Thread by @kevinleeme

1/ Finished reading This Is Not a T-Shirt by @bobbyhundreds.

I've admired from afar and have never been part of the streetwear scene. But I have a ton of admiration for the lasting brand that Bobby has built over the past decade+

Many applicable lessons from the book:

2/ "People Over Product” - a mantra that every brand should remember. The Hundreds started as a blog with opinions on issues, embedded with their signature attitude and personality.

Community formed around those opinions and without that community, a brand is just a label.

3/ It is tempting to want to listen to your audience and make sure you please everyone. Crowdsourcing opinions is nice once in awhile.

But your customer wants you to know your own identity, purpose and direction. If you don't know who you are, your community won't either.

4/ Bobby had a specific identity from his upbringing which he translated into his unique opinions.

"You have to first home in on who you are. Once you've carved out your little corner, the next move is stepping out and inviting other people in."

5/ If everyone is moving in the same direction, it's probably a red flag that you should head the other way.

You'll never turn heads by following a path that's anything other than your own.

6/ When they went to their second tradeshow event, no one gave a sh*t about their booth. They were an unknown brand. So what did they do?

Reframe the circumstances to reverse the power.

They bought a black plastic tarp and draped it over their rack to hide their samples.

7/ The covered tarp drew curiosity and the occasional buyer would ask what was underneath. But if the buyer wasn't on a target list of authentic streetwear boutiques, Bobby and his co-founder Ben would tell them they weren't conducting business that day.

8/ Many buyers were pissed. They were being denied access and it made them want it more.

Bobby and Ben weren't just doing this for the FOMO.

They were strengthening their image and brand integrity by defining who they were - and who they were not.

9/ The Hundreds blog unmasked the streetwear industry.

Be as transparent and accessible with your fans as possible. Teach everything you know.

It's not just good business. The purpose of every generation is to make things better and easier for the next generation.

10/ Bobby follows two simple rules 1) see the numbers as people 2) look at platforms as mere tools.

It's in our nature to long for relationships and the solution for brands lies in building human connection.

Your fans will move towards you when they find kinship.

11/ There are times when everything feels like it's going wrong. When a catastrophic mistake or failure makes you want to quit.

The Japanese have a saying for this. "Shikata ga nai."

"There's nothing to be done, so move on." Move forward.

12/ It's easy to get comfortable with your initial successes. In times like these, the fastest way to grow is to leave your comfort zone.

13/ Travel. When you wake up in unfamiliar environments with unfamiliar languages, you are forced to learn compassion, empathy, and humility.

The goal is to uncork yourself from the center of the universe.

14/ Producing a hit will make your career but it can break your creative spirit.

Their original Adam Bomb logo was such a hit success that The Hundreds became defined by that logo. Buyers and fans wanted nothing else. The logo paralyzed their artistic creativity and growth.

15/ When the fans grew up and the logo risked becoming irrelevant, The Hundreds went back to their roots and slowly withdrew their globally recognized logo from collections, despite missing out on easy sales.

16/ By going back to their artistic roots, they rebuilt their foundation, and came back stronger than ever.

Life is a series of struggles and prosperous moments. THRIVE. SURVIVE. THRIVE. SURVIVE.

17/ Collaborations aren’t about opportunistic money grabs. They provide you with the space to reveal other facets of your character.

You’ll speak to different subcultures, and attract the curiosity of new communities.

18/ Bobby’s mom used to play a game with him. She’d sit on the corner of his bed and ask him to interpret wallpaper shapes on his walls. Repeatedly, she’d ask him, “what do you see?”

No repeat answers were ever allowed.

19/ Life is about perspective - about the way you frame and reframe a question.

There are a million solutions for every problem; it just depends on how you look at it.

20/ Success and failure are two sides of the same coin. They are relative. Context and time change how you perceive them. You make choices, you stick with them, and they make you who you are.

There’s no need to feel any regrets.

21/ The Hundreds was founded in 2003, became a global phenomenon, almost failed, and came back to life again.

22/ The difference between dying a hero, living long enough to become a villain, or transcending both to see yourself become a hero again is time and fortitude.

Things take time, and time takes fortitude.

23/ One of the most important passages I took away from the book:

“I concluded that above all, what matters most is the opinion of my family. As long as they’re stoked on me, everyone else can screw themselves.

24/ They aren’t proudest of me when I lock in an epic collaboration, or meet a celebrity, or score big sales with a new product.

They want me to be happy with my work.

25/ To bring that joy home is priceless and honorable. And nothing makes me love The Hundreds more than the fact that it allows me to do work of which I am proud."

🙏 @bobbyhundreds for the lessons and reminders of the most important things in life.