Latest / The Vietnamese with Kenneth Nguyen / 476 - Can We Move Beyond “Made in Vietnam” labels? - Khanh Ngo

Transcript

476 - Can We Move Beyond “Made in Vietnam” labels? - Khanh Ngo · The Vietnamese with Kenneth Nguyen

0:00
[SPEAKER_01]: Welcome to the Vietnamese podcast today.
0:02
[SPEAKER_01]: I am in studio with Khan who runs made by Go, made by NGO.
0:09
[SPEAKER_01]: Correct.
0:10
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
0:10
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
0:10
[SPEAKER_01]: And we met recently at a dope as Hennessy Party.
0:16
[SPEAKER_01]: It was a party was fire.
0:18
[SPEAKER_01]: It was a Hennessy and it was a dead party.
0:22
[SPEAKER_01]: And then we...
0:23
[SPEAKER_01]: after that party went to get some food and career town and we just started talking and I found you to be really interesting, your point of view is about fashion, about the speed of branding and all of that, you know, all the work that you've done in the last few years in our life.
0:37
[SPEAKER_01]: So here we are in studio in the art district in DTLA, so welcome to the Vietnamese podcast.
0:43
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, thank you.
0:44
[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you.
0:44
[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you and have me in a welcome to the friendly market.
0:47
[SPEAKER_01]: It's actually called the friendly mark.
0:49
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, it's called the friendly mark.
0:50
[SPEAKER_01]: His spot is called the friendly mark.
0:52
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, yeah, awesome.
0:53
[SPEAKER_01]: And you are originally from Ohio, right?
0:56
[SPEAKER_02]: Yes, Columbus, Ohio.
0:58
[SPEAKER_02]: I moved to Columbus, Ohio, and I was four from where.
1:01
[SPEAKER_02]: Where is it now?
1:03
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
1:03
[SPEAKER_02]: You have any memory of it?
1:05
[SPEAKER_02]: Not much.
1:06
[SPEAKER_02]: I had memory when I went back, I went back in high school.
1:10
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, I had a little bit of that memory, but as a child.
1:12
[SPEAKER_02]: No, no, no, no, no life memory.
1:14
[SPEAKER_01]: So for you, it's a club.
1:15
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a little known fact is my family.
1:18
[SPEAKER_01]: I think spent a few months in Columbus, Ohio as well.
1:20
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, well, in the 70s when we had just moved from Harris, Chibbersburg, Pennsylvania.
1:25
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay.
1:27
[SPEAKER_01]: We had family in Columbus, Ohio, and we were just opening it out.
1:30
[SPEAKER_02]: So is there a big Vietnamese community there?
1:32
[SPEAKER_02]: There's a decent size.
1:33
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, yes, decent.
1:36
[SPEAKER_02]: I think what makes the Vietnamese community big and Ohio in general, I think the nail business is really well, so my family has my brother, my older sisters, and they do nails, but I think the nail business got really big, got boomin', so then you see a lot of Vietnamese people move in there as well.
1:56
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
1:57
[SPEAKER_02]: And is there a bit community in Columbus or Ohio?
2:00
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, yeah, it's nice to meet these in community,
2:03
[SPEAKER_02]: My sister was in college.
2:05
[SPEAKER_02]: My sister was a president at VSA, so a community student association.
2:09
[SPEAKER_02]: So that's really cool, too.
2:10
[SPEAKER_02]: So you do see the Vietnamese community, also within college at Ohio State as well.
2:16
[SPEAKER_01]: What do you think got you initially into fashion?
2:21
[SPEAKER_02]: I think what it was is like, I tell people, I said sometimes what makes me a great designer
2:32
[SPEAKER_02]: is growing up being poor.
2:34
[SPEAKER_02]: I think when you're poor, you come from nothing, you're always using your imagination.
2:39
[SPEAKER_02]: You're always looking at how other people would have a certain pair of sneakers or you're like, oh, I would've wore this way, I would've did it that way.
2:48
[SPEAKER_02]: And I think with Fimo community and my friend circle, I noticed that
2:55
[SPEAKER_02]: My, like my side hustle, the way I made my money was customizing and making clothes.
3:01
[SPEAKER_02]: And I think that was really what pivoted me from doing all the other stuff that I've seen around this.
3:06
[SPEAKER_01]: All right, this is getting to this because I think that's a very important thing.
3:11
[SPEAKER_01]: you literally were customizing clothes for like friends.
3:15
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
3:15
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's how you like side hustled.
3:17
[SPEAKER_01]: That's how you made your money.
3:18
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
3:19
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
3:19
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
3:19
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
3:19
[SPEAKER_01]: And like explain like exactly how that goes down and how old were you?
3:23
[SPEAKER_01]: And like how does that opportunity come to somebody?
3:26
[SPEAKER_02]: Oh, so I think when
3:28
[SPEAKER_02]: I think when I was in high school, I would just paint t-shirts and then I grew up around a very urban community.
3:38
[SPEAKER_02]: So sneakers was really heavy into our aesthetic and then I just started painting shoes for fun.
3:46
[SPEAKER_02]: Right.
3:46
[SPEAKER_02]: I think the fun part is is grown up being an artist known how to do art and draw.
3:52
[SPEAKER_02]: I felt like I wanted to make outfits that stood up, you know.
3:57
[SPEAKER_02]: And I remember my friend Mike down the street for me, his mom was also feeling me.
4:02
[SPEAKER_02]: And I remember I used to give her band dance for her to sew on top of these t-shirts for me.
4:06
[SPEAKER_02]: So then she was just like, what is this?
4:09
[SPEAKER_02]: I was like, you know, it's like a trend turning that time, listening to dipset and stuff like that.
4:13
[SPEAKER_02]: I was like, oh, this is cool.
4:15
[SPEAKER_02]: And then, you know, I just knew that
4:18
[SPEAKER_02]: I can make a shirt, customize it less than, I guess, 12 to 15 bucks.
4:23
[SPEAKER_02]: I can sell it to someone customized.
4:25
[SPEAKER_02]: 101, get $50, $60, 65.
4:28
[SPEAKER_02]: Really?
4:28
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, so after a while, I was just like, oh, wow, this is adding up.
4:33
[SPEAKER_02]: And then I learned a little bit about re-selling when
4:37
[SPEAKER_02]: Um, I would buy certain shoes.
4:40
[SPEAKER_02]: I wear a few times and I'll sell it, right?
4:42
[SPEAKER_02]: I'll find some kid as around my size.
4:44
[SPEAKER_02]: Like, yo, I just got these new shoes, but I reward it.
4:47
[SPEAKER_02]: And then I'll buy new shoes with that.
4:50
[SPEAKER_02]: And I think,
4:52
[SPEAKER_02]: That was also a big part of like when you're selling fashion or you're I call selling confidence You got to also look like you're up on top of all the latest trends and sneakers and stuff like that.
5:05
[SPEAKER_02]: So Yeah, I would wear pair shoes maybe five six times and then I'll sell it and then I'll go buy some more other shoes just because I want to keep myself like
5:14
[SPEAKER_02]: looking like a trendy person, a person that could sell you an outfit that makes sense.
5:18
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, it makes sense.
5:20
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
5:20
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
5:20
[SPEAKER_01]: I recently began to recognize how little I know about fashion.
5:26
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
5:26
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
5:26
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
5:26
[SPEAKER_01]: Because I just grew up very basic.
5:28
[SPEAKER_01]: I still just very classic, very basic colors.
5:31
[SPEAKER_01]: But I started hanging out with some people who looked,
5:38
[SPEAKER_01]: like they really thought about what they wear, but things are like oversized or they look a certain way.
5:46
[SPEAKER_01]: And you know that they're not just like doing this willy-nilly or they're just guessing.
5:51
[SPEAKER_01]: They like, you feel like there's a thought to what they're doing.
5:55
[SPEAKER_01]: And I really recognize that recently.
5:57
[SPEAKER_01]: And I want to ask you, what do you think dictates and guides
6:06
[SPEAKER_01]: good fashion.
6:06
[SPEAKER_01]: When you look at it and you're like, that person knows at the one, there's just not like randomly at the right right right.
6:12
[SPEAKER_01]: How do you not how do we know that as a regular people?
6:16
[SPEAKER_02]: I think I think when you look at someone, you know, it's good fashion.
6:18
[SPEAKER_02]: It's like,
6:21
[SPEAKER_02]: It's really weird.
6:22
[SPEAKER_02]: It's like, like, if you come from a culinary box background, yeah.
6:26
[SPEAKER_02]: And you just see how the way the chef just cut the meat.
6:28
[SPEAKER_02]: Right.
6:29
[SPEAKER_02]: And how they prepare the pan.
6:32
[SPEAKER_02]: And you're like, oh, this person knows what they're doing.
6:35
[SPEAKER_02]: And sometimes the fashion is not about really the price of your outfit.
6:39
[SPEAKER_02]: It's how they put it together.
6:41
[SPEAKER_02]: Right.
6:41
[SPEAKER_02]: Like, sometimes you'll look at someone and be like,
6:44
[SPEAKER_02]: like the jeans, the way how it just fit the boots and that certain tea, the length of that t-shirt with the boots and I'm sorry with the jeans and the certain jacket they selected, you can just tell.
6:56
[SPEAKER_02]: It's just like a sense like, oh wow, this person knows what they're doing or they have good taste.
7:01
[SPEAKER_02]: It's like when you find a goddess in a car, right?
7:06
[SPEAKER_02]: It's just the way how the car stands and looks.
7:08
[SPEAKER_02]: It don't have to have like the most expensive wheels or it don't have to be an expensive car.
7:15
[SPEAKER_02]: But you just see the car and you can say like, oh, okay, yeah, it's good taste.
7:18
[SPEAKER_01]: So this is where I'm going with this.
7:20
[SPEAKER_01]: Cause then how do you know that that's good?
7:24
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, okay, so you just explained it, right?
7:26
[SPEAKER_01]: But then how do you know where you fit into the whole system of fashion,
7:31
[SPEAKER_01]: as somebody coming from Ohio to LA.
7:34
[SPEAKER_01]: And now you're like, okay, I put together the side hustle and people are buying for me.
7:40
[SPEAKER_01]: Right.
7:40
[SPEAKER_01]: Where I come from, right?
7:41
[SPEAKER_01]: So like, what does it take to be from like, from here understanding it from this like, gutter role, instinctual sense to like, really notching it up and be like, I'm gonna be internationally because I hear it from me, I heard it from me at the dinner.
7:57
[SPEAKER_01]: Right.
7:58
[SPEAKER_01]: Why does he think he knows what he's talking about?
8:01
[SPEAKER_01]: But I'm like, I'm buying into this.
8:03
[SPEAKER_01]: And I think the other lady who is sitting all these people who are sitting next to us, we're like, buying into, but you're much more in fire because I think we're drinking everything.
8:10
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, yeah, of course.
8:11
[SPEAKER_01]: But now I think with the clear mind, I would love to hear you talk about.
8:15
[SPEAKER_01]: Why do you think, like, if you're coming from Ohio and you did the side hustle,
8:19
[SPEAKER_01]: Why do you think that you deserve what what sense of ability brings you to that like superstar status?
8:27
[SPEAKER_01]: Do you seem like you believe in it?
8:29
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
8:29
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
8:30
[SPEAKER_02]: I think what it is was just like obviously he would say inspiration, right?
8:36
[SPEAKER_02]: Being from Ohio, my biggest inspiration was kid cutty.
8:39
[SPEAKER_02]: Um, a kid from Cleveland, he ended up signing with good music.
8:43
[SPEAKER_02]: He's running around with Kanye West.
8:44
[SPEAKER_02]: So you're like, wow, like, just like, the way he would dress at the time, where like, hard, crispy APCs with like, retro Jordan.
8:52
[SPEAKER_02]: So like, that was already a personal, I'm like, oh, wow, he can do it.
8:55
[SPEAKER_02]: I can do it.
8:56
[SPEAKER_02]: And then also, reckon is, recognizing like, being able to go to New York, you know, I was going to fashion, we used to New York, hanging out with certain designers.
9:07
[SPEAKER_02]: And then,
9:09
[SPEAKER_02]: it just I knew it.
9:10
[SPEAKER_02]: You know, obviously when these, this is like you could hang with these cats in bigger cities, right?
9:15
[SPEAKER_02]: I've never really let me be in from Ohio, stop me from seeing the world, right?
9:21
[SPEAKER_02]: I think it also comes back from my background.
9:25
[SPEAKER_02]: My dad fought for Vietnam.
9:27
[SPEAKER_02]: He was
9:32
[SPEAKER_02]: Every day a C-47 and when I was younger I used to see that plane and I had a young as a young child I knew that the world was bigger than then where I'm living at right a new Ohio was just
9:45
[SPEAKER_02]: where at my ground, and I knew that if I can live off, I can go to many different places.
9:50
[SPEAKER_02]: But when you go to many different places, if you have like that style and grace, people are going to recognize it, right?
9:58
[SPEAKER_02]: It doesn't.
9:58
[SPEAKER_02]: So it's just, I don't know, it's just after a while you get recognizing, you have certain people wearing your stuff.
10:06
[SPEAKER_02]: You know, like,
10:08
[SPEAKER_02]: for LeBron's 40th birthday, you have my hat on, right?
10:11
[SPEAKER_02]: And how did you get it?
10:12
[SPEAKER_02]: I did that happen to be, I'm friends with his best friend.
10:18
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm, I have a lot of good connections with LeBron's camp.
10:22
[SPEAKER_02]: I actually designed it uninterrupted.
10:23
[SPEAKER_02]: So there's like, you went hat that he wears all the time.
10:25
[SPEAKER_02]: I designed a hat as well.
10:27
[SPEAKER_02]: But when he was wearing that hat, that was just like, it was, it felt good.
10:33
[SPEAKER_02]: It's like a job, right?
10:35
[SPEAKER_02]: I looked at it, oh, I'm just working here.
10:36
[SPEAKER_02]: It's like, this is supposed to happen.
10:40
[SPEAKER_02]: When you design a good product, the person should wear it, right?
10:42
[SPEAKER_02]: That's just like, it's supposed to happen.
10:44
[SPEAKER_02]: But I think on the Florida birthday, it meant a lot to me.
10:48
[SPEAKER_02]: I think everything started off with energy.
10:52
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
10:53
[SPEAKER_02]: I was back home in Ohio and me and my dad got into it.
10:59
[SPEAKER_02]: It's that one time I just like crashed out.
11:01
[SPEAKER_02]: When did he say what would we just had a we was just talking about like just grown up and you know they all started off as a conversation about going to the temple and then we talked about the kids that I grew up with at the temple.
11:14
[SPEAKER_02]: And he got to a point where he just was.
11:17
[SPEAKER_02]: comparing us to the other people, other kids and other, you know, what they're doing and valuing what their family or successor X, Y, and Z.
11:25
[SPEAKER_02]: And I just felt like it was just unfair for him to, you know, cherish other people's, like, like, I've always felt like I'm always happy for others, but you feel like the comparison part is just unfair.
11:40
[SPEAKER_02]: So I kind of like,
11:43
[SPEAKER_02]: Well, you know, I kind of got an argument with him and I felt bad, you know, you know, our tradition is, you don't really speak out of line with your elders.
11:51
[SPEAKER_02]: And then I think on the flight back, um, I was very, I think I was very, uh, disappointed myself.
11:59
[SPEAKER_02]: I did not want to show him that side of me.
12:01
[SPEAKER_02]: And then I just was like putting up this energy and the air, like, I just once, like, my dad is a literal guy.
12:08
[SPEAKER_02]: So I was like, I just went,
12:09
[SPEAKER_02]: something that happened for him to see that his kids do cool things too, right?
12:15
[SPEAKER_02]: Like sometimes if you can't really celebrate
12:19
[SPEAKER_02]: your child's wins, what's the point of them?
12:22
[SPEAKER_02]: You know, so I had to learn at a young age or learn how to, like, learning how to keep going outside of like, not getting that cheer for your own family.
12:30
[SPEAKER_02]: But I just told myself, like, I really wish something was more literal for him to just see that his kids do something cool.
12:36
[SPEAKER_02]: It's not a financial thing.
12:39
[SPEAKER_02]: It's not about, oh, he's doing this.
12:40
[SPEAKER_02]: And I just could be the littleest thing, right?
12:42
[SPEAKER_02]: I just wish those littleest things in the world that can show him that his kids are doing something.
12:47
[SPEAKER_02]: And then the next day, LeBron, I didn't know it was the 40th birthday the next day and he had my hat on all over the news, you know, sports center, ESPN.
12:56
[SPEAKER_02]: Is your dad a big LeBron fan?
12:58
[SPEAKER_02]: Of course.
12:59
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, anybody from Ohio?
13:00
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, my dad, my dad, especially my brother, in general, our house was of really big on sports.
13:06
[SPEAKER_02]: Like, we love a house, they book eyes.
13:07
[SPEAKER_02]: He loves how estate basketball.
13:10
[SPEAKER_02]: So that's huge.
13:11
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, so growing up it was just like that's all we knew It's Michael Jordan and and and and just sports in general and yeah, I think that was cool I think I mean, I feel like the whole family is pretty excited But I didn't really have to say anything.
13:23
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm just like let let let this moment speak for itself and
13:27
[SPEAKER_02]: Just go from there and just keep going.
13:29
[SPEAKER_02]: I just always tell myself, I gotta keep going.
13:32
[SPEAKER_01]: So, all right, when you land in L.A., I know fellas are tough, please.
13:39
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, yeah, yeah, it's a tough, it's L.A. New York.
13:43
[SPEAKER_01]: It could,
13:44
[SPEAKER_01]: It could chew you up and spit you out.
13:46
[SPEAKER_01]: You've got to know people here.
13:47
[SPEAKER_01]: You've got to be like dug in and even then it's a grind.
13:51
[SPEAKER_01]: Right.
13:51
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, you can get lost in the sauce out here first.
13:53
[SPEAKER_01]: So you can really care.
13:54
[SPEAKER_01]: You can really care.
13:55
[SPEAKER_01]: What tell me, tell me some stories about your fashion adventure here in LA.
14:03
[SPEAKER_02]: So I think when I first moved LA, I was designing at
14:11
[SPEAKER_02]: at a company called for every 21, right?
14:13
[SPEAKER_02]: Right, my manager is really cool.
14:17
[SPEAKER_02]: Me and him got along really well.
14:18
[SPEAKER_01]: Is it the one who just down the street?
14:20
[SPEAKER_02]: No, yeah, yeah, Lincoln Heights.
14:21
[SPEAKER_02]: It was in Lincoln Heights.
14:23
[SPEAKER_02]: It was my first design job here.
14:26
[SPEAKER_02]: And prior to that, I designed for Urban Outfitters and Philadelphia.
14:32
[SPEAKER_02]: So Urban Outfitters was my first corporate design job.
14:36
[SPEAKER_02]: And then when I left Philly, I applied a couple of jobs.
14:41
[SPEAKER_02]: And then when I worked at Forever 21, I can say fast-fashion and meet, we just don't mix, right?
14:48
[SPEAKER_02]: I just was like, I put a lot of thought into design and then they're just like, they're all about pumping skew, right?
14:56
[SPEAKER_02]: They're all about pumping skews and I'm really big on energy.
15:01
[SPEAKER_02]: And then one day,
15:03
[SPEAKER_02]: I was like, you know, fush this place.
15:05
[SPEAKER_02]: Like, let me try and get the back of my head.
15:07
[SPEAKER_02]: It's too fucking much.
15:08
[SPEAKER_02]: Like, it's too easy.
15:10
[SPEAKER_02]: That's what it was.
15:11
[SPEAKER_02]: It was too easy.
15:12
[SPEAKER_02]: It was just too easy.
15:14
[SPEAKER_02]: It was just, I just, I didn't feel the challenge.
15:16
[SPEAKER_02]: It's just like, I don't know.
15:18
[SPEAKER_02]: After a while, I just didn't want to be in there.
15:20
[SPEAKER_02]: So I just put this energy up in there.
15:22
[SPEAKER_02]: Ironically, I get this phone number from, it says that San Francisco.
15:28
[SPEAKER_02]: And I was as joking as I was like, watch this beat Levi's calling me.
15:31
[SPEAKER_03]: Wow.
15:31
[SPEAKER_02]: And weird, ironically, it was the recruiter from Levi's.
15:34
[SPEAKER_02]: When I left Philly, I applied for a job at Levi's, but the recruiter just kinda went ghost.
15:40
[SPEAKER_02]: And then somehow I did the project,
15:44
[SPEAKER_02]: I had the interview and boom, I moved to San Francisco.
15:47
[SPEAKER_02]: Well, I lived in Oakland, but I was working in San Francisco.
15:50
[SPEAKER_02]: So I was in LA for only eight months.
15:52
[SPEAKER_02]: And during that time, I was fucking fun as hell.
15:55
[SPEAKER_02]: I was going to flee, it's like tons of parties and events.
15:59
[SPEAKER_02]: It was just, I did not want to leave.
16:01
[SPEAKER_02]: I just felt like, damn it, I'm just like, this is such an amazing city, but Levi's was my dream job, right?
16:08
[SPEAKER_02]: So,
16:09
[SPEAKER_02]: I got to leave eyes, it was just so surreal.
16:11
[SPEAKER_02]: And I was able to do a couple of big collaborations.
16:16
[SPEAKER_02]: I did a Mario collab.
16:17
[SPEAKER_02]: I did a new pair of new balance.
16:19
[SPEAKER_02]: I designed my own shoe to leave eyes.
16:21
[SPEAKER_02]: I did the men's denim and trucker jackets.
16:24
[SPEAKER_02]: So that was amazing.
16:26
[SPEAKER_02]: But it's really weird.
16:29
[SPEAKER_02]: I've always said this thing is like,
16:32
[SPEAKER_02]: make all dreams exist and I always tell myself, when you reach a level of it, I guess when you reach your dreams, what will happen when you reach a dream?
16:41
[SPEAKER_01]: I think you plateau maybe, right?
16:43
[SPEAKER_02]: Oh, you wake up, right?
16:45
[SPEAKER_02]: You wake up, you have another dream, right?
16:48
[SPEAKER_02]: So when I got to realize, I see the question, yeah.
16:50
[SPEAKER_02]: When I got to Levi's, I just was, I think the culture in San Francisco wasn't,
16:57
[SPEAKER_02]: what I like, right?
16:58
[SPEAKER_02]: It just didn't really have much for me to do.
17:00
[SPEAKER_02]: I felt like I didn't have a lot of fruits in my labor and working at such a company like that, a big corporation company, it's just certain times places can make you fall out of love.
17:14
[SPEAKER_02]: And it sucks that it's like that because you get to that place and you think like, oh, this is the end, this is what I belong and it just, you know.
17:22
[SPEAKER_02]: And then one day, I was going through some stuff
17:27
[SPEAKER_02]: get this butterfly tattoo on the side of my head and I'm like, I'm grown up.
17:30
[SPEAKER_02]: I was like, you know what, this is only my butterfly here.
17:32
[SPEAKER_02]: I kept saying this'll be my butterfly here.
17:34
[SPEAKER_02]: And what, what does that mean?
17:36
[SPEAKER_02]: It's just like the year we're like,
17:38
[SPEAKER_02]: I just been in this cocoon, and I'm gonna become this butterfly, like I'm off to that life, like I'm off to that year, when I become a butterfly, it's like my butterfly year.
17:49
[SPEAKER_02]: And I kept telling myself that, and then leaving Baso Miami, and I came back home, and I was over the art show.
17:56
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, yeah, Miami in 2019.
17:58
[SPEAKER_02]: Come back to LA.
17:59
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, I'm sorry, come back to the bay, and this year I was different.
18:04
[SPEAKER_02]: I was like, I wanna dedicate,
18:06
[SPEAKER_02]: everything into work and, you know, whatever the case may be.
18:10
[SPEAKER_02]: And, um, COVID came, you know, and how it's like, oh, shit.
18:16
[SPEAKER_02]: And then we're working from home.
18:17
[SPEAKER_02]: Everything is changing, like, okay, this is a lot going on.
18:21
[SPEAKER_02]: And, um, I get later down the line, a couple months later, I get late off.
18:28
[SPEAKER_02]: from Levi.
18:29
[SPEAKER_02]: From Levi.
18:30
[SPEAKER_02]: And it was really weird, but it was like, the weight came off of my show, right?
18:36
[SPEAKER_02]: It was just so much, I was like, man.
18:38
[SPEAKER_02]: And I think I moved back to California, moved down to Southern California.
18:44
[SPEAKER_02]: My sister at the time was living in Manifese, so I stayed with her for a little bit, like, I think like four months.
18:51
[SPEAKER_02]: And I moved to the play from that now.
18:54
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, this neighborhood.
18:57
[SPEAKER_02]: It's scary, right?
18:58
[SPEAKER_02]: That was like shit.
18:58
[SPEAKER_02]: Like I used to, when I first moved here, I was always thinking about like, I need to make sure I have a job, rent.
19:03
[SPEAKER_02]: The cost of living is so much higher in compared to Ohio.
19:08
[SPEAKER_02]: And I just bent on myself and then yeah, like a lot of the sales start coming in.
19:15
[SPEAKER_02]: I was on HBO show.
19:20
[SPEAKER_02]: which show where you want it was called a hype season 2 so were you in front of the camera you were you were styling behind no I was in I was in the I was literally in front of the camera just designed and it's like a design competition oh wow wow yeah yeah how did they find you uh to be honest with you I manifested it I was talking about that like what's that mean so I was on the couch one day and um
19:46
[SPEAKER_02]: My life is really big on manifestation and I think a lot and I just say it out loud and it just happens and it's like you literally say it out loud Say it out here's so many times.
19:55
[SPEAKER_01]: It's like literally say it out loud.
19:57
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, so crazy thing.
19:58
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, so I know that I know that I have a very unique background right I know that my story is very unique I don't think a lot of people
20:09
[SPEAKER_02]: has been through what I've been through just because it's, it's a lot.
20:13
[SPEAKER_02]: And then I just realized one day like, man, a lot of these designers, they really, they really get a better opportunity when the world knows about their story, their background, who they are, their upbringing, you know, they, there's just a lot of who says to a lot of people that have that opportunity.
20:30
[SPEAKER_02]: And I was like, you know, I need to opportunity to like, people know about my story, about who I am.
20:35
[SPEAKER_02]: And then
20:39
[SPEAKER_02]: My boy, Drew called me, he was like, yo, I'm watching this show, bro, like, I think you should, you would probably go crazy on this show, and I was like, oh, shit, I don't know nothing about Hollywood and this to TV stuff, but shit, you know someone, let me know, like, if I end up winning the competition, I'll cut you percent and I don't know, this will be good for me to just try to let my story be out, you know.
21:04
[SPEAKER_02]: One of our friends, Sister was a producer.
21:06
[SPEAKER_02]: She connected us with the producer for the show.
21:11
[SPEAKER_02]: And I did my interview and, you know, he had this in auditions and everything.
21:14
[SPEAKER_02]: And then, yeah, it was really crazy.
21:17
[SPEAKER_02]: But...
21:19
[SPEAKER_02]: They gave me like 12 hours and let me know how it's on the show.
21:22
[SPEAKER_02]: It's really crazy.
21:22
[SPEAKER_02]: But yeah, that was my opportunity to be on the show.
21:25
[SPEAKER_02]: And I think I wasn't prepared like others, like I asked others.
21:29
[SPEAKER_02]: How long did you know you're going to be on the show?
21:31
[SPEAKER_02]: Like, oh, I knew like a month ago, two months ago, 12 weeks ago, they gave me 12 hours.
21:35
[SPEAKER_02]: They called me like,
21:37
[SPEAKER_02]: I think it was like, I went, I did like a mental health zoom call at like six.
21:43
[SPEAKER_02]: Call the producer back like, yeah, am I on the show?
21:45
[SPEAKER_02]: I just left like this mental health call.
21:48
[SPEAKER_02]: They blacked out the entire screen.
21:49
[SPEAKER_02]: You can't see nobody and he's like, we don't know yet.
21:52
[SPEAKER_02]: I was like, okay.
21:53
[SPEAKER_02]: And then I decided to go out anyways that night.
21:55
[SPEAKER_02]: I figured I might be on the show, I might go out for that one last time and they call me around like 11 at night and I was like, hey, we're going to pick you up at noon tomorrow.
22:04
[SPEAKER_02]: for the show and then, you know, congratulations and stuff like that.
22:08
[SPEAKER_02]: I try to postpone the show, pick up times.
22:10
[SPEAKER_02]: I can have time to go buy like fabrics and stuff for the show, but yeah, they wouldn't allow that.
22:15
[SPEAKER_02]: But I just end up packing up a whole bunch of clothes to wear a show.
22:19
[SPEAKER_02]: But yeah, I was like, I'm just going to do it.
22:20
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a fashion competition.
22:22
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, it's a fashion competition show.
22:24
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
22:24
[SPEAKER_02]: And how to go?
22:25
[SPEAKER_02]: Man.
22:27
[SPEAKER_02]: Is that out yet?
22:28
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, yeah, it's on HBO.
22:30
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, it's on HBO, it's on HBO.
22:35
[SPEAKER_02]: I've definitely learned a little bit about Hollywood.
22:37
[SPEAKER_02]: I felt like Hollywood, I was on it.
22:42
[SPEAKER_02]: You guys never champion anyone that's Asian.
22:44
[SPEAKER_02]: It's just something I was just told them.
22:46
[SPEAKER_02]: But me and the director were kind of cool.
22:50
[SPEAKER_02]: I was probably the only one on set that will go up and talk to him, because I kind of want to understand his background.
22:56
[SPEAKER_02]: And after the show he came up to me,
23:02
[SPEAKER_02]: I know you should have won, but you don't want to win this, so.
23:06
[SPEAKER_02]: I was like, what's that mean?
23:07
[SPEAKER_02]: I was like, exactly, I was like, but I want this company this money, it's like 150K.
23:12
[SPEAKER_02]: I felt like I deserve the money, because I felt like I put a lot of, it's like, I literally was building looks from scratch.
23:18
[SPEAKER_02]: While people are taking out their own old patterns and remaking old shit, like everything I made would like completely brand new pieces or whatever case, maybe.
23:26
[SPEAKER_02]: That's how I looked at it.
23:27
[SPEAKER_02]: It's the competition, that's how I looked at it.
23:30
[SPEAKER_02]: But he was just like, you know, you don't want to win this.
23:32
[SPEAKER_02]: I don't think really.
23:33
[SPEAKER_02]: He's like, nobody remembers the winner.
23:36
[SPEAKER_02]: They always remember the guy that shit I want.
23:39
[SPEAKER_02]: And after a while, I just was like, whatever, but I'm starting to see it too.
23:44
[SPEAKER_02]: Like, I'm starting to see that, like, I go out meet people at corporate Nike or something.
23:52
[SPEAKER_02]: I meet them and then they'll say, you should have won the show, we've room for you,
23:57
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, as people recognize it, too.
23:59
[SPEAKER_02]: I guess it comes in my favor, and it's still, you always want to win that, but, you know.
24:03
[SPEAKER_01]: Right, right.
24:04
[SPEAKER_01]: But, you know, people in Vietnam who are from Vietnam and are Vietnamese, and they say, why do we Vietnamese Americans have such a problem with our identity?
24:15
[SPEAKER_01]: We have, it's called Identity Anx, right?
24:17
[SPEAKER_01]: We're so uncomfortable with our identity.
24:20
[SPEAKER_01]: Why am I always talking about this shit?
24:21
[SPEAKER_01]: Me.
24:22
[SPEAKER_01]: And now I'm hearing it from you, and I hear it from everybody, right?
24:24
[SPEAKER_01]: Anybody who's grown up in America?
24:27
[SPEAKER_01]: feel like you didn't get a shot.
24:31
[SPEAKER_01]: Why do you feel like you didn't get a shot on the show?
24:33
[SPEAKER_01]: Like they don't promote Asian Americans.
24:36
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, right, you didn't feel that way.
24:38
[SPEAKER_01]: Do you really believe that?
24:40
[SPEAKER_02]: No, I do believe that.
24:41
[SPEAKER_02]: Okay.
24:41
[SPEAKER_01]: Why?
24:42
[SPEAKER_02]: Because I know for a fact that so there's a scene
24:53
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm a bit emotional on the show, right?
24:56
[SPEAKER_02]: It's really tough because I was like, damn, like, fine on his damn show, looking like, you know, it looks like a punk or something.
25:04
[SPEAKER_02]: So then when the producers first sent me my,
25:10
[SPEAKER_02]: My promo video like everybody gets their own little video that they post and they made you look bad Oh, man like everybody video was all happy and fucking bubbly in shit and my shit had to be all like dark and semi-sad Whatever so I told the producers like I'm not fucking posting this She's like are you serious?
25:29
[SPEAKER_02]: I like no, I'm not posting this.
25:30
[SPEAKER_02]: I was like you gotta give me better.
25:32
[SPEAKER_02]: She's like, wow.
25:33
[SPEAKER_02]: I like like
25:35
[SPEAKER_02]: like you, you guys are trying to put this like soft flight, like really, like really weak image on me.
25:44
[SPEAKER_02]: And I was like, that's not me.
25:45
[SPEAKER_02]: I was like, I don't, and I told her, I was like, yo, if you don't repost this, we all fucked this.
25:49
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm not posting this shit.
25:50
[SPEAKER_02]: And I'm not, I'm not gonna pull, I'm not gonna promote this show.
25:53
[SPEAKER_02]: I don't wanna give you.
25:53
[SPEAKER_02]: And did they recut it for you?
25:54
[SPEAKER_02]: Yo, they recut it.
25:55
[SPEAKER_02]: And ironically, the guy that recut it, DM me, because he's from Ohio, some random duties, like yo, I'm from Ohio, he's like, I'm so glad you told them to recut that shit because I was like, why is his video like this?
26:08
[SPEAKER_02]: And,
26:10
[SPEAKER_02]: I think growing up, especially from the Midwest, the type of pedigree that I grew up in, like, I'll take no fun.
26:16
[SPEAKER_02]: I would literally talk to somebody like, you know, like who are you like?
26:20
[SPEAKER_02]: This is, I don't, I'm not afraid.
26:21
[SPEAKER_01]: This is amazing.
26:22
[SPEAKER_01]: Because I have, you know, I mean, you is rare to hear somebody really step up to power, right?
26:29
[SPEAKER_01]: And say, you got to change the shit.
26:32
[SPEAKER_01]: Because that has been what Hollywood, I think,
26:38
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm just going to say, speak to it.
26:40
[SPEAKER_01]: I think that we have this real life experience of really being put down and playing on stereotypes like a week Asian man.
26:52
[SPEAKER_02]: And they want us to roll with that, because that's just cells.
26:55
[SPEAKER_02]: To be honest with you, it's been like that since I was a kid.
27:00
[SPEAKER_02]: Like my mom would tell me like,
27:03
[SPEAKER_02]: those are way bigger than you why don't you just you know just put your head down and walk away and then and just not saying nothing and you know why did you go up and then predominantly black neighborhood yeah yeah all black neighborhood all black neighborhood well we live in a government housing area so we also had like a lot of allows feed and kimboden homies a lot of like
27:35
[SPEAKER_02]: I'll get in fights, bro.
27:37
[SPEAKER_02]: Like, I literally would tell my mom like, no, I'm not doing that.
27:40
[SPEAKER_02]: And I think the reason why I was like that, ironically is when I was younger,
27:46
[SPEAKER_02]: my siblings, we didn't live too far from a library.
27:50
[SPEAKER_02]: And I think this to the other end of a library car for a little kid, not to live in a crazy, it's shit ever.
27:56
[SPEAKER_02]: And the only movies I rented out was Bruce Lee.
27:58
[SPEAKER_02]: Like, he was my hero as a kid, because he was a dude that just like fought for himself.
28:03
[SPEAKER_02]: Like, he literally wouldn't let no one, like even the way he, how racist the Japanese were towards them, he was always defend himself.
28:13
[SPEAKER_02]: And I think grown up, like,
28:15
[SPEAKER_02]: Bruce Lee and Michael Jordan were like, my idols because it was just like, you never seen a player go three-peat dad goes away and boom comes back three-peats.
28:24
[SPEAKER_02]: Cause it's just kind of like, you grew up seeing two fucking dudes that didn't really give a fuck.
28:29
[SPEAKER_02]: Like they're gonna win or they're gonna figure it out.
28:31
[SPEAKER_02]: And I think also my dad knowing his background and just seeing like him coming to America
28:41
[SPEAKER_02]: three boys, three girls in his life.
28:42
[SPEAKER_02]: Like that's a big, that's a big family to take care of.
28:45
[SPEAKER_02]: And he did it and I just think that like, sometimes a lot of young guys, like younger guys nowadays, I just feel like the downfall was certain.
28:57
[SPEAKER_02]: People was, I mean, certain men nowadays as they haven't been, they don't grow up with a lot of masculinity in their lives.
29:04
[SPEAKER_02]: Due to families and stuff, right?
29:09
[SPEAKER_02]: For me, I just knew how to like, take up for myself.
29:13
[SPEAKER_02]: And I just speak up for myself.
29:17
[SPEAKER_02]: That's all I'm always gonna do to speak up for myself.
29:19
[SPEAKER_02]: Cause I like to be fair.
29:20
[SPEAKER_02]: Like I'm not like a bully where I want it my way all the time.
29:23
[SPEAKER_02]: Right, right.
29:24
[SPEAKER_01]: You're showing me like that on a promo.
29:27
[SPEAKER_02]: I can't think of it, I have to tell you, I like you, like I think you're doing your job too, and I'm not promoting this shit, I'm just not, and then they recut it, and then send me another one, obviously, they worked out, but.
29:41
[SPEAKER_02]: Besides that, I was just like, okay.
29:43
[SPEAKER_02]: But that's sometimes like, I mean, sometimes you've got to know what you get yourself into.
29:47
[SPEAKER_02]: And that's just Hollywood in general.
29:49
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, that's just, that's just, yeah, because they're playing on all kinds of imagery and archetypes and leveraging, you know, stereo types.
29:55
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, that's, that's what's sell.
29:57
[SPEAKER_02]: And it's even like this with me and brands.
29:59
[SPEAKER_02]: Like me as a designer now, like, I wrote to a big brand for a collaboration.
30:05
[SPEAKER_02]: And I was very honest with them.
30:06
[SPEAKER_02]: Like, look, you guys,
30:07
[SPEAKER_02]: are all a spotlight in the Japanese, the Koreans, you know, Chinese, um, okay, the fighting words.
30:15
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, like like little bit of Philippines, because of the basketball coach.
30:19
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
30:19
[SPEAKER_02]: But I felt like as a brand, you guys have never once.
30:24
[SPEAKER_02]: You know, gave a Vietnamese or Southeast Asian opportunity and I just felt like if I was given this opportunity, I would do it right.
30:34
[SPEAKER_02]: That's what I told a brand.
30:36
[SPEAKER_02]: But yeah, even like that, you know, it's tough because you don't see a lot of...
30:41
[SPEAKER_02]: Vietnamese designers going at type of Ralph.
30:44
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, let's talk about that.
30:45
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, that's what I'm here to talk about.
30:47
[SPEAKER_01]: Why haven't we seen it?
30:49
[SPEAKER_01]: Why haven't we seen brands coming out of Vietnam or Vietnamese Americans a lot of us, you know, why don't we see that?
30:57
[SPEAKER_01]: Why do we see coming out of the Japanese and Koreans?
30:59
[SPEAKER_02]: I think, you know, obvious you coming from a corporate design background, a lot of places they measured by like geos, geographics of like popularity, populations and stuff like that.
31:13
[SPEAKER_02]: Like right now, like I'm not going to hold you like the Koreans are going crazy, they're chilling it.
31:19
[SPEAKER_02]: But the funniest thing with my brand is my second most
31:26
[SPEAKER_02]: I have a lot of Japanese people that buy my stuff and like relate great relationships with certain people in Japan.
31:35
[SPEAKER_02]: And I think it's really weird because these brands, I don't know.
31:41
[SPEAKER_02]: I think they're just stuck to that.
31:42
[SPEAKER_02]: They're just stuck to that.
31:44
[SPEAKER_02]: And
31:45
[SPEAKER_02]: it's it's really hard to say because it's like for instance let's just say this is let's just say me and you are both uh these two age of guys they're trying to put for like so we've got a api love right it's just like okay we got con here and we have you here but they're most likely going to pick you because you are from the pedigree of living in Los Angeles
32:06
[SPEAKER_02]: because your outreach is much bigger than mine.
32:09
[SPEAKER_02]: And then for me, it's like, oh, he's from the Midwest.
32:11
[SPEAKER_02]: It's not that much.
32:12
[SPEAKER_02]: People there in general compares to the West Coast.
32:15
[SPEAKER_02]: So they would pick you.
32:16
[SPEAKER_02]: That's just how it is.
32:17
[SPEAKER_02]: So it's not even a talent thing.
32:19
[SPEAKER_02]: No, it's not even an aesthetic thing.
32:20
[SPEAKER_02]: It's just all about that.
32:22
[SPEAKER_02]: Geos.
32:22
[SPEAKER_02]: Geos.
32:23
[SPEAKER_02]: But it takes for me,
32:25
[SPEAKER_02]: to do something like, I did a coplascon where I did a collaboration with Mitchell and us.
32:30
[SPEAKER_02]: I did like these customer, this little thing I did a Mitchell and us and it should just took off like all the actors were pulling off all these rappers were coming, all these people were coming influence and stuff like that.
32:41
[SPEAKER_02]: So then now the group that I've seen at the company, whatever their group, they've seen it in your life.
32:49
[SPEAKER_02]: So then
32:51
[SPEAKER_02]: Now I'm getting like a little, hey, how you doing?
32:53
[SPEAKER_02]: Let's go on on.
32:54
[SPEAKER_02]: Because sometimes it's just like, the worst part about a lot of these corporations is they don't hire people like you that's on ground zero, right?
33:04
[SPEAKER_02]: They hired these,
33:06
[SPEAKER_02]: corporate workers that they just sit there on the computers all day, they don't even know what's going on.
33:12
[SPEAKER_02]: And they don't have the time to be running around figuring out who's hot on the ground.
33:16
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
33:16
[SPEAKER_02]: On the ground.
33:17
[SPEAKER_02]: So they got a measure by geos and metrics and shit like that.
33:20
[SPEAKER_02]: Like, okay, who can he, he can reach out reach, who's this reach to, who can he, who does he know did that act?
33:26
[SPEAKER_02]: Where's he from?
33:27
[SPEAKER_02]: That's how they just measure this stuff.
33:29
[SPEAKER_02]: But there's going into
33:32
[SPEAKER_02]: Rarely certain places have the guys that's on the ground.
33:36
[SPEAKER_02]: But most of the guys that, you know, I'm gonna be respectfully, but like, most of these dudes that work for these corporations are completely corn balls.
33:44
[SPEAKER_02]: They just corn, corn, any motherfuckers.
33:47
[SPEAKER_02]: You meet the corn, he has motherfuckers.
33:49
[SPEAKER_02]: When I worked there at Levi's, the last thing I ever told someone was I worked for Levi's.
33:54
[SPEAKER_02]: Like, I'll let you know, my name is Khan, my Instagram is May by NGO, I do this, I do this, I do that.
34:00
[SPEAKER_02]: And maybe at the end, I'll tell my work that way, boss.
34:03
[SPEAKER_02]: Why?
34:03
[SPEAKER_02]: I don't want people to treat me a certain way because of my job.
34:07
[SPEAKER_02]: And I don't want people, like the worst thing I ever seeing was seeing people treating others bad because they worked at a certain company.
34:16
[SPEAKER_02]: Because my analogy is like, you just work there.
34:18
[SPEAKER_02]: You don't own the company.
34:19
[SPEAKER_02]: You're just an employee.
34:20
[SPEAKER_02]: You come in, you do your hours out.
34:21
[SPEAKER_02]: You have a manager that tells you what to do.
34:24
[SPEAKER_02]: So you're not really that boss stuff.
34:26
[SPEAKER_02]: They're listening to me.
34:26
[SPEAKER_02]: And if you are a,
34:29
[SPEAKER_02]: senior or something.
34:30
[SPEAKER_02]: You have a director.
34:31
[SPEAKER_02]: So you still have a boss.
34:32
[SPEAKER_02]: And if you are a director, you still have the VP of design that boss you around.
34:36
[SPEAKER_02]: So at the end of the day, until you're your own boss, then you can be a little bit more confident when you step out.
34:42
[SPEAKER_02]: But I've always believed that everyone has a treat each other equally.
34:46
[SPEAKER_02]: I don't care if you're the VP of a certain company like if you are asshole, then I'm like, yeah, you're fucking like he's asshole.
34:52
[SPEAKER_02]: I don't
34:53
[SPEAKER_02]: Have you been in Vietnam?
34:55
[SPEAKER_02]: I haven't been back since I was like 16, 17.
34:58
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, so I changed a little.
35:00
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm actually going to go back and hopefully in a few weeks.
35:03
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, yeah.
35:05
[SPEAKER_01]: Do you track any fashion designers from Vietnam or Vietnamese people around the world?
35:12
[SPEAKER_01]: Do you track anything that fashion people do?
35:15
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, so I followed a few couple of stores in Vietnam.
35:21
[SPEAKER_02]: Shout out to my boy Tony.
35:23
[SPEAKER_02]: He's in, he has a shout-call hidden.
35:26
[SPEAKER_02]: He's also Vietnamese, but he's out in the O.C.
35:28
[SPEAKER_02]: area.
35:29
[SPEAKER_02]: And he's told me about a few people.
35:32
[SPEAKER_02]: There's a couple of brands I just recently followed.
35:35
[SPEAKER_02]: Like who?
35:37
[SPEAKER_02]: I don't know, I just live as long Instagram, um, I don't mean to put you on it.
35:41
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, I don't really remember the name too well because I just noticed it, but they, they just had black pick where their whole business.
35:48
[SPEAKER_01]: And the reason I asked that is because if we, in the business,
35:54
[SPEAKER_01]: of culture like you're in the business of fashion.
35:57
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm in the business of culture.
35:58
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm in the business of needing to know all this, right?
36:00
[SPEAKER_01]: And I can't even list off a few me personally.
36:03
[SPEAKER_02]: Right.
36:04
[SPEAKER_02]: Right.
36:04
[SPEAKER_02]: Right.
36:04
[SPEAKER_02]: Right.
36:04
[SPEAKER_02]: Then we got a lot of work to do, right?
36:06
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, truthfully, I can say that like, I do have a lot of work to do.
36:10
[SPEAKER_02]: A lot of, yeah, a lot of the brands that I do.
36:14
[SPEAKER_02]: Honestly, follow in Asia's more in Japan, right?
36:17
[SPEAKER_02]: A few, obviously, there's a few in Korea.
36:20
[SPEAKER_01]: Why do we follow Japanese and Korean brands?
36:24
[SPEAKER_01]: And we, and there's, there's hundreds of fashion brands in Vietnam.
36:30
[SPEAKER_02]: I think I think due to, I think for me, I will only speak for me, is due to one media in front of the Midwest grown-up,
36:42
[SPEAKER_02]: I think, analyzing Japanese designers and stuff like that, like, you know, date, because of all these different brands, needles, like you see that more.
36:54
[SPEAKER_02]: And I just,
36:56
[SPEAKER_02]: never got a chance to really know this too much about Vietnamese brands.
37:00
[SPEAKER_02]: I do, I have to say like a lot of the Vietnamese brands that I see that are really making a lot of noise, is I see a lot of women's brand.
37:09
[SPEAKER_02]: It's like really going crazy.
37:11
[SPEAKER_02]: And sometimes I don't check for that as well.
37:14
[SPEAKER_02]: But I think that's the reason why I want to go to Vietnam because I want to go out there.
37:19
[SPEAKER_02]: and also connect with people.
37:22
[SPEAKER_02]: But I have a situation and it just came to kind of a scare.
37:27
[SPEAKER_02]: What was the situation?
37:28
[SPEAKER_02]: Um, I did a bomber jacket paying homens to my dad and you know, this is going on.
37:35
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, and the common section wasn't that, like I didn't really get a good, uh, I didn't get a really good response response.
37:41
[SPEAKER_01]: All right, I don't even know what, I don't even know what that post looks like.
37:45
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, but I just know what I've got.
37:47
[SPEAKER_02]: I got into a jack.
37:49
[SPEAKER_02]: I've, I'm thrown out of that mentality.
37:53
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, good, like good, good, good.
37:54
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, let's talk about that mentality because I think that's a very important thing to talk about.
37:58
[SPEAKER_01]: And I would probably talk about flags, which I'm all sides.
38:01
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, you know, bomber jackets, that's military, that bomber jackets are US signature.
38:08
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, all right, all right.
38:10
[SPEAKER_01]: So I think,
38:12
[SPEAKER_01]: We come out of these families of South Vietnamese American families on gunhold military, but as we start to move on in the world, we start to see that there is a much, much, much bigger and much more complicated period.
38:26
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
38:26
[SPEAKER_01]: And did you learn something from that experience?
38:28
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
38:30
[SPEAKER_02]: So, so, um,
38:32
[SPEAKER_02]: Um, yes, so recently watched his Netflix documentary about the war, the turning point one.
38:39
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
38:39
[SPEAKER_01]: The recent watch.
38:40
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
38:41
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
38:41
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
38:42
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
38:45
[SPEAKER_02]: I can honestly say, ironically, let's like, I'm going to backtrack a little bit.
38:52
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
38:52
[SPEAKER_02]: It's so funny that I work for Levi's because prior to, I believe I was like 20, one at the top.
39:01
[SPEAKER_02]: at one of my ex girlfriends house.
39:03
[SPEAKER_02]: He's so I don't know.
39:05
[SPEAKER_02]: I was just up late and I watched 60 minutes.
39:08
[SPEAKER_02]: And it was about Levi's.
39:11
[SPEAKER_02]: And it just talked about the history of Levi's and me being as denim nerd.
39:18
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm so fascinated with this.
39:19
[SPEAKER_02]: And then
39:21
[SPEAKER_02]: They then it talks about how Levi's left like the union and made in USA was an extravagant more and then it ended up going like China, especially in Vietnam, right?
39:32
[SPEAKER_02]: So I'm like, I noticed that the years, the timeline.
39:36
[SPEAKER_02]: And then as I get older, you look at like, you know, I remember high school year, my dad would take me to school and he was complaining about gas prices.
39:51
[SPEAKER_02]: Damn, gas is going up, gas is going up.
39:54
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm like, oh, how is it said like 97 cents?
39:56
[SPEAKER_02]: And this is back in Ohio.
39:57
[SPEAKER_02]: So, but my, at the time, he's like, you know, a couple of weeks ago, it was like 60 cents, and how is it just like, oh, and then I think my end of senior year, like say, I was like, less than six months, gas was $3.99.
40:10
[SPEAKER_02]: So then you started noticing that that whole world was about oil.
40:15
[SPEAKER_02]: So then now I look at like the Vietnam War,
40:19
[SPEAKER_02]: Oh, that world is just pretty much a way to extort my country, labor, and I just can't realize like, I think, I think all sides were involved in my opinion, I think all sides were involved because when America went to France to have that secret meeting, that was
40:46
[SPEAKER_02]: The reason why I feel like us in a sense we're a little bit more educated with a lot of these things is because back there, they don't really want you to know that, right, back in the motherland.
40:57
[SPEAKER_02]: But as I get older, I just start realizing like, war just is not fun at all, right?
41:04
[SPEAKER_02]: Even like my little brother and we go through family problems and I always tell them like, give, give so and so some grace,
41:13
[SPEAKER_02]: where a product of war like this it just comes from a lot of mental shit like we go through a lot or feel our siblings or family go to a lot and my going to represent the south of course that's that's that's the place that my dad fought for and
41:31
[SPEAKER_02]: You know, I know that there was a place of love and peace, you know, but now as I got older is like, I don't want to just dislike someone because of that.
41:42
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, I've nothing to do with that.
41:44
[SPEAKER_01]: Like we're just a totally different generation.
41:48
[SPEAKER_01]: We should be able to like honor the dead and we should be able to like respect the loss that was was lost, but at the same time, I
41:58
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm always on this mission of healing, and I'm always on this mission of like bridging, right?
42:03
[SPEAKER_01]: Right, we got a bridge of tea.
42:04
[SPEAKER_01]: We got a bridge it, and you know, it's a complicated thing, man.
42:07
[SPEAKER_01]: It's super complex.
42:08
[SPEAKER_02]: It's like so, so for instance, the good way to explain is when I got a Japan, like Japan, it's beautiful.
42:14
[SPEAKER_02]: You know, one of my favorite Tokyo is one of my favorite cities.
42:17
[SPEAKER_02]: It's number one.
42:18
[SPEAKER_02]: It changed my life.
42:19
[SPEAKER_02]: It helped me so much.
42:20
[SPEAKER_02]: But it's like when you go to Japan, they love American American culture.
42:26
[SPEAKER_02]: And I feel like if you can see the U.S. and Japan, Tokyo kind of like,
42:32
[SPEAKER_02]: kind of like become one because obviously the soldiers are there, they're protecting the country.
42:37
[SPEAKER_02]: It just lets you know like solitary is where it's at like being able to become one is really where it's at.
42:42
[SPEAKER_01]: And I think Vietnamese people in Vietnam have a lot easier time loving Vietnamese diaspora people than the other way around.
42:52
[SPEAKER_01]: Of course, yeah.
42:53
[SPEAKER_01]: There's much more younger people in Vietnam who have no recollection of the war and whatever.
42:59
[SPEAKER_01]: You could argue that the government sort of represses all that forever.
43:03
[SPEAKER_01]: So they have this very loving kind of like, we ain't got no beef with you guys.
43:09
[SPEAKER_01]: But we in the West have been like,
43:12
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, living with free speech of like our parents and, you know, that generation saying, like, that's the evil, you know, empire on the other side, so we are like indoctrinated in this wave and I say at this point, I'm 50, I got to, I got to really be able to like.
43:32
[SPEAKER_01]: take a minute and and look at all the other 50 year old people who grew up alongside me and 55 year old professors who teach at these universities and a little bit more liberal and a little bit more open and and see what they got to say right and also here and respect
43:49
[SPEAKER_01]: the former military officers.
43:51
[SPEAKER_01]: I was in US Marine as well.
43:52
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay.
43:53
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
43:53
[SPEAKER_01]: I get all of it.
43:54
[SPEAKER_01]: I get all the complexities of it, but at the same time, I just want to go at all of this with some love.
43:59
[SPEAKER_01]: That's all.
43:59
[SPEAKER_01]: And if people are going to attack us, they're just from being like, in love with the Vietnamese people all over and just like be very simple about it.
44:07
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
44:07
[SPEAKER_01]: Fuck it.
44:08
[SPEAKER_01]: Right.
44:08
[SPEAKER_01]: That's that's that's my position.
44:10
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
44:10
[SPEAKER_02]: I think what it is is like how I explain it right now is like it's like a religion in a sense.
44:19
[SPEAKER_02]: when I see people disliking certain people because of their religion, right?
44:24
[SPEAKER_02]: To me, it bothers me because I'm like, just like the belief, whatever their belief is.
44:31
[SPEAKER_02]: And I just never really understood it because it's like,
44:36
[SPEAKER_02]: Like one time, I took my ex-girlfriend to our temple, and she didn't really want to come in.
44:42
[SPEAKER_02]: She's at the time, she was Catholic.
44:46
[SPEAKER_02]: She is Catholic, I'm sorry, but she was Catholic.
44:47
[SPEAKER_02]: She came in, and then my monk was told her, like, hey, if you guys ever get married, don't let it happen to be about religion.
44:56
[SPEAKER_02]: you should tell Connor go to church with you and learn about and I have learned about your religions and if you're ever want to learn about Buddhism, we're open, you can come visit us too.
45:08
[SPEAKER_02]: But if you guys be with each other, just be with each other.
45:10
[SPEAKER_02]: Don't let the religion get in the way.
45:12
[SPEAKER_02]: Absolutely.
45:13
[SPEAKER_02]: And I feel like what's going on over there and over here, it's just like a religion thing.
45:18
[SPEAKER_02]: It's just like in a sense, it's like, I'm okay.
45:23
[SPEAKER_02]: So I've been
45:26
[SPEAKER_02]: This is years ago.
45:26
[SPEAKER_02]: I went on a date with this girl in Japan.
45:30
[SPEAKER_02]: She was from Britain.
45:32
[SPEAKER_02]: Some British girl I met out there.
45:34
[SPEAKER_02]: I just went on a little dinner date.
45:37
[SPEAKER_02]: And the whole time I was explaining her about how I liked Dan.
45:42
[SPEAKER_02]: Tokyo really loves America.
45:43
[SPEAKER_02]: Like I see a lot of U.S. flags, and their jobs, every American event just stops everywhere.
45:49
[SPEAKER_02]: So they she got like offended and she felt like, no, they like the British more.
45:53
[SPEAKER_02]: And I was like, nah, like if you really look around like, if you use the U.S. flags everywhere, but I had to explain to her like, look, I'm just letting you know, I'm not like the super American, I love America guy.
46:05
[SPEAKER_02]: Like there's a lot of shit about America.
46:07
[SPEAKER_02]: I did it's not like.
46:08
[SPEAKER_02]: And sometimes,
46:09
[SPEAKER_02]: America does a lot of wax stuff where you don't feel that great seeing that flag sometimes.
46:14
[SPEAKER_02]: You're just for like, it's just especially with like the president and a lot of stuff is going on.
46:19
[SPEAKER_02]: You know what I mean?
46:20
[SPEAKER_02]: But I try to explain her like, hey, like, I don't really give too much fun to like America.
46:25
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm not like this super I am an American guy.
46:27
[SPEAKER_02]: And then I just was just told like, you know, this whole dinner is getting uncomfortable because I don't care.
46:35
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm just living,
46:39
[SPEAKER_02]: sometimes when you do see certain people that are so involved in that, like, the flag, the South Vietnamese flag now, you see all these older guys and the way how they act or certain things that they do, it's like, I don't even like, like, fuck with it sometimes.
47:00
[SPEAKER_02]: Like when,
47:01
[SPEAKER_02]: Like when they stormed a capital with the flag and it was some, it was some Vietnamese people that own a fault tank restaurant Chicago that I've been to.
47:09
[SPEAKER_02]: I was like, holy shit, that was them that did it.
47:12
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, and I was just like, damn.
47:15
[SPEAKER_02]: So it's just like, to me, I was just like, at a point where I'm like, okay, well, you know, I'm still gonna love that flag and brace what it is, but as now I'm getting older like, it's just like, I'm not gonna take this
47:29
[SPEAKER_02]: tear, tear, tear, tear, tear, anyone down.
47:32
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like,
47:55
[SPEAKER_01]: and that's crazy shit, right?
47:57
[SPEAKER_01]: That's some crazy shit to say, yeah.
48:00
[SPEAKER_01]: But it's because of shit like January 6th, that us young people are like, we don't identify with that shit.
48:07
[SPEAKER_01]: That's just way out there.
48:09
[SPEAKER_01]: But it's not even that black and white either, right?
48:11
[SPEAKER_01]: Because the minute we start talking about flags, it becomes really complicated.
48:15
[SPEAKER_01]: But at the same time, it's like, where are we gonna be in 10 years when the men's Vietnam soccer team wins?
48:23
[SPEAKER_01]: You're gonna, you're not gonna cheer for the Vietnamese team?
48:25
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, you know what I mean?
48:27
[SPEAKER_01]: Right, right.
48:28
[SPEAKER_01]: One of those things where we really have to think about who we are becoming.
48:33
[SPEAKER_01]: So a question I've been asking my guess is in 2026, what do you think the culture of Vietnamese people all over the world is evolving into?
48:45
[SPEAKER_02]: So what I've, I say, I've been noticing
48:53
[SPEAKER_02]: It's funny enough, my homey that CJ Strauss manager, recently he posted that he was in Vietnam and he was like, he's also black.
49:05
[SPEAKER_02]: That's a funny story.
49:06
[SPEAKER_02]: I was like, yeah, what you're doing in Vietnam?
49:07
[SPEAKER_02]: He was like, you know, like Vietnamese food is like one of my favorite foods.
49:12
[SPEAKER_02]: So I just felt like I wanted to celebrate Vietnam during that.
49:18
[SPEAKER_02]: And hearing him say that to me, but I was so embarrassed, cause I was like, damn, that's what I should be doing, right?
49:24
[SPEAKER_02]: That's what I should be doing.
49:25
[SPEAKER_02]: And I think sometimes when
49:28
[SPEAKER_02]: somethings becomes popular and I guess it's like oh wow people are coming here now.
49:35
[SPEAKER_02]: I think people are starting to realize like how unique and dope Vietnam is and I got to say like the people are there that they're making it look fun and then you got you know obviously a lot of these brands is popping up you see a lot of these landmarks that's happening and stuff
49:56
[SPEAKER_02]: become a place where people are very interesting, interested in visiting and when you become an interesting place,
50:08
[SPEAKER_02]: That's when people discover, right?
50:10
[SPEAKER_02]: So I feel like there's going to be a lot of more discoveries.
50:15
[SPEAKER_02]: And maybe a lot of more guys like myself that's going to be able to go back home and embrace Vietnam and the culture and stuff.
50:24
[SPEAKER_02]: I feel like that's something that I haven't got a chance to do as much.
50:28
[SPEAKER_02]: And I really want to make it into a place that when I look at Tokyo, I think for my cousins of Vietnam, they're like,
50:38
[SPEAKER_02]: went to Tokyo like five times, he's there all the time.
50:41
[SPEAKER_02]: And never been up.
50:42
[SPEAKER_02]: But now he don't go to Vietnam and I think, I used to have problems with you.
50:46
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, yeah.
50:46
[SPEAKER_01]: But no, I don't.
50:47
[SPEAKER_01]: Because I understand the complexity.
50:49
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
50:49
[SPEAKER_02]: And then also the thing was was like growing up in the Midwest, it's like, it wasn't cool to be Vietnamese.
50:55
[SPEAKER_02]: And that's not about being cool about Vietnamese.
50:57
[SPEAKER_02]: It's about like just traveling side to Vietnam.
51:00
[SPEAKER_02]: That's like, it's like, you got to travel like California.
51:04
[SPEAKER_02]: How did it get to Tokyo?
51:05
[SPEAKER_02]: You got to still go to California and to get to Tokyo?
51:07
[SPEAKER_02]: I get that, but I'm just saying, like speaking, I like being a Los Angeles, like in Skip this quick.
51:16
[SPEAKER_02]: It's closer to Asia.
51:17
[SPEAKER_02]: That's my thing.
51:18
[SPEAKER_02]: Like New York City is my favorite city ever.
51:21
[SPEAKER_02]: I was one at Living New York City.
51:23
[SPEAKER_02]: That was my ultimate dream is to be able to live in New York.
51:25
[SPEAKER_02]: But now someone asked me, like, why do you love LA so much?
51:29
[SPEAKER_02]: And my answer is because it's closer to Asia.
51:31
[SPEAKER_02]: It's just closer to Asia.
51:34
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, I'm definitely going to be, I plan on going to Vietnam with intentions of going back and forth.
51:43
[SPEAKER_02]: I want to make it more of a hug.
51:44
[SPEAKER_02]: I want to make it like the hub that I should have made it.
51:46
[SPEAKER_01]: Music to my ears.
51:47
[SPEAKER_01]: You make that place Tokyo to you.
51:49
[SPEAKER_01]: You know what I mean?
51:50
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, yeah, that's.
51:51
[SPEAKER_02]: In the Thailand too, I'll have some good friends of Thailand and I want to go check out Thailand.
51:55
[SPEAKER_02]: Thailand is our happy cousin, you know, Thailand is the, the country that just, I mean obviously they go into some low stuff now, but they've always been a country that just was like, where we're fooder, we just chill and chill and chill and chill and chill.
52:08
[SPEAKER_01]: Man, I look forward to whatever you do in the future.
52:14
[SPEAKER_01]: And I think let's get you back on when you, you know, when you ready to put out a line or you got some big developments.
52:22
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm this is what I'm here with you.
52:23
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, yeah, the line is coming out.
52:24
[SPEAKER_02]: Actually, I have a line is coming out and working on some stuff right now.
52:28
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
52:29
[SPEAKER_02]: But yeah, it's coming, this is one of the jackets I made.
52:35
[SPEAKER_02]: So the idea of the jacket is very simple.
52:38
[SPEAKER_02]: A lot of soldiers back then use bomber jackets to make their souvenir jacket.
52:43
[SPEAKER_02]: And my thing is if I was a soldier at the time, I would have made a mechanics jacket because me and being from the Midwest we wear a lot of like working mechanics jacket.
52:53
[SPEAKER_02]: So these exactly.
52:54
[SPEAKER_02]: So this is more like a work jacket, but a souvenir at the same time.
52:58
[SPEAKER_01]: But it's very Japanese though, too.
53:00
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, I feel like the Japanese jackets have
53:04
[SPEAKER_02]: you know these patches right no no no believe it or not anything that you seen at the Japanese has put on their jackets they all like that that stop well it all started in the career war a lot of those jackets were also like made but
53:24
[SPEAKER_02]: A lot of the Vietnam bomber jackets, if you do come across a real Vietnam bomber jacket, they go from thousands of dollars.
53:31
[SPEAKER_02]: Really?
53:31
[SPEAKER_01]: And these patches?
53:33
[SPEAKER_02]: Well, this is embroidery.
53:34
[SPEAKER_02]: In embroidery, but in Vietnam, the ladies were embroidered by hand.
53:37
[SPEAKER_02]: They'll be hand-in-border.
53:39
[SPEAKER_02]: So even I'll go to Japan, certain stores will have a real official souvenir jacket, but they'll want like two to three grand for.
53:47
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, it goes for a lot, just because of the the the age and the time that they spent into making a jacket, because all of that stuff is all they all like all hand in border.
53:59
[SPEAKER_02]: God, but this is like a jacket that it mimics a hand in border and that's the thing that the stitching is very like.
54:05
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, everything.
54:06
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
54:07
[SPEAKER_02]: But you're a great cool man and what's the name of the brand so my brand name is just NGO okay and the acronym stands for Nothing goes overnight and the brand is just pretty much about my life like I just like a it my life was put into a movie or a clothing line It would be like this.
54:24
[SPEAKER_02]: You know, yeah, it's just I think it's just like a way of just saying like grown up people really like It's funny speaking about like grown up being a married like in America
54:36
[SPEAKER_02]: People question, you do question yourself sometimes, like they fuck up your name that everything's all this and that so then I would I would say this, but it's like
54:46
[SPEAKER_02]: It may be feel like uncomfortable when people were like say my name or mess it up.
54:50
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, it just felt like, oh man.
54:52
[SPEAKER_02]: So my whole analogy is creating my last name into a brand and making it to someone, making it to something that you love.
54:58
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, but you want to wear.
54:59
[SPEAKER_02]: So yeah, that's the whole, the whole ethos of everything.
55:00
[SPEAKER_02]: I love it, man.
55:00
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
55:08
[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you for listening to the Vietnamese with Kenneth Wynne.
55:11
[SPEAKER_00]: Special thanks to Brittany Tran, to Jane Wynne, Catherine Wynne, Tina Fam, Sydney Jamie, and Crystal Tran.
55:19
[SPEAKER_00]: Please find us on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok at the Vietnamese podcast.