YouSaid · the spoken record

Telfar Clemens

lines on the record: 71
first: 2022-02-14
most recent: 2022-02-14
sittings or episodes: 1
sources: podcast

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“Hey, thanks so much for listening to the show this week. Please do follow us on your podcast app so you always have the latest episode downloaded. If you want to contact us, our email address is hibt at npr.org. If you want to follow us on Twitter, our account is at how I built this and mine is at guyroz. And on Instagram or at how Ibuel This NPR and mine is at guy.roz. This episode was produced by JC Howard with music composed by Rumtin Arablui. It was edited by Neva Grant with research help from Farah Safari. Our audio engineer was Stu Rushfield. Our production staff includes Casey Herman, Julia Carney, Elaine Coates, Liz Metzger, Carrie Thompson, and Alex Chun. Our intern is Margaret Sereno. Jeff Rogers is our executive producer. I'm Guy Ros, and you've been listening to how I built this. This is NPR.”
2022-02-14 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Telfar: Telfar Clemens and Babak Radboy · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Baba Gradboy, creative director of Telfar, along with the brand's founder, Telfar Clemens. And by the way, for last year's Summer Olympics, Telfar sponsored the Liberian Olympic team and designed the uniforms, which you can see on the Telfar website.”
2022-02-14 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Telfar: Telfar Clemens and Babak Radboy · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“When you think about this journey, because it's been a long time, you started this brand in 2005 Telfar. And have for most of it, most of its time until very recently. Working without massive recognition, without the kind of awareness that you have now, how much of that do you think has to do with How hard you worked and how much you put into it, and how much do you think has to do with luck?”
2022-02-14 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Telfar: Telfar Clemens and Babak Radboy · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I mean, it's interesting because in fashion, there are very few intergenerational iconic brands. Like I think of Converse as an example, Converse High Tops or Wayfair sunglasses, but it's very hard to produce an intergenerational brand in fashion.”
2022-02-14 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Telfar: Telfar Clemens and Babak Radboy · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“But let's talk about what you want to be in 10 years from now. Because what do you think this brand will be? It will be handbags. There will be clothing that people wear. What else? I mean, tell me, what's your vision?”
2022-02-14 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Telfar: Telfar Clemens and Babak Radboy · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I'm curious. I mean, you came to New York as a 17-year-old selling t-shirts that you recreated on Mulberry Street, right? And your handbags are worn by some of the most famous people on the planet, some of the most influential tastemakers. When you see them holding your bag with your logo on it, I don't know. Do you think my God, that's just wild?”
2022-02-14 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Telfar: Telfar Clemens and Babak Radboy · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“One of the really interesting things that you did was And I don't mean this in a pejorative way, so I hope it doesn't come out that way, but you kind of used the machinery of the fashion industry to build yourself up to a certain level. And once you were able to make the choice to completely reject it and move away and start your own thing, and that may have been that $400,000 grant in 2017 that kind of helped you to jumpstart it, you were able to do it, right? Because you kind of got to the point as far as you could get with the fashion industry. And you knew that in order to grow and to thrive, you had to leave it. Is that a fair interpretation?”
2022-02-14 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Telfar: Telfar Clemens and Babak Radboy · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“So instead of being in a system that where you are totally at the mercy of distributors and retailers and the fashion press, etc., you said forget about all that. Let's not even be involved. Let's not even engage with that. Let's just do our own thing. We will make the bricks. We will build the building. We will own the land. We will sell the products.”
2022-02-14 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Telfar: Telfar Clemens and Babak Radboy · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I mean, because 2020 was a catastrophe for the fashion industry, and I'm sure this is not easy or fun for you to say, but it was a record year for Telfar. Your brand. Yeah”
2022-02-14 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Telfar: Telfar Clemens and Babak Radboy · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“In the meantime, you hadn't been paid. Gap didn't pay you. So from my research, the Telfar fans online, when they found out that you had not been paid by GAP, they mounted a social media campaign and GAP did actually pay you for your work.”
2022-02-14 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Telfar: Telfar Clemens and Babak Radboy · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“So meantime, you're selling bags, you're not hearing anything back from Gap. Which you had a design deal with. And then I don't remember exactly when, but in twenty twenty, in the middle of the year, I think, they announced a collaboration with Cunny West. Did that take you by surprise?”
2022-02-14 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Telfar: Telfar Clemens and Babak Radboy · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And you weren't hearing back from Gap because you had this collaboration, this design collaboration, and you didn't hear back from them. And the person that you'd done the deal with was fired or was, I don't know, what was let go? And so you had to be paid. So you sent them an invoice. And they?”
2022-02-14 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Telfar: Telfar Clemens and Babak Radboy · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Wow. Just, I think, just before the pandemic, like 2019 into 2020, you guys were doing pretty well. I think you hit about $2 million in sales. And then something happened that got a lot of attention in the fashion world because you had entered into a relationship with the gap. You were talking with him about creating a line for them. And I think you got to the point where you both, you signed the agreement and the gap store in Paris even showed photos of a Telfar show and they plastered the... The windows with them and the head of gap was like, oh, he was talking about Telfar and this is the future and blah blah blah. And then I think you had delivered like 30 designs to GAP by the time the pandemic had hit and many retailers had shut their stores. Is that more or less true?”
2022-02-14 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Telfar: Telfar Clemens and Babak Radboy · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Because with COVID, because you decided to go direct to consumer, you actually didn't have to rely on these stores that were essentially shut.”
2022-02-14 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Telfar: Telfar Clemens and Babak Radboy · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“So there were all of these things that were happening and sort of explain from your perspective how you responded to that or maybe didn't respond to that with what you were doing.”
2022-02-14 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Telfar: Telfar Clemens and Babak Radboy · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“So, just to clarify, it sounds like what you're saying is there was a very much sort of a performative kind of aspect to trying to increase racial awareness and to examine the absence of diversity in.”
2022-02-14 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Telfar: Telfar Clemens and Babak Radboy · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“What was the turning point? What was the thing? I mean, obviously I should say Oprah eventually named it as one of her favorite things, but that wasn't until 2020. What was the thing that made this bag become such a huge Beyonce Alexandra Casio Cortez and all these amazingly famous people who had this bag and talking about it? What was it? Do you even know?”
2022-02-14 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Telfar: Telfar Clemens and Babak Radboy · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And you had them manufactured in China. I think it's fair to say the bag really was kind of like a stratospheric leap for your brand. I know you were selling them in small quantities for a few years, but you really launched it in a much bigger way in 2018. Is it fair to say that that year was sort of a turning point in your public profile, the profile of the brand that Telfar really became a much, much bigger brand around 2018 through the relaunch of the bag”
2022-02-14 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Telfar: Telfar Clemens and Babak Radboy · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And when you relaunched this or really launched this in a big way, they sold out. It was like a, and by the way, they weren't crazy expensive, right? I mean, I think they ranged from $140 to $240 or something like that.”
2022-02-14 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Telfar: Telfar Clemens and Babak Radboy · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And for people who don't know what this bag looks like, obviously, you can Google it, but it's a very simple bag. It's a very simple functional handbag with two straps, a small strap to carry it with your hands, and then a larger strap if you want to put over your shoulder. And it has your logo embossed in the center of it. Is it a fair description?”
2022-02-14 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Telfar: Telfar Clemens and Babak Radboy · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And you really just had them there, I think, as part of the show. You hadn't started making them to sell them. And I guess for a variety of reasons, including just the financing of it. In 2017, you won a prestigious award for your work. This was the CFDA Vogue Fashion Fund. And that came with a $400,000 prize. And I guess you decided to use that money to finance what would become probably your most famous product today, the Telfar shopping bag. Tell me about the genesis of that product.”
2022-02-14 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Telfar: Telfar Clemens and Babak Radboy · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“So one thing that we kind of, I think, alluded to, but didn't really go into in depth, was at your Kmart show in 2014, one of the things that you guys had on display were shopping bags.”
2022-02-14 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Telfar: Telfar Clemens and Babak Radboy · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Right, because normally what happens is a designer would just send the design in and walk away, and then they would handle it, the customer would just get it made for them. But this way, you not only had the design, but you control the production.”
2022-02-14 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Telfar: Telfar Clemens and Babak Radboy · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And this was just for the employees. This was not going to be something. I know a limited number were sold, but this was not made to be sold to the general public.”
2022-02-14 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Telfar: Telfar Clemens and Babak Radboy · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“When we come back again in just a moment, how the collaboration with White Castle and with Kmart led to two iconic new looks for Telfar, including one item that suddenly everyone seemed to want, the Telfar bag. Stay with us, I'm Guy Raz, and you're listening to how I built this from NPR. Hey, welcome back to How I Built This I'm Guy Raz. So it's 2017 and after collaborating on shows with Kmart and White Castle, Telfar is starting to get more attention in the fashion world, and as a brand, it's still pretty small. But after that show at Whitecastle, something kind of unexpected happens. That led Whitecastle to then ask you to redesign their employee uniforms.”
2022-02-14 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Telfar: Telfar Clemens and Babak Radboy · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“You end up doing your spring summer 2016 collection, you end up doing that show sponsored by White Castle, and you had your after party, the fashion after party at White Castle in Times Square.”
2022-02-14 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Telfar: Telfar Clemens and Babak Radboy · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“We're dealing with an unusual So Harold and Kumar go to White Castle. They had sponsored that film. Yeah. Or, okay. So they had already done some wild things”
2022-02-14 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Telfar: Telfar Clemens and Babak Radboy · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I'm just curious you guys contact Whitecastle and say hey, we're doing a fashion show we'd love for you too sponsor it You were not at that point a hugely well known brand. What was it that prompted Jamie Richardson of Vice President Whitecastle to call you back intrigued to talk more?”
2022-02-14 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Telfar: Telfar Clemens and Babak Radboy · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“But you just got some customer service rep on the other line. And so you called the 1-800 number, and you told the service, the customer agent, like, hey, we're doing a fashion show, and we're looking for sponsorship.”
2022-02-14 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Telfar: Telfar Clemens and Babak Radboy · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“This, from what I gather, this partnership with Kmart would lead to bold sort of a sponsorship and partnerships that you embarked on the next one was with White Castle, the Hamburger restaurant.”
2022-02-14 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Telfar: Telfar Clemens and Babak Radboy · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“What I'm trying to get at is what did you, and you may not know, right? Because as somebody listening to this who's trying to figure out how to Something similar, it's going to want to know what was the turn, was it, I mean, was it a convergence of things? Was it just that there were more websites coming online that were, see, there were more places where you could get coverage? Was it luck?”
2022-02-14 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Telfar: Telfar Clemens and Babak Radboy · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And the clothing that you were designing for this show, did any of it have, did you try to kind of create a Kmart aesthetic in any way?”
2022-02-14 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Telfar: Telfar Clemens and Babak Radboy · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I mean, so you end up working with Kmart. This is for your fall 2014 fashion show, and I think you put it up at the new museum in New York. And I want to describe this for people. Just walk me into that show, because from what I understand, it was like a mock Kmart. You kind of had a mock Kmart as you walked in.”
2022-02-14 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Telfar: Telfar Clemens and Babak Radboy · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“So, all right, so the two of you are working together and you're working obviously on a new strategy. And I guess 2014 was a pretty important and pivotal moment because that year you approached Kmart to sponsor one of your shows, Kmart, which is the furthest brand from London, from Paris and Milan, right? The furthest brand you think of when you think of a Paris and Milan runaway show, Kmart.”
2022-02-14 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Telfar: Telfar Clemens and Babak Radboy · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“So, in other words, it wasn't about having a press strategy to reach out to reporters and the fashion press, but it was about actually reaching out to people outside the industry to support the work that Telfar was doing.”
2022-02-14 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Telfar: Telfar Clemens and Babak Radboy · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“So clearly you were, Bob, you were frustrated because you knew that there was something here that wasn't getting the attention it deserved. And you thought maybe you could.”
2022-02-14 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Telfar: Telfar Clemens and Babak Radboy · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“You would basically be going to doing these fashion shows, and it was like a tree falling on a forest, and nobody was around to hear it.”
2022-02-14 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Telfar: Telfar Clemens and Babak Radboy · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Bubbic, what did you when you said, you know, I think I want to work with this guy, what in your mind did you think that you could do?”
2022-02-14 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Telfar: Telfar Clemens and Babak Radboy · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And you were working with her, she was working with you as your stylist. But from what I understand, like, she wasn't, because you didn't have any. Money, right”
2022-02-14 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Telfar: Telfar Clemens and Babak Radboy · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I think around this time, like Telfar, you were still doing small fashion shows around New York. And I guess you were also hanging out with a stylist named Avina Gallagher. This is somebody who would become an incredibly important partner to both of you. Because Baabak, you wound up marrying her. And Telfar, I think Avena eventually became the stylist for the brand, right?”
2022-02-14 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Telfar: Telfar Clemens and Babak Radboy · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I think the two of you met for the first time around 2004, 2005. From what I gather, you don't even remember when he first met. Is that right?”
2022-02-14 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Telfar: Telfar Clemens and Babak Radboy · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Do you remember Telfar? I mean, you have such a bright and sunny disposition, but I wonder if at that time, because I'm trying to channel back to that time in my life, and there's a lot of uncertainty in your 20s and early 30s when you're trying to kind of build your career and it's scary. And I wonder if you ever experienced anxiety or sadness about the future.”
2022-02-14 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Telfar: Telfar Clemens and Babak Radboy · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And how about you Telfar? How are you making a living at that time, like after you graduated from college? How are you earning money”
2022-02-14 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Telfar: Telfar Clemens and Babak Radboy · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“When we come back in just a moment, how Telfar finds a creative partner who not only loves and admires his work, but who knows how to get it seen and sold. Stay with us. I'm Guy Ros, and you're listening to how I built this from NPR. Hey, welcome back to How I Built This I'm Guy Raz. So it's 2004 and Talfar is designing and showing some of his fashions in New York while still going to college. And this is right around the time he meets the guy who will become his creative director, Baba Radboy. Now just a bit of background about Babak before we get into it. He's the son of Iranian immigrants and as a teenager he was into computers and art and design. And he grew up in Seattle, a place where he was actually pretty unhappy.”
2022-02-14 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Telfar: Telfar Clemens and Babak Radboy · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“That's like you were doing some pretty serious sort of scholarly kind of, I mean, you were going there looking for, because this is a very serious, this is like where people write books about fashion go and great designers go. You were serious. You were really...”
2022-02-14 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Telfar: Telfar Clemens and Babak Radboy · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I've looked at so many images of your designs, and as you know, Norma Camaley was a guest on our show a year ago and is, I think, somebody whose work you really respect. One of the things that I think is very similar about the clothing that you both produce is that comfort is a huge part of your design aesthetic.”
2022-02-14 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Telfar: Telfar Clemens and Babak Radboy · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“What kept you at it and going? Because it sounds like you were really grinding and just, I mean, you're making clothing. You've got stuff in consignment shops. You're DJing. You're designing. I mean, but you weren't quite breaking through yet. What was it in your mind that enabled you to continue to just kind of push through that?”
2022-02-14 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Telfar: Telfar Clemens and Babak Radboy · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I mean, it seems to me like you will also have real ambitions that you were really thinking about you and what you were going to do with your life and that you were creating something bigger Is that true or were you not quite formed?”
2022-02-14 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Telfar: Telfar Clemens and Babak Radboy · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“All right, so you are, I mean, you're like 18, 19. You're a student. At Pace University go into class and And also designing clothing that was appearing in some small boutiques, I'm just trying to imagine, like if I knew you then. And I was like, hey, tell me a little bit about yourself. And you'd say, Oh, yeah, I'm designing some clothing. And yeah, some of it's in these boutiques in New York. I would have been really impressed. I mean, that sounds”
2022-02-14 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Telfar: Telfar Clemens and Babak Radboy · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And so it had multiple, like the neck hole was designed for the arms. So it was different than just an oversized single t-shirt because it sounds like when you would lift your arms up, it almost... Would have this kind of flowing kind of profile.”
2022-02-14 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Telfar: Telfar Clemens and Babak Radboy · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT