so posting on Instagram got you a call with Kanye West so like the same like aesthetic of this shoe but I'm G to try to make like a slide version of it oh yeah of course like thing I'm making is in 3D let's design it in 3D you need to see this these are sick what's the wildest sneaker design you've ever thought of from South bin to Evansville and everywhere in between this is get in the show focused on the hooer state and the incredible stories happening here today I'm Nate spangle founder of G Indiana and I will be your host for today's conversation before we get into the episode I have a question for you did you know that Indiana has been a hub for sports Innovation for over a century starting with the Indianapolis Motor Speedway where Pioneers tested game-changing Tech like seat belts and anti-lock brakes that Forward Thinking spirit is still in overdrive today and sports Tech HQ is at the center of it they're on a mission to scout the most groundbreaking Sports Tech that is shaping the future of sports and to bring those innovators right here to Indiana guess what it's working Sports sck HQ already has 38 companies in its Collective that call Indiana home with six relocating from around the world in just the past year home to a world-class Sports infrastructure Indiana provides the perfect foundation for entrepreneurs to advance innovations that can change the game for fans athletes and teams Sports Tech HQ is the leading Global Hub for an industry that has projected to reach 100 billion by 2030 discover how these companies are driving the future of sports through Indiana's robust ecosystem of Partners at sq.
org now let's get into the show today I'm joined by Joey cus founder and Footwear designer of C Studio based here in Indianapolis now he uses an Innovative approach to design using virtual reality 3D modeling and has spent years as a footwear designer working for Brands and artists such as Kanye West meta and Reebok where he designed the cardi B classic leather today we're going to be talking about Joey's journey into design uh the future of Footwear and what he's seeing uh in that space and K Studio here in Indianapolis Joey welcome to get in hey thanks for having me appreciate it dude I'm I am pumped I think I first saw your Instagram uh maybe four or five months ago and I was like just looking at these shoes and I was like these things are crazy for people that are watching on YouTube you can kind of see the shoe that we're talking about here they're super unique like there's not laces and and they're very modern I would say you know if you're I mean obviously we kind of hint to it in the intro you've done some work with Kanye West it's like it's like the Yeezy on futuristic planet Mars right like uh I love it so before we get into the actual like nuts and bolts of design and shoes I want to talk about how you ended up as a designer in the foot from Lawrence North High School here in Indianapolis and to grow a brand in the space still living here yeah so I got into design because well I was always like doing you know every art class possible in high school and you know Middle School all that kind of stuff always drawing in like my free time all that kind of stuff was kind of just like natural to me and then so I I went into uh School uh into college went to Purdue and was decided between like engineering and and Industrial design I ended up going the industrial design route so industrial design is basically just product design designing anything you see like people that design the furniture the microphone here you know Footwear all that kind of stuff so there's like a million different ways you can go within design so the way I got into Footwear design specifically was through these like online shoe design contests that were hosted by the pencil Footwear Design Academy which at the time was just a small like School based on Portland what year is this I started college in 2013 and then graduated in 18 so it was probably around 16 or 17 when I started getting into this you start doing these Footwear design contests yeah while you're studying industrial design at Purdue right like when I think of design and Purdue I think of like AutoCAD like that kind of thing yeah yeah I was very separated from like the engineering school of Purdue there was definitely a lot of the AutoCAD stuff like the 3D modeling stuff I didn't pick it up as easily as the stuff I do now which we'll get into but uh yeah so there was like a really small design Department within Purdue it's like 16 people per class like they just make the cuts every there's if there's 40 people in the class by sophomore year there's 16 every time so they just you got to do like portfolio Cuts so that was like the type of environment that I was working in and what were you winning from was it the pencil Academy yeah pencil like P so e they're now like a whole like college based in Detroit for footware design and a lot of things in the sportsware industry kind of related that's pretty cool but yeah so we I mean it was just like submitting sketches of like shoes and like the It was kind of like a March Madness bracket style like they' picked 64 and then every week or so they you'd have to use like social media promote your design to try to win and people would vote until like there's one left and then they would make that shoe and the whole it was like a prize money thing and it would help go to like developing it and selling like a limited run with like Foot Locker so it's I never won though never what was the furthest you got I so the first year I made it to this round of 64 and then lost second year I made to the round of 32 then lost and then I made it to the Sweet 16 and then I lost oh that's still pretty cool though but then I got like real jobs and stuff in Flor design so it didn't I didn't need to do that anymore is a lot of it college kids or there're like like adult not adult but like grown up like full-time designers that you're competing against I think there was some like limits of if you already working at like a you know Reebok or Nike or whatever they kind of just didn't let you do it but it was it was geared toward people trying to get into the industry but there was a wide range of Ages because there were some people that were you know maybe 10 years into a career and they were like oh shoe Design's a thing I want to try this or just doing the contest for fun too okay so you graduate from Purdue and I feel like you were did you already know you wanted to get into Footwear design no I I mean I was kind of sort of interested in I was not like I'm not like a sneaker head I didn't collect shoes or anything like that you know if I was picking out new basketball shoes for the year or whatever that was kind of like always fun to to choose and then I ran a lot in high school track like track and field so I was always paying attention to like Footwear in that way you know just seeing like at the time like Adidas started doing it was kind of stuff that branched off the Yeezy stuff like the it was the tubular design aesthetic that they were doing at the time that was what kind of was like something that was like interesting and new to me that got me into Footwear and then realizing that it was Footwear design is like just another category of product that can be designed and it kind of those things ideas just kind of merg together so you graduate from Purdue what was your first job intern at Columbia sportsware that was out in Portland which was the goal was to get to Portland because that's where Nike well Nike's in Beaverton and so I was like living like Mile North of like their campus which is where Columbia also is so I was like I was an intern there I was there working for like 3 months Columbia is pretty cool yeah like what were you as an intern there what are you working on so I was a design intern but I was within like The Innovation team so I was like in this smaller group within the the design team they were doing a lot of experimental stuff like trying like developing new materials or like testing out new you know rubber compounds and filament or uh not filaments but like just Arrangements of tread patterns for like you know they had really cool like machines that you could test on they had like a ramp that had like all weather conditions that could test it with like ice or water and they would test it was like a you know incline tread mode it's where they like test a lot of like grip strength and all that stuff for tread and grip and all that stuff for Footwear so it was like a lot of just like testing days I was working on like my own it was kind of like a student project type thing whereas like it wasn't really a real brief but it was just like a project that I was working on throughout the course of the internship and like but working with the real Innovation team to get their feedback and like kind of guide me to how I can could actually bring the shoe to life if we were to do it and then at the end it was a three-month internship I think I just asked to like extend it and they did so I think it ended up being like four or five months but yeah basically and and after your time at Colombia then where did you end up at so then there was kind of a break period and then I did a so I did I actually got into a the pencil class that they did they like partnered with New Balance so they did like a master it's like a 3-we master class or two weeks I forget but actually went out to Boston um and went to their headquarters and basically just lived there for like 3 weeks and work on like just like a project pitching it to their team so I did that between between columia and then Reebok and so right after that was when I started at Reebok as an apprentice which was basically a year-long internship are you getting paid for that yeah yeah that's nice not great but where where's rebok headquartered at they're also in Boston they're like right in well so yeah New Balance they do have one in in Boston but they also their like main footwear headquarters is like in Lawrence Massachusetts just a little bit north but yeah Reebok's like right in like the seport area Boston nice okay so you're there for a year doing an apprenticeship what does the day of an apprentice at Reebok look like it just changed like all the time because sometimes there was lots of like things you had to just help on like just doing helping like more senior designers doing you know colorways or helping them make Tech packs which is all the you know the technical drawings that of the designs that get handed off to like the factory anything from and then just doing a lot of like self-motivated projects which I did a ton of those which just like ideas that I had like oh like what if rebok did this and I just kind of like sketch stuff make you know mock projects and just put them up on a wall see if people were you know interested in them yeah who was the guy or girl that designed the reig who designed the rezig i' would love to know oh man sometimes you don't know who like unless you ask them you don't like there's some people have like portfolios this big of stuff they did at at Reebok and I didn't even know they did it so I probably shouldn't know that but like there was a lot of I feel like that's the one of the most iconic Innovations kind of in Footwear for Reebok right was like they put up those reigs and had John Wall and the whole like right was that the I think that's oo was big on that I think at the time but yeah I yeah so they they rebr back the zig when I was there actually it was like a whole different like Department of the design and so I was working on that team actually so I did do some like Zig you know colorways and like materi new material ways and stuff and I was working on you know like so like this one guy Mark bro who was like my one of my mentors I like basically had like two or three mentors at rebok it was it was a really good team but Mark bro and then Michael H and Brian renella and Zack Andrews were on that team of Zig and then so they developed a lot of the newer Zig models that are like out now the more modern like the the the souls and all that kind of stuff the the zig that you probably are familiar from like a while back like you know like very very it plays off of that but it's like a more modern a little bit more like updated take on it yeah yeah so you do that for a year and when did like your first what you feel as your first big break come in the industry I mean that kind of felt like it getting the apprenticeship for sure rebok but then after that year was over during the like heavy like lockdown of 2020 was when I I secured that the full-time position after that so I continued on on a different team but still at Reebok from where you are now right where you're kind of running your own Design Studio like you're an employee of Reebok you're still like low man on the totem pole at this point you know so did you are you still living out in Boston or did lockdown happened you come back here so yeah lockdown happened it was an apprentice so I was like my lease was up who knows I'm getting a job after this apprenticeship there's only like 6 months left or whatever so I just went back came back to Indie and then once I secured that the full time it was still maybe six or so months and then I went back to Boston and then that okay this is where like the real I guess like more big break was was when I got a call from Kanye and he asked me to help design for him and that's when I that was around the time I left Reebok and then I also just came back here because I be in Boston sir we're going to have to pause like you're just like you're your first fulltime real full-time job you were just an apprentice and like you just look down and it says like Kanye West so there was the year Apprentice at rebok and then I worked there for like almost another two full years like maybe a year off so is this like 2022 maybe yeah probably 22 I remember it toward the end of 21 probably going into 22 yeah okay yeah so you're working there full-time but you're still doing some side stuff or no no working all all in on reback but I'm posting like I'm that's when I got into VR and I was posting like Concepts to Instagram and that's what was like getting a lot of attention were you getting were you gaining followers on Instagram lot yeah it was that's when it was like really what were like the early posts that were getting traction on IG it was a lot of videos that kind of similar stuff I have now but it was just like me in just in my apartment with the VR headset and it was kind of like these overlaid videos so like i' would basically be showing you like what I'm seeing in VR but overlaid in front of me so it looks like it's floating in space in front of me but that's actually what it would look like to me in there so I was it was a lot of those types of videos and just doing really really conceptual stuff that wasn't like real so that it wouldn't like accidentally conflict with the work you know I was doing at work and they were cool with that yeah I mean it was fine as long as it was like completely unrelated it never really was an issue yeah that's good so you're doing that and like what give me a rough gauge for like viewership or followers at that point I had like 5,000 followers I had built it up over you know three or four years at that point just because of those from those contests of like starting to post sketches all the time so it was like 5,000 and then like hyp beast and a few other like similar type like accounts on Instagram had reposted the videos then it like doubled and it was like going like to 10,000 plus followers at the time and that's when like the videos were your followers are actually seeing your post yeah right but that's still pre-s and like right like reals have like crushed for engagement and like Discovery and stuff so you're you're posting you're gaining some traction people love your like uh abstract conceptual designs you're you're with the VR headset and then Kanye calls like like does he DM you how does that work so yeah it was like I got reached out to by like a one of his managers I thought it was just like not real or like one of my friends like pranking me cuz like yeah kany is going to call me cuz I figured you know if I'm going to get a CU I was applying for jobs at like you know Yeezy to work at Adidas because that you know Yeezy and Adidas were together and like so I was applying for like just the if I if I thought you wanted to leave Reebok or just because like it was a better opportunity I mean that was just like always the the goal at that time was to like work on the Yeezy team I so I basically I figured this process would be if someone's going to reach out to me it's going to be like some you know recruiter at Adidas corporate that's reaching out to me so it's some guy on Instagram messaging me who A manager was like Hey I can I give your number to him I was like yeah who's him thinking some recruited Adidas is like Kanye I'm like oh yeah sure yeah give it oh yeah and yeah Nigerian prince is gonna call you and ask for $10,000 yeah so then he like he'll call you tomorrow just if you know a call from blank blank number like just answer it and I was like okay and then next day I'm just sitting at work I'm kind of like that was weird like H whatever just doing work at whatever and then I see the call from like that number I'm like just close the computer go to like a you know leave the room and just like took the call does like your heart Dr a little bit yeah I mean I was like yeah it was weirdly like chill like cool on the call but I was just but in my head in my head the back of my head I'm like what what's going on is this real who who's pulling the prank like some like AI generated voice just like pranking like what is going on it's the opening line like he says hey is this Joey yeah he's just like he's like it's Joey I was like yeah he's like what's up it's yay and I'm like oh hey and then yeah he's like we talked about some design stuff footware stuff like what he wants to see he liked my work he saw my videos I guess like my Instagram videos made it to like their Studio somehow and he saw it and that's what got him to reach out to me so yeah so posting on Instagram got you a call with Kanye West and then let you work on Yeezy I didn't work for Yeezy I just worked I just worked with him like it was just like he would yeah it just like a so yeah how does that work so do you like okay so you get off the phone with Kanye you walk back double double middle finger BS I'm out of here I mean like yeah sort of I just kind of like I just left and then started working with him and you know made kind of like freelance though you're not like an official employee you know I worked with you know worked with him for it was like three or four five projects over the course of like six months but he would just like text me like let's work on this he'd call me like let's work on this explain the project I'd do it and just send hand it off and like were you working directly with him or with his team or how did that work it was kind of both but for the most part in the beginning it was just him like he would just like text ideas and like call me and just like talk about projects after how many times did it kind of be like okay cool like we can like I'm not freaking out anymore I wasn't freaking out but it was definitely like a high pressure for myself just putting pressure on I'm like oh I got to like deliver on any like any project or ideas he has like I got to like really like deliver on this or like you never know like he could be somewhere you know across the world in a different time zone but it's 4:00 a.
m. here and I'm asleep but I got to make sure I got to you know answer the of call right so there's a lot of just like weird new things and like I'm not just working at rebot like corporate anymore where there's like there's like a set thing of like here's your projects there's this it's during this time so it's kind of this new thing and that that was my first like real time doing like freelancing contract was he easy to work with hard to work with like explain that cuz I mean The Stereotype is that it would be like very difficult and I'd be like freaking out and like worried and you know working with him was like pretty simple in terms of like he had ideas he'd tell me I'd do it like and then and then you just like yeah I mean send him an invo like youa you email Kanye an invoice how it's that didn't he kind of just he just sent money over but yeah uh sick the projects it was just kind of like he just explained the project it was really simple it was like it was really easy to work with them and I again I only worked with them for six months so a lot of stuff normally would have like spent more time probably getting more in touch with other teams and developers and stuff to get things like actually like made but like by the time that happened things just like fell apart miscommunications and then just just went separate ways and then I that's when I kind of started you know the whole like C Studio thing and started freelancing more yeah independently yeah did any of your ideas that you worked on with Kanye come to life no I don't think you'll ever see those but were they cool yeah yeah I mean I think so yeah they're pretty cool some of them were like really like wild Concepts and some of them were very simp you know like the Yeezy slide that's like huge thing like people like love them there's so like so many people buy those and but it's simple thing it's in different phases of like his design like Direction he would go into more minimalistic things just very heavily on function like that was like like that was a big thing it's like just make this comfortable make it functional all this kind of stuff and like just very basic like design principle type things of just like not like going crazy to go crazy ideas but just you know make it cool and make it comfortable and yeah what do you feel like Kanye loved about you and why he chose to work with you I was designing things cuz he I'm I'm pretty sure he saw the videos of me doing the stuff in VR and he was like on that first call you mentioned how he liked the way I was just like bringing these shapes to life so quickly and in like this weird like futuristic way so I think that's what he like liked about it and obviously I think the style like influence just by default because of his like impact on design and foot where like a lot of his influences like influenced my work and sty I try to have my own like my own style and vision and stuff but I think he also saw like a something that aligned with his vision too yeah how much of it is designing in VR because it's easy or how much because it like produces well on social it was just because it was easy for 3D modeling for me at least cuz like again I learned some of the the CAD software at Purdue and a lot of that stuff that I learned wasn't relevant to how people model in the Footwear industry so then by the time I got there and I wanted to try to do 3D stuff that was kind of seen as like I'm more of like a developer or engineer role that does that kind of stuff a lot most designers up until like recently did not do any 3D work I tried to teach myself a lot of 3D modeling softwares and I just could it just was not working I couldn't figure it out it was tough to teach myself that and then VR thing came along it was like my one of my friends that I worked with at Reebok Brian was like really big on it too and so he introduced me to the to VR and 3D modeling there and it just like you know it it picked up easy because you can go in and just start making stuff and like on traditional like CAD softwares it's like you got to take some steps just to make like a cube or simple shape and stuff so it was easy to just like it was more sculpting like and intuitive do you think a lot of like design and Engineering will switch over to this VR 3D modeling yeah I think I mean a ton of designers at least in like autom mobile design industry and Footwear design industry specifically use it a ton now do you see Purdue picking up courses or any type of like how much of what you know today came from your time at Purdue versus selftaught I mean all of like my sketching abilities and all that you know I knew how to draw and everything but there's such a different type of drawing when you're sketching you know for ideas that are products you have to like you know sketch sometimes Doodles really quick but they have to be accurate because you're just you're sketching to communicate something to someone else like to marketing or to the factory or or to another designer on the team to like translate a real life thing so it's a different type of drawing so like all those skills and like design process skills I learned mostly from from Purdue like the 3D stuff was purely from you know working with guys on my team and then just like doing it myself do you think that you would have because I think this the big in especially in Creative Industries like the big argument is do you need to go to college and get a four-year degree or can you just like go learn this do you think you would be sitting in the same seat like as successful if you didn't go to Purdue I don't think I would even Design shoes if I didn't go to Purdue just because of I got into design and then you know someone sent me along the design contest and you know that was from like a TA that sent me like a link to the contest so it's like I wouldn't have even got into that without school and I I don't I don't think I would have had a lot of the foundational skills to be here and there's some people that just have it in them or they have like a really unique design perspective and like style that they can use social media to like like make themselves big and get a job like that so I mean unless you're that guy or girl college is pretty solid rout yeah and I'm sure Colombia sees Purdue University you know and what what was your degree in industrial design industrial design for Purdue from produ school like oh this guy's legit right like it's a well respected brand to kind of like hitch on to and then the added benefit of right he has this solid background you're working at rebok you're doing some pretty cool things but a lot of people in the industry I'm sure like working at Reebok is you're making it right talked that's like a big break and then you go above and beyond and take the social media piece and continue to like be a hustler grinder there and that's what gets you this next big break you do six months working with Kanye and then what's what's the next opportunity where where do you pivot to after that so right now it's kind of a mix of things like the the Footwear like here the 3D printed stuff like that is something that I designed myself and I put out through my own the the K Studio brand so it's a balance of that and then still also doing designing for other brands artists athletes people that are also trying to go the independent route that aren't necessarily with a brand um so it's kind of a mix of things but the the goal is to kind of like make this the main thing of just putting out my own designs through uh through C Studio yeah through C 3D printed shoes we can go like dive into this real quick if you want to like for guys looking at home I mean Super unique when did when did 3D printing shoes become a thing so it aligned perfectly with me learning 3D modeling in VR uh so there's this uh this company out in in Germany called zeld and they're the 3D printing manufacturers that make these and the guy that founded that company like reached out to me I don't know we've probably talked you know just on social media for years before I actually put any shoes out on that platform but it was like always like oh send us send ideas we can print it as they were like testing and developing but now they're like a a legit you know like Nike just put out a a shoe too with this uh the same material same same manufacturing all that kind of stuff and so they had the material it's just like a foam like PL yeah yeah it's just like a foam like plastic material that like it'ss printed and but zeld that's kind of mastered the like production of not like on a huge scale but the production of it and like wearability of it at least environmentally friendly terms printability right like getting able to create this from a 3D printer like every little thing is like laid in some sort of order I'm assuming yeah it's all print it's basically like sit sits like this on the printer and just gets printed like from the ground up dud the way that this is like so important for what I do is because if I wanted to like I could design the shoe send it to a factory and get it made in foam you know just like a like a any like a foam Runner or like a Croc like those types of footware the entry cost of getting into that is so expensive you can't just run one crack right you have to open up molds and you have to open up all the sizes or you're going to limit your sizes and then if you want to do a fulls siize run it can be like hundreds of thousands of dollars just to get started in that and that's a big investment with these the only investment is like one sample because you can just print one sample and then go to market with it and it's all made to order so there's not like overheads of like oh I have to order at least 1,000 pairs or 500 pairs or whatever it's kind of like the Vista Print like t-shirt model right where it's like print and ship you know what I'm talking about yeah where it's like you get your first sample you take a bunch of pictures obviously make the content you release it on your website it's all through like the zeld platform because like made to order like Q you're basically like buying your spot in line you're like okay I want to place an order so once there's a printer open your shoe basically gets printed the only reason I wouldn't compare to like the whole like Vista Print concept is just because it's a lot more work that goes into something to make it actually like functional and good like all the details and this 3D modeling every single piece of it and making it you know a good shoe but yeah so it's like that I design it create it model it send it to them and then it's and then it's just a made order process direct to the uh customer from there dude this is unreal so if I wanted to order shoes from you would I go on the zfi platform or or zeld or would I go through you so you could so it would be on it's on the zeld like website like my shoe it's the first one is like the hesi it should be like the first second shoe second shoe on their whole thing but but I have like on so if you go to like my Instagram which isk studio there's like a direct link that'll take you directly to the product page for this to order it so you don't have to like you know search or obviously mine's at the top but if it were at like the in the middle of the the shop you'd have to scroll to find it but so I have a direct link my uh Instagram that you can order these at heck yeah yeah wow that first one that they have on the Mars mellow yeah yeah that's not for me that that shoe is not for me buddy it's it's a big it's a big boot that's clunky but um so I wanted to mention one other thing about this because there aren't any molds that are necessary for this so the one thing that the reason why there is like standard sizing like full sizes and half sizes is because you know there's only a certain amount of molds you want to open you can't open up a mold for every little millimeter of difference of people's feet 10 and a quarter right right yeah and it's like it'd be incredibly expensive like especially when they make you know custom Footwear for certain athletes they you sometimes like you know like Shaq has his own thing that's just his like that's an expensive shoe just because it took all that just for you know just for him so there's no molds meaning there's no standard sizing so when you order these it'll take measurements of your feet and kind of like slightly adjust so you'll be oh I'm a size nine but you know everyone's feet are kind of different so you'll choose like oh I'm size nine but then it'll do like a 3D scan of your feet and it'll kind of like adjust the length and width of it a little bit so it's a tiny bit more custom custom fit yeah that's crazy it's not like a full like the entire inside shape isn't exact 3D of your foot but it's it'll kind of adjust the length and width to yeah yeah that's sweet okay so when did you launch the shoe I put my first shoe out on zeld like over a year ago probably a year and a half ago now this one just came out earlier this year uh this one's called the the hesi so yeah what was your first show uh it's called Arrow it's spelled e o it's a lot of different like concept it's like you know similar you know obviously production material feel and all that but it was a little bit more like concept ual and like has like a big arch to it and just a little bit more dramatic like style in terms of like the shape of it but yeah so that was the first show I put out oh I see it on your Instagram yeah that thing that's yeah that Arch is interesting okay so how have things so this you've been out for 18 months now how have things been going with the hesi this been really great like I did I just did um complex con actually so I had like my own booth at complex con and like it was a really successful show I got to like get a bunch of these shoes in different sizes out you know on the wall for people to come through and try them out and that was like huge because people see 3D printed they see it online they're like they probably just assume it's probably not comfortable it's very like plasticky and stiff once they try them on that's like the big thing of like clicks in their head of like oh this is like legit that was like doing complex con with the with the hesi and like introducing people that was a huge so the are this shoe is doing really well and yeah getting some like cool people that are interested in it some oh anyone anyone that you can can disclose hey hooers let me tell you about Keller and Keller our respected Indiana based law firm that's here for all of us from Evansville up to South Bend they've been serving hoer since 1936 and they really know what it means to fight for the community these guys have recovered over $1 billion for their clients yes that's billion with a B that's a serious track record of getting results and here's something that should really make your wallet feel good they have a zero fee guarantee that means you don't pay a dime unless they win your case talk about peace of mind when you're hiring a lawyer so if you've been injured here in the Hoosier State don't hesitate to call 1 18002 Keller to get the support and guidance you need they mean business now let's get back into the episode yeah I mean like um so at complex con uh two chains actually came through the booth we i' had been working out with him with something um on another design but he came through and like was showing a lot of he's been interested in 3D printed Footwear for a little bit too so he came through there's some like I'll shout out Erica wheeler on the fever you know I reached out to her cuz she has like a really cool style sent her a couple pairs and she loves them too so that's been really cool so like yeah people like you know Erica Two Chains uh yeah just er every once in a while some like other like cool like artists or athletes or whatever on Instagram like I'll notice that like see the videos or something so that's been pretty cool that's awesome yeah yeah no okay so when was complex con that was just recent that was like a couple weeks ago dude yeah that's sick okay so this is what so we're working on obviously the he are you have more designs that are in the in the works to come out it'll probably be earlyish into next year but I'm working on like a slide version of this shoe so like the same like aesthetic of this shoe but I'm going to try to make like a slide version of it that's pretty sweet yeah yeah try to get that out for the summer I love it oh yeah you know winter ends and springs coming around like that would be that would be hot for sure okay and so other than this then you're also still doing some design work for other brands can you talk about any of any work you're doing there and and what kind of work you're looking to take on you know some Brands I work with they have Concepts and they just need it modeled and some like 3D renderings just to kind of present as like a concept I so I do a lot of that type of work and then I do you know full-on design for you know any size brand I've done some stuff with like Brands similar to like a yeah I've mostly only done Footwear stuff at this point and how are they finding you it's mostly through Instagram I mean every once in a while through Linkedin or whatever but so like even the biggest brands like I don't know who you're working let's say whoever it is comes to you like Hey we're with Nike and we need 3D modeling or whoever a brand like that may not I haven't worked I haven't done any work with Nike but like a brand like that will come to me like hey we have this like concept we need help like bringing it to life I'll help you know if they want to make a 3D print atue I'll help them bring that to life or if they if it's just some brand that's like you know even to like coll like I'm like trying to another thing I'm doing like now is trying to like work with brands on a more collaborative level instead of just like kind of Designing behind the scenes which is what I like to do a lot too I do that now but to actually like do some like co-branded like design stuff it's like you know if it was me and rebok had a shoe together or something like that it would be like what is like my take on a certain rebok shoe like that so those types of projects are things I'm like starting to get into as well not just the the brands that are coming to me to have just do like contract fre design behind theen which is cool to be able to like you know be more involved and tach your name in the whole thing so this is a very non-traditional career path for Indiana which I love I love finding the the really really interesting career path the people are doing it and still living in Indiana what are ways you find that being based in Indiana and working in footw design help you it gives me some opportunity to be and be involved in like bigger events that go go down in like Indianapolis like I know that obviously like if you're working in you know Boston or New York or La there's always so many things going on there but I think there's like something about being like the one from in in Indiana Indianapolis that can do this specific thing but like we have like like NBA Allstar Weekend was just here and we did you get to do something there I didn't do anything there yet that was kind of like the lead into like what I'm trying to do like you know then now WNBA all starts coming here this summer so I'm like it opens it up being being from here as like it helps to you know work with Brands and have like a from here perspective if they're trying to do something whether it's footware design or design in general or some sort of like activation that we can like partner with or whatever so it's like it's it's it's been helpful to like have that like oh I'm from here like if you're trying to do like a do storytelling within your brand that is related to this like I know a lot of stuff about the city and like obviously basketball is like a huge tie the you know these shoes are like inspired by a lot of basketball Silhouettes so there's like there's a lot of things here that you can like have like a unique uh perspective on and other things and not just be like oh this is another person trying to make a brand new like how many how many joies are there in LA like in terms yeah design I mean there's tons because there's so many Brands out there so lots yeah so you get to be super unique for Indiana and be like the guy uh I don't know how many I mean do you know other footware designers here in Indie yeah I mean there's there's a couple I I it's it's rare to meet anyone from Indiana or even in Indiana that's in the footware industry just cuz there's no not really Brands here but like the head of like Puma's like design like for their basketball team for design is like he's he's from here and I'm pretty sure he lives here still but like so that's kind of cool that like he's he's there um he's done way more than me in his career he's been designing for years but uh for puma and many other brand I think he used to work at rebok too so oh that's like another thing like within the industry there's a lot of like if you know a lot of people have all worked at simar what do people in the industry say when they find out that you are from Indiana they not much of a reaction I mean they're kind of like oh they might be like oh like kind of like a why are you there and why are you not like in you know New York or Boston or you know whatever why why do you choose to stay in Indiana when you could be in one of these design hubs I mean like I I just came back this so I'm like I've lived here my pretty much my entire life outside of you know moving to Portland for an internship or Boston where I was there for like three or 4ish years but like I mean just like all my like family and a lot of friends are here a lot of my friends that I did have in Boston like also split off to like different brands they were to you know West Coast or New York or whatever so there wasn't like a lot going on that I needed to even be there in IND in Boston and so it's just like it ALS I don't know I just I can also just be a little bit more focused on it here and just like building this thing and if I ever want to go out to one of those bigger cities I can later but it let's me put a lot more time and invest more into like the design stuff and just kind of like slowly slowly build this thing um from here it's been been good I love it man I I think that that's super unique the constant push back I feel like I hear is about like arts and culture and design and things like that in Indiana and every I at surface level right it's a sports Town agriculture Blue Collar all this stuff but like as I start to like peel back this layer there is a lot like I mean with what's going on with like gang gang and butter and I just had MJ Coy from uh he was on good bones with httv like there are some there's some really cool arts and culture stuff happening and I I would love to know like what your your take on the Indiana arts and culture scene is I mean actually I'll give a a shout out cuz I have a shoe that's actually in the newfields uh Art Museum right now they have a a whole like future now like sneaker it's like virtual sneakers and it's like basically the history of like Footwear designed from like ancient times all the way to like modern stuff and like you know ' 80s 90s Innovations and anything to now that have kind of just had like big moments and Footwear and so I actually have a shoe that's in that exhibit It's been traveling so it's in Indie till like mid January it's there so if you go to the art museum a lot or even just into sneakers that's like a cool thing to check out the whole like reason it got into that exhibit is because the the whole thing was designed entirely designed and developed with like a factory all in VR so it was kind of this like project to show okay let's see how this new technology can like improve certain areas of the footware design process like the whole process is documented and like presented in that in that exhibit um did it done all in VR yeah like even like meetings with the factory like there'd be like the shoe like I I was here in Indie they were in p Portugal and like the shoes just floating in VR in front of me I'm making making edits they're in Portugal but they're also in the same space making edits too was that sick so yeah that was cool I mean it help it's like crazy how much like time and like communication you can like there's always just so many miscommunications of like uh blueprint edits versus the actual thing so you can kind of have those conversations while you're making the edits is that the way things are go like am I going to be putting on a meta headset to like get on a zoom call in two three years five years it's not like again it's not like where I do everything it's not like the the only way to design like I still like sketch on like Post-it notes and stuff when I'm like starting off it's just like it's just really good for the 3D modeling and like visualizing things in 3D it'll probably be more like prominent in like design fields that everyone's doing it at some point in their process for or you know even marketing might be involved in a meeting where they need to hop in VR just to you know if if you're remote and you can present a concept that looks more realistic and 3D they can you know you know touch and like interact with there as opposed to drawings one of the things that is just such a again go into like the Mis communication of like design to factory to getting a sample is we're always sending two-dimensional drawings of all these different angles and Views to the factory and they have to translate that and obviously if you're a really good designer and know how to do that well it's there's not that many issues but there's always miss translations of things so when you can do something in 3D and hand it off in 3D it's like this is exactly what I want it to look like so let's make this oh yeah of course like I should the thing I'm making is in 3D let's design it in 3D yeah well when you think back all the projects that you've worked on uh talk to me about a few of the proudest moments that you have there the first like full shoe that I worked on from start to finish at Reebok was the shoe for cardi B it was her second signature shoe at Reebok it was the uh classic cardi B classic leather and I worked on that with a designer Mark bro that was like my first I was still an apprentice I think at the time when I worked on that a little like high heel tennis shoe looking thing yeah it's like a super real thick Soul yeah yeah so cuz that was like my first real project that went to Market I think honestly like this shoe is probably one of those because it was like the first time I had like I had an idea for a while this is kind of plays off some a lot of old sketches I had like just stacked up from a while thank you um so it's like a lot of like ideas that I've been wanting to make and I was like I'm just going to make something I want to make and put all that like time and effort really develop it and make it nice and you know being able to put it out myself so that was another project that I was like really excited and like like proud to to put out for sure heck yeah I love it dude I think that's super and it's really cool to be able to meet people here in Indiana that have worked with names that are you know household house depends on the household household names right like I don't know if cardi B is a household name for my grandparents but like you know the average 20 30 something probably knows who cardi B is for sure what advice would you give to upand cominging designers across the Midwest that want to be in this like A-list Hollywood kind of scene but like you know geographically aren't yeah I don't know if it's like so much about like that scene but just to be able to like feeling like you can't even talk or you don't even know where to start to talk to even just like a designer Nike how do you how do you find a designer at Nike and who do you talk to and how do you even figure out like what are they looking for if I am applying to work there type of thing if there's a specific area of design or art or whatever you want to get into like just start making stuff just putting out your ideas and like putting them out on social media I think like there's some push back to that some people are like oh people are going to take your ideas I'm like well people take your ideas when you make it real anyway also like so they're going it's going to get taken anyway for the most part and all you're doing is just holding a bunch of ideas back from potentially being seen like every job or like gig I've gotten is from posting stuff on social media and putting my ideas out there like the Reebok apprenticeship one of the guys I worked with saw my sketches on Instagram and put me through to like the Recruitment and then same thing with Kanye like he just saw my Instagram and that's the I guess the advice is just like start doing something in that like space that you want to get into if there's like a person you want to specifically work with like be like oh like what if I design this thing for this person like make like a whole concept like a project behind it and just put it out there and like they proba won see it but they might you were doing this for free yeah I mean so many of my you know not fully designed and like made to production shoes but I probably designed and sketched like several hundred to a thousand Concepts and put some of them out just to be like oh here's a concept like I I did a um just for fun like I did like a when Caitlyn Clark announced that she was you know this big Nike deal I posted like a a whole I did a whole concept like what would a Caitlyn Clark Nike sneaker look like and I did some like really like cool storytelling behind it like some of the details I I know she liked Kobe shoes so I kind of played off Kobe's designs but I put this like concept of a Nike Swoosh and then a bunch of little dots around the Nike Swoosh and that was kind of symbol symbolic of her like three-point shooting range like from the logo so like all these little dots from the logo so it was like Concepts like that it's like I don't think she saw it random NBA players saw it there's some like I think Matt Barn saw it or something like just random like putting the idea out there got so many people that might be important to see it to you know to see it but again that you need to see this Nike you need to see these are sick like every girl Across America Beyond across the world would wear something like this cuz it's so cool and now that I see like the little dot like knowing the those little details of those like the story behind it these are insane like that's so cool and do you ever get push back like is Nike see this and be like hey don't use our logo I don't know if they ever see it or I me I'm sure there's like I know there's Nike designers cuz there all the Footwear designers know each other so like I know there's n I've talked to Nike people and they've seen it and it's like oh that's cool but they they're not going to do anything they have they're probably working on like a killer shoe that they're going to put out it's going to be amazing but I just like putting these projects out kind of almost like not even like oh Nike hire me for this thing but like oh are you do you have a brand too are you an independent like are you an we can switch that logo out there pretty quick yeah or even like yeah or just like showing like oh you have a brand like and you want to get into sneakers well here's what I did with this Nike thing or here's like this concept I did for Converse or this concept I did for you know whatever and so it's just kind of like that's another thing just putting ideas out there like that like I'm just showing you like what I can do if this were my brief for the project type of thing yeah and I think that the people who are like oh I don't want to take my ideas it's like it doesn't come down to the idea it comes down to the execution and you're going to get more at bats especially with like you know the big time oties if you're putting stuff out there I say this all the time I probably use it like a thousand times on this podcast I sat in on an interview my old boss got to interview Sam par from the hustle he gave the analogy right where when you're driving down the road and you see someone out hitchhiking with their thumb up how many people stop and pull over and give this person a ride like almost no one no one's stopping and pick up hitchhikers but if you see someone pushing their car like trying to get it to a gas station or whatever yeah a lot of people are willing to pull over and get behind and help push this car and you posting these designs or you posting all this stuff is showing that you're pushing your car and that you're trying to advance your business your career Your Design like they're seeing this and they're like oh man like I want to like Kanye sees it he like oh yeah I want to work with this guy CU he sees you pushing your car versus just sitting there saying like I have this notebook full of really good I'm not going to show you any of them like no no no man dude I love it that's crazy well we're getting kind of towards the end of the show I have a few questions that uh they're more fun we can do some rapid fire uh the first one is our younger year segment so this question is brought to you by our friends at or Fellowship they are a great organization here in Indiana helping develop young Business Leaders across the state Joey what advice would you give to yourself at 22 years old don't have such a mindset of like it's not that I didn't believe that I could do stuff but like I basically had a mindset of like it would be amazing if I could even just get a job as a shoe designer but whatever everything else beyond that I don't really like I didn't think that was even possible I thought like oh that'd be cool to do that like you can actually do that like I don't think I had that mindset and I think if I knew that few years before through Dre bigger yeah I think or just even realize that you can actually like do that like cuz like once Kanye called me and like that not that I needed him to like validate that I'm good at this but I was like if I can like tap into him for like footware design like why can't I do literally anything else and I don't think I knew that so I would have if I knew if I like knew that at 22 right out of college I'm like oh damn who knows like what have what I would have thought or like approached like um you know working for other brands and stuff like that and sometimes that EX validation helps and sometimes you can also be the person that gives out that external validation like there's probably someone behind you it's like no offense you're probably not as famous as Kanye right but like but there's probably someone behind you that looks up to you as a designer and it's like if you see their stuff and drop a comment on Instagram and I'm just like yo this is this is dope like that can be the validation of like oh you're at least like going in the right path Joey worked with Kanye and Joey likes my stuff like that's dope you know like I think that's pretty cool I always like like to think about that it's like everyone else is just a person yeah oh yeah like what makes them like what makes them special is that they don't give up and they keep going and they believe that they can do it but it's like they put their pants on the same way you do yeah yeah like I got for like a similar vein where I got the first video that got a million views and before I was like oh man like you have to be a real big you have to be super funny or super whatever and it's like yeah no you just try post a 100 videos and like just get a little bit better each time and eventually one's going to hit so believing that that's achievable I love that man I think that that's super sharp what's the wildest sneaker design you've ever thought of I mean I guess I had one concept again this is all just for digital concept reasons but it was like this concept of there was like the main part of the shoe was like of the upper was like just like a sock type of thing but it had like other hovering parts around it that were just like hovering around like sole parts that were just hovering as like protective or like cushioning but it was all just like pieces that were hovering around it like almost like they had like a magnetic pole to the shoe but they were like hovering around it like metal soul and like magnets just like just kind of like really cool shape just like floating around the shoe but again not real probably not going to happen who knows for now yeah but yeah just I don't know I just like stuff like that yeah uh what's the best sneaker drop you've seen uh Anthony edwards's basketball shoe the a1s those I mean just the way they've rolled that out with the marketing and like his just his personality and like actually doing it right because there's been so many signature shoes and so many people don't even know what they are because a lot of them are either boring or the marketing is just Bland or just running through like a they're just recycling the concept this whole Anthony Edward just roll out with Adidas has been so so fun to like see and like they really caught his personality the marketing is cool fun it's like really simple but like he'll take shots at people he'll like you know kind of take Jabs at other brands or other players and just like being himself uh and the shoes are like really sick looking too they look yeah they're pretty cool and I just looked them up I'm not I'm I'm not like a huge sneaker guy but uh I always love like game respects game here I just like when there's something that looks different for once we're still wearing like obviously because they're good and classic and they're you know they've lasted for decades but we're still wearing a lot of the same designs that people 20 years ago what's the most timeless design that you think will never go out of style some version of like the Jordan there's certain model oford there's Air Force Ones there's Jordan one there's certain other Jordans I can't tell you which number they are but there's so many of those shoes that are like people would just never not get tired of them and they're they can be Classics and they can be simple yeah I mean like even that like with Reb like rebok like Club SE it's just like such a simple classic casual leather sneak white leather sneaker yeah there's just like a lot of those that are just they've been lasting since the brands have existed and like I think a lot of those will just kind of those are pretty Timeless what's a sneaker Trend that you can't stand you know I don't know how to answer this because I had someone asked me this at complex con too and I didn't want to answer and like take shots at some brand or some designer because I probably know them or I know someone that knows them and I also can't think of stuff because I also just like yeah that's not for me but or what's something what's something that's popular that's just not for you I guess just like the infinite amount of like oh this exclusive new retro colorway of this shoe that's been you know it's the 1 millionth colorway of this shoe and it's like cool there's not much story it's it's exclusive but is it because there's a million exclusive shoes I did I did have like an opposite answer to your the first question of like a trend that I don't like there's a there's been a lot of like push back or not push back but just people like what like what are you doing when Mischief puts out a bunch of shoes like they've done the the big red boots I'm sure you've saw saw that Trend like big red boots they do like shoes that are backwards so you put the like you put your foot in this way and like the heel it's just like ridiculous stuff but I'm like I hope more of that type of stuff like happens or like people just like doing weird I mean there's stuff that looks so ridiculous and like so like uncom almost uncomfortable but it's just like very conceptual weird wacky I'm like there's so much like push back of like this train needs to stop like no just keep doing like big ass hat yeah it's like someone wants it and someone likes it and it's cool so like it might not be the main thing that a lot of people like but like just do it dude I wish I could be cooler like have cooler fashion but it's like if I toss those big red boots on and walk down the stre everyone looks dumb in those yeah supposed to but even like like I just don't have the I'm going to say the Swagger to rock pull it sarcastically you know what I'm saying or like the Swagger to like even like a lot of modern Trends where I see people wear like I don't know like it's just like I'm like a very like it's it's like an Indiana guy just like give me a nice pair of like basic sneakers or boots or whatever like but I like always like respect the game right where it's like some guys or girls whoever have like the fashion where they can pull off like like right now baggy jeans are really in like if I walked around wearing baggy jeans i' like I look like my grandpa from like 30 years ago you know like but it's like I respect it I think it's cool it's just like I don't know if it's my body type or just like my general personality but it's just not it's not necessarily for me but I think it's cool yeah that's like one of my like my the things where I like I do sometimes want to make like even weirder bizarre like crazy like just crazy proportions of shoes or whatever just cuz I'm like I want to make something cool like this and weird but I want to see who finds it and how they like pull it off like when they you said like how seen someone pull it off it's like cool cuz I mean even like Shay Gil just Alexander he like pulled an outfit off wearing those big red boots and it like it was ridiculous but he pulled it off like I mean it's like it's again it looks so weird and ridiculous but the way he styled it is just like he pulled it off somehow I mean damn that's like not bad so it's like but it's like if I pulled up wear I look like an idiot yeah like that's just not for me dude but Kos to him okay so that's a that's a fun question if you could design a shoe for any artist or athlete who would it be man I mean it'd be cool to design a shoe for any Pacer player fever player Colts player like tyres yeah well he's got Puma he's he's with Puma yeah but so we need we need like an upand Comer yeah I mean it'd be that'd be just so so cool like your dream collab just like any like well so I know like J.
Cole got into sneakers or he like had his own he he was with Puma for a while and then he kind of teased like his own sneakers that he had a while back I don't know what happened with those but like someone like that would be really cool because he's like one of my favorite artists so like it'd be really cool to design shoes for him again another thing of being in in Indie it's like if I did tap into like a player that wanted to design a shoe it's like all right I'm here like let's meet up after AR in the offseason like if Anthony Richardson comes to you and like yo let's drop the qb1 like that would be pretty D that would Bey up and to the right trending hot baby come on yeah yeah just something like that that would be sick okay well we've come to the final piece this is the lightning round we ask these same three questions to everyone who sits in the chair Joey what's something the world needs to know about Indiana when there's a big event here you got like you should you got to come to like if you like the IND 500 is crazy like if we have an All-Star weekend it's crazy for what the city is it go it like they go host it so well like it like when WNBA Allstar here like you got to check it out like when we hosted the Super Bowl a long time ago like that was like the whole city got like restructured for like it's so cool like coming here for like big events for those types of things always like are something that people don't think of I mean like even like with the NCA tournament like we host so many of those games just because it's we're good host the combine like obviously you're not coming here for the combine but like I just like wouldn't underestimate it for like oh it's All-Star weeking but it's in Indiana so it's going to be boring but obviously it snowed like crazy on all St it kind of sucked classic Indiana just like I don't know I think I think it can be underestimated for you know when he when it needs to show up amen Joe what's a Hidden Gem in Indiana there's the shoe store up in North Webster Indiana way up North it's in the middle of nowhere it's a huge sneaker store that looks like a castle it's called pillers sneakers or something like that they they sell like regular shoes and whatever but they also sell ginormous shoes like they they specifically cater to like people that have like Giant F feet and they have like like size 22 size 14 like size 18 just on on hand ready to go and it's such a bizarre place that it's and it's a middle of nowhere so I had to throw I had to sh yes that is a Hidden Gem pil pil shoes I don't know how much of a gem it is but it's definitely something that if you're in that area it's like what the hell is this well they probably just take it for granted but you're like no this is we have been helping people customize the perfect fit since 1947 yeah they have a crazy history like they hosted so many weird sporting like they had a parade where like like OJ Simpson was in the parade there one time cuz they were highlighting at like the best like uh Jesse Owens was like all these crazy like the best athletes in the world at at certain times like the 80s or whatever like they would host them at these like have these like sports events at this place and it just ended up being to a sneaker shop so that that building has a really bizarre history but I think it's kind of cool this is insane so sick so yeah 1947 Doug pure they kind of bounced around a few locations uh in Syracuse and then found Webster this North web yeah this the former the International Palace of sports that's what it was yeah that's they turned it into it was like a museum almost and then it turned into a sneaker shop dude I might have to do a deep dive into this this is pretty they stock sizes five to 20 yeah yeah and width ranging from 4A to 14e I didn't even know that was the thing there's some crazy stuff Hil wow all right all right Northern Indiana represent 574 baby I love it uh finally Joey who is a hooer that we need to keep on our radar okay again I listened so I did have an answer in M we kind of already talked about but I'm going shout him out again Jeremy s who's the he's like a again hoer here I'm pretty sure he's from here I don't know if he was like born and raised here but definitely from Indie uh lives here and he's like killing it in the Footwear game like he like basically runs Puma's basketball design what's his name uh Jeremy s s a l l e e i believe uh he's just like a a really cool designer he's done a lot of like you know like lamelo shoes any I think working on probably working on stuff for Tyrese because he's Puma now so like anything you see Puma basketball he's probably touched or like directed or designed so um and he worked on actually a lot of the shoes with jcole too I think when they were with P when he was with Puma he's keeping it foot footware related he's a good Indie guy to shout out for that that's sick dude this is awesome thank you for uh enlightening us so much about just like your journey and like Paving the way for people in Indiana to like break down these I'll say like we they're self-built barriers right but of like you can go out and do you can work with some of the biggest names in the world design really amazing you know Concepts and do it in a different way where you don't have to spend you know don't have to go raise $250,000 to bring a shoe to Market it's like no there's ways to make this thing happen do it independently too yeah yeah I love it man I think your story is amazing I hope that uh no matter how big you continue to get like there there'll still be a special place here in Indianapolis for you I think it's cool to have a big Focus for our city on design and art and culture and these cool things and I really hope that Caitlyn Clark sees this clip and you know comes through with the uh the footwork design um thank you so much will uh where can people connect with you at yeah so I mean mainly through Instagram is cama Studio it's KH h m i s s t d IO and then my website is C studio.
com uh it's the same handle on you know Instagram threads Tik Tok uh YouTube shorts I post there every once in a while but Instagram is the main thing get in touch through there and my website so yeah dop appreciate you having yeah thanks for coming on man on the next drop of those slides we'll have to get you back on the show talk about how it's going sounds good man I want to give a huge shout out to our newest partner hope Plumbing now hope Plumbing serves Indianapolis in the surrounding areas when it comes to All Things Plumbing obviously that includes sewer and drain water heaters water softeners leak repairs stmp pump gas lines pluming inspections reverse osmosis system installation router Services downspout installation and septic tanks what don't these guys do whenever I have trouble I make sure to call Hope Plumbing they always do a great job on my house they're going to do a great job on your house go to hop plumbing.
com to check them out thank you for listening to this episode of get in if you like what you heard make sure you leave us your review wherever you listen to podcast this show is made possible by our friends up at Sweetwater whether you're looking to start a podcast or take your content to the next level click the link in the description to see all of my gear recommendations at sweetwater. com if you want to behind the scenes look at everything everything we're doing across the state make sure you follow me on Instagram and Tik Tac @nate spangle thank you so much for listening and being part of what makes the who your state great we'll see you next time here on get in
