Sneaker Impact News

Building Community Through Athletics & Design: Terrance Diggs of D17

• Terrance Diggs, Bryan The Botanist • Season 1 • Episode 21

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Join host Bryan the Botanist as he sits down with Terrence Diggs, the visionary founder of D17 Clothing and ASICS ambassador, in this exciting episode of Sneaker Impact News. Terrence opens up about his journey from a tech and arts-influenced upbringing in Baltimore to becoming a successful designer and entrepreneur. Learn about his inspiration from family history, passion for sneakers, and how he has seamlessly integrated fashion, athletics, and community in the D17 brand. Discover insights into his current projects with major brands, future goals like participating in the Baltimore Running Festival, and personal self-care routines through running. Terrence also shares his entrepreneurial mindset, strategic thinking, and collaboration efforts while giving shout-outs to friends and partners. Dive deep into the psychology of sneaker culture, creative branding, and sustainability initiatives impacting the industry in this compelling episode.

Bryan The Botanist:

All right, welcome back, everyone, to Sneaker Impact News. I'm your host, Bryan the Botanist, and today I have a very special guest, Terrance Diggs, the founder of D17 Clothing. Terrance, what's up?

Terrance Diggs:

It's going today, a lovely Tuesday. I'm happy we finally get on an interview. And we got the boxes, too! That's what I'm happy for.

Bryan The Botanist:

matching Sneaker Impact collection Terrance is our friend, a Baltimore area based designer, entrepreneur, and ASICS ambassador. Most notably, making his mark as the owner of lifestyle and sportswear brand D17. Terrance has become a visionary of how to combine one's passion with a keen sense of creativity and marketing. From sports, culture, the arts, and philanthropy, he's done it all, and been featured in Complex Magazine, Shopify, and Mid Strike Magazine. Terrance we're just excited to have you on Learn. I was watching some of your past podcasts, and just really excited to hear about your journey and how You're getting involved with, as I said earlier, off the call with you, athletics, design, and community. It going today? Where are you calling from?

Terrance Diggs:

Right now, I'm just in my, I guess you could say, home studio in Maryland. I recently just got back from Florida. So I'm been bumping around here and there trying to get stuff together for the end of the year. And here we are, we're getting ready for the Baltimore Running Festival. So that's where my training is going for the next, I guess you say 60 days. I'm doing the half marathon this year. I did the 10K for two years. This would be my first half marathon. And we're ready to get things going.

Bryan The Botanist:

That's awesome, man. I want to hear about your running journey. But first, you were born and raised in Baltimore. Tell us about your family. How has Baltimore and your family your identity?

Terrance Diggs:

Yeah. So I guess like super big for me. My grandfather was pretty, as you could say, known like in the area as a historian for Black history in Baltimore County and Baltimore City. So always being around him taught me how to chase your dreams. He was a military guy for a long time. He was a substitute teacher, retired and started writing books for 30 years. It was this thing that he wanted to do and, he took it as far as he could and he got deemed with the nickname, the Godfather of Black History in Baltimore County. I've been following his footsteps in a way and chasing my own dreams. And I definitely grew up in a very like. Computer techie, like creative family. Like my uncle's a cartoonist. My grandmother she was like a crochet embroidery. I guess you could say artists. My mother worked in advertising and media buying for a long time. When it comes to kids, I say Hey, I was on the computer playing like space astronauts, I was on the computer playing like. Doing like Corel Painter when I was like four or five years old.

Bryan The Botanist:

year old.

Terrance Diggs:

Yeah. Like I was definitely the one like in school trying to make stuff and like Microsoft were like, Hey, come to lunch. I'm doing 10 cent portraits and stuff like that, trying to like, make Apple juice money and stuff like that. And over time, like obviously I've been in the area, I've worked with musicians, I've worked with rappers, I've worked with brands on anything creative wise, and now I'm at the point where I said, hey, I'd like to start my own brand, and that's how D17 came about, and we're about Seven years in since I started. It was like literally last day of like my college graduation. I did it like two days before I walked across the stage. I was like, I'm gonna start a brand and here we are. So gotta love it.

Bryan The Botanist:

How did it start professionally? Did you start in the sneaker head industry?

Terrance Diggs:

Yeah. So I've always really just been into. Sneakers and shoes and fashion just being, like, in Maryland obviously we grew up under armors right down the street. So that's that was huge growing up. Obviously, so many of the schools and institutions, always wearing under armor or people wearing Nike foam posits or New Balance or ASICS and stuff like that. So it's always been that tradition. Like in the underbelly of just what you've seen from playing sports. Like a lot of time, that was really my intro to fashion. People getting the jackets, they're wearing Jordan 11s before, the game or like going to the game. And I remember being, in the audience and seeing everybody wearing the bread 11s before, the night they came out, they're wearing them the next day just to show off and stuff like that. It's just always been around me and my grandmother always said if you want to be a decent man, you got to have decent shoes. So I was just like, that always like rings in my head. I think she would be somewhat proud of my gigantic sneaker collection. That's hidden behind the camera that I get yelled at for a lot of times, it makes me some money.

Bryan The Botanist:

Yeah. So there's so many topics I want to explore with you, but let's start off with the design world. And what type of opportunities have come your way, how you've progressed in design? Okay.

Terrance Diggs:

I guess you could say more or less the beginning half of like my design career, I was working with like my friend Kasim. He was a really amazing rapper in the DMV area. We were able to create cover arts, posters, album art. That rolled on into collaborations with bigger venues like the Fillmore or Echo Stage and stuff like that. And, it's cool when you get the call from Live Nation and they're saying like, Hey, we need you to put together a press release or a press flyer for, this person, this rapper and going from there. And then rolling that on into what I was doing at ASICS. So I worked on the sports style side, which is like the lifestyle, streetwear, stuff like that. We did collaboration, A lot of direction for KITH. We did it for Denim Tears. We did it for the Olympics, with the athletes and what they're wearing on the track and stuff like that. I've done both sides, both the, practical, just being on the computer, also like creative direction, social media expertise, and going from there. I've seen it all from the photography to the design. E com to what it looks like on social, what it looks like on digital. I'm at the point where I say I'm like a curator of like digital experience, I guess you could say because everything all ties back together, not only from. The design side, but I'd say from the analytics as well, when you're actually learning, like how the business of sneakers and fashion actually works there's still businesses, there's still profit margins and stuff like that, but, we have to be able to make those creative decisions to push culture forward. You can make a, Crazy looking design that could change the world, a Supreme logo was just a feature in a box and it's still living on to this day. So that's the way it goes.

Bryan The Botanist:

Sure. so I want to talk about how you transitioned to D17 from being a hired designer. What does D17 represent? What type of services do you provide? I know it's a streetwear, but also sportswear company that is a lifestyle apparel. So tell us, what type of services and how you got that started.

Terrance Diggs:

Yeah. So pretty much I would say around 2021, I was originally just doing the brand, just Hey, this is something me and my friends would like, let's make shirts and hoodies and. I'm going to the bar or whatever. Stuff like that. But over time, obviously demand begins to grow and you're like, okay, there's now the people of people that are interested in the products and it's okay, I think I have something here. And then over time, obviously being able to be in the, like in the space, it's okay, you have to innovate. You have to do something. You can get a t shirt from anywhere. What's going to make our, value proposition or what makes the business what it is. And then we got down to really Honing that into our three like mission statement, athletics, design, and community which is really just utilizing the power of sport and design to, flourish within the communities that we serve, whether that's grassroots, whether that's, big professional teams. We've worked with my local high school, we've worked with my local college we've worked with minor league baseball teams, we've worked with professional, the higher major league teams being able just to create product and. Bring out event activation and just community engagement. That just makes things cool. And it's really a lot of awareness, which is where the running kind of came in, which we didn't really start until I would say 2018, 2019. And that was just something that I was already doing on my own. And I was like, hey, this is before I understood the concepts of run clubs. I was just like, I'm going to be able to Yeah. I was like, I'm a, I played a lot of sports in high school. I played golf. I played lacrosse. I ran track. I played basketball, but running was always something that kind of, that was the conditioning. It was the punishment for not doing something in sports. And I was like how can I learn to do this and make it enjoyable and show the access of it to The communities that I'm around. And I remember a lot of people, I was like, I'm gonna start a run club. They're like, you're freaking crazy. Like, why, who wants to do that? Now everyone's calling me saying, when's the next run club event? So it's crazy how the world just shifts in that direction. I'm not mad at, I'm glad more people are taking up the sport. It's just more or less, I want people to be doing it correctly. Please do not show up in a pair of Air Force Ones and then complain that your Achilles are hurting for the next three days. It's let's. Get more of the access and information for equipment events and stuff like that to make sure that you're running at your peak and you still look great while you're doing it.

Bryan The Botanist:

So tell us about D17 as a run brand versus a clothing brand. You have organized weekly runs. You have, where do you run in, do you run in Baltimore?

Terrance Diggs:

yeah, so we split time between Baltimore and Columbia, Maryland. We've been thankful enough to work with Feet First Sports

Bryan The Botanist:

Yeah. We love Feet First. I was about to mention

Terrance Diggs:

Woo!

Bryan The Botanist:

Yeah.

Terrance Diggs:

Yeah, she's, funny fact, she's actually the one that introduced me to getting the box because they have

Bryan The Botanist:

Oh my God. Nakia and Feet First in Columbia.

Terrance Diggs:

to them. So usually we run with them on Thursdays as well as we've had the opportunity to work with Charm City Run, which is like one of the biggest, retailers out here yeah, we've been working with them for their Charles Street 12 filer leading some of the preview runs and stuff like that. We do on the D17 side, we hold usually like bi weekly track workouts usually we'll run around the various lakes that are in the community. That's where people are like, Oh, have you challenged all the lakes that are there? They're huge and beautiful. Now we're getting together like our teams and everything to be competing in a lot of the races. Like I mentioned off the call, we're getting ready for the Baltimore Running Festival. We'll probably get a team about 12 to 15 runners together. Represented in each one of the events. We'll have our team kits now produced by D17.

Bryan The Botanist:

want to see those. Yeah.

Terrance Diggs:

Yeah. they're going to be, they'll be cool. Like it'll be our first introduction. But once I get that out the way, I'm just going to turn it up like tenfold. And thankfully with ASICS, being an ambassador, we've been able to get people correctly in the right shoes. We've been able to get people in, get them out, No disrespect to the Nikes, but, we get them out of the Air Force Ones into

Bryan The Botanist:

you have a special relationship where they, you recommend an ASIC shoe? Cause for instance, I do train in the Nova Blast 4 and I just find that it works good for me cause I have really long term Achilles tendonitis and I had surgery about four months ago and just, that was a shoe even before surgery that felt best for me, but I've worn other shoes and I've raced in other shoes, but they need to have a pair of ASICS to be part of the club? Or are you guys pretty, I know that there's, and you have, you're an ASICS ambassador, so I respect that you are promoting them because you believe I've, yeah, that's awesome. So tell us a little bit more about how the shoes work and how

Terrance Diggs:

good. Anybody that comes to the runs, you do not need to be wearing ASICS to participate in the runs. I may have to cover them in the picture, just because I'm a brand loyalist, and I just,

Bryan The Botanist:

Oh, you're a designer too. That's probably pretty easy.

Terrance Diggs:

but

Bryan The Botanist:

in photo shoots where they tape up shoes,

Terrance Diggs:

yeah, I gotta love it, gotta love it but no, usually what we try to do, especially now is, over the time that running has really given in terms of building relationships, we always say, hey, go to Feet first beforehand or go to Charm City beforehand, get yourself analyzed first. Yeah. don't just try to buy something that's

Bryan The Botanist:

Okay. Perfect. So then they'll find out if they're neutral or they pronate and

Terrance Diggs:

Yeah, I'd much rather get people outfitted correctly versus, trying to just my bias. And now

Bryan The Botanist:

No, yeah, of

Terrance Diggs:

I'm going to push, I'm going to push for the ASICS models.

Bryan The Botanist:

Yeah, what are you some of your favorites to wear personally

Terrance Diggs:

It's

Bryan The Botanist:

know we're gonna get into a favorite section in a little bit, but we're talking running right now So just stay in the run category

Terrance Diggs:

Yeah, I'm a big, I'm a big Super Blast guy, which I have them in the background.

Bryan The Botanist:

been blessed to try those yet. I'm dreaming. The day I get to try the Super Blast, tells me about them, but I've

Terrance Diggs:

yeah, I usually just keep them with the bag. I like the Magic Speeds, honestly, for any track workouts and pretty much just I like the Kayano 31s. I have gigantic duck feet, so I able to have

Bryan The Botanist:

Big Toe Box,

Terrance Diggs:

Yeah, I need a lot of stability so I try to go with that, but yeah, if you come to the club, you don't need to wear the ASICS, I would love if you got into them, but, they've definitely been able to help just bring people together if there's any events, I always just try to invite people hey, they're hosting the Summer Grit Party with Believe in the Run, oh, we're doing this and that, down in Virginia Beach with Spark Worldwide. We're doing, trying to just like circumventing everyone around, not just for the brand, but also just for the sport in general. Just being able to get people excited and just show what's Been there all this time. I didn't know, I didn't even know myself. So

Bryan The Botanist:

How long have you been part of the ASICS family and how did that develop?

Terrance Diggs:

technically since 2019, when I used to be on the corporate side more or less, I knew a lot about the ASIC stuff before I joined on the corporate side. More or less that was just like me getting a job there and I was like, holy crap, this is like the greatest thing ever,

Bryan The Botanist:

you were in the street kind of more category.

Terrance Diggs:

Yeah. I

Bryan The Botanist:

What do they call that light? The lifestyle.

Terrance Diggs:

yeah, I was on the lifestyle side, but I did work on a couple

Bryan The Botanist:

As a designer, did you help with social media? Many different hats, or how

Terrance Diggs:

Mainly social media social media management. But I did do a lot of like content management for the performance run stuff like the light show campaigns. Like a lot of the Anos one of the earlier Cumulus and a Nimbus I was on some of those just like Duke.

Bryan The Botanist:

in the

Terrance Diggs:

Yeah, gotta love I actually have those right behind me,

Bryan The Botanist:

the Nimbus that I got at RunSummit from ASICS when we cleaned up we, we do a plogging mission with them and the Low Impact Alliance, and they give you, they gave me a pair of NovaBlast in Chicago last year at RunCella, and then it got rebranded RunSummit, and they helped us out this year with the Low Impact Alliance, we got a pair of Nimbus,

Terrance Diggs:

gotta love it.

Bryan The Botanist:

and they did The product testing of the SuperBlast, or the NovaBlast, but,

Terrance Diggs:

yeah, it's the way to

Bryan The Botanist:

They get involved with a lot of things and so do many shoe brands. We're not we love every, everyone that gets involved in sustainability and we're not, just going to speak about ASICS, but I, your time there, I think that must be invaluable to your, to your, to what you're doing at D17 and also just the fact that you're a loyal collaborator with them Years is huge for the run community. each group has a, Backing of some sort. So it's great to have some backing there from and what's going on with them. Naturally, you guys can pair up with them. So anything else you want to share about the D17 run and A6 and what's going on lately in Baltimore?

Terrance Diggs:

Just really just, anything about coming out and just enjoying it. We've been trying to figure out what we're gonna see what the future is gonna look like. I know now I've been trying to push doing D17 events in Florida. We try to do one in Jackson we try to do one in Jacksonville. Back in June I'm looking to get down to South Beach in December

Bryan The Botanist:

dude, we can set it up. Have you met Frankie Ruiz yet?

Terrance Diggs:

I have not. Yeah.

Bryan The Botanist:

he's the first person we're going to introduce you to with the Beach Run Club, Brickle Run Club, he's the founder of the Miami, founder of Miami Marathon, he's a Nike coach he has the top high school team in the country, Balen Jesuit, he's a cross country coach, they're like state champions for the last 20 years straight, He's the man down here. He's also my colleague at Sneaker Impact. So Before you do anything in South Beach, let me connect you to the godfather of Miami running. I'm not going to give him too much of a shot. He gets the shot. He's on one of our original episodes, episode One. He'll be back in the future. He's a great guy and he will connect you with him and it'll be the, he'll get you connect, he'll get the Run Club behind you to come out and we do stuff with other people like Joe Robinson from Rerun 313 came down for the Miami, come down for Miami Marathon too, by the

Terrance Diggs:

Yeah that's the plan cause we're doing some stuff down there at Dolphin Mall, I'm hoping, like on the retail side

Bryan The Botanist:

There's a ton of malls. Yeah.

Terrance Diggs:

we've been, we've had a couple connections down there, and I, like I said, I've been going in and out, and I'm hopefully, my goal is to relocate down there down to South Beach

Bryan The Botanist:

would be awesome. We'd love to have you here. It's like Austin. It's one of the fastest growing places in the U S I think.

Terrance Diggs:

Look I don't want to throw it out there I know my jersey's in the back, I didn't mean to, I actually was

Bryan The Botanist:

Oh, I see the heat hat on. We haven't talked about that yet.

Terrance Diggs:

yeah I've been a Miami guy since birth, so I feel like my my life plan was to get down there I've been big on them since

Bryan The Botanist:

Just everything happens.

Terrance Diggs:

I was a, an Alonzo Morning fan, and he went to Georgetown,

Bryan The Botanist:

I remember watching him when I was in the nineties, when I was in high school at Georgetown, a

Terrance Diggs:

he was amazing. My family was always big Georgetown people. And I'm a

Bryan The Botanist:

Wasn't Anthony Hardaway from there too?

Terrance Diggs:

Yeah. And I'm a big, I'm a big Dwayne Wade fanatic.

Bryan The Botanist:

Wisconsin, where I'm from.

Terrance Diggs:

yeah, I was obsessed with him, and then everything going down there I've been in the city, I was down there last when the Heat, they played the Celtics, then when they played the Nuggets, so that was the previous finals, and I was like, Yeah, I'm like really liking it down here. This is more

Bryan The Botanist:

a place.

Terrance Diggs:

tt. So between there Yeah, Wynwood I'm trying to get a mural

Bryan The Botanist:

You would fit in so well down here. You would always have Baltimore as your home, but Miami has such a vibrant art scene. It's ridiculous. And the fashion scene, we interviewed Martu Freeman, a Parker with MEF Productions, and she works with MANA Fashion Services. The fashion scene is just booming down here. New York artists moving down here. The sports scene is booming. The. Music scene, every scene, the environmental scene, the running scene. The running scene is huge. I could tell you about the running scene all day and there's all brands getting involved and influencers. It's really cool. So

Terrance Diggs:

Yeah. I've been waiting for

Bryan The Botanist:

we would welcome you with open arms, man. You'd be part of the Sneaker Impact circle here, man. We'd come in and, Do podcasts regularly here, but yeah, so that's, it's incredible. The work, just to hear, with ASICS, how you get that experience and then with your, with the RUN community up there and everything you guys are training for sounds like Baltimore, if you're, if people are interested, how do they join your RUN clubs? Do they, do you find them through word of mouth mainly or do they Instagram?

Terrance Diggs:

It's a lot of Instagram, a lot of obviously just like Strava posts. Everyone gets to see those, but like most of it. I will say it comes from just like word of mouth it's really just getting out there. Not to sound cliche, but you have to get out there and really go run. Yeah. Like I've even jumped around to a couple of other run clubs that are like in the city, big ones, small ones, just pulling up and just being like, Hey, like we're all encompassing the same space here. Let's all just just, we all see each

Bryan The Botanist:

each other. Yeah,

Terrance Diggs:

we all see each other when it comes to the events, whether they're in Baltimore or in D. C. or if I'm on the road whether it's like down in Charlotte or in Atlanta, it's like we've all connected at some point and then you end up bumping into each other like at the runs, like the races and you're like, I don't know you, you don't know me, I definitely saw you in Detroit, you definitely saw me at TRE, we have never said anything together, but we keep ending up in the same spaces, so it's let's try to, build some type of rapport. Then you find out it's Oh, I work at Brooks. I work at, Solomon or Adidas or, Oh, I used to, I was in a Nike campaign. It's that's crazy. So it's it's wild how large the community is both, domestically and globally, but it's also crazy. Just how it can be someone that's just like a one of one connection. I've met so many people just from running in general. At first, what I thought was. I hated it. Now I'm just like,

Bryan The Botanist:

It's such a world. It's such a world of its own. It's people, some people call it a sickness when they get too obsessive about their running. Um, you're at parties and you can't say the word running.

Terrance Diggs:

Oh yeah. Now it's like the taboo thing. It's oh my goodness. He's

Bryan The Botanist:

If you're surrounded by

Terrance Diggs:

running. Yeah.

Bryan The Botanist:

talk about running. I've been at parties like that, big and small parties where people are just boycott the word running because they want to talk about other things. I'm sure it's like that in the fashion world too, right?

Terrance Diggs:

yeah. If it's anything, The fashion, it's always just like so many trends and it's we're all rocking with this, we're not rocking with this no more, we're all wearing this, we're not wearing this anymore, so it's crazy with the fashion and the running, especially with ASICS, because me growing up, like I've been around ASICS, but when I ran track, ASICS was what you wore, that was like, like the first inclination, it was either a pair of ASICS or a pair of New Balances

Bryan The Botanist:

Those are just the go to brands

Terrance Diggs:

Yeah, that, that was the go, that was the go to. And like a lot of friends that I had we were running track across country. They were like, we just wear specifically ASICS and Feet First has been around since like the 60s and they still have the original like ASICS benches and stuff like that from when they first opened. So I was already in tune to it, but it wasn't like on the fashion side. But now ASICS is like going up on the fashion side and it's Man, they've got performance, they've got lifestyle, but so many people are still like, they're still making their ways, but it's crazy to see how that balance and synergy is happening.

Bryan The Botanist:

They're a Japanese company, correct?

Terrance Diggs:

yes, they are.

Bryan The Botanist:

Yeah, I used to wear the Hyperspeeds back in the day in the New York City Marathon in like 2010. Ryan Hall is a huge, I'm a huge fan of his, my, I got to hang out with him a couple times and take him to the airport when I was a chaperone for a race he was an ambassador for that I helped produce, and Sushi together and frozen yogurt, and Are you familiar with him and his wife Sarah? Yeah.

Terrance Diggs:

I think I am the name.

Bryan The Botanist:

current Olympian, he's a former Olympian

Terrance Diggs:

yeah,

Bryan The Botanist:

yeah, they, Bryan was set the American record for the marathon at one point, the half, definitely the half, and under 59, under 50, 59, I believe, anyways this was back in the 2010s, and he was in several Olympics and won the Olympic trials several times, and now his wife, Sarah, he's a bodybuilder now, and his wife, Sarah Hall, She wasn't competing in Paris, but she's always at the world champs and she's a

Terrance Diggs:

Yeah. I think I actually,

Bryan The Botanist:

a big ASICS ambassador for the running. Her and Ryan are like lifetime reps, or not reps, what am I trying to say?

Terrance Diggs:

I think I've worked with Sarah. If not,

Bryan The Botanist:

Foundation too, which I got to run the Boston Marathon for one year.

Terrance Diggs:

yeah,

Bryan The Botanist:

doing great things. They adopted, you heard, they're the ones, they adopted four to five Ethiopian sisters from an

Terrance Diggs:

oh wow

Bryan The Botanist:

cause they never have their own kids that they are a young couple that, in their thirties that still want to, be, they adopted five sisters, which is an incredible story from all their trips to Ethiopia. So I just wanted to give it, when I think ASICS, I think Ryan Hall and Sarah Hall. And now I'm also going to think Terrance Diggs.

Terrance Diggs:

Woo! Say no

Bryan The Botanist:

No, but I was looking you up earlier today and yesterday, preparing for our podcast. And I love your initiative that you reached out to us as, a fan of the brand. And I want to talk a little bit about how Sneaker Impact has gotten involved with your world. And then I want to talk a little bit about psychology. So let's go ahead with Sneaker Impact first. Um, how How did you meet Sneaker Impact and what do you think about the sustainability movement?

Terrance Diggs:

Yeah, so that kind of like ties back with Feet First when I was going in and out of the store. Like I said, when I was first introduced more into run specialty. Cause like I said, I was I probably was five minutes away from Charm City Run and I was like, ah, they're just a run store. It's whatever. But when I went into Feet First, I saw the Sneaker Impact collection box. I was like, this is interesting. I never really knew what this was. And I kept looking at it and I was like, huh, let me, Look more into this, obviously, as the QR code, so I scanned it and the same thing that a lot of people, especially in the sneaker world, but like myself in the fashion world fashion can become very wasteful, it's a lot of, sampling, it's a lot of unused material, it's a lot of, si yeah, the shipping, freight, plant, Emissions. It's a lot of, it's a lot of pieces that go into it. And when I sat back and I thought about it, not only from the running side, but as well, just from a material side we started working with a lot of artists that do upcycling of a lot of old inventory that we have instead of just, Not knowing what to do with it, let's turn it into something else. We've done that with two of our running jackets. We turned them into one of one running hats, which is cool. So we repurposed all the material, all the 3M, all the mesh, all the polyester. Obviously change the backing. Yeah. So it was kinda, it's kinda cool, especially for like sizes that don't sell or something like that. And then once we got to. Or at least myself, getting more into the running space, it's man, I buy a lot of shoes, and then once they're done, it's they go through the evolution for me, it's I'm running in them a lot, I might race in them, I train a lot they might get messed up in the rain one time, they then become my slip on when I go to the grocery store shoe, now they're just like, And I don't want to just throw them away.

Bryan The Botanist:

they become gardening shoes.

Terrance Diggs:

Yeah, they, they're just like, I'm going to go run in the dirt or something like that, or my trail, trial shoes. And then being able, yeah. And then being able to connect with you guys at Sneaker Impact, I was like, this is the main way that not only myself, but the people that come to events and stuff, they always tell me, they're like, man, I have stuff that's just sitting around and I don't know what to do with it. I'd much rather. See it have a second life or being able to, create that impact in a way that's, personally fulfilling. But it also is giving something of the lifetime of the shoe. Cause like I said it's sneakers. They, you can collect a lot. You may never wear them. You may wear them a lot, but then it's also what do we do after them? Because after a certain period of time, if they're too beat up, they're just there, you can't use them anymore. Let's put them to good use.

Bryan The Botanist:

Yeah, most people don't think about what happens to a lot of things when you're done with it. We had a cleanup organization on here the other day, Miami Beach Cleanup, and they're huge, and they clean up a lot of The tourists, And also people who aren't mindful, it's like, until you start to really think about what happens to a cup when you're done with it, or what happens to a shoe, and there's a big billion amount of shoes produced each year. I forget the number now, if it's 14 billion or if it's, I forget, I think it's 13 to 14 billion are created a And 9 billion are thrown away. In the U. S. 400 million are thrown away a year, which is Percent of the shoes. Only 13 percent get recycled. So we're just up against a staggering statistic. We're a social enterprise, and I'm so excited for the next time you come to Miami to come see our operations and to meet our founder and to see the people that work here and the jobs that are created locally in Little Haiti, where we're located in Miami. And also in other countries like Haiti and Honduras are the two countries we ship the most shoes to. We have some mandates like we don't grind any shoes that have a second life. We do have a grinding program. Material circularity right now. We're working to get very high purity levels so that we can create new shoes from old shoes. And other products from the old shoes because they're separating the foams down to each type of foam and rubber. Down to a purity level of 95%. So then it can get re injected, and the way that they create the products, they need a very high quality. So we have that program going. We also have the upcycling program where we have fashion designers and entrepreneurs, the fashion designers are helping to enhance the shoe. Repair them and they also enhance them sometimes and make them very stylish.

Terrance Diggs:

Yeah.

Bryan The Botanist:

Them how to like, if they're going to repair a shoe, make it have some really cool type of, or just how to make it look as professional as possible. And they're repairing shoes that most people would consider junk. And as long as someone can walk in them, they may have a second life. They're not necessarily for running. But the staggering statistics are what we're up against, and we're, a brand that cares a lot. And I know when we talked earlier about design, it's all about the brand, right? Which is, and about the mission. And I really believe in Sneaker Impact because as an environmentalist and a runner, I just think it's something that the discussion needs to get out, and we're getting it out there now. In the last three years, we've only been around for three or four years, and we're really, A lot of great run clubs are getting involved in cities around the U. S. in stores and marathons, and so we're just trying to get the eyes and ears that it's a free program, and that we can provide you with the sustainability metrics like the carbon emissions you're saving per shoe, the amount of waste we're diverting from landfills through your efforts. And just the shoes, how many shoes and just, we pay for the shipping both ways. We're handling over 40, 000 to 70, 000 shoes a day at our facility here in Miami. Hundreds of thousands a month. So you have to just come see it to believe it. And

Terrance Diggs:

Yeah,

Bryan The Botanist:

impressive. I didn't understand where shoes went until I started working here. I didn't really understand until I saw the huge, containers and how much, Miami generates in the U S. It's just a huge amount. It's mind boggling. So there has to be shipping companies that get involved and big brands. And that's where we're hoping some brands, like ASICS and other ones we've talked to on, that they will, get more, they are getting involved. Now it's a part, now we all just want to partnership up so that it can be, helpful to make it easier for people. I think too,

Terrance Diggs:

Yeah, and I feel and after battle, I've learned as well anytime I take one of the boxes with me, like when we go to the track and stuff Is really just asking sometimes people, they just don't know. It's just Hey, if you, what are you doing with your old stuff? Even I was, even I didn't know when I was first getting into running, like I've always kept a lot of the shoes and it's I don't want to just. Get rid of them just yet, but like you just mentioned, there's so many ways that you can put together, whether it's like new pieces, a second life, grinding it down, converting it into something else, like this is still all very malleable and usable material that we just don't want it to just go to waste or end up in a landfill, or just go to waste. Like you said, if there's a way that you can, repair it into a second life, there might be other communities that they're just like, hey, we're looking for shoes I have a pair, literally, I can grab them right now. This is a pair of the tri nooses these are darn near still fresh. If there's somebody, a kid out there or an organization that can get the benefit out of them, you

Bryan The Botanist:

They buy them in bulk and then they I, one thing I learned was 75 percent of the world depends on the secondhand market, which blew my mind. And as a designer, I think you probably, that blows your mind too, right? That it's not just living one life. Secondhand market is, when you go to Guatemala, I trained there a lot as a runner. It's, they depend on the secondary market. In the U. S. we don't depend on it so much, but

Terrance Diggs:

Yeah, and I can roll off of that really quickly. I know at least for us with D17, we talk about oh, we a lot of our design inspiration is very, I guess you could say, vintage inspired, but then it also is looking back, especially at least when I've been down to South Beach and the culture down there, take It's a lot of resale stuff, a lot of buy sell trade, sneakers, clothing, stuff like that. Even my guys in Jacksonville at Collect Jacks they built a whole brand and universe off second hand collecting. It's all just old Jaguars football gear, which is

Bryan The Botanist:

it. Yep.

Terrance Diggs:

Yeah some of it's not even restored. They take it with the holes and everything, and people are still interested in buying it and I know for us we've done a project with the Bowie Base Sox, that's a minor league team under the Baltimore Orioles with my alma mater, Towson, in my high school,

Bryan The Botanist:

Yeah. I saw on your Instagram.

Terrance Diggs:

yeah, we did like vintage, yeah, that's my alma mater, and we did Like vintage inspired, pieces. And I always tell people cause obviously we can't profit off licenses and stuff like that. We just give them out. But I always tell people this is a free item or whatever, even if you purchase it or whatever. The thing about this is when I was going through that process, it wasn't necessarily the first life. It was more or less the second life. I'm like, this will definitely. Hopefully do you well in 20 years, as it begins to break down and wear and stuff like that like the second life in fashion, like people will go, a mile to find vintage Louis Vuitton or vintage Bottega and stuff like that. If it is resale or stuff like that on the vintage side and I'm like, Hey, if you're a or something like that, it might not. Stand where it is now, but give it like 10 years when it starts to break down and it's still together and the, the craftsmanship is still there, the graphic kind of looks naturally crack, it's not like fake, cracked, like we're gonna fake wear and tear I'm like, this is something that can be Use not only when you buy it or when you go to resell it, it can get a whole nother life for a whole nother creator or whoever's wearing it. And I try to think about that now with a lot of stuff that I'm creating, especially with the running gear. Yes, we are making sure that we're making stuff, but we try not to make too much. We try not to overproduce any of the products. If it is anything like, for example, our singlets, we will have them for like retail, but not too many. But everything is made, like made to order. I don't want to go out and order 150 singlets. I'm only going to use 20. Now we have all this material that's just been used and it's sitting around. We really try to

Bryan The Botanist:

Yeah, Mindful doing mindful production instead of you have to do 500 piece minimum. And then you're just like huge inventory,

Terrance Diggs:

yeah, and being able to

Bryan The Botanist:

based on orders per quarter, orders per month or whatever,

Terrance Diggs:

and

Bryan The Botanist:

That's really cool that you can get that creative and that flexible.

Terrance Diggs:

it's definitely a challenge, but it it has its pros and its cons. But like I said, I'd much rather get people invested in buying things that they want and they will use over time. And we do now put instructions on what to do with this stuff after Hey, you don't want it anymore. And, I'm not like a Solomon or like an Arterix that can afford to do a buyback program, but It's definitely hey, here's some of the local organizations and stuff that we work with to do with the products. Hey, you can take it to out here. We also have Leveling the Playing Field, which they do athletic equipment collection. They also do some of their merchandise. So it's hey if you don't want your tank you're single anymore. And, If it's just gonna sit in the closet, take it down here. There's kids that are participating in a track and field or cross country. They would love to take the secondhand singlet, trying to go from there versus just letting it rot and get moth balls in your dresser. So there's

Bryan The Botanist:

So that's coming with the original clothing now? Is that part of the messaging?

Terrance Diggs:

Yeah. So that'll come up usually like in the follow up emails and we'll do blogs and stuff as well.

Bryan The Botanist:

so you do education on the website and then through like email.

Terrance Diggs:

Yeah, it hasn't been put out yet, but I guess I'm like teasing it now

Bryan The Botanist:

though, um,

Terrance Diggs:

people to

Bryan The Botanist:

some companies have buyback or recycling programs or some type of other Reusing valuable componentry.

Terrance Diggs:

Yeah, I don't know what, I don't know what to do with it, but there's a company or a non profit that know, that has a better inclination of what to do with it. I'd rather partner with them and be like, hey, go check out this You know, whatever. And now we have you guys at Sneaker Impact. It's when I go to the runs and we conclude, I'm like, Hey, if you have any additional things, throw them into the box, then they say what did they do with the stuff? Here's all, here's you guys website. Here's a Sneaker Impact website. Here's a video. Here's everything that's going into it. The people are, they become more inclined. They're like, wow, now I know what to do with my shoes after I've put, my 200, 300 miles in, they're not just going to go

Bryan The Botanist:

Oh, they have so much life. We get shoes with a thousand miles that someone could still wear for years.

Terrance Diggs:

Yeah, it's the way to go.

Bryan The Botanist:

it's people, sometimes people just need one to walk around their community. 24 percent of kids don't have proper footwear in the world to prevent diseases.

Terrance Diggs:

It's

Bryan The Botanist:

a big number, 24%. Um, so yeah, that's really cool to chat with about, how you're encouraging people with your brand and with your to get more mindful about, use and consumerism. Let's talk a little bit about psychology now about, sneaker culture, which is totally different. But it should be merging the two ideally, but it's just the psychology of the sneaker drop, the psychology of fashion on consumer behavior. Where did this all begin, how powerful is it what is your take on that whole subject?

Terrance Diggs:

one, that's a really deep dig because I feel like a lot of people overlooked that, especially when it comes to me within the sneaker world, because I actually sat down with a site, like a board certified psychologist to talk about obviously sneaker drops, sneaker culture, how things have changed And essentially what that has grown into in terms of a business. But back to the question it really just stems down not only from Hey, obviously we have our, running, we have our lifestyle shoes, we have cross training, stuff like that, depending on sport or activity. But at the end of the day, sneakers are, use for human necessity, but then it's also you really don't need shoes, but then it's also you do need shoes. That's what we spoke about in that article, especially in terms of how psychology has been built into the business with obviously like scarcity tactics being able to understand like, Where those locations and opportunities arise when you want to do like collaboration marketing like obviously if you're a brand that's, X, Y, and Z, what can you do from not only a business standpoint, but also from a marketing standpoint to say, hey, we can create sneakers and footwear that have a second meaning, it's more or less not just a new colorway of something, it's okay this shoe, like for example, in, in Baltimore, Under Armour, like I said, I'm 20 minutes away from the HQ It became not just a lifestyle, but it's almost like a cultural stepping stone. It's you grew up wearing Under Armour when you played peewee football. You play, wear Under Armour when you were in high school playing basketball. Depending on, let's say you became a Division I athlete, you went to University of Maryland where Kevin Plank is an alumni. You may not have gone to the NFL, but now you've developed, Connections and networks, and it all started because of of a sneaker. It also could be within the running journey, like it is in terms of the bigger brands with the collaborations. It's like being able to work, like we, like I mentioned, with non profits or grassroots organizations, and how you're able to take the product and implant it into something else versus it just being, like, hey, it's, it's Adidas and Bad Bunny, here you go, it more or less takes a second life because now all the Bad Bunny concert goers are wearing his sneaker, the sneaker is representative of Puerto Rican culture. It's understood in places like Miami, Los Angeles, Austin, Texas, it begins to take a bigger life than what it is versus it just being seen as just like nylons, glue and plastic, the way that, that. Not only sneakers, but product as well, hoodies, t shirts and stuff. Yeah, we have brands that we wear, but these are the tribes that we're represented. These are the logos and monikers that we identify ourselves with. And being able to see how that's grown into Retail businesses, not only just by going to the mall, but also what's seen in fast fashion. Sometimes people relate more with the companies that they're buying from and how that, speaks to themselves. How do you diversify two people? One that shops at Publix versus one that shops at Aldi. If you're going to buy fast fashion from Shein, are you going to buy the fast fashion from the mall? Is it online? Is it in person? It's so many different layers, how that's built up and at least for me in the streetwear life sometimes the psychology behind it is put like, hey, it's a collaboration, it's hype it's,

Bryan The Botanist:

hot at the time?

Terrance Diggs:

Yeah, it's sought after, I guess you could say, but a lot of people don't understand that there's so many subcultures and ways of understanding for example, streetwear. When it first began, like in New York, it was very underground. It was like, if you saw somebody with a Stussy t shirt, you're just like, What the heck is that? But the people that were, in the cultures of surfing and skateboarding and hip hop and going to the clubs at, four in the morning in somebody's basement and everyone's wearing the shirt. And then as it becomes mainstream, it goes from Being in the underground to now, I want to be a part of the underground. This is me wanting to feel like my human necessity of being in a tribe. That's where it starts to become monetized and we're seeing it everywhere. Movies, video games, Marvel, cinematic, conference releases and stuff. But then like you had mentioned before, it's a lot of people on the earth, which means it's a lot of material that needs to be used. It's a lot of shirts that need to be made. Not everybody's going to wear the same shirt.

Bryan The Botanist:

There's leftovers from a lot of things, right? From basketball tournaments where the team doesn't win and they, the national championship they already have the stuff printed, or it could be even, The Chicago Marathon, which you know, reached out to us when they had extra apparel left over from their event and they need to find a home for it, and they wanted to, maybe leave the area,

Terrance Diggs:

yeah,

Bryan The Botanist:

to stay in the area. Sometimes they want to stay, sometimes they want to leave. But, it's just, it's interesting how, yeah think organizations are getting more and more mindful. It's just, I think that when there's a lot of money behind certain things like basketball tournaments, we should be more mindful. Then I think, some marathons are getting pretty mindful now. They're, reducing plastic usage everywhere. It's just really great to see. So now I think the next step is like all the other sports, runners aren't the only, and other sports are getting, you're seeing in, hopefully in the Olympics and in pro sports and. Hopefully in a lot of big brands too, that they're realizing to, to reuse the materials, like you said, for other purposes, like making hats out of, and it's just really cool ideas. And also from the ocean. Yeah. Just from recycled sources.

Terrance Diggs:

yeah, I had

Bryan The Botanist:

is doing some stuff and on. Yeah.

Terrance Diggs:

Yeah. I had a mini like project, whoever, I'll put it out there, whoever decides to do it, because I can't do it. I don't have the facilities to do it, but I really think it would be so interesting. I don't know what, like I said, I don't know what brand is going to do it. I don't know who's listening. If you get this far in listening just send me the product, or at least just put me in the campaign or something. I would love to see a brand, because like I said, D17 can't do it right now. We don't have the facilities. Someone take all the water, all the plastic water bottles that are used during the marathons and stuff, scoop them all up and turn it into something. I would love to see that because every, even when I'm racing obviously I'm trying to PR and stuff like that, like when you pass like the hydration stations or like people bring their own stuff, they just they just do it. Toss it. But I'm like, it's just it's just sitting in the street. And then obviously someone has to come by and clean this all up. But I'm like, obviously, they're just gonna throw it away. But I'm just so curious

Bryan The Botanist:

getting more I think I heard something in Miami about they're starting to make something now out of the picked up materials from the marathon, from all the bottles. I

Terrance Diggs:

want to see something of that from all of it. Because even when I was watching, the women in the men's marathon for in Paris, I was just like, man, they're just like us. They're just throwing it. I wondered like, how

Bryan The Botanist:

Well, we add up, yeah. There's hundreds of millions of runners in The U. S. I'm sure, maybe half u. S. is a runner, I don't know, but regardless, everyone uses water bottles, so there needs to be an industry for this, and I'm sure the fashion, yeah guys, like anyone who wants to get involved, reach out to Terrance Diggs, D17, he wants to be a leader in this, get him the

Terrance Diggs:

might, I might even do it

Bryan The Botanist:

R& D Lab is gonna get crankin there, he's gonna

Terrance Diggs:

I I really might even just do it myself. I might just volunteer at an event

Bryan The Botanist:

reach out to him, the big, yeah, marathons.

Terrance Diggs:

can I just keep the bottles? I don't, I'm gonna do,

Bryan The Botanist:

Well, there's a lot of processing involved. Obviously you gotta, and the sterilizing or the different, you gotta reform it.

Terrance Diggs:

yeah, see, I don't have all that, so I was like, one of the big brands can just be like we have the facilities to do it, but

Bryan The Botanist:

have the materials here for you to take when you come and visit us. Um, I'll show you some of the, you can see on camera here. Some of the things we make out of, we're starting to make flooring and. Cup coasters, and we're making little doormats, but we're, now they're, they made some fashion clothing for swimsuit models in Miami Beach for, it's actually at St. Thomas University. And they had models where evening wear that was made out of recycled shoes and, yeah, they taped it to their body, it was interesting, or they, you it secured, it was like a top it cool, so they're starting to make stuff just out of shoes,

Terrance Diggs:

need that, or when I start my when I get my my D17 location, preferably somewhere in Wynwood, I need the whole floor with all the grinded shoes, and we'll get a nice little sneaker impact I don't know, plaque on the floor being like, this was made

Bryan The Botanist:

Yeah, we were just talking about that today, spray painting it on.

Terrance Diggs:

Yeah, that'd be sick.

Bryan The Botanist:

We've got our mural here, which Pedro Amos, a local artist, is going to be on later this week an in person. He did our mural. It's a little hard to see right now, but it says Sneaker Impact someday we'll have a three camera setup, and

Terrance Diggs:

Heck

Bryan The Botanist:

have this big sweeping view when you're here. I'm working on a third camera,

Terrance Diggs:

Gotta love

Bryan The Botanist:

but it's pretty basic right now, but we just really wanted to get to know you today, Terrance, and I have a couple more questions before we close out, if you have a couple more minutes, um, let's talk about some of your favorites For sneakers and, start in fashion, like what you love to wear the most or what you have the biggest attachment to. And, yeah, just your favorite shoes. You can move on to running too as well after the fashion.

Terrance Diggs:

Yeah, I guess right now, fashion wise, I'm looking at them, so thankfully I can't

Bryan The Botanist:

Or you're, you want to show us your collection quick or anything?

Terrance Diggs:

Not right now, because it's a mess.

Bryan The Botanist:

No, your place looks great though, to be honest. This is

Terrance Diggs:

thanks. Definitely, I will say, at least on the fashion side I love wearing just the ASICS Kayano 14s. They're just good for me.

Bryan The Botanist:

Just, they feel good on your feet. So more,

Terrance Diggs:

yeah, super meshy. I love the, I love New Balance 993s. That's just a local staple. Everybody that probably exists and,

Bryan The Botanist:

yeah, they're just

Terrance Diggs:

Baltimore, they just love those gray New Balances and at least now I don't know if it's just me getting older, but I'm obsessed with Crocs now I'm literally wearing them right

Bryan The Botanist:

I expecting Crocs. Okay.

Terrance Diggs:

oh, yeah, nah, if I'm not doing anything fun I'm wearing

Bryan The Botanist:

But they feel, so let's talk about sandals. Do you know UFOS? I had Achilles surgery, so I've, right after surgery, I got a pair of UFOS because, You're going to love TRE because you're going to see all the running brands there, Crocs isn't there, but every running brand is there from Nike to, on to every company. You can, even all the new shoe companies. There's so many companies I hadn't even heard of. Will be my third year. So I try to make it to Austin this November, if you can, and you can come and hang out with us and so many other people there and. It's a week of amazing opportunities, but yeah, it was just, okay. So back to the sandals, do you really like Crocs? I've never worn a pair in my life. I'm an UFOS, fan slash diva. I don't know what, I love them because I've had a couple of pairs and they just last for so long. Probably more expensive, but they're just for a recovery. I've done 45 marathons, I'm 45 years old. Do Crocs feel as good on your feet as a really solid running recovery sandal?

Terrance Diggs:

I, for me, they do, but I don't know if that's more or less just like the hypebeast side of me. Cause these are

Bryan The Botanist:

like, the design aspect, all the colors,

Terrance Diggs:

yeah,

Bryan The Botanist:

some people running Crocs, I've heard of them running even fast miles or fast half marathons, someone ran like a 103 half marathon or something in

Terrance Diggs:

yeah, I'm not doing that. But but

Bryan The Botanist:

one, yeah, I've heard of people running in them though and they're ubiquitous. I've never worn a pair, but ubiquitous is a good word for Crocs, right? They're everywhere.

Terrance Diggs:

I only

Bryan The Botanist:

What do you love about them?

Terrance Diggs:

Obviously these are like the like hypebeast version. They're

Bryan The Botanist:

Yeah, the

Terrance Diggs:

or they're Yeah, they're a collaboration with a black designer named Salehi Bembrey, and I've always just been like a fan of his design language and everything cause like the bottoms of them, they're supposed to be like, reminiscent, I've messed them up, but they're supposed to look like a fingerprint. I like wearing them, like, whenever I'm at the races and I've stepped in 9, 000 puddles of Gatorade and water, and then I look around, I see the little, my little fingerprint

Bryan The Botanist:

They protect. yeah. design element is very important to you.

Terrance Diggs:

yeah, more,

Bryan The Botanist:

some companies, they're more basic in the design element. I think a company like Crocs just has so many iterations.

Terrance Diggs:

yeah, and depending on how, which ones they are, like, I don't mind just the basic ones too but like I said, more or less, my, I guess you could say my ethos is still like a hype beast, so I still like to try to put on Something

Bryan The Botanist:

yeah.

Terrance Diggs:

Some type of flair to it

Bryan The Botanist:

Those are Those are bright green. You're not

Terrance Diggs:

I don't know if it's just like a thing, but I'm obsessed with like my running shoes always being extremely bright.

Bryan The Botanist:

Okay.

Terrance Diggs:

I'm literally, I'm looking like a pair of Gel Noosa's the Lime Green, Kayano's Lime Green, Super Blast Lime Green, Maddox, I really love just bright

Bryan The Botanist:

Why do companies do the bright colors on running shoes? I know that there's reflective material for safety, but why do they do the bright colors? Is it to invoke a sense of, Nike has that tennis ball green a lot.

Terrance Diggs:

I don't know. I think for me growing up, I was always obsessed with it and I always can remember it. I was, this had to be 2012 Olympics. When they, I think when they first started bringing out like the Nike Vault, I was like obsessed with it. I was like, oh my goodness, the red, white, and blue, and then they're just wearing these gigantic, loud, way off brand contrast colored cleats. And I think like low key, my brain has been obsessed with that kind of stand out. It contrasts the feel, and that kind of all ties back into my design life. Being able to look back and pull the pieces together of my design language. Even a lot of people don't know, and I guess this is the perfect place to do it. The D17 logo literally is the same it's like the Miami Heat logo. The big logo. Waxy, not this one, cause that's the

Bryan The Botanist:

motion to it though.

Terrance Diggs:

It's the same feel. Cause I was a big, I'm a big heat fan. And even my colors are the red, white, black,

Bryan The Botanist:

Well, we're

Terrance Diggs:

So it's it's the way to go. That's, I've always just pulled those things. And now like when it comes to the business and putting together, whether it's design design ideas or finding that inspiration I'm always like sticking to it. So whether it's like from old sports stuff, I like, like I said certain like Olympic looks, like I can remember stuff they wore after the, 2012 when, Team USA won gold in basketball, like the shirts they wore after the game. Like I said, the track and field, like I always understand what they're putting together when they had those bright. Nike, cleats, and then even this year which was super cool. A lot of people didn't realize it, and I didn't realize it either that Noah Liles, when he won the 100, he wore a pair of the adidas odyssey zero, but it was a collaboration pair with a Japanese brand called Y3. So they're like a very high end fashion brand and they collaborated on the track lead. That's like something that I wanted to do like before it was a thing, but I find it interesting because, like I said, the world of running And athletics, before it was separated, but now it's slowly blending together even he had a Louis Vuitton chain on, running track, and even some of the other athletes Shellyann, Frazier Price, she had a freakin Richard Milley chain. Watch on when she ran the 200 in the prelims, like she had 100, 000 watch on, that's it's cool to me. Some people, maybe some purists are like, I would never do

Bryan The Botanist:

Yeah, surprised. They must have to get certain things vetted that they can wear, chains and, I know as a cross country coach, we they used to not allow jewelry. Now they allow it, but The Olympics you can't just wear covered in different, I know Nike has a big relationship and USA track and field, but,

Terrance Diggs:

yeah, see me, I see I'm, yeah,

Bryan The Botanist:

there's always rules and regulations.

Terrance Diggs:

that was me. I don't know if I was, in Paris or going to LA, I would definitely have pulled something like that. I would have just been like, I'm gonna wear this I don't know, like when J. R. Smith, when he was on the Cleveland Cavaliers, he wore a Supreme shooting sleeve, and that just set the world off Supreme shot up, and it's oh my gosh, he's wearing streetwear, in the professional, it was, I liked, that, that really was, like, my catalyst to kinda getting in, What I wanted to do with like D17, I say, I'm just going to come and like mess everything up, but it's little small moments like that, that like the running in me loved, and also like the street wear fashion purists also loved as well. But it's no one really knew until they showed the cleat. And I was like, wait a minute. I know that, I know the brand that he collaborated with. So it's cool. To see that and how it's happening in

Bryan The Botanist:

Sure. Yeah, the Olympics was a big stage. I

Terrance Diggs:

Yeah, and 2028 should be fun.

Bryan The Botanist:

yeah, the other one in LA is next. Yeah, I believe check back with look at the Martu episode, Martu Freeman about five episodes back. She, one of her clients was collaborating with the Barbados track team, I believe, for their kids. And so she, when you come down to Miami, I'm going to introduce you to Martu. She's the face of sustainable fashion in Miami. She used to work for, Polo Ralph. She worked for Ralph Lauren himself, so

Terrance Diggs:

Nice.

Bryan The Botanist:

with him for many years. And they're, yeah, so invaluable resource down here and big Sneaker Impact fan. Um, so Yeah. I want to kind Keep a couple more topics before we run out of camera strength here. I got to figure out how to do these batteries that are, That you, I don't know, what do you call'em? That you attach, so you have extra runtime, runtimes about an hour, 20 hour 10. So what are some of your favorite things to do in Baltimore? And then I wanna get to know you more as a runner. Baltimore. What's your favorite thing to do on a weekend or just on a night out?

Terrance Diggs:

Baltimore. I'm going to an Orioles game. I'm going to Pickles Pub. I'm getting a hot dog. I'm going to watch the Orioles actually be great for one time in my life. Other than that, I've developed a new obsession with electric bikes. I love riding my bike now, especially now that the weather is decent. I ride my bike to the track, so I try to be a real local guy. Anybody that sees me, I'm just like, hey, if you see me on my bike, come run with me, they know where I'm going, they know the track that I'm going to. I even take the sneaker impact box I try to I strap it on to the

Bryan The Botanist:

No way. That's unheard of.

Terrance Diggs:

I put it sideways,

Bryan The Botanist:

Okay. That needs to

Terrance Diggs:

it on to the back. I'll do it. I just ride down the street, my little

Bryan The Botanist:

so you're pretty close to the track. How far does it take you to get there?

Terrance Diggs:

Probably like 10 minutes. I'm pretty

Bryan The Botanist:

On an electric bike. So it's gotta be two miles and about, right?

Terrance Diggs:

yeah, about two-ish miles. It's where it was. It's my, where I went to high school, so it's pretty, pretty local, so

Bryan The Botanist:

you live in, you live in Baltimore still?

Terrance Diggs:

So I'm located in like Howard County, Maryland, so like a little bit outside right now. But like it's, maybe two miles away. It probably takes me 10 minutes. I.

Bryan The Botanist:

you're right there.

Terrance Diggs:

I throw the bike on, I throw the box on the back of the bike and I ride it up with me and I usually ride my bike like anywhere, like in the local runs, I'll just take my bike with me. There's also a PT place out here called Rehab to Perform. I ride my bike over there, get my little sessions in, ride my bike back home and then also

Bryan The Botanist:

Wear your helmet. A hundred percent. I got in a bike accident last year. Miami is Very yeah, I, and it was my fault, but I've always worn a helmet and I had a helmet on last year and thankfully I didn't even hurt my head. I broke two ribs and. Yeah, I ended up running four marathons that year after coming back from rib, broken ribs. And I hurt my knee a little bit, but it all healed up fast, but it was close, it was right in front of my office actually in daytime. And

Terrance Diggs:

Oh

Bryan The Botanist:

got hit by a truck and I just hurt my ribs, not my head, but I had a on and I have. There's just a lot of bike accidents and motorcycle accidents out there. And I have a friend who's got, he builds motorcycles and art ones, and he works for us here at Sneaker Impact. And I said, you got to get every time, have to have the helmet on. I don't care what you think you look like. I lost a friend last year in a motorcycle accident and he And had a kid. And it was just, you don't want to have to lose anyone. So just protect your brain when you're out there on the bikes is all I, the dad of, I'm a high school coach. I have to say, this is,

Terrance Diggs:

No, it's all good.

Bryan The Botanist:

have any kids. So just make sure to wear that helmet because we value your brain

Terrance Diggs:

yeah, nah,

Bryan The Botanist:

for all the collaborations that are coming up. So tell us about what are you training for next? What's your big, next big goal?

Terrance Diggs:

yeah. So right now with Charm City Run working and training for the Charles Street 12 miler, that's just a straight 12 mile shot from Baltimore County to Baltimore City. So we'll be starting, which is very like a hometown run for me. Cause it's outside of Towson and then it goes all the way straight down

Bryan The Botanist:

that 20k? Yeah, because I've done a 20k once or twice. That must be

Terrance Diggs:

Yeah, so me and my one of my teammates, we're gonna do the relay, so we're gonna split it split the distance, that should be fun, and we'll kinda see how it goes, he's trying to get into the longer distances, I'm trying to train for Baltimore RunFest, which is in October

Bryan The Botanist:

a you're going to do?

Terrance Diggs:

yeah, I'm gonna do the half, I,

Bryan The Botanist:

half? So you're more of like a 5k mile guy or what was your favorite distance in the past?

Terrance Diggs:

Definitely like a 5k. 5k, 10k was like my bread and butter. But I really want to tackle the half. I did the 10k for Baltimore two years in a row. The half I feel is like my next step. But then I really want to start getting into the full marathon space. So that's definitely probably going to be next year, I'm hoping. But now that I've gotten through a lot of my half marathon training I think this 12 miler should be cool to give me a little bit, okay, that is what it's like running in the city. With my pace and my new training and now in October, when I do the half, it should be I'm hoping for smooth sailing, but

Bryan The Botanist:

yeah, you're doing it the right way. You're building up from shorter distances to longer and the marathon is quite a bit more than training for the half. Yeah you're ready for that because it is a full time job and it's harder to go really fast to get the speed in the marathon. But, for the 5k and 10k you can still run pretty fast. Uh, what's your favorite food to eat after a run? And, yep, that's my Post run meal?

Terrance Diggs:

yeah, so with the Run Club, we were going to ramen a lot. I don't know why, but we were

Bryan The Botanist:

had that the other day,

Terrance Diggs:

ramen. We were going to ramen. There's a ramen place that's like right

Bryan The Botanist:

not bad actually, getting so much sodium, you really need to replenish the sodium after you run.

Terrance Diggs:

Yeah, but see,

Bryan The Botanist:

a beer with it or something.

Terrance Diggs:

yeah, but that was my problem. At least when I got into running, I'm like, man, I just ran a 10k. I think I deserve ramen, a beer, sushi, a side order. I'm like, okay, I don't think I need to eat that much, but we definitely,

Bryan The Botanist:

community.

Terrance Diggs:

yeah, definitely the ramen has been

Bryan The Botanist:

here and there when you can.

Terrance Diggs:

Gotta love it.

Bryan The Botanist:

But all the run clubs now are, Partnering up with all the great places to eat and drink. So yeah, that's cool. What's your favorite nutrition on the run? Do you use anything while you're training right now? Or do you eat anything beforehand that is a go to, like a peanut butter sandwich or anything?

Terrance Diggs:

a big honey stinger guy,

Bryan The Botanist:

Okay.

Terrance Diggs:

I like a good, for me, it's always a honey stinger and just this might sound nasty, but like just salt water, like really just like pink salt and just water and just just shake it up. I try

Bryan The Botanist:

can add salt to, coffee. I tried that in the last year a Add a little sea salt to your coffee.

Terrance Diggs:

yeah, I've been trying to do that

Bryan The Botanist:

you can add it to water. There's a lot of electrolyte mixes too and just things,

Terrance Diggs:

yeah, I'm just weird, I just like that straight, just like pure salt, it's so awkward, I don't know why

Bryan The Botanist:

some sea salt to some

Terrance Diggs:

yeah,

Bryan The Botanist:

and call it a day.

Terrance Diggs:

And just shake it up. For some reason, I don't know why, but I like the Gatorades and like Powerades and stuff like after, but if I'm doing

Bryan The Botanist:

Mm hmm.

Terrance Diggs:

before or during, I don't know why, but it like messes me up. It just does not work for me. Just straight water and salt, a good old Good ol carb load, some Olive Garden, night before, and go from there, so shout out to them and their unlimited bread and salads, cause I'll sit there and eat bread and salad for an hour, and then, just to practice

Bryan The Botanist:

the original fuel system.

Terrance Diggs:

This is the way to go, man. Shout out to Olive

Bryan The Botanist:

there's carb based, there's fat burning systems, their body definitely adapts, everyone's a little different, so it's, you just do what works best for you, and that's good to know that you're getting your electrolytes in Miami, we have to, I focus on electrolytes a lot all the time, I'm sweating right now, it's about 90 degrees outside, and even in the studio, it's in the 80s.

Terrance Diggs:

yeah. From a person that's from up North and actually going down there because I was living I was in, like I said, I was in Jacksonville, I was in Orlando, Tampa, Miami, I've just been bumping around. I am not used to the heat. They were laughing at me when I was in Jacksonville because I was legitimately drenched. They're like, yo, They're like it's 91. This is nothing. I'm like, Oh my goodness. I cannot do this. I'm dying. Even when I went to Miami for the first time, I was like, it

Bryan The Botanist:

humidity is unreal here. We have the one, the most humid. Atlanta is humid. Jacksonville is humid, but Miami is humid. And I'm from like Chicago and Southern Wisconsin, which is humid as well. But, Other places in the U S that aren't humid, but Miami is humid. Jamaica is only the place that could only be more humid than us or Puerto Rico. I've been to both. And, when you get off the plane in the Bahamas or in, Jamaica, it's going to be a little more humid than Fort Lauderdale or Miami, but That's the only place you can go that, unless you go to the jungle. But we are here. So it's just it's, you gotta get used to it. And it, as a runner, it takes a couple of years, at least one whole year of just in the summer times, you go out towards sunset more before 9am, like it's In the morning. So you can get five or 10 miler in and not have to, You can't do more than five in the middle of the day. It's too hot. It's just, long

Terrance Diggs:

I couldn't do it. That and getting a different shower head, because when I tried to take a shower down there with that hard water, I was like, oh my goodness.

Bryan The Botanist:

really? Oh, no, we can fix that. Yeah, the shower, that must have been, you just needed softer water probably.

Terrance Diggs:

Yeah, that

Bryan The Botanist:

but yeah, it's

Terrance Diggs:

for it.

Bryan The Botanist:

The Miami Marathon and yeah to get to know you better in person and we'll connect you when you want to do an event down here, just reach out and we're happy to, I just did a big race the other day called the Squad Race and that was in Design District and Wynwood has a bunch of special events and a bunch of my friends have run clubs that we can get you out to

Terrance Diggs:

I need to

Bryan The Botanist:

You have to check out the Late Night Menu crew. They're in Wynwood and they are the, they're awesome. The founder was on the podcast a couple months ago. And he's a really cool dude. So yeah, we'll get you out to all these cool scenes and, but yeah how about what's the, what's coming up in the future for you? Like after the summer, is there any, what's the next season look like? Any future goals you want to chat about real quick?

Terrance Diggs:

Yeah, really just, I guess you could say on the business side, just getting stuff together for our next kind of full running collection putting together like some of the performance stuff, some of the lifestyle stuff. We've been working with a couple of retailers as well, both domestic and international, so I'm hoping we can get some stuff. The goal right now is to do some stuff over in Korea, so that should be cool. And then getting some events just like together for the end of the year like we had mentioned obviously my own training and helping others train and get into it. And then just like on a personal note I always try to say this a lot on any interview I do just, Self care just getting my mental together. I know a lot of people, I'm on LinkedIn a lot. It's a lot of people getting laid off and job changes and life changes and being able to, keep the head clear, I use running a lot for my own self care, even if it's like a, a small, I don't have to go at an eight minute pace today. I can go at And just to get my mind off stuff, get outside. And like I mentioned before, entrepreneur life, I do a lot of time sitting in this chair. So it helps me get up and, get my vitamin D, make sure that I'm getting my water intake in and stuff like that. And Yeah, just finishing the year out strong, getting things back into an equilibrium and together and getting outside, man, I'm ready. I'm ready to race.

Bryan The Botanist:

Yeah. That's what they say. Whenever you get too honed into something, whether it's social media or technology or work or whatever you got or your passion, you got to also remember to go touch grass.

Terrance Diggs:

Yeah. And I'm ready. I'm ready to race. I know fall's coming. My birthday's in the fall. I need some bibs and running fast through some cities. I've been waiting

Bryan The Botanist:

Oh, the fall is the best time because the weather starts cooling down, all these great half marathons and marathons around the country. When you're ready for the marathoning world, I've done a couple of good ones in CIM and You my hit list. I'm going to Valencia this December for my next, if I can be healthy enough. I'm not able to do a longer run than 10 miles right now because of the I'm trying to get back to longer runs, but yeah. I wanted to ask you really quickly, how would you define, we didn't get to this question, how would you define your personal mentality as an entrepreneur and community leader? Like how would you categorize, like type of would you categorize your mentality?

Terrance Diggs:

I'd say if it's a mix of both, I would say I'm very stubborn, but strategic.

Bryan The Botanist:

Okay. Of your interviews earlier that you like, you're like me where you aren't shy to get an answer. Like you're going to reach out. You're going to ask for something in order to get it.

Terrance Diggs:

I've gotten in the point at least entrepreneur wise. I know that there's an answer somewhere because I'm not the first one to do it. So somebody definitely knows, I'm not saying I'm going to be like, hey, trying to push, but it's,

Bryan The Botanist:

which is stubbornness.

Terrance Diggs:

Yeah, and I think as well like I said, strategic, I really feel that I'm just in at the core, I think I'm just like a cool dude. So it's just it's being able to be like, hey if I can help you with this, we can work on this together. I'm not afraid really of any collaboration. I'm not afraid of

Bryan The Botanist:

earth. Just have a discussion. Sure.

Terrance Diggs:

there's a, there's so many things that are happening. It's especially like in the running world, like we've seen, Bandit and ASICS, we've seen Satisfye and Hoka, like you never would have thought two running brands would be working together on something. And it doesn't have to always be product or event. Like I said, I've collaborated with baseball teams. We do run stuff, if the baseball team wants to do like a 5k event, let's do something together. If it's not necessarily on the run side I've connected with people that they make electric bikes, it's still health and wellness. I still would, love to be able to see where those lines can be bent or changed. I would do a, I would do a collaboration with a credit union, a bank or something, it's cool bank apparel or something, but let's, Talk about a class with like financial literacy and, ways to get a business loan and stuff like that. Because I feel and I don't know, I don't want to sound like a philosopher and I tell people this all the time. I'm not a guru. I'm just a guy that just was too stubborn to take a no. I've always been trying to use my platform, whether it is the business or personal, to just expose and give Awareness of things that I wasn't necessarily awarded with I wish I ran a lot younger. Like I said, I played all these sports. I played lacrosse in high school. I didn't start until I was 16. I was a junior, that it was varsity or bus, I made varsity. I was able to grow into the game, but I didn't learn about it until I was, About to graduate,

Bryan The Botanist:

kid. Yeah. Or as year old, a

Terrance Diggs:

yeah, and it's, yeah, it's expensive and it's an expensive sport to play. Like I play golf too, I got lucky that my parents were able to, afford to get me clubs and stuff, but I didn't start playing until I didn't start playing until my freshman year. I just showed up with a set of clubs and I was like, I'm here to try out. So I try to always tell people like, man, I wish I knew about this sooner. I wish I knew more about, running and. Because I was a sprinter when I ran track. I didn't, I was like, anything over 400, I'm like, yeah, nah, I'm

Bryan The Botanist:

It's an evolution. I'm a high school coach for cross country and it's An evolution in how people develop in their lives and nothing happens before it's time. We do have high schoolers that once in a while run, want to run a marathon, like one or Just want to do the shorter distances until they might get in their late twenties. And then they start doing longer distances with their friends. And then when they're in their thirties, they're waking up at 5am to meet the run club at 6am and run 15 miles or whatever. And they would have thought they were crazy when they were 18. But when they're 30 they're much needed mental health and social interaction and just work life balance. If you would have told them that when they were a teenager, they would have thought you're cause their mind wasn't in that place yet. And To them, that seems like such a long distance, but it doesn't as we become more used to, that some people are running 200 miles in a weekend, for or longer, or 100. There's just so much diversity in the world that it's just, but I think what it comes back to is encouraging health. And mentoring people and, um, design can do that. And it comes back to athletics, design, and community. I keep seeing those three words, which are your core pillars for D17.

Terrance Diggs:

yeah, that's all I,

Bryan The Botanist:

and Design coming together, those are two very different worlds. Um, Athletics is pure competition, spirit. Design is more, but Athletics is art too, Can have function, Athletics has function. And then Community, that's, really a big overarching theme of health. Health, physical health.

Terrance Diggs:

that's all

Bryan The Botanist:

ASICS has, you A sound mind and body right in there. Let's close out. I think it's time and we want to give a shout out to, do you want to give any shout outs and any also links to share? This would be the quick

Terrance Diggs:

yeah, honestly, if you want to reach out to me, just, everything is just D17Terrance, just the letter D, number 17, T R A N C E, check out the website, d17clothing. com, that's connected to everything from if you want to buy apparel, if you want to see a run club calendar, if you want to hang out there, obviously, shout out to my homies shout out to Jimmy Butler shout out to, shout out to ASICS, shout out to Sneaker Impact, and it's still a whole lot of things to do, and something in this world brought us together to do this interview for me to get this box, shout out to you guys for just popping up and sending multiple boxes, so now I got,

Bryan The Botanist:

Did you get eight? We usually ship eight at a time in a

Terrance Diggs:

Yeah, I thought I would get just one. I didn't really know that. It was just like, Hey, just send the address and it just pops up. I was like, wait a minute. So

Bryan The Botanist:

It's, yeah, sometimes hard for us to guess. We can ship one, but it's like the same cost to ship eight, basically, I think. To all of our store partners, we ship eight at a time. We have a new poster that we just got laminated that is an infographic that I helped create that shows the recycling journey in about seven to eight steps. So it explains in photos with some text and I'll try to get you one of those with your next case. We're getting a feat first. We'll get one very soon. So we just came out last week, but we're trying to do so much to educate. A lot of it's visual. We're on Instagram every single day, educating. And so are you. So thank you so much. We're going to have you down here in the studio. Please plan a trip to Miami. Let's make it happen for January or, February. That's a great time to come down or December, anytime in the December through March period. We, my, the founder has a season. Tickets to the Miami Heat. So it's a natural fit. We'll take you to the Heat. It's a done deal him and his son. It's his son's birthday today. They're the biggest Heat fans in the world. So we'll get you, they've got some courtside tickets. They get to actually refer, they're like honorary referees. Sometimes they did the coin flip. Like they get really involved. They, you'll probably get to meet some of the players. So we also

Terrance Diggs:

Ryan, don't get me started. Don't get me started.

Bryan The Botanist:

selling you We are the biggest Miami Heat fans here. I'm actually originally a Milwaukee Bucs fan because I was born in Madison and lived there for 30 years. So I went to the Bradley Center back in the 80s where it was you would fall out of, if you stood up in your chair, it Straight down to the floor, like straight down. I don't even know how we got into those seats. Not even the current stadium. That was same thing with the Brewers, used to go to county stadium. And now they got the Kohl's Madison, we got the Kohl's Center, I believe, Now they got Miller Stadium for, the Brewers and the Brewers are, Packers are a big deal, but I've become a Miami sports fan because I've lived here for 16 years, so Remember when Shaq came down here and I was working in a restaurant at the time when the big news hit and I'm sorry, not Shaq, I did watch when Shaq played LeBron, when LeBron came Wade and. And they formed the big, there was just so many things to talk about on this podcast. We could

Terrance Diggs:

Like I said, Moe, if you're listening, I have a Dwayne Wade fathead that was in my childhood room. It's still there from 2007. It's still on the wall. I've thrown a first pitch at a baseball game. If they bring me down, I'll flip the coin. I will train this thumb to go to you.

Bryan The Botanist:

the half court shot.

Terrance Diggs:

I'll take a free throw. I need this championship. The bubble hurt me. I guess the spurs hurt me. I guess the nuggets hurt me. I cannot do it again. I I've been to, I've only been to one game before, but I was really high up there.

Bryan The Botanist:

You, you were at the heat

Terrance Diggs:

yeah, I

Bryan The Botanist:

called American Airlines. I think now it's called the Kaseya Center.

Terrance Diggs:

Yeah, I was there, they played the Nuggets, it was a regular season game, but I think it was like, right before the playoffs, they got blown out. So I was like, I'm ready,

Bryan The Botanist:

Oh gosh, I remember when the when the blimps used to hover over and I'd be out for a run and Running before the finals like the same day you know I would go out for like my 8 to 10 mile run I'd run down the Venetian Causeway which takes you To Miami and I would see all the blimps over the stadium because LeBron and D Wade and Udanis and all the legends were you know playing

Terrance Diggs:

It's how it goes,

Bryan The Botanist:

LeBron would go out and train. He would run with D Wade. They'd run their six milers. And Ray Allen, I got involved with a couple organizations he worked with. So just, the legends are actually involved in the community down here. Like Alonzo Mourning, you know, in the local high school. I used to live by his high school. Him and his wife have an amazing track and high school Center. And there, Alonzo Mourning I believe it's called school for yeah, got a great thing going down here. And all the sports legends do. It's really cool to see how Miami's Developing into more than just a, a kind of place people come to party. It's also becoming a sports and arts center. So yeah, man, the welcome open invite Terrance to come see us guys. It was an honor today to get to interview Terrance. So Terrance, thank you for your time and we'll stay in touch. Have a great rest of

Terrance Diggs:

you too.

Bryan The Botanist:

All right, guys, have a good day.

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Bryan “The Botanist” Huberty

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