Chaz Jordan talks 1989 STUDIO and explains how Hip Hop inspired his first sneaker
What's up, everybody? It's your boy Legendary Lade and as promised, I'm delivering on my commitment to highlight the best of the best in the fashion and footwear industry. This week, I'm excited to share my conversation with Chaz Jordan, the creative director of 1989 STUDIO. We talked about his design ethos, how he hopes to restore a certain nostalgic feeling, and his debut sneaker, the Skate Low, which has deep ties to his formative years. I couldn't think of a better way to close out Black History Month if I tried. Let's get into the exclusive “Kickin’ Facts” conversation below!
Tell me about the name of your brand, 1989 STUDIO. How did it come about?
Initially, I was considering doing a namesake brand, and I just didn't feel like the time was right. I still feel like I need to achieve something that I'm after before I can say, "Alright, this is the Chaz Jordan brand” because if I were to do that, it would be definitive. No more brands after that.
So, the next best thing was my birth year, and the idea behind that was a lot more people would probably gravitate toward and resonate with the year 1989 as opposed to me as an individual. Then funny enough, when I first launched the brand, I would be out in Malibu, or wherever, and people who would probably not normally strike up a conversation with me, would walk up to me and say, "Oh, man, I was born in 1989” or “I'm 1986, where can I buy [this] hoodie?" So that was the concept.
What's your creative process like for each season? Is there a continuous story that you're telling, or is each one inspired by different things?
It's a little bit of both. I think that the inspiration is what's new and then when trying to figure out what would be the consistent component to each season, naturally, it was like: Okay, let's start with the basics... The 1989 man, and the 1989 woman and their journey through life. That way the anchor is always through the lens and the perspective of these two individuals. Or if you want to widen that scope, you can assign a group of people instead of an individual, to say that all are embodied by this one person I am trying to define.
So it's an evolution.
Yes, it's like -- if they're in high school, which was the Fall 2023 collection that I did in Paris, then the following collection, Spring 2024, is now they're graduating high school, going into college or the workforce. Then this latest collection is they're in the workforce, and now they've made a bit of money, so you can see the taste level progress over each season. That was the rationale behind it. We're now at a point where they've kind of found themselves in the world. Each season from here on out will start to be more conceptual and fashion-focused because their tastes have matured. So now they're looking for those pieces that speak to them as an individual. And it just happens to work because I can always anchor back to the man and the woman, no matter how crazy an actual collection itself is.
That makes a lot of sense. Tell me about your first sneaker, the 1989 Skate Low. How does it tie into your story and what was the inspiration behind it?
I won't say the inspiration is obvious because some people don't know. The inspiration comes from the Louis Vuitton Don, which was [Kanye West's] first sneaker collaboration with LV and [then-creative director of Louis Vuitton] Marc Jacobs in 2009. That shoe resonated with me on another level because that was the first time LV put more thought behind a sneaker instead of just using the same materials as the trunks and bags as they did before that shoe. When Ye came on board, with him growing in terms of popularity and influence, it was just like a monumental moment, and for somebody to come from Chicago, being who he was, and to go to Paris and do this collaboration -- that was an introduction to luxury, at least for me, in terms of accessibility. I was able to relate to what the companies were selling, which made me more interested in doing the research behind the companies themselves.
Did you get the LV Dons?
So, when that shoe dropped, I had a contact at Louis Vuitton on Michigan Avenue in Chicago, and she would send me PDFs by text of everything that's coming into the store. Whatever selections I made, she would be able to hold them, and I wouldn't have to wait in line. It was like the VIP service today but in 2009. So, I selected every color in my size and when they came out, she was like, "Okay, Chaz, like, they're here, but we're sold out. I'm not gonna pressure you but if you want them, you have to buy them now." So, I thought, I'll just take my chances, or I probably wanted to use the money for something else and I didn't buy them. Boy, that was the worst decision, and now you can't even find a pair for less than $6,000, and you better pray they're not in beat-up condition.
Fashion regrets are the worst!
That was really my moment and it's been difficult for me to feel that way about a sneaker or any form of footwear since. And I thought no one's touched this shoe in 10 or 12-plus years, so I don't feel bad to say it's a copy. It was more so: This is how I felt about a shoe and what I believe is the feeling people should have when they buy clothes, which I don't necessarily feel now. So, the goal was to try to reinterpret that particular shoe and bring that feeling back that we all had when he released those. Then subsequently, when he did the Nike Yeezy when we were camping outside for those shoes, that's more so what I was after. When I made them, I sent them to Don C, and he was the litmus test. I was like, if he says, "Why did you do that?” or if he doesn't reply, then I'm like, alright, I messed up, but when I sent them to him, he was like, "I like them, this is fire. I need a pair." He just sent me his size and fire Emojis. I was like, “Okay, I'm in the clear” and that's how they came about.
You got the Don C seal of approval.
Yeah, man. If I didn't, I wouldn't put them on the market... That's for sure.
There are skating references in this first sneaker. How has skate culture inspired you?
The whole skate culture comes from my respect and, again, going back to that same period. Pharrell had just purchased, in whatever sense, the Ice Cream Skate Team. That's when he came out with the Ice Cream Skate Team with Terry Kennedy and all of the guys, and that was such a pivotal moment in my life and upbringing. I started out skating and then I was like, alright, skating isn't for me, and I ended up switching over to BMX bike riding, and that whole culture, that sense of freedom and that sense of youth is like... You always want to chase that feeling. How can I have that feeling as an adult, like, what gives me that same level of joy? So that's why I had respect for Pharrell. Because he was one of the first to put us on as a culture to the finer things in life that went over a lot of people's heads. So that's how I was drawn into the skate world. I thought, "How can I infuse the skate culture into this brand as, like, a North Star if you will?” So, it was me combining the LV Don with the thought of what Pharrell's take on this [would] be. That's how I came up with the mashup of the Skate Low.
How has the reception been and are there any plans for another sneaker?
The reception was crazy! I mean, culturally, we had all the coverage from Hypebeast to HighSnobiety to Complex, and, all the fam wanted the shoe, so I feel like it served its purpose, and the goal was achieved. I did it for us, and for those people who understood the importance and the significance of the LV Don, and that they got it.
In regard to a new sneaker, I'm actually -- and I haven't even made this announcement yet -- but I'm phasing out the Skate Low so that it still maintains that level of allure. Like, we brought it back, or our interpretation of it years later, it hit for a moment, and now it's done. We're introducing a new sneaker this coming season.
Which version is your favorite?
I probably wear the black version a few times a week because the black is just like clean and then maybe the red on a special occasion, and then lastly, the cream. But the cream took off as our best seller, and that's the one that sold out, and people reordered and sold out again. I guess it was a success in that sense.
Last season, Quavo performed during your presentation. The season before that, 2 Chainz debuted a new song, and you have even collaborated with Offset on Laundered Works Corp. How has Hip Hop inspired you as a designer?
I mean, it's super cliché to say it, but it's like it's in our DNA, especially growing up in Chicago in the era that I did. It was all Hip Hop! It was Biggie, it was Tupac, and then from there, everybody else like Lil Wayne. Yay, Pharrell. So, it's always been a constant -- it's never not been a part of my life. Naturally, it's something that I consume every single day. When I'm designing collections, I'm most likely listening to music, so that's what's fueling me when I'm actually in the design phase. Not so much in the conceptual phase. I think that is more so brought on by visuals, like, what I'm seeing as opposed to what I'm hearing. But when I'm in the process of converting from conceptual into reality, it's music. So over the years, as I came in, I've just developed a lot of relationships with them because of the crew that I was running with. It's always love because in exchange, I've always held the artists that I am very close with down in some way, form, or fashion, so it's less contractual and it's more like a homie holding down another homie.
It's more organic.
For sure -- because they definitely wouldn't do what they do if it wasn't, or it would cost us so much, like, we wouldn't be able to afford it.
What have you learned from experiences with brands like Laundered Works Corp or the first one you started at just 22 years old?
I learned a lot, all trial and error because I didn't go to school for this just like Virgil, like Jerry Lorenzo, and the rest of us. We all learn by doing, but, more importantly, we learn by observing. Whether it's observing each other or observing those that came before us and that's how I am just in life in general. You learn what to do, and obviously what not to do, and I think the biggest thing is if you take it and you apply it because then you can export it. With the last brand, we were acquired 13 months in. To go from a new brand to being acquired by one of the largest luxury groups in 13 months means you did a few things right. So, with each brand, with each success, with each failure, it's like, you just jot down notes for the next time. I don't think it's necessarily one particular thing that I've learned; it's a multitude of things.
REVOLT’s “Rate ‘Em” assesses sneakers on a scale of 1 to 5 based on the following categories: Quality, design, desirability/hype, originality, and story. How would you rate the Skate Low?
For quality, I can honestly say it's very strong: 4.5. There are some things, like something so small [that] you wouldn't even notice this, but the grain on the leather, for me, wasn't consistent enough throughout the entire shoe, so that's why I didn't give it a full 5. For design, that's hard. I'll give it a 4. The idea was there and the materials were there. I feel like there were a few things that, again, to the average person, they wouldn't know the difference. But I just wasn't 100 percent ready in terms of "Alright, this is perfected" because a lot of people may not know that to develop a shoe, the actual lead time that you need is typically 10 to 12 months. But when you're on a schedule, and you have to release a product within a five-month window, you have to make certain concessions. In a perfect world, I would have had two more months to really dial it in.
Alright, what about desirability/hype?
The hype was real. I'll give it a 5! For originality, in the sense of let's do a reinterpretation, me being honest with myself, knowing where the inspiration came from, I'd probably say like 3.5.
And lastly, story.
The story, I feel, is a 5! That story I gave you was money!
Alright, I'll take it! Thank you for doing this interview.
The 1989 Skate Low sneaker is available for purchase for $600 in three colorways at 1989.Studio.
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