FITTY-9-FITTY YO.

Me, Matty-Ho, and his colleague from New Era Japan. Why don't they have hats on?

I had a meeting today with my old friend Matty-Ho. Me and Matty go way, way, WAAAAY back.
We talkin like '93-'94 days. He used to hang out (I say 'hang out' cuz I'm not sure if he was actually working. lol.) in the back of Triple Five Soul on Ludlow Street. (I'm not even gonna bother linking 555, cuz today's version of 555 is so different than what it was in '93, I don't want you to get it twisted.) We never spoke then but I used to always see him when I came checking for Camella's designs.
Fast forward about 4 years. I'm a hungry designer looking to do anything I can get my mousepad on. This magazine called Trace from the UK just made a move to the US. I was a big fan of Trace so when they moved to NYC, I got kinda excited about the prospect. So one day after class, I just walked up in the office with my portfolio unannounced, hoping to land a job. I was kinda nervous cuz I didn't have any idea how big their operation was. So I walk in, and it's this huge loft in SoHo. And the only person in the whole freakin' place is Matty-Ho! I'm like, "What the......" So anyway, Matt and I are talkin and I walk out of there with some freelance design work for Trace! I learned a valuable lesson that day. Its all about PRESENTATION. It doesn't matter how small or "startup" you are. If you have your look straight and you present yourself properly, you can look a lot bigger than you really are. It's very important.
Anyway, fast forward ANOTHER 7 years (fuck I am old) and now Matty-Ho is the head dude at New Era Cap Co. making things happen. I think it's dope that he was able to take all his street knowledge and connections and make use of it at a legendary and culturally relevant brand. It was long overdue for us to link up again. Good things to come down the line I hope. I get a lot of satisfaction in working with brands that are at the forefront of their respective industries. And no one comes close to New Era in the hat game.