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Being STRONG is more than just how much weight you can lift.
The Strong New York Podcast is dedicated to inspiring you to become your strongest self- in the gym, in business, in relationships and in life.
Join Kenny as he sits down with his strong as fuck buddies and shoots the shit on what it takes to be strong willed, strong minded and physically strong. Season one features everyone from entrepreneurs and local business owners to doctors and industry leaders in the fitness and wellness space.
With over a decade of experience, Kenny Santucci has made himself known as one of New York City’s top trainers and a thought leader in the health and wellness industry. After transforming his life at 15 years old through fitness, Kenny made it his mission to transform the lives of those around him.
Kenny has trained some of Hollywood’s biggest stars, including Jon Bon Jovi, Liev Schreiber, and Frank Ocean, and has been tapped as a fitness expert sharing his training approach with Men’s Health, Men’s Journal, Runner's World, SHAPE, Well+Good, among other publications.
Kenny is the creator of STRONG New York, NYC's only Health and Fitness Expo. Strong New York is an immersive day of workouts, wellness experiences, panel discussions, and inspiring conversations with the best in-class wellness professionals, industry leaders, and change makers who are sharing their expertise on today's hottest wellness trends and first-hand experiences on how to optimize your overall health and life.
You can find Kenny at The Strength Club, his private training and group strength training facility in the heart of Manhattan located on 28th and 5th Ave in New York City.
This episode is powered by Celsius. Now, whether you're in the gym or you're on the run, or hey, you're just doing a podcast, grab yourself a can of Celsius and live fit. So this is a shameless pitch for strong New York, September 27th, right at the Glass House on 48th and 12th Avenue. We are throwing the biggest fitness and wellness event this city has ever seen.
Every year it gets bigger and bigger. This year we'll have 5,000 people, 80 plus brands, and you will be there. So make sure you get your tickets@strongnewyork.com. It's that simple. Hey guys, Kenny Santucci for the Strong New York podcast, and I'm out here in East Hampton with Max Siegelman of Siegelman Stables.
If you don't know about the brand wealth. Google it because it's easy to find on the head of every famous person in the tri-state area as well as around the world. So check these guys out. Uh, we're gonna dive into the brand, but we're gonna take this interview a little bit differently. We're gonna go outside, we're gonna go for a little run, and we're gonna see the sites because most of you probably have never even been to East Hampton.
So we're gonna give you an idea of what it is to, uh, kind of walk around and see the sites around here, but. I'm interested to dive into the brand a little bit. Um, so first thing, I mean, we, we, we were chatting before and I thought the most interesting thing was this wasn't even a plan. This wasn't even a thing.
Yeah, right. COVID changed a lot of shit for a lot of people, but this was like. Kind of a pretty interesting mistake you made. Yeah, pretty much. I was doing like creative consulting for athletes and some music artists. And then my dad, who's a racehorse trainer, had these two logos and people would always ask me if like I had any hats or swag, and I was like, no.
And then I finally had a minute and pandemic. And decided to just start making hats and sweatshirts for fun. What, what were you doing for these artists? Like what? Um, it was like creative consulting. Could have been anything from like a marketing concept for an Instagram post to an album release. And that, and that's what you went to school for and stuff?
I went to school for soccer, but, uh, studied communications and, you know, so you, you started to throw this up. My first experience was. All the guys at Tone House, I'm seeing all the guys at Tone House wearing this hat. I'm like, what is this hat? And I just started seeing it now. Even as recent as yesterday, like I open up Instagram and I'm seeing Yeah, NFL athletes, the tone house crew is my crew.
That's where I started working out when I moved into the city. And I always say like the fitness community just like sticks together, like whatever, vertical in fitness, out of fitness, and they kind of stick with you so. For me, like that was my, that was my crew outside of just like my day job when I first moved.
How, how'd you wind up over there? Uh, I looked for the hardest workout, uh, to relate back to preseason college soccer. Yeah. Yeah. Still to this day, they have a still go twice a week. Do you still go twice a week? Yeah. So I was there probably two Sundays ago, three Sundays ago. Mm-hmm. And we just did like a big trainer workout.
Yeah. And I was sore for like three days. I'm like, yeah, I can't listen. I miss it out here for a month though. I gotta go to high school and just do bear crawls in gallops. I was gonna say, where do you work out? It's Sag Harbor Gym. Yeah. It's just a good gym. Yeah. Or the high school track. It's funny because it's so hard to get something started out here.
Yeah. And so many people want to do it, but it's almost impossible. Yeah. And I've only been out here for a week, so this is, this is kind of all new to me also. Yeah. So I mean, take us through, you know, because people don't understand how hard it is, right? You, at first, it was a happy mistake. You started throwing on hats, you got, got a couple people wear it, but now you're into the thick of it, right?
Mm-hmm. Now you're put. Putting a space out here, it's not just, Hey, let's throw some paint on the walls and make it easy. Yeah, this is pretty difficult. Take us through a couple. Yeah. I mean this, take us through the first time you wanted to like be like, all right, I had enough. Uh, first time today, uh, I mean, there's, there you start, you start something by accident, and then you start building and building and building and all these things that are unexpected along the way, whether it's finance or legal or whatever comes with it.
Mm-hmm. And so I think like you go through different obstacles all the time and some are repeats and hopefully they don't repeat, but a lot of the time they do. You had to, at one point or another, think to yourself like. Should I continue down this road? Can this be a viable business? Like where, when did that start to happen?
Because you started during 2020, right? Yeah. I think like, luckily for me it's always like, we've always been in the green, we've always done well, and so I think there's like, there's always ups and downs though, like mm-hmm. With a drop or a collaboration or something you're doing for the first time, that doesn't go how you planned and so you take a lot of punches to the face and you just gotta keep going.
One of, one of the things that I think a lot of people. Don't realize it is, you could have this, you know, alright, I made it to the top of the mountain. But it's really not, there's never a top. Yeah. There's always, it's never as great as, it's never good enough. Yeah. Yeah. So when you get, but if you have that mentality, that's how you continue to grow.
Yeah. And, and that, I think that's the, the best and the worst part of entrepreneurship. You are like, oh wow, I've done this. Yeah. But when you're actually doing it, you're like, ah, all right. I got what's next. Right. Because you're only as good as your last game. Yeah, totally. Now, so you did the collab with.
The Knicks you got and the Knicks a couple times, Rangers, the Mets got the Yankees coming this year. Um, and when's that drop? Uh, July and August. Okay. Yeah. So people are excited about that one. I hope so. We barely have announced the Yankees one, but, but you already have some of the Yankees wearing your hat.
Yeah, they've been great for us. I mean, New York sports community has been huge for us. You, you have this simple design, right? Mm-hmm. You throw it on some hats. What do you think made it so viral? Why do you think so many people wanted to wear it? I think it's just like the authenticity of the storytelling.
Like seman stable is a real thing. Yeah. Uh, and the additional piece to it is my dad raised horses for a living, but he also used his horses for. Equine therapy programs for kids with special needs veterans, inner city youth programs. I think the, the storytelling is one thing. The do good piece of it is another thing.
Mm-hmm. But I also think that to break through in like a cluttered space where anyone can just start a brand, load up a Shopify and start selling stuff, like you need to have that authenticity and storytelling, but also have something that people wanna wear. So, good quality. I was telling your wife downstairs, I've already seen people kind of ripping it off.
So it's, it's already an, an iconic enough brand that people wanna steal the idea. Yeah. I mean, it happens more often than not, and I think at first I used to, I get pissed off and now I just say Good luck. Yeah. I mean, it's like, it's stuff is just not easy. But what, what's impressive that. Though it's a 5-year-old BR brand and you already have it, it's recognizable enough that people could even use a half-assed version of it.
Yeah. And still sell. Yeah. I mean, I don't know how much they're selling, but, uh, yeah, I think, uh, now I definitely take it as a, as a positive, uh, reinforcement that we're doing something right. But I do think it's, as you continue to see more and more of it, as you continue to see brands either. Use it for creative on their own.
I think it's just, it's always now just good luck. Yeah. And now take us through the design. Your mom did it. Yeah, my mom hand drew this logo. And it's why it's a bit imperfect. Yeah. And so when I first sent it to a embroider shop. Uh, they were like, can we change a few things? And I was like, nah, you can't.
Yeah. And because it's a little bit more difficult with all the different layers and all the different details to it to get perfect on a, on embroidery machine. Well, I think she did a pretty good job. I mean, yeah, give a lot of credit. So I basically, I've done nothing. My dad started it and then my mom drew it.
Now I just. Kind of make it so I think you tied it all together. Um, you wanna go for a run? Let's do it. Let's do it.
I mean, there had to be a couple times though, like where you're, you're thinking to yourself. This is, this is a pretty big deal. I mean, you got Aaron, judge, you got some of the biggest names Yeah. In New York sports wearing your shit. Like Yeah. Think that, how'd that happen? Like people pay millions of dollars for that shit.
Yeah. I think we are. And these guys are voluntarily wearing, like they're asking for it, right? Yeah. We've been around for almost five years. In my mind it's been real, real for two. Yeah. Uh, I'm now been doing this for full time for almost two years. Um, and so I think. It's a bit of a relationship based and luck based.
Yeah. Uh, but also obviously having good quality stuff. I think early on it was a lot of relationships. It was projects I did for eight years for free, for hip hop artists or athletes, and, uh, would travel around. The country and literally do whatever it took to start building relationships. Um, and I think some of those came back to me when I finally had something of my own, mm-hmm.
Uh, to show love and support. And it's not like I was like, yo, I'm gonna send you a hat. Make sure you wear it and post it. It's like, yo, I'm doing something. I'm gonna send you a hat. And like, you don't have to do anything. Well, that's what it seemed like at first, right? Because when I first started seeing it pop up.
It seemed like everybody had these hats and I'm like, oh, did this guy just print out thousands of hats and just give 'em all away? But that does not piss and it doesn't work like that either. No. Right. Like you could give away shit all day long, but if people aren't willing to wear it Yeah. I give you Is that like future must get sent 30,000 pieces from different brands Of course.
On a monthly basis. Yeah. And I had like somewhat of a relationship with him and his team, uh, and his stylist, Bobby and I sent a piece. I hand wrote a note or sent a couple pieces. I hand wrote a note. I wrote one of his lyrics that mentioned horses and was lucky enough that he thought it was cool. Maybe he thought the brand story was cool.
Maybe he just liked the product and the look of it. Uh, and when I started doing that, I had two lists. I had an aspirational list. Someone that I. Thought would think the logo looked aspirational and cool and had some heritage to it. And then a relatable list of like a Kendall Jenner or a Gigi Hadid who talks about horseback riding or equine therapy or owns race horses.
So I think. That I wanted at first to really make this a brand and still do for, for everyone. Mm-hmm. Um, and I think like when someone asks me like, what's the demographic of your customers? You can obviously answer that based on your customer base and who's buying what. But I think when I go out there with a product, I'm hoping that that product, for the most part is for.
Pretty much anyone. Mm-hmm. Uh, and to feel comfortable it what, it's a, it's a bit of an elevated brand. Were you always a fashion guy? Were you always into like higher fashion stuff? Uh, I definitely was like more in like the luxury street wear. Mm-hmm. Side of things. Like, I loved Eric Emmanuel who now work across the street from in East Hampton in New York, sunshine.
Uh, and obviously Virgil and I got to work with Virgil a little bit before he passed. And really, I think that there was like a lot of the streetwear culture I understood. Uh, and I think that's because I was, that was like right at the start point of like music and fashion, uh, and sports kind of like all coming together.
And I think fashion was just like the tippy top of it. And now you see obviously, like when you walk through a tunnel, tunnel walk in the NBA or the NFL, like. It's just a runway show. Mm-hmm. Before every game. It's awesome. It's a wwe, it's all that. Yeah. And then when these guys are not in season and they are going to these fashion shows, they're being asked to sit in the front row.
Mm-hmm. And I think it just speaks to how culture has just become so intertwined between, again, sports, music, fashion, uh, and I think I just. I had a good feeling for it. Worked in it a bit and just tried to figure out a way for us to make it make sense for Siegelman stable. I think a lot of people don't realize how much the relationship part plays into it.
Yeah, and I think it goes back to what I said about just like tone house. Yeah. And like the fitness community, like I said before is like, I think just sticks so tight together and supportive and obviously it comes with. The comradery of sport and group classes in New York or wherever you live? Uh, I think obviously New York is probably the strongest over any other city in the world for it.
Oh, sure. Uh, well, it's just the hardest, I mean, anything is always more elevated in New York, right? Yeah. And so I just think that when you're starting something new and people see that you're putting all of your blood, sweat, and tears into it, that supportive community comes together to kind of continue to help bring you up.
Now being here out in here in, uh. East Hampton, you've been here dead now, two days, right? So what, it's closed day two. What's that been like? Uh, it's been awesome. I think it's like you can't compare it to what you would do in soho in New York or a bigger city. Uh, and so I think your expectations obviously are much different for the different locations.
I had nothing really to gauge what foot traffic would be like here versus like what it was in soho and we just did a popup in the holiday and, uh, it's been awesome. Uh, I mean. We open Friday at 11:00 AM and people usually commute out here on a Friday. And yeah, the doors open and there was people waiting.
It was good flow all day. And today, same thing. So I think we're super happy with the first couple days, uh, excited for the rest of the weekend, tomorrow and Sunday and the rest of the week leading into 4th of July, people start to come out here earlier during the week and uh, have a collaboration with Ford that.
We announce on Monday, uh, and that we'll release online and in the store here. I think people will see that and they'll be like, oh my God, how'd that happen? Yeah, I think, well first of all, we planned it for 4th of July 'cause it's so like Americana, 4th of July, east Hampton Ford, made in America. Um, and just feel, felt so right.
It's actually our biggest collection ever with 18 pieces. Anything from like swimwear to denim to just simple tee, is that gonna take over the whole store? It won't take over the whole store, take over a rock or so in the store. Um, so we'll have additional offerings, um, and something like that happens, uh, could happen so many different ways.
We've been like blessed that. In the five years that we've existed, all of our partnerships has been inbound requests. Mm-hmm. Um, and so we continue to ride that wave and I know it maybe may not last forever, but uh, I'll try and hold onto it for as long as possible. For sure. What happens at that point?
Right? Like, how do you pivot the brand? Right. I, I know you haven't gotten to that point yet. Point. Yeah. Yeah. I think, I think, um, I think it's not that I haven't thought about it though. Yeah. Uh, because I think you need to like be 25 steps ahead. Yeah. Uh, and ready for all the issues that come with it. And I don't even think it's an issue there.
There's just so many ways. I think once you start to have the behind the scenes stuff somewhat figured out, I don't think you ever have it figured out. Um, you can start getting licenses to do stuff without having, uh, the team, uh, necessarily consider it like a collaboration, but it's a licensing agreement and they get a royalty and mm-hmm.
So then there's ways to continue to build it and like. No matter if you're year one or year 101, like if you don't reinvent yourself every year, that's where you get swallowed up and left behind. 'cause of course, there's just another brand knocking on the door to take over. Well, that's, that's been my biggest fear all the time.
I'm like getting into fashion, doing shirts, doing hats. It's just. You're constantly at the mercy of whatever is cool, right? Like we've, we've watched so many huge brands. Yeah. I mean, some of the biggest brands of the world have just become irrelevant over time. Yeah. They tried to bring 'em back. I feel like Abercrombie's done a decent job.
Did it? Dude, I, I saw someone's wearing a t-shirt the other day and I was like, yo, where's that from? It's like, I was like, thought he was gonna say like a vintage store. Yeah. Like, dude, don't tell anyone. Like my homie told me that Abercrombie had these sick vintage like Jets, tees. And I'm like, dude, what?
And so I went on the website for the first time, like literally and forever when I was a kid. Like you'd go to Abercrombie, it Acrom was a shit be like a little awkward. Maybe if there was a dude with a six pack standing on the front. I'm like, I just need to go in and buy some stuff. And then it's like, uh, I go on the website now and it's like they must have done that.
And so like I think back to the licensing thing is like they obviously purchased a bunch of these licenses. They've like, okay, this is what people are wearing. This is what we need to do and this is how we speak to it. And so I think they've done a good job. I assume, I don't know what their business looks like behind the scenes, but uh, from an aesthetic and what they're selling standpoint, it looks like they're, they're.
Figuring something out. You've, you've been so lucky to, you know, as a New Yorker, you're like, oh man, it'd be so cool to do something with, you know, uh, the Knicks or the Yankees. Yeah. Like, you've had a lot of these successes already. Yeah. So what's, what's next? Where, where do you go from here? Like, are there brands that you're eventually like, oh, I'd love to collab with them?
Yeah, and I think, like, I don't even consider 'em successes. I consider him like. Oh, that was, that was fucking cool. Yeah. Right. Yeah. Like, now what's next? What's the next cool thing? And so I think like we're so far from success. Mm-hmm. And that I'm like. There, there's always something cooler to do. Like, this is our, our first time we're collaborating with like an automobile brand.
Mm-hmm. And so, like one, my dad always used to drive Ford Explorer, Eddie Bauer additions. Mm-hmm. So I'm like, how do I have like a Ford Explorer SE and Stable edition? That's why I wanna do like interiors and this and that. So like I, I think just continuing to like. Really imagine outside of the box and like what we can do that no one's ever done.
And obviously you're gonna do things that people are always gonna be like, oh, this brand did this, this brand did this. It's like people are always doing things over and over again. It's like, so I, I think for us it's just to really focus on like sticking true to us. We're not trying to be fast fashion.
We're not changing what this person's wearing this day versus this day. We're making the stuff that we want to make, that we think is cool that mm-hmm. We think people will like, um, and continue just to do, be able to do these collaborations and partnerships. 'cause at the end of the day, it's, for us, it's all about marketing.
Mm-hmm. Because we haven't spent any money in marketing. So to be able to speak to Nick's fans and get a couple of them to become semen stable fans at the same time is really the goal with those projects. Are you having a good time doing it? Some days? Uh, my dad asked me that question maybe every morning.
I talk to my dad probably every morning when I'm like walking home from the gym. Mm-hmm. I call him and he's like, but are you having any fun? And I'm like, not today. Or like, maybe today. Uh, I think when you, when you start a business, like you don't realize everything that's going to come with it, you don't realize that like.
Okay. I am making hats and sweatshirts or t-shirts or whatever one day and I'm selling it, but it's like if I told you what it goes in to make a fucking t-shirt, like I have so much respect to a random t-shirt that I walk into a Walmart at this point. Mm-hmm. I'm like, you know how long it took to make that t-shirt, the way that t-shirt looks like, and it's just like a white t-shirt with a picture on it.
And so, but the way it's cut, the way it's put together, just all of it. Yeah. Yeah. There's so much that goes in behind the scenes and, and everyone like, to your point before it's like. Anyone can start a brand, anyone can put out a t-shirt, anyone can do this and that. There's just all the stuff that goes behind the scenes to actually get it to the next level to grow.
It's really hard and it's not like we have it perfected or we've done it how it should be done or even done it yet. Mm-hmm. Uh, and so I think you just gotta continue to evolve, keep taking the punches to the face, but just keep moving forward with it. If your 15-year-old self, 16-year-old self high school guy met you today, what do you think?
Dude, I'd be able to kick my ass right now. I used to be overweight, uh, except I was really good at soccer. But other than that, um, yeah, I think like, I don't know, like we've gotten to work with like the coolest athletes in the world. I would love to do some more with some soccer players, obviously, that that's my.
That's my world. Um, we've gotten to do stuff with the coolest athletes in the world, the coolest athletes in New York, which is the mecca of the world in my eyes. It's where I'm from. It's where I live. It's where I'll probably be forever. Uh, some of the coolest music artists that like were my favorite music artists.
Mm-hmm. Um, so yeah, my 15, 16-year-old self would be like. Dude, you made it. Yes. And like I'm like, and now I'm like, yeah, fuck. What am I doing? And you feel lost. I think like the biggest lesson I learned when I walked in the door of my corporate job, the first day I was doing my creative consulting stuff on the side, had my own agency, and then I was brought in to start a social media department for a public company.
Mm-hmm. I sat across some like the CEO, who's basically like asking me all these social media questions and only thing I could think in my head while I was answering was like. This dude's just fucking listening to everything I say, and he knows nothing I like. My biggest lesson was like, no one fucking knows what they're doing, and you just gotta keep just going.
I say that all the time. Like you, you meet these massive companies, you work with these people. You know, I've, I've been lucky enough to work with some pretty big brands. And I'm always like, why do I feel like nobody knows what the fuck is going on? Yeah. It's like, it's all about failing forward, being confident in what you're doing.
If you take a l own it. If you get a W, be humble and go get the next one. Yeah. And it's just, that's really what it's all about. It's like be a good person along the way. Yeah, because I've come across a lot of successful quote unquote people who are like not great people. Yeah. And I think just like at the end of the day, it's all about like working with good people, giving out good energy, getting good energy.
I'm not saying I'm perfect. I give heavy, strong, bad energy if I'm not having a good day. Uh. That's, but like that's, I think that's just the New Yorker in there. I do the same thing, like you should ask Caroline. Yeah. You have those days. I mean, there are so many times I feel like I'm winning. Yeah. And then at a moment's notice, you're like, oh, all this shit drops in your lap and you have to deal with a hundred things.
And now you're like, all right, well, I feel like I'm back to square one again. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, like, I feel like I'm back to square one either once a week or once every other week. Um, what, what, what are some of the big setbacks? Because it, it does seem like, just from my vantage point, it seems like you guys are really, you got some good traction.
Like most people would be like, oh shit. That's the dream to have a brand in New York City doing a lot of these collapses. Hey, watch out.
We're there. I swear we're there. Yeah, it's right here. Um, not as close as I thought. No, but I, I think there's a lot of people who would see what you have and they'd be like, oh yeah. Just like you said, you know, your 16-year-old self would be like, man, this guy's made it. This is it. You know? And Yeah. What, what are, what do you feel are the setbacks?
I know it's like there's the head, there's the day-to-day headaches Yeah. Of dealing with landlords and shit like that, but. Yeah, I think the, yeah, every day there's setbacks. It's like I hired a person in LA four months ago to run production and she leaves kind of like without notice. And you have five projects in her lab that you have no updates for.
You don't know what's going on, and you're on the other side of the country. Yep. Uh, that's one week, uh, the next week. Uh, um, we're a small brand. We're, we're three, four full-time people. So like, I play hr, C-E-O-C-F-O-C-M-O, like you play all these different roles that you didn't sign up for. Mm-hmm. Um, until you get to a point where you can start putting people in that position to play those roles for you.
And so I think with every, with every small brand that's trying to figure it out, we can cut left. Sorry. Alright. With every small brand that's trying to. Figure it out like someone needs to take on all those responsibilities. And so I think, uh, like, I don't know when you make it is probably the real answer.
Yeah. I think like when you're Well, people think so comfortable. I'm gonna tell you a good story knowing you made it. I'm sitting at a dinner for Stella Artis across from Ludacris who were just like at our Super Bowl event a year or two ago, and there's like a huge, beautiful meal being sent out to us on the table at like Cypriani and, and financial district.
And my man orders to the table. Uber eats, acai bowl and smoothie. It's the best thing I've ever seen. I went home that night and I said to Caroline, I was like, like, that's like, that's where I want my met my mind at. Mm-hmm. Like that success where like nothing. No one can say anything to him about doing that.
Mm-hmm. He was unbothered about even the idea of doing that, and I'm just like, that's comfortable in your own self and that's success, I feel like. Yeah. Yeah. I think when you get to that point that most people won't even say anything to you, we, I'd just be happy to be sitting there eating. Fucking meal, you know?
Exactly. He's ordering his own shit. Yeah. And so I think like, yeah, the 16-year-old meme might look at me like, oh yeah, you made it, but like you got a long way to go. Where do you pull the inspiration from? I know you're saying your wife kind of does a lot of the designing. Yeah, like we, we now have like pretty split structure of like, I, I joke around and I always say like, she runs the fashion business.
I run the internal creative agency side of things. Mm-hmm. And so I think like our inspiration always goes back to my dad and like the brand is built off of him. It's his story. It's his harness racing stable. It's the equine therapy charity stuff that he does and continues to do. And then we look at what luxury aesthetics look like in the eighties, and that's how we build our look and vibe of everything that we create.
And so, um. We take a lot of it from looking at like if we do a collection with the Mets, so the Yankees will look back at like, what did these players wear on the field in the eighties and off the field in the eighties, and how do we make that relatable to consumers now? Um, and so I think like drawing inspiration from other people and doing what they're doing is not copying someone if you don't straight up copy.
Yeah. It's doing it to create something new and different with your own story, who are some of the brands that you look at? Or like who are some of the people that you look at? Yeah. Where you're like. I mean, for instance, like with, for myself, when I look at some gyms, like there are definitely guys out there who have put together some incredible gyms.
Yeah. I was just at a gym in Pennsylvania. This guy's got this, it's called Power Build, and he's got this beautiful gym. And it's just laid out really well. He's got great equipment and I'm like, oh, I'd love to have something like this. Not the same thing. Yeah. But you know, obviously for yourself, like who do you look at and you're like, wow, that the way he's got that set up.
Yeah. I admire what he's done. Yeah. I think in the beginning we go through phases, right? So like, I think in the beginning, the first two years was like, we consider ourselves like luxury streetwear. And I looked at Eric Emanuel Supreme, uh, figured out. Or looked at how they were doing things. It was a drop at Friday at a certain time.
If you knew, you knew it was a limited run. It was get secondary market hype, resale stuff for two x 30 x, whatever it was. And that's the model I knew and I understand and I could figure out. And that's what I give a lot of the reasoning behind why we are where we are now. But that model isn't necessarily what we do for everything that we build now, I think it is for some of our limited stuff.
Uh, and then from an aesthetic standpoint or just holistic fashion, lifestyle, contemporary luxury. Look, I would look, I look at Ralph Lauren and how he started. I watched the Ralph Lauren documentary probably like 20 times when I first started this. Like he started with. Uh, a tie. He was trying to sell it to wholesalers.
He, at some point when he started seeing success after going bankrupt a couple times, then started Polo Sport to inundate more cultural things and cultural people. And so like I look at a lot of those things and it's like, how do you make that make sense for me and what I know how to do and what I can do with my relationships and my knowledge and understanding of the landscape of fashion and culture.
Um, and so I think, and then I'll look at Virgil and Louis Vuitton or. Whoever it is and, and I think that there's a lot to learn from everyone. It's just how you package it up and make it make sense for what you're trying to do. You're, you said you're gonna eventually open up a space in the city, right? I think that there's a, I think there's a chance we, I mean obviously retail in general I think is a huge bounce back in the last couple years, post COVID obviously, but I think us as being for the better majority of five years, a.
Direct to consumer brand through our own website. Maybe some exclusive releases with some wholesalers, um, that. It makes sense to get people in, try on stuff, see what our silhouettes are, the feel of our clothes, the types of fabrics we're using, um, and have a better understanding of who we are as a brand.
It's the same way we build a store out the aesthetic. Why we put so much effort into going from wood floors and white walls to Navy on the ceiling and the floors being carpeted and. Custom furniture and glass and all these things, it's like we want to, we wanna make sure when people walk in that they're embodying like what we see ourselves in as a brand.
Mm-hmm. And so I think it's really important, and it's why we've tested the popup strategy. It's been successful for us. It's why we tested a new market out here. Why? We'll test a couple other ones before we decide to open up a real flagship, which would really only make sense in New York being we're a New York brand.
New York is a hub of fashion. Well, we finally made it here. It's a little longer walk than I promised, or what? I'm like, I'm actually not that fast. A lot of people think, oh, you're, you're trained. I'm like, well, I'm not that fast of a guy. So we'll do a couple. I mean, I'm open to suggestions. You're the guy, you're fitness guy.
No horses here. I like You wanna start with, uh, this guy's moving. I like that. Dude. I, we were doing a photo shoot at a racetrack probably a month and a half ago. Okay. And it's a mile track so it's not four laps as a mile. And I was like, I gotta do it. I was like, I got, I changed. I had wor I always keep workout clothes in my car 'cause you just never know.
Mm-hmm. I changed at the end of the shoot. The whole team's like packing up and everything. And I was like, all right, let's go. I timed it. I was like, you, I was struggling a little bit. One because I was dehydrated as fuck. It was hot, but like you're not used to those long stretches. Yeah. Like that stretch is over a quarter mile.
So what's your best mile time on a four on a quarter mile track? Yeah. Uh, four 11. I have Strava to back it up. Four 11 Did I not bring my phone? That's crazy. Look at that. I don't think, I've not brought my phone this far away from me in a long time. Uh, so there's a workout, but it'll take us far too long.
Yeah. That I would love to do. It's like the longest mile, so it's like the longest mile. Okay. Lunge around the track, the burpees. Yeah. But how long does that take you? I mean, it's gonna take us a fucking long time, but you have to bear crawl. It's Bear Crawl 400, lunge 400. Broad Jump 400. How long does it take you?
Oh fuck. I haven't done it. I mean, I started doing, I don't think I've ever done it. No. It, it'll take us probably an hour. Jesus. So let's start with some lunges and then we'll do a jog. Alright, so we'll lunge to uh, to the turn and we'll jog the turn and then we'll, we have six mile walk back. I just took us on.
Um. What do you typ? So what are you typically doing aside from to house? I know you said you go twice a week. Uh, I run at least four miles a day. Oh really? And then I'll lift. Yeah. I mean, I look like it, but, and then you said you were like 2 25 in high school? I was 2 25 getting recruited for college soccer.
I was a short goalie. Uh, but I guess I could run at least 18 yards and jump. So really it got me that far. And now were you always athletic? You said you were fat though, right? I was a little overweight, yeah. And tore my ACL playing basketball over the summer. Going to my sophomore year of college.
Redshirted told my coach I was training. I tore my ACL and then my senior year, that was technically my red shirt, junior, we made the final four. And I was like, fuck it, I'm not gonna go back for this fifth year. Yeah. It was D three, which I think people like, that's what I consider D three. Just like, oh, not as good as D one.
Like we beat D one schools. Yeah. That everybody, I, I tell people that all the time, like most of the guys on my team we're good enough to go D one. They were just too stupid. Yeah. I think it comes down to education. Size, like luck. Yeah. Did the coach see you? I think there's a lot of politics involved as well.
Yeah. I think soccer's so interesting in this country. 'cause I think the NCA makes it very difficult and the structure of youth soccer to compete with the world. Yeah. And so. Why? Um, yeah, I feel like, I think if you're 14 years old, you're 12 years old, you're seven years old and you're living in Spain and they realize you as a good prospect, they'll put effort.
You're taken. Yeah. Yeah. You're in an academy. You go to school, you train you like don't live at home like messy. Grew up in like Spain I think, but he is Argentinian 'cause they recruited him.
I will tell you what, it's pretty, pretty dedicated.
Should we do, uh, maybe thinking, you tell me that. We'll do a walk. Okay. And then we will jog the lap walk, jog the lap or the turn. I like it. Can't wait to go in this pool. I've been able to go in a pool in a hot tub since we've had it. Really? Why not? Haven't been home before, like midnight any night. No.
Yeah. Build the store. They say it's fun. They say you like, basically filmed a reality TV show this week, building this thing. We posted a video every day. So of like the recap. Yeah. It was fucking crazy. Yeah. We're putting together a long form for YouTube. Wait. 'cause eventually you're gonna want to Yeah.
Document this. We, we've needed to do a better job of all the behind the scenes stuff. Yeah. Um, I think it's hard. I'm also like, I don't love being in front of the camera on a day-to-day basis. Mm. I don't mind doing like this or like a podcast or like. An interview, but like to be followed each and every day.
Work everywhere. Work, yeah. Like, yeah. Can you explain to me what you're doing? I'm like, no, I can't fucking explain to you. I'm doing, I'm fucking doing something. Yeah. No, it's brutal. We'll go here. But we had a good kid. He was like very comfortable, easy to have around. So I was good. Caroline. Yeah. I think's Caroline makes me do it.
Good for the brands. Sell yourself. It's true though. This is great. I rarely get to do this. This is, this is like. This is nostalgia for me. Yeah. Where like going the high school track to run. Yeah. I'll just run like West Side Highway or, yeah. Did you play, uh, any other sports growing up? I played baseball, like a little bit of golf.
Uh, but then when I realized I had a shot to play soccer. I kind of gave it all up. Other than soccer. My dad played college soccer. He was a field Blair, so I feel like he just threw me in the goal and was like, I'm gonna shoot now. Figure it out. Woo. Oh, that's a wrap. Half a mile. We'll do one more. Cool.
Yeah, we'll call it. 'cause I gotta get you the, I gotta get him to the train. Cool. You're taking it from here. I. East Hampton. East Hampton. Literally right here. Now I know the answer to this. I know you're gonna beat me, so, okay. From here to the opening of the gate, we'll just take it After you told me, would you run a four 11?
Yeah, but it's been a minute. Okay. Well, all right. I'm old. I got what, six, seven years on this guy? Yeah. Lemme know when you want me to go fast. Alright, here we go. Three, two, go. You good?
You let me win for camera. You let me win for the camera. No shot. No shot. I ain't got wills like that. Nice work.
You can't build strength unless you're lifting heavy. Yeah, like it's so crazy. I need to lift more legs. Don't put that out there. Well, this is God giving. This is just as good. Yeah, he's doing heavy leg lift and he like deadlift, squat. Yeah. Sprinting is so good for you. Yeah, it is. Yeah. That was great. I'm good then now I'm recovered.
Did you get I do it again? Get this young book, young Blood Fucking Killing Me on the, on that turn for the same age suck and win. Rarely get out here like this. So I was at this 5:00 AM tomorrow. Amen. The year. Do you really wanna go where? Where are you staying? I'll be here. I'm an early riser for no reason.
Me too. I'm out every morning. Every morning. Well, for you, you probably have to be every day. I have to. But like But you don't get to work out in the morning. Well, I'm going, you gotta work people out in the morning. Some people I'll jump in a workout with them. Yeah. I love that. Yeah. Um, and most, most of my clients don't give a shit, but I'm, if I gotta get it out, yeah.
I'll get off, I'll do a workout with them, but I feel like I wasted the day if I'm not at the gym by like 6:00 AM Yeah, I agree. You gotta have it. You gotta have it in there. I was just saying, do you agree with this, that if you, you're not off by. At least 7:00 AM You probably don't have much going on.
Yeah, I think it depends the field. I'll have empathy in this one. Yeah. I think it depends what you work in. If you work in nightlife or, oh, well, yeah. Take clients out. If you're in finance risk, that's, yeah. Yeah.
Well, you're killing in business world. You just smoked me on the track. You got a lot. I'm sweaty a little bit more than you though. You got a lot of big things happening out here. Best of luck with everything out here and you guys will be out here for the next three weeks. Guys, if you're in the East Hampton area or uh, you know, just go online, check out Siegelman stables.
Uh, where could everybody find you as well? Uh, Instagram at seman stable on our website, seman stable.com or 87 Newtown Lane in East Hampton for the next three weeks. Nice. Well, easy to find, guys. Thank you again, as always, like, share, subscribe with a friend and always stay strong.