Reginald Ferguson [00:00:00]: I'm Reg Ferguson and I'm a Fashion Consultant from New York City, born and raised. I've been helping men look fly for years and now, I wanna help you learn more about menswear, the entrepreneurs, the brands, and top fashion tips on The Fashion Geek Podcast. Yo. This is Reg Ferguson, fashion geek number 1. How are you? So gonna do a episode straight off the dome this evening. I hope you enjoy it. And if you have something to add, to say, feel free to reach out to me. I recently was in a clubhouse room, and the topic of discussion was the brand Off White, which is the late Virgil Blow's label. Reginald Ferguson [00:01:02]: And the conversation centered around the longevity. Can this brand last? Can this brand go beyond the life of its founder? And it got me to thinking, and I just wanna share with you some of my thoughts. And I'm sure you have some thoughts as well, and maybe you'll convey them to me. Immediately, I can understand why people would go, well, the founder is gone. His vision, his ideas, his blood, sweat, and tears, they're all gone. But are they really? Why can't this become a brand of legacy? He constructed his team with delicate care, I would presume, and the people there are artistically and emotionally committed to see this vision through. My point that I'm gonna get to right now and not and not the end of the episode is, particularly as an African American, I want to see a brand whose founder looks like me and can last beyond his life. Why not? I don't know what happened during the times of these brands, but I'm gonna throw them out to you. Reginald Ferguson [00:02:50]: You know them all. Chanel, Balenciaga, Alexander McQueen. No one's saying, man, you know, ever since the late Coco left, sheesh. No. Those 3 individuals, 1 woman, 2 men, had strength of vision and purpose and artistry and business savvy, that all the successive generations of teams, particularly if we're talking about Chanel and Balenciaga, They've they've stood the test of time, and they continue to innovate and bring things to the marketplace. And I want this brand to have the same chance. I want this brand to succeed. I want all the people in the consumer marketplace who, like myself, are so saddened by the passing of mister Bluff, commit through their pocketbook. Reginald Ferguson [00:04:11]: If you like this brand, unless it went terribly off kilter, why wouldn't you continue liking, enjoying, loving the brand, and putting it on your back or on your on your hips, on your feet, wherever you see fit. I think this can be an incredible thing. If you think about it, can you immediately rattle off any examples or brands created by a person of color, by specifically an African American via, of course, African Heritage directly and specifically around? You can't. And that's a problem that could be rectified today. And I, for 1, hope and pray that this can happen. From what I know about the late mister Abloh and he really caught he caught some heat during the last few years of his life. He really had a deep seated interest in mentoring and nurturing the next wave of designers who looked like him. So with that same interest, dedication, and spirit, why don't we let this team continue the vision? Let it persist. Reginald Ferguson [00:06:06]: Let it blossom. Let it grow. Wonderful things can continue to happen. And I don't think it's anything about an emotional ploy, but, certainly, we can make emotional investment through purchasing if we believe in this brand. This brand deserves a chance. And it's interesting that we're looking at this from a lack of succession, but I don't think it should be that way. And I certainly can't speak for him, but I don't think mister Hublot wanted it to be that way. That's why he worked furiously to the end for the world to benefit from his love and creativity that fostered amazing impact worldwide. Reginald Ferguson [00:07:28]: We owe it to this brand to flourish if we truly profess our love for this man. Yeah. I mean, seeing the Nike stuff, seeing the LV stuff, I get and understand all that. And people have their favorites in terms of these collabs, the mashups. But Off White was the genesis. And I would love 10, 20, 30 years from now if if I'm lucky to be around, god willing, that this brand is still in the conversation. It deserves that. There is a team, and I believe this team is driven to fulfill his vision. Reginald Ferguson [00:08:45]: And I think they would continue to stop at nothing to let the brand flourish, To be at the shows, to be in the marketplace, to have people talk about it with an excitement and a fervor as every brand wants to encapsulate through the public. This can happen. Should happen. It deserves to happen. I know I want it to happen. Do you? Or do you wanna just look at the brand wistfully and shake your head and go, it's a shame that this is no longer. Again, I come from this just as a normal human being, but I specifically come to this perspective and understanding from an American perspective as an African American, I have a clear understanding of not being on equal footing in almost every aspect of life here in this country. So what a wonderful opportunity to have a brand go through a generation if we're lucky. Reginald Ferguson [00:10:34]: Fingers crossed. I want that to happen. We need that to happen. The team is ready to continue to iterate, create, and we need to, if we so choose, to continue to support it. Wouldn't it be great to talk to your children about the Off White gear you had back in the day. Maybe your kids even tease you about the brand, but the brand still exists. It deserves the right to continue to breathe, to grow, to flourish, to blossom, for ideas to continue to be generated sparks amongst this team. They believe. Reginald Ferguson [00:11:55]: Do you believe? Do you want to believe? Can you remind other people that this brand deserves to continue to exist? Gosh. I know I know I wanted to. Heck, speaking as a as a solopreneur is the who's the smallest fry and a drop into a vast ocean. I know I work hard every day in endeavor to try to figure out how can I last another day? How can I continue to find my customer, my client, my tribe? So I can help them with the service I offer And in turn, they support me and my expertise. When I wake up, I live to fight that for another day. I messed around with my website, which is a 2 point o version. 4 months late and, some money lost. Tinkering, tinkering, tinkering, tinkering. Reginald Ferguson [00:13:31]: I wanna build. I wanna grow. Recently, 1 to 2 people asked me my ideas of scaling. I'm not there yet, but it is maybe something nice to think about. And could my idea become eventually a $1,000,000 one? Or maybe a $1,000,000,000 one? I won't know, but I have to continue to try, to fight, to thrive, to innovate, to grow. And if I'm a bootstrapper, I know I definitely want a multimillion dollar brand, like Off White, to have the same chance. Lord knows they have a greater access to resources and talent. But I just in a way, I just I just wanna put forth prayerful positive energy that this happens. Reginald Ferguson [00:14:52]: I generally don't talk like that, but this brand means something to people in this world. So let it persist. Let it grow. Let it live to fight another day. Because if you have this type of belief, mister Abloh is looking down. And I think he still wants magic to happen because he gave us so much magic. Peace. Always be fly.