Jeff Staple - The Pigeon

Our next guest needs no introduction, but we’ll write one anyway. He’s a man with more hats than you’ve had hot dinners – Jeff Staple is equal parts entrepreneur, store owner, apparel and product designer, blogger and jetsetter extraordinaire. His rise to the top has been nothing less than swift, fuelled largely by his knack for co-branded projects and his affiliation with Nike, for whom he designed several packs, including the now infamous Pigeon Dunk (2005). Those Pigeons created a ruckus never seen before in the sneaker game, with cops, billy clubs and mace flowing on the streets of New York. All of which makes his next move even more curious... taking the New Balance 575 model as his canvas, Jeff has transplanted his trademark Pigeon grey/white/pink combo directly from the Dunk. Lazy MF? Genius? Bridge burner? You be the judge, but you better remember, he’s one step ahead...

So, Jeff, what are you up to these days?
Ah, let’s see, I just completed a Lomography package with a camera and a book which is outside of the norm of what you might expect. We’re actually doing something similar in Barcelona for Bread and Butter. And then we’re selling Spring ’09, the Staple collection and countless other little projects here and there that are brewing.

Other industries have obviously cottoned on to the way that sneakers have been promoted as a way to get noticed?
Definitely, it’s pretty evident. You can buy limited edition Kit Kats now and I’m super into those and I think a lot of other industries are looking at this formula that was pioneered by footwear. It’s not really a big money thing, but I think it does bring light and excitement to a brand.

Are you worried about putting your name on too many things?
Yeah, it is definitely worrisome. It’s double-edged. The fact that so many companies approach us is a blessing, but on the other hand, there is that dilution and you don’t want to be the village whore, just banging everybody. I just look at myself and ask does the collaboration make sense? If there’s one strength that I have, it’s the ability to see if two people in the room make sense together or not. If it doesn’t feel right, if it feels forced, fabricated or really obviously mashed together, I think the public nowadays is savvy enough to see through that right away. So it’s kind of a waste of time for everyone because you’re not making a million bucks off of this stuff anyway, so you might as well do something that is innovative.

Are brands interested in you, or in the outcome? Is the value you add more about the level of hype that you can create?
I don’t think there’s one without the other really. If a company wants to work with quote unquote Jeff Staple, I’d like to think it’s because of our track record and the things that I’ve created. Like old school hip hop, it’s all about your rep, you know. You build your rep and you protect your rep. And that is really all you have. I think companies want to work with us because of what we’ve done and the level at which we do things.

Let’s talk about the New Balance 575...
It actually started as all good collaborations should start. Very, very organically …

In the pub?
Usually over a meal.

Yeah, I know you don’t drink anymore.
Yeah, exactly. So it’s going to be over food, not alcohol. It started when we had a conversation with New Balance about carrying their product in Reed Space and we wanted to figure out a way through the distribution cycle. I met Tetsuya Shono, who is the PLM (Product Line Manager) over in NB Japan, and we’d just shoot the shit, talk about the culture, and at the end of the day we just got along. It was actually kind of difficult at first to sell in to the company I think, mainly because of the past work that we’ve done with Nike. Tetsuya thought it was going to be a tough sell with NB because they really pride themselves on not following the trends and not doing the typical thing.

NB still don’t sponsor athletes, do they?
Exactly. Their whole existence is almost against what other companies are doing. So it’s like you say, they don’t sponsor athletes, they’re not buying the 30-second spot during the Super Bowl and stuff.

The most obvious thing is that you resurrected the Pigeon logo and the colors from the infamous Dunk you created for Nike. Is there background to how this came about? Is there some sort of hidden message in this?
Well... it’s interesting ‘cause the Pigeon is sacred to sneaker culture enthusiasts. When we had the opportunity to finally green light it, the immediate question was whether we should do something different or do a Pigeon variation? The Pigeon is obviously sacred to us and it’s obviously sacred to many other people. Not to sound like complete pompous assholes, but in the best way we were asking ourselves is NB worthy, you know.

You’re kidding, RIGHT?
I know that sounds very pompous, but basically the Pigeon is a sacred thing and we had to ask ourselves whether NB was a brand that commands that same level of respect. And it was a unanimous yes, you know. NB is dope in terms of keeping their integrity and their standards and just the way they run their business. Like, if you look at the big five sneaker companies, NB is really the quiet, reserved being that just gets it done. And so I think that the level of respect we have for the company warranted us to at least explore doing a Pigeon. Not to say that we were dead-set on it, but we looked at the styles that were available, and I’m a huge fan of the Trail 575, we gave it a try and when we presented it to the team, we went through the entire Dunk story and I completely expected for them to be like ‘Hell no! This is the same exact thing, it’ll look like we’re dick-riding on Nike!’, but they loved it because I think the silhouette of the shoe is so different.

It’s not a basketball or a skateboarding shoe, it’s a trail running shoe. And I honestly can’t say what lent itself to the other, but it looked awesome. You could say that the silhouette was awesome and it made the Pigeon look dope, or you could say the Pigeon was dope and made the silhouette look good. It’s a nice fusion that was just perfect. I fell in love with it the second I saw it.

Yeah, it does look good, I’ll give you that. I’m still intrigued about the relationship between these two projects. I gotta ask is there beef between you and Nike? You were associated with them for a long period of time and you know, once you go down this road you probably can’t go back.
I don’t know. (Chuckling). You know, we were never on a contract with Nike, so it wasn’t like we violated any sort of legal issue or anything like that.
It’s bigger than a contract isn’t it. Like you said, it’s about personal relationships… You must have considered this?
I do understand what you mean. Yeah, it’s bigger than that. Yes, legally we can, but as you said, this whole industry’s based on relationships and being friends with people.

Have you had a reaction from Beaverton?
No. I haven’t had any positive or negative reaction. I mean, it hasn’t come out yet so maybe when it comes out I’ll hear something. But I’d like to think that Nike respects enough of what we do that they know that it’s not a malicious act, and that doing a Pigeon NB is not a slap in the face of Nike whatsoever. In fact, I think the Pigeon Dunk changed the course of sneaker culture. It was really a stick in the sand, a mark of change. And that’s never going to change no matter who I do a Pigeon shoe with. I could do a Pigeon Skechers one day, you know, and it wouldn't change the fact that what happened with the Nike Pigeon Dunk was a historic thing...
There’s my next headline, Staple does Skecher. (laughs)
Hey, man… Never say, never. (laughs). But, yeah, I think that brand allegiance is one thing and I could totally understand that aspect, but you can’t front a NB. I don’t know, I mean, maybe you can. If you’ve worked at Nike long enough I’m sure you can hate on anything, but to me any self-respecting sneakerhead that really appreciates this culture, cannot talk shit about NB. I bet if you ask Tinker Hatfield, he’s not going to talk shit on NB. He can’t. They do good shit and they do it in their own way and I really, really respect them for that...

...I’d like to think that I’m at a point in my career where people can trust that the things that I do are not completely out of a need for cashing a check. If I did the Pigeon NB and I looked at it and I thought it was really wack, I wouldn’t have done it. I remember when Tetsuya pulled the sample out of the bag, I thought if I’m not getting goose bumps it’s not happening. But I did and so it is.

Having gone through this design process recently myself, I know how hard it is to use color that has no reference. Unless we can invent new colors, it feels like every combo has pretty much been done before. By putting the same pigeon colors on the Lomo and the NB... are you being lazy or are you building a clever story that’s easy to digest?
Yeah I know. I mean it’s interesting. As a pure designer, it does irk me a bit like that. Okay, I’m a designer, I’m supposed to constantly innovate and recreate and break the mould and I’m one that hates resting on laurels. But I’m also not a fool. And when I see a good thing I’m going to continue to do it. And the beautiful thing about the Pigeon is that it’s grey, white and pink, that’s it. Like you said, it’s not a brand new color, it’s not even a new combination really.

Distribution is global right?
I think they’re doing 800 globally, so it comes out to around 144 per region. I think that’s a good number. The Pigeon Dunk was almost a mythological number. How many kids know of the Pigeon Dunk but have never actually seen them with their own two eyes?...

The full interview will be featured in Sneaker Freaker Issue 13 available August 15th

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