The Unconventional Route to Handbag Success with Antoine Manning of Homage Year | Emily Blumenthal & Antoine Manning

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<v Emily Blumenthal>Hi and welcome to the Handbag Designer 101 podcast with your host, Emily Boomenthal, handbag designer expert and handbag fairy godmother, where we cover everything about handbags, from making, marketing, designing and talking to handbag designers and industry experts about what it takes to make a successful handbag.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>And Spawn welcome.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>Welcome to the Handbag Designer 101 podcast.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>I am so excited to have you on.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>This is truly exciting because we have been following your journey for quite some time.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>I have so much to talk to you about, especially the evolution, how you got started, the dates that are on your Instagram, what that means.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>I know everything that has meaning where you are and where it's all going.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>So why don't you introduce yourself and let's get this party started?

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<v Emily Blumenthal>Okay?

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<v Antoine Manning>Well, first, thank you for having me.

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<v Antoine Manning>I've been also following and watching a scene which you've been doing.

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<v Antoine Manning>I really appreciate it.

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<v Antoine Manning>I actually haven't really taken the time to talk to me.

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<v Antoine Manning>In terms of my name is Antoine Manning.

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<v Antoine Manning>I'm the career director of OMAI Azure.

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<v Antoine Manning>We started at our idealized since 2014.

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<v Antoine Manning>We actually started making products since 2015 and throughout the year at least the recent years we've started transitioning into accessories because we realized that that's, I guess, the best way for us to express our ideas in a more digestible way for communities in terms of it's easier to get that across versus t-shirts and whatnot, at least in my opinion.

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<v Antoine Manning>And yeah, so now we're just continuously just finding our voice and our strength and our storytelling through our accessories.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>So where are you from originally?

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<v Antoine Manning>I'm from the Bronx, new York, and I moved to Covington, georgia, in 2007.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>Why.

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<v Antoine Manning>My father.

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<v Antoine Manning>I don't know.

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<v Antoine Manning>I just know that one day my dad was like well, we're moving to Georgia and I was excited because I was a kid and the idea of being somewhere new was really exciting to me.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>So that's how I know how old were you when you moved.

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<v Antoine Manning>I think I was eight years old, because it was the summer of 2007 and I was born in 1999.

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<v Antoine Manning>So I was eight.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>So by this point did your whole family move, or just you, you and your dad.

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<v Antoine Manning>It was me, my dad, my uncle and my older brother, so it was us four, and then me getting it, then my sister came along shortly thereafter, and then my aunt came along shortly thereafter as well.

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<v Antoine Manning>My mom, she's in New York.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>So it was, all the boys made this pilgrimage.

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<v Antoine Manning>Pretty much.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>Wow, wow, wow.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>Do you remember the journey, like going there and moving, starting over.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>Do you remember all that?

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<v Antoine Manning>Yeah, we drove in a U-Haul in a car.

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<v Antoine Manning>So my other uncle, my aunt's husband, he helped us drive the U-Haul truck from New York to Georgia, and me and my other uncle, my older brother, we drove in a separate car behind them and when we first moved here we didn't have the house here, so we were actually staying in a house for like four days as like the house was being closed on.

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<v Antoine Manning>So and we have people like to drive into houses and like viewing houses and stuff like that.

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<v Antoine Manning>It was really interesting experience.

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<v Antoine Manning>It was really surreal, but I don't know, as a kid, especially going through that, I had fun, like it was really cool, it was really enjoyable, it was exciting.

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<v Antoine Manning>I guess that kind of fueled an adventurous spirit within me to a certain degree, but it was really filled with good energy.

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<v Antoine Manning>It was really fun.

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<v Antoine Manning>I had no better deal with that New begin.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>So you were eight and then you're in Georgia and then you had to start all over.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>You were the new kid, you had a new house, all boys, which I can't even imagine that's.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>I mean, it seems like it's a pervading theme and it's really great to hear this strong, positive male role models who are able to have such an impact on you so young, because you know there is a deficit of handbag designers who are male, right, designing for women, and what does that mean?

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<v Emily Blumenthal>And how do you really understand her needs and those customers?

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<v Emily Blumenthal>I think this is dialing into some really cool stuff.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>So at this point you're eight, where you are those kids that sketched and dreamed and like, oh, I want to do this, I want to do that.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>Like, how did all this?

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<v Emily Blumenthal>Then what?

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<v Antoine Manning>So the funny thing is, as a kid, are you like really with, like Marla and like Japanese comic books?

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<v Emily Blumenthal>Yeah.

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<v Antoine Manning>You know like I can mostly write.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>No, but okay.

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<v Antoine Manning>Well, as a kid, me and my older brother, we were always just like wrestling into like Japanese comic, select, naruto, dragon Ball Z, like stuff like that.

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<v Antoine Manning>It's like Japanese cartoons pretty much, and as a kid, I wanted to be like we wanted to make our own Japanese comic, basically, and so I spent most of my time, like most of my days, of studio and drawing characters and stuff like that.

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<v Antoine Manning>And me, my brother, we would like bounce it off each other, like hear all the stories, and then we'd share each other's story at the end of the week and we'd like read the story almost like a weekly chapter of our comic.

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<v Antoine Manning>And then, as I got older, like my palette for what I would be willing to do is start to expand.

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<v Antoine Manning>So, whether it be like be a YouTube or a gamer or a comic book bag, my, I always wanted to create something and just create a space of and for something.

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<v Antoine Manning>So as a kid, it definitely bloomed.

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<v Antoine Manning>And as I got older, like tours, like the high school age and whatnot my goals became more, I guess, realistic in a sense.

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<v Antoine Manning>But after like around 2014, that's when everything shifted back into the artistic, creative side.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>Did you go to a art art based high school or you just went to a high school?

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<v Antoine Manning>Very little in high school.

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<v Antoine Manning>High school, middle school, energy school, all the school going to a regular.

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<v Antoine Manning>When I was in New York, all the schools I went out there were private Catholic schools, but what I came out here is all public schools.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>So you were wearing a uniform as a little kid.

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<v Antoine Manning>Yeah, and year olds were in the button up at the front With the eye.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>Yeah, yeah, yeah With the vest.

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<v Antoine Manning>Yes, exactly, I had the vest yeah.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>Yeah, we see kids on the street and you want to make them into little dolls because they all look so you know we.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>Yeah, well, you know that child who's wearing said uniform has a shelf life, because you know there's a beginning and an ending of someone wearing a vest and a bow tie and a button up and some of those kids are going to break out and others are just going to follow through.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>I'm like Nope, this is who I am.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>This is like raised in bread.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>But were you doing anything artistic before?

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<v Emily Blumenthal>Bags?

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<v Emily Blumenthal>And you know, because I've still many questions about your silhouette and the colors and the palette and all of that.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>So how in the what and how did you get started?

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<v Emily Blumenthal>Like, you're not that old and you look good, so you must have been staying out, and so that's funny, Nah, so my artistic journey was pretty much always there.

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<v Antoine Manning>I was like I always had like that adventurous, dreamy mind and I could like create kind of worlds, and with prompts at least, it makes it even easier for me to do stuff like that.

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<v Antoine Manning>But around 2014, my father passed away.

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<v Antoine Manning>So after he passed away from me, I was just like because in my mind I was 15.

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<v Antoine Manning>Oh, in my mind everything was.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>It was turned upside down.

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<v Antoine Manning>Yeah, I was like that's exactly how I'd describe it If I expected it to be all right forever.

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<v Antoine Manning>That's my dad, so never except anything happened to me they in my life.

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<v Antoine Manning>So after he passed away, it basically made me look at the life in a way where it's like nothing's really promised, everything's very temporary to say, and I don't want to live a life based on where I'm chasing anyone else's dreams except mine.

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<v Antoine Manning>So from that point, and that's then I started to paint, painting was my first medium of choice.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>You started painting before.

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<v Antoine Manning>I never paid before.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>After this tragedy you're like I need to do something.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>I need to do something and you just started to worry.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>Was that that's proper trauma, right?

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<v Emily Blumenthal>Especially for a kid?

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<v Emily Blumenthal>15, it's still tender age, you're still valuable as a kid.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>My daughter's still 15 and you're like a hormone crazy soup to begin with.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>So something like that happens.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>Your families are your roots.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>You take away those roots that you know you're so good.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>So the fact that you moved to painting as opposed to anything else, like who got you the paint, how'd that happen?

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<v Antoine Manning>And that's what I'm about to say, because I will definitely give a lot of credit to my older brother, because during that time period he was in college.

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<v Antoine Manning>He's four years older than me, so that was my transitional years from my freshman year of high school into my sophomore year.

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<v Antoine Manning>So that was his transitional time from freshman year to sophomore year in college.

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<v Antoine Manning>So he was taking like what's he called?

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<v Antoine Manning>What's the Georgia State University?

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<v Emily Blumenthal>So he was close.

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<v Antoine Manning>Yeah, so he went to school about 40 minutes away from home.

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<v Antoine Manning>I'll see him like every other weekend, like when during the school semester started, but he was taking art history class basically, and in art history class they were talking about different artists, like abstract and whatnot, so he learned that to learn about like just different artists, like Jackson Pollard, again Ba-di-ah, and yeah, you met at collaboration with Basquiat, didn't you?

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<v Emily Blumenthal>Yeah, I saw him.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>It's like wow, but all coming together.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>Yeah, that's it.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>We haven't even gotten that.

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<v Antoine Manning>Exactly, exactly, the whole full circle really is.

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<v Antoine Manning>And I think I really threw with that, like hitting the ball into class and like I'm telling him like I think they want to try painting and stuff like that, and he's like, oh well, like we decided to start having a conversation about it.

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<v Antoine Manning>But I started like seeing how, like artists would channel their expression specifically into abstract painting.

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<v Antoine Manning>So as the school year started and I transitioned back to the school I started at, it was called Alcoly.

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<v Antoine Manning>I went to Alcoly.

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<v Antoine Manning>I'm an added teacher.

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<v Antoine Manning>Her name was Caitlin Mockin.

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<v Antoine Manning>I call her my arm Because during that time, like you said, like in the very susceptible time period of your world is upside down and whatnot she was a person that really like grounded me in terms of art to actually see this as something that I can do, because I wasn't really good in the beginning.

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<v Antoine Manning>But she like to kept on encouraging me to keep on going and that it's a good job, it's really good, it's really deep, it's really profound or whatnot, and she was just considered to nurture me.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>People don't realize that it takes time, right.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>It's funny.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>Someone was talking to me about handbags and this and that and like being the sex bird, and I said, listen, I'm an overnight success for 20 and that was a 20 year sleep, so it took a long time to go from here to there.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>It's not like become good at anything in such a short period.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>People don't realize that they really don't like basically your back and her drum and they're like, hey, look at you and you're like no, no, no, no, you don't know, we went through the idea.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>Let's go all the way, all the way, all the way back to your teacher who said no, try this again or try exactly.

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<v Antoine Manning>And you live in Europe.

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<v Antoine Manning>So have you been to Walmart?

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<v Antoine Manning>Yeah, of course.

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<v Antoine Manning>Okay.

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<v Antoine Manning>So at Walmart they had this, especially when I was younger they had, like this art section.

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<v Antoine Manning>So I would literally go to Walmart I would get the little cheap paint, get the cheap brushes.

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<v Antoine Manning>At that time I had like I would get like a $200 allowance a month from Walmart because I still didn't live in New York, so I lived with my uncle and my uncle out here, moved out here with us.

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<v Antoine Manning>So I used to spend like on, like holiday and like Christmas, summer time, stuff, like that.

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<v Antoine Manning>I'll go out and like Thanksgiving, all those those occasions, or should come out here.

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<v Antoine Manning>But I would use like portion of that money I should gave me by caravans, like bulk caravans, by bulk paint and whatnot, and then just be painting.

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<v Antoine Manning>Painting, how I feel, is painting expression.

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<v Antoine Manning>And then I transitioned into poetry and then from poetry I transitioned into designing and then I started to transition to photography, because all those different aspects of creativity, they give you room for expression in a different way.

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<v Antoine Manning>So what I can say with painting and like the visual language I can create with paint, I can't really create that with the poetry aspect because those are not my words.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>Visual to go with it.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>Exactly so, and I'm often like my that all of that is so up to interpretation.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>So, you create something.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>That's the interpretation, so it sounds like you were looking for something to make your mar.

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<v Antoine Manning>Yep, and that's the way it was my biggest thing for the stuff like that, even though if I ever paint again, it's like everything is up to interpretation.

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<v Antoine Manning>I create things from my own meetings with my own issues and things in mind, but I don't know what someone else is going to get from that painting and that's going to touch and make them feel a certain way and actually fast forward into when I was around like 2017, 2016,.

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<v Antoine Manning>I was at this thing called GHP, it's called Governor's Honest Program and basically it's like a state-satient thing where pretty much high schools from all over the state would be like a competition for different majors.

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<v Antoine Manning>So, yeah, so my first year I did it was my sophomore year I didn't make through.

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<v Antoine Manning>I made it through the semifinals by the end of the year all the way, but then next year I made it through the finals and we went to like this like rigorous course, like for a month or so, and like just painting and practicing.

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<v Antoine Manning>I made this really big painting Like one of my best abstract paintings to my today, and we had a show that we had at the end of the year and I'm whatever for you to get this lady.

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<v Antoine Manning>So this lady she found me, like on the last day of the thing of GHP at a party like we're having for everybody, and she was like, did you make that painting?

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<v Antoine Manning>I was like, yeah, she had cries, like it made me cry.

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<v Antoine Manning>It was really good painting, basically.

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<v Antoine Manning>And after that I was like that's what I really realized, like the power in making or in art and that's what you hear about, like the greats, like on Mark Bosco people look at Mark Mark Ruff goes out and just cry.

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<v Antoine Manning>Or like I feel different emotions.

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<v Antoine Manning>So, like when she told me that, I was just like maybe this is something that I can actually do at a high level.

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<v Antoine Manning>But yeah, that's where my artistic, creative like desire really started.

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<v Antoine Manning>But in terms of bags, to get to the bags, we have to size for a little bit.

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<v Antoine Manning>It's like 2020.

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<v Antoine Manning>That's like pandemic year.

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<v Antoine Manning>So it's the pandemic year I was in college.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>Did you go to college?

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<v Antoine Manning>I went to Georgia State as well.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>And you stayed, got it.

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<v Antoine Manning>Yeah.

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<v Antoine Manning>So I went to Georgia State.

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<v Antoine Manning>I stayed in Atlanta, and the funny thing is I want that too, and it was like my mindset was, to be honest, I didn't really care for school, but I did.

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<v Antoine Manning>I cared to be in the city, because if you want to be an artist, you have to be in the city.

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<v Antoine Manning>That's just what it is.

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<v Antoine Manning>So I was like LA, new York or Atlanta.

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<v Antoine Manning>I didn't want to go to LA, new York I think I was prepared and ready for New York at the moment, so I decided to stay in Atlanta.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>That's interesting, and this is speaking so much to who you are that you were confident, but you weren't confident enough to really jump on out there.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>So I think this is interesting.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>So you were moving forward with art, looking at it from a high level, like I'm going to be an artist, this is what I'm going to do.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>Did you get a scholarship for school?

00:13:26.284 --> 00:13:34.573
<v Antoine Manning>I was going to go to SCAD at first and if I got a good scholarship but the scholarship is still open enough, yeah, but you know, a Syracuse College of Art, yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:13:34.573 --> 00:13:38.552
<v Antoine Manning>So I wasn't a go there, but last minute I changed my mind.

00:13:38.552 --> 00:13:39.548
<v Antoine Manning>I don't know why.

00:13:39.548 --> 00:13:45.250
<v Antoine Manning>It is about certain messages, like last minute decisions, but I'll get like a feeling and I got this experience Like let me just go to GSU.

00:13:45.250 --> 00:13:46.628
<v Antoine Manning>So I just decided to go to GSU.

00:13:46.628 --> 00:13:50.173
<v Antoine Manning>I'm very excited and I attended there for three years.

00:13:50.225 --> 00:13:59.052
<v Antoine Manning>I left in 2020 during the pandemic, but before the pandemic of that year, I started taking my brand even more seriously because at that point I was just really focused on painting.

00:13:59.052 --> 00:14:06.394
<v Antoine Manning>But in that year I was like, okay, I can actually do something with design and actually be profiled with it, so prolific, so let me put some energy into doing that as well.

00:14:06.394 --> 00:14:12.894
<v Antoine Manning>So in the beginning of 2020, I organized like I had my friend, like a few months friends, and I was like, okay, like I really want to do a pop flip side thing.

00:14:12.894 --> 00:14:15.153
<v Antoine Manning>You still like this is like the concept of it.

00:14:15.153 --> 00:14:18.695
<v Antoine Manning>The concept of it was called, or, as I've never said, Is this all art, though?

00:14:19.099 --> 00:14:19.784
<v Antoine Manning>No, this was painting.

00:14:19.784 --> 00:14:20.511
<v Antoine Manning>You know, I painted.

00:14:20.511 --> 00:14:24.057
<v Antoine Manning>This was the collection, my first collection, and I'll just put it some more this time collection of bags.

00:14:24.057 --> 00:14:27.866
<v Antoine Manning>No, it was like like like, with like T-shirts and like accessories.

00:14:27.866 --> 00:14:29.239
<v Antoine Manning>This is right before the bag.

00:14:29.640 --> 00:14:32.208
<v Emily Blumenthal>Right, so what else?

00:14:32.208 --> 00:14:33.211
<v Emily Blumenthal>T-shirts and what.

00:14:33.373 --> 00:14:37.442
<v Antoine Manning>It was T-shirts, it was key chains, it was plush pillows, it was.

00:14:37.462 --> 00:14:38.947
<v Emily Blumenthal>Where you getting the materials from.

00:14:39.434 --> 00:14:44.013
<v Antoine Manning>Some of them I got made through manufacturers, other ones I had made in Atlanta.

00:14:44.013 --> 00:14:45.537
<v Antoine Manning>We did hoodies or the schemas.

00:14:46.158 --> 00:14:50.687
<v Emily Blumenthal>So were you just buying the plates and you were doing me art straight on them?

00:14:51.134 --> 00:14:52.119
<v Antoine Manning>This is for the pieces.

00:14:52.119 --> 00:14:54.105
<v Antoine Manning>So, like for the hoodies, you get them on type printing on them.

00:14:54.105 --> 00:14:56.380
<v Antoine Manning>Meet the DETGDirect to Government printing.

00:14:56.380 --> 00:14:57.885
<v Antoine Manning>For the t-shirts we did screen printing.

00:14:57.885 --> 00:15:09.803
<v Antoine Manning>But a lot of the pieces that I made the funniest part about it is that a lot of the pieces were like photographically, like inspired, so like I would take photos and then I'll get the photos half toned and then screen printed on this shirt and then I'll write on top of them.

00:15:09.803 --> 00:15:12.946
<v Antoine Manning>So it was like almost like a mix of needed type of the shirts.

00:15:12.946 --> 00:15:15.879
<v Antoine Manning>But how much for your charging from the shirts.

00:15:15.879 --> 00:15:18.851
<v Antoine Manning>The shirts were like like $25, $30.

00:15:18.851 --> 00:15:19.615
<v Antoine Manning>Were you making it?

00:15:19.774 --> 00:15:20.517
<v Emily Blumenthal>Making it off of them.

00:15:20.938 --> 00:15:25.600
<v Antoine Manning>Yeah, I made that was the most money I made at this time and yeah, I was really happy about it.

00:15:25.600 --> 00:15:35.063
<v Antoine Manning>But the collection was called Words that I Never Said and they all were basically like different sayings and all the sayings were like very introspective and prolific and whatnot.

00:15:35.063 --> 00:15:42.356
<v Antoine Manning>It's just starting to agree and towards the fall I had to pop up for it and during the pop-up basically before the pop-up I had another Amazon.

00:15:42.356 --> 00:15:44.384
<v Antoine Manning>I quit that job to make the pop-up happen.

00:15:44.384 --> 00:15:47.860
<v Antoine Manning>Doing that pop-up it was a week-long pop-up.

00:15:47.860 --> 00:15:55.787
<v Antoine Manning>On the fourth to fifth day it got buggerized so I had to have to close down a six-day get Risa free-made and then on the seventh day we came back and finished it out.

00:15:55.787 --> 00:15:56.518
<v Antoine Manning>It was perfect.

00:15:56.518 --> 00:16:02.160
<v Antoine Manning>Yeah, after it was done, yeah, someone like broke in it, stole the paintings, stole the rest of the shirts we had in there.

00:16:02.160 --> 00:16:02.903
<v Antoine Manning>It was crazy.

00:16:02.964 --> 00:16:04.345
<v Emily Blumenthal>But how did you handle that?

00:16:04.345 --> 00:16:05.172
<v Emily Blumenthal>Were you traumatized?

00:16:05.172 --> 00:16:07.624
<v Emily Blumenthal>Or you're like, okay, move on, next figure it out.

00:16:07.884 --> 00:16:19.980
<v Antoine Manning>Yeah, at first I was angry, like I was angry, but then the funny thing is, like my uncle, the day before that happened, and like he was, or the day of that happened, he was like when you're there, like after it was done or you're still there, are you there by yourself?

00:16:19.980 --> 00:16:24.849
<v Antoine Manning>I was like, yeah, like I would be like the rest of the inventory, the inventory's there, and fix everything up.

00:16:24.849 --> 00:16:25.472
<v Antoine Manning>And I'm like, yeah, I would.

00:16:25.472 --> 00:16:29.738
<v Antoine Manning>And he was like, if you're going to meet him in Chesnopolis or just don't stay like after by yourself, it's like okay.

00:16:29.738 --> 00:16:33.394
<v Antoine Manning>And then the next day that happened and I left so I had to regularize it.

00:16:33.394 --> 00:16:36.225
<v Antoine Manning>So I'm like you know, I'm glad I've listened, because I don't know what could have happened.

00:16:36.225 --> 00:16:39.350
<v Antoine Manning>But I was just more civil, like angry at first, and then I was like okay.

00:16:39.350 --> 00:16:40.797
<v Antoine Manning>And I was like, well, okay, we do.

00:16:40.856 --> 00:16:43.765
<v Emily Blumenthal>So I basically sold, like you lose a lot of money off of that.

00:16:43.975 --> 00:16:47.836
<v Antoine Manning>The good thing about that at that time the stuff that we're taking were stuff that I could replace.

00:16:47.836 --> 00:16:51.626
<v Antoine Manning>So it was like I'd sell the panty, but the ski mask we're pretty much sold out.

00:16:51.626 --> 00:16:56.636
<v Antoine Manning>The hoodies were sold out, all the special stuff that we were like the plushies and the pillows just sold out.

00:16:56.636 --> 00:16:58.503
<v Antoine Manning>So thankfully no one can take it from those.

00:16:58.503 --> 00:16:59.785
<v Antoine Manning>But they took the t-shirts and whatnot.

00:16:59.785 --> 00:17:05.564
<v Antoine Manning>But I shut down the sixth day or the fifth day and the sixth day and then on the seventh day we came back and we finished it out.

00:17:05.564 --> 00:17:06.791
<v Antoine Manning>It was good, it was really good.

00:17:06.811 --> 00:17:10.305
<v Antoine Manning>People came through, showed loves or really had a great 285.

00:17:10.305 --> 00:17:24.512
<v Antoine Manning>And then, after that pop-up happened, I basically got interested at Yeezy through my friend and yeah, in Fayetteville which was crazy because people would be here that way and from there I was doing like the dialing samples.

00:17:24.512 --> 00:17:29.492
<v Antoine Manning>My friend, she was actually making like and sewing like different like samples for them.

00:17:29.492 --> 00:17:38.740
<v Antoine Manning>We had two different roles and during this part inside, like what she was like making different samples and stuff like that, I would just draw stuff I like came in here to try this and do that and that and that, and the internship had edited.

00:17:38.760 --> 00:17:41.916
<v Antoine Manning>She had basically said like you should make a bag, basically.

00:17:41.916 --> 00:17:44.067
<v Antoine Manning>And she gave me like a design, like a little sketch.

00:17:44.067 --> 00:17:46.739
<v Antoine Manning>It's like the homage logo but it's like a handle on it.

00:17:46.739 --> 00:17:49.229
<v Antoine Manning>But I didn't get to use that design.

00:17:49.229 --> 00:17:51.376
<v Antoine Manning>But then I went home and I was like I should make a bag.

00:17:51.376 --> 00:17:54.424
<v Antoine Manning>I should make a bag and I have a sketch somewhere around here.

00:17:54.424 --> 00:17:55.987
<v Antoine Manning>But I just drew the shape of it.

00:17:55.987 --> 00:17:59.843
<v Antoine Manning>I just drew the middle with like the two-toned aspect of it, drew the little pocket.

00:17:59.843 --> 00:18:01.424
<v Antoine Manning>I was like, okay, I think that's it.

00:18:01.424 --> 00:18:03.950
<v Antoine Manning>And then I talked to the manufacturer and made it happen.

00:18:04.175 --> 00:18:04.698
<v Emily Blumenthal>So which map?

00:18:04.698 --> 00:18:05.942
<v Emily Blumenthal>How'd you find your manufacturer?

00:18:06.244 --> 00:18:11.750
<v Antoine Manning>Ironically I held my friend find a manufacturer like two months before that, so I already had the manufacturer there.

00:18:11.750 --> 00:18:18.268
<v Antoine Manning>What she told me to do with it, I was like manufacturer domestically in Atlanta or is overseas?

00:18:18.689 --> 00:18:19.550
<v Emily Blumenthal>Like China.

00:18:19.550 --> 00:18:23.103
<v Emily Blumenthal>Okay so your friend was a designer or aspiring designer?

00:18:23.644 --> 00:18:23.965
<v Antoine Manning>He is.

00:18:23.965 --> 00:18:30.874
<v Antoine Manning>He made a bag almost like a work bag reasons like a compartment of retain wish shape, has two compartments on it, two handles.

00:18:30.874 --> 00:18:34.932
<v Antoine Manning>But it was really nice that I found a manufacturer for them, because he made a set up himself.

00:18:34.932 --> 00:18:35.976
<v Antoine Manning>So I found a manufacturer.

00:18:35.976 --> 00:18:39.083
<v Antoine Manning>It's actually to get it made so you can sell it.

00:18:39.303 --> 00:18:41.428
<v Emily Blumenthal>Right, so this is interesting.

00:18:41.428 --> 00:18:45.644
<v Emily Blumenthal>So you are an accidental handbag designer technically.

00:18:45.663 --> 00:18:46.886
<v Antoine Manning>Pretty much, yeah, pretty much.

00:18:47.296 --> 00:18:52.381
<v Emily Blumenthal>I don't know if you know the story of Rebecca Minkoff, but that's pretty similar, where she was in accessories and so forth.

00:18:52.381 --> 00:19:01.454
<v Emily Blumenthal>That happened to throw a bag together for celebrity friend of hers who was in a movie and therefore the bag got a lot of attention and traction, which was the aha moment.

00:19:01.454 --> 00:19:03.101
<v Emily Blumenthal>Like why am I doing t-shirts?

00:19:03.101 --> 00:19:06.311
<v Emily Blumenthal>T-shirts were the gateway to get me to where I bags.

00:19:06.311 --> 00:19:12.780
<v Emily Blumenthal>You know, people are going to seem to be responding more with the bags, but now we can get into the nitty gritty about the bags.

00:19:12.780 --> 00:19:17.883
<v Emily Blumenthal>So, first of all, how did your friend react when you were like by the way, I'm doing this too, because it's?

00:19:18.305 --> 00:19:19.387
<v Antoine Manning>that's what I showed the bag.

00:19:19.628 --> 00:19:23.544
<v Emily Blumenthal>Well, he was doing bags and you're like, hey, by the way, I'm going to do this too.

00:19:23.544 --> 00:19:24.528
<v Emily Blumenthal>I have an idea.

00:19:24.528 --> 00:19:25.652
<v Emily Blumenthal>Was he supportive?

00:19:25.652 --> 00:19:27.519
<v Emily Blumenthal>Or was he like, hey, I'm doing this.

00:19:27.519 --> 00:19:28.924
<v Emily Blumenthal>Or was he like, oh, that's cool.

00:19:28.924 --> 00:19:29.888
<v Emily Blumenthal>Like what was his thought?

00:19:30.049 --> 00:19:34.151
<v Antoine Manning>No, he was supported and I actually was very apprehensive about that First.

00:19:34.230 --> 00:19:44.269
<v Emily Blumenthal>I'm like they got a long time shit all the way, like that's my piece yeah yeah, yeah, because it's like oh, that's his thing, and I'm an artist, I'm doing hoodies Like I can't get into bags.

00:19:44.269 --> 00:19:45.291
<v Emily Blumenthal>So no, I didn't.

00:19:45.814 --> 00:19:48.169
<v Antoine Manning>And I mean, when I talked to him about it, he was very supportive.

00:19:48.169 --> 00:19:50.401
<v Antoine Manning>He was like hey, that's really cool, like that's cool.

00:19:50.401 --> 00:19:55.547
<v Antoine Manning>And I appreciated that, because I don't know if you get diffraction from different people, but he was very supportive about it, thankfully.

00:19:55.547 --> 00:19:58.519
<v Antoine Manning>And when I showed him he was like I'm like, I'm sorry, he's like he's really cool.

00:19:58.638 --> 00:19:59.761
<v Emily Blumenthal>Is he still doing bags?

00:20:00.063 --> 00:20:02.155
<v Antoine Manning>He does a lot of different things.

00:20:02.155 --> 00:20:03.845
<v Antoine Manning>So he does like mess, he like does a lot of different things.

00:20:03.845 --> 00:20:04.689
<v Antoine Manning>He did best.

00:20:04.689 --> 00:20:06.676
<v Antoine Manning>He did bags, he did pants, he did shirts.

00:20:06.676 --> 00:20:08.602
<v Antoine Manning>He does a lot of different, like kind of soul words.

00:20:08.662 --> 00:20:11.036
<v Emily Blumenthal>He is not a back person.

00:20:11.056 --> 00:20:11.678
<v Antoine Manning>He's not specifically.

00:20:11.678 --> 00:20:12.721
<v Antoine Manning>Yeah, he's not specifically in night bags.

00:20:13.102 --> 00:20:15.236
<v Emily Blumenthal>So you did this first sample.

00:20:15.236 --> 00:20:15.676
<v Emily Blumenthal>How'd you get it?

00:20:15.676 --> 00:20:17.842
<v Emily Blumenthal>How much did you spend on your first sample?

00:20:18.282 --> 00:20:21.117
<v Antoine Manning>You only had one at that go I had three made.

00:20:21.298 --> 00:20:22.039
<v Emily Blumenthal>What they look like.

00:20:22.401 --> 00:20:23.723
<v Antoine Manning>I have the first one.

00:20:23.723 --> 00:20:32.260
<v Antoine Manning>It was a two toned orange one that we sold on a platform, and that was the first one, but the shade was a little less saturated, pretty much.

00:20:32.521 --> 00:20:34.248
<v Emily Blumenthal>Was it leather or was it P you?

00:20:34.248 --> 00:20:36.698
<v Emily Blumenthal>It was leather, it was yeah it was VG leather.

00:20:36.718 --> 00:20:39.893
<v Antoine Manning>It was VG leather, but that time was the first one, so it was really soft.

00:20:39.893 --> 00:20:45.596
<v Antoine Manning>It was really soft, but I didn't realize it was really soft, and so later on any structure and couldn't stand on its own.

00:20:45.837 --> 00:20:48.550
<v Antoine Manning>Yeah, like it could stand in this stuff, but it just was really soft.

00:20:48.550 --> 00:20:53.270
<v Antoine Manning>And now the ones that we have are like just sturdy, like it has that structure support.

00:20:53.270 --> 00:20:55.359
<v Antoine Manning>It didn't really have a lot of support before that.

00:20:55.359 --> 00:21:01.663
<v Antoine Manning>So I got that one and that was the way that we have it now, Like the two toned, the two cuts, the pocket that I got.

00:21:01.743 --> 00:21:09.529
<v Antoine Manning>Second one I got was an all white one with a red interior but the straps don't come off and there's no like two cuts.

00:21:09.529 --> 00:21:16.117
<v Antoine Manning>So it was like as if this bag was just completely together, like no cuts there and the straps are just stuck on it, Like you can't take them off.

00:21:16.117 --> 00:21:24.448
<v Antoine Manning>And then the last one I made was pretty much the two cut one, but so it looked exactly like this, but with no side, like no straps at all.

00:21:24.448 --> 00:21:28.882
<v Antoine Manning>So the one came with the detachable one, the one came with no detachable strap is just stuck on it.

00:21:28.882 --> 00:21:37.102
<v Antoine Manning>And then that one the last one came, was just like a clutch holder and while I got the samples I was like, yeah, this is the orange was the one, and I actually like have something really good.

00:21:37.102 --> 00:21:38.486
<v Antoine Manning>So I got the sample in November.

00:21:38.486 --> 00:21:42.891
<v Antoine Manning>I didn't release it or show anybody until like March of the following year.

00:21:43.030 --> 00:21:43.251
<v Emily Blumenthal>Why.

00:21:43.271 --> 00:21:44.878
<v Antoine Manning>Because I knew it was something special.

00:21:44.878 --> 00:21:46.286
<v Antoine Manning>I thought it was something special.

00:21:46.286 --> 00:21:49.119
<v Antoine Manning>I didn't want to either diminish it and or I don't know.

00:21:49.119 --> 00:21:56.634
<v Antoine Manning>I just didn't want to see, like this is what happened, that the chance that someone else could make the possibly or like, just recreate or do it before me and do it better than me.

00:21:56.634 --> 00:22:01.266
<v Antoine Manning>So I was like I'm a holding away, that's everything's right, and I mean it went up when it's on in there.

00:22:01.895 --> 00:22:03.199
<v Emily Blumenthal>So you made this bag.

00:22:03.199 --> 00:22:07.530
<v Emily Blumenthal>You recognize the bag has some sort of DNA to it.

00:22:07.530 --> 00:22:21.184
<v Emily Blumenthal>You know, being somebody who is so immersed in bags and independent designers and understanding your customer and designing into a price point and recognizing the 4p is the price, product promotion, placement, but right smack in the center is the customer.

00:22:21.184 --> 00:22:24.539
<v Emily Blumenthal>So it's so interesting because you're coming straight from the product angle.

00:22:24.539 --> 00:22:26.445
<v Emily Blumenthal>So you had this made.

00:22:26.445 --> 00:22:27.770
<v Emily Blumenthal>It was not leather.

00:22:27.770 --> 00:22:29.457
<v Emily Blumenthal>How did you know price points?

00:22:29.457 --> 00:22:30.644
<v Emily Blumenthal>Did you get a minimum?

00:22:30.644 --> 00:22:34.181
<v Emily Blumenthal>Like were you like, okay, to the factory, give me the price points for 500 units?

00:22:34.181 --> 00:22:36.391
<v Emily Blumenthal>Like, did you know how you were going to sell?

00:22:36.391 --> 00:22:37.375
<v Emily Blumenthal>Like, what was your thought?

00:22:37.375 --> 00:22:41.153
<v Emily Blumenthal>Because I understand that feeling where you get this bag and you're like, hmm, now what?

00:22:41.473 --> 00:22:47.818
<v Emily Blumenthal>And to that point I work with a lot of designers, were terrified to show it to people like, oh no, no, no, they're going to copy.

00:22:47.818 --> 00:22:52.316
<v Emily Blumenthal>And I'm like, well, at some point you have to do that because it's not going to sell.

00:22:52.316 --> 00:22:59.881
<v Emily Blumenthal>And showing factories and buyers and DAs and non disclosure agreements thing will last in your face.

00:22:59.881 --> 00:23:02.249
<v Emily Blumenthal>They will be like not going to work with you.

00:23:02.249 --> 00:23:03.733
<v Emily Blumenthal>That's not realistic.

00:23:03.733 --> 00:23:11.729
<v Emily Blumenthal>And if you do it to a factory, they'll do it, but they'll put you at the bottom of the to do list and they'll charge you X 10 because they know you're, you just don't know.

00:23:11.729 --> 00:23:18.777
<v Emily Blumenthal>So here you are with these three samples in bright colors, and typically bright colors, you know, aren't the first ones to sell.

00:23:18.777 --> 00:23:21.689
<v Emily Blumenthal>The bright color bags are always like the supplementary.

00:23:21.689 --> 00:23:29.635
<v Emily Blumenthal>By the way, here's our showpiece, like the cover of the magazine, and when I'm looking to buy I'm going to go look for that black, I'm going to look for that neutral, for that ox sled.

00:23:29.635 --> 00:23:31.147
<v Emily Blumenthal>So you have this bag.

00:23:31.147 --> 00:23:31.970
<v Emily Blumenthal>Then what happened?

00:23:32.431 --> 00:23:54.634
<v Antoine Manning>So, with that now, when I'm going to do like that process because I'm still trying to, you know, advocate money wisely, whatnot but from the money I made from Yeezy and the money I had left from the pop up and even like the other goods I had from the collection that I like, I still was doing stuff like that with the collection too, so I would just use that money and sell it into buying the bag.

00:23:54.634 --> 00:24:01.059
<v Antoine Manning>I first did like moqs of 50 for each color, so I got two colors and I got two tone green and I got a two tone orange.

00:24:01.059 --> 00:24:02.244
<v Antoine Manning>That's how I started dropping them.

00:24:02.285 --> 00:24:05.794
<v Emily Blumenthal>So I got those green and green or green and orange.

00:24:06.094 --> 00:24:07.416
<v Antoine Manning>So the two tone green version.

00:24:07.416 --> 00:24:15.555
<v Antoine Manning>So it was almost like literally how this looks, but it's green, so like a really light green, and then I go really deep but really deep, but green.

00:24:15.555 --> 00:24:22.759
<v Antoine Manning>I would have one of the green ones that's how people much people love the other things right and the orange one and those two.

00:24:22.759 --> 00:24:24.163
<v Antoine Manning>While I dropped them.

00:24:24.163 --> 00:24:37.989
<v Antoine Manning>I dropped them with a new site and with this through a shoot with my friend, jaylin Amir, really, really, really talented, really talented, and when I dropped them they sold out and like they sold out really fast, I think, like like a day or two.

00:24:38.390 --> 00:24:42.830
<v Emily Blumenthal>Where did you sell them, and how much were you selling them for, and where did you make the profit?

00:24:43.051 --> 00:24:45.039
<v Antoine Manning>I sold them in on my site.

00:24:45.039 --> 00:24:47.993
<v Antoine Manning>I had like a really bad site in the beginning, so I sold on my really bad site.

00:24:48.375 --> 00:24:50.025
<v Emily Blumenthal>Everybody had a really bad site at the beginning.

00:24:50.025 --> 00:24:51.229
<v Emily Blumenthal>Yeah, it was great.

00:24:51.229 --> 00:24:53.175
<v Emily Blumenthal>That's a right of passage.

00:24:53.497 --> 00:24:55.363
<v Antoine Manning>Yeah, so I sold it through my site.

00:24:55.363 --> 00:25:02.175
<v Antoine Manning>The beginning price was $150 and I did make profit, but at the time I was doing all my orders.

00:25:02.175 --> 00:25:04.887
<v Antoine Manning>I was doing literally everything like I was.

00:25:05.390 --> 00:25:06.172
<v Emily Blumenthal>As you should be.

00:25:06.172 --> 00:25:08.680
<v Emily Blumenthal>As you should be, yeah, yeah.

00:25:09.060 --> 00:25:09.823
<v Antoine Manning>Exactly so.

00:25:09.823 --> 00:25:11.730
<v Antoine Manning>I had like a hundred bags in my house.

00:25:11.730 --> 00:25:14.219
<v Antoine Manning>I had to product quality check them all.

00:25:14.219 --> 00:25:14.701
<v Antoine Manning>I had to.

00:25:14.701 --> 00:25:16.887
<v Antoine Manning>You know the stuff I'm all in my hand.

00:25:16.887 --> 00:25:27.587
<v Antoine Manning>I have photos of me in my house with this printed boxes on the ground and they're all open and I'm just there with that access like quality checking them all and then putting them labeling.

00:25:27.708 --> 00:25:33.286
<v Emily Blumenthal>I still have PTSD from the tape, the box tape, that yeah, I actually love that.

00:25:33.326 --> 00:25:34.750
<v Antoine Manning>That's actually one of my favorite things.

00:25:34.750 --> 00:25:35.893
<v Antoine Manning>I love for that.

00:25:35.893 --> 00:25:37.257
<v Antoine Manning>That's my favorite part.

00:25:37.257 --> 00:25:38.569
<v Antoine Manning>That's one of my favorite parts.

00:25:38.569 --> 00:25:39.314
<v Antoine Manning>The mug of the life.

00:25:39.474 --> 00:25:47.788
<v Emily Blumenthal>Yeah, it's funny how people respond to packing their own stuff and what the box tape does, because I'm like, oh god, here we are again and making sure.

00:25:47.788 --> 00:25:51.057
<v Emily Blumenthal>Now let me ask you, were you putting thank you notes in your boxes?

00:25:51.599 --> 00:25:55.500
<v Antoine Manning>So at first I would because I'm head right them, I'm head right to thank you those and stuff.

00:25:55.500 --> 00:25:58.594
<v Antoine Manning>But then once I got to do a hundred, I got quality checking all like.

00:25:58.594 --> 00:26:05.981
<v Antoine Manning>At that point my thank you for me, like the thank you, was like making sure the bag that what you got was this good and an ample time.

00:26:05.981 --> 00:26:18.182
<v Antoine Manning>But I definitely would like emphasize like always, like posting a thing, like thank you on Instagram to everybody who was like supporting me and supporting the brand, because it was like that the love I find that moment specifically was just so profound and otherworldly that I don't really like this.

00:26:18.182 --> 00:26:21.936
<v Antoine Manning>Very little that can happen that could surpass that, in my opinion.

00:26:21.957 --> 00:26:23.461
<v Emily Blumenthal>Oh, you were boxing the bags.

00:26:23.461 --> 00:26:26.650
<v Emily Blumenthal>How many followers did you have at the time to thank those people?

00:26:26.990 --> 00:26:28.192
<v Antoine Manning>I think I'm a personal.

00:26:28.192 --> 00:26:33.612
<v Antoine Manning>I had maybe like 9,000 followers, 8,000, something like that, on the old my page.

00:26:33.612 --> 00:26:40.538
<v Antoine Manning>I think we were around the same, like the same around volume as my personal, so around 8,000 people following us.

00:26:40.679 --> 00:26:41.722
<v Emily Blumenthal>That's a lot.

00:26:41.722 --> 00:26:45.692
<v Emily Blumenthal>That's like a micro influencer, because you already have a long community.

00:26:45.692 --> 00:26:51.140
<v Emily Blumenthal>So how did you come up with the name and how were you able to build the 8,000 by the time you got there?

00:26:51.140 --> 00:26:53.808
<v Emily Blumenthal>Was that all from the paintings and the hoodies and the work you've done?

00:26:54.130 --> 00:26:59.853
<v Antoine Manning>Yeah, I was, like, I'm, that person I treasured, and by you all, my relationships at like as time, like, like goes.

00:26:59.853 --> 00:27:06.095
<v Antoine Manning>So I'm a lot of friends through high school, middle school, college just a different aspect of my life that we're still linked in.

00:27:06.095 --> 00:27:37.363
<v Antoine Manning>But even so, after that, and even more so than I should, I say, yeah, the littlest people that met along the way, we were always supported and showed love and whatnot, and the name of the brand idealized like the brand of what not 24 routine, but in 2050, a few people started passing away and is that, what all those that, what all those dates are yeah, most of the dates are like 6 30s on my dad past 7 women is when I found out 8 to is his shooter rule, not 5 2015, that's something that I first t-shirt and 2 1 2016 that's one of my friends classics had passed away.

00:27:37.383 --> 00:27:43.830
<v Antoine Manning>Yeah, there's a few different days so it's like a lot of different passing going on, but, oh my, basically just remember the year homage go.

00:27:43.830 --> 00:27:47.988
<v Antoine Manning>Much of the people who passed away is a few different, like footnotes and principles that we stand on.

00:27:47.988 --> 00:27:54.440
<v Antoine Manning>So, yeah, it's just like creating a community through like desire and do meaningful clothing create things that are going to be clothing.

00:27:54.519 --> 00:27:57.169
<v Emily Blumenthal>Do you think you're going to keep those dates on your social?

00:27:57.329 --> 00:28:00.886
<v Antoine Manning>you're going to always have yeah, for sure, and even something, just still there's.

00:28:00.886 --> 00:28:02.618
<v Antoine Manning>It's got to the point where there's too many days I can.

00:28:02.618 --> 00:28:05.509
<v Antoine Manning>I can't add any more dates for certain days, like if I could add on there, I would.

00:28:05.690 --> 00:28:12.852
<v Emily Blumenthal>But do you think, though, as a commercial brand, what those dates represent are not commercial?

00:28:12.852 --> 00:28:19.196
<v Emily Blumenthal>Do you see that you may evolve as a brand owner and then incorporate those dates into your brand and your design?

00:28:19.699 --> 00:28:25.702
<v Antoine Manning>yeah, like, I still try to look for ways in which to incorporate them into the design than into like pieces that we do create.

00:28:25.702 --> 00:28:35.500
<v Antoine Manning>But from a commercial aspect, I said this for us as a brand, whether it's commercial or not, that those are pivotal experiences, that people that have allowed us to be where we are.

00:28:35.500 --> 00:28:42.733
<v Antoine Manning>You know, if you get what I mean, like, if that didn't happen or certain people didn't go away and XYZ, then I guess, to a certain extent, my dream wouldn't be here at all.

00:28:42.733 --> 00:28:43.417
<v Antoine Manning>It wouldn't be at all.

00:28:43.417 --> 00:28:45.086
<v Antoine Manning>I had I'm the reason to be here and doing this.

00:28:45.086 --> 00:28:51.932
<v Antoine Manning>So I would say in terms of that, at the very least, their memory and paying respects to their memory is the least that I can do.

00:28:51.932 --> 00:28:56.210
<v Antoine Manning>And, yeah, I guess that's the way which I choose to acknowledge them, whether it's no or not.

00:28:56.210 --> 00:29:00.807
<v Antoine Manning>So I don't think I would be coaxed into changing it, dude, so like, like.

00:29:00.928 --> 00:29:04.237
<v Emily Blumenthal>I'm just playing devil's advocate, just because I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know.

00:29:04.685 --> 00:29:15.119
<v Emily Blumenthal>I don't think I knew it yeah, you know, as a marketer and understanding the DNA and the brand, because I knew that those dates obviously had some sort of proper deep, intrinsic meaning.

00:29:15.119 --> 00:29:23.778
<v Emily Blumenthal>But to grow the brand from here to there, like at some point would you say, okay, perhaps you know, it's interesting.

00:29:23.778 --> 00:29:38.660
<v Emily Blumenthal>So I work with a lot of people and I have a colleague who's in mergers and acquisitions and what I work with a lot of designers and some of whom are making well into the millions, and this particular colleague of mine said is how many people do they working for them?

00:29:38.660 --> 00:29:41.548
<v Emily Blumenthal>And I said, oh, it's small, they're doing really well.

00:29:41.548 --> 00:29:43.473
<v Emily Blumenthal>And he's like well, it's still a law firm.

00:29:43.473 --> 00:29:44.797
<v Emily Blumenthal>And I said a law firm.

00:29:44.797 --> 00:29:48.914
<v Emily Blumenthal>And anybody who's been part of our incubator and so forth understands what all this means.

00:29:48.914 --> 00:29:56.807
<v Emily Blumenthal>But a law firm means in terms of what you're bringing in, because you are unable to scale it, because it's still just you, right.

00:29:56.807 --> 00:30:02.767
<v Emily Blumenthal>So it's basically it's you doing everything and you're not growing the brand to scale.

00:30:02.767 --> 00:30:07.076
<v Emily Blumenthal>So, yes, it's great, make all that, but what are you going to do to take it to the next level?

00:30:07.164 --> 00:30:24.196
<v Emily Blumenthal>And at some point you have to, and I'm not telling that you should do it, but that one needs to evolve and grow and you have to recognize that this brand has to survive without you being at the core, because the people who are bags at some point are not going to care or be vest you.

00:30:24.196 --> 00:30:26.468
<v Emily Blumenthal>You are story, what got you there.

00:30:26.468 --> 00:30:32.726
<v Emily Blumenthal>They want the bag and how the bag affects them no, how the brand affects you.

00:30:32.726 --> 00:30:38.446
<v Emily Blumenthal>So I'm just playing devil's advocate because I was looking at the dates and I'm like it must be something monumental.

00:30:38.446 --> 00:30:42.096
<v Emily Blumenthal>It must be about something about people who've been close to him past.

00:30:42.096 --> 00:30:55.518
<v Emily Blumenthal>But what happens when you get to the point where you become commercial enough and do you want people to associate these heartfelt, deep things, which are really hard to cope, to your brand?

00:30:55.518 --> 00:31:12.664
<v Emily Blumenthal>So, yeah, conversating with you, because obviously the growth of how I see everybody's brand is, I want every designer to succeed and obviously, being a huge fan of yours, I was looking at those dates and I said I wonder how he's going to evolve, what that, or if these are going to stay there forever.

00:31:12.765 --> 00:31:14.954
<v Emily Blumenthal>Because everything on your social is real estate.

00:31:14.954 --> 00:31:20.619
<v Emily Blumenthal>Right, it's an opportunity to tell people, it's an opportunity to grow and with using all that real estate up on those deeds.

00:31:20.619 --> 00:31:23.048
<v Emily Blumenthal>Again, I'm not telling you that you should change that.

00:31:23.048 --> 00:31:25.634
<v Emily Blumenthal>But you want everything to be an opportunity to sell.

00:31:25.634 --> 00:31:33.747
<v Emily Blumenthal>So, even going to the FAQ on your site, which is something we talk about, I speak about that like every opportunity in every minute.

00:31:33.767 --> 00:31:35.011
<v Emily Blumenthal>You have someone coming to you.

00:31:35.011 --> 00:31:37.483
<v Emily Blumenthal>You want to sell them something in an authentic way.

00:31:37.483 --> 00:31:38.150
<v Emily Blumenthal>You want it up.

00:31:38.150 --> 00:31:43.038
<v Emily Blumenthal>You you'll get down their throats and you want to look at it like okay, I got someone to come to my social.

00:31:43.038 --> 00:31:45.078
<v Emily Blumenthal>What can I do to sell them a bag?

00:31:45.078 --> 00:31:47.526
<v Emily Blumenthal>Because you're not a van go, nobody's in van go.

00:31:47.526 --> 00:32:06.119
<v Emily Blumenthal>You don't want someone to buy one piece and hanging down their wall, you want them to come back and buy more and buy more and buy the cousin and the iteration and balance, the motorcycle bag, which is my favorite case study of bag the big one, the small one, the hardware, even with all that nonsense that went on with balance, the other people are still going to come back.

00:32:06.119 --> 00:32:06.902
<v Emily Blumenthal>Let's be honest.

00:32:07.162 --> 00:32:09.635
<v Emily Blumenthal>Yeah yeah, let's not play Everyone's like.

00:32:09.635 --> 00:32:10.601
<v Emily Blumenthal>I'm not going to balance the other.

00:32:10.601 --> 00:32:11.799
<v Emily Blumenthal>I'm like sure you are.

00:32:11.799 --> 00:32:14.584
<v Emily Blumenthal>I'm going to see that neon green bag that you've been holding.

00:32:14.584 --> 00:32:17.422
<v Emily Blumenthal>It's going to be out in a month, so what am I going to wear it now?

00:32:17.422 --> 00:32:18.419
<v Emily Blumenthal>I'm like move on.

00:32:19.837 --> 00:32:24.961
<v Emily Blumenthal>Yeah, no, I mean, these are just things for you to think about, because I would never like a lawyer, I would never tell you what to do.

00:32:25.174 --> 00:32:41.826
<v Emily Blumenthal>I'm just saying like for thought because you know, also, with your silhouettes, your silhouettes are so special and so unique and I love that you're doing the family, which I call it the family, where you have the small, the big, the medium, like you could tell they're all related and that's something many desires don't do.

00:32:41.826 --> 00:32:53.363
<v Emily Blumenthal>Like every bag they create it's like they're not even cousins, it's like fun, you know, like that parent definitely like had an affair with someone at the other side of the world because the bags don't look related.

00:32:53.363 --> 00:32:58.786
<v Emily Blumenthal>So you want to make sure that whatever you create can sit together and your bags do you.

00:32:58.786 --> 00:33:01.642
<v Emily Blumenthal>And it's a very interesting silhouette with a cutout.

00:33:01.642 --> 00:33:08.083
<v Emily Blumenthal>So I love that you spoke about making sure that there was a crossbody strap, because we all know bags need crossbody straps.

00:33:08.083 --> 00:33:18.444
<v Emily Blumenthal>Not everybody can do that, so you know you want to talk a little bit about the evolution of the bag and the colors and how you got into those great retailers and where you're going to go from here.

00:33:19.194 --> 00:33:22.384
<v Antoine Manning>In terms of the bags, like the colors, at least in the first collection, and whatnot.

00:33:22.384 --> 00:33:26.246
<v Antoine Manning>I don't know like for me, my mind, that we're like leaving a so serious time.

00:33:26.246 --> 00:33:27.931
<v Antoine Manning>Is 2020 going to 2021.

00:33:27.931 --> 00:33:33.104
<v Antoine Manning>Call it, this happened, like right now, we're just like trying to find like about it's real life and realism and yeah.

00:33:33.104 --> 00:33:46.305
<v Antoine Manning>So I just decided, like I'm going, to create some really disparate color bags that really express that manifestation that I have started my intention, that choose what intention you are to bring into the new world and like to be my up to love.

00:33:46.615 --> 00:33:49.084
<v Antoine Manning>So from there we just start creating these really beautiful colors.

00:33:49.084 --> 00:34:06.284
<v Antoine Manning>But then, as we started to increase the price, as you know, realizing certain things like as you made the bag, better, increase the price to do that I felt the need to introduce at the very least a cousin you know, our family, you know to at the previous price to alleviate the need for our customers who would be upset.

00:34:06.284 --> 00:34:17.795
<v Antoine Manning>So like if the big bag was now 150 or was 150 and that was 275, and then everyone was like to send me cloud, it was 150 and now we have the mini and that's 150 now.

00:34:17.795 --> 00:34:21.322
<v Antoine Manning>So now at the release, you still have the opportunity to get.

00:34:21.322 --> 00:34:27.405
<v Antoine Manning>This bag is a smaller size, much cuter, but it's still able to hold your utilities and which you need to out in a bag.

00:34:27.405 --> 00:34:35.565
<v Antoine Manning>And as we did the same with the increasing in price and whatnot, once you got into the store talking to Northstrom about, did they find you or you reached out to them?

00:34:35.875 --> 00:34:36.376
<v Antoine Manning>They reached out.

00:34:36.376 --> 00:34:38.262
<v Antoine Manning>Sad to reach out and Northstrom reached out.

00:34:38.262 --> 00:34:38.945
<v Antoine Manning>This guy.

00:34:39.204 --> 00:34:46.434
<v Emily Blumenthal>Wow, that is some grace yeah it is Because I have some designers that say, oh, I almost got into sacks.

00:34:46.434 --> 00:34:48.300
<v Emily Blumenthal>I'm like listen, I almost got into sacks.

00:34:48.300 --> 00:34:49.284
<v Emily Blumenthal>And then I went for sushi.

00:34:49.284 --> 00:34:50.719
<v Emily Blumenthal>They either take you or they don't.

00:34:50.719 --> 00:34:59.099
<v Emily Blumenthal>There's an area like you're either being purchased as to add to their assortment or they're going to pass and say keep in touch, let me see what you're doing.

00:35:01.141 --> 00:35:03.648
<v Antoine Manning>So, yeah, so with Northstrom.

00:35:03.648 --> 00:35:12.434
<v Antoine Manning>That's when the mini mini came to fruition, because we were talking to them about in person and experience and whatnot, and I only wanted the mini mini to be in person, like exclusive.

00:35:12.434 --> 00:35:21.780
<v Antoine Manning>That was my enticement, so that would entice people to are you able to get their friends or not, to really like follow the brand, to go to the store to purchase it and just ship it to them or something of this sort.

00:35:21.780 --> 00:35:23.219
<v Antoine Manning>And we had to pop up with them.

00:35:23.219 --> 00:35:26.505
<v Antoine Manning>So we did like the first mini mini with this future one.

00:35:26.505 --> 00:35:29.018
<v Antoine Manning>So this was the first mini mini.

00:35:29.018 --> 00:35:30.181
<v Antoine Manning>That's what's running with that.

00:35:30.722 --> 00:35:31.164
<v Emily Blumenthal>So cute.

00:35:31.264 --> 00:35:32.427
<v Antoine Manning>Yeah, so pretty.

00:35:32.427 --> 00:35:42.784
<v Antoine Manning>And then after that, when we started dropping phase two of passion through our last collection, I saw you got like the mini, mini banana and the banana peats.

00:35:42.784 --> 00:35:46.800
<v Antoine Manning>That was just history with that.

00:35:46.800 --> 00:35:48.300
<v Antoine Manning>People love the banana one.

00:35:48.594 --> 00:35:50.621
<v Emily Blumenthal>Then, lo and behold, you're a handbag designer.

00:35:50.621 --> 00:35:53.541
<v Emily Blumenthal>It's like, oh yeah, oh damn, I guess I'm doing this.

00:35:54.164 --> 00:36:01.445
<v Antoine Manning>Yeah, I'm doing this because it's like I guess I am and yeah, that was just pretty much like the concept of it with Sats and Gants and Sacks and Mertstroke.

00:36:01.445 --> 00:36:05.231
<v Antoine Manning>That used to be an email around 2021.

00:36:05.231 --> 00:36:08.684
<v Antoine Manning>It was like the June 2021.

00:36:08.684 --> 00:36:11.643
<v Antoine Manning>We're talking through email, what not talking about different things?

00:36:11.643 --> 00:36:15.806
<v Antoine Manning>And then we got our calls and to the calls we basically did like an exclusive collection through Sacks.

00:36:15.806 --> 00:36:27.541
<v Antoine Manning>We did two classic sides, which was a black one with silver hardware and had like the logo and metal, and then we did a white one, an exclusive black one with stocks.

00:36:28.034 --> 00:36:30.961
<v Emily Blumenthal>You couldn't sell that black one anywhere else.

00:36:31.402 --> 00:36:32.887
<v Antoine Manning>Yeah, I was supposed to be doing it with them.

00:36:32.887 --> 00:36:34.197
<v Antoine Manning>How come they have an?

00:36:34.217 --> 00:36:37.264
<v Emily Blumenthal>exclusive because the black bag is like, that's a hero.

00:36:37.625 --> 00:36:40.719
<v Antoine Manning>Oh yeah, that was just for the collection, so I can do it now anytime I want.

00:36:40.719 --> 00:36:42.981
<v Antoine Manning>But yeah, we did three classes.

00:36:42.981 --> 00:36:46.606
<v Antoine Manning>So we did a classic neon green with gold hardware.

00:36:46.606 --> 00:36:53.320
<v Antoine Manning>We did a classic white with gold hardware but with actual metal logo, and the black one with the silver logo on it.

00:36:53.320 --> 00:36:57.378
<v Antoine Manning>And then we did three, because this is for the mini mini without it, I mean, it is for many.

00:36:57.378 --> 00:37:00.034
<v Antoine Manning>We did like this one, but not this color.

00:37:00.034 --> 00:37:02.041
<v Antoine Manning>We did like in a gold and in a green.

00:37:02.041 --> 00:37:07.887
<v Antoine Manning>We did a black vinyl and I think we did another vinyl, though so I'm not mistaken.

00:37:07.887 --> 00:37:10.878
<v Antoine Manning>Maybe I'm mistaken, and yeah, I was.

00:37:10.898 --> 00:37:12.264
<v Antoine Manning>We had dropped the release in December.

00:37:12.264 --> 00:37:13.800
<v Antoine Manning>I grew up in December 8th.

00:37:13.800 --> 00:37:19.086
<v Antoine Manning>I was in a Miami Fireball to drop down, so so so I mean, that's crazy.

00:37:19.086 --> 00:37:22.543
<v Antoine Manning>And then Nordstrom that was the following year around in March.

00:37:22.543 --> 00:37:27.083
<v Antoine Manning>We got into the concept and then we had to pop up with them and store in Nordstrom Nike.

00:37:27.083 --> 00:37:31.762
<v Antoine Manning>It was Nordstrom Nike and we had to pop up in Nordstrom Nike in New York around.

00:37:31.762 --> 00:37:36.478
<v Antoine Manning>I think maybe Chudlin Right Tell, I'm mistaken, but those are definitely two.

00:37:36.478 --> 00:37:36.780
<v Antoine Manning>We'll mix.

00:37:36.780 --> 00:37:38.103
<v Antoine Manning>It's how, that very different moment.

00:37:38.434 --> 00:37:42.438
<v Emily Blumenthal>Are you screen printing on the bags, the prints, the colors?

00:37:42.438 --> 00:37:43.483
<v Emily Blumenthal>Are they screen printed?

00:37:43.483 --> 00:37:54.318
<v Emily Blumenthal>So, because I know some of them are like prints of Minster, like I know the collab you did, if you want to talk a little bit about that, like those colors, how are they done?

00:37:54.318 --> 00:37:55.963
<v Emily Blumenthal>Because it's like paint splatter.

00:37:56.003 --> 00:38:14.184
<v Antoine Manning>no, yeah, so the Veneta bag, and even like all of our bags that have like some kind of print on it, they're actually printed onto the leather and then they're sewn in a way to put it together so like, if you hold this bag, it feels smooth, it feels smooth to the touch, it doesn't have any type of rough texture on it or anything at all.

00:38:14.184 --> 00:38:21.581
<v Antoine Manning>So this printed is actually literally printed onto the material and then they cut it, sew it and then do what you have to do with it.

00:38:21.581 --> 00:38:22.831
<v Antoine Manning>And the same thing with the Boschia bag.

00:38:22.831 --> 00:38:23.878
<v Antoine Manning>So the Boschia bag.

00:38:26.039 --> 00:38:28.117
<v Emily Blumenthal>Yeah, so are those bags.

00:38:28.117 --> 00:38:31.887
<v Emily Blumenthal>Do those bags, like what are your customer, gravitate towards the most?

00:38:32.235 --> 00:38:35.565
<v Antoine Manning>In terms of like, size or color, or what are your best sellers?

00:38:35.715 --> 00:38:36.690
<v Emily Blumenthal>What are your hero bags?

00:38:37.034 --> 00:38:38.340
<v Antoine Manning>So hero for sure.

00:38:38.340 --> 00:38:38.782
<v Antoine Manning>The Veneta.

00:38:38.782 --> 00:38:40.481
<v Antoine Manning>This is our seller bag.

00:38:40.481 --> 00:38:42.440
<v Antoine Manning>They love the two ton bags a lot.

00:38:42.440 --> 00:38:45.461
<v Antoine Manning>The one of the Boschia bags I would say the mini.

00:38:45.461 --> 00:38:46.485
<v Antoine Manning>Mini is going the best.

00:38:46.485 --> 00:38:49.603
<v Antoine Manning>It's a red because it's so pretty it's red, is this really?

00:38:50.414 --> 00:38:51.760
<v Emily Blumenthal>Did they find you or you found them?

00:38:52.135 --> 00:38:54.222
<v Antoine Manning>The Boschia was done through black fashion.

00:38:54.222 --> 00:38:58.998
<v Antoine Manning>So black fashion for its old, my aunt's one, baby Gregory, and basically the estate.

00:38:58.998 --> 00:39:01.244
<v Antoine Manning>They're like talks and talks of communication.

00:39:01.244 --> 00:39:04.159
<v Antoine Manning>And I guess they asked him like, hey, can you find the designers?

00:39:04.159 --> 00:39:06.644
<v Antoine Manning>And to collaborate, just to find, to collaborate with the estate.

00:39:06.644 --> 00:39:13.284
<v Antoine Manning>So he did, he found, he contacted me, contacted the advisory, contacted Brenna Blackwood, he contacted it.

00:39:13.726 --> 00:39:15.248
<v Emily Blumenthal>Yeah, I saw, brandon did that too.

00:39:15.675 --> 00:39:17.041
<v Antoine Manning>It's a few other designers.

00:39:17.041 --> 00:39:20.483
<v Antoine Manning>They're slipping me right now, but yeah, he's thrown up with it all together.

00:39:20.483 --> 00:39:24.222
<v Antoine Manning>He pieces it all together and that also takes a full circle.

00:39:24.755 --> 00:39:28.802
<v Emily Blumenthal>Did they buy the product outright or you got the rights to do it and then resell it Right?

00:39:28.802 --> 00:39:29.465
<v Emily Blumenthal>Did you get it?

00:39:29.525 --> 00:39:36.681
<v Antoine Manning>Oh, no, so it's all through the estate and all through that and thankfully you know that estate cause it's like collaborate with.

00:39:36.681 --> 00:39:38.465
<v Antoine Manning>Like Boschia's estate that's crazy.

00:39:38.465 --> 00:39:41.074
<v Antoine Manning>Like Twitter is $75,000 or something of this sort.

00:39:41.074 --> 00:39:46.461
<v Antoine Manning>Thankfully we didn't have to pay that and they, if there's a collab, so they get like their part, we get our part from it.

00:39:46.461 --> 00:39:51.206
<v Antoine Manning>And yeah, like, yeah, we still need to sell it through their platforms, just to.

00:39:51.795 --> 00:39:54.684
<v Emily Blumenthal>You allowed to sell the bags on your site or they sell them exclusively.

00:39:54.994 --> 00:39:56.038
<v Antoine Manning>To make things easier, they make.

00:39:56.038 --> 00:39:58.405
<v Antoine Manning>They're selling it exclusively Just to make things easier.

00:39:58.405 --> 00:40:03.096
<v Antoine Manning>They never sell it at click and but in something like the allocation of the resources and the funds and whatever.

00:40:03.096 --> 00:40:04.617
<v Antoine Manning>It just makes more sense for us to go that way.

00:40:04.635 --> 00:40:07.157
<v Emily Blumenthal>So Right, okay, this is exciting stuff.

00:40:07.157 --> 00:40:10.139
<v Emily Blumenthal>I'm John and I'm a Jair.

00:40:10.800 --> 00:40:20.510
<v Antoine Manning>So I am looking forward to getting back into, like my individual art, like poetry and painting, and just producing more work outside of designing.

00:40:20.510 --> 00:40:24.346
<v Antoine Manning>Like, of course, no, it works for different things and they're pretty good at its own different ways.

00:40:24.346 --> 00:40:31.969
<v Antoine Manning>While also working towards more design, I want to transcend into different, just different aspects of things on the accessory aspect of it.

00:40:32.280 --> 00:40:34.047
<v Emily Blumenthal>But you're going to cheat silhouette?

00:40:34.047 --> 00:40:35.565
<v Emily Blumenthal>Are you expanding your silhouettes?

00:40:35.880 --> 00:40:40.009
<v Antoine Manning>Definitely experience silhouette, definitely playing and dabbling into other accessory lines.

00:40:40.009 --> 00:40:44.030
<v Antoine Manning>We look into capture also, like the best customers as well.

00:40:44.030 --> 00:40:46.989
<v Antoine Manning>So there's a lot of things that we're playing with and I'm really, really excited.

00:40:48.273 --> 00:40:48.579
<v Emily Blumenthal>That's cool.

00:40:48.579 --> 00:40:53.260
<v Emily Blumenthal>Just be careful, because you can't be everything to everyone, and that's when we expand.

00:40:53.260 --> 00:40:55.706
<v Emily Blumenthal>So, like, oh, I've got an idea for this customer.

00:40:55.706 --> 00:40:57.670
<v Emily Blumenthal>But like, are they really your customers?

00:40:57.670 --> 00:41:11.905
<v Emily Blumenthal>And what I always tell designers is to do a deep dive from where all their sales are coming and look at those cities and then actually, if you have access to the data, look at the ages of the people who are actually buying your bags.

00:41:12.599 --> 00:41:22.932
<v Emily Blumenthal>And it's fascinating, because I think a lot of people have these eye opening experiences to realize that a lot of times your customer isn't this chic city metropolitan girl.

00:41:22.932 --> 00:41:43.625
<v Emily Blumenthal>It could be somebody who's living in a town that has a church, a stop sign and a Walmart and, you know, is plus size, dead, might not be the chicest person from your perspective and you know their money's green and everybody just wants to feel good and special and your bag can provide that.

00:41:43.625 --> 00:41:50.179
<v Emily Blumenthal>Then you know what those are loyal customers and that 20 to 80% of your business comes from 20% of your customers.

00:41:50.179 --> 00:41:56.965
<v Emily Blumenthal>Before you expand, maybe make sure that they don't have more needs, because that's a wide open space and that's your space to take.

00:41:58.652 --> 00:41:58.875
<v Antoine Manning>Yeah, no.

00:42:00.384 --> 00:42:23.487
<v Emily Blumenthal>Hey, I mean honestly, like you know, I do a lot of collaborations and partnerships and I always tried to amplify the elevator designers with whom I were, and so when I see these opportunities, I don't like when people get in their own way, because you know, especially as an accidental designer, it's so easy to be like I'm going to expand and I'm going to do this and I'm going to do that, but it's like you have this core and you're good at it.

00:42:23.487 --> 00:42:26.949
<v Emily Blumenthal>So I'm assuming you have strong sales on your site.

00:42:26.949 --> 00:42:32.811
<v Emily Blumenthal>So are you getting more from your site or from the retailers right now, more from Intel?

00:42:32.811 --> 00:43:00.324
<v Emily Blumenthal>So then you have an opportunity to actually do short tests instead of having to go all out, because that's the best thing to do to, you know, grab, discuss, talk with your customer and say what do he, she, they want and can I deliver in a way that because sometimes people are crazy, you know, customers sometimes go a little cool burns where they're like I want this in purple and I want this, and it's like okay, we all know purple doesn't sell, so you might, but nobody else does, so that's benefit analysis.

00:43:00.344 --> 00:43:03.262
<v Emily Blumenthal>That's cute, it's not happening, antoine.

00:43:03.262 --> 00:43:05.007
<v Emily Blumenthal>Thank you so very much.

00:43:05.007 --> 00:43:07.286
<v Emily Blumenthal>This has been exciting and wonderful.

00:43:07.286 --> 00:43:11.530
<v Emily Blumenthal>Why don't you tell everybody your name, where they can find you, how they can follow you?

00:43:11.530 --> 00:43:14.264
<v Emily Blumenthal>Because I think everybody needs a little piece of omni-gear.

00:43:14.585 --> 00:43:15.809
<v Antoine Manning>Yes, ma'am, thank you.

00:43:15.809 --> 00:43:17.092
<v Antoine Manning>My name is Antoine Mabani.

00:43:17.092 --> 00:43:23.612
<v Antoine Manning>I can be found on Instagram at Manning Antoine M-A-N-N-I-N-G-A-N-T-O-I-N-E.

00:43:23.612 --> 00:43:31.737
<v Antoine Manning>You can follow Brad on all platforms Twitter, tiktok or Instagram at Omni-Gear H-O-M-A-T-E.

00:43:31.737 --> 00:43:37.429
<v Antoine Manning>It's beautiful, glad to talk to you and I really appreciate you taking the time Of course.

00:43:37.570 --> 00:43:38.652
<v Emily Blumenthal>Now this is exciting.

00:43:38.652 --> 00:43:43.248
<v Emily Blumenthal>We've got more great things to come, so thank you so much, and we will be seeing more of you on short.

00:43:43.548 --> 00:43:44.090
<v Antoine Manning>Have a great day.

00:43:44.271 --> 00:43:44.913
<v Emily Blumenthal>Thanks, Antoine.

00:43:44.932 --> 00:43:45.574
<v Emily Blumenthal>Talk to you soon.

00:43:45.574 --> 00:43:47.360
<v Emily Blumenthal>Thanks for listening.

00:43:47.360 --> 00:43:52.831
<v Emily Blumenthal>Don't forget to rate and review, and follow us on every single platform at Handbag Designer.

00:43:52.831 --> 00:43:53.693
<v Emily Blumenthal>Thanks so much.

00:43:53.693 --> 00:43:54.719
<v Emily Blumenthal>See you next time.