Ear Biscuits with Rhett & Link - 98: Betting On Yourself ft Jason Markk | Ear Biscuits Ep. 98

Episode Date: June 12, 2017

A conversation on creating a fulfilling business, shoe cleaning expert Jason Markk, Link's mustache, and more on this week's episode of Ear Biscuits. SUBSCRIBE to This Is Mythical: https://goo.gl/UMXvuW Listen & subscribe at: Apple Podcasts: http://apple.co/29PTWTM Spotify: http://spoti.fi/2oIaAwp Art19: https://art19.com/shows/ear-biscuits SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/earbiscuits Follow This Is Mythical: Facebook: http://facebook.com/ThisIsMythical Instagram: http://instagram.com/ThisIsMythical Twitter: http://twitter.com/ThisIsMythical Other Mythical Channels: Good Mythical Morning: https://www.youtube.com/user/rhettandlink2 Good Mythical MORE: https://youtube.com/user/rhettandlink3 Rhett & Link: https://youtube.com/rhettandlink Credits: Hosted By: Rhett & Link Executive Producer: Stevie Wynne Levine Managing Producer: Cody D'Ambrosio Technical Director / Editor: Meggie Malloy Graphics: Matthew Dwyer Set Design/Construction: Cassie Cobb Content Manager: Becca Canote Logo Design: Carra Sykes Featuring: Jason Markk Website: http://jasonmarkk.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jasonmarkkinc Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jasonmarkk/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/jason_markk To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This, this, this, this is Mythical. Listen, the first layer of clothing, in my opinion, is the most important. It's the closest to your body. It's like the reason breakfast is the most important meal. Because breakfast is closest to your body? No, because it's first on. First, yeah. It's first on. First, got it.

And in the same way, underwear is like the breakfast of clothes. Okay, so this is a very important decision. Yes. And that's why you should choose Mack Weldon, because they believe in smart design, premium fabrics, and simple shopping. And they make incredibly comfortable underwear, socks, shirts, undershirts, hoodies, and sweatpants.

Get comfortable, y'all. Try it. And they want you to be so comfortable. If you don't like your first pair, you can keep it, and they will still refund you. No questions asked. Mm. Even the return policy is comfortable. Go to MackWeldon.com and get 20% off using our promo code BISCUITS. That's MackWeldon.com. Get 20% off using promo code BISCUITS. Welcome to Ear Biscuits, I'm Rhett. And I'm Link.

Joining us at the round table of dim lighting tonight, we have Jason Mark. Dude has got a great story and a great business. He is the originator of the sneaker drop-off cleaning service. Yes. Where you drop off your sneakers and they're cleaned meticulously.

Sneaker care. Sneaker care is the official description. It's not just cleaning, sneaker care, yeah. This guy cares about sneakers and he cares for sneakers and we wanted to talk to him. In a world where a lot of people care a whole lot about sneakers and that's fascinating. We wanted to talk to him

not because, now first of all, we're a whole lot more sneakerhead than we were say five years ago. I'm informed a little bit. But definitely not actually sneakerheads. But we are fascinated by people who have made a decision to do something where they followed a dream, had an innovative idea, and it came to fruition and the story of that,

that's a mythical thing, just like we've been talking about. We wanna talk to mythical people about mythical things that they're doing that kind of embody mythicality and Jason Mark embodies mythicality because he's doing something that is completely original and creative, something that is kind of challenges a paradigm and he's just a good guy, local guy here. So I would say even if you're not into sneakers,

I think you're really gonna be into this conversation because it's got this inspirational quality to it that you can benefit from, Mythical Beasts. Nobody cried though, I mean, spoiler. I mean, you got close. There was a discussion about crying. Yeah. And there was a story that brought some people to tears.

Some people, and some people might. I'm just saying. I'm just saying. And he also. There was some blood involved at another point. Serendipitously. Wow. He wore his mustache tonight.

As did you. Yes. So did you shave this in because you knew Jason was coming and had a mustache? No, I thank you for acknowledging my mustache. Oh, is there another reason for it? The reason is, you know the reason. Yeah, I'm doing what they call playing dumb, Link.

The first thing I noticed was not his shoes, it was the fact, oh, he's got a mustache too. We're mustache brethren. And did you, now one of the things we talked about is how you acknowledge when somebody has the same car, the same shoes or whatever, but did you do a mustache acknowledgement nod? No, I did not nod at the mustache, but I assessed it.

So you looked at his lip. A lot of times. No, I looked at the mustache above the lip. I know, but. The whole conversation. You can't tell when somebody's looking at your mustache or your lip. Okay, what am I looking at right now? The microphone.

You're looking at my mustache, it's irresistible. No, I'm looking at your lips. I mean, I'm not comfortable doing it. Now look at my mustache. Because that's the kind of thing. Look at my mustache. Now look at the lips. Okay, I can see the difference.

You can see the comparative difference. Yeah, but you. But that's something like, I remember in middle school, like, Tate told me that if you want, it could have been Michael Juby, I don't know, one of those guys that had kissed some ladies, he was like, you let a girl know you wanna kiss her when you look at her lips.

So like you're looking at her and then you look down at the lips and you look back and you look down at the lips and then she's like, oh, I know what's up. Or you could just go in for the kiss. Well you don't, or you could, I mean. I'm not talking about just like any. You don't wanna just go in for the kiss. Well you don't, or you could, I mean. I'm not talking about just like any. You don't wanna just go in for the kiss, you wanna ask permission.

I'm not talking. At least with a look at the lips. I'm not talking about like you just sit next to anybody. I'm talking about like you. A loved one. There's a relationship already happening. So I'm just letting you know, that's not what's happening right now, I'm just evaluating your mustache.

I wasn't, I actually wasn't, the thought didn't cross my mind, Rhett. Yeah. So you clarifying it just made it weird. Made it awkward. Of course my mustache is not making anything awkward, is it? This is day two of me having the mustache.

Cutting the mustache in. Of cutting it in. You know, I knew I wanted to grow a mustache as an option for Buddy System season two. Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. And. I mean, it's probably gonna be there. It's probably gonna be there. But we still reserve the right to not have it.

You reserve the right. You say we, I mean, you do have a say. Yeah, but I think you get 51% in this decision. Right, I get that. Which is basically the whole decision. There's only two of us. Well no, I'm interested in what you have to say but I miss the days when my facial hair

would change constantly and you know, I just like having the option to do that for Buddy System because it could enhance the story. Oh gosh. It could fit into what we're doing. I dropped something. You dropped something? You all right? Oh gosh.

What? Are you serious? You go in that hole? Oh gosh. Dude, it's behind you, man. Why is your? I'll tell you what that is later. Oh, he's gonna keep you in suspense.

I thought it went in one of those holes too. I was like, I don't even think it fits in there. There's a hole down there. It does fit in there. What is it that he was talking about? What was I saying? That's a teaser. You talked about how you.

Oh, the reason, I had an opportunity to have a mustache for Buddy System season two. And it may enhance your performance. And we're just a few days away from starting to shoot. I'm very excited. Yeah, yeah. I'm kinda nervous, but the mustache,

I mean, I had the beard. I didn't wanna just grow in a mustache, so you don't do that. No one in their right mind just grows a mustache. You grow a beard, and then whenever you have a mustache, so you don't do that. No one in their right mind just grows a mustache. You grow a beard and then whenever you have a mustache within that beard, then you take the beard away. Yeah. I mean I think it is possible to do it the other way,

but I do think that you're doing it the easy way. Well, then you gotta explain why you're slowly growing a mustache. There's a lot of more. Every day. There's more awkward phases. Yeah, there's more, yeah, and all the conversations. Like when you're growing a beard, it's like oh you're slowly growing a mustache. There's a lot of more, every day. There's more awkward faces. There's more, yeah, and all the conversations. Like when you're growing a beard,

it's like oh you're growing a beard. When you're growing a mustache, it's like you're growing a mustache or you need to bathe up there. But now you have to deal with. And then I have to deal with the shock of the moment that I leave the bathroom and there's my family and they all turn and look at me in horror because I have a mustache.

They all hate it. Do they know this was happening? I told them it was happening but until you see it, it's not something, it turns out you're not prepared for according to their response. You know and then I come into work yesterday morning and it's like. Oh so your wife hates it?

Oh she hates it. Her dad had a mustache for a long time. Really? And he still occasionally still has one. And I don't think she wants to be married to her dad. That's weird. That says something about their relationship. I'm not gonna play psychologist here.

I just mean specifically, she doesn't wanna marry her dad. Well that's healthy. It's a pretty simple thing. That's a healthy thing. As a non-psychologist I can confirm that's a healthy thing. Yeah you don't have to be a psychologist to know that's a good idea. a pretty simple thing. That's a healthy thing. It's simple. As a non-psychologist I can confirm that's a healthy thing. Yeah you don't have to be a psychologist to know that's a good idea. Don't marry your dad, dude.

But I think the interesting thing is that there are cultural connotations associated with certain facial hair configurations. Uh-huh. Right? That is a fact. And it's based on, it's based on these principles that only exist in the context of culture.

In other words, if an alien were to come down in his or her ship and meet you, and you were the only human, they would just make an observation. Has hair over lower hole, you know what I'm saying? That ain't the lower hole, brother. Lower hole of the face. That's the higher hole.

I got, no. Face orifice, well they wouldn't be speaking English, but you get, and I don't know why they taught like a robot. A robot, I don't know either. Because they are. Has hair over lower orifice of facial orifice. In other words, there would be no like must be fireman. They don't know that.

You know, they don't know that yet. Must be volunteer fireman. Must get, you know, there's other things. Must be stuck in 80s. Well, there's lots of things that people, there's certain, you know, things that people think that you might be into if you have a mustache, stuff that we won't even go into.

But my mustache isn't that thin. It doesn't even matter though, I'm saying that. It's taller than that. You have to now deal with the perception that people have of people with mustaches. My main concern is that it's like you look old. You look so much older, you look like a dad. Well first of all, I am a dad.

Who gave you that piece of advice? My family. Christy said you look old. I'm like well, you know. I am old. Rhett has a beard. Lots of people have beards now and they no longer have a connotation of old or mountain men

but that was probably how it was before. The reason why. But think about when I cut my beard off for last season. You did look a lot younger. I looked like 24. Right. Like a baby. But you with that beard doesn't look as old as me

with this mustache, but the reason why is not because it ages you, it's because culturally it's people associate it with their dads. Or, I mean, I think we're getting out of that now. I don't think millennials' dads have mustaches, or less of them did than our dads had mustaches. Now the thing is that. My dad had a mustache.

Most people. Which subconsciously is why I want a mustache. Most people who have mustaches now have ironic mustaches. So we haven't gotten past irony when it comes to the modern mustache. But a guy like Jason, who we're about to have the conversation with. That's an ironic mustache.

He has an ironic mustache, but he's such a sincere guy that I don't think. He's just cool. Yeah, it's just cool. But I'm saying. So why can't I have that, why can't this be, can this be ironic? Well that's actually. In real life?

Of course it can. I'm saying it definitely is and that's kinda what I wanted to say is that if I were to meet you. Meaning I don't have to fight fires. I'm just concerned that I have to fight fires. No no I'm saying that this is, and this is why I wanna have an extended, like once we complete your look, okay,

and whatever that's going to be, I think we have to have the conversation of what is the interpretation of the mustache because I think that we would both agree that we don't want it to be interpreted as an ironic mustache. I don't totally agree with that. But maybe, is it okay if it's.

Yeah, there's a percentage. Is it okay if it's. Yeah there's a percentage. Is it okay if it's just this ambiguous thing? Yeah. Because, you know, okay, if I meet you in LA and I'm like okay, well his clothes fit, you know what I'm saying? It's like, you don't have on like a NASCAR shirt that's three sizes too big.

Not to pick on the NASCAR people, I'm just saying that if you've got a NASCAR shirt that's three sizes too big. Not to pick on the NASCAR people, I'm just saying that if you've got a NASCAR shirt that's three sizes too big and you got a mustache, it's not an ironic mustache. I don't care how hard you wish it is, it's not. Right, you also have a volunteer fire department beeper on your belt. Yeah, right, yeah, exactly.

If you're a volunteer fireman and you have a mustache, you have a purposeful fireman's mustache, and I respect that, but it's not ironic. By the way, you know why? The smoke. It absorbs the smoke. It absorbs, it filters the smoke. You still breathe the smoke,

but you don't breathe the bad parts of the smoke. You know the real reason why firemen and policemen have mustaches? Yeah, I just told you. No, the real reason. Yeah, I know that one, but I'm not gonna tell you. The real reason is because it is the only facial hair that is allowed in many fire departments

and police departments. Oh, regulations. Beards are not allowed in the military or in most police forces in probably fire departments. And a man wants to have facial hair. If I'm gonna have facial hair, man, well, where can I have it? Okay, that's where I'm gonna have it.

And so it became associated, it was actually, it was the result of a regulation that they had no say in, right, that then became a cultural association with people who do a certain vocation. That's sweet. That's crazy. And I'm glad to be folded into that legacy.

No, but there's nothing else about you that says fireman. No there's not. Nothing, right? Well I mean if the fire started right here, I could probably put it out. Yeah, but no better than me. No better than me.

Well, let's let's. Let's set a fire and find out. Yeah, let's not presume. Can we do that? Let's not presume that I couldn't do it better than you. I do have a mustache. You have an ironic mustache and that may be okay. I don't think there's any way that it's not gonna be

perceived as ironic. Right. But how would you feel about yourself if you met yourself? Because I could tell you how I feel about you if I didn't know you were growing it out for a role. I'd be like, oh, this guy thinks he's cool. Oh, is that it?

This guy thinks he's so cool, of course, and I would think the same thing about me if I saw a guy with my hair or whatever, and even your hair too, you know? Even the beard. Yeah, even the beard in the context of where we live. Yeah. It's like, oh, that guy's trying,

this guy's trying too hard, guy thinks too much of himself, thinks he's cool, cares too much about his face. So you thought. Spends too much time on himself in the morning, that kind of thing. I'm flattered that you think no one would have thought that about me before the mustache. I think they would have thought that.

Okay. But I think. But they definitely think. But I think it's okay to think that. I kind of, I mean, I don't want, I'm not trying to make it seem like I don't care what I look like. I'm just trying to conceal it a little bit but when you do something that's like,

and what I'm planning to do, what I'm planning to do potentially, which I won't reveal now, is worse, is way worse than an ironic mustache in terms of what people would conclude about me because of it, way worse. I would say on a scale of one to 10, what I'm planning on doing is a nine on the

that guy is somebody I don't wanna have a conversation with. So why are we doing it? Because it is cool. Because we can. I think because it is cool. Because I think it's cool. I don't, you know, it's like, again, we get into why I have the tennis shoes I have in the thing. It's like I give the reason.

You just made a clicking noise when you spoke. I thought that was cool too. I think it's cool to make a clicking noise. How did you do that? But I think it's cool to myself to make a clicking noise. Almost sound like an artifact from the microphone. It was all in my mouth. I don't know how I did it, but it was pretty cool, right?

Yeah, it was. Now I think differently about your mustache. I think we're gonna be posting footage of us while. Lots of footage. Not from Buddy System but from the set of Buddy System and I think that will be the answer to your question. Yeah. The question that we put out there is that

is Link gonna have a mustache? It's like well, you'll find out. Yeah. And is Rhett gonna have something else? Right now I'm thinking we're gonna post those behind the scenes video moments on the This Is Mythical channel so be subscribed to that. But if we don't, they'll be somewhere.

I'll just leave it at that. Yeah. We're not gonna make any promises. It's not a promise, it's just an assumption that may change. I like being a guy who has a mustache for a little bit of time because I know ultimately I will be a guy without a mustache.

Yeah. I like being different than myself and most of the population who has more taste. Part of being cool is that you throw taste out the window. It's like, you know, in spite of taste. Yeah, people who are cool don't even know it. The coolest people don't even know it. Yeah, I think Jason's one of those guys.

I think he is. I think he is. He was such a, like, we try so hard. We think about all this being cool crap. We're trying so hard. It's sad. Yeah, it is a little bit. We calculate so we can seem like we uncalculated.

Yeah, seem like you don't care. The dude just did a great thing. He did, and we had a great conversation with him. And he has a great mustache to go along with. You'll see it in a second and you'll hear it because if you're just listening, you can hear it, hear the slight muffled sound of his voice coming through that flavor saver.

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so if you don't love it, just send it back, no questions asked. And now, onto the biscuit. I couldn't help but notice your shoes when you walked in, because I feel like that's what people probably look at first when you walk into a room. Yeah. If they know what you do. But I didn't look directly at them,

it was like staring at the sun, it was like, can't don't look too long, I don't wanna be, so what did you wear in here? What do we got? I got the 97 Air Max in gold, just retro. It's like, can't do it too long, I don't wanna be. So what did you wear in here? What do we got? I got the 97 Air Max in gold, just retro. Oh, can you put it up here? How flexible are you?

Oh, just take the shoe off. This is like my second time wearing them, so. Really? Look at all that hair. Hey, ask permission, man. Oh, may I? That's Jason Mark. Sorry.

Please. Can you touch the shoe? May I. Oh, may I? That's Jason Mark. I'm sorry. Please. Can you touch the shoe? May I touch the shoe? I've already touched it twice. I'm blowing it. Please do, please do. Is there an etiquette? Like, may I?

Yeah, you're only supposed to put your finger in the back loop, right? Well, for me, like, I don't think that, I'm not too, I'm like, whatever. You're not too precious? No, but when touching other people's shoes, I'm conscious of the oils in my fingers. And when it's, like this shoe doesn't really have

any super delicate material on it. That's a subtle way of saying you've already violated the code, Link. But if it was like a suede, I'm kinda just really particular about like, okay, oils might transfer onto the suede, so I'm just gonna hold it from the midsole. It's like when you go to a hat shop, like, you know, I will buy the occasional fedora

from like Gorin Brothers. What is that, you talking about lids? No, no, no, I'm talking about like Gorin Brothers, like the hat hat shop. You know, there's one in Pasadena, there's, you know about Gorin Brothers. Like a cowboy hat? And so, no, like the fedoras are the clothes that I wear.

So I go in there and for the longest time I went in there and I was grabbing the hat on top of the hat and picking up and moving around. And then like the fifth time I was in the store I saw a sign that says please do not handle hats from the crown. Crown. You're supposed to take the brim

and hold everything from the brim. So basically the equivalent of a brim of a hat is the sole of the shoe. I don't know if that's etiquette, but that's just sort of my personal thing. But I, you know. You have the power to create etiquette. I don't know about that. That's the beauty of it.

I don't know about that. But you did help create the way people think about the cleanliness of their sneakers. Yeah, well, I mean, I think like having clean sneakers is just sort of goes hand in hand with being sort of into sneakers. I didn't create that. I think what I created was in some ways,

it wasn't to make shoe cleaning cool. I guess it just kind of became that as well. I mean, what I wanted to do was create a shoe cleaner that was made specifically for the sneaker culture and sneaker market. And you're talking about a cleaning product. Cleaning product, yeah. So just bring me up to speed.

So what is it you do? What's the breadth of what your company does at this point? You clean shoes, you got a product that cleans the shoes with. Right. Like what are all the facets of the business here? So it started 10 years ago and it started with a shoe cleaner, and that's it.

Like I had a shoe cleaner kit, it had like a eight ounce bottle of cleaner, and it came with a brush, and I had. Because that did not exist. No, well, shoe cleaner existed. It was just more of like mass market stuff, like stuff that you would just find in the mall and like you bought your shoes at footlocker yeah and then at the at the cashier's like hey why don't

you let me just give you a little exactly yeah a little squirt bottle of this stuff right yeah so that stuff existed um i've tried it and i'm sure you know a lot of people have, but for me, I just personally didn't trust that stuff because it was an aerosol can, it had this spiky lid cap that acted as, was supposed to be a brush, and it was these sharp, I don't know if you guys remember this,

but it was super sharp bristles. So I just never, I mean I've used it before back in the day, but I usually resorted to just kinda making my own stuff at home. You want your shoe back? Yeah, that'd be good. That's a clean shoe. That is a sweet shoe.

I just thought of you sitting there with one sock on. I was like, we can't keep talking to Jason Mark. You got one shoe on. Give the man his shoe back. I kinda hope you forget about it, I could keep one of his shoes. Ah yeah yeah. You blew it, man.

He would've remembered when he started walking. I was about to grab it and slowly start inching it to my side of the table. I would've noticed, he would've noticed. I would proudly wear one shoe if it was that shoe. Yeah, okay. So we should've discussed that ahead of time. Okay, right, so the existing product was inadequate.

Well I mean, yeah, I just. Well, it was scary. It was like a porcupine on top. It was dangerous. You spend hundreds of dollars on a shoe. This is like a prized possession. They throw in this thing in your bag, look like a polyurethane porcupine.

That feels like an upsell. Yeah, it feels like an upsell anyway. And then I remember the bristles used to break off and it just wasn't the best product. But I think for me, at least, the biggest thing was sort of not trusting what's in there. So I'd just go home and make my own like dish washing soap, warm water.

Sometimes I'd mix like, if it was like, for like to clean my laces, if they were white laces, I'd put them in like a little Ziploc bag with like warm water, some dishwashing soap, and some bleach, and I'd shake it up, and they'd get really bright white. But the thing is, after you put your laces back in, the bleach would have weakened the lace,

and it would just like. Like hair. Yeah, it would just, so there's certain things that like, there's certain tricks, you certain tricks that everybody has. So you were, so this is talking 10 years ago when you wanted this for yourself. Were you a self-ascribed sneaker head at the time? Yeah, I was into sneakers for sure.

You had like a vast collection back then? I had a good amount of shoes. I'm not like a, I still don't consider myself like a collector per se. collection back then? I had a good amount of shoes. I still don't consider myself a collector per se. I've just always been into shoes. Everything that I buy, I wear. It's not like I flip them or buy multiple pairs. I have a sneaker room now, but I just used to have boxes. It wasn't anything like thousands of pairs.

Right, well the funny thing is I think about the way that we approached shoes growing up. We grew up together and especially as a kid, I think I didn't understand the whole sneaker head thing until I became an adult because as kids what we would do is you'd get a new pair of shoes and then you would just wear it indiscriminately everywhere and it just got so dirty and you just knew how long you had the shoes

by how dirty the shoes were. But like when you played basketball, even in middle school, I remember, I wasn't on the team, I kept score for the girls and they didn't give me shoes for that. You were close by. You did not need any specific type of shoes for that role. You could have had on slippers. Yeah, I could have been barefoot, man.

Which is good for your feet, I'm told. Yeah, well, no, don't say that. Maybe, I'm sorry. Yeah, that's not true. You need to clean your feet. I clean them. You gotta have shoes. But I remember those first tennis shoes,

not tennis shoes, basketball shoes that you had. You didn't wear those out when you were off the court, did you? I did, I did. Just like running through the fields and stuff? Now first of all, my son knew about you, had bought your kit because he's the sneakerhead in my family and he's also, he's a basketball player now. He's gone from diving to basketball

and so he's got his shoe collection and he has his court shoes. And I was telling him the other day, I was like, you realize that our coach, first of all, everybody on the team got the same shoes. So now it's like every player gets their own shoes. And that's not something that's happened in the NBA, but now it happens in college.

And it also happens in high school now. But we had the team shoe. Like the year the pumps came out, we bought pumps, our whole team got the pumps. That was big. But I would wear those pumps, not only would I wear them to school, I would wear them when I played street ball

in my front yard on my street, like the really rough gravel. And then I would wonder why when I was in the game, I had no traction at all. You'd be sliding around like air hockey. And it's like, I don't know why no one told us how we should think about things. Like why didn't somebody, why didn't my coach just say,

you guys shouldn't wear these shoes anywhere but this court because you need the traction that they were designed to have. It's like Locke, it just blew his mind that that was something that we did. But we just, we didn't understand shoes. You know, honestly, like, I'd wear my shoes on the black court when I'd play in the gym.

It was one of those things where it was just like, I wasn't broke, but I didn't have all the money in the world to buy all the shoes that I wanted to buy. So I'd just wear them and try to keep them clean as possible. Which actually made it more important to keep your shoe. Right, yeah. You know, they would get dirtier,

and you weren't just gonna go out and buy another pair and another pair, you were gonna get them clean. Right. So were you always meticulously cleaning and trying to figure that out? Yeah, I mean I think just my personality is I'm a little bit of a clean freak.

You know, just even outside of shoes. Me too. just my personality is I'm a little bit of a clean freak. You know, just even outside of shoes. You know? Me too. You too? Yeah. I'm a bit OCD. But you're not a shoe clean freak. I'm not a, no, but in many things. Because I think that most people think of it like,

okay, if I got a shirt and it's got like a mustard stain on it, I'm like, mm, can't wear that. But then for some reason they believe that that rule stops at the ankle, right? And they're like, well I got a weird grass stain on my shoe but. Well it's a lot more pricey. But explain, I wanna just help people understand

the mentality behind seeing the cleanliness of shoes as being as important as the cleanliness of your shirt. Absolutely, I mean I think the reason why, like just to go back, like, when I created the logo, the original logo has a speech bubble in it. I don't know if you've seen it, but it has a speech bubble. And the whole thought behind that was like, your sneakers are an expression, a statement, like you basically, you don't have to say anything. And it's sort of like, you look at the person's shoes, and you're like, okay, like, what's up? You know, like I know, you know it's like

game recognize game type of thing. So keeping your sneakers clean, like you couldn't just walk out the house with busted sneakers because it just, it completes your whole outfit. Right. What you're wearing, so. And was that something that.

You don't wanna look like a hobo from the ankle down. Tell me about, you grew up downtown, right? No, I grew up in the South Bay, which is like Harbor City. You're downtown now. I'm in downtown, well, headquartered in downtown. Yeah, yeah. So your group of friends, was it something that

everybody understood this, don't go out of the house with busted shoes, or was this something that you kinda brought to? No, it was sort of like amongst my peers that were in the shoes, you kept them clean as possible, as much as possible. And I think, you know, the big thing with me was like growing up was playing basketball. Like I thought I was going to be the first Asian like pro player, you know, which like seeing. Were you? Far from it. I thought I was so good.

You know, I thought I was so good and I really was not that good. You know, I was like in the eighth grade. I remember just like playing and just dribbling circles around like my teammates and just doing no look passes and everything. And I get to high school and I remember trying out for the the freshman basketball team and I was just like it was just like a huge awakening that I really was not that good I I tried out I went to summer uh whatever summer camp and then I didn't make the team and then I tried out again for the sophomore team I didn't make the team and it was like okay you really you not that good. Ooh, but you can look good. Yeah, it was just fun.

I mean, yeah, it was just fun. It was, you know, that was a big part of growing up with playing ball. Yeah, well that's what got, actually both of our kids are more into shoes than we are. That's what got them into shoes is that we started taking them to, like my kids were not into basketball at all,

which was my sport growing up, because like I said, Locke was into diving. There's no shoes for diving. There's just a little Speedo, it's kind of embarrassing to wear. And, but taking him to the Clippers games, I know you're a Lakers fan, Clippers fan, we won't even talk about it.

We won't even talk about it. We won't even talk about it. That's all we'll say. You already brought it up. Because of that our boys got into basketball. They got into basketball which leads you in the shoes real fast. Well it was actually getting an Xbox and then they got.

2K, NBA 2K. Yeah which they started playing the video game and then we started going to basketball NBA games here. But you start to see how all the businesses are so related, right? It's like, oh, gonna get you into this game and then you're gonna wanna understand how to win the game because the game is so realistic.

Actually watching basketball happen is gonna help you play the game better. Oh, I'm actually interested in this. What are these guys into? Oh, they're really into their shoes. Now I'm into shoes, so now Locke has, I had to install these two shelves next to his bed where he's got all his shoes and then we had an agreement.

I was like when you beat me in horse, I'll buy you a pair of shoes and that finally happened like two months ago so then I had to buy him a pair of shoes. What'd you get him? What did he end up, actually he went with us to. He couldn't pick out a pair. To R so it's like. What'd you get him? What did he end up, actually he went with us to. He couldn't pick out a pair. To Riff LA. Okay.

And he couldn't pick out a pair. He got stage fright. You know what he did? He got, much to my disappointment, he got the Duke themed Kyries, and I'm an NC State grad, and my wife is a UNC grad, and he got the Duke themed Kyries. Are they called the Flat Earthers? No, but that'd be good.

That'd be good. It's got like a, Is it like squished earths? Yeah, no, you raise up the bottom and it's got like a map on the, it's got the earth on the bottom because it's flat. As it actually is. That's good.

I incidentally, I tweeted Kyrie a lot. Whenever I see like a NASA video that shows the roundness of the earth, I just at him just to remind him that I see a NASA video that shows the roundness of the Earth, I just at him just to remind him that it is round. And what does he say back? He doesn't say anything back. Oh he doesn't.

No Kyrie has not responded. Well he's busy. He's got some awesome shoes though. Got some great handles too. That's what we play ball every Wednesday and that's what I run in the Kyrie 3s. Yeah, there's three pairs at our house. My eight year old has a pair that he plays in

in his basketball league and then Locke has two pair. But how did it go from, you wanted to formulate your own cleaner just for yourself, or was it immediately a business idea? Well, I've always been sort of like business minded. I've always wanted to be my own boss. I've written like business plans that never really panned out.

And I was cleaning my sneakers one night and I was using my homemade concoction or whatever. And it was like, I told you, it was like a mix of OxyClean, dishwashing soap and warm water and like a toothbrush. And I was cleaning my shoes and I was like, like that was sort of like the first aha moment.

Like there's gotta be,, I'm using household cleaners to clean my shoes, there's gotta be a better way. So I didn't know if I wasn't aware of something existing specialized for the sneaker market, so I just. Or if you were on to something. Right, yeah, so I jumped around the internet, didn't really see anything that was special. I'd go I, I, uh, you know, jumped around the internet. Didn't really see anything that was like special. I, I go to like, um, sneaker lineups and to my local sneaker shop at the time I was living in Harbor city. So proper in long beach was like my spot. And, um, I'd go down

there and just ask people like, what do you, Hey, what do you use to clean your sneakers? And everybody had a recommendation. It wasn't like, oh, go use XYZ product. It was like, take a white tip eraser, use a Tide pen. Oh, you know, if you do this and you kind of, you mix that with this. And that's when I was sort of like, okay, there's something here now. And so that was sort of the real aha moment.

So what was the next step? Come up with a name or come up with a formula? The formula. Oh. Yeah, so I'm not a chemist. So the first, once I knew I had the opportunity and idea there of what I wanted to create, I started Googling chemist.

Really? Yeah. A chemist in my neighborhood? Like you wanted to show up at his car store? You yelped to chemist? No. A chemist in my neighborhood? Like you wanted to show a local car store? You yelped a chemist? First, no. It was 10 years ago. No, it was like chemist Los Angeles.

And then, you know, the language was like contract manufacturing. I was like, okay, contract chemist. And so like, I would just, you know, that's where I had met like my main chemist. But I went through two chemists before landing on him and being like okay he gets it. Well how hard is it to get? Make something really good to clean shoes.

That's the thing, that's the thing is like you would, so the first guy that I had called said yeah come down or whatever and I was trying to explain to him exactly what I wanted to do, my vision, like the first priority for me was making it safe. So people don't even have to think twice, like, oh, I got to clean my sneakers. I'm just going to go grab that product and use it. I might eat my sneaker later. Yeah. So yeah, it was just, that was the first thing. And the guy was like, yeah, shoe cleaner. I can make you

shoe cleaner all day. Like we could, we could do, you could do your logo here. It was just, he wasn't really trying to hear me out, you know? I got you. And then the same with the second guy. And then the third guy who I ended up going with, I remember I called him, I was working my full time job. I was working in advertising and I called him on my lunch break and we talked for like an hour and a half. And I was just, just talking about the vision and what I, what I wanted to do and how important it was that it didn't, you know, damage suede or that it didn't turn the shoe yellow. And I was trying to explain to him, there's so many different grades of suede and there's patent leather. And he's like, what's patent leather. And so like, yeah. So it was just,

you know, I, I, after speaking to him for like an hour and a half, I set up a meeting and I remember I brought it, I brought in like five or six different pairs of shoes and we sat in his office and it was just like educating him on like materials, which was, which was a trip. And, um, the next step was I went out and bought like every shoe care product that I can find that was on the market that I didn't even use. It was just like, here you go. Here's what's on the market. And here's like my vision and direction.

And this is what I want to create. And it was just off to the races from there. And then how long did it take to develop the secret formula? Oh, it took about, I want to say less than six months. It was a lot of testing. He'd give me three or four different samples to take home and then I'd go test them and then I'd write my notes and feedback like, oh, I wanted it to foam more,

it doesn't clean that well on rubber or vulcanized soles or different types of things and I write it back and I give them the feedback and then like another two, three weeks later, you'd be like oh, I got some more samples from you, come pick them up. And then once you had what you had decided was the final formula, what was the transition from quitting your day job

to kind of chasing this dream? Once I had the formula, that's when the fun stuff, like it was the formula and then it was like picking the color and picking the smell and then like. And then what was it called or what's it called now? It's called Jason Mark, it's my first and middle name. But so that was all like,

I'm pretty creative minded, so that was where I like, I was like, okay, now I could call it this. And I had some really. You took that advertising mind. Yeah, just like, it was just, I felt, you know, that was like my zone, you know? So like, the brand. Well, there's very few things that are satisfying is,

like, if you've got an advertising mind, taking that and applying it to something that you're trying to sell. Like as opposed to like taking all the energy and trying to sell somebody else's product that you may not believe in. Right, right. Or something different about that.

I think, I don't know, yeah exactly, just that it was mine, you know? Like I really took the time to like really think it through and i had some cheesy names um and like what you remember uh i think the one jason no more marks that's good no more marks yeah i think the the one that was like the front winner which i think back now is really cheesy but i was gonna call it sneak peek Peak Shoe Cleaner. Like sneaker, like sneak and like peak, like a mountain, like keep them in peak condition. Oh, Sneak Peak.

Sneak Peak. It's not that bad. I mean. But I mean. Yeah, I remember. You could have like a creepy dude looking over a fence. Nope, that's not. But using the name though, it almost makes it seem

like a premium product in some way, right? It doesn't seem like a gimmick product when you put your name on it. No, it almost makes it seem like a premium product in some way, right? It doesn't seem like a gimmick product. No it doesn't, it doesn't. And I remember the exact morning where it kinda like dawned on me, like oh use your name, was I was brushing my teeth and I go to open the medicine cabinet. With the product?

No, not with the product. I've actually tasted the product. You have any? I'd love to taste it right now. It's not very good tasting. I would not recommend it. It probably tastes great compared to some of those we've been fed around here.

That's true. Oh yeah, I opened the medicine cabinet and I had a Paul Smith bottle of lotion or face cream or something. And I was like, oh, Paul Smith, that's the designer's name. That's pretty timeless, I guess. It's not trendy. So I was like, like, that's pretty like, timeless I guess. Like it's not trendy.

So I was like, oh, I'm gonna call it, and my middle name is Mark, but it's spelled with one K. And the reason I added the extra K was, I wanted it to be kind of easy to search. Like, I don't know how many Jason Mark with one K there are in the world, but with two Ks, probably not that many. Yeah, it's important, man.

Yeah. It's important, that keyword thing, SEO. Gotta keep Googling. Gotta get that SEO going. So you had that and you're working on all of your marketing mojo but then you've got like, I mean you've got like a nest egg that you're investing into manufacturing or something? No, to raise money, this was 2000.

I launched the company in 2007, and the development and all that was like 2006. And I remember I put together this PowerPoint deck, and I invited my family over. I was living with my parents, but I invited them into the living room. I had like, like, you know, my favorite auntie and like my sisters and their husbands. Um, and we had dinner. I could remember I cooked dinner for them. They knew something was up. You know, it was just weird. Why are you getting us drunk?

And then I remember, like, busting out my laptop and, like, walking them through my presentation. And I raised, like, I don't know, like, $15,000. Like, my sister would give me, like, five. My parents gave me, like, whatever. I remember it amounted to, like, under 20 20 and that's what I had to work with. So like website and like production run, like the first production run. Well, you know, if you believe in something

that you're doing and you can convince the people that love you and have the means to support it, to support it, that's the way to do it. Yeah, I mean I believed in it for sure. And I just figured. What are they gonna do, defamily you? Yeah. I think that's called disown.

No more PowerPoints. Yeah, they're gonna ban you from PowerPoints in the living room. Yeah, so. It didn't happen. No, it didn't happen. They supported me and they still do very much support. Yeah. So you made your first batch.

Right. Or you had it made. I had it made. And then, I mean, what's the strategy? How does this thing get from? Yeah, so I think the first production run, the minimum was like 2,500 units or something like that, if I remember correctly.

Back when I launched it was packaged in this mini sneaker box. And I remember I had like a filling pizza party like at my sister's house. I got pictures somewhere, but it was just like, you know, three or four six foot tables. And it was literally like me, us filling bottles by hand. We had those, you know know those gatorade like um uh you know those orange gatorade like uh that's soccer games yeah like a cooler yeah we go to home depot and i remember i got two of those and i got like a piece of rubber hose that would like go on

to the spigot and it would just prevent like foam so you just put the hose in the bottle and you'd like fill each one and uh so we had like a filling party, we had like an assembly line with people making like mini sneaker boxes, I ordered pizza and it was fun, it was fun. You know, it took, back in the day used to take me, like a 2500 unit run would last me like a whole year. Which, I forget.

And you would sell it out of your house? Or you would sell it out of your house or no so sell it out of like the sneaker shops no i i so basically what i did um before i even quit my job i think going back to that question was um i had the product but i didn't launch it officially and i i felt like i might need to have some sales skills. So like my younger brother at the time, he was selling kitchen cutlery. You know like one of those when you go to like campuses and people hand you like those flyers

and it's like yo, like need a job? Door to door knife sales. Yeah, like literally, Cutco. Yeah. Yeah, shout out Cutco. Yeah, we've had a couple of Cutco situations. I still use Cutco because that guy Joey came to my house, man. Joey came to my house, man.

Joey came to my house, man. Selling me cutco. I thought he was gonna cut me. That was his tactic. I've had him for 16 years. I had him sharpened last year. Yeah, well Joey would break out the knife and like he would threaten you with it.

That's how I bought the whole frickin' set. He had that thing, that clincher moment in the presentation where he would cut a penny with those scissors. That's the one that gets you. Where he would hit the couch. I'm gonna get the scissors! How am I gonna cut my pennies if I don't get the scissors? Yeah, yeah, yeah, gotta cut those pennies.

Oh man. So yeah, I basically quit my advertising job and then I. But you got your, your brother was a knife salesman. He wanted to be a. He was a salesman and he had his own like office in Torrance, like he had his own, he was running his own thing. Selling lots of knives.

He had people selling, selling for him. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I saw his, I saw his sales manual one day and I was just like flipping through it and it was like the, it was like the ABCs of selling, like how to handle objections and all that. And I was like, this is like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like,

I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like,

I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like,

I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was sell so I he hired me it was funny I had to go through this whole interview process and like I was you know he hired me for a summer and I sold you didn't hire your brother no you asked him to hire you so you could learn and he had me it wasn't just like you like you got the job it was like I remember sitting in the it was like this bungalow it was it was like and it was like three people ahead of me and they were all like there for interviews.

And it was like, my brother, dude, like just hire me. Like, what do you, but I had to go. I can count a penny, man. So you sold knives to learn how to sell. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But I just never, well, I get, maybe I did use some of the knowledge that I picked up, but yeah, so I sold knives for a summer.

I almost sold like $30,000 worth of knives. And I was like, at that point I was like, okay, I'm done. Like, I'm good. Like, yeah, so I sold knives for a summer. I almost sold like $30,000 worth of knives. And I was like, at that point I was like, okay, I'm done. Like, I'm good. Like, yeah, I'm pretty good. Like, I don't need to like, uh, you know, so I quit. It was only like, I was only there for like three, three months, three, four months. And then, um, I, okay. So I had the product and then, uh, before I quit, before I quit my job at the advertising agency, I like hit up all my homies that were like in the creative departments, like the designers. And I was just like, yo, I'm going to quit in like two weeks. Would you help me like design logos and stuff? And they're like, yeah.

So like I just kind of like built a team there before I left. And then, and then, and then, yeah. So they, I had the logo, I had the, so I had the logo, I had the name, I had the packaging and actually the guy that is my main creative director today is the guy who designed my logo 10 years ago. Oh wow. He got him, he came with you eventually.

Yeah, so he's been on the whole, he's seen the whole thing, he designed the logo and he's designed like every piece of packaging that we've done in the last 10 years. And at this point it's moved well beyond the selling the individual packs, right? Well I didn't even, so I didn't even launch yet but what I did was I created like a,

I knew how to create a press kit like from like advertising and whatnot and my best friend was like a graphic designer and I remember. So basically, which is a swag box that you send to people who can talk about how great it is. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Who write articles and stuff for. Yeah, and you had to have pretty good quality pictures,

all that stuff. So I remember we shot the pictures in his garage and had Ikea lights and I gotta find the originals, but they were so photoshopped because like the lighting was bad and the shadows and but it worked so i put i put all this stuff into like a a press packet and i just remember um this was 2007 i remember hitting up like all the blogs it was like hype beast it was slam hype um mr Says, it was like the Jeff Staples of the world and those guys that had blogs and I just would hit them up.

Those are sneaker heads? Those are like? Just like yeah, sneaker, like streetwear, blogs and I would just like email the info line and like hey, my name is Jason, I'm starting this company, I have this product, like can I send you out a kit? And so a lot of them were like yeah. And then back when it was like easy

it was like yeah and before they even got it was like oh we'll post it i sent them the email the thing and then they're we'll post it on this date at this time and i'm like holy like this is super cool and they did like they really just so when it launched um i was prepared to go door to door like if i had it if i had to like go door to door and when it I had to, like go door to door. And when it launched, it got on all the blogs and I got tons of emails like from around the world. Like instantly,

it was like global. And I didn't even have a website. I had a splash page with like, you had a logo and you click it and it would open like a, like an info,

like a email info at jasonmark.com and you would just type. So I remember it launched and like- So you couldn't take people's money. Mm-mm. And I didn't have- Just emails. Those are fun.

Just emails. And I would be processing these orders like via email. Like how many kits did you want? And that's gonna be $25. And then I was like, I was the customer service guy. I was the shipping service guy I was a shipping guy was everything in their pen pal potentially yeah in their pen pal yeah so it was crazy it was like you know I was in the South Bay so then like Southern California and I thought

you know I'm gonna launch it here and I'll probably have to drive up to San Francisco just thinking about like accessible cities, maybe San Diego. And just if I had to go hustle and I never, thank God, never really had to go like door to door. It was just stores from around the world saying, I want to carry your product. And this,

there was no product out there yet. Yeah. It was just based off of, I guess the branding packaging and, you know, the press kit, I guess, and all the press that it got. At what point, didn't it, at some point you expanded to where there was actual cleaning service, right? I mean, when did that come along?

That was about three years ago. So, the company. Yeah, how did that? So six years after your launch, six or seven years. Yeah, seven years. You expanded. Seven years. And I wanted to open a store, like a physical store.

Because we had a pretty good, loyal following on social media. And people would follow us and do all that. But I just felt like it was this. I remember how the store came up because I was doing a trade show in Vegas. It was like Agenda or might have been Magic or one of the ones. And I remember, we had a great show. And I remember sitting there and I was sitting there with my marketing guy. Now like for the trade show, are you like,

you got one of those microphones and you're like, all right, step right up, can me your shoes, I can make any shoes clean, see? Because that's not very cool. That's not cool, I don't think that would work. You're not gonna get the right clientele doing that. That's for old ladies. They gave us like a free booth.

Old ladies got money. Old money's worth just as much as new money. Old ladies got old dirty shoes. Different type of trade show. Yeah, different type of, yeah, we just, we had a booth and it was just such a great reception and I was just like, what do we do now? And for some reason it was like, well, let's open a store.

Like that's the next, I think that's the next thing to do is open a store. And had you expanded the product offerings beyond that initial kit or not really i mean i i remember for like the first five or six seven years we we literally had like five SKUs and i and i just we had the we had like we had the we had the towel we had two brushes we had the cleaner and i think we've we did like a handful of collabs at that point with like really cool sneaker shops, like Undefeated was the first one that we did, and then we did Nort,

that was a New York based sneaker boutique, and then we did Staple Design. And it was just like, collabs were, and we still do several collabs now so like give me an example like what kind of product is it it was just like um i remember like the first undefeated one uh they we basically just took the the kit it was a it was an eight ounce bottle and a brush in a mini sneaker box and they just like they just flipped everything right about it so like the packaging and the pattern

and the color of the bottle and the scent and the labels and we just did like a limited run of like a thousand pieces and then from there that kind of just like, we're off and running. It in and of itself became a collector's item when you would do that. Yeah, limited edition stuff and yeah, this was 2007. But then when you want to make a store,

so that's the next step, it was not just to sell the product but also to be an epicenter for a service? No, like the concept for the store was simply to create a space where people can come and experience the Jason Mark brand, like past the computer, you know, it was just like, what are these guys into? What are they listening to? Like sights, smells, like, like let's talk sneakers and just, but it was really a place to buy product. And then like, as I was designing the space out, we had this,

we call it the JM throne. It's like this old school shoeshine chair. And we had this we call it the JM throne it's like this old-school shoeshine chair and we had one of them and we got it made in Atlanta and like it was just it was it was like it was like being sent to different stores we did a pop-up shop at read space where we had the chair and people will come and get free good we call them quick cleans and then like it was just gaining I guess popularity we would okay they saw it at Read Space and they wanted it at wherever, you know, so this chair would just travel.

And the experience that people would get was just like, I don't know if you've ever got your shoes cleaned before, but it is sort of like a, I don't know, it definitely is an experience. It just feels like, I don't know, comforting. Yeah, I don't think, I've never had a shoe shine. Shoe shine or a shoe clean, but I was told that it's kind of like a massage.

It is, it is very therapeutic. It's like a spa therapy. Especially when you don't have a shoe on. No, well that's not, that is a massage. Oh, that's just a foot massage. That's just a foot massage. With shoe polish. Yeah, it's like, that's just,

that's a weird fetish. I probably shouldn't have brought it up. Or just a foot massage. Right, okay, but this is something that you offered. Yeah, so we were just doing these chair, like the chair tour, I guess, and then as we were designing the store, and I'm like, okay, well I want the chair,

it's become sort of, you know, it goes hand in hand with the Jason Mark brand, I want the chair in the front of the store. And then I was like, oh, well why don't we just do a service, and I really underestimated it at that point. I didn't think I had this big, like, oh, this is like the next thing. Like, it was just.

Yeah, just a cool idea. It was just the next step in an evolution of what you were doing with it that people were resonating with. It totally makes sense though because. In retrospect. You've got people who like the idea of cleaning their shoes and then there's a much wider circle

which is people who just like to have clean shoes. But like, you know what I'm saying, but like am I gonna actually, especially like you would probably be like, okay I'm gonna take this afternoon and I'm gonna clean these shoes and that's gonna be fun and I would be like, ah, can I get somebody to do this? So I mean, it just totally makes sense to me

that if you care about that, and especially if you know that you're not doing a good job, and there's somebody who's a professional that's the right product. But you had the chair in the store, and it was still just like part of the experience of being there, it wasn't a service yet. No, it was just sort of meant to be like

the Instagram moment, like, oh, I'm't a service yet. No, it was just sort of meant to be like the Instagram moment. Like, oh, I'm at the Jason Mark store, let me go sit in the JM throne and like get my snap on, you know, my IG on and that's what it was, the chair was there for. And then I started thinking, I was like, oh, why don't we just do like some type of drop off cleaning service?

And I totally, again, just really underestimated the whole thing and it's kind of grown into this thing where it's just like, I never would have thought, I just didn't even expect that it would be what it is now. Because at this point you've got celebrity clients who like, you're their guy. Yeah, yeah, we've had a fair amount of celebrities come in a lot of basketball players um we've had deandre jordan come in with jordan clarkson

uh we've had uh swaggy p come in um pj tucker who's a big sneaker head um we've had like hip pop artists you know we've had we've even had ke had Kelly Rowland come in like two days in a row. Really? Yeah, that was. Have you come back from? Different shoes though. Different shoes. Not the same, hey I'm back.

I had a rough night, I'm back. But the typical experience, if I were to go in there, I would drop them off and then come back and pick them up like a dry cleaner? Yeah, exactly. Okay. It's just as simple as that, it's just. So you gotta take another pair of shoes to wear out, Link.

Just planning ahead for you. Well, I would probably maybe carry them in a bag into you and not have to like change my shoes in there. Yeah, most people do that. Yeah, that's a better strategy. I'm a strategic thinker. Yeah, so it's just, to put it simply, like that's how I explain it to people.

It's dry cleaning for sneakers. Are the people in the back who are cleaning, are they doing something different than I could do at home with your product? Is it a special thing or is it the same thing? They use, it's the same product, but what it is is they've come up with different techniques and methods on how to treat. It's like, it's serious. It's like a real, it's like a real thing.

Like we, we, we encourage people to like buy the product, obviously like go buy the product, do it at home. Um, but, uh, a lot of times people have that really special pair that me, that has, whether, whether it has a whether it has a big monetary value to it or a sentimental value, and they just don't wanna, they're just like, I don't wanna mess it up, I'd rather have you guys do it, and so we get that a lot. So I imagine that most people are bringing in their prized possession shoes.

It's not like normal people just like, oh, I got these nasty kids. No, we get we get it we get it all that's the thing and i think the kids i think the part of the reason why velcro no we get it all we get it we get we get like just like your basic whatever sneaker and then we get we even get like the designer like valenciaga's we get saint laurent we get all the crazy like plus really rare like really rare sneakers as, we get Saint Laurent, we get all the crazy, like, plus really rare, like really rare sneakers as well.

And then we just get, we get everything. We get the whole, and I think a lot of it has to do with where we're located. We're located in downtown, but in Little Tokyo. So that was important to me, was like, well, I'm gonna pick a place that like, a lot of people can kind of, just a lot of the traffic. So in that- and it's accessible

it's not not just physically but like financially you can like go in and you can say i got yeah my kids i'm just gonna yeah and i get the normal cleaning right and that was important to me was like i'm not just gonna i wanted to design a menu that was like a services that was like ten dollars that's the basic like clean, which we call it, to like $65 and up, just depending on what it is. You know? It's like a detail. Yeah, so it's like a car wash, almost like different

packages. What's the most, something I learned in just going into Riff, because you're right down there. We're right across the street from Riff. Right across the street. Going down there with Locke and seeing this special case with the i think they had a seventeen thousand dollar pair in there what at one point it was the it was those green uh oh yeah the uh undefeated fours yeah yeah yeah and that was oh no no it wasn't the undefeated fours

it was the m&m fours yeah and it was like uh like i think it was like a size 14 it was apparently don't quote me on this but apparently the only one in the world i don't know it was like a size 14, it was apparently, don't quote me on this, but apparently the only one in the world, I don't know, it was like really rare. But yeah, we get stuff like that. Yeah, and so at that point it seems like it's like painting restoration, you know? Like you've got the lady who took that old picture of Jesus and made him look like an owl,

remember that from a couple years ago? You remember that? She like, because that's like, we actually, I knew a guy who. I know you just did an owl-ify Jesus. Worked at a museum and specializes in painting like restoration and preservation and of course, you know, they come in there and there's a million dollar painting and it's like you have to use the right chemicals

and everything. It's a slightly less expensive version of that, but you are dealing with people's like babies. We are. And that's the sort of nerve wracking thing, like especially during the first year because it was like, again, underestimated the whole thing. But we just, you know, we didn't realize how,

I didn't realize how fulfilling it would be. It was just, I thought it was just like, you know, as a service that people may or may not use, it goes hand in hand with the brand. We offer a cleaning product and we'll clean shoes and, you know, we'll use our product. And it's just a, it's a, it's an icebreaker to like, oh, have you used our, you know, it's just a thing.

And, but it became fulfilling when someone hands you their baby. Right. And seeing the reaction was the craziest thing. But then there's also, like you got people in tears, like you gave me my Jordans back and they look beautiful. We had one customer who actually was brought to tears. We had one customer who actually was brought to tears. It was a pair of 85 Air Jordan 1s, OG,

and I guess they were her dad's, and she found them in a shack or backyard shack, and they were beat up, super beat up. And Father's Day was coming up, and she asked us to bring them back. And I remember this was like maybe six months of being open or something. So I had told, it wasn't even, it's not even about like churning out shoes.

Like I told my staff, like just make sure the customer is happy. That's it, I don't care. Like we're supposed to be spending a certain amount of time on a certain service. You know, that's a business, like you're making a certain margin and all that. I just threw that all out the window, like, especially for the first year. Like, I just want you to focus on doing a great job. I don't care if you take two hours to clean the pair of shoes, like, I don't care. Um, and they did, and they, they brought these, these uh this these jordans back

and she had come to pick them up and she was literally like like brought to tears and that that i was i had just happened to be there like oh man like behind the we have this cubby system where the shoes and i just happened to be kind of like watching like i was like holy shit this is all worth it can you imagine how much the dad bawled? I bet he was in tears too. Probably, and my guys, they're just like, yeah, so you should go buy this acrylic case and giving her tips on how to present it to him. Are there people who bring in, maybe it's a kid,

or maybe it's a high dollar shoes. You stuck on kids, man. Do you have a pair of kids? I really, I love kids. I stepped in something bad, and I stepped all the way in it. Like stepped in some Dookie? Yeah, just like, how bad does it get? That's at least $12.

The worst pair of shoes we've ever gotten were a pair of Bapes and they were covered in blood. What? Soaked in blood. Like real blood? Yeah, real blood. Like real blood? Yeah, real blood. Blood from a what? So he had a Fourth of July accident

and he like almost blew off his hand. Oh. And he was a friend. What? Like firework mishap? Yeah, and I saw that, I met the guy. So he was a friend of my main guy that was kind of like running,

we call them the sneaker care technicians, is something that we came up with, for short, SCT. And he was like my lead SCT and he was like, I got this homie and he's got these pair of babes and they're bloody and like, I wanna bring them in and I wanna like, I wanna do before and after. And I'm like, what, like how, what, like is it evidence? Before, very bloody. No, he's like, no, no, no. Is it evidence? He was like, what, like is it evidence? Like.

Before, very bloody. No he's like no, no, no. Is it evidence? He was like no, no. That's a good question. Yeah, it was like, you know, so he's like no, no, my friend, he had an accident, I'll intro you and stuff. So I remember he came to the shop and you know, I met the dude and it was like, it was his thumb,

his hand was still kinda swollen. Like it had healed okay, but it was like you could tell something like had happened. Blown up in there. Yeah, yeah so. Light it, throw it. Or set it down, then light it, then run away. Or don't purchase at all, or light, or throw.

I don't know what you're saying. You're talking about fireworks? I'm talking about fireworks now. Got it. Right. But who am I? Who am I to say? I've done a lot of stupid stuff in my life.

So did you go for it? Did you say yes? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I was like okay, well as long as they're not like, you know, again like evidence or some crazy that we shouldn't be mixed up in. Okay, yeah I met the dude, I was like all right. And I was like just make sure you wear like was like, just make sure you wear protective gloves.

Make sure you're all covered up. And they did and it was just like, they brought the pair of, I looked brand new, honestly. And luckily it was like, it wasn't, I don't think the shoe had any suede on it or anything absorbent. But it was, but the sock liner and everything, it wasn't just on the outside of the shoe.

It was like. What did he do, clean himself up with his shoes? It was, yep. Yeah, desperate times. Yeah, I'm gonna stick my hand in my shoe like it's a glove and now I'm gonna do it with the other one. I don't know. What about stanky shoes?

Like how often is it like this is an awesome pair of shoes but the real problem is the stink foot. Yeah, we get a lot of those. And do you have like a powder uh are you yeah we um we do a combination of things like if it i have if it's really bad asking for a friend okay if it's really bad um like we've even stuck them in the freezer overnight to kind of kill all the bacteria um And we currently use, it's like this antibacterial, it's pretty, it's this brand called Rita

and they're out of Japan. And it's this kind of really like elevated fragrance company that makes like a shoe spray. So that's what we use. But it, so if you're, if you got the stanky kids, you can put them in the freezer. You can. And it will, that makes total sense.

Yeah, it's probably, I mean, that's what we used to do like in our first year. Now it's just like really giving it a thorough, like really taking out the insole and really giving the whole inside and giving it a good spray. If I may. Uh oh.

I'm wondering, this is my shoe. I just took it off my right foot. I would like for you to just, I'll give you the left one too. I mean just assess, what does this say about me that I'm wearing these shoes? And based on, profile me and then profile the shoe. Tell me everything you know about me and the shoe based on this.

I mean, as far as, I mean, it's a pretty, it's a dope shoe. I mean, it's a, what are these, the, are these the Bo, I don't even know exactly what. He knows, though. He knows, though. I know they're a trainer. They're in pretty relatively good shape. Pretty relatively. Pretty relatively good shape.

That means not great, Link. I don't know too much about them. All I know is I watched that documentary, Sneakerheads, and in the middle of it, I said, I turned to my family, because we were all watching, I was like, man, these people are assessing about their sneakers, this is kind of inspiring. I never got too into sneakers, but I remember I had one pair and I was like, man these people are obsessing about their sneakers, this is kind of inspiring. I never got too into sneakers but I remember I had one pair

that I was like, the Bo Jackson, Bo Nose shoes that I really wanted and my dad got them for me for my birthday I think. You wore those things everywhere. And I remember when I got them, I remember opening the box, I remember taking them out. It was like the only pair of shoes that I obsessed about wanting and I was like,

and I am gonna do something I never do. I'm gonna make an impulse buy, I'm gonna go on the internet, I'm gonna find them and I'm gonna order some right now. Because these are originals, right? I don't even know. Was that a reissue? I was like. That's definitely a reissue. I did not, yeah, I did not, to me it wasn't,

I was tempted to be like, all right, do I want, I bet you can get the original, I bet they'll cost a lot of money, I bet they've reissued them if they have, I'm not gonna, this is for me, I'm not gonna like obsess about what this would be to anybody else or if they're actually valuable and I was like, I'm just gonna make an impulse buy

and I'm gonna enjoy it and so. That's how it should be. I assume that these aren't actually valuable to anybody except me as a reissue. I think like walking down the street and another sneaker dude would sort of recognize like those are the bows, just sort of like a head nod. Like it's a classic shoe. I think it's, for me, like classic silhouettes,

like I don't go, that's why you mentioned like, oh, I don't know how much these are worth or if there's much hype, but I always wear what I like. I never, I mean, if it's- Gratuitous Velcro strap that's useless. It's got to offer some support on the foot. I read about them a little bit right after I ordered them, and one of the reviews said they're not, I wouldn't recommend wearing them for cross training now.

But I think this is the first cross training shoe. Yeah. Had to start somewhere, Bo. Now one thing I read about recently is the sort of the crisis of shoe decay, right? I actually saw an article about this yesterday, which is like the whole sneaker head thing is a relatively recent phenomenon,

like it's this generation basically. But now a lot of these shoes that everybody loves, they're actually having to start thinking about the decay of shoes because we're getting to that point where a lot of these shoes that people love are like 40 years old or whatever, you know? Have you dealt with any of that? Is that?

Yeah, we get a lot of that coming into the store. And those are the ones that, like if we see the midsole already kind of crumbling or the paint kind of coming off the midsole. That's something that we just, we, we basically tell them, we just advise them of the risks. Like we can do this and we take before, like we take before and after pictures and, and all that just to make sure like they don't come, it's like a rent, like renting a car. It's not like if that dent wasn't there type thing. So we just make sure to cover us and make sure that like, and we'll just let them know,

like we could clean this, but there's a risk that that paint's just gonna come right off and obviously we'll be very careful, but as long as you understand the risk. Yeah and there's some shoes that we just won't even, if they've come in and the shoe is like literally crumbling, then we'll just be like, we just don't even wanna touch it.

You're all on your own. Yeah. So what's next for you? I mean, you've got this knack for knowing where there's a need, and then creating things that are just hits. I mean, what's the next one? What are you doing? For our 10-year anniversary, we've got a whole new line of product coming out.

So we've been working really hard on that. I'm really excited about that. So in the next month or two you start to see some of those drops happening. Definitely looking to expand the service and the retail. We only have the one right now in Little Tokyo. But I'm looking at New York. You got an event coming up in New York

that I think this won't be live before that, right? Don't you have, there's like some pop-up thing that you're doing in New York? We, not too sure. Or is this something you did do in New York? Maybe I read that. Yeah, we've had a number, yeah, I think, yeah, we've had, last year we did two pop-ups in New York.

Oh, okay. And so, we always have something going on in New York, whether it's like an active, you know, a one-day or two-day thing at a retailer, or something like that, but yeah, we had a couple pop-ups last year, and I'm looking for a space to have a permanent flagship. Okay.

Well I'll tell you man, we really appreciate you coming in. I mean it's been really inspiring to hear all that you've developed and all you've done and even if you're not into sneakers, like I mean I'm very much into Bo Jackson sneakers. You're into one particular pair of sneakers. You know I think that there's lots to be inspired by

so congratulations on all the success. Thank you. And thanks for coming in. Yeah man I really appreciate you guys having me. We'll come down and sit on the throne just to feel like kings. Please do, that would be dope if you brought those pair of bows in and we did a before and after

or something, that'd be cool. Let's do it. Yeah. There you have it, our Ear Biscuit with Mr. Jason Mark. Were you inspired by his story? It was inspiring, right? Yeah, I've got lots of ideas right now. Do you?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. That, the one thing I said about the shoe shine that would no shoe, that's a foot massage, I. One thing I said about the shoe shine with no shoe, that's a foot massage, I got a lot of ideas about that. The shoeless shoe shine. You draw people in. Who wants a shiny foot, man? It's about the massage, but it's for men

who are self-conscious about getting foot massages but are going in for the shoe shine. And you get them in there, you shine the shoe, and then you say, hey, look at that cool bird. Shoe sharts coming off. You get him to look at something, and then you... I said shoe shart. I meant to say shoe starts. Yeah, shoe shart coming off. You get him to shart. Maybe that's what you do.

And then you pull the shoe off and you start... No, I'm not gonna do it. I'm not into that. I got strong hands, but I'm not really into touching people's feet. I like birds. Do like birds. And anyway, I'm just think— I'm susceptible to birds being pointed out to me. It was inspirational. Inspirational conversation to a guy who just said, I got an idea, and now I'm going to—so many people, so many people just talk.

They just, wah, wah, wah, like babies, just talking. Just talking and never saying anything. I'm gonna do this. You wait, so I'm gonna... Jason Mark did it. Make a PowerPoint. Invite your aunt over. Make her dinner. Quit talking about what you're going to do. And start cleaning. And do it. Okay? Quit talking. Make a PowerPoint.

Listen, they were already inspired. I'm just saying. You don't need to shame them. People just talk. They just do a lot of talking. Not you. Somebody out there. Not you. Somebody. saying. You don't need to shame them. People just talk, they just do a lot of talking. Not you. Somebody out there, somebody, somebody, you. You're a talker. We believe in you.

Become a doer. You're great at PowerPoint. At least do the PowerPoint for the person who's gonna do something. Let us know what you think at hashtag Ear Biscuits. Oh you went with at hashtag Ear Biscuits. I don't even think that's a thing. But I know what you mean, I understand.

Just do it, okay? Yeah, you know how to do it. I apologize for him, we'll speak at you next week.