17:09

Like, the one part that keeps me going to it most is that like going to reconnect with the homies, catch up, because most of the time you don't see people for a whole year until the next one or whatever. So, like, going to do that is the fun part. Uh, but yeah, the chaos and all the other stuff. I'm like, it's cool every now and then, but I'm like, bro, I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 1:17:30

I love it. Oh no. I love it, especially being in New York and and getting the experience those things and knowing there's always another miniature sneaker riot around the corner.

SPEAKER_01 1:17:39

Right.

SPEAKER_02 1:17:40

Stumbling upon a Palace Air Max 95 drop that people, why is this that's right now? I love it. I love it.

SPEAKER_01 1:17:47

I did I I think maybe that's like a West Coast thing too. Because over here, the launches, it's chill. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:17:53

Like even if it's a hype drop, like what's the craziest one either at have you ever been to one in in Portland or in Oregon that really got out of hand? That's out here.

SPEAKER_01 1:18:01

I'm trying to think what's the craziest one. Honestly, like at the Lloyd Center mall back in the day, it used to go crazy. RIP. Yeah, I know. I think they closed it in like September or something like that. But at Loy Center, when 11s used to drop. I bet, I bet. Bruh. Yeah. One time we was out there for the Space Jams. And I mean Space Jam was crazy.

SPEAKER_02 1:18:26

History.

SPEAKER_01 1:18:26

We was out there and you know the basement underneath? Like when you go, like where the marshals and everything is at, and it takes you down underneath the driveway over there. And it's like the big parking lot, and then there's two entrances. So the entrance were over it's like a Ross or whatever over there, those doors that go over down that side. Uh there was hundreds of people around the entire mall trying to get into different entrances, and then the security came around the mall and told everybody, like, this is the entrance. So everybody went down there. Oh no. But then they wasn't originally we had to be off the property, so then they kicked everybody off the property. So people's like hiding underneath cars, like on the property, all this stuff, right? They're off the property. Then they're like, at this time, you guys can go. So people just rush across the whole parking lot, down the driveway ramp, down the staircase. They all get to the door.

SPEAKER_02 1:19:11

It's like World War Z, right?

SPEAKER_01 1:19:13

But then they're like, when you get to the door, they're like, we're not opening it until like an hour or whatever, right? So then there's hundreds of people going up these two staircases that go like this to the staircase.

SPEAKER_02 1:19:23

Uh that that's another level. That's scary. What'd you once you involve the staircase?

SPEAKER_01 1:19:27

Somebody fall, like this is this could get real wild. Yeah. So then the the staircases are split like this, and it's like a pad, and then there's like four doors. Maybe six, I don't remember, but it was just a few that open in the middle. So the glass doors swing open, and when they open the doors, the doors open this way towards the people. Yeah. So you gotta open them so the people get stuck behind the door, they gotta get around the door trying to get in, all this stuff, right? Next thing you know, the doors are breaking off the hinges, breaking off the hinges. I'm like, it's so tight. I'm trying to get in, like, through the doorway, and my sternum is like on the frame of the door. And I'm getting pressed, and I'm like pulling with all my might. Cause this is like, at this time, I'm this is my senior year of high school. So I'm like pulling with all my might, trying to get through. I step, I get through, and you know how it's like another door, yeah, right, like right after. Yeah. So then I there's another set of doors, but those ones open the other way. They was already open. There's this lady, she's like on the ground like this, on her back, like looking up for her at the sky. And I'm like stepping over her, like, oh shit. Like she's about to get the train. Yeah, and then there's like a you go that you go right past the Ross, and then take a left, and there's an escalator that goes up. And at that time we had four retailers that had the shoes. Okay. But there was like one store that had a 13. Or maybe two, I think, actually. There was a footlocker at the far end. So everybody's like going up the escalator, and you know the ice skate rink is in the middle, and there's an escalator where the video game store used to be. Uh-huh. I went up, I went past everybody to that escalator. Because if you remember, it was like champs and finish line across the street from each other. Okay. At the second floor.

SPEAKER_02 1:21:07

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 1:21:07

Remember?

SPEAKER_02 1:21:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:21:08

On the top? Yeah? Yeah. Okay. So I ran past everybody. They're all falling up the escalator. I run past everybody, get to the far escalator. I was like, you know how you look at the distance on the maps, and you're like, it's a farther drive, but I can get there faster. Yes. That's exactly what I did. So I ran. Mind you, I was like a hundredth in line. I ended up like third in line. Wow. Over at the finish line. Yeah. On the backside, because everybody was focused on the closer stores. Ended up getting the shoes. It was good. There we go. That was a wild one. There's been some doesn't get much crazier than that. There's some other ones that was like that, but that was definitely a wild one for sure. There was a lot of dislocated knees and crazy stuff. People was messed up. We went to war.

SPEAKER_02 1:21:49

Went to war for those things.

SPEAKER_01 1:21:50

For the space jams. Did you have any? What'd you go to? There had to be something in New York that was.

SPEAKER_02 1:21:56

Well, I've been to some crazy lineups, but nothing that hectic. I mean, like, also when I was really I was buying a lot of Jordan Retros in college, and like those were those were usually pretty chill. Like, just go to the what was it, Valley River Center Mall in Eugene. Okay, you know, Jordan 3, White Cement 3, Black Cement 3, things like that. What's the craziest? I don't know. I've been in a million, a million sneaker skirmishes, you know, complex con drops, like canary SB dunks in the middle of Complex Con and never materialized. Um opening day at Dover Street Market in New York City when they had the Supreme T's there and the black Nike Air Pythons. Um I mean, yeah. I don't know. I should be able to conjure more from memory, but a lot.

SPEAKER_01 1:22:49

I feel like realistically, you could write a whole whatever blog, its own separate thing of just like launches. Yeah. Just breaking them all down. Especially with living in New York, like documenting that, even if you started now, like to get more like video and photo of it, but that could be its own thing right there. People would just because that's like Evergreen. Yeah. The storytelling. Like I could tell a Space Jam story 30 years from now.

SPEAKER_02 1:23:12

Yeah. Still hits.

SPEAKER_01 1:23:13

That'd be a good one. Let me know if you want to partner on that collab. Okay. Um, okay. I'm gonna hit you with a few questions. We get out of here so you can go eat. Tell me. First uh question is these are all the questions that I get all the time. How many pairs of shoes do you have in your collection?

SPEAKER_02 1:23:27

Dude, I don't know. It's I think it's between uh I don't think it's that many more than 300 right now.

SPEAKER_01 1:23:33

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 1:23:33

Uh solid. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:23:34

It's back and forth, or it's back and forth for sure, right?

SPEAKER_02 1:23:37

I go up and then I go down. That's tough. Yeah, probably probably around 300.

SPEAKER_01 1:23:40

Okay. Uh greatest shoe of all time.

SPEAKER_02 1:23:44

Um, greatest shoe of all time. Like my personal favorite or like the greatest, greatest.

SPEAKER_01 1:23:50

What do you think is the greatest shoe of all time?

SPEAKER_02 1:23:52

Dude.

SPEAKER_01 1:23:57

Oh man. We get like three or four answers, the same answer.

SPEAKER_02 1:24:01

I mean, dude, like Jordan 3 is kind of cliche, but Jordan 3 is really, really up there. Honestly, that one I don't hear as much, but it's Air Max 95.

SPEAKER_01 1:24:12

That's a good one. It's somewhere in the go ahead, build the Mount Rushmore, right, don't you?

SPEAKER_02 1:24:16

It's it's somewhere in the middle. How many's on Mount Rushmore? Four. Four, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:24:19

Yep, alright, two more.

SPEAKER_02 1:24:20

Air Force One. Yep. I don't know. I'm just gonna sound like a Nike cheerleader. Nike dunk?

SPEAKER_01 1:24:29

I hear Air Force One, Jordan One, Eleven, Converse, Sheltos.

SPEAKER_02 1:24:34

Sure. Those are always like really no Air Max. People don't say Air Max.

SPEAKER_01 1:24:37

Some people say Air Max One.

SPEAKER_02 1:24:38

Come on, that's just such a that's just such I mean, yeah, you could say Air Max One, but I think 95 is 95 is good. Maybe, yeah. What's the most you spent on a pair of shoes? Not that much, you know, for our world. Uh I think like $600 for Henderscheme when they were doing like the leather versions of popular. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So it was like a Henderscheme new balance looking type shoe.

SPEAKER_01 1:25:00

Okay. Yep.

SPEAKER_02 1:25:00

What shoe are you looking for? Oh no, no, no, no, no, no, no. I recant my statement. What? Um I'll tell you more about them off camera, but I have a very special of uh Off-White Air Max 97s. Ooh. A Serena Williams pair that has something very unique to it that I'm waiting to tell the story one day, but I'll tell you this. I spent $2,000.

SPEAKER_01 1:25:25

Oh, you bought it? Yeah. Okay, don't, don't, don't. That was the one. Yep. Okay. Uh, what is the pair of shoes that has like eluded you or that you always wanted to have in your collection?

SPEAKER_02 1:25:35

There are a few and it's funny because often I can't remember. Um New Balance MT580 flight jacket pack, the Gore-Tex pair, and then like the leather sheepskin pair. Okay. Um what else? I mean like Dizzy Rascal Air Max 90s. I I love that sneaker. Um I I don't know. I've I've I ended up I there a lot of SB Dunks used to come to mind, but I ended up owning a lot of those and and reselling them years later. Um there's definitely a few pairs that I'm missing here. Uh yeah. I was gonna say the Mita 95s, but I ended up getting those.

SPEAKER_01 1:26:17

Yeah. And then what shoes do you wear the most now?

SPEAKER_02 1:26:21

Um I was on I was really wearing the New Balance 993 a ton, and that was like my go-to, go-to shoe. But then I like put them away somewhere in my sneaker room at home, and I haven't seen them in a while, so it's not that. Actually, um, the home run version of the Vimero Premium. I wear those a lot. Okay. And I I travel with those all the time because I can run an um and I can wear them casually.

SPEAKER_01 1:26:43

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 1:26:43

Yeah, that's the one right now.

SPEAKER_01 1:26:45

That's nice. I still got that. I just got those. Um uh uh the Pegasus. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I had never tried them on before until I very bouncy. Bruh. I like those a lot.

SPEAKER_02 1:26:56

Yeah, clean colorway.

SPEAKER_01 1:26:57

Okay. Um, you got anything else you want to tell the people before we get out of here?

SPEAKER_02 1:27:01

Nah, man, just look out for us on StockX. It's gonna be a big year. Um tap in before we're doing, and uh DJ, appreciate you having me. I'm always always following the content, and I'd like to see a fellow Oregon guy doing his thing.

SPEAKER_01 1:27:11

Yes, sir. Okay, uh, hit him with your tags on any platforms. I'll make sure I'll tag it down below with that.

SPEAKER_02 1:27:17

Yeah, Brendan Dunn at Brendan Dunn, B-R-E-N-A-N-D-U-N-N-E. I'm there. Everywhere? Here, there, everywhere. TikTok, YouTube. I'm not on TikTok. Instagram, just Instagram, Twitter, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:27:27

Instagram and Twitter mainly?

SPEAKER_02 1:27:28

Yes, sir.

SPEAKER_01 1:27:28

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 1:27:28

That way the people mainly Instagram. I don't really I don't really open X that much these days. You off of there now?

unknown 1:27:34

Kinda.

SPEAKER_02 1:27:34

Kinda. I yeah, I really don't. I I maybe spend like 17 seconds on there in a week.

SPEAKER_01 1:27:40

Bro, I use like some AI thing that was like an automated tweet system to like put stuff through for me. Grox holding you down, and it wouldn't stop after I s tried to stop it, and I'd be having to delete tweets like that. Robots took over. I'm like, bro, I'm tired of this, bro. Robots took over already. Yeah. All right, y'all. We appreciate you uh for being here, listening, tuning in, five star reviews, all the other fancy stuff when it comes to these podcast spaces, and uh I'll see you guys in the next one.