The Jeff Hamilton Interview: Becoming an Icon in Fashion, A$AP Rocky, Virgil, Kobe & More
The illustrious Jeff Hamilton talks about his amazing success story! Building the career he always envisioned by working hard and smart. Plus, his relationship with Jordan, Drake, Tyson, Asap Rocky, Dipset and more!
00:00 Intro
8:05 Relationship with Jerry West
14:22 Moved to the US with only 6K
18:14 Moving to LA was a game changer
19:30 Begged this guy for a job, called him 3x a day
25:04 Meeting a new friend in the building who turned out to be the creator of Guess: Georges Marciano
26:44 At the time Jeff wasn't super happy with his other job situation, his employer was kinda lazy and didn't believe in Jeff's vision so he wanted out
29:21 So he went to his friend Georges Marciano with a cool new idea
31:33 Jeff and Georges Marciano kinda fell off after a while, Jeff said declined to be a regular employee
32:23 Jeff built a new brand within the Guess brand which was the men's line
33:37 Jeff sold his first pieces to Saks 5th Ave, sent a friend to buy everything so they seem sold out lol
The rep called to order more, Jeff acted like he sold more to Bloomingdales to build up leverage
39:06 Key to success: hard work, work smart, focus on your god-given talent
44:04 Jeff was making more money than the actual partners of the company, so they decide to cut Jeff off completely
44:58 He invented the stone wash, Massiano was taking all the credits tho
46:16 Massiano was trying to blackball him from producing etc, so Jeff filed a lawsuit against him
47:47 Jeff was still giving them 2M royalty checks for doing nothing at all
53:10 How the Black community started to gravitate toward his brand?
55:11 Making jackets for Michael Jackson, met him many times, Madonna, George Michael, etc
56:15 Making a jacket for NBA player Reggie Theus, who then introduced him to Magic Johnson and then Michael Jordan!!!
57:10 Jackets have opened so many doors for Jeff, the White House, meeting Biggie etc
59:31 Did Heather pay 10k for T-Rell's jacket??
1:00:06 NFL reached out to work with Jeff on a regular basis
1:02:23 The NBA sees the NFL jacket and comes knocking to have their own. At that point Jeff works with the Raiders, Bulls, and White Sox, etc
1:05:29 Meeting Mohamed Ali at his birthday in Beverly Hills
1:07:25 People selling knockoffs
1:08:33 Jeff now signs all his jackets, considers his jackets as art pieces
1:09:45 Camron shouted him out in "Get Em Girl"
1:13:08 Still able to do what he loves, blessing is the 4th element of success
1:14:52 Asap Rocky and Instagram played a part in Jeff's ability to keep his name around + Virgil called Jeff his mentor
1:16:56 Worked with a company in 2002, Jeff was making too much money 3M a year, so they decided not to pay him
1:18:11 His divorce left him miserable, and unmotivated, got in a terrible car accident
1:20:19 December 2019, Jim Jones called to say he's gonna do a Jeff Hamilton song
1:21:14 Asap Rocky DMd Jeff to go to lunch, they linked the next day
1:23:44 Jeff is still baffled by the attention and people wanting to take photos with him
1:25:10 Rocky wanted a custom jacket in a quick fast, Jeff couldn't at the time so they came up with Jeff loaning his own jacket he wore when he was with Kobe
1:27:08 T-Rell reiterates that Jeff Hamilton is important to the culture
1:28:10 The passing of Kobe, people started making the connection with Kobe's jacket, Rocky's jacket etc his IG blew up
1:30:49 Then Cov*d hit! People are stuck at home watching the Netflix Jordan documentary, his passion and inspiration came back
1:31:49 Jeff called the NBA while the players were in the bubble to maybe work with Lebron, posted a few photos, and was back in business overnight
1:35:32 Finally met Drake thru Giggs, Drake was so happy to meet him: "He gave me a hug with his big muscular arms", Jeff is on his second OVO collab
1:39:54 He only wears his jackets except Virgil's, he also made the "Virgil jacket" dropping soon
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