Business Of Hype: Sean Wotherspoon

Business of HYPE is a weekly series brought to you by HYPEBEAST Radio and hosted by jeffstaple. It’s a show about creatives, brand-builders and entrepreneurs, and the realities behind the dreams they’ve built. In the second episode of a two-part interview, Round Two co-founder and vintage aficionado Sean Wotherspoon details his super-popular Nike collaboration.

Sean’s initial foray into Nike began when he was a plus one for a Jordan Brand release party. It was there that he was first connected to the brand, eventually leading him to be considered for the Nike “Vote Forward” contest. With the help of his community, Sean designed the popular Easter-colored corduroy Nike Air Max 1/97, which not only won the competition, but sold out upon release.

In this episode, Sean details the apprehension he felt from having no formal design experience, to the joys of working with Nike, to the love/hate relationship he received from the public. He admits that while there were more professional contenders, he believes his “average joe” approach is what attracted people to the shoe.

Since then, he’s moved onto other projects, one of many being sustainability. While it may come as a shock that his Nike shoe is fully vegan, he advises us that major companies have been making headway into this space. He says that while he is a part of the problem, “You have to be a part of the problem first, in order to go back and try to solve it.”

So tune in to hear part 2 of this episode as Sean spares us no details reflecting on sustainability, his collaboration, haters and much more. 

This episode features references to the following:

1:51 – Idea of consumerism
7:00 – Vegan Nike Air Max 1/97 
8:17 – Air Vegan
10:17 – Nike Considered
16:00 – Josh Madden, Jordan Release Party
18:25 – Nike Vote Forward 2017
21:40 – Designing the shoe
23:17 – Sean’s guidelines for the shoe
26:08 – Lil Yachty
26:40 – Method Man
27:21 – Getting in votes
29:25 – Winner’s announcement
31:51 – Process of building the shoe
33:15 – Shoe packaging
33:33 - Sean’s tour bus
33:40 – Game Seven
34:30 – Working with Nike
37:17 – Production amount
38:35 – What inspires Sean
39:35 – Exposure to Round Two
42:43 – Rose Bowl Flea Market
43:26 – Filming promo for the shoe
46:07 – Haters
46:17 – Virgil Abloh
50:15 – Advice