Born x Raised Talks to Next-Gen Designers Phx & Jack
In the fourth episode of ‘Forever Emerging’ on In The Know by Yahoo, Born X Raised founders Spanto and 2Tone talk to young designers Phoenix and Jack about their creative processes and the power of relationships. Similar to Spanto and 2Tone designing as a duo, Phx and Jack have navigated the industry together crafting collections for other labels and their own line.
Video Transcript
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- You ever shoot something and it's going so well everything just gets quiet?
Words were like oh, this is real powerful. This is working. You can just feel it in the air.
2TONE: But the odds are so slim.
SPANTO: The chances of you doing that are really kind of slim to none, but any of you guys have clothing lines out there?
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2TONE: So when I-- when we got the first office, I had this idea. My plan was to shoot everybody that came through on Polaroid against this backdrop. And some of these people are still with us, some people are no longer with us, and some people are out doing other things in the world. But it's just crazy how far we've gone and how fast it moved, you know.
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2012 is when we, like, started doing shit. We just started like fucking around.
SPANTO: We were being nostalgic because we were kind of referencing all the stuff that we grew up doing. When we grew up in Venice in like the early '90s to mid '90s, that place was just-- I can't put it into words, explain it for the camera, but it's what the brand is about.
2TONE: It's about being from somewhere you love. Extends to everybody, but our place is Venice.
PHX WATERS: I had a meeting with Spanto, and it was just talking to him just about a lot of things going on.
JACK MADDEN: It just was like perfect timing and we pretty much asked him if we could start like designing for them.
PHX WATERS: And he was like, make a new Dickies outfit for me. So I'm like all right, yeah. We made this in two days and he still hasn't seen it. [LAUGHS]
SPANTO: We're both creatives, which is sometimes it's tricky to have two creatives in a room because you guys do this shit. But I've been doing this with him for over a decade.
PHX WATERS: It's like we both do different things, you know what I mean? Not a one-man band, you can't say one-man band, but we're a duet and we're playing our instruments really loud.
2TONE: It's a marriage, man. You're going to be with this person more than you're going to be with anyone else and more intensely. So if it works, it makes the hard things worth it.
PHX WATERS: Everything they do, it just pushes me to keep doing what I'm supposed to do but in my own realm. You can learn from the homies, you know, and that's it.
JACK MADDEN: Me and Phx met through our mutual friend, Escovar Rich. He's like a legendary like fashion guy, kind of like put us on to like some of the LA scene. And me and Phx used to always see each other because, like, they were boys.
PHX WATERS: Seeing him and seeing what he does behind the scenes, I was like, Spanto and 2Tone. You know?
SPANTO: These guys came along. I've had, like, a working relationship with Phx for a little while, and they're going to be family and we're going to take care of them. So it's just about who can fit within our group of people. They can, like, start from A to Z. They can like sketch something out, do a fitting, make the pattern, and then go to development, sample i. Like, the kids can do that stuff now.
PHX WATERS: Born and raised is a powerhouse and to be able to kind of shadow them, you know, it's a blessing, right? It's really a blessing.
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SPANTO: Growing up, when I was a kid, I had to look to older gentlemen in my neighborhood for approval, you know. How to be a father. How to be a man. How to stand on my own two feet. So I'd like to be an example for a lot of younger folks that don't have that guidance, you know, of how you can do it. Everybody might not be dealt the best hand, but you can flip that around and make it work to your advantage, so .
JACK MADDEN: We'll always making something no matter what. No matter who's saying what. No matter how many people are behind us. We will always be making something and that's just definitely something we share together.
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2TONE: You know, making clothes is cool. Interacting with the people, documenting people, telling stories, building narratives, you know, like, this stuff to me is more exciting than designing a t-shirt any day.
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