Business of HYPE

Mister Cartoon is a tattooist, graffiti artist, muralist, painter, designer, animator and most importantly a legendary artist from Los Angeles whose work stretches over four decades. His work can be seen on the arms of famous rappers, at local basketball games, on the soles of one's feet and more. Born Mark Machado, the Los Angeles native grew up in his father’s print shop where he was exposed to car culture, soul music and graffiti.  His work has had an impenetrable mark through multiple generations, defining the rich Chicano and lowrider culture of Los Angeles. He's been a professional since high school, claiming success prior the existence of the internet, cellphone and social media. For Mister Cartoon, gigs relied on the word of mouth and the close-knit community of Los Angeles that he grew up in.  While street art and streetwear were popular in the East Coast, artists like Mister Cartoon help place the West Coast on everyone's radar. His tattooing immortalized the popularity of fine-line tattoo and his murals made the Old English font emblematic of Los Angeles. He's had numerous sneaker and clothing collaborations, being one of the forerunners of artists chosen for a Nike collab. In this episode, he breaks down his expansive career, shares immeasurable words of advice and discusses his future plans within animation. As always, thank you for tuning into HYPEBEAST Radio and Business of HYPE. Please don't forget to rate, comment and subscribe to our other shows MIC/LINE, The Anthropology, The HYPE Report and HYPETALKS. For more info: https://hypebeast.com/2020/2/mister-cartoon-interview-business-of-hype-jeffstaple-episode-65-tattoo-graffiti-sneakers-artist Mister Cartoon Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/misterctoons/ Mister Cartoon's website: http://www.mistercartoon.com/

The New York based designer, by way of Toronto, created her cult label Brother Vellies in 2013 after discovering her love for Veldskoen (known as vellies or “desert boots”) during a trip to Africa. Worn by numerous celebrities from Beyonce and Solange to Zendaya, Brother Vellies garnered a cult following, having won the CFDA Fashion Fund in 2015. Rather than a one-to-one model, Aurora created Brother Vellies in hopes to give jobs to local artisans in Africa by collaborating with their workshops to commission shoes and sell them back in the U.S. She emphasizes that America’s constant need for “fixing” overseas countries have caused a depletion of jobs in Africa—large donations being one of them. Brother Vellies has managed to create roughly 2,000 jobs overseas whilst maintaining an ethos of sustainable practices—utilizing vegetable tanned leathers, recycled tires and locally sourced materials from farmers worldwide. Six years into the business, Aurora still feels the brand has much more to go, despite their rampant success. Tune in as she later discusses the importance of making sacrifices as an entrepreneur, the common misconception of fashion and much more. As always, thank you for tuning into HYPEBEAST Radio and Business of HYPE. Please don't forget to rate, comment and subscribe to our other shows MIC/LINE, The Anthropology, The HYPE Report and HYPETALKS. For more info:   Brother Vellies Website: https://brothervellies.com/ Brother Vellies Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brothervellies/?hl=en Aurora James Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aurorajames/?hl=en

Salehe Bembury is Versace's Senior Designer of Men' Footwear and Sneakers. You might recognize one of his famous designs before even realizing he was behind it. From Yeezy's military boot and Cole Haan's LunarGrand shoe to Versace's Chain Reaction sneaker, Salehe boasts of an impressive resume. The Tribeca, New York native grew up surrounded by the arts with a passion for footwear because sneakers allowed a "sense of discovery."  In this episode the modern day Renaissance man breaks down his vast career path from working at Payless and Fortune Footwear to Damon Dash's DD172, Cole Haan and Yeezy. He breaks it all down from graduating from Syracuse University and landing his first job to working with Kanye West and Donatella Versace. Under nearly a decade, Salehe has been able to cross paths and traverse different spaces within the fashion industry. He details how he's accustomed to constantly breaking stereotypes, why he enjoys being an "informative tool" and why it's important to "lead by example." As always, thank you for tuning into HYPEBEAST Radio and Business of HYPE. Please don't forget to rate, comment and subscribe to our other shows MIC/LINE, The Anthropology, The HYPE Report and HYPETALKS. For more info:  https://hypebeast.com/2020/1/salehe-bembury-versace-interview-business-of-hype-jeffstaple-episode-63 Salehe Bembury's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/salehebembury/?hl=en Salehe's website: https://www.salehebembury.com/ Versace's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/versace/?hl=en

Drieke Leenknegt is a Global Brand Innovator and Marketing Executive who worked at Nike for twenty years. Her work has been crucial in Nike's early development of Nike Sportswear, Nike Energy Marketing and Nike collaborations to name a few.  The Belgium native describes her path to Nike as more "non-linear" in that her career had a more sporadic trajectory, having worked in radio and advertising before landing a role in their communications department.  She would eventually work in various EMEA offices before relocating to their Portland office where she most recently was the Global Vice President of Influencer Marketing and Collaborations. Her imprint can be seen in notable collaborations such as Virgil x Nike's "The Ten", sacai x Nike's LDWaffle and Tom Sachs x NikeCraft Mars Yard and many more. Previously her roles have included Senior Brand Director of Nike Sportswear, Global Energy Director, Global Design Director Global Communications Director and Edge Marketing Leader.  In this episode, Drieke tells us how Nike has stood the test of time, becoming sneaker culture's dominating force. Having worked with Mark Parker, Fraser Cooke and Sandy Bodecker, she shares with us immeasurable words of advice from the "Five Fundamentals Behind a Great Collaboration" to the importance of cross-pollination and story-telling. Later on she discusses that despite sneaker culture's current popularity, there's much more opportunity to be made. She emphasizes that "this is just the beginning". As always, thank you for tuning into HYPEBEAST Radio and Business of HYPE. Please don't forget to rate, comment and subscribe to our other shows MIC/LINE, The Anthropology, The HYPE Report and HYPETALKS.  For more info:  https://hypebeast.com/2020/1/drieke-leenknegt-nike-interview-business-of-hype-jeffstaple-episode-62 Drieke's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drieke3ke/

Kerby Jean-Raymond is the Founder of Pyer Moss and Artistic Director of Reebok Studies. Merging luxe and streetwear, Pyer Moss is the mens-and womenswear label changing the fashion industry by storm. Since 2013, Pyer Moss has had an impenetrable force gaining favor from notable celebrities, winning the CFDA Fashion Fund Prize, being named Forbes 30 under 30 and Times Next 100 List and much more. Despite his wild success, Kerby admits that his journey was riddled with failed investor relationships, battles of negotiating power, difficulties finding proper factories and more. Through it all what remained constant was his fervent passion for good design and a natural eye.  In recent years, Pyer Moss has caught widespread attention in its politically active runway shows and seasonal campaigns portraying overlooked minority groups in America. In this episode the designer stresses that the "fashion formula" never worked for him, but harnessing the energy of “politics, societal conventions and music”—all things that made his life, was what found him to feel personal freedom.  In this episode, he tells it all from his early days as a kid all the way to showing his Pyer Moss Collection III at the King's Theatre in his hometown of Flatbush, Brooklyn.  As always, thank you for tuning into HYPEBEAST Radio and Business of HYPE. Please don't forget to rate, comment and subscribe to our other shows MIC/LINE, The Anthropology, The HYPE Report and HYPETALKS. Also check out our affiliated site, HYPEBAE and the launch of their new radio platform HYPEBAE Radio at https://hypebae.com/radio or on https://anchor.fm/schoolofsustainability For more info:  https://hypebeast.com/2020/1/kerby-jean-raymond-pyer-moss-interview-business-of-hype-jeffstaple-episode-61 Kerby Jean-Raymond's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kerbito/?hl=en Pyer Moss Website: https://pyermoss.com/ Pyer Moss Instagram https://www.instagram.com/pyermoss/?hl=en

For our Season 7 opener, Jeff sits down with Edson Sabajo and Guillaume "Gee" Schmidt, Co-Founders of Dutch streetwear brand Patta.  For the past 15 years, they've built a cult following where they've pioneered the movement of streetwear becoming architects for other upcoming brands to make way. Started in 2005, the two met working at popular vinyl store, Fat Beats, where they bonded over their love of hip-hop. The two eventually turned their hobby into a business and began traveling to cities worldwide to collect sneakers unavailable in Europe. Years into this business model, they eventually acquired accounts and have worked on popular collaborations with Asics, Nike, Mephisto and much more.  Today they have a popular clothing brand, brick & mortar store, running team, foundation and music component.  In this episode they discuss it all from days at Fat Beats to collaborating with Nike and much more.  As always, thank you for tuning into HYPEBEAST Radio and Business of HYPE. Please don't forget to rate, comment and subscribe to our other shows MIC/LINE, The Anthropology, The HYPE Report and HYPETALKS. Also check out our affiliated site, HYPEBAE and the launch of their new radio platform HYPEBAE Radio at https://hypebae.com/radio or on https://anchor.fm/schoolofsustainability For more info:  https://hypebeast.com/2020/1/patta-interview-business-of-hype-jeffstaple-episode-60 Patta website: https://www.patta.nl/ Patta Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/patta_nl/?hl=en

As Business of HYPE preps for season 7 in the coming new year, we wanted to bring your attention to another podcast, Behind the Baller Podcast with Ben Baller: http://behindtheballerpod.com/. Previously, jeff interviewed the famed jeweler on an episode of Business of HYPE: https://hypebeast.com/2018/8/ben-baller-jeweler-life-story-interview-jeff-staple-busines-of-hype-episode-15 where he thoroughly discussed his tumultuous journey from music management all the way to becoming the go-to jeweler. In this episode, the tables turn and Ben interviews jeff as a guest on his own show. Recorded at the Parker New York, the two talk asian representation, anecdotal stories about Mike Tyson, the inspiration behind naming Reed Space, their respective paths to a million dollars, the current state of sneaker culture, and so much more. As the host states, this is a show by "Ben Baller, not Ben Humble," so in this podcast you'll get to know a deeper side to the polyglot entrepreneur. Whether it's guests like jeffstaple and The Shoe Surgeon or Jordyn Woods and George Lopez, Ben leaves no room for a topic to be left behind. As always, thank you for tuning into HYPEBEAST Radio and Business of HYPE. You can subscribe to our channel on Apple, Spotify or wherever else you get your podcasts. Feel free to hit Jeff on Twitter, @jeffstaple, or via email at questions@businessofhype.com, and he may answer your question on a future episode. Make sure to also check out Behind the Baller Podcast with Ben Baller, available wherever you get your podcasts. http://behindtheballerpod.com/ Behind the Baller Podcast on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6aNdkbamyMBZH0WbzhO0Kg Behind the Baller Podcast on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/behind-the-baller-podcast-with-ben-baller/id1475680946?ign-mpt=uo%3D2 Ben Baller on Business of HYPE on anchor : https://anchor.fm/businessofhype/episodes/Ben-Baller-e294q9/a-a5en7q Ben Baller on Business ofHYPE on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/2bIK4zcMQl7l2tKCuRM8F9?si=AxqiLHE2QLi_3jedlEvFuA Ben Baller on Business ofHYPE on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ben-baller/id1242776507?i=1000417242595

On the heels of its seventh season, the team behind  Business of HYPE wanted to take advantage of this seasonal break to offer some insight into how each episode is produced. What most may not know is that our team consists of members situated all over the States, each having their own respective jobs. So what may seem like a casual conversation between two creatives in front of a microphone, takes much more detailed work behind-the-scenes. Our traveling host, jeffstaple, also runs his own business Staple Design & Staple Pigeon, while director Daniel Navetta runs creative agency Bryght Young Things. We also have a contributing sound engineer, David Rogers-Berry, editing all the way from Maine, while interludes are brought to you by associate producer and freelance content creator Sidney Pacampara as well as associate radio producer for HYPEBEAST, Christina Hong. From scheduling and interviewing, to sound engineering and distributing, we hope to provide an invaluable experience in each episode. So, if you've ever been curious how a podcast gets made or how to conduct an engaging and informative interview, tune in above and listen to our "Making of Business of HYPE" episode. As always, thank you for tuning into HYPEBEAST Radio and Business of HYPE. You can subscribe to our channel on Apple, Spotify or wherever else you get your podcasts. Feel free to hit Jeff on Twitter, @jeffstaple, or via email at questions@businessofhype.com, and he may answer your question on a future episode. As always, thank you for tuning into HYPEBEAST Radio and Business of HYPE. Please don't forget to rate, comment and subscribe to our other shows The HYPE Report: https://anchor.fm/thehypereport, MIC/LINE: https://anchor.fm/miclineshow , The Anthropology: https://anchor.fm/anthropology. Also check out our affiliated site, HYPEBAE and the launch of their new radio platform HYPEBAE Radio at https://hypebae.com/radio or on https://anchor.fm/schoolofsustainability

While Business of HYPE currently takes a seasonal break, revisit our episode with Melody Ehsani from season 1 (ICYMI: in case you missed it).  The designer, known for her namesake label, is known for her infectious designs ranging from jewelry, clothing, accessories and frequented sneaker collaborations. Since this interview was recorded (nearly a year and half ago), much has happened to Melody. She's opened a second store in New York, launched a collaboration with Serena Williams and Lauryn Hill, been in various magazines, has continued her ME. Speaker Series, got married and most recently collaborated with Nike's Jordan Brand to create her version of the iconic Air Jordan 1. Despite her wild success, Melody may just only be getting started. The designer is challenging norms in streetwear whilst also paving the way for women to have a place in a frequently male-dominated industry. So revisit our episode with the culture-shifting leader as she takes into her early beginnings from living in China for five months to eventually launching her own label and collaborating with Reebok. For more information: https://hypebeast.com/2018/3/the-business-of-hype-with-jeffstaple-episode-6-melody-ehsani As always, thank you for tuning into HYPEBEAST Radio and Business of HYPE. Please don't forget to rate, comment and subscribe to our other shows The HYPE Report: https://anchor.fm/thehypereport, MIC/LINE: https://anchor.fm/miclineshow , The Anthropology: https://anchor.fm/anthropology. Also check out our affiliated site, HYPEBAE and the launch of their new radio platform HYPEBAE Radio at https://hypebae.com/radio or on https://anchor.fm/schoolofsustainability

With season 6 under wraps, we bring you a special bonus episode as we prep for season 7. In this episode, jeffstaple sat down with three innovative footwear designers around the globe—Helen Kirkum, Shun Hirose of RECOUTURE and Alex Nash—and is later joined by adidas’ MakerLab Creative Director, Jose Cabaco, Senior Director of Digital Strategy, Tareq Nazlawy and adidas Statement Creative Director, Yohan Ham. Part of the brand's new initiative called MakerLab, the three designers were invited to reimagine the iconic Campus 80s. Over the course of months, they were allowed to bring their design into fruition by working out of the adidas HQ in Herzogenaurach, Germany and later at the brand’s factory in Vietnam, where they oversaw all production and packaging. The final product was launched on a StockX IPO with only 333 limited-edition pairs available for purchase. For more information: https://stockx.com/ipo/adidas-mkrlab-campus-80s-ipo & https://news.adidas.com/originals/adidas-makerlab-propels-emerging-designers-to-bring-limited-edition-campus-80s-into-the-global-marke/s/80df26a9-6bd8-43ec-9b37-149e13a26c84 As always, thank you for tuning into HYPEBEAST Radio and Business of HYPE. Please don't forget to rate, comment and subscribe to our other shows MIC/LINE, The Anthropology, The HYPE Report and HYPETALKS. Also check out our affiliated site, HYPEBAE and the launch of their new radio platform HYPEBAE Radio at https://hypebae.com/radio or on https://anchor.fm/schoolofsustainability