Cultural Icons and Web3 w/ Jeff Staple

really gonna make a boot better than Timberland? Like maybe in twenty years I will, you know, So like, how about I just work with Timberland and we sort of like complement each other on what we like to do. Knows We'll look you see afro Tech, Black Tech, Green Money and welcome to the episode. And so check it out just a couple of weeks ago, maybe like two or three weeks ago Afro Tech World. We welcome Jeff

Staple to this state. Jeff is a creative visionary with work encompassing graphic design, fashion design, fullware design, and brand marketing. He's a founder of the read Our Department, which is also known as Staples Design, and he's worked on career it IF projects ranging startup brands to fortune companies. He found a Staple in New York based pioneering streetwear brand with a now infamous pigeon logo. And Jeff Stable is talking to our Jeff Jeff Nelson, who is co founder

and CTO ad blvity at afro tech World. Hey, what's up Afro tech World. This is Jeff Nelson. I am the co founder and chief technology officer of Bravity, Inc. I'm here with a very special guest, Jeff Staple. I gotta say I like the name, but I'm here and honored to have this conversation with you. With you, uh, many people in our audience I'm sure are familiar with you. You are one of the o G visionaries. Uh and so many, so many different industries, so streetwear, fashion, sneakers,

design in general. Um So, it's cool to have this conversation with you. Just learn about how you know your passionate and how you develop your brands, but also how those brands as are intersecting with technology as we look forward to the future and talking about Web three and the metaverse and things like that. Um So, so my first question is, you know, I want to take a trip down memory lane. So in nineteen seven, you you

started Staple Design. UM. When I hear I don't know about you, I'm like, oh, ninety seven, that wasn't that long ago. But when you do the math, that was twenty five years ago, right. So you built this brand that has been relevant for literally decades, and it's transcended so many different things, right that that I just mentioned,

you know, fashion, design, etcetera, etcetera. Can you talk about when it clicked for you incorporating technology into these brands and all that you do know sort of what was the genesis of that idea and how how did that come to fruition? UM. Well, first of all, Jeff, thanks for having me on and shout out to AFRO Tech and everyone out there watching. UM. Definitely honored to be

part of this talk and share some ideas. UM. And I guess we must be of similar generation, Jeff, because I'm the same Like when I hear that song Till Infinity, that doesn't feel that long ago to be. But ninety three is like most of my employees weren't even alive yet, you know, I have to like remember that. UM. So it is it is crazy how time flies, UM, And it's definitely a blessing that what I've been able to create has been able to transcend, you know, decades and generations.

I see fathers and their kids both rocking Staple and you know, both rocking stuff that I've done. So it's really cool. Um. Well, to answer your question about like technology and how that plays into fashion and are this this occurred for me really really early on? Man? I mean, you know, I feel like half of this conversation is going to be about how how I'm gonna date myself.

But I remember when we first started marketing, right, like the idea of like going viral or marketing meant, uh, you would make a postcard at like they had these companies called like One Postcard, which was honestly like a technological wonder because before that, making flyers posters of postcards was like a very gated process, like you really needed

to know offset printers and stuff like that. Then these companies came out with this concept called called gang run printing, which I know sounds really like, you know, mischievous, but

it's not gang run printing. Are these companies that basically said, hey, there's all these people throwing parties and they need flyers and they need invites, and all these DJs want to promote their night, why don't instead of working with them individually, why don't we call them all in, like fifty of them and basically put all their flyers on one big printer and then printed all at once and slice them

up and give it to each person. But everyone saves money, right, So it's like this sort of like really communal thing. And I remember when I would get postcards made and I would drop them off at like record shops and cafes and bars. The my social media marketing butget at the time was basically how many inches of postcards I would leave at each establishment. So if I thought this place was like popping, I'd be like, they get two inches, I'm gonna give them a two inches that back, you know.

But it's like if this place wasn't that popping, they get a quarter inch, you know what I mean. That was marketing back then, And even though it sounds really naive, but like I was using technology at the time of what I had, because before that it was literally hand to mouth, like you had to shake someone's hand and tell them about your brand. It was like word of mouth marketing. So this idea of using like postcards something

as dumb as that. You know, Um, I learned really early that, like I have to go beyond myself and my ability to shake people's hands and kind of spread the knowledge as quickly as I possibly could. Obviously, print advertising was something that was happening back then, you know,

magazines and stuff. But the moment the digital revolution started to happen, where instead of putting an ad in a magazine and sort of crossing your fingers and being like, I hope hundreds of people see this, but I actually

have no validation or idea if that's actually happening. You know, once, once the analytics and the tracking of social media and you know, just web one really like website started to come I don't know if you remember Google came out with like blog Spot, and like blog Spot pages were like the first blog, right, and you could pick your template and stuff like that. And I remember they added this feature where you can add a little ticker to the side of your website to show how many people

had visited your website. And that was like, you know, this is pre likes, pre retweets or anything, but it's like every day I would wake up and be like holy, like twelve people came over the over the course of last vague and visited, you know, and you would just wait to see that thing. But like that initial tracking of idea was so cool. Um. And I just think that I've always tried to stay um somewhat. I want to say abreast of the technology. I don't want to

call myself a technological innovator. Um. I. I do wait to see if when a technology comes out, if it has stickiness before I invest my time. You know. One thing that I want to emphasize is that time is the most valuable asset that any of us have. So for me to go in and be like, you know, I'm gonna spend all of my money, time, energy and

effort on video like that would have sucked. Like if I did that, you know, so like no, no disrespect the video, But like you gotta pick and choose your battles to see like where you're gonna go, Like, frankly, I'm not really on TikTok, nor is my brand. That might be a big mistake for my brand, you know, but we've chosen to be like no, let's go, let's go with Instagram. Um And now, as you mentioned, it

alluded to Web three. I mean, I'm I'm all in on Web three, and I'm happy I am because I think if I had spent a lot of time and energy on TikTok, you know, maybe I might have looked at Web three and been like, I don't have time for another thing. You know, I can't go into that. So that's sort of like my my foreign into technology.

That's so cool and and it's really interesting. I mean, you tell the story about the postcards and how you know back then we were using tech, even you know in the nineties when we don't think of those things as tech. But I think what it speaks to is just your ability to be, you know, relatively speaking, ahead of the curve, even if just a step ahead, right, um, And that's super super important, and so forwards I call it scrappy, you know, the hustler mentality, right, which which

is so important. And so you made this bet on Web three and crypto. You're doing a lot of things in that space. I am curious for someone with your back background and you know, being a creative um, especially being a physical creator. Now you're you're and I don't want to say a transitioning because I don't think you're leaving that part of your your ethos behind, but you're

augmenting and complementing that with being a digital creator. So can you talk a little bit about that transition, what's different about creating in the digital space, but also what's similar to your previous work. I mean, I got I got a first preface this by saying, my foray into web three is literally, as of today months old, like it is, it's brand spanking news, so it's completely fresh, it's completely it's changing all the time. I'm learning every

single day. People think I'm an expert. I'm not. Nobody is an expert because it's constantly changing, you know. Um but I did dabble into uh the web three n f T space last year, um by through the means of collaboration, you know. And and if you look at the course of my career, uh, some people say that I'm like the King of collaborations. But it's not because I was trying to own collaborations as a concept. What I was always trying to do was again not go

all in on something. So for example, when you know I'm I'm a big sneaker head, I really love sneakers, at any point in the past twenty five years of stables history, I could have said, I want to start my own sneaker brand, right, I could have done that, but I was like, you know what, I've seen a lot of my friends try to start sneaker brands and it's challenging, and so why should I start a sneaker brand when I can call somebody at like Nike or New Balance or Timberland and be like, like, am I

really gonna make a boot better than Timberland? Like maybe in twenty years I will, you know, So like, how about I just work with Timberland and we sort of like complement each other on what we like to do.

So when it when it came time to the n f T Crypto Web three space, I said, instead of me just going full boat all in on crypto and n f T, let me learn from people who have been in it slightly longer um And so my my first collaboration was the company called Zora z O r A, which I suggest all of you check out there like

the new Marketplace. Secondly, then I collaborated with Artifact r T f k T, which is a you know, they're like the new digital web three brand if you will, they actually just got acquired by Nike UM and then the third one was Gary baynerchuk In and his b

Friends program. So my first three steps into the space were with handheld with an expert or an expert at the time, and that allowed me to get a taste of it and again justify to myself whether this is gonna be something that I really want to invest a lot of time, energy and effort into. Obviously I did, And then so we launched Staple Versus just a couple of months ago UM and it's been a game changer. So to answer your question, what do I love about

working in this space, there's two main things. Number one is that coming from someone who has made physical goods all their life, a lot of it overseas, you know, there are a ton of logistical hurdles that are in the creator's way in terms of getting something physically made, whether it's supply chain, minimum, motor quantities, middlemen, salesman, shipping, tariffs, customs, all of this BS is essentially set up so that as many people as possible can make their slice of

the pie, you know, And and it's it's the most unstreamlined thing ever and the other thing is because of that, every time there's a hurdle, you are sacrificing a concept or an idea. You're like, oh, was it gonna be eight weeks to make that thing that I wanted? I forget that thing. Let's just get it done, you know. And so that's a that's a creative sacrifice that you're making, you know, in in this world, in the digital world, anything I dream, if it can be coded, it happens.

It's like it's like me, my, It's like my brain a coder consumer. That's it. There's like no nothing else, you know, And so that's really beautiful. Uh. And then the second thing that I really love about this is obviously ownership of your I P. You know, traditionally, if you think about being a fashion brand or a footwear brand, the success of your of your brand is a lot of times be holding on a retail store or like

a sneaker store. You know, like if you have a sneaker brand, if you're not doing business with a foot locker, you're probably not really doing business, you know what I mean. It's very very difficult. Same with like department stores, or if you're an artist, if you're not going to be signed by a gallery or like a museum. It's very hard for you to break through, you know. And think about it. Now, if you sell your work to a gallery ist, right you you get money for that transaction.

Now that galleries is going to sell it to another collector, you, now, as a traditional artist or painter, does not get any more money. And then when that guy now sells it to another collector, use the chain of of revenue stream stops for you. Right in in the n f T world, because of the blockchain and smart contracts, I can put into my smart contract that I, the creator of this work forever in perpetuity, wants of of of royalty on

this I can make up the percentage. And now every time that product or n f T or whatever is flipped, you just keep making perpetual royalties. And that's a game changer. And it's not even I mean, yes, it's a financial game changer, but it's a game changer because it's almost like it's almost like buying a car and having fuel in your car every day. It's like it's fuel for creativity. You know, I don't have to worry about the next thing because my my babies are out there making money

for me, you know. So that's the beautiful thing about the space. And I'm glad that you mentioned that because we've been talking a lot um this year in our afro Tech series we've had, you know, we had afro Tech Miami in February. We talked a lot about n f t s and crypto and um, n f t s are are you know this new concept? And not

not everybody gets it? Some people still And immediately myself, before I really dig into the space, I was like, oh, these are just JPEGs, right, But what you just mentioned that smart contract, there's so much power in that where you can if it can be coded right, and you talk about creators in the ability to literally program in royalties right where any time of transaction happens boom boom boom. It's all backed by crypto, it's all backed by the

blockchain and it just happens right. That gives you that as an artist, that gives you so much leverage. So so, you know, thanks for really demystifying that and putting it in layman's terms. So I'll give you another analogy about people because I have a lot of like friendly debates have a lot of friendly debates with with friends who are like, you know, you're just selling JPEG's. It's it's worthless, you know. And I'm like, I'm like, remember the day

when I got a blue check on Instagram? How salty you were? And they're like, yeah, I was like you actually told me that day you would pay money for a blue check. And I'm sure we all know people that would pay fifty fifty five, probably five thousand dollars for a blue check. So wait, you're gonna pay five thousand dollars for a jpeg that's this big? What does that mean? It's it's not because of the artwork of

the blue check. It's because of the It's because of the value that it holds when it sits on your telephone. That's that's the only place that sits, you know what I mean. So when when I tell people that, they're like fine, I kind of understand. Yeah, It's like it's the connection that it has, you know. Um, So we are already as humans trading on a on a on a digital only landscape, you know, like, hey, if you if you go out and you buy an incredible piece

of furniture like a Herman Miller chair or sofa. Right, great, congrats you and six of your closest friends and family have seen that chair. Every other person that you're gonna show that chair too, you're probably showing it to them on this device that like, the people they're gonna see

see it through this device. So you're already trading equity and value and cloud on the mobile device digitally, and n f T s are just sort of like taking it all the way there where it's like, let's just forget the physical, like and that's that's the scary part is because people are like, I don't want to forget

the physical. It makes me feel good, you know. But if you think about it, as you said, it's less about an abandoned abandonment of the physical, it's just an added extension of it, then I think it makes people feel more comfortable. That's a perfect analogy there. Um, And and and so there must be something about Jeff's right, because I can can relate to this aspect of your story. Is this inability to be satisfied, will just do and

one thing right? So you know, we we talked about, um, you know, since the nineties, how you've been You've had your hands in so many different places, right, You're your certified sneaker head, streetwear, fashion design, You've got retail stores, all these different things. Now in the web three space we talked about, you know, and alluded to the n f T s. But you've got the Staple Verse, right, So we're we're here in Afrotech world, in the Afrotech metaverse.

H You've got the Staple Verse. Tell me what is the Staple Verse, why it's cool, and why you decided to create that. The Staple Verse is my own personal Marvel cinematic universe, you know. So, like I don't know if if there's any Marvel fans out there, but like I'm a huge Marvel fan, and you know, one of the most impressive things is like the fact that you know, this this saga has gone on for like twenty five

movies deep now even more decades long. You know, but if you think about the genius of like, you know, the lay one of the latest Marvel movies that came out is Changshi in the Ten Rings, Right, Those Ten Rings appeared in Iron Man one like over a decade ago, So you know, the producers just created this entire universe and they're just taking us along for the ride on this incredible journey. And so what I'm doing now with

Staple Verse is very similar. I get to create. Sure, I love making clothes, I love making shoes, I love retail all that stuff. But now I get to create storytelling lore characters. I get to take them on different journeys all over the world. I even get to take them outside of planet Earth if I wanted to, Like, I could go to another another planet. Right, It's literally only limited by my imagination. But with that being said, we are starting chapter one of Staple Verse right here

in New York City, where I came from. So I'm sort of mirroring my journey uh in the physical world through the n f T world so that people get a really good understanding of my roots and my history. So it's interesting, like our our mascot is a pigeon, and everyone really knows our brand because of the pigeon logo.

So when there was news that we were coming out with this n f T project, they assumed it was gonna be like ten thousand pigeon profile pictures, right yeah, And I you know what, I probably would have made decent money if I did that. It probably would have been a fine project, but I sort of zigged when everyone thought I was gonna zag, and what we did was re released ten thousand feed items. Okay, so these feed items are basically, in my mind, foods that you

would see a New York City pigeon eating. And they're real, like New York City strange things like you. We've got like obviously like pizzas and bagels and coffee beans and tea bags, but we also got weird things like a syringe, a subway token, like a used condom, a cockroach. There's

just like real griming New York City stuff, right. And the idea is that you buy these feed and f t s and then later on and actually later on I'm talking about like in about two weeks, you would take that feed and you have to now toss it to try to catch a pigeon, similar to if you're sitting in Central Park and you're trying to get pigeons,

you have to like toss them food, right. But sometimes when you toss food and try to get a pigeon, you get shot on by a pigeon also, right, So we have this whole gamification where like you buy feed, you now have to throw your feet out try to catch a pigeon, but you might catch a pigeon ship and f t also okay, And because now we have these three factions, we have the people who will get pigeons, the people who will get pooped, and the people who will not throw out their feet they want to keep

their feed. There's this like interaction gamification that's happening where like the three crews are sort of like battling with each other. And this goes back to my early days of like DJ battles and B boy battles. It's just like, I love these crews at organically formed uh and it just friendly competition. It just makes all you know, everyone like work harder and be more um invested in what

they're trying to do. You know, it's amazing that these concepts that we do see in the physical world, right um, how they translate into these digital spaces and what you're talking about. It is really this cross section of so many different things gamification, art, right, what's going on a physical thing that happens um in New York City with

with pigeons, right Um. It's really really cool And I'm curious when you first heard about this idea of a metaverse and and these digital universes and digital spaces, um. You know, so to some extent it probably made sense that this could be interesting. But did it always make sense that you could build a profitable, profitable business on this model in this space, because that's something that was always apparent to you? And if if so, you know,

then are you just the genus? Or if not, like, what was what was the point in time when that really did click for you? You know? I like to consider myself like half businessman half artist. I think the artist side of me says, like, I don't go into a new venture because of the money, right, Like a businessman or a businesswoman says, I'm gonna venture into this new thing, and the r O I has to be there the money I put in, I have to get it back ten x or I'm not even gonna do it. Right.

The artist is different because the artists will be like, I mean, a smart artist will say, listen, I don't want to lose my pants on this deal, right, But I don't mind if I don't make money or don't make a lot of money, as long as I don't go bankrupt doing this. But it fulfills me creatively. I'm down to explore it. And so when it comes to

this space, I didn't do it for the money. I knew that there was a possibility of making money, but if if I didn't have the ability to express my artistic needs through this medium, I wouldn't have touched it, you know, like, like why wouldn't I open? Like, you know what, if you want to make money in New York City, you know what you do? You buy a parking garage. Parking parking is mad expensive in New York City. So if I wanted to make easy money, I would

get a parking lot. But that's not creatively fulfilling for me, you know, so I'm not going to go there. Um. This n f T space was very creatively fulfilling for me because, as I said, I get to create anything that I want to do. It definitely was helpful that there was this potential of a golden pot at the end of this rainbow, but I would have also been happy if there wasn't and I just got to create put stuff out there. Um. The fans that I already

have have a new way of interacting with my brand. Um, and it's really dope. I gotta say, like the fan base in the n f T space is very different than Web two, Instagram, Twitter. It's like there they speak a whole different way. They're very very supportive, you know how On Twitter and Instagram, it's like there's just you get into these rabbit holes of like you know, just hate and criticism and like depression and stuff. But like it is so positive right now in the n f

T space. And I'm sure it'll regulate, you know, in a bit, but right now everyone is really gung ho. You've got these sayings that are like l f G, like let's f and go, and like why me is like we're all gonna make it, you know, Like all of these things are like really dope. Um, and I love the positive. I was actually really surprised. Two things surprised me about the space. One is how inspired I

was by how positive the community was. And number two, frankly, like a year ago, you know, I collect vinyl records, comic books, sneakers, right, Um, I never thought that I would be into collecting, as you said, j pegs in a folder. Right. That didn't seem like something interesting to me, But it happened about a month ago where I looked at my like crypto n FT wallet and I started doing that thing that collectors do, like I started moving

stuff around. I started saying, you know what, I need one more to just fill out that series that I'm trying to fill out. You know. It's wine collectors do it. Watch collectors do it, you know, like art collectors do. And I started doing it with j pegs on my computer and I checked myself because I was like, Wow, it's happening. This is happening to me. And I have a great into hernal radar temperature check on myself that if I'm feeling something, there's a damn good chance that

hundreds of other people are feeling the same thing. So it becomes like a real thing for me, you know. And that just happened like a month ago. So I'm curious as as an avid collector of many things, you know, both in the physical world. Right, So sneakers, right, I'm like a baby sneaker head. I like bought. Um. I went from having, you know, up until last year, like two pairs of shoes ever to now I have like you know, maybe like dirty pairs, right, something really really

trying to get into it. So UM, you know, I'm I'm curious. I'm curious for you. In the physical world, like when you're collecting things, what is the thought process, like what attracts you to something that you say, Hey, this is valuable or this is something that I went in my collection And how is that similar or different uh than that thought process in the in the physical in the digital space. Uh, It's it's the same, first

of all. But I love this question because, um, there's there's to me, there's a fine line between a collector and a curator. Okay. A collector is a speculator. They go out and say, what is the inherent upside value of this investment that I'm about to make. It's an asset, right, It's an asset investment. Right. A curator says, I don't care what the resell value this is gonna be. I like it. It speaks to me. I f with this, right. And even if someone says, yo, that's whack, it's already

like below retail or whatever, like, I don't care. I like it. You know, I remember when I was young, there used to be these stores in in in the Northeast called like V I M and Dr J's right, and models. These are like not cool sneaker stories, They're basically like sporting good stories. And I remember I would like look in the bargain bins and in the seventy off racks and I would try to find a gem, and my goal would be that, Like I found something on the close out rack. I rocket to school the

next day and people like, yo, what are those? I've never seen those. I'm like, that's right, you don't know where I got these. And I am telling you that, to me, is the biggest goal not to go into the hypest sneaker store, weight online five hours, buy something for five x retail rocket and be like yo, wow you It's like yeah, no, no, ship Sherlock, Like everyone knew that these are the hottest things on earth. But if you can unearth like a gem, that to me

is like what a curator does. And that's what I've been doing with sneakers and comic books and vinyl all my life. Like I have a very obscure collection of stuff. It's not like the hypest stuff, but I do believe that it's a representation of me. And that's the same thing when it comes to U n f T s, like the sort of Hallmark names are like crypto punks or like board apes and stuff. I don't have any of those. I have all these things that I just

personally really love. UM And I wish more people, whether they were creatives or not creatives, instead of looking at your favorite influence or magazine or blog to tell you what to buy, I wish they would look in the mirror more and be like, what do you want? Like what do you actually want? Like forget what the magazine or the blog tells you, Like what do you actually

want to wear? You know? Um? And I think people will just get a lot more enjoyment out of it, and they won't get so stressed out about like fluctuations and trends coming and going and stuff like, because you're just being real with yourself. You know. Yeah, that's that's profound advice. I love it. I love it. Um. You know, earlier you said you're you're the king of collaboration, or you're you're you're known by right, yes, not self acclaim right,

but we'll call you the king of collaboration. And I think you have a great example about you know, not creating, you know, not trying to compete with Timberland because it will take you twenty years to do what they do right.

And and to some extent um in the physical world, collaboration is necessitated because expertise is decentralized, right, There are barriers to entry to be good or great at something, and so it makes sense to go to someone who is great at something else and you're great at something else, and you can come together and build something that's you know, better than than the two of you as individuals. Right.

I'm curious in the digital space, what would your advice be too, businesses and creators and anyone who wants to collaborate in the digital space in the metaverse, because seemingly the barriers are minimized, right, like you said earlier, if you can think it and you can code it, it

can be done. Right. So, if if those barriers are minimized, how should people think about collaboration instead of everyone just sort of going and doing their own things, and you've got this proliferation of everything that is sort of kind of the same. What are your thoughts on that, dude?

That's a that's a great question. I mean, like, you're right, but in the web to web one world, it was about different types of expertise is coming together, right, I think, Like so, as I mentioned, I've only been in the space for nine months, but in this nine months, I have collaborated with like three to five different groups. I'm working on other collaborations as well, so I'm still collaborating

with people in the space. But what I've noticed that's different is that when we collaborate in the n f T space, it's more like we're both finding out stuff together. We're both discovering at the same time. And I almost sort of like wanna give an analogy if you can imagine the picture of like, imagine you and a buddy are walking into a like a dense forest together, and you've got like a weed whacker, right, and you're just like hacking away at the weeds, and you're just trying

to find the path. Right. Everyone in the n f T space right now, literally, I want to say everyone, even people who you think are like experts and veterans in the n f T space, they are hacking away.

We are all trailblazing right now. There is no predisposed path for us to follow in this because the entire universe was only created just a few years ago, you know, so everything that everyone is doing is brand spanking new, and so when I collaborate with people, it's almost like, hey, let's take what you've learned, your your your very small learnings,

and my very small learnings. If we add them together, we've got a little bit better learning, and now we can navigate this a little bit better and get maybe a little bit ahead. That's why I found the reason why I've been collaborating with people so far. It's more like knowledge information sharing. It's like a It's like if you're on a treasure hunt or like a you know, wild goose chase, or like an easter egg hunt. You know, you like share clues with each other to figure out

how to get to the solution. That's kind of what Web three n f T collaboration is like, whereas Web two Web one collaboration is more about one plus one equals ten. It's like, Yo, you do this great, I do this great. If we come together, we gonna make it right. You know. That's what it's more about. But it's like, no, no one thinks like that in Web three.

Web three is like, let's do this right for the culture, because it's almost like we have a subculture that we feel responsible for the future of you know, it's like I would maybe equated to like early early skateboarders or early early graffiti artists, like we have to take care of this culture so it doesn't like go to ship basically.

You know, that's a great question. I never thought of that until now as no. I mean, you're dropping gyms, and I love how you simplify everything with these analogies because it just makes it so understandable. And that's really what we're trying to do here at afro Tech, with these conversations with people like you and and other great people in the space that we've had the pleasure of speaking with this to help to domystify for the audience.

So so I appreciate that. The last question I've got for you is, um, It's something that I'm personally really really curious about as a you know, as a as a creator and someone who's been doing this. You know, like as we said for decades, right when you're in a creative right right when you hit that block, what are some things you do, what are some ways that you find inspiration to get yourself going again? I'm really curious,

like what your techniques and SIPs there are. I mean, this is going to be different for everyone, right, So it's too each his own. But as you know, I exist in this space and in this in this community called street culture, right. And the reason why they call it street culture is because people, like real people walk and operate in these streets. Right. So street culture to me is like taking the subway or taking the bus, or just walking five miles in your hometown. Right, That

to me is the essence of street culture. And that's what makes it different than like high fashion or couture fashion, right because hey, that outfit that you wore walking down the catwalk or runway looks really beautiful. But and counna work on Fulton ab or like you know, like Nordstrom, you know what I mean. Like, so, like real people in these real streets is what street wear is all about.

And so when I get in a rut, what I like to do is I like to travel, and I want to I want to put an asterisk on that word travel because I realized that travel is a privilege. Right. Not everyone in this world can be like I'm gonna go to JFK and travel now, right, But I want to put an asterisk on that word travel, because sometimes when I don't have the ability to actually go out and travel, travel could actually just mean taking a different path to work, Like take a different train when you

walk your dog. Don't go right go, let like go the other route, you know, and just see a different blocks, see a different neighborhood. You know how many people that live in New York City that have like never been the Queens or the Bronx. You know, like just go there for dinner one night. Right, That is traveling. And I think when I do that, um, I just love seeing how different people in different communities operate, live and breathe. Listen, I've got to I've got a globally known clothing brand

that this year is the anniversary of. It wouldn't be successful if I only made stuff for people who lived only in downtown New York City. I had to go out there and see l A, Miami, Houston, Atlanta, Berlin, Tokyo, London and be like, oh, this is how street culture and you know street culture. I mean really, when I say street culture, I mean real people in real streets. Right, This is how real people in real streets just live, breathe, and operate. Now, me as a creator, I want to

make stuff for them. And I think that is one of the secret sauces for why staple has continued to spread Because it wasn't too niche, it wasn't too insulated. It was sort of a democratic for everyone and everyone who's sort of just like is not fancy runway model kind of looking, you know, shopping at the most highest end department stores. Um. But I deliberately did that all throughout. And so when I need inspiration, I just turned to my my customer. Really, I just go to the street.

I'll sit at a cafe on a corner, and I'll just people watch. Um. And I try to do it as much as I can outside of my comfort zone of my hometown, of my home neighborhood. Uh. And jan's just get out there and see the world. Get you know, take a bus, take a walk, whatever. But if you get stuck in a rut, I find just seeing something

outside of a normal perspective helps tremendously. Let's say your advice, and really the way you frame it is like, turn to your customer, right, and if you want to, and that's true for any entrepreneur, right, you turn to your customer and if you want to grow the business right, turn to different customers, right, get out of your comfort zone and and experience, you know, different energies. So that's the Jeff, I appreciate you stopping buying and having this

this talk man, you drops, I learned a lot. I'm excited about the conversation. I know everyone in tennis is as well. Uh so real quick? Yeah, just where can people find you on social anythings you want to highlight before we sign off? Yeah, I mean I'm on the socials at Jeff Staple all one word, um, follow me on. You know the latest and fashion, streetwear, sneakers, retail design. It's a lot uh n f t s metaverse. But if you go down um and hang with us, you can learn a lot, I think so. I hope to

see you on the other side. Black Tech Green Money is the production to BLACKVIDI Afro Tech in the Black Fact podcast network in My Heart Media, and it's produced by Morgan Dubon and me Lucas, with additional production support

by Love Beach and Marissa Lewis. Special thank you to Michael David's Germain Hall in vanessas Rando learn more about my guests and other technis, weapons and innovatives, an afrotech dot com, Julian black Tech, Green Money leave us a five star rating on iTunes, Go get your money, Be in love,