Meet the Brains Behind NYC’s Coolest New Shoe Shop
Brothers Tull and Josh Price. Photo courtesy of Feit.
Sydney-native Tull Price has been pushing the boundaries of footwear design for almost two decades now. He started young—founding cult sneaker emporium Royal Elastics at just age 20, a business he built for almost a decade before launching Feit, a line of luxury, ultra-minimal handmade shoe and accessories, with his brother Josh. This past week, Feit opened its first U.S. (and second stand-alone) store in Nolita. Designed with the help of architect and lighting artist Jordana Maisie, the shop is less traditional retail environment, more fine art installation—the all birch interior is meant to mimic the raw, deconstructed nature of the Price brothers’ hand-sewn leather hi-tops and trainers.
Feit hand-sewn leather loafers. Photo courtesy of Feit.
It’s an unconventional approach in line with guys’ craft-before-commerce design philosophy—the space might just play host to some sustainability-related performance pieces and live music sessions. Suffice to say, this is not your typical one-stop shop.
We sat down with the Brooklyn-based Price (who also happens to direct footwear for Rag & Bone) to discuss the new space, how he got there, and just what we might expect from the avant-shoe spot.
Yahoo Style: Tell me a little bit about where you started—you started a company really young.
Tull Price: I did. I actually first started a clothing company when I was 19.
YS: That’s crazy.
TP: Yeah, it was crazy! Just kind of making like printed t-shirts and things like that, and that ended up taking me to this idea of lace-less sneakers. So then I started a company about after a year, which was called Royal Elastics, and we made all lace-less sneakers and became quite a successful business. We sold product all over the world. We were making athletic shoes. I spent eight years building that up, and then sold it to American public company KSWISS. Originally, when I started Royal, I was very excited by the idea of globalization.
YS: That could translate in so many different into so many different markets.
TP: Exactly. I thought that was really interesting and I got to do that, but then during that, I also saw the negative effects of globalization and of mass production. And in that I saw that everything was becoming homogenized. Everything looked the same. And pushing to sell more and more of things was creating more and more basic waste. So, I became a little bit disenfranchised by that idea. I also found that by doing that and by trying to make the business bigger, generally what happened is that people would try to make their product cheaper and use worse materials. So, I became disenfranchised with that, so when I started Feit, it was based on the process of how do we make the best quality product possible, out of the best materials, with the lowest impact.
YS: So, this is the first New York store. Can you tell me about collaborating with the artist and the concept behind it? And then what you had in mind with the neighborhood and this New York space?
TP: New York has been my second home for close to 20 years and my first home for my last—at least 10. So I guess then growing up I spent a lot of time in these areas. A lot of time in the Lower East Side. I knew this area quite well and was quite familiar with it. I’ve seen it obviously change and evolve. So we looked for a store for a year; it took a long time. Then, eventually we stumbled upon this space. I think we got really lucky.
YS: It’s a beautiful space.
TP: Yeah, it’s amazing. It’s across from the New Museum and they’re building an Ace Hotel here, which is going be great. I was excited about the fact that it was going be near the museum, so I wanted to make sure that we did something that pushed the bounds creatively of what a store could be and was built with the same ideology or ideas that go towards designing our products. So, a friend of mine is in New York at the moment doing a Masters of Architecture. She was originally an installation artist and a lighting artist.
YS: That’s everything you need.
TP: We started working on it together and we discussed the core of the products that we make, which is really about the very raw elements of construction and using really natural materials. And so, the space was built with that in mind—and also pushing the levels of craftsmanship. The whole store is basically built from plywood and the way that it’s designed: in order to go then build it, you need a high level of skill, just like in building our product.
YS: How cool.
TP: If you want to have a look—like, this piece [points to an angular, hand-crafted display case] is crazy! To get all those different angles. It’s really crazy.
YS: It’s definitely a design object in and of itself.
TP: It’s crazy, I know. And this is just stud wall. We wanted the construction elements to come out. Instead of building a wall and then closing it, we built a wall then lifted it open.
YS: I heard that you might do performances downstairs?
TP: Yeah. I don’t know if we’re going do them downstairs or upstairs but we’re going have some small events from time to time here. It will be stuff based around the similar ideology of the product, kind of about the creative manner in which things can be constructed and built—whatever that may be, whether it’s music or products.
YS: Will it be performance art or music or something else?
TP: Maybe! We haven’t finalized. We’re speaking to a couple about creating a soundscape…
YS: Are there any particular products that you’d like to highlight?
TP: So far, New Yorkers seem to really, really love our hiking boots. We make all wool-lined hiking boots. Because of the construction we use, this is all hand sewn and it’s all leather. So they’re really, really nice and they meld to your feet nicely. It’s perfect for the New York winter. And then we have our basic leather collection—just a very, very simple shoe. But again, all natural materials, all handmade—it’s leather from the bottom all the way through.
YS: So what are you most excited about in opening the space?
TP: We actually have a quite a good online business here, but it’s really exciting that our customers can actually come in. Our shoes are not flashy. It’s all about the quality and the materials. You really need to be able to see it and touch it and feel it. So I think that’s going be great and exciting.
Feit, 2 Prince Street (at the corner of Bowery), NYC, 212-226-8600
