Interviewer (2:30)

Absolutely. Which part of creating a shoe would you say is the most difficult? Is it creating the actual design? Is it sourcing the material? Is it selling it, marketing it?

Omar Bailey (2:38)

I would say everything. After you design the shoe. Right. Designing the shoe is actually the easiest part.

Interviewer (2:44)

Okay.

Omar Bailey (2:44)

Sketching the concept on a piece of paper and really, like, kind of, you know, flushing out that design and like, thinking through it creatively, that's one thing. But then when you're actually developing that concept, and what I mean by developing it is, like, actually, like, building it from the ground up when you have a new idea. This is exactly why, like, you know, for a long time and still exists, why brands just knock each other off. When you see a hot shoe that comes out on the market and then. And then you see, like, that same shoe being knocked off by multiple brands, that's not by accident. It's because big brands or brands in general, a lot of times don't want to put the investment into developing something new. It's a lot easier to just, like, make something that looks very similar to something that's popular in the market and then target that shoe towards your audience. So developing something new is completely different. That's what we did at Yeezy when I was there. We were developing totally new shoes, you know, from the ground up. And, you know, the. And, you know, it was all led by Kanye's vision and what he wanted to do and. And being able to execute those shoes, that was. That was the hardest part is, like. Is bringing those shoes to life. And then, you know, of course, selling it, branding it, marketing and selling it has its own, sort of. Has its own, like, you know, weight in itself, that's difficult. But, yeah, the design part is the easiest part. It's everything that happens the minute you, you know, you say, this is it. This is what the design is going to be. Everything from that point forward is extremely difficult.

Interviewer (4:11)

That makes sense. Yeah. You were at UZ for three years. Revenues increased a lot while you were there. It must have been really hectic with all the growth, right?

Omar Bailey (4:17)

Oh, man, it was wild, bro. It was crazy. I mean, it was. I mean, you know, when I look back on it, it was like, you know, from a positive perspective, it was sort of a cash money. It was a cash machine, like you were printing cash, you know, essentially it was. But no, it was. It was amazing, man. When I got there, my experience there was incredible. I came in in 2019 as the head of the Innovation Lab and had an incredible team around me of makers in the design team and everyone. I can't speak enough about how, you know, how much of a, you know, a bit of a family environment that it was. And trust me, it had its growing pains and its ups and downs and, you know, moves to Cody and this and that and Covid going on during that time. But at the end of the day, when we were able to put one of those products out on the market and see the response that we got from. Got from the community and from the world from the shoes, it was. It was a very rewarding feeling, I think for all of us to see that all this work, all the ups and downs, all the things that were a pain in the ass, all the things that a lot of people didn't want to deal with but dealt with in order to get this done, made it all worth it.

Interviewer (5:23)

Yeah, yeah. I mean, he started. He was kind of the first rapper to really crush it in the sneaker space, right?

Omar Bailey (5:28)

Oh, yeah, 100%. I mean, they weren't, you know, they weren't many. I mean, you know, there. There have been others since, right? You know, think about like Jay Z and he had his shoe and, and. And 50 cent when he had his. But in terms of, like, rappers and rappers who have been extremely successful at launching a shoe, I mean, he was the first, and I don't think he'll. It'll ever be replicated or duplicated as now. There's lots of others who are doing great jobs and, you know, I've sort of. Factory Lab has kind of played a role in a little bit of that as well, but it all started there. The thing I appreciated most about that experience and opportunity is that it forced me to. To. To think about footwear in a very different way. It made me go to parts of my brain that I didn't think existed when it came to, you know, creating footwear and really challenging the status quo and doing things that were different and, and no. And it was an incredible experience because of that. And I've taken that into, you know, my next sort of phase and Factory Lab and doing that, but I can't, you know, you know, other people have different experiences there. My experience was very Positive. My experience with him was extremely positive. And that's what I take the heart, man, and that's what I remember most is just it was great and, and, and I'm glad I was there when I was. And, and now I'm, I'm, I'm even happier to be doing what I'm doing now.

Interviewer (6:46)

Incredible. Yeah. Speaking of your company, Factory Lab, I look through your investors. You got the dream team, man.

Omar Bailey (6:51)

Yeah, man, we been. I can't, I can't say, I can't say anything more about our investors. We have an incredible group of investors who have really come on board and really allowed, you know, me and us to be able to, you know, just build the company the way that, the way that we see fit in the, in the market and really just trust in us. You know, me and my co founder, abhi, who both, you know, we both come from completely different worlds. He comes from the finance world, I come from the, the footwear space. But we both had an equal amount of experience coming from those industries. And, you know, I think that was attractive to a lot of our investors. And seeing that, you know what, this is a, this is a bit of a dream team that we think we could put together to figure out. And trust me, it wasn't, you know, it wasn't smooth all the way in the beginning. You know, there was a lot of things that we were working through to figure out, but we've had a lot of successes, you know, along the way. And I think the biggest thing when you run a startup is, you know, don't make the same mistake twice. Right. Like, when you make a mistake, you learn from it, you move on and you keep growing. And, you know, as long as you can do that, as long as you can control your spend and your burn and keep that under control is really important. And, you know, I've always been, you know, very. As much as I am on the creative side, I've always had interest in the business side as well and wanting to really understand, you know, all aspects of it or at least as much as I can. But, you know, having a partner like ABHI and Ravi, my other partner also as well, and then the team that we've been able to build, it's. It's been an awesome ride so far.

Interviewer (8:18)

Yeah. So is it basically a launch pad for people to launch their sneakers?

Omar Bailey (8:21)

Yeah. Think of it like a footwear incubator. Right. And it's not just for other artists and celebrities and entertainers, but also for us. So Factory as Factory Lab, we've also launched our own products, you know, into the, into the market. And then in addition to that, we have artists who we worked with in the past, you know, Agnes Mo, who's a huge Asian pop star, Asian American pop star. And what we do at Nle Choppa with the Duck Boot last year, you know, was. Was massive. And, you know, I think broke a lot of records and broke the Internet for sure. Definitely, man. And made a lot of noise. I think really put us on the map. A few people walked up to me and they were like, yo, you're the duck Buka. So like, you know, it really, it really stood. It really stuck out. And then, and then, you know, I relaunched my own shoe, the Obi Wan, under. Under Omar Bailey, as Factory Live. So, yeah, think of Factory Lab as an incubator who's democratizing footwear and making basically the entry, the barrier of entry into footwear much easier. As I said earlier, you know, a lot of people find it very difficult to make a shoe, right? Like, if you're making apparel and, or accessories and you want to get into a shoe is, and you want to develop a shoe, it's not an easy thing to figure out. So, you know, what we've decided to do is use my, you know, my 20 plus years of experience in this industry and in this business on the product development and manufacturing side and leverage that with artists and creators who have the audience and who have the ability to. To. To make a lot of noise around the product and put, and put us together and then you get what we got with the Duck Boot, for example. So, yeah, that's basically, you know, what, what Factory Lab is and, and things are good. I can't complain.

Interviewer (10:01)

No, dude, it's very impressive what you're doing because shoes have been around for so long, you think every idea has been created by now, but you keep coming up with stuff and it's like, wow. Yeah, I've never seen that.

Omar Bailey (10:09)

No, I appreciate that. You know, important to me, man. I like to describe it as the Factory Lab lens. So, like, think about Factory Lab as like a sandbox, right? What do you do with a sandbox? You go into a sandbox and you play with the sand and you're making castles and you're making moats and you're making all these different things. You know, I think about Factory Lab exactly the same way. You come in there with a vision. It doesn't have to be cooked. It could be undercooked. It could just be a thought. It could be a little sketch that you did, or that I did. But the idea is like, let's take that through the factory lab lens and, like, mold that into an actual new concept. Right. And it doesn't have to be, you know, a totally new concept. It could be something that came out, you know, 100 years ago or 50 years ago, and it's like, let's reimagine what that would look like today and do it. And we've done that with, with a lot of our shoes so far, whether they were, you know, a shoe like the duck boot.

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Omar Bailey (12:03)

Duck boots been around for 100 years, right? Many brands have made their own versions of them. They've been very boring. They weren't very exciting to look at. So I said, you know what, I want to switch that up and actually make something that seemed more appealing to today's market and today's audience. And, you know, also too, I feel like footwear at that time was a bit. Was a little bit stale. You know, everything was feeling like the same that was coming out. And it was important to, you know, to really make some noise around something totally different that was disruptive and that got people's attention, and I think we were able to do that.

Interviewer (12:34)

Yeah, yeah. I saw you say on another show you thought footwear has been boring for the last decade.

Omar Bailey (12:38)

Yeah, man, it has been, you know, like I said earlier, you know, like, a lot of brands have been just sort of kind of copying each other. I think now you're seeing more, you know, innovation and design and brands taking that serious. I think a lot of it has to do with some of the work that we did at Yeezy. Well, just in terms of, like, you know, how you think about design. Think about Apple, too, for example, right? Like, no one gave a shit about, you know, about design, like, the way phones looked and things like that. Until Steve Jobs busted onto the scene, you know, with the. With the iPhone. Now all of a sudden, and, you know, the beautiful, sleek designs of the stores and the packaging and everything, now everybody's thinking about that a little bit differently. So that's what it. You know, that's what it takes. And I feel like we were a bit of a groundbreaker with Yeezy in the. In the sense of like, making people think a little bit differently about how they approach a design, you know, like, oh, I want to spend a little bit more on packaging. I want to spend a little bit more on design in the shoe or this style or this construction or this sole, or think about a little bit differently as opposed to just, like, you know what? Let's just make it look like a Converse truck, Taylor. And then just put our name and logo on it and call it a day.

Interviewer (13:42)

Yeah, Yeah. I mean, those easy days were nuts. You guys were selling out in literal seconds, right?

Omar Bailey (13:47)

Oh, yeah. No, it was insane, man. I mean, shoes like the foam runner, which, you know, I think was, like, total groundbreaking. You know, what we were able to do over there as a. As a team, you know, with. From Kanye to Steve Smith to Mark Miner to, like, all those guys, you know, over there, the entire crew. And, like, we were able to just, you know, create this thing that really made a huge impression on the market, man. And also, like, I mean, you see a lot of copycats out there, too. How many, like, knockoff foam runners have you seen?

Interviewer (14:15)

So many.

Omar Bailey (14:16)

You know, since you see someone like, I show speed, that's literally all he wears is the phone. I don't even know how he does half the shit he does in that foam shoe. They must have. They've definitely had to, like, tear in, like, in a number of pieces when he's done that. I. I saw a video this morning of him, like, pulling a car or something like that in a foam runner, and I'm like, that is absolutely crazy. It's. I show speed needs his own shoe. I'm going to say right now, I show speed. You need to hit me up. I want to make you your own phone runner so you don't have to buy all the ones that are existing left in the world. Let's make you your own foam shoe once and for all so you have it so you don't have to wear that anymore, man. Like, I'm your man. Let me do it.

Interviewer (14:55)

I love that someone like that would actually probably crush a shoe. Launch.

Omar Bailey (14:58)

Oh, 100%.

Interviewer (14:59)

With his audience.

Omar Bailey (14:59)

It's crazy. The guy steps outside and has, like, a million people around him.

Interviewer (15:02)

It' There was a live streamer walking on here, I think. Duke, Dennis.

Omar Bailey (15:05)

Oh, yeah, yeah.

Interviewer (15:06)

There was, like, 50 people around him.

Omar Bailey (15:07)

Oh, man. The live streaming thing is crazy, man. And, you know, we're getting into a little bit more of that. So we got. We got a couple people we're working with. Shout out to Malik G, who's been working with us on. On some of our new content that we've been creating. Some of it's out right now that you can see, but we got a lot more good stuff coming. Nice as well.

Interviewer (15:26)

Yeah, it's really interesting to see where the attention goes. And right now it does seem like live streaming and podcasts are like, the tom.

Omar Bailey (15:32)

Oh, 100%. That's why. That's why I'm doing the live streaming, and that's why I'm here right now with you.

Interviewer (15:38)

It's very interesting, though. It's gone from, like, television to, like, alternative media.

Omar Bailey (15:42)

Yeah, no, it's interesting, man, when you think about it, right. And I think that's a big adjustment for the brands right now is, like, making that shift into what media is and how do you get attention around the product that you're, you know, that you're creating. I think there's a lot of fragmented audiences kind of all over the place now. And, like, you know, and you. And you have to, like. It's a little bit like whack a mole, right? Like, you're trying to find sort of all the different ones. And I think it's a little. A little tough for the big brands to, like, find that one niche space to do it, because the problem is, is that there are a million niche spaces that you have to go after. And I think that's sort of one of our benefits in being small and nimble at Factory Lab is we have the ability to kind of get our hands on a lot of different places at one time.

Interviewer (16:22)

Absolutely.

Omar Bailey (16:23)

Yeah.

Interviewer (16:23)

I know you got a biography coming out next year. What was the inspiration behind creating.

Omar Bailey (16:27)

Yeah, thank you, man. It's called Heart and Soul. Soul S O L. It's a biography of my. My story and my journey and from the Time that I was from the time actually my father was growing up in Jamaica, who was also a shoemaker, which I didn't find out until I was, until I was much older, as I revealed on, on the Keanu Reeves show. Blew Keanu's mind away when I told him that, that I just had found that out very recently. But it starts, you know, the journey of my dad, then transitions into my story, you know, and the story of me being, you know, seven year old and, you know, in the early 90s, you know, you might be a little too young to remember this, but there was a lot of gang violence and violence in general around Air Jordan shoes that were coming out. Kids were getting jumped and beat up and even killed.

Interviewer (17:11)

Wow.

Omar Bailey (17:11)

You know, for their shoes. And my parents, you know, being immigrants from Jamaica, they didn't want, you know, they didn't want me to be a victim of any of that violence. So they basically didn't get me the sort of the top tier shoes at that time. So, you know, that's where the passion started and, you know, for me to create the thing that I couldn't have. Right. I wanted to draw those shoes and I started drawing them and sketching them, not knowing that there was a path forward at all in that, you know, I just did it as a hobby. If you would ask me back then, when I was, you know, 10, 11 years old, how do you become a shoe designer? My answer would have been get a job at Foot Locker. But that's obviously not how you become a shoe designer. But it was. But, but that has a lot to do with just, you know, I didn't have any representation around me. Right. There's a quote that I love where it says, you have to be what you can see. And I could not see the kind of people that I was trying to be, you know, around me. And it wasn't until I went to this art school. And then, you know, that's when I got surrounded by people who were like minded. And then from there, you know, I was able to go on this journey where I got into college, did internships with like New Balance, K Swiss and Adidas, Started my first company in 2006. Got an opportunity to work with, you know, two professional athletes, Gary Sheffield and Alan Houston. Gary was just playing with the New York Yankees, Alan Houston with the New York Knicks. Then from there worked with Jay Z at Rocaware, you know, did projects for Lady Gaga, Supreme T. Pain, Jose Bautista, you know, and the list kind of went on. Living in China, living in India for Two years where I ran a shoe factory. Then, you know, in 2018, getting the gig as the head of Innovation Lab with Yeezy, doing that for three years to start in Factory Lab, where we raised over. Almost over $15 million in venture capital to get the company going and off the ground and where it's at. So, yeah, it's a journey of. It's a. Sorry. It's a story of resilience. It's a story of belief. It's a story of betting on yourself. And I think a lot of young people can really get a lot out of it. You know, I feel like, you know, just kind of looking at social media and just a lot of the young people I talk to today, I get the sense that there's this, like, sense of urgency about being successful right away. I think my book shows you and tells you that it's okay for it to take time and for you to take the time to become an expert at what it is and what it is you're doing and what you're doing. I'm sure you just couldn't. You know, you didn't become who you were. You were overnight, right? It takes time. You had to make mistakes, and you had to learn from those mistakes, and you had to get better and better and better. And it takes time. So, you know, my story isn't someone who just started doing this, and in a year, I became, you know, some multimillionaire or something like that. It takes. It takes time. And I think it's. And I hope that young people gravitate towards it and see that it's okay, you know, to take time. But it's about believing in yourself and having a relentless determination of a goal that you're trying to achieve and going after it with every ounce in your body that you. That you have bars, man, I can't.

Interviewer (20:12)

Wait to watch that. Yeah. I don't believe in overnight success.

Omar Bailey (20:15)

No, man. No, it doesn't happen, bro. It's not a real thing. And the people who do think it's real, I'm here to tell you, it is not real. Overnight success is not a real thing. Unless you hit the lottery. Yeah, you hit the Powerball. That's one thing, but that's still, like, one in a trillion. For it to happen, you got to put the work in them. You have to. At the end of the day, I have a relentless desire to want to succeed. I'm 42, you know, right now, and it hasn't changed. If anything is even more. I have even more of A fire in my belly now because of, you know, the support that I've gotten financially and from my partners and, you know, and I have a, you know, a company of people who, you know, who are. Who are working there and, like. And, you know, we have a goal to blow this thing up and make it big, and, you know, we want to do what it takes to make that happen. But, you know, it takes time to get that confidence, too. Confidence isn't something that, you know, you just get handed to you or you're just born with. Right. Even though some people will probably say they were born with it. But I don't think that's entirely hockey, that 100%. You just hit the nail on the head. But it takes time to really develop that. That confidence in yourself. Right. That's where it comes from, the mistakes. Right. Like when I started doing football cleats, for example, you know, a lot of stuff that I'm doing in the NFL and the cleats that we did with Jalen Ramsey and I'm working with Trent Williams and, you know, some other guys right now. Right. Like, I went through the growing pains of, like, having cleats falling apart and, you know, and. And wear and falling apart on field or in practice or this not happening or that not happening. And there's still little things that happen, you know, here and there. But, like, you know, the confidence came from knowing what not to do and knowing what to do from the experiences that you've had in the past. And that's how I'm able to walk in a room and with my chest out and. And. And, you know, not in a cocky way, but in a confident way. Like, yo, I. I like, man, I've been doing this shit a long time. I know what I'm. I know what I'm doing. I know who I am. I'm very comfortable in my skin. I'm very comfortable saying that. And, you know, and look, some phone runners just went by, too, as I'm talking and see all that. Things are everywhere. But, yeah, no, it's. Again, the book is about. It's about believing in yourself, man. As simple as that.

Interviewer (22:13)

Yeah.

Omar Bailey (22:13)

Yeah.

Interviewer (22:13)

Well, you do. So cool, because you could visually see how you're changing culture.

Omar Bailey (22:17)

Yeah.

Interviewer (22:17)

With what you're doing.

Omar Bailey (22:18)

I love that part, man. I love, you know, one of the things I said in the. In the Keanu Reeves documentary, which, you know, people got to check that out. Visionaries on Roku, episode three, Keanu Reeves. And, you know, the thing that Keanu said in the show he picked up one of our shoes. It was the Night Runner, and he really. He really liked his man. This is so aerodynamic, and it's cool. And I said, you know, one of my favorite comments about that shoe and other shoes that we create is people say that it doesn't feel the way it looks. And I like that because, you know, it speaks to the comfort. You know, I like to design shoes from the inside out as opposed to just as much as the outside in, Meaning thinking about comfortability, thinking about the last, which is basically the mold and in which the shoe is based around. But then when you're creating the outer skin or the outer silhouette, you know, you want to create something visually unique. So how do you bring those two things together and create a shoe that's still very unique and that still commands a lot of attention and makes people say, oh, my God, what is that? But still create something that fits and works like a shoe.

Interviewer (23:18)

Absolutely. Dude, this has been real fun. This was. I'm not just saying this. This was my favorite episode today.

Omar Bailey (23:24)

Oh, awesome.

Interviewer (23:25)

I really appreciate your time. I know you brought me a gift.

Omar Bailey (23:27)

Oh, yeah. Let's. Let's pop the. Pop the box open. I brought you a pair of Obi Wan's.

Interviewer (23:30)

Love it.

Omar Bailey (23:31)

These are. This is my shoe that we just launched last. Last week or a couple of weeks ago.

Interviewer (23:39)

Yeah.

Omar Bailey (23:40)

And this is the Obi Wan High. I have them on right now. I love high tops and. Yeah, man. And these are. These are for you. Check it out. Let's get that.

Interviewer (23:49)

All right, go. Holy crap. Look at this. Oh, my gosh. This is the biggest shoe I've ever seen. It's like the boot, right?

Omar Bailey (23:59)

Yeah, they're super comfortable. It's my go to shoe. I wear these shoes every day. There's a Lotus 2 low top versions, and then the high. My absolute favorite shoe. Feel the material on the side. Like, feel how smooth. Like, this part right here is the.

Interviewer (24:11)

Smoothest shoe I've ever felt.

Omar Bailey (24:12)

Telling you, bro, is this leather or what is this? It's this. It's the. It's. It's. It's classified. Okay. Trade secret. It's a trade secret.

Interviewer (24:20)

Yeah. I feel like a shoe.

Omar Bailey (24:21)

No, man, it's. It's super dope. And the silhouette, you know, again, this. So it's funny. Funny story about the shoe. I launched a version of this in 2016 in Dubai right before I started working for. For. For Yeezy. And the shoe was. The shoe was sold. Sold out in Dubai. And it was slight. It was the same upper but the design was just a little bit different. Yeah. And did really well. And then I get hired by Yeezy and I put all this on on ice. And then once I launched Factory Lab, I wanted to relaunch this shoe through the Factory Lab lens. Right. What does it look like if I take that. That classic shoe and bring it to that sandbox that I talked about earlier? And then, like, and. And what does it look like today? And here you have. It is. Is the Obi Wan High, which I love the name Obi Wan. Not to be confused with Obi Wan Kenobi. But still, I don't mind the confusion, but. But yeah, no, I absolutely love this shoe is super comfortable. And yeah, man, I get all that comfortable.

Interviewer (25:21)

I felt the inside while you were.

Omar Bailey (25:22)

Talking this out, man. You're going to get stopped constantly when you wear this shoe. That's the thing I get. That's the one thing I love hearing about when people wear our shoes. Whether it's the Night Runner, it's the Stomper, it's the Duck Boot, it's the Obi Wan. People always hit me up, said, man, I was wearing this shoe and like 10 people stopped me in the airport. Like, what is this? Where'd you get that from? So that just tells me that we're doing our job, man, by creating things that just stand out and that are different.

Interviewer (25:44)

Let's get it. Where could people support you? Watch the documentary and buy some shoes off you?

Omar Bailey (25:48)

Yeah. So you can watch the Visionaries documentary on Roku. It's free if you go to roku.com or download the Roku app. It's Visionaries by Guard Hollinger and Keanu Reeves. I'm episode number three. Make sure you check it out and then follow us on Instagram at Factory Lab, fctry Lab. And then also hit me up on Instagram at the Omar Bailey. T H E O M A R B A I L E Y Check them out, guys. Peace.

Podcast Host (26:18)

I hope you guys are enjoying the show. Please don't forget to like and subscribe. It helps the show a lot with the algorithm.

Omar Bailey (26:23)

Thank you.