We’re back! Today’s episode of The Defy The Odds features 3 sneaker masterminds and 1 of the greatest entrepreneurs in the game, Mr. Reshoevn8r. Today we’re talking about the iconic Air Jordan 3 low that was gifted to Kobe Bryant in 2003.
Let’s talk all things sneakers; from the art of building sneakers from scratch to some of the greatest eras Nike ever had! Plus a little more background into the BIGGEST project of Vick ALMIGHTY’S career.
For those who don’t know Jake, better known as Dank & Co is a master sneaker customizer and has been an inspiration to Vick for years. He has built sneakers for some of the best athletes to ever play the game, let him tell you all about his career and how he got his start. Plus all of the challenges that can happen as a customizer.
While Brian, also known as the OGSHOEGAME discusses his love for sneakers. Brian has one of the craziest collections featuring unreleased samples from Mark Smith himself, signed sneakers and a wide variety of other insane kicks.
Of course you know Vick! Vick has been customizing shoes for over 10 years and now he gets to sit with a group of peers and share his love for the game.
Overall this podcast is packed with information that you might not even know! Take a listen and dive into the details of the sneaker world with 4 of the best!
Who should we feature next on the podcast?
Welcome to the defy the odds podcast we Have some special guests we're doing a Special project I must say and we're Excited to share some of that with you Probably today but we have some special Guests and I'm going to let them Introduce themselves right now Jake want You started off man tell Jake Dan Cliffs Uh we do custom shoes out of San Antonio Texas uh as danken Co and uh yeah we've Been doing this for fulltime since 2012 And um as a company since like 2009 and Yeah we're here here to do some cool Stuff with you guys awesome so we did do A project before if anyone saw the what Do we call it the Frankenstein Frankenstein build yeah it was a pretty Cool you know 40 different pairs of Shoes to make one obviously everyone Knows Vic Almighty over here that's Right guys I'm Vic I work with a Rejuvenator you guys know the Gig and then we got Brian Bryan you know You're a little more undercover guy so Why don't you give us a little brief uh Intro for for yourself yeah I kind of am Undercover you know I'm a kind of Private collector um I've been Collecting for a long time most old uh Player exclusive heads know me collect a Lot of Jordan brand stuff I'm big into Cleats a lot of the player cleat um been Buying Jordan since day one 85 7eventh Grade um so I'm from California a lot of
People don't know me because I'm not Really have a big social media profile Or anything I'm known as OG the shoe Game 2345 okay which will some more about in This project so awesome nice to meet you All if you can pull that mic too just a Tad bit too I think you're pulling out Just a little bit so I just make sure There you go perfect right on so where You guys want to get started why don't Who wants to kind of give some input on This project I guess yeah so like There's a lot to go over you know we Have two really talented and cool people On the team today so why we gathered Everybody today is because we're Building this really really cool project It's this 20 03 Jordan 3 low that Nike Made specifically for Kobe Bryant not Many people know about the shoe there's Only like two images or so online so Again and a Jordan 3 load didn't that Never came out on top of that so that Like exists but like doesn't exist in 99% of sneaker heads like you know Exactly and this project isn't easy to Recreate it requires a lot of people a Lot of different jobs for this build and It's like cool thing is Brian touched on It it's the 20th anniversary of this Project so 2023 2003 20 years exactly so Basically we gathered Brian Jake and Julian a graphic designer and myself to
Build this shoe it's taking like five to Six days we're about halfway there we Cut out all the pieces we'll get into That just a bit that's the reason why Brian and Jake are here with us today Yeah the 2003 uh laser dunks uh Mark Smith was a creator of that he only made About six of them in the low top three With the dunks soul but he also made Some for Michael Jordan as well as Kobe Bryant the pair that that we're looking To recreate and you have one of the six Samples by the way yes we have it right Here we're working with it it's helping Us with our project and for those of you Who don't know Mark Smith used to be uh The VP of Innovations at Nike he's Retired now he's still amongst Michael Jordan's Inner Circle for example one of His latest projects one of the sickest Coolest projects by the way it's him Redesigning the Michael Jordan MVP award That's coming up for the next season if You've seen it at all it's a sculpture Of Michael Jordan and it has his hand Holding a rock right yeah I might have That hand you he might have a little Sample piece but that's his latest Creation we put a picture of it right Here but marks SMI a guy he's done a lot Of crazy stuff he's had his hand in a Lot of different things Mar uh Brian's Touched on a lot of different stuff that He's been a part of that I didn't even
Know of you want to talk about that That's cool yeah he's responsible for The outso on the Jordan 9 UM he was Originally hired by Mark par Parker And then Tinker pulled him into to Jordan brand so he worked with Tinker Hatfield and it's cool because you know Tinker Hatfield is a legend everybody Knows him Mark's a little more Undercover but man he's a genius yeah I Mean what would you I would say for People trying to get an idea of Who who Mark Smith is like his most Famous Design that people I Yeezy that's like Yeezy he yes he he did design the Yeezy One he were closely with him I think That would be the most popular yeah he's Responsible many people don't know that He's responsible for LeBron James logo Yeah as well as as well as Serena Williams yeah Tiger Woods Tiger Woods Mark's wife is responsible for that so They their family crazy yeah do Incredible artist so yeah it's um he's Done so much stuff through the years Trying to this is just what he's like Told you that we've learned about and Then there's not much information like Online about what it's it's kind of like How we were saying like the uh what is It the one one band one show you know Like Nike is this or one one band One Sound you know like Nike is Nike is Nike
So you don't really hear about all the Things that all the people within Nike Like have done individually for all These projects that's not always out There but like he's told you some stuff That's just like mind-blowing Information and imagine all the stuff That he just hasn't had a chance to tell You yet like who knows what else he's Designed that we just like our everyday Things in life that we take for granted Probably got sick of me asking him Questions about probing his mind about How why was this made or when when was That made and you know but he's been so Cool and just like offering help or Information on pairs that he hadn't seen In a long time that that I have in my Collection how' you beat Mark and you Know what's funny is he doesn't remember Meeting me but I I met him in 2005 at The Nike Town San Francisco chamber of Fear event which LeBron came to and Obviously all the the head brass at Nike That had to do with that and uh I met Him there he he doesn't remember though I told him that the first time but uh Just over the years I've connected with Him through emails uh DMS text messages Asking him questions about certain pairs Or why this was done or why that was Done and I probably drove him up the Wall but he's been super supportive and Like he'll answer me not all the time
Because he's busy man himself of course So um and and if you want to see some of His stuff and like follow him it's head Check right h d c h e q yeah so he does A little bit of everything to not just Shoes he's an artist he's a he's an Artist he's he designed he's not just This like tribal looking like you know Um the filigree you know that's kind of What he's like known for but he does so Much other things you know Soro bottle The Soro tequila bottle he designed that For the team and it has 23 degrees of Curve in it and there's little hidden Meanings in that five points and yes yes So he he's kind of a jack of all trades When it comes to designing a lot of Different things yeah that's dope so Brian how did you when did you get into Sneaker collecting what got you into you Know the culture well 1985 when when Jordans came out he's a Grandpa by the Way it was you know I remember when they Came out the AJ KO the the the leathers And they were $64.99 okay Y and I remember them being That uh I grew up in Northern California And I wanted a pair so bad but my Parents weren't going to spend $65 for a Pair of shoes and back then I only got One pair of shoes for the school year so I was telling Jake this story the other Day uh I was crying for him and they Said nope not getting them but the AJ KO
Came out which was the canvas which was Like roughly half the price and my Parents said oh we'll get you that but You didn't want to be a kid in school Wearing the the AJ KO you the canvas Version did you back then wonder what KO Stood for or did you automatically think It was like AJ Knockoff I thought it was something to Do with boxing like knock out knock out That's what I did they ever confirm what It was think it's been confirmed I think There's been a lot of talk there's been A lot of talk I haven't heard anything From Nik say anything so question but uh That's kind of when I got hooked on Shoes and I think the fact that I got Denied those at first I finally got them By the way then you're like okay I Finally got the real leather ones and uh When I finally got those it kind of Because it was so hard to get I think it Sparked my my hoarding W the shoes and Collect and and get them and I really Got into it in '98 99 when Team Jordan Came out you know obviously Jordan was Close to retirement uh he brought a Bunch of athletes on and they started Making all these different player Exclusives and it was kind of easy to Get General leases back then they didn't Have as many as they do today so I kind Of wanted the the super rare stuff that Only the players got that was very hard
To acquire and back then in the days of Early 2000 Nike talk you know we were Just every day you'd log on to Nike talk To see what somebody posted and that Just kind of there was probably four or Five of us um uh a lot of people know Baby Dill I'll use their IG names Because that probably how people will Relate Dependable J uh spur sniper 7 who Is PE Vault now um Allong Fallen twins um phase two Germain Um Soul Supreme can't forget about P me Uh there was a there was a small group Of us that were really ion to player Exclusive and that super rare promo Stuff that's a little different than it Is today with all the different promo Stuff they have now back then it was Tough to get it was hard to get a lot of EBay searches a lot of networking so for Me back in those days with Nike talk and All and soul collector and all these Forums that was that there was no social Media at that I mean there there was Facebook and Myspace had just dwindled Out but there was no Instagram and stuff At the time and but like seeing Seeing this level of shoes you know There's tears in collecting you know and Just with anything with cards or Pokemon Or whatever with everything there's Tears and like all the guys that you Just listed including yourself are this Like top tier collector you know like or
We're just old well not just there was Older guy there's guys that are older Than you guys that weren't collecting That Echelon of of you know of product Was there it and I kind of got that bug After watching you guys start pick this Stuff pick up all that kind of stuff it Was like you get bored when you really Get into something you get bored with Getting stuff that's at retail at a Store and then and then you're like man This was only released at five stores Okay well then that [ __ ] starts becoming Boring and you're like I want the stuff That never [ __ ] came out and that's What made just escalate to that point Yeah and it it gets to the point where You're like not only do I not want the Stuff that never came out I want the Stuff that nobody's ever even seen or Don't even know that it exists and like That's when you get to you guys the Lengths we went to you know it's Interesting when I I look back you know We just been around a long time and you Know back before social media I remember Nike talk I didn't even know how to do a A host from picture Trail I didn't I was Kind of computer 99% of the people that Are going to listen to this probably Have no idea idea what yeah yeah in Order to post a picture on the web Forum You had to upload it into like Photo Bucket and then on Photo bucket it would
Give you a list of links and you had to Copy that whole and paste it URL link And paste it onto the your Nike talk Your Nike talk little discussion and hit Send or enter to post it and when it Would post it would instead of posting That link it would post the photo that Was how you would host the photo like It's It's not like [ __ ] today it was tough You know I was telling Jake this Yesterday I was telling Jake we're just Just chatting it up about old days and I Remember I didn't even know how to do it I remember giving my Nike talk uh Password to Baby Dill Drew Dillard uh if Anybody knows Texas collector Texas Collector awesome dude great PE Collector um I actually gave him my Password so that he could post on my Account pictures of my shoes cuz I Didn't know how to do it eventually I Figured f it out but you know back then You know it was a small circle you Trusted people so so I got a question You've obviously been part of the Culture for so long can you just walk me Through what your thoughts are on the Culture and how it's progressed and Changed over the last what you've been Doing it for 20 years longer longer yeah It Um it it's it's nice and it's a little Sad at the same time to me just being
Old head um it's nice to see the growth And the interest in shoes and the things That the different companies are doing Now um to innovate and bring different Things in the marketplace but at the Same time some of the problems The Growing Pains that come with that from You know people that are frotting each Other or The Fakes that um so it's kind Of a Bittersweet thing there there's Good and there's bad just like anything Else and like in other you know Collecting cultur so you know that's Kind of where it's at there's a lot of Good but there's also some sad stuff That's so when it comes to PE there's All different sports dude you know we Have basketball we got football what do You like to collect and Why well like I have a lot of people Know me for cleats and that's a very Small um collecting base people who just Collect cleats and the reason why I Think myself and a few others are really Into it is back then back in the early 2000s those were the very hardest PES to Get there was more basketball pees made Um quantity wise football players Baseball players Jeter uh Randy Moss um You know Prime Time Prime Time Deon Sanders only had basically one one Jordan but um Jordan model But it was the cream like like Jake said It was the hardest thing to get he can
Come in so that's what that's what drove Us to go for the cleat versions of Things so but basketball was cool too I I collect basketball baseball I even Have uh some racing peas Denny Hamlin um I have some track and fi PE of Jordan Brand athletes um so I kind of collect It all you know awesome not just one Thing and how many pairs you say you got Right now 600 somewhere in that neighborhood yeah They're all split up everywhere huh you Can't just keep them in one room I have 20 cubes just full of shoes that I have To go through that's crazy on in the Same size do you go for a certain size CU I know a lot of samples and stuff or Like size N9 for example I collect Player exclusive so size n samples there Are some collectors out there that are Into that um I want the shoe that was Made for the athlete gotcha so whatever Size size whether it's 14 or seven or Whatever what about sign pieces sign Pieces I do have some sign pieces you Like sign pieces um depending on who it Is you know what being an old head back In the day we always wanted a dead stock No ink you know that's kind of how we Were back then we'd actually pay more Money for an unsigned Brand New Pair Than a game worn pair which is flipped Obviously lately with memorabilia going Wild right um you know I look back and
Think you know I used to even take off Signatures Off Shoes yeah and now you Have to second guess I've been hired to Do that too if you knew how many Signatures I had removed or you know use Goon to get off on a patent you know get Off an autograph that's what we do we Try to make it look as new as possible a Lot of times pees are sa for most part For I guess you know some of these Players aren't the most notable Players or their college PE and the Player isn't that notable but they Signed it and it's like well I want the Shoe I don't want you to be but I don't Want you a part of it you know but so Like yeah I I get yeah I've been hired To clean and remove that from shoes Before yeah I'm not taking off a Jordan Autograph or autograph or anything like That but you know maybe a lesser player You know you might think about you know Or for instance like you're saying he Had up here there was like a shack and Yeah I had a I had a Gary Payton 12 that Had a shack autograph which was kind of Weird and he only autographed one shoe But then GP too it was kind of the Autographs were kind of that throws off The pair totally it's weird to say that Because like if you had one of Shack P Signed that's awesome you know but like Him on one of Gary Payton's peas like Just makes the shoe strange and I think
On that one you know I'm close to GP Size myself so I could wear it I think I'd rather like wear it than have an Autograph on it what about if it's a Shoe that's autographed by the player But made out to Somebody on the shoe well nowadays you Can get rid of the the name you know you Can cover over that name nowadays you Know Vic I'm sure knows whatever Projects you want to talk on we've done Done a lot of man for Restorations I Know that yeah I don't have any clients Dude I Brian's I've been working with Brian for like 10 years now um I taken Very limited stuff he has some of the Coolest stuff I've ever seen ever you'll Probably never see it anywhere else a Lot of stuff I don't post By Request of Ryan and that's okay you know some stuff He does let me like for example like the Dion Sanders that I just restored he got Them for a great price they were beat But it made a great video we un yellowed Them reglued them put new EVA foam Repainted them it was a good restoration That was a fun one um but I've done a Lot of work for you over the years some Stuff I don't touch on because I don't Know what stuff is okay to touch on well Vic he's the only one I trust with my Stuff and it's not to say anyone else Does it doesn't doesn't do that I know I Know Jake is incredible as well um but
Some some things you know you just have Your guys yeah as a as a player Exclusive Collector sometimes you get things from Sources that you don't want to step on Their toes yeah so certain things like I'll never ever post just because I've Given my word and I also don't want to You know jeopardize a relationship Course so I'm very careful not to step On toes so that's why sometimes like With I I can see Vick baiting me into Going into that oh like where he you I Start touching on it that's just how it Is the life of a PE collector you know You got to value your your relationships Which sadly a lot of people don't do That today you know to well that's a big Thing CU like the question you always Get like as a PE collector is like where Do you get your stuff you know and That's a question that it's like Networking and it's not like you just Sometimes yeah you're lucky enough to Get on eBay or Marketplace or Craigslist Or something like that and come across Some random thing that somebody didn't Know what it was but 99 % of the time It's you doing all this leg work of Meeting this doctor that knew this Player or meeting this person that knew This person managers equipment manager Whatever and like and you know you you Know sending a box of chocolates or
Something to that person and getting on Their good side and then taking them out To lunch and then all that just so that You know like the for the chance that They might get something or know where Something is yeah and that's where Etiquette comes and I've been asked so Many times where do you get this where Do you get that and you kind of you Don't want to be rude but you also like Not want to give up your Source exactly And it's just kind of etiquette you know It's just kind of like one of those Questions you don't ask yeah you know And not everybody knows that but I Curiosity killed the cat yeah yeah What's one of the most rare pairs that You have in your collection that you can Talk about is it one is well rare is a Relative word because you know there is A ton of one of ones yeah and and you Always hear that word oh what's rare What's rare well you can't get any rarer Than a one of them it's true that's and There's tons of them um you know just Like the the laser I brought that we're We're building off of with this Kobe Project Um when we think about that that's a one Ofone made in the Innovation kitchen oh Here it comes right here that's a Beautiful piece man one of one of one Art made by Mark Smith in the uh Innovation in
2003 and he made six different pairs They're all different um I know another Collector Randy ball he just he just Pulled Up I told him he has AE he should come In yeah should grab he has one um I know There's a couple in Nike archives uh I Think sneaker freaker magazine owner has One too we should have had him bring it Yeah I told him to bring it I'm not sure If he did bring it or not yeah so I mean One of one they consider this an artist Proof it doesn't have any tagging or Anything in it it's handmade have you Got any crazy offers for those uh since Youve had them yeah I had somebody offer Yeah quite a bit I'm sure yeah yeah 25k Gez but uh you know so one of ones I Mean they're rare the relative work yeah I mean that's as rare as you're going to Get I have the um I haven't really Posted them I think once I did a quick Story on them just to tease I have uh Lebron James uh cap classic Jordan 18 That was game worn that's cool in that Game which Michael was at yeah and like Just fa for the people out there that Just let that go right by like fathom That yeah say that again slowly so that People understand exactly what they're Hearing there Jordan 18 Capital Classic 2003 that LeBron played in it was his Last game as a high school play very Last game as a high school and from what
We know LeBron only had had two pairs of Jordans that he wore on the court right Yes the uh green and green and white Nines and this is a black Jordan 18 with King James embroidered on the side of And it's a mid they never released a mid Yeah like yeah it's crazy yeah that's Pretty rare say it's pretty rare but the Fact that and that's where the the line Gets crossed with player exclusive game Warn yeah that shoe is way more valuable Because of The of and being in that game King James Most people never knew where that shoe Went um I can't go into how I got it Really but um it's that's a pretty Special pair because back in the day in 2003 when all of us were like looking For crazy pees that was one that Everybody was trying to get yeah yeah It's funny how how like you can talk to Like an average collector nowadays that You know They'll try to explain to somebody that Is visit a collector you know like yeah I went to the store there's not you Can't get anything in retail stuff was Just too rare you know it's like Whatever Travis Scott that sold out you Know because and now it's going for Thousands of dollars because it's so Rare they made 250,000 of those like That isn't rare you know it's kind of Crazy because you think about it so
Travis Scott let's say I don't really Know Travis Scot I don't collect Travis Scott stuff kind of like mainly into Athletes and and stuff like this but I Don't know how many purple pairs or you Know the different friends and family And some of those go for what 35 40,000 Or whatever now what if Travis dropped A Rollins backwards swish red and white Jordan one cleat or something like that Like would you be interested in Something like that if it was made for a Player maybe Rollins say okay probably It's Jordan BR C I might it might not Custom like yeah it have to be made by Jordan BR yeah absolutely yeah so I Might consider it that'd be pretty well So on that note what's your level of Collecting have you slowed down or you Still as in the game as you once were I've gotten pretty selective okay makes Sense if it's Something insane that I've been looking For for years like for instance the Randy Moss 11 as far as I know that any collectors I know nobody has his actual player Exclusive there's a I think it's Carter Out in in China I think he's in China he Has a size nine uh lookie sample but see I don't collect samples I want the Player size and I don't think to my Knowledge anybody has ever shown that or
Has it in their collection that has told Anybody about I think Gentry told me he Has a pair I have never seen a picture Of it a sample or a PE a PE R random Question but like for example like we Have natural disasters happen all over The country every year some houses Buildings get completely destroyed Washed away have you heard of any cases Where collectors that had Jordan pieces Nike pieces lose you know historical Pieces like this there got to be Somebody in Florida for sure I can't say I've heard a collector I do know like Sometimes things happen and I've heard That you know some players have lost a Bunch of their PES one in particular is Earl Thomas many of you know like his House burned down not too long ago and I Know he had a lot of pees you know Obviously he was on Team Jordan Seahawks Baltimore Ravens so you know I'm sure Quite a few PES got lost there I know One in Houston was a Collector and I could probably get Corrected on this CU I I don't know if This pair burned or if they saved it I Can't remember but there was a collector In Houston that um his chick would wear To our sneaker shows it was like a size Five and a half emm4 that used to belong To Nicole Richie and that pair his house burned Down but I I'm not positive if that pair
Got burned or if that's the one shoe he Saved there I a do yeah I'm not positive On I I haven't heard Randy might know That story I don't know yeah Randy What's going on bro hey Randy did you Bring those threes did you bring the Three low didn't go Home I'm just kidding speaking of Randy Him and his brother used to bug me all The time to buy bees and uh I've known Him a long long time so he was just they Were just kids when I when I first met Him but uh it's kind of cool to go back That far with yeah we got to we got to Bring Randy on the podcast and his Brother Ian dud so how did you get into You know doing customs and let's hear a Little bit about your uh my my brother's 10 years older and uh always had way Cooler shoes than I had okay growing up And um I took notice of that like I was Born in ' 85 and I took notice of that By ' 89 okay I was four that's about Right yeah and started drawing shoes my Mom was an artist so I started drawing Shoes and then that was the thing you Know just like off and on my whole life And like then getting into high school You know get into you know beer and Girls and you know everything else you Know like kind of lose that for a little While and then you're back into it Though they kind of got back into it Like in college and stuff like that and
Then um when I started making my own Money you know and living on my own and Um I actually started doing um paintings Of shoes like on like portraits that I Would sell on Nike talk and so they were Just portrait paintings and people's Like favorite shoes and I started Selling those and uh fueling my sneaker Collection with that and I wouldn't even Dip into my bank account like I would Sell paintings and then that's what Would you know that's what would be my Funding for my sneaker collecting Y and Then it kind of I started realizing like You know there's a lot of shoes out There that uh I couldn't obtain you know And that I wanted to make a uh my own Version of and I started realizing man If I could paint a portrait of a shoe on Canvas why can't I use the shoe as a Canvas yeah and then what year is that That was probably 2007 2008 around in there and then so I Started researching on you know I was Buying the crappiest paints you know not Knowing what to do with them you Couldn't go to Angeles direct and buy Angeles paints at the time Turtle Feathers turttle feathers. net the only Place you could buy Angeles paints there Was no tutorials or YouTubes or anything Like that I know these guys are spoiled Now yeah 100% I get asked every day you Know my Instagram just got deleted two
Days ago yeah we got to help him got to Help him get it back or get his Followers back that's not right Instagram that's not right so I used to Get DMS daily with people asking for Ways to learn how to do things and I'd Be like you got everything at your go to YouTube go to YouTube I had nothing like I just got dirty got bus fig out figured It out but um but uh the the one shoe That really kind of got me to like I Guess my first shoe where I was I Actually took time on it and took paid Attention to what I was doing and kind Of did it right was an Orchard Street uh Dunk so Orchard Street was was a store In New York and they basically in 0304 Somewhere around there they bought uh Like 36 or 24 pairs of Brazil dunk highs And they removed the tongue and flipped Them cut a little hole in the wing um And then painted some pieces orange Yellow parts to Orange swishes to Black And then they like slung them on um Heard about that they slung them on like Telephone pole wires and trees and all Over New York City and then put like Wanted posters everywhere to like you Know get your you know find your dunk on Whatever tree or whatever bring it in And you can get your tray and your shirt And your poster and your box or whatever At the store it was just a purely for Marketing and uh that really was a big
Influence for me so I remember when that Pair I remember I passed up a pair in my Size on eBay brand new for 600 bucks and I was was like at that point I was like I'm not paying $600 for what's the word Now 25,000 probably i' say on Orchard Street nowadays maybe yeah it's a good Investment yeah yeah but like so I Decided I would make my own version of That and there was another dude On Nike talk Rolo tonado uh he goes by Dunster nice and he was doing Customs Here and there but he would call he Would do kind of what I was doing like He was making his own version of a shoe That had already come out Y and he'd Call it poor man and I love that he Called it so it was like he'd make a Poor man viotech or a poor man Safari Did you do the Poorman undefeated for us Did you have poor man on there yep on The back of the tongue it just said poor Man instead of undefeated it said poor Man so like any shoe where I would make A shoe that looked kind of like another Shoe yeah or like a version of it I'd Call it po man so that I started with That undefeated dunk and I called him Like the porman or sorry not undefeated The Orchard Street and I'd call it the Poor man Orchard Street D and like they Were on the inside numbered like one of 36 or whatever I put mine as zero of 36 You know made a box for it and
Everything was like zero of 36 on it How'd it turn out pretty good great I Still I still have them right now they Don't have it chipped or anything Jake What's your favorite custom you ever did What's your if you had to pick one could You or top three are they like Children top Three I've done so many though that's Like CU I know you blew my mind when you Showed me the other day most meaningful Because obviously yeah you you like them All but the most meaningful ones Recently I did a pair for my mom it was Just a simple pair of New Balances for Her to wear on a cruise with her sisters Yeah it was just super simple just had Her name on it and a cruise ship on the Tongue it's cool though and like that Was one of the most meaningful pairs That I've ever done um uh Um what are the one which's the one You're talking about you did some uh car Heart oh that was a crazy pair yeah we Wanted to recreate an em4 yep but like There's two m4s there's the blue one and Then there's the carart the black one I Wanted to make a blue car car heart so The same blue as the blue but out of car Heart and in the oil fields here in Texas all the guys were these carart Like jumpsuits that are fire retardant And they're the same blue oh wow as the Blue from the Eminem 4 so we made a
Carart Jordan 4 in blue it was fire Retardant material and we put all the Little fire retardant tags and Everything on there and they're Bad good and then we were like you know What let's take it a step further let's Make a a carheart Jordan 3 Eminem yeah So we made it look just like the black But in in a in a three and is that just For you person personally or are you Doing that for somebody else two Different clients okay two different he Had he had me fanboying on That Um yeah I don't know I I'm having a Blank I'm that's kind of the beginning Of danken Co where we at now yeah so Then you know that kind of started and Then that was like like I said 070809 and then I mean that's early how Many how many other people are Customizing shoes back then so there was There was a website back then called Painter thread still SL around today that would highlight Customizers okay and the main guys that You would see on there back then were uh Was mosh okay um C2 now is a designer at Adidas and he he was like 15 years old Back then wow and he did pairs for Lan As well and then Um uh there was like methamphibian Sabotage um lazy was one of them um so There's there's a handful of people jbf
Around that time jbf went around then Just yet Um shoe surgeon had just started doing His thing he was in his garage and doing Par doing like U Super Sky top rebuilds For Justin Bieber yeah and um there was A guy Nash money um was out of the UK Uh that's about it okay like that they Were like known guys you know um so There wasn't a lot and now like I live As I live in a small gated community and There's probably 40 kids in that Community that call themselves customiz Yeah I'm sure Like like yeah I can't even walk to get The mail without kids like going like Hey that's cool check out what I made That's that's that's that's cool though It's crazy like how much it's growing um But uh yeah so then in 2012 my dad got Diagnosed with colon cancer that day I Quit my job okay um that was October of 2012 he passed in October of 2014 okay But in that time frame before he passed He was able to see me do shoes for LeBron and that's cool man a bunch of Other crazy people that kind of really I Like fueled things yeah yeah what were You what was your job at that point when You said yeah I was a Energy Efficiency Consultant so I was in yeah we're in We're in Phoenix here and it's like 11:5 Yeah but Texas is still hot too Texas You know the the it would get up to 100
Degrees 105 degrees whatever but addicts I I was getting in five addicts a day Those are 160 degree addicts yeah and Like I'd get up there my eyeballs would Instantly dry out and i' just start Sweating I'd come out like I was not I Had no weight on me yeah I was skinnier Than you back then and like that was Just I wasn't even doing work in those Attics all I was doing was in there with A flashlight and a thermometer just Checking everything out and then I come Down and quote them for the services so It wasn't a hard job to quit um it was Because and even my boss and my and my Family were saying for like two years Before I quit they were like you need to Work with this sneaker thing this is Crazy like you need to do this my boss Was telling me that that's cool and like Finally it took my dad you diagnosed With colon cancer for me to realize that You know and I I quit so that I'd have The free time to to like be with him you Know while still doing my own thing and Even then after like two or three months Of being on my own I still had cold feet And I ended up getting a job for two Months selling Cremations which was like it's an Interesting the worst job ever and like After two months of doing that and Realizing like I don't ever want to have To look for a job again yeah I want to
Jump I'm going to jump into this head First I'll do whatever I can to be on my Own like I never want to work for Anybody else in my life like I don't Blame you yeah I hear you yeah unless You're cool like me I Guess yeah so yeah I mean I started in 2013 customs and I was on Instagram Already at that point so dank was one of The first pages that I followed and dude Your work was always magnificent since Day one I still go back every now and Then when I'm trying to spark a can't Now God everything's gone that's Everything's gone dude it's true thoughs He has he had thousands of posts though He didn't care about the fee he will Leave it up there so I would scroll for Hours and hours then and now looking at All cool Concepts that kind that does Suck I can't there goes my there's stuff That was on IG that I don't have Pictures of anymore get your IG there's DMs I don't know what the hell I'm going To do because there's DMS in there of Clients I've taken their money yeah that That's how I was in contact with I don't Have their email I don't have their Phone numbers just DM Vic DM Vic and Vic Seriously like if you passw if you if I've taken your money okay where's Camera here where's Camera if I've taken Your Money and we're not in contact on email
Please email me at JW or just reach out Through the website go to the website And write to me reach out through Vic Whatever you can to get a hold of me Because I don't have some people's Contact information now yeah it's wild That I've taken their money and like I Can't like I could do their shoe but Then what yeah how am I going to get it To them well we'll we we'll again we'll Try to work on getting it back and you Know that's yeah it's it's so crazy I Know we've briefly touched on it I don't Want to spend too much time but the fact That they can just take you down like That without some sort of appeal or at Least conversation I through appeal Process it's crazy and everything and And immediately got the response back Saying no we're not going to reinstate Your Instagram saying that I promote or Sell fraudulent material or fraudulent Product you can't even protect yourself From that that's like like happen to any Of what's sad about that is on every one Of his posts if you ever seen him There's always a disclaimer that he Doesn't have any affiliation yeah with With whatever and if and and if if I Ever do anything that's inspired by Somebody else's work whether it be off White or Louis whatever I give credit to Those companies and then I put at the Bottom a disclaimer saying this is a
One-of kind handmade piece of work it Will not be duplicated and I and it's Not in partnership with any other Company yeah like and even the shoe the Base shoes themselves are authentic Those aren't even fake yeah I don't [ __ ] With that because of these reasons you Know and Like yeah frustrating yeah I've been Following you since 2013 but I guess 2013 to 2023 Jun years yeah dude but you've been On top s dude you're still one of my Favorite customizers SL restorers cuz The thing about you you do it all you Know a lot of people specialize in Certain things painting sewing do really Coot Concepts but crappy work uh I think Thank has it all it's cool to finally Meet him because I've known through Online yeah about Jake I don't know what 15 years or so yeah and a lot of your Friends Y and it's we all running the Same circles you know it's fun to Finally be here and meet you in person This is the first time and we're working On this project Great so I'm hyped about that let's talk About how this project kind of came Together it's been a long time in the Making so like couple years ago Brian Put that in my ear like doing that Project again like I knew it was going To take a lot you know all of this to
Recreate is hours upon upon hours um he Knows a bit more about the pattern Itself but from what I understand let's Go back too so they had been thinking About or he had he had been wanting to Recreate this shoe okay right and then Randy last time I was here Randy has a Version of this shoe too and different Color he brought it on display for Super Bowl weekend I called the night before I Was like make sure you bring that in Your red pair the the red Air Force One And which also Mark Smith did right yep Did Mark Smith do that one yeah the red Air Force One right the prize the the the one that You won on the show I think Mark Smith Did that one too right yeah so um I Wanted to see that shoe again in person I saw it years ago when you when you Brought it to San Antonio but I wanted To see it again in person and especially His version of the Jordan 3 low because I've always wanted to recreate a Jordan 3 low because it doesn't exist nobody Even knows about it thing yeah that's The thing and like CU there's only six Pairs of these and one that went to Jordan one went to Kobe and that's it That we know of so you know I wanted to Recreate the shoe for myself you know And I I pulled him and and Randy aside And I was like yo I want to recreate This and you're like well maybe that's
Our next project see Jake thought it was His original idea I thought it was mine And I was going to take that on he was Going to try to do it by good luck yeah I know yeah I had two people in my year Talking about this project so like you Know what I think I can make this Project possible now that's dope he Wants to do the project I think we can Make it happen so for this one again it Takes a lot of a lot of effort lot Logistics exactly it's not just a video Was months into making getting everybody To line up on this one week again it's Five parties we got the rejuvenator Production we got me Jake Brian and Julian our graphic designer five all Five parties have to have the same Schedule for those four five six days For this project that was part one Getting all the Materials understanding what everybody Needs to do and then coming down here We've already this is day three of the Process we're in the middle of making That Kobe project right now so if we Look tired yeah we were here till 4 in The morning And just try to make sure it's as Point As perfect as possible Mark Smith going To see the Sho we don't want to Disappoint but going back to the pattern Like it's intense like it's it was 40 Years in the making you know it wasn't
Done overnight in this like Design This Like Tribal Design there's is hidden Letters and things you'll see in there Did he do that by hand I think he may Have drawn it by hand and then digitized It like I've done for customers you so The Entourage Air Force One that's Another one of Mark Smith's you know Designs he did the turtles too yeah the Turtle the Fuki Jama yeah he he is the Original is so that shoe I've had uh I've had clients want and we're actually Working on for the same client so I have A client that we did did a Air Force One Entourage design on an air max one and All the lasering and and all the design From it We didn't incorporate anything from the Entourage he wanted all his families Yeah yeah it's do information in there Instead of it saying Entourage and Turtle and you know whatever like it was All his family's information on the shoe So all of that I had to hand draw in the Style of Mark Smith interesting on a pad So I'd make the pattern then I'd Handdraw everything filling the pattern And then come back with a a sharp nice Pin and and go over like as perfect as I Could erase all the pencil scan it Digitize it and then take it to a laser Engraver and have him laser engrave all That in and then build the shoe out of That I'd love to see that we have to
Send us some so we can put it in this Video I can find pictures of that you Know it's kind of cool to back it up About how the project came about and we Also didn't have a a front shot of the Shoe so we didn't know it was on the Tongue there's only two images online of The shoe KOB holding it and up close Shot of the back yes kind of at an angle And that's what I think when we're we First started this project Jake made a Good statement to describe the shoe in One word mythical yeah because there's Only been two pictures of that shoe and That's all we know about it there Kobe Holding it and then that one that's at An angle kind of closeup so we didn't Know it was on the tongue so I I kind of Got in Mark's ear and I'm like Hey do You remember what was on and he's done So many shoes for Mark I quiz him and Quiz quism he's like you know what that Was 20 years ago or 18 years ago I don't I don't fully remember yeah so one day I Get a text message from Mark and he's Holding a picture the only picture he Said he has of that shoe that he just Snapped after he was done with it that He had had developed yes and it was from The yeah yeah I'm sure it had a had a Stamp on the back of it but um it was From the front and we could see the Tongue and what was on it which led to Us being able to create and super unique
We would have never guessed the logo It's a it's a Crest it's like a shield Almost with the number eight on the Inside and a thunderbolt not exactly Sure what it means lightning bolt or a Thund yeah lightning bolt my bad I'm Just so stoked about the Shoe but I'm not exactly sure what it Means like what's the meaning behind the Light the lightning bolt the number Eight inside the shield you know if we Ask Marky probably say you know what Don't ask me it's 20 years ago I don't Remember but you know it means something Though so a lot of things had to come to Into play to make this happen and it's And it's still in the works you know We're still not fully there but you know It's it's cool project I kind of think It was a gift from Nike um because Obviously Kobe was close with MJ yeah I Think it was a gift when he signed with Nike because the full picture of him Holding that shoe most most online I Think it it's cut off it's cut off but You can see all kind of different 2K4 uh Kachis that they made for him even a Custom laser 2 for so 2003 was the year He signed with Nike yes cuz before that He was kind of agent agent that's when The laser Started so yeah he had some interesting Adidas Adidas and then during that year He had nobody so he was wearing Jordan's
Like Concords on the court and stuff Cool stuff and then he finally signed With Nike and all those other guys too Like Lundy and Desmond Tomi just Mark Smith yeah all these like That there was a whole like era of like Laser and engraving like artist they had The laser pack many people know about The laser pack the laser fours laser Fives Kobe must have been a big I know He was a big MJ fan of course there are Friends but you know um I'm originally From Northern California but we moved Down to Newport Beach and I would see Kobe quite often and every time I see Kobe I always want to ask him about that Shoe and he's if you ever met Kobe he Could be very in public he could be very Dodgy no I've never met Kobe but um you Know it was something that kind of Fueled that mythical pair of like man Wouldn't it be cool to build that you Know sh I mean obviously we' never pass It off as a real thing or anything it's It's obviously and as as you see the Project there's going to be a couple Tweaks to it that I think uh I think Everybody will enjoy seeing what's the Plan for the shoe is it the now holy Grail of everything like it's the top of The collection it better be it'll it'll Definitely be it'll I'll be looking at That shoe and realize the labor of love Part of it that all of us you know Vick
And and Jake they're customizers they Built shoes and work the shoes I'm not I'm just the collector So back you've been Hands-On on the Whole process my background I do laser Engraving for my business in the wine Industry so I do know about laser Engraving so that I hope I brought Something with that working with Julian We got a shout out Julian J he was here With us 3 in the morning without Julian It's probably not possible Julian we Need you need a special shot out and not Just that we're not just making the Patterns inserting the filigre we also Had to recreate a lot of the artwork That wasn't there this isn't the exact Shoe but this entire panel on the back Had to be recreated with an eightball The Nike uh back tab had to be recreated Obviously the tongue with the crest that We had to draw from scratch digitize it Put it on the exact spot where it goes Along with cutting the pattern down and Making it a low you know so Julian did All that man so again it's a it was a Lot of work yeah still not in the clear Labor love but you know some one of the One of the camera guys asked me Yesterday you g to wear it I don't know I might you better not you know what I I Might if if it's a speci it's a very Special event um maybe where this one First it's not even time yeah it's 11
Yeah yeah I don't know I might have to Cut the toe out yeah no no wear them Yeah just don't let Randy change the Soul on his no I'll kill you yeah we Heard we heard Randy wanted to swap the Soul on them no Randy that's our brother I'll just recreate you a pair and take Yours that's our brother you're a grown Man now man last time I saw you you're Just a a young Buck awesome well what else anything Else you guys want to chat about I mean We talked I mean dude we talked about Your custom stuff and your side of work But you also have a collection you know You do have a pretty big 85 collection That's the stuff that I like OG stuff You know I can relate to that kind of Stuff you basically have almost every 85 Colorway besides a few yeah two or three This is your chance Jake to ask for it Yeah yeah so missing um black uh toe I'm Missing the maroon metallic or burgundy Metallic and the orange metallic and Then the gry low yeah and and I only buy My size and that's a thing 12 to 13 and A2 that's a tougher size too right it's I like that 12 to 13 and a 12 isn't that A sneaker head right there well the Reason why I say that is cuz when I Started collecting my pairs I was much Thinner skinnier and I was size 12 and My foot's length didn't grow but the Width did so um not that I wear my ogs
All the time I have worn them in Different like commercial type settings But like I want to at least be able to If I want to you know and so yeah Finding a 12 or 13 In those sizes of the shoes that I'm I'm Missing or few and far between you Know yeah and I've helped other Collectors like again Rolo dunster nice He was missing maroon metallic he Completed his metallic pack he was Missing that that maroon that burgundy For a long time and then there was Uh there was a seller in China I can't Remember his name it was like donkey Toes or something weird like like that Your Yule feet or something weird like That like I can't remember exactly what It was something weird dark's foot That's what it was do y'all remember Darks foot no Randy do you remember Darks foot no he would he he was a Seller in China and he would just come Up with the most random stuff on Instagram and this is probably 20 2019 it was right before pandemic hit And he posted a a maroon metallic in Size nine for like 1,500 bucks damn That's It and I saw it DMD him like yeah you Want you can have it I was Like I I should have bought it but then The same time that completed this Collection that completed Ros I was like
You're going to hear from somebody named Rolo and then I shot it to Rolo he hit Him up immediately within five minutes It was paid for nice and Rolo completed His you know yeah I love your display Though that's why I bring it up just you Have them all right there lined up even That Royal pair with the white uh wings Logo incredibly rare um and you even got Them offer a great price before the hype Before the last Dan kind of dropped you Already kind of had all those the most I've paid for any shoe ever was $2,800 what shoe was that that was a Black Metallic and that was in like six Months of payments I paid for that yeah But yeah um all the other OG ones Weren't even remotely close to that I I Don't think I paid I think I paid $1,200 For my purple metallic yeah but nothing Else even close to that nothing even Over a thousand it's Sol an investment Yeah it was all early on buying you know That's key yeah after the Last Dance it Yeah I haven't bought up here since the Last dance but um but a lot of them you Know like black and red uh Chicago Royal UNCC um even the Kentucky the gray the Neutal natural or whatever ever Um all those pairs I've owned probably Five to 10 pairs of each of those and Would buy them upgrade it and just get Ones a little bit better they're all the Same 12 or 13 size but I would always
Buy one and then you know find another One and buy that and then sell the next One you can buy the next one sell that And you know just keep getting better Versions of them and over the years There's been LS yep sometimes it's like The popular thing and then start like Selling them off or whatever and then It'll come back I think what Steve Mentioned with the Last Dance it kind of Like reignited the oh yeah and it hasn't Gone down Since it's not going to yeah yeah more And more one thing I do want to touch on Though dude is your shoe the last time You were out here you brought in a Sample size N I tried it on it was Freaking sick how's that coming good um With this whole Instagram thing we might Be having to push things back I don't Know we'll we'll see but yeah we have Our own silhouette um our own shoe Droing it's going to be very similar to How mosh does his you know it's the same The same um factories and stuff are Behind it and it'll be a pre-sale kind Of a thing but uh we're calling it The Cutback and um you know that's to make a Long story short with that the Inspiration behind it is um I'm I've Always been obsessed with like surfing And water sports and you know Beach and Stuff like that and the cutback is a uh A maneuver in surfing where
Basically when you get ahead of yourself On the wave you do this like cutback This like S curve you know to bring you Back into the right position in the wave You know like reset yourself in the in The wave so yeah so on a wave basically You know you have like this sweet spot And if you get too ahead of yourself um You're not in the best part of the wave And this cutback you know maneuver Basically repositions you back into the Pocket or right in the curl is what they Call you know like the best part of the Wave and we kind of of you know Metaphorically are looking at this shoe You know to do that kind of same thing With with us you know we kind of want to Reposition ourselves in this market you Know and be able to you know this is Like the next phase of dening Co you Know is is our our own shoe and our own Production the goal is to have a drop Every month and then hopefully things Are are looking good to where um in April we do some really cool stuff where We're going to drop two um starting that Month uh so that's as long as things are You Know as long as they move smoothly and We're hoping they will but you know this Whole losing an Instagram account has Definitely thrown a damper into that but You know that's this is fresh any plans For in all white sneaker for me to
Customize yeah do that we can do that I Don't want to directly copy what mosh Did where he like made a canvas but you Know when can I expect my sample pair Jake whenever I get mine cuz I'm having Them all made N9 and a half you know you Know sample sizes right now so I'll we Will start you know the like um seating Phase here um supposedly the first Colorway that we're dropping that sample Has been shipped to us so hopefully it's You know next week when I get home Hopefully that'll be there and long as It's good then we're going to start Creating content with it and we'll start The seating phases so we'll be Contacting friends and family and stuff You know to seed to and you know some People I've worked with who we we'll get Them to hopefully help promote stuff Like that so it's a whole new whole new Process that I've never done and don't Know what to do and well if there's any Anything we can do to help come close to Launch please let us know I say this the Shoe is unique it's nice it's a good Yeah we were going over right before This podcast not a dunk it's a good Looking shoe you know what I'm saying It's a good shoe it's comfortable it Looks comfy super comfy yeah it's Completely Like it's it's a it's a off the Dome Design it's
Nothing Fraudulent you know it's it's just Completely you know out of our out of Our head our own design and there's a Lot of thought put into it over two Years of sampling you know we've done Two years of sampling on this shoe would You say to get it perfect so you say the Surfing side of things was a big inspo For the overall shoe cuz you touched on A lot of that right now you know in in My like design like method you Know I never i' never revert back to Fashion sneakers you know Footwear Sports really in anything that I do with The design I try to attack it from other Things that I've been influenced by over The years heavily with like cars sneaker Design like people like you know Jesse James and Chip fous and you know all These like hot rod builders and then Like surfing and you know um even like Just Beach you know and like nature more Inspiring than the actual like sneakers And stuff like that Crea it's a Different approach and hopefully will Bring a different you know um aesthetic To everything so you pull inspo from Other joys in your life yeah that's cool I don't know if we got time or we might But I mean the story you told us about How you got with LeBron was pretty Amazing um I don't know if you can do a Condensed version or if you want to kind
Of describe that and how you got to you Know start working with LeBron yeah so Again I'd never at that point done any Kind of celebrity or athlete uh shoe Y And um I had somebody contact me from Miami uh and this is when when LeBron Was uh in Miami and this person wanted To do a custom shoe and we end up you Know talking on email um a little bit And then lost contact and I hit him back And uh asked if he still wanted to do it He was like not interested in doing the Custom shoe but he said that he would be In in San Antonio whenever the heater Playing Spurs in the playoffs so and he Asked me to pick him up to the airport It's interesting yeah yeah I have no Idea who this person is I have no clue And You know I'm a year into going full-time And so this is pre- Instagram uh this is Like maybe six eight months in Instagram Okay very early like and Instagram was Probably a thing for a year year and a Half but I at that point was Android I Don't if you remember but Apple got it And then Android got it like eight Months later gotcha so like I was still New into it Y at that point and I have Changed Apple just to put up okay good Smart smart man yeah but uh yeah so he Had hit me up wanted to do shoes and hit Him back he didn't want to then he was Said that he was going to be traveling
Here and he asked if I could pick him up From the Airport at that time I was driving this Like piece of [ __ ] Kia it would just Shut down randomly you be going 70 miles Hour on a highway and the whole damn Thing would just shut off you'd have to Like power steering was off brakes are Off you just have to crank it and come To a rolling stop luckily have the break To do that but like it would just you Know it was horrible and I still agreed To pick him up and they end up losing His bags so I ended up taking him around San Antonio taking him out to eat and Just showing them a good time until they They called and said his bags ready just Some random guy too random dude don't Even know comes he's like 28-year-old Cuban dude okay and he's like super cool Guy you know super he was awesome um but Like as we're hanging out together he's Like saying that he's he's a Yacht Broker in Miami and He's among other people LeBron's God Broker and So I thought that was wild and we end up Going finally his back's got ready we go To the hotel you know I end up like Calling a buddy and like parking you Know like in the it was dark by this Time when I like Park I call my buddy JD I'm like y like this dude's like Connected with the heat like he's
Traveling with them like said he's going Out did you think he was full of [ __ ] at Any moment in time I'd never met anybody Like that before so I didn't know you Know like I'm like so I kind of parked And I just wanted to like see because he Said he was going to going out to eat With LeBron and a couple other guys so I Parked and sure enough like I see LeBron D way a couple of Ray Allen Mike Miller And him and a couple other people they Get in like a short bus and sure enough They go to Majanos and and eat and then I uh I pull out behind them to go home and We're up in the Hill Country in San Antonio and my I'm behind him going down A hill and my brakes just go completely Out the car's still running but the Brakes my pedal goes all the way to the Floor oh boy and I'm right behind this Bu like LeBron R and Dade going downhill they're at a stop Sign can you imagine yeah and they go Pulling away right as I come rolling up Oh and like I pull the e bra to come to The St my breath is cold I'm like Freaking out drive all the way home like That and and pulling the E bra to come To a stop everywhere I need to come Imagine being the guy that gave LeBron James Whiplash so I I the whole team We but uh I get home and uh later on he
He calls and he's at maos and he's like Hey bro I'm showing LeBron your your Instagram you know he likes your [ __ ] He's like uh I can hear LeBron say tell Him I want a customer max90 yeah and I'm Like yeah tell him [ __ ] we can do that Yeah hell yeah stoked and he's like then I hear LeBron say uh tell him that when He beats tell him that when we beat the Spurs I want to custom Lebron 10 to Commemorate my second Championship and I kind of was set back By that a little bit I was like well Tell LeBron that I'm a Spurs fan Man and that if that happens that it's That he needs to Send me a shoe and like if we if he wins It's on me yeah you know and I'll do the Shoe he but he has it's in the issue if The Spurs win he's he's buying a Customer friendly bet and I hear him say Bet yeah and So uh so yeah fast forward they end up Winning yeah of course and uh So didn't didn't he ask you for a barber Too yeah yeah so uh the next day I woke Up got my brakes fixed and then later in The day uh he calls and he's like do you Know a barber and I knew a barber and um I had to convince him to come out to the Hotel the next morning like early in the Morning and he had no idea who we were Cutting you know I didn't either and I Just told him I was like it's going to
Be worthwhile you know like I don't know Yeah yeah no no expectations but it Could be could be a good move and the First person that we we end up going to His hotel room the first person was Joan Howard and he peels off 250 bucks y for Him and then the next person we go in is Your boy looking at you like yeah yeah And the next room we go into is uh Randy Mims who's uh one of the four horsemen With LeBron he's um manages his dayto Day y And we walk into his his hotel he's in The shower and whole place is like Steamed up he's got beats blaring There's incense going and stuff and we Get in there and we chill and he comes Out of the shower and daps us all up and Sits down and he starts cutting his hair And he peels him off like two 250 Something like that and then he calls Norris Cole and yodanis hasle he's like Hey I got the barber uses my hotel so Then they both come by and he trims Yonis hm ha trims noris Cole's flat top And uh and you're just hanging I'm just Hanging talking and he peels $250 off Each of those guys dude and like so many Stories were told we were in there for Probably four hours you know something Like that like most of the day and then What a cool experience it was a great Experience so the moral the moral of the Story is in San Antonio Jake's a limo
Driver yeah he's a shoe customizer and He also can provide a barber for you so Yeah and we end oneop shop afterward we Ended up he was like I got to run some Errands now he's like you're from here Right and I was like yeah he was like All right you're driving the Escalade so He calls down has a black Escalade pull Up and we end up going to the mall he Wanted to get his his otomar watch Sonic Cleaned Y and he and LeBron's family was Coming into town and he wanted to buy Groceries and he wanted to go to Freddy's Frozen Custard and get a a Steak burger because he had Saw the Sign Coming in yeah and um so we did all of That we go to buy the groceries and he Sends me to go get a cake it's brony's Birthday so I go get a cake how old what What year 2013 okay so he's so 10 years 10 10 yeah something like that okay so He's a kid yeah I literally get a Birthday cake and little Hispanic lady Behind the counter he like what name Yeah yeah br You Know can you imagine yeah so sick and uh And we end up taking all that to LeBron's room and or the room where a Lot of his family there was multiple and He's out playing golf with this time so To the day I've never met him oh wow Yeah but I still am in touch with Randy And and a lot of his you know a lot of
His crew Tristan Thompson and uh Rich Paul all the guys he runs with like it's It's a good thing he said yet to picking Him up at the airport of course cuz then You know we he won and they delivered The shoes Randy hit me up I need your Address we're going to send these shoes To you yeah so they sent the shoes and Then we customized them and you did Other players I'm sure that we did yeah We did dwes we did in fact we did shoot We did a couple pairs for dwade where he Was supposed to uh wear him in All-Star Game but he had hurt his knee and ended Up not wearing him but then he ended up Wearing him at like some banking event Or something anyway but like yeah that That just caused the whole domino effect Yeah awesome but he ended Up um I delivered the shoes to Randy and Then Randy ended up calling me the day He dropped him off at LeBron's house and He was like he called and was like hey Um dropped off the shoes at at at Bron's House he came out like rubbing his eyes Like it you know just woke up he was in His underwear and he put the box down on The countertop with my business card he Was like we'll see what happens yeah I Was like all right cool that night I'm At the house or my apartment and I have A bunch of people over watching kids Movie kids we're watching kids my Phone's in the in the on the charger in
The bedroom and it just starts little Movie it just starts Going and I'm like what the [ __ ] is Going on here yeah and then the phone Starts ringing and ringing and ringing And before you know it uh my buddy Shabby in Virginia uh decade Footwear uh He calls and he's like bro LeBron posted You on Instagram shouted you out never Tagged you posted the pictures of the Shoes I'm like what I go to it like I Probably had like 500 followers at that Time you literally refreshing keep going Up what did it jump to at the end of a Few days or whatever it was you know Went up to like 25 200 or something like That okay like at that he's got like 80 Million followers now but like or 100 Million maybe no different 10 years ago 10 years ago he had maybe a million yeah Which is still crazy think you know but Like totally different than now but um But yeah and then uh again like I said I Kept in touch with those guys but later A couple months later at Summer um is Media day and and on media Day the media day is literally for like There's NBA media day and all media Outlets have people at all the Arenas and so it's like all media Outlets like they clear out you know a Huge space I think they do like five Teams a day or something like that it's Like a whole week and
Like they literally cover all the Players their their new jerseys or Whatever they talk about you know their Training they summer they talk recap the Year before like it's this huge day that They call Media day and it's like the Most coverage like in one like it's Every media Outlet you can imagine all Over the world is in the house and I got A call from Randy that morning of media Day saying that he had dropped he had Picked up and dropped off LeBron at the Arena and wearing your Customs he had Him in his hand oh wow he's like I can't Guarantee you that he's going to wear Them he's supposed to unveil the LeBron 11 every year LeBron would unveil the Newest model on media day and like that Would be the first time that he'd wor Wear him and he was supposed to unveil The LeBron 11 which we know LeBron 11 Was kind of I like the LeBron LeBron 11 I like them a lot only only a lot I like It and I don't think LeBron did either I'm just putting that he didn't like him Yeah because that whole year he ended up Wearing a 10 that whole year and there Was like a picture of him in the beach And he was wearing his foot was out and Like it showed his toes oh yeah like LeBron 11 yeah so he was supposed to Unveil the LeBron 11 but he didn't he Wore my custom wow day and then that Just blew up like crazy and then I
Remember being on a treadmill one day And looking at Instagram and like a DM Pops up from somebody at Sports Illustrated with like a a cover photo From from Sports Illustrated Kids it was Like going to release the next month he Goes thought I'd send you this congrats Or whatever and it was LeBron wearing my Shoes wow on the cover of Sports Illustrated Kids [ __ ] that's huge wild Moral of the story is be a cool [ __ ] like like be open To you never know who like and that's Where I say I have no Like quarrels with like sending a DM to Somebody or talking with people because You never know who you're going to be And who they're going to know and all That like my whole career has been based Off of Doing that kind of thing because of you It's just being open to to talking to People and like hearing what other People have to say or whatever you know And like not ignoring people and taking Risks like I didn't know who the [ __ ] That guy was yeah that's crazy because I Probably would have been like who's this Weirdo there's no way I'm picking you up Dude I figure you know what I'm a big Dude you know yeah what's crazy is the Next year Miami played San Antonio again And and so it's like same scenario he Hits me up yeah you to do this again
This year yeah hell yeah hell yeah let's Do it where are the tickets I'm in the Same stupid [ __ ] Kia really still Kia Still and did he say man we got to get You a new [ __ ] yeah we talked about It we talked about it and and I pick him Up from the airport and then he's with That dude that dude gets gets in the car Another Cuban guy he gets in the car and He's on the phone he gets in the back Seat and he he talking loud on the phone We're pulling away and dapping him up We're here good to meet you you know Whatever and he's like yeah bro Chief [ __ ] Queen Latifa wants a chief Grill In her [ __ ] house get her Chief Grill Bro he hangs up he's like these [ __ ] Contractors like he's like all pissed Off I'm like God damn never had a Conversation like that before yeah you Know and turns out he uh he owns a Body And Soul Gym in Miami he owns like all Kinds of he's now he turn to find out He's his wife is like part owner with With Fel in BBC gotcha and um and They're riding in the back of your piece Of [ __ ] yeah so that's how we ended up Doing shoes for farel you know that's Awesome and like we've done shoes for Him for his gym for his other business And I think he's like part owner of um Of with the hotel with him and what's S's name the king of Miami grman you
Know grutman yeah so it's like that Whole connection like is just like yeah It's awesome dude but yeah I know last Time you were out here we were talking About you know the the list of athletes And you know Stars it's crazy yeah it's So crazy yeah I can't even blessed and It's all because of that one interaction Yeah yeah putting out good work and Being consistent over Yep all right so before we wrap this up This uh podcast was sponsored by can do And for those of you that don't know can Do is a a brand that uh um is all about Really your can do moment So how can I explain this my can do Moment is after I got arrested for Selling marijuana and doing whatever I Was doing I started rejuvenator and I Really just had enough um What's the best way to explain it guts And and just drive to just go all in and Just go for it and that is my can do Moment changing my life and and going on A New Path so I'll start with you Brian What would you say do you have a can do Moment in your life that really changed The course of your life or just a really You know something that you're really Proud of that you overcame something or Really challenged Yourself wow they didn't prepare us for This just so everyone knows it's kind of A A Rush of things I
Think I think something I'm most proud Of and I think it's the can do moment That's lasted nearly 32 years now is Marrying my wife Andrea we got married Very young we were married at 20 years Old okay and this November we have our 30th wedding anniversary congratulations Man thank you thank you yeah And she's a beautiful woman best friend We work together or were together 99% of The time wow in fact she's back at the Hotel right now I know she's dying Because we're not together but Um marrying her and Then we live in a throwaway Society Where people throw away things including Marriages of course and being married at 20 lots of we look back and we think we Had no business getting married that Young yeah but the fact that we've made It work and we're happy the whole time We're happy we've had challenges you Know everybody does in relationships but We're just happy so when I think of a Can do moment I think that's the can do Moment that's lasted that's good nearly 30 years and that's accomplishment that I'm really proud of especially in the Society and the world that we live in Yeah no I agree that's a great that's a Great one Andrea Andrea she's a gem how' you guys meet uh We walked to my brother's wedding Together so she was a bridesmaid yes and
I was my my brother's that's cool so Yeah it was um that's first time you met Her huh I had known of her before yeah I Known her before but um that's probably Were you excited knowing that you were Going to be like paired up with her walk Did you tell your brother like we were Already kind of interested in each other A little bit you know I I think you know She was chasing me of course back then Back then's listening to this back then I was I was a little more handsome back Then but uh you know hilarious it uh no I'm I'm kidding you but yeah I think you Know we kind of liked each other already That's cool so they they they played Matchmaker on that one a little bit yeah Yeah unfortunately it lasted so I would Say that's my can do moment that's a Great yeah that's a great one it's also Keto friendly like like the bars here That's right So you C do moment uh eight years ago Doing my first video here at rejuvenator At Fran um that was a big moment man uh Never been in front of the camera it was During a time where I was ready to move On from sneakers cuz I was just so Overated from being in my room and stuff Just locked in by myself no team so when You know Fran and rejuvenator knocked on The door you know that was a cool moment Because they offered me an office office Space alone being with other people in a
Building that was a cool I think I Thought that was cool and then that day Though when it was time to start filming My very first video thought I had it and Then the lights go on and fr's like Three two one [ __ ] I freeze dude I Freeze and you guys could go back and Watch that first video it's like the Most awkward thing ever never done that Friend over here laughing by the way I Will tell you that I was in the office Right next door and I would hear him try To get it out like take after take after Just one more time one more time nothing Changed by the way I'll get out the Fifth try now before the 20th try oh Yeah he's gotten so much better and I Still suck on camera but back then dude It was rough but that first that whole First year 2016 dude I hated getting in Front of the camera like I like doing The work I like the outcome of the Videos are like what came from it but so You're much more comfortable in 100% you Know I still suck he had some nice Bloopers on our project that our Production so oh yeah but that's Definitely my biggest candy moment Everything changed from there um I love What I do today you know if I didn't do What I did eight years ago uh we Wouldn't be here today working this Project there's there's more can do Moment so what about you I was going to
Say y'all should definitely do a blooper Reel and just like a whole video I've Been telling Fran that for that we have Done some blooper reels but yes there's Lots I think it's like a a soul episode That's just like maybe not a full Episode but like 10 minutes yeah eight Minutes there there's plenty bloopers Not just from him but from of everybody Yeah yeah yeah oh I'm I got mine fomb From me had a few the other day oh yeah Yeah it's funny cuz when the when the Camera is off and we're like you know Practicing it's all smooth all smooth And all comes out and he goes all right Rolling we're like like forget Everything different we forget Everything that we were talking about um So my C do so like I guess you're in the In the sense of Like it can be anything just something That you're proud of that either you've Overcome or that's the way I look at it It's like the like doing something that Did not think I'd be able to do yes 100% So for Me have you ever heard of Angel's Landing I've heard the name yeah Utah Yep Angel's Landing is it's like a Four-wheel drive no it's a like four Fingers rock climb okay got you got you Yeah and in 2017 or so um I went to Utah With a couple friends and we went to Zion and they were like we're going to
Do this hike tomorrow morning y y y they Didn't tell me what it was okay they Knew yeah they knew that if I knew I'd Probably check it out yeah you know um So they didn't tell me what it was so The next morning we get Up they Are like dressed for battle okay you Know like they got the sticks they got Backpacks they're Pros they're Pros These two buddy buddies they know what They're doing they they go around doing That all the time you're wearing Flipflops I'm wearing luck luckily I'm In Hocus okay yeah yeah they're not like Trail hocus but I'm in some hocas and I Have one bottle of water and my phone And that was it okay they didn't one Bottle of water they didn't yeah they Didn't okay and but they brought with Them extra poles a ton of water okay Completely Knowing awesome and we get started on This hike and it's So if you don't know what Angel's Landing is Google it there's probably a Death count you know here already like People die on this hike okay every year It's how long into it before you're like What the [ __ ] are we doing about a Eighth of the way okay about an eighth Of the way I'm on the side of a mountain With this Trail it's a walking trail Yeah but it's dug in to the side of the
Mountain and it just like kind of Scissors up this mountain and I'm just And I they I'm thinking this top of Where we're at is Another 100 yards above us I'm thinking That's going to be it so I'm like all Right I'll just keep going and then we Get it to the top of that and they're Like okay now this section is called the Refrigerator okay and I'm like okay so Another and every every time I get tired To I'm like I can't go any further I Cannot [ __ ] go any further and mind You I was in the same shape I am now Okay so like 350 pounds overweight yeah Yeah and like not supposed to be doing This and we're the first people going up In the Morning so I don't see anybody else like It's just us yeah you know and it's it's Cool though and it's Sun up coming and Every it's crazy and every time I get Tired which is like at that point it was Like every 20 minutes I was so winded I Couldn't go anymore more we stop we sit We chill we have a drink you know They're like yeah just take your time Drink whatever and then we get going Again and those polls like Lifesavers They're Lifesavers it seems weird to say But when you're going up they're your First point of contact yeah you stick Them in and pull you up going down you Extend them they're your first thing
Going it's mindboggling how much they Helped but like long story short we end Up going about halfway is when you start Actually physically with chains climbing You know Like bouldering climbing rock you know Till you get to the plateau and you can Finally stand yeah and you're just over Seeing everything and you realize you Know what you've done this was three Hours or whatever of hiking to get up There and You did the whole thing all the did the Whole thing okay and then you realize You got to go Down you know which is way scarier Because you know what you just climbed Up y you know falling down parachute Please it was the craziest thing anyway Now going down now you're seeing all the People that are coming up okay it's Light out now the day is going on and There's people going up there All all ethnicities all kinds of people Male female whatever all kinds of people Coming up but the entire way down and You're passing people yeah on these like And you're climbing backwards down you Know and like all this I guarantee not One person with within 150 lounds yeah Look not even one yeah like every there Was nobody your size even doing that you Know like it was so one of the coolest Things you've ever done it was like at
The top like I get I I got emotional Yeah I'm sure when I got to the bottom Is where like I went to my knees like And looking back and going like and then Then I get to back to the campground and I'm looking up the information and They're like 18 people died this year on This hike and [ __ ] like that I'm like Thanks a lot yeah oh my God you know and Then I'm thankful for my friends Cuz I would have never thought to do it Like and now I tell everybody if you get A chance do it awes it's the most Gratifying like um accomplishing yeah Because you probably would have thought There's no way I can do that there's no Way my fat ass Community there's no [ __ ] way yeah and you did it and as Long as you have patience to just pause Yeah regain yourself don't look at it as A big picture Look at it as small battles I mean That's life that's life and like that That yeah it helps yeah life lessons by Jake that's awesome man that was Definitely the biggest thing cool yeah 100% recommend okay yeah yeah let's go Camel Back I don't know if I would do it again In the weight that I'm in yeah but Because especially that's already been Another six seven years I've gotten old Yeah but like if if I can get my weight Down you want to go let's get your
Weight down let's [ __ ] go yeah let's Go Pinnac what we need to do and this will Help you we need to set a date and hey In one year or whatever year and a half We're going to do that and you need to Be [ __ ] ready yeah set a goal yeah We'll talk after this okay yeah would You do it 100% yeah F will do it F's Down did that three mile run uh remember That mud Run so now just do it up yeah it is yeah Jake I'll go if you take me on your back Yeah yeah that'll be that'll be the Challenge like a donkey yeah that'll be Fun that be an experience well I think Let's wrap this up because I know that We got to get back to making this so People and we were going to go to the Lake Sunday so you guys get a you know We're going to go wake surfing so we got To get this [ __ ] going so I mean if you Have anything last minute words anything You guys want to say So I love being part of this project It's super cool I've never done anything Like it before I want to thank these two Guys dick and Jake because they're the They're the guys putting the shoe Together and kind of spearheading the Whole thing and also Julian the graphic Designer we couldn't have did it without Him um also Steve and her shoe I'm not Doing anything don't don't thank me
We're using your your facility your Lasers all your your staff and brought Us all together this is all them trust Me I had nothing to do with this project At all and also all the production Behind the SC I've never been part of This so to see all this going on to me Is like kind of ey opening so I think All the all the production staff and Everybody helping with that and Um also my wife for sacrificing me being Away I I must admit your wife is down Because she's you've been here like 14 Hours a day or more and she's kind of on Her own doing her own thing so for sure I want to thank her and then last but Not least I know I said it the on the Set thank you to Mark Smith because Without his support and his Blessing This wouldn't happen um I hope we make Him somewhat proud yeah obviously we're Probably not going to be like him the Master but we can try to get as as best As we can so um I just thankful for all Of you here yeah thank you I I I I Follow the same sentiment dude I'm Excited yeah it's an honor to have you Brian Jake the rest of the team here for This project it's a big one first time Sitting in this uh really cool creative Space unique project never been done Before it's awesome dude it's a blessing Yep well let's do it let's finish it up Peace
