I was actually familiar with today’s guest’s store prior to even knowing who owned it, and that man is Brian Davis. A close personal friend of previous STANDARD H Podcast guest, Jeremy Kirkland, Brian was among the many of us who were into punk and hardcore in high school only to find our career paths leading us to fashion. We discuss what it’s like working retail at an early age and the role of respect within the profession. He describes his work ethic and how he manifested that in even the mos...
Mar 02, 2021•1 hr 6 min•Season 4Ep. 54
Throughout COVID-19 I’ve recorded several podcasts in advance knowing they’d be spread out - and among that group was my recording back in the Fall with today’s guest, Yanto Barker. Yanto started the U.K.-based cycling apparel and accessories brand Le Col and how the brand was created is absolutely fascinating. Born in Wales, the child of hippies and far from a life of means, Yanto was plucked by a local bike shop that quickly noticed his talent for riding bikes fast. This not only graced him wi...
Feb 16, 2021•1 hr 5 min•Season 4Ep. 53
Chris Considine has had quite the automotive journey. He raced go karts as a kid while working his way up to the open wheel levels of the junior formulas, but that’s not all. He’s worked as a reporter at Le Mans alongside his automotive journalist father. But it was while working in Phoenix, Arizona as a tire technician where Chris built his first racing simulator. That first DIY project was the basis for which CXC Simulations was born and is now responsible for producing industry-leading simula...
Feb 02, 2021•1 hr 13 min•Season 4Ep. 52
For those with drive, the STANDARD H Podcast is a loose conversation about the lives of entrepreneurs and those who’ve grown companies. Today’s guest has occupied a slot in the latter category. He also happens to be a friend of mine. His name is Brett Weiner, and we discuss his journey from working for his parents construction business at the age of 11 to designing one-off pieces for Nixon watches. Brett shares a common attribute of several guests hosted on this podcast, and that’s a distaste fo...
Jan 19, 2021•1 hr 7 min•Season 4Ep. 51
I hope all of you had a wonderful holiday season. If you haven’t already, please visit the website at standard-h.com as several new products have been released over the last month. I’m super excited for 2021 as there are several things to come, including a couple different lines of goods that have been in development for well over a year, so I can’t wait to share them with you. Along with my product enthusiasm comes my pleasure of hosting today’s guest, Aaron Stinner of @STINNERFRAMEWORKS. Aaron...
Jan 05, 2021•1 hr 12 min•Season 4Ep. 50
The word that comes to mind when characterizing today’s guest, Christian James Hand is “passionate.” Christian is half of the duo that wrote the theme track to this podcast but that’s just an unbelievably tiny blip on the radar when considering Christian’s body of work. He’s effectively held every title imaginable within the music industry and as the host of The Sessions, Christian has certainly struck his stride. Now as a member of none other than John Mayer’s management company, The Session’s ...
Dec 22, 2020•1 hr 31 min•Season 4Ep. 49
Jonathan Ward is best known as the man behind ICON 4x4. If you’re listening to this show, I’m sure you’ve seen his creations clad in matte paint on Instagram, or perhaps at SEMA over the years. At the end of the day, Jonathan considers himself to be a serial craftsman, but I’ll take it a step further and label him an artist. His creativity has led him down several paths alongside his automotive business including wood working, leather goods, and quite literally down paths all over the world whil...
Dec 08, 2020•1 hr 37 min•Season 4Ep. 48
As a listener of the STANDARD H Podcast, you may have heard me thank today’s guest at the end of every episode. Jensen Reed not only co-wrote the theme track to this show, he was one of the first people I met when I moved to Los Angeles. Coincidentally, we both moved to California within weeks of one another from the same town of Cary, North Carolina. It’s truly hard to believe it’s been nearly 14 years. We talk about how that all unfolded, while Jensen explains his path from being a solo musici...
Nov 24, 2020•1 hr 12 min•Season 4Ep. 47
For those with drive, the STANDARD H Podcast is a conversation about the lives of entrepreneurs and those who’ve been instrumental in growing companies. It’s hard to believe this episode kicks off Season 4, and today’s guest is Damon Jones. Damon worked as an engineer for the likes of Aston Martin & McLaren and then as many of you may know, he served as the Vice President of Operations for Singer Vehicle Design. Needless to say, his resume is impressive but there’s more. He recently worked w...
Nov 10, 2020•1 hr 36 min•Season 4Ep. 46
This week actually concludes Season 3 of the STANDARD H Podcast, and I will be taking the next month off to focus on the new website as well as the release of several new products so I’m super excited about those. This episode is yet another special occasion where I interview a friend I’ve known for over 20 years. We met in high school, and though we don’t talk every week, or even every month, when we do, we pick up where we left off as if no times has passed. Bradford Philen is one of the peopl...
Oct 06, 2020•1 hr 7 min•Season 3Ep. 45
Chris Burkard has long since been one of my favorite photographers. His images transport you in a way not many can, and I believe a lot of it has to do with our shared interests of surfing and just being outdoors. The aspect of relatability is unquestionably a role when viewing his work. Chris has sold prints, yes, but he’s also created books; one of my favorites is “High Tide” which features stories behind his images and includes some fantastic photos of fellow North Carolinian Ben Bourgeois in...
Sep 22, 2020•52 min•Season 3Ep. 44
Jeremy Kirkland has somewhat of a storied music and apparel industry past which in my opinion has served as perfect preparation for his current role as the host of Blamo! a podcast about the world of fashion and the people who shape it. It’s honestly one of the few podcasts where I listen to every episode. We talk about his growing up in St. Louis as the son of a musician as well as his early days as a musician himself in New York City. Jeremy started Blamo! with the use of a robust Rolodex and ...
Sep 08, 2020•1 hr 38 min•Season 3Ep. 43
Kyle Snarr is one of the cofounders behind Cantonment, a new accessories line where Kerchiefs serve as their flagship product. We talk about his love of story telling and how his petrol head father shaped his film school application where he ended up alongside the Napoleon Dynamite crew. Years later, after much success in the marketing sphere building award-winning websites for the very car brands that influence STANDARD H, Kyle was plucked and became the head of marketing for Gear Patrol. Kyle ...
Aug 25, 2020•1 hr 22 min•Season 3Ep. 42
Adrian Barker is a content creator behind the brand Bark & Jack, a YouTube channel where he sips coffee and talks about watches. I took to his content a couple of years ago mainly due to his honesty and his candor, and as a result, I’ve been following his wonderfully curated Instagram page, as well. Since our recording, Adrian’s following has grown to 100,000 subscribers on YouTube, he has an online store which you can visit at BarkandJack.shop and he’s also launched a Facebook group where c...
Aug 11, 2020•1 hr 53 min•Season 3Ep. 41
A couple of years ago I found out about a watchmaking workshop being held here at my good friend and previous STANDARD H Podcast guest, Tim Jackson’s store. Because the class was so great, I thought I’d explore the company a bit further and in doing so, one thing led to another, and the following conversation ended up being among the results. Today’s guest is Nick Manousos who was recently named Executive Director of the Horological Society of New York. Offering classes and workshops, as well as...
Jul 28, 2020•59 min•Season 3Ep. 40
When I first moved to LA I worked in marketing and PR for what was then a three-pronged business owned by Mike Ryan. Mike is a Hollywood Stunt Driver famous for doing stunts with semi trucks, but alongside his driving, he owned a business responsible for sourcing and placing cars in movies and television shows. At the time, Mike was also one of only two guys racing a semi at the esteemed Pike’s Peak International Hill Climb: the second oldest race in America behind the Indianapolis 500. It was 2...
Jul 14, 2020•1 hr 18 min•Season 3Ep. 39
12 years ago, I was still fresh from my move to Los Angeles when I started a fashion and lifestyle blog featuring mostly menswear, surfing, and really, just life in Southern California. One day, while strolling down Abbot Kinney in Venice Beach, I came across a row of about 5 bikes on the sidewalk, each hosting the name LINUS across the top tube in a timeless, San serif font. But these weren’t just any bikes. They weren’t mountain bikes, nor were they road bikes requiring a kit of spandex. Inter...
Jun 30, 2020•1 hr 2 min•Season 3Ep. 38
For those with drive, the STANDARD H Podcast focuses on the lives and stories of those who have started or contributed in the growth of companies. This episode’s guest easily fulfills the latter category, and has done so in a major way. He’s a watch journalist, an automotive journalist, he cohosts one of my favorite podcasts, The Grey Nato, and he’s certainly no slouch in the photography department. Of course I’m talking about James Stacey. During what can only be described as HODINKEE's meteori...
Jun 16, 2020•1 hr 27 min•Season 3Ep. 37
Any car person loves a new car. The smell, the shine...it just makes you feel great. Today’s guest is Wes Walz, owner/operator of Elite Finish Detailing - a full service automotive detailing business supporting their tag line “Making First Impressions Last.” When it comes to cars, what beats that ?! Prior to COVID, Wes and I sat down where I thought we’d chat about his upbringing and how he’s grown his business catering to some of the most lust-worthy cars on the road today. We quickly jump into...
Jun 02, 2020•1 hr 22 min•Season 3Ep. 36
Over the last 8 weeks or so, we’ve all been tested. These weeks have been labeled “strange times”, “uncertain times”, “unprecedented times” the list goes on...and that’s why I felt today would be a good time to release the following conversation I had with guest, Elliot Aronow. We discuss a topic that isn’t al that easy to talk about, and it can often feel like a buzz phrase, however, it certainly makes it no less important, and that’s Mental Health. I feel as though many of us experience pitfal...
May 19, 2020•55 min•Season 3Ep. 35
Today’s guest is Paul Croughton, the Editor in Chief of Robb Report magazine. I believe I first came across Robb Report some 25 years ago as a teenager in Raleigh, NC, dreaming of one day owning the finer things in life: expensive cars, yachts, beautiful real estate, and of course high end tailoring and accessories. I’ve never been one to obsess over these types of things for their superficial qualities, but rather their design, function, and their deliberate executions. As a sucker for details,...
May 05, 2020•1 hr 34 min•Season 3Ep. 34
Today’s guest is Bradley Price, who has incidentally always been into cars. As the owner/operator of the watch brand Autodromo, he has found what I believe to be the only legitimate automotive-inspired line of time pieces. I say that bc they aren’t so on the nose, while at the same time representing automotive history in a very direct way. I had not met Bradley prior to our conversation, and it ticked all the boxes and then some. He couldn’t have been more gracious with his time and I thoroughly...
Apr 21, 2020•1 hr 37 min•Season 3Ep. 33
As previously stated, season 3 has been prerecorded so amidst these times of COVID-19, please note these conversations all took place prior to Social Distancing recommendations and mandates. Episode 32 hosts Ryan Babenzien, the founder of the very versatile shoe brand, Greats, which has experienced an impressive rise within the saturated market of footwear. We talk about growing up riding dirt bikes on Long Island, his 12-year stint living in Los Angeles, as well as his return to his native New ...
Apr 07, 2020•1 hr 14 min•Season 3Ep. 32
Welp, here we are: Season 3! For those with drive, the STANDARD H Podcast is a conversation about the lives of entrepreneurs, and those who’ve been instrumental in growing companies. Season 3 will host episodes every other week: a change in what has historically been a weekly podcast. The reason is due to the pre-recorded nature of my schedule and since we will all be home for the foreseeable future, I wanted to attempt to have these extend for a longer period of time than we will be socially di...
Mar 24, 2020•1 hr 19 min•Season 3Ep. 31
For the final episode of Season 2 of the STANDARD H Podcast, I sat down with Scott Newkirk who grew up in Mississippi only to find out he’d become a proud D Student and a desire for something more. After a bit of time spent freelancing with retail visual work, Scott left for New York City where he quickly immersed himself into the fashion world with the likes of Barney’s & Armani. He quickly created a name for himself as a stylist, and after two decades in the city, Scott decided to take a b...
Mar 10, 2020•48 min•Season 2Ep. 30
If you’re one of the many thousands on Instagram following this week’s guest David Weiss, then you’ll already know boat design is this guy’s wheelhouse. I use wheelhouse somewhat ironically given his affinity for car design, but that’s kind of where our conversation begins. David is a Raleigh, North Carolina-based yacht designer - something he borderline fell into while wrapping up his time at North Carolina State’s Design School. We talk about his upbringing as the oldest of four kids in a home...
Mar 03, 2020•59 min•Season 2Ep. 29
What I enjoy about fashion and moreover S tyle, is the ability to illustrate a sense of self expression without opening your mouth. From across the room you’re able to share your personality by way of wearing things a certain way and pairing things together. This sort of expression packaged as Style is embodied by this week’s guest, Bruce Liles. I actually interviewed Bruce for a class of mine in college and to this day, I can still say: I have met very few people in my life that toe the line of...
Feb 25, 2020•40 min•Season 2Ep. 28
Mike Weddington has had one of the more unique life experiences, let alone professional ones. He’s the 1995 World Champion of Wakeboarding, and now as the co-owner of the Medical supply company Eastcoast Biologics, boy does he have some stories. We talk about his affinity for heavy metal, dropping out of high school, becoming World Champ where he was making good money only to follow that up with a brief time on a government assistance program. What you should know about Mike, and I find this amo...
Feb 18, 2020•1 hr 46 min•Season 2Ep. 27
I’ve known Kendra Leonard for roughly 20 years. We met working at Banana Republic, and was immediately aware of her innate ability of being an astute, direct woman while also exuding an empathetic approach to leadership - something I think many more people can learn from. One thing you may realize is: Kendra has been through A LOT. She is one of the most resilient people I know and has never wavered from her every-ready smile an aptitude to remain positive an any situation....all reasons why I w...
Feb 11, 2020•59 min•Season 2Ep. 26
Those of you who have listened to the podcast have heard me talk about Cleer Audio’s headphones. They’re incredibly comfortable and their sound quality punches way above their weight. Today’s guest is Aaron Levine - the Vice President of Marketing behind Cleer Audio, and it’s a real treat, not only due to his partnership in providing the headphones for the STANDARD H podcast, but because he allows for great insight into a company that has been steady building their brand in what can only be desc...
Feb 04, 2020•1 hr 12 min•Season 2Ep. 25
