What Watches Can Learn from Streetwear — And Vice Versa¶
Published on Mon, 22 Mar 2021 10:00:00 +0000
Rhuigi Villaseñor (founder of LA luxury streetwear brand Rhude) and Brendon Babenzien (founder of New York menswear brand Noah) share their fascinating histories with watches – and their perspectives could not be more different.
Synopsis¶
In this episode of Hodinkee Radio, host Stephen Pulvirent explores the intersection of streetwear culture and watch collecting through two fascinating conversations. The first guest is Ruigi Villaseñor, founder of the fashion brand Rhude, who shares his journey from collecting Power Ranger watches as a child to nearly bankrupting himself acquiring vintage timepieces. Villaseñor discusses how watches became a way to prove his career choice to his father, the emotional moment of gifting his dad a GMT, and his philosophy of creating "time capsules" through custom-modified watches that carry personal meaning. He reflects on balancing contemporary fashion design with his love for vintage horology, and his resistance to hype culture in favor of timeless pieces and grand complications.
The second conversation features Brendan Babenzien, founder of Noah, discussing their viral Timex collaboration featuring a turtle graphic that addresses ocean conservation and ghost nets. Babenzien offers a refreshing perspective on watches as mental health tools that can reduce phone dependency, rather than status symbols. He explains the Not Dead Yet program, which allows customers to return used Noah products for credit, inspired by Patagonia's sustainability initiatives but applied to the streetwear market. Both guests share how they use their platforms to tell stories beyond mere products—whether through personalized watch modifications or environmentally conscious collaborations—demonstrating how timepieces can serve as vehicles for personal expression and social messaging rather than just displays of wealth.
Links¶
Transcript¶
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| Ruigi Villaseñor | You ever wear like a vintage watch and you think to yourself there was once a person that bought this for celebrating this moment in time that they have, and you now carry that that energy capsule in your wrist and sort of um if my diaries burn, if my journals get disposed or my words get forgotten, there's like this this watch that sort of will communicate for me |
| Stephen Pulvirent | Hey everybody, I'm your host Stephen Polveran and this is Hodinky Radio. This week our episode is all about the intersections between streetwear culture and watch culture. First up, I have a conversation with Ruigi Villa Senor, who's the founder of Rude and a super passionate watch collector. He's one of the few guys who can speak equally passionately about a modern Richard meal, a vintage Rolex, paddock high complications. He's really got all of his bases covered. And he's also one of those people for whom watches are a storytelling device. Just like when he's designing clothes, he's trying to build a lifestyle and an idea around the watches he collects. You may have seen the GQ interview he did back in January where he said he almost bankrupted himself buying vintage watches, and while that got me interested, the story is so much more interesting than just that. After that conversation, I sit down with Brendan Bebenzian, who's the founder of Noah, to talk about the Timex collaboration they did last fall, how watches can be used to send a social message, and the responsibilities that modern brands have to actually do good in the world. This is a great episode. It's got micro, it's got macro, it's got everything. So without further ado, let's do this. Hey man, welcome to the show. Thanks so much for joining us. I am so very honored to be here. I'm such a big fan. Oh, thank you. You know, I've I've I've been aware of you and of your brand of Rood for a while, uh, but the first time you ended up on my radar as somebody who like had to come on this show uh was this G GQ interview you did, uh back in January, which uh kind of made the made the rounds in the watch world um and and I thought maybe we could we could start there kind of as a as a jumping off point. I mean I love that that you said that when when you first started to have success you you were keeping the dreams so high up and that you were making a bet on a lifestyle. Uh what is what does that mean to you? I I love that idea, but I wanna hear from you what that means. |
| Ruigi Villaseñor | I mean I was watching this on this Ralph Lauren bit on uh very Ralph and um I think he was they were talking about how even when uh not saying that the company was down, but even when you know times but where they weren't essentially really profitable, like Ralph was really big on keeping some sort of a dream aspect within the um the the space of brand, right? So, you know, I kind of sort of adapted that. And, you know, I I um I think essentially what what luxury is is really the the not just the craftsmanship but um the allure and the dream that it it's it's giving people you know and so for me I was like well I um I won't know luxury until I uh experience it, you know. So you know I I've sort of just um been uh aficion |
| Stephen Pulvirent | ado of uh the finer things in life, you know. Yeah, I mean I I I w makeanna sure we we get to what I'm sure some of our listeners are are just waiting for, people who read this this GQ story. Um and and that's the idea you said in the interview that as you were building this lifestyle and as you were trying to kind of like embody this dream, that you almost bankrupted yourself with vintage watches. Uh I would love to know A, how you got into vintage watches in the first place. And two, uh, how did you almost bankrupt yourself with vintage watches? I mean, that's that's some commitment there, man. That's a real that's a real serious thing |
| Ruigi Villaseñor | , right? I um I've been a watch collections collector since I was a kid, meaning I was collecting Power Ranger watches and Batman watches. Totally. I there's like actual photos of me like showing off my uh you know, this like Power Ranger watch that I purchased with my Christmas money. And you know, I I think uh I even like I I don't know, I even watched like completely different topic, but like I watched Kobe Bryant videos when he was younger, when he was practicing in basketball. And it's like we always kind of just become a a a bigger person of what we were when we were younger, you know, and um I just am now a much older person than I am when I was younger collecting watches and I um I still haven't left that that love for it. And you know, when I was developing the brand, I was like, well, what is something substantial that I can participate in? And you know, when I said, you know, you have to know luxury, you have to consume luxury to know luxury, I was like, well, right now I can't really buy real estate because I don't that's a little too crazy on my end. And um cars, they depreciate unless it's you know super collectibles and then there's watches right and there's watches that continuously appreciate and you can sort of tell a lot about a man in the watch that he purchases. So I that hobby soon turned into uh quite a bit of a not really an addiction, but uh stupidity. And I I just you know I I um I started buying way more than I was supposed too and then I realized oh wait, uh oh my god I have to like I actually need to have money you know like you know you start to think you're like invincible you know and you know soon these these habits turn into like like real serious like like it controlled my day, you know, to where I'm like trying to understand, you know, the composition of watches, the the craftsmanship, but at the same time I'm trying to understand it by buying it, which is like I really could have just went to Hidinki and just re |
| Stephen Pulvirent | ad about it. I mean there's there's nothing like learning hands on. I mean for for your your as you started to get into vintage watches, I mean, I guess the first question is like why vintage? I mean, like the the modern kind of like contemporary watch scene is definitely bigger in LA than the vintage watch scene. I mean, what what drew you to vintage instead of just like you know heading down to Rodeo Drive and buying something out of a out of a display case. |
| Ruigi Villaseñor | Well, you know, I guess it always taps back to that kid of me again, right? You know, when I was watching these movies and I was watching, I was seeing different James Bond films and I was watching different like just iconographies of what you know Newman and what he would wear and all these things that kind of became the catalyst for you know what I want to achieve. And I I couldn't break that out of me. And you know, the new watches are beautiful. And I don't get me wrong and I participate, but you know, I part of me needs to feel like I feels more accomplished if I were to, you know, get to what I once fell in love with in the b |
| Stephen Pulvirent | in the first place, you know? And do you do you remember which vintage watch you bought where it was like that's when the floodgates opened? Like the watch you bought and you were like, oh Oh, shit like this is an addiction now, this is a thing. Yeah. |
| Ruigi Villaseñor | Um uh you know you start to you I think my very first entry point was uh you know take just yeah just it was it was super super junior or whatever it was with me back then and I was like, well this is beautiful. Then I started to really understand and I'm like, oh my God, I gotta come jump up. And then I I um I bought a uh a pre a pre-daytona chrono. Nice. That's when I like kind of really began and then I participated and I got a 5711 and then I started jumping and jumping and jumping and I was like, this is serious now. You know, when when the zeros start turning a little too much, it gets a little you know, and then I start to realize I'm like, okay, I could uh very well like be in the worst deep, deep end of this, you know |
| Stephen Pulvirent | . Yeah. Are are there watches that that for you are are kind of like highlights of your collection, like the the pieces that like speak to you the most or you think kinda you most identify with? |
| Ruigi Villaseñor | Yeah, I think um I think the GMT and um the GMT is so symbolic and just the the line of what Rolex offers. Um, you know, growing up in the Philippines with with my father and what he perceived as like the accomplished watch was, you know, either a submariner or GMT. And um that's one of the things that like stands out to me. You know, I've yet to really like wear mine, but I I do have one. Um uh Patek Philippe, I think is um my father's been a big Patek Felipe uh fan, a lot of the you know complications and grand complications. Um but yeah, that's that's really what to me is like the the pinnacle of um uh |
| Stephen Pulvirent | of luxury and accomplishment. Yeah. I mean this sense of accomplishment I think is is a really important thing that that you know I think like people who don't consider themselves watch collectors talk about this a lot, but I think watch collectors like to generally, you know, find other other things to latch on to, other reasons to talk about purchasing. But I don't know. I mean, I'll speak from my my own experience, like buying my first vintage Rolex was like I I had made it man like that was that was when like I could call my parents and be like I made good. I I figured this out, you know like and when I looked at it on my wrist it's like I' Im'm here. Like I I'm a big boy. I can I can like play with the best of them, you know? Uh and I think it's a really great thing to just like be open and honest about that. Like I think that's a that's a good reason to love a watch. |
| Ruigi Villaseñor | Right. That was like one of the like actually that's you know, that's funny you say that because that's you know, looking back at it, that was like a way for me to to prove to my dad that what I what I chose to do in life is is uh was the right thing. You know, I was able to sort of be like, well, um I I got the watch that we know we all dreamt of, so I think we're we're um I I think I chose the right career in my life, you know? Yeah. And at the same time I got him a watch of his own and it was it was um it was such a a moment that I wish I had my um I wish I had my uh sister or my brother record, you know. It was like such a moment when I gave my father his his um his GMT and he was um he was like crying in the living room, you know. |
| Stephen Pulvirent | That's awesome. I mean you you it's interesting to me that you like vintage watches so much because I mean the sort of clothing that you're you're designing and the sort of like culture and brand you're building is is extremely contemporary and and future looking in a lot of ways. Like you're you're charting the course for tomorrow, not remaking the stuff from yesterday. And and I wonder how you think about that, that balance between like trying to find the next thing and trying to make something new versus trying to sort of like incorporate and reinterpret the stuff from yesterday? Yeah. Um I |
| Ruigi Villaseñor | don't know. I think I think we're we've kind of been dancing around, you know, uh evolution and uh just preservation of luxury and I think um we've we've yet to still find the answer for that you know like m I I run a really small design team and kind of and it's ran by conversations and most of the time it is about watches. And you know, I I really try to figure out like what the guy is wearing, what watches he likes, and uh what what is he participating in. And um w we're still we're still figuring out that answer, you know. But for now we've we've kind of been um lucky to be able to balance a bit of both. You know |
| Stephen Pulvirent | ? Yeah. No, I mean that's that's important and it's also I think it's it's tough, right? Like it's a thing people people don't uh people who aren't doing that that kind of work right I don't think realize that like you've you've got to convince somebody right to like invest in you and your brand and your your vision while also like kind of giving them something they can relate to and something they can hold on to. Exactly. Exactly. Yeah, I mean, and the space you're operating in, right, which is like, you know, roughly, I think we could say like the streetwear space, is that is that fair to say? Yeah, it's um someone called it post |
| Ruigi Villaseñor | modern streetwear or post-streetwear or or street luxury, whatever it is, I think it's it's about just young guys that sort of built a a a brand out from the streets, you know, or like this digital this digital revolution revolu |
| Stephen Pulvirent | tion. Yeah. Exactly. And and that kind of movement and the the brands who are operating in the same space as you, right, there's there's this huge culture on like the next thing, right? Like drop culture, something's coming out, you gotta line up, you gotta be waiting at your computer, stuff ends up in the resale market. It's this like really hype-driven next big thing culture. And I wonder when you're creating products, like as somebody who appreciates, you know, a 60-year-old Rolex, like, are you thinking about how to both, you know, kind of like lean into the hype a little bit, but also make something that maybe, you know, if 30 years from now somebody wants to show their, you know, 200021 rude jacket to a friend or their kids or whatever that like that piece is still going to be cool and relevant and interesting. |
| Ruigi Villaseñor | Right. I'm I mean to be honest, that's been a um a a big big battle for us, you know, 'cause in the I n I realized very early that I was gonna need to participate to get the the name and notoriety out. But, you know, me as as a personal brand and me as a um as rude there's there's two very different growth um processes you know and and I think now we've sort of reached like a a growth in the brand where I'm now trying to to pull it to where I am personally, you know? And to be honest, I I don't think I'm I'm esteemed by the drop the the drop culture and all that stuff. I mean I I love all the timeless pieces and you know I mean for for I mean I the first car I ever bought was a uh sixty nine pagoda. You know? That's the first car you ever bought? It's the first car I ever bought, man. Like it was that's a pretty dope way to like jump right into the deep end. And it's actually the stupidest way too. I ended up like donating it for tax purposes, you know. And I and I realized that it was gonna be the worst pain in the ass to try to, you know. I didn't think I thought you could just drive it to work every day, but that's not the that's not the way the world is. But anyway, but what basically what I'm saying is like right we're reaching the point in the brand where I'm now I guess pulling back and creating timeless pieces, you know. I think I I don't think it's healthy to train um and maybe I'm doing I'm make doing the wrong thing, but I'd rather do the the right thing for me. You know? And um, you know, I don't think it's healthy to train uh consumers to this this discipline of like constant what's next, what's next, you know? I think um I think it's right for for time and stuff, but I do think once once we fully figure out, you know, what is the necessity, I think it'll al |
| Stephen Pulvirent | ways go back to what is classic. Well, there there's actually, you know, as as we talk about kind of m mixing and matching things, there's there's some watches that I know are in your collection that I wanted to ask you about, which are are these watches the rework watches? Right. Um which for for people listening since it's a visual thing, it's a rework spelled R H E work, uh like Rude and Ruigi. Um can you can you tell us about these watches? I saw them on your on your Instagram in your collection and and wanted to get the the story behind them. Well, you know, those watches |
| Ruigi Villaseñor | that I purchased a while back, um watches that I just wanted to create that sort of had my own uh personal taste to it and then uh I named it rework 'cause I thought it was kind of um a funny a funny a way of us |
| Stephen Pulvirent | ing the R H heritage that my family has and it's um I mean just for people who who haven't seen the picture and we'll link the picture up in the in the show notes but for people who haven't seen them these are you know the two I saw are a a steel daytona and a gold daydate and they've been reworked with these like yellow dials with custom uh you know printing on them. And |
| Ruigi Villaseñor | this I'm using the panthone that I built uh root on, uh which is this um this like spectra yellow sort of thing. Yeah. And we use this on every single branding almost like for the boxes, the drawstrings and the stuff. And I wanted to to have like um the same way there's a Tiffany blue, the same way there's an RMA's orange, I guess there's a rude yellow, right? And I wanted to to to build that for myself and you know later pass it down to my great great great grandkids or whatever it is to be like, well, this is the the watch that, you know, I built whatever, you know, it is later, years later on, whatever we we come out of with doing root is is the watch that sort of, you know can bring you back in time. You |
| Stephen Pulvirent | know? I I love that. I mean the the the notion of this like time travel thing that you keep talking about, I I I love this idea that like they can connect you to the past, they can connect you to the future. They're like they really are. It's it's like I'm I'm not trying to make a pun here, but they're like they are like little time machines, right? R |
| Ruigi Villaseñor | ight, exactly. And it's it's like i you know, like you ever wear like a vintage watch and you know you may not know where you may some some of them don't even really have the papers anymore or whatever it is but you know you think to yourself there was once a person that bought this for probably 10x below what we purchased it for. And always. Yeah, always and was celebrating this this moment in time that they have and you now carry that that energy capsule in your wrist and sort of um bring that along with your days, you know. And you know, with me, I I I created these watches for myself and I mean there's two of each to be honest, but I mean i i've made this for myself as a as a way to just if if if there were if there were if my diaries burn if my journals get you know get disposed or my words get forgotten, there's like this this watch that sort of will like communicate for me, you know? Ye |
| Stephen Pulvirent | ah. I I love that they're so personal, right? And I I think it's something that you know my colleagues and I talk about all the time as as one of maybe the downsides of the watch world these days, which is that everybody wants the same, you know, six or eight watches, right? Like there's a couple Rolexes, a couple paddocks, a couple APs, a Richard Meal or two, right? And it's like, these are the watches that everybody wants, nobody can get, and and they've just become sort of like um like boxes that people have to check, like, oh yep, got a GMT. Oh, yep, got off the wait list for the Nautilus, you know? Um and and I wanna know what you think about that. Like is it is it cool that these watches have cultural currency like this? Is it super lame that everybody's wearing the same three things. Is it both? Like I I just would love your your take on that. Um I |
| Ruigi Villaseñor | think I think it's similar to the shoe world, right? There's plenty of great shoes out there, you know, and then there's still like I think what this is a an entry to to investing in in some way. You know, like I always say like the shoe game is the kids' way of you know getting into investment and all this, you know, how to appreciate the money. But you know, for me, watches is I I I I I understand it. I understand, you know, when when the sport watches are obviously through the roof in almost every brand you could think of. But I don't know. I think that I think that we're losing a bit of the personality now. You know, I go out in LA and same 10 guys are wearing the same ARM 1103 and you know are good and uh and it or like they're using the same you know sport 5711 and all this stuff and don't get me wrong i have these these in my collection and i'm still building, but you know, I I I and so like with a friend of mine who's sort of enlightened me with uh I mean he's really my my mentor who just talked to me about brand building, you know, and just really being true and honest to yourself and then building from that. And you know, it takes a it's it's it's hard, right? Like when I was a kid and I was like 13 years old, I really, really, really loved toys still. You know, like I love toys, but my friends didn't play with toys, they wanted to play basketball, they wanted to do all this, and you know, still I regret to this day the fact that I I made myself not like the toys that I liked, you know. And I guess what I'm trying to forget to is like this is the moment where I really love grand complications and complications, which is that's my toy. And my friends are wanting me to play basketball, meaning they want me to wear sport watches and and all these things that are sought out for and you know i'm taking the the the i'm not making the same mistakes now and i'm liking what i like you know and creating |
| Stephen Pulvirent | something out of that you know dude, I love this this. This has been so much fun. We are for sure gonna have to have you back on the show sometime soon. Uh we can get real nerdy about uh dress watches. Give me uh give me a little bit more time so I could uh I could buy that. I can |
| Ruigi Villaseñor | buy that I can buy that fifty three oh four you know it's you know maybe I'll take out uh maybe I'll sell |
| Stephen Pulvirent | my link for it or something you know awesome man well thank you so much and uh yeah thanks for coming on the show and it's such a pleasure. Anytime, anytime. Up next, my conversation with the founder of NOAA, Brendan Babenzion. Hey Brendan, thanks so much for joining us. Thanks for taking the time. I mean you guys have created one watch, which we'll we'll talk about in a minute, but how do you think it fits into the bigger the bigger vision of what you're doing. It's fun |
| Brendan Babenzien | ny because we don't really think about watch as much, you know, like we it it's not something that for me personally has played a major role in my life, right? Straight up honesty. I I've always I've always found watches kind of fascinating um because from a stylistic viewpoint they they obviously are very important, right? For a man to complete his look, right? And it's it's kind of like shoes or ties. I mean, the watch you choose says a lot about you as a person. So from a design perspective and a style perspective, it's it's incredibly interesting to me. Um, but I've never fallen into that culture of like this watch is going to define me. Um, I think probably because I might have been exposed to a lot of watch conversations when I was younger and a lot of them had a lot to do with with money and it felt kind of it was a little bit off-putting for me. Like this like get get like get a Rolex or a Brightling. And this is kind of going back to like the 80s, right? Which great watches, right? Clearly they're great watches. But it it always had this component of kind of like flexing with the watch that you had, which I know is a very real thing. And it just never really appealed to me personally. Now, visually, I find watches incredibly interesting, you know, like how they can look when people are really just choosing the watch that suits their personality and they're not letting these other things impact their choice, right? Which for human beings is an incredibly difficult thing to do, to not be influenced to kind of like fall into these cultural kind of trappings. But I do appreciate a good watch on the right person. And I think that's where the conversation started for us, becausecause you know, my team and I we're not really big time watch people, but we do appreciate a good watch and we appreciate a good looking watch on the right person. So we wanted to figure out what that meant to us. Um and clearly it meant, you know, something affordable and, you know, really accessible, but also kind of fun. You know, not so heavy not so heavy duty visu |
| Stephen Pulvirent | ally Yeah. I mean I think fun is a is a really like good and important word here, you know? Uh having been in the in the watch game now for for about a decade, like there's so much seriousness, uh, and the timex that you you and your team created is is fun. Like it puts a smile on your face. It's not it's not meant to be there to make you, you know, kind of like ooh and ah and put it in a glass case and not touch it. Like it kind of invites you to like have fun with it, which I I think is a cool, it's a cool attitude to bring to the space. |
| Brendan Babenzien | Well it it hit a bunch of notes for us. I mean one, it's timex and timex is classic and you know, the the value of a timex is is correct, right? Like what you pay for the watch, it's it's a good value, right? It's a good watch. Yeah. So that was really important to us. You know, the visual component does what we do, which is it tells a story, it brings attention to an issue. Um it also allowed us to create the the watch band that spoke to kind of like ocean plastics and you know using repurposed or recycled materials, which is really important to us. So it kind of like it hit on all these things and it really and it allowed us to use a graphic that we love. You know, we love we love our turtle. Um and we we love that he's kind of like telling us, you know, to get our shit together basically, you know. Um yeah. Is a very common theme for us. And we do strike some pretty serious chords at NOAA often. Um we often struggle to find humor because the issues we might touch on are actually really heavy duty, you know. Um, you know, whether it be racism or you know, social justice issues or environmental issues, they're really all very serious issues and it's hard to make them kind of funny. This one this one gave us that opportunity, which was great. You know, it was really like fishing and and kind of like you know, much needed, I think |
| Stephen Pulvirent | . Yeah. I I totally agree. Um I I I mean, maybe for people who haven't seen the watch. So so when this watch came out last November, uh my colleague John uh referred to it as the turtle watch that ruled Thanksgiving uh was our our headline. But uh I I'd love to hear you for people who maybe aren't familiar. I mean the story will be in the show notes. People can go check it out. But how would you describe this watch? Just the actual like object itself um it's |
| Brendan Babenzien | just it's it's one of the really classic kind of timex shapes um really super basic and it and you know by design we chose you know one of the more simple um shapes so the graphic could kind of be the star of the watch. You know, and really anyone who kind of follows watches or popular culture, you know, will, you know, there's like the Mickey Mouse watch and you know like these are the things that are appealing to us. So we we just modeled it after after that thought. But the the turtle himself had come before the watch. There was a t-shirt graphic and you know if people don't know what a ghost net is, it's it's fishing nets that have been lost at sea or discarded from commercial fishing fishing vessels that float around the ocean sometimes for years and years, literally just killing everything in its path, because it catches, it still continues to catch fish. Um and and they die. And it's it's kind of insanity, you know, it's like these really awful killing machines just floating around the ocean because um it might be cheaper to not improve the fishing nets or improve the way they fish um and they just keep doing these repeating these same behaviors that are are really detrimental. So the turtle is is, you know, turtles often get caught in these nets. So we wanted to kind of show a turtle, you know, kind of flipping us off and and you know, reminding us of this problem. Um and he's got a little knife, right? And the knife is he kind of rescues another turtle in the video, cuts him out of the of the net. And yeah, we we just thought, well, how do we use this graphic outside of just a t-shirt, which is something that we do very kind of organically and naturally and the |
| Stephen Pulvirent | Yeah. Yeah, I love the idea of of this this watch being all about others and about other other things and animals and other people. I feel like watches sometimes can be this like really indulgent hobby where it's all about spending a lot of money on something that's kind of like all about you, uh, and instead having this thing that's that's more accessibly priced. I mean, granted, they sold out and were selling for, you know, a thousand dollars plus on the secondary market, but you know, setting setting that aside, like it's it's kind of accessibly priced and it it's about it's not about you. It's about something else. It's about sending a message, it's about, you know, kind of getting people to talk about something other than the watch. Right. Well, I mean, at this point, you know, watches |
| Brendan Babenzien | they really can only be about you and about, you know, one of two things. Your kind of what you're presenting to the world by your choice, like so it's kind of like an ego play in some to some degree, right? This is me, right? Check it out. Um or or style choice. If you genuinely think the watch looks a certain way and finishes your look from a personality standpoint, you know, I think that's that's a good reason to wear a watch or to own a watch or you know. But the the the funny thing about watches now is like from a purpose standpoint, they they don't, you know, the purpose has kind of been lost, right? Because the phone your phone, right, which 90% of us have in our hand all day long has the time on it, right? So like it's not as necessary as it used to be, which I I find really interesting. I would make a case for mental health though, right? If you are in the habit of looking at your wrist for the time, that is a much better experience throughout your day than looking at your phone to see the time. You know, what I've discovered is having to look at your phone for any reason at all, the time, you know, social media, emails, whatever, it tends to occasionally, if not more often than not, pull you into another direction because there's other things you're going to see on your phone. You're going to see that notification, you're going to see this or that. And we spend too much time on our phones. So what I find really interesting is that watches can now serve as a kind of mental health crutch, you know, to stop us from looking at our phones. You know, every time I look to check the time, I do see something else that could distract me from what I'm actually doing. And and that's kind of an awful thing. You know, so my case for wearing a watch right now would be more about mental health than it would even be about style or anything else |
| Stephen Pulvirent | . I love that. I've I've I I mean I haven't thought about it in that exact way before but I I really like that and it makes a lot it makes a lot of sense to me. Well I mean you know I I I mentioned it earlier but you know these, watches sold out in a matter of minutes. They pop up on the secondary market, and they end up in the same way that like most cool stuff uh ends up this way these days, like it ends up being in in some ways about the the hype and collecting and you know everybody kind of being like, oh, I got this, I got that. I wonder when you're making products, this watch and and others that have a social message, uh, how you make sure that at the end of the day it's that message that gets heard and not the like, oh shit, what's the price on stock X? Right. Well, just to be clear |
| Brendan Babenzien | , this is the God's honest truth. When we ordered that watch, I I expected to have them forever. I I thought, this is the coolest thing ever. I'll be happy to have this product for a long time. I won't mind if we have them for even a year. Like that, that was the thought process. We had no idea there would be the response there was. It was not in the cards at all for us. It was so shocking. We we we were calling each other at 11.0, whatever it was when they sold out. And I was like checking to see if it was real. I was like, did something go wrong with Shopify? Or, you know, did we have some major run on like resellers buying them? But it turned out there was people just liked the watch and we really had no idea they'd be gone we we thought we were gonna have those watches for a very long time. Um so it is a bit weird. Um I don't really push for the kind of let's make the thing that everybody wants to resell. That's not really what we're in business to do. Um you know, there's pluses and minuses to this whole kind of resell world, like it's it's a little bit weird because it inflates values of things on really on kind of like it's it's a real supply and demand conversation. Um but it also kind of takes things to these like otherworldly places where it doesn't even feel appropriate. But the the the good side to the reselling market is products stay in the loop. And you know, um, it's kind of created a whole other economy, you know, where young people actually can make money if they're good at this. You know what I mean? And it's like they they literally sell products and they they make a living, you know, doing it in some cases, which is pretty interesting. And it and it keeps things going, right? Everything has value to somebody. Um and that's a good thing, rightight? R, rather than it just being discarded, right? Like or thrown thrown aside. So I'm I'm still trying to figure out how I really feel about the re the reselling market. Um some days I feel really good about it and positive, and other days I feel like it's the worst thing that's ever happened to us. Um it's it's still pretty young, you know, really technically. So we'll we'll see what it does. It's it's gonna be an interesting few years |
| Stephen Pulvirent | . Yeah. Yeah, I I I like the idea of the reselling market being about keeping things in circulation. Like that's definitely a a bright side to it. And I mean, we talk in in watches all the time, especially when we're talking about vintage stuff. Like one of the the great things is that like these are in some ways like the most sustainable products there are. You know, like I'm wearing a watch that's older than my parents. Like that's that's pretty cool. Um and I and I wanted to make sure we touched on this new program that you guys launched just a couple of weeks ago, uh, the Not Dead Yet program that uh when when the email landed in my inbox, I was I was pretty blown away. I was like, this this is awesome stuff. Uh and so I just I just wanted to know, can you share what that is with our audience? And then also kind of where where this idea came about? So it's it' |
| Brendan Babenzien | s something I've been wanting to do for for a very long time actually. It's something that it's an idea I had even before I started the business. Um but we had a lot of other things to tackle before we could tackle this. We needed a a a better infrastructure as a company to be able to support this idea. Come back to us and we'll we'll we'll pay you for it,. you know Um, we won't pay you what you paid for it, obviously. Um, but there's set prices for certain things. I don't recall what they are, but it's a certain price for a t-shirt, a certain price for a sweatshirt, jacket, so on and so on. Um and you know you can use that money to buy new products. Uh you know, it's it's it's pretty simple. It's it's almost like a weird trade-in program or something, you know. And it it does a few things. I mean it it gives people the opportunity to kind of very simply if they no longer love something, you know, and that happens from time to time, we hope it doesn't. We hope that people only buy the things they really, really care about. So they keep them for a very long time. But you know, people make mistakes or their opinions change or you know, sometimes they they're they lose weight or gain weight, you know, who knows, right? Um they have an opportunity to find a place to bring it back very easily, right? It doesn't have to go to the vintage store or anything like that. It can just come back to us. And you know, we accomplish a few things with that. We hopefully support the customers in their need to maybe remove products from their life. Um we get them back, which I think is really cool. You know, we think long term we might be able to sell these things secondhand or if they're really destroyed, you know, they'll be used as as insulation, you know, they'll we'll we'll compile stuff and send it to the companies that make insulation out of old clothing and things like that. So it's it it does a lot of different things at once. Um and it's kind of fun too because people are bringing things back and some of these things will have stories attached to them. You know, um that's that's the hope is that they still they tell stories of people's lives. Um so it yeah it,'s simple. I mean, the idea isn't brand new. I mean, I've had the idea for a long time. Um, Patagonia does it in their own way as well. Um, and they always innovate and lead, you know, when it comes to trying to be a better business, and and we put them at the top of the food chain in that space and look to them for inspiration constantly, you know. Um what are they doing? What's our version of it? You know, they beat me to this one unfortunately. I had this idea a long time ago, but they implemented it before I did, which is a little bit disappointing. I wanted to get to something just once before them, you know, but but they're incredible. And and you know, I'm I'm thankful that they're there, quite honestly, yeah, to to lead the way because you know twenty years ago when I was you know buying Patagonia they were it there was nobody else even talking in these terms you know so the only thing that we've done is we've applied it to a market that maybe doesn't have an organic environmental thought already, right? Like the outdoor community is already kind of automatically in interested the idea of protecting the environment because they're in it, right? They live in it that you know, skiing or fishing or whatever. It's like really built into your lifestyle. But we have a big chunk of our consumer base maybe isn't as active as others and they're more interested in the the style and fashion side. And we're bringing that messaging to them. That's a relatively new thought. I mean it's becoming more common, obviously. Um, but five and a half years ago, it wasn't that prominent. It wasn't something you saw everywhere. Um, and I think that is what makes us a little bit unique in in the space |
| Stephen Pulvirent | . Yeah. No, I to totally, totally agree. Well, th the last thing I want to ask you uh is just to give our our audience maybe a little a little bit of a tease here, uh, are there any more timepiece related uh plans over at NOAA. Ye |
| Brendan Babenzien | ah, there is one there is one coming. It won't be until the fall. Um Okay. It's it's a bit of an update. Um basically. Um I actually think, you know, I I'm not sure which one I prefer. Okay. The original or the new one coming out. They're both they're both pretty good. Um it's a simple update, but it's a good one. Yeah. That'll bell be that' fall yeah, fall twenty |
| Stephen Pulvirent | one. Killer. Well I'm I'm looking forward to it. I'm sure uh all the people who missed out the first time around or even the people who scored one who are gonna want the second one uh are looking forward to |