The Carter Young Altman Interview with Throwing Fits

Summary

Throwing Fits: The Carter Young Altman Interview (November 24, 2025)

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Episode Overview

This episode of Throwing Fits features an in-depth, witty, and wide-ranging conversation with Carter Young Altman—founder and designer of the acclaimed menswear brand Carter Young. Altman talks with the hosts about the evolution of his label, lessons from working at iconic retailers, the nuances of transatlantic fashion, building a brand with intention, challenges small designers face, and more. The discussion is irreverent, honest, and flush with both personal anecdotes and industry insights, offering an inside look at an emerging force in contemporary menswear.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Carter Young’s Personal Style & Fit Check

• Clothing rundown: Dance shoes from Toga Virilist, Helmut Lang jeans (bought in Portugal), Uniqlo socks, vintage Gap leather jacket, denim shirt and blazer from his own label, velvet and hand-drawn belt from his mom.
• Vintage Obsession: Altman favors mass-market vintage (like GAP) over high-end designer (06:15), to better study construction and cost-effectiveness.
• Thrift as Research: "Everything I consume hopefully will inform what I do in my professional life." (06:44, Carter)

2. The Move to London: Brands, Business, and Culture

• Motivations: Moved for personal (his girlfriend) and strategic business reasons (fashion calendar, European buying habits) (09:44–10:42).
• Wholesale Expansion: Relocation catalyzed global growth—Carter Young is now in 9 countries/22 shops (11:12).
• Americana from Abroad: The distance sharpened his take—“I’ve kind of rejected the word nostalgia... I’m not trying to recreate, I’m trying to evolve.” (13:51)
• London vs NYC Style: London more focused on vintage tailoring and custom pieces, New York is currently driven by brands like Aimé Leon Dore and Kith (07:18, 17:41).

3. Brand Vision: Evolution, Not Nostalgia

• “New Americana” Ethos: Altman distances from pure nostalgia, positioning his label as filling the gap between East Coast Ivy, LA tailoring, and Western—favoring vernacular, Rust Belt, and Midwest influences (14:01–14:56).
• British Influence: London’s history of tailoring and appreciation for fit permeates both Altman’s work and local culture. “The tailoring heritage... there's an understanding by the average person of how to get something tailored to your body.” (19:53)

4. Brand Building & Operations

• Expansion Strategy: A team effort—Julius handles production, Carter handles design/strategy, Adam handles operations. Their presence in London has re-oriented sourcing and business structure (30:40).
• Design Process: Collections begin with cultural/media inspiration, then pivot to fabric and cut, always conscious of commercial realities (31:11). Spring 26, for example, was inspired by The Swimmer by John Cheever, filtering existential Americana through fabrication.

5. Tailoring, Pricing, & Getting It Right

• Custom as Key Offering: Growth has been fueled by accessible made-to-measure suiting (~$1200), intentionally bridging the gap left by defunct mid-market suit retailers (34:28, 35:15).
• Philosophy: “I think what a lot of people forget is tailoring is often in the modern context worn around lifestyle milestones.” (35:15)

6. The ESSENCE Debacle: Retailer Risks

• Money Owed: ESSENCE, once a big opportunity, now owes Carter Young ~$25k due to bankruptcy (40:45). Altman’s pragmatic—“maybe in a couple years, I get a couple dollars.” (40:18)
• Unisex Evolution: Notably, ESSENCE purchased the brand as womenswear for two years—reflecting Carter Young’s strong female customer base (42:32–43:12).

7. The Business of Fashion: School vs. Hustle

• No Design School Needed?: Altman advocates that success today requires more than technical skill: “It’s not just you can make really good product... you have to play the game in the machine.” (48:14)
• Brand Narrative: Advice from Matthew Williams (ALYX)—the world doesn’t need more product, it needs new stories. “If you’re going to make something, you better have a reason or a narrative...” (49:54)

8. Learning from the Greats: Kith, Helmut, Alyx, etc.

• Kith Lessons: Interning at Kith taught Altman range planning, merchandising, and operations. “I also learned about range planning...how you launch a new extension of a brand.” (63:46)
• Helmut Lang, Alyx: Exposure to different design approaches and business scales informed Altman’s commitment to quality and intention.

9. Navigating the Modern Retail Experience

• Quality vs. Brand Perception: Altman bemoans online shopping’s erosion of consumers’ ability to judge hand, fabric, and fit (68:06). “Most of what it takes to win as a fashion business is... removing the friction between seeing something online and the purchase.” (68:31)
• Fit Model Insights: Many brands cater fits to models, not customers—Urban Outfitters’ average fit model is 5'10", much taller than the true American average (69:12).

10. Brand Integrity vs. Commercial Opportunity

• Sacrificing the Bag: Altman has turned down “whack” collaborations and limited distribution to keep long-term credibility (58:52–59:12).
• Logo Debate: Reluctant to cash in on flashy logo items. “If I’m selling like logo hats... I need the money.” (87:45)

11. Collaborations and Creative Connections

• Partnerships with Stylists: Recent successful custom and collab capsules with Patricia Villirillo (stylist for bands like The 1975) (74:39, 78:23).
• Ideal Collaborators: Would look to test new product categories via collabs (e.g., footwear), or expand via household names like Levi’s, Gap (84:50).

12. Modern Marketing & Social Media

• Social Skeptic: Altman admits socials are “a cost of doing business”—buyers care, so he cares, but laments the overstimulation and emptiness of scrolling (96:38–97:17).
• Influencer Economy: Conscious of the “explore page”/TikTok menswear machine and its ability to move the needle. He takes influencer content at face value as long as it’s positive—even if no one’s touched the garment (97:53–98:51).

13. Personal Quirks & Everyday Life

• Addictive Personality: Swapped out coffee for tea after a stomach bug (22:23), obsessed with wellness, massages, and Pan-Asian candies (88:26).
• Dumbest Purchase: Some random mild bean-flavored candy from a Sunrise Mart (93:30).
• Favorite Food: Loves UK “Chinese” curry sauce and chips; jacket potatoes with tuna and beans (94:25).

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Rejecting Nostalgia:
  “I’ve kind of rejected the word nostalgia, which used to be prevalent in my work... I’m not trying to recreate, I’m trying to evolve.”
  — Carter Young (13:51)

• On Building a Brand Narrative:
  “If you’re going to make something, you better have a reason or a narrative or something you’re adding to the conversation—otherwise, just go design for someone else.”
  — Carter (paraphrasing Matthew Williams at Alyx, 49:54)

• On Pandemic of Too Many Brands:
  “Not everyone needs to start their own brand. There’s a lot of headaches.”
  — Carter (50:30)

• On Sacrificing Business for Brand Integrity:
  “If I’m selling a hat, then you know, I need the money.”
  — Carter (87:49)

• When Asked About Fashion Victims in London:
  “There’s still kind of like a Balenciaga runoff thing happening—you know, really baggy mall denim and a bomber jacket and a bad bleach hair job.”
  — Carter (21:32)

• On the Frustrations with ESSENCE:
  “Yeah, I’m not gonna see it. It’s just... Forever gone.”
  — Carter, on money owed by the retailer (40:18)

• On Brand Growth Philosophy:
  “Everything now is laying the groundwork. I mean, everything for the past couple years has been laying the groundwork for... any success you might see now has been a long time in the making.”
  — Carter (58:33)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

| Timestamp | Segment | |-------------|-------------------------------------------| | 03:41–06:44 | Fit check & vintage obsessions | | 09:44–11:44 | Move to London & international business | | 13:14–14:56 | “New Americana” thesis | | 17:41–19:53 | London vs. NYC menswear | | 31:11–34:10 | Design process and collection creation | | 34:28–36:26 | Custom tailoring focus | | 40:45–43:02 | The ESSENCE money owed saga | | 49:54–50:41 | Importance of brand narrative | | 63:46–64:28 | Lessons from working at Kith | | 68:06–69:48 | Online shopping and hand-feel discussion | | 74:39–76:57 | Dressing The 1975 & George XCX suit | | 87:45–88:14 | Logo items debate | | 93:30–94:15 | Dumbest purchases & candy | | 96:38–97:17 | Social media and overstimulation | | 97:53–98:51 | Menswear TikTok/influencer ecosystem |

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Closing Thoughts

Carter Young Altman emerges from this interview as a studied, deeply intentional, and funny voice within American menswear. He blends heartland influences with learned streetwise pragmatism—wary of industry pitfalls, but passionate about making meaningful, wearable clothing. This episode is a must-listen (or read) for anyone interested in the tension between creativity and commerce, the evolving definition of “Americana,” or the realities of modern independent fashion.

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Where to Follow & Buy:

• Carter recommends following the brand, not him: @carteryoung.world
• Try the made-to-measure suiting or shop online (ideally touch the clothes if you can).

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Memorable Send-off:
“I think the coolest thing that we get to do is, like, hang out professionally... fashion as a creative medium is tied to an economic engine. Every six months, I have to deliver a new collection.”
— Carter Young, on the beauty and grind of building a brand (72:45, 73:09)

Transcript

[Podcast Host]

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[Carter Young]

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[Interviewer 1]

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[Carter Young]

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[Interviewer 2]

Our guest this week is an old soul who's forever young. He swapped the D for Big Ben Paws and moved to London so young Carter could go farther, go further, go harder. He might live on that continent, but the brand is firmly planted in his Americana roots. And as the label matures, every collection asks a simple question that seems to evade a lot of you mfers. What if we made wearable clothes that don't suck? But here to chat with us about men's fashion victims working at Kith and Alex and making custom suits for the most stylish guys out there. Founder and designer of the brand, Carter Young. Carter Young. Altman. Carter. How the hell are you?

[Carter Young]

I'm pretty good. I like that intro. Thank you.

[Interviewer 2]

Thanks.

[Carter Young]

Yeah, that was great.

[Interviewer 2]

Low key, you know.

[Carter Young]

Did we miss anything? No, I think the not sucking butt thing you pulled from my website.

[Interviewer 2]

Right, yes, absolutely.

[Carter Young]

Yeah.

[Interviewer 2]

No, I think your publicist told me to include that. No.

[Interviewer 1]

How many people think your name is Carter young? Honestly, like, Mr. Young. Nice to meet you.

[Carter Young]

Most people.

[Interviewer 2]

I mean, it is.

[Interviewer 1]

Yeah, right.

[Interviewer 2]

But yo, your initials are. See ya.

[Carter Young]

I've thought about that.

[Interviewer 2]

You. Your. Your brand used to suck ass, but then you pivoted to not sucking ass.

[Carter Young]

That's. That's like. It was a conscious decision. Yeah.

[Interviewer 2]

Yeah. What if we didn't suck?

[Interviewer 1]

But as customers and fans are. We appreciate the pivot, the hard pivot to making amazing clothes. Carter, thank you so much for joining us. Flying all the way back to New York to talk to us for two hours.

[Carter Young]

Appreciate that. I'm leaving right after this.

[Interviewer 1]

The. The first thing you want to do is just a quick little fit. Check if you want to run us through everything you wore to POD today.

[Carter Young]

Okay. I'm wearing some kind of, like, dance shoes. I think they're from that brand, Toga Virilist.

[Interviewer 2]

They got the. They got the metal in the heel, the taps. Can you tap dance them?

[Carter Young]

I could try. Maybe. Maybe after the pot.

[Interviewer 2]

Okay. Bust the move, little two step.

[Carter Young]

I got some. Some Helmet Lane jeans on. Oh, and then.

[Interviewer 2]

Are they from your tenure at Helmet?

[Carter Young]

No, actually, I just bought them.

[Interviewer 1]

Archive.

[Carter Young]

Yeah, they're. They're. I got them in Portugal, so I don't know when they're from.

[Interviewer 2]

And then what about the socks, though?

[Carter Young]

Uniqlo.

[Interviewer 2]

Okay.

[Interviewer 1]

The great socks for sure.

[Interviewer 2]

Is Uniqlo huge in London the way it is in New York and obviously other parts of the world?

[Carter Young]

I mean, I think that the stores are big, but people don't talk about it the same way. In my experience.

[Interviewer 2]

Maybe they do a stiff upper lip.

[Carter Young]

Yeah, exactly.

[Interviewer 2]

And then is Helmet your preferred denim brand besides your own? Maybe.

[Carter Young]

I've actually never owned a pair of the jeans before.

[Interviewer 1]

For someone built like you, I could see them being a top tier choice.

[Carter Young]

Yeah, it's really nice, actually. Yeah.

[Interviewer 1]

Yeah, it must be nice to be a Gumby ass dude.

[Carter Young]

Yeah, that's. That's also how I describe myself.

[Interviewer 1]

What about the fly ass belt you wore?

[Carter Young]

Oh, my mom gave this to me. I have no idea what it's from, but it's got like velvet flocking on the side.

[Interviewer 2]

Oh. I thought it was like a. Like a zebra print, but it's actually like hand drawn. Like, I see slash.

[Carter Young]

I think it was hand drawn, actually.

[Interviewer 2]

Is that slash from Guns N Roses? He looks like some type of ghoul.

[Interviewer 1]

Wearing a top hat. Yeah, yeah.

[Carter Young]

It's about as close as you can get.

[Interviewer 1]

All right, great. Gift from mom.

[Interviewer 2]

Shout out to her.

[Carter Young]

Yeah, shout out, Mom.

[Interviewer 2]

What about the tops?

[Carter Young]

This is one of my denim shirts and then one of my blazers from last season.

[Interviewer 1]

Nice hardware.

[Carter Young]

This is also from my mom. It's. Wow. A brand called Tate Ocean. I don't know it, but she's a.

[Interviewer 1]

Good gift giver, dude.

[Carter Young]

Yeah, I don't think she gave them as gifts. I think I just kind of took.

[Interviewer 2]

Oh, well, you then from your mom.

[Carter Young]

Great gift giver.

[Interviewer 1]

Okay.

[Interviewer 2]

It's not from your mom. It's. It's of your mom.

[Interviewer 1]

If you're going to rob someone, rob your mom.

[Interviewer 2]

Did you steal the earrings of your mom too?

[Carter Young]

No. Definitely.

[Interviewer 1]

Okay.

[Carter Young]

Those are hers.

[Interviewer 2]

Oh, they are hers.

[Carter Young]

No, no.

[Interviewer 1]

What about the panties?

[Carter Young]

Oh, I prefer to keep that to myself.

[Interviewer 1]

Oh, wait, is it like your gatekeeping?

[Carter Young]

No, I was joking that I was wearing panties.

[Interviewer 1]

Oh, wow.

[Carter Young]

I think they're also from Unicorn.

[Interviewer 1]

Okay.

[Interviewer 2]

And this leather jacket you came in.

[Carter Young]

Oh, yeah, it's actually from the Gap vintage. It must be. Has to be. I don't.

[Interviewer 2]

Pretty distress.

[Carter Young]

No, I don't know when it's from though, but it's pretty fashion forward for the Gap.

[Interviewer 2]

Vintage. Gap. I love it.

[Carter Young]

Yeah, like an asymmetrical zipper.

[Interviewer 2]

Where are you getting most of your personal vintage from these days? What. What brands?

[Carter Young]

I think, like, I am shopping a lot from the Gap. I think like the. The mass market stuff like 30 years ago is quite interesting. Just looking at the material and what they were able to do and sell at that price point. I just really like studying that more than like high end designer stuff. Like the high end designer stuff is interesting but often not achievable for the prices that I want to sell things.

[Interviewer 2]

So you're shopping vintage not just to wear in your own rotation, but also to understand and study like the construction and technique and materials.

[Carter Young]

I'd say that, like everything I consume hopefully will inform what I do in my professional life. In that sense.

[Interviewer 2]

Helmet laying, knockoff jeans coming soon.

[Interviewer 1]

Yeah, exactly. The reference pieces are on his body, folks.

[Interviewer 2]

So in New York right now, maybe not like popularity wise, but definitely vintage. Abercrombie's having.

[Carter Young]

Sure.

[Interviewer 2]

The moment. Its moment.

[Carter Young]

Yeah.

[Interviewer 2]

We were just talking to Chad Senzel who has a store over here, which you should go to, by the way. Okay. And he's like, yeah, like right now it's like, it's like, It's Abercrombie. It's 2000s and 2010s. Abercrombie. What is it in London? Is it Gap? Is it Abercrombie?

[Carter Young]

I mean, honestly, it's a lot of like vintage tailoring. Like, I think tailoring is really big in London. It kind of always has been. It never really died down the same way it did in the States. And, like, there's still a long tradition of like bespoke menswear tailoring. So I see a lot of people buying, like old suits, like old shit.

[Interviewer 1]

That was like made for some lord from Savile Row. Or is it like ideally power style?

[Carter Young]

I mean, it depends who you're hanging out with. I think, like, it all exists there. But yeah, I mean, like the stuff that I know people are buying or like custom made stuff that was from someone else. Yeah.

[Interviewer 2]

Oscar Wilde sucked dick in this coat. Yeah.

[Carter Young]

I mean, like, if you can. If you can get like the provenance ticket on that, I'm sure I'd go for it.

[Interviewer 1]

Shout out all the dead rich guys, especially if they're white.

[Carter Young]

Yeah.

[Interviewer 2]

And you're sipping on a Poland spring. You chose to. Even though you said Topo Chico is the best sparking water. You're like, I don't want to. I don't want to get burpee.

[Carter Young]

I'm trying. Yeah. I'm trying to. Trying to be a professional here.

[Interviewer 1]

First time on mic, apparently.

[Carter Young]

Yeah, exactly. I've never really used a microphone before.

[Interviewer 2]

Well, let's get right into it. The brand Carter Young so hot right now. You flying business?

[Carter Young]

Sorry?

[Interviewer 2]

Are you flying business class?

[Carter Young]

No, I wish. I'm flying on the Concord, though. So there's only one class. Yeah, no, the Concord doesn't exist. Yeah.

[Interviewer 1]

I was going to say, what do you do?

[Interviewer 2]

What do you do? Virgin.

[Carter Young]

Yeah, I did. I did fly virgin here. Delta partner.

[Interviewer 1]

Okay.

[Carter Young]

Love Delta. You know, it's a hub through DTW where I'm from.

[Interviewer 2]

Do you. Do you do like. Because you dress nice, right? You dress like a nice boy. Do you do bummy fits on the plane or you do dress up like, you know, men used to wear suits on to fly?

[Carter Young]

Yeah, I usually wear like dress tails on the plane.

[Interviewer 2]

No, I mean with this cigarette.

[Interviewer 1]

Long cigarette holder.

[Carter Young]

Yeah. No, you know, like it. I Think a sweatshirt's cool, but I don't like sweatpants on the plane. Yeah, jeans usually. I mean, sweatpants, like there's nothing wrong with it. I just feel like I get too hot sitting in one place. Sure. And then it's uncomfortable.

[Interviewer 2]

Yeah, and then you got swamp ass for six hours.

[Carter Young]

It's not my dramatic.

[Interviewer 1]

Well, if you're listening to this buy some Carter Young so this man can fly business, he deserves it.

[Interviewer 2]

Thank you guys because it's very good.

[Carter Young]

Thank you.

[Interviewer 2]

Yeah, also that you doing movies on the plane or you're a worker or you're a sleeper?

[Carter Young]

Depends on. Depends on the day. I watched this Daniel Day Lewis movie, the Sins of the Father, because.

[Interviewer 1]

Yeah, classic.

[Carter Young]

Cool. Yeah, I like, I like watching movies that I wouldn't ever find on my own. So if there's something that I've never heard of, I'll try that.

[Interviewer 2]

Okay, so it's like you're digging deep into what the Delta archive is.

[Carter Young]

Yeah, the Delta Archive. It's basically as good as the criteria.

[Interviewer 1]

Yeah, but it's 50,000ft in the air.

[Carter Young]

So it's harder to get to.

[Interviewer 1]

Yeah.

[Interviewer 2]

Can you tell us why you moved to London?

[Carter Young]

Yeah, London. I mean there's. It's kind of a twofold reason. Like my girlfriend really wanted to move to London. Maddie was. Went to school there before and there was an opportunity to move there and she's like, you know, I think you'd really enjoy it. I've always kind of been an Anglophile. Like.

[Interviewer 2]

Or breaking up with you.

[Carter Young]

No, it wasn't ultimate.

[Interviewer 1]

Okay.

[Carter Young]

I want to move there and then also, like I've always been an anglophile, so I've always grown up on like, you know, like a Clockwork Orange, Anthony Burgess movies or like Shane Meadows movies or you know, all that kind of stuff in English music, like Joy Division. But then from a business perspective it made sense because I was trying to do the brand here in the States, but the fashion calendar means that when you present something in New York, it's. After all the buyers spend their budgets in Europe. So from a wholesale perspective. Yeah, it was like I was kind of like, I'm not really doing anything. And you know, I was at the time designing for Urban Outfitters. Would it, you know, it was a nice job, but I wanted more like I wanted to launch my own business.

[Interviewer 2]

You're the head of pants, is that right?

[Carter Young]

Yeah, I was the chief International pants officer, cpo.

[Interviewer 1]

That's a good ass business card, dude.

[Interviewer 2]

Chief pants officer?

[Interviewer 1]

Yeah.

[Carter Young]

No, is. Oh yeah.

[Interviewer 1]

I make the Motherfucker. Pants, bitch.

[Interviewer 2]

I wear the pants at this company.

[Carter Young]

It's funny, like, I've switched it up to saying trousers because in England that just means underwear.

[Interviewer 1]

Oh, sure.

[Interviewer 2]

Pants means underwear, right?

[Carter Young]

Yeah. It's a different job, different skill set. Yeah.

[Interviewer 1]

Wait, if, if you hadn't moved, do you think we're like having this conversation could. Do you like, did that have to happen?

[Carter Young]

I mean, I do think it had to happen for us to grow a wholesale business. And I sure, surely like the wholesale business has led to a lot of the notoriety that we've achieved recently because we're now in like nine countries and we're in like 22 shops. And you know, people have all these different touchstones around the world to interact with the brand, whereas otherwise it would have just been something they heard about online and kind of never really had a chance to interact with. But I don't know, I like to think I would have found a way. You know, it's like I was like a dog with my teeth in something, you know, I wasn't going to take.

[Interviewer 2]

It also makes sense from a creative aspect where like you're closer to your, where you source a lot of your materials.

[Carter Young]

Yeah, I think like it's, it's completely changed our sourcing strategy definitely, like used to use a ton of dead stock shortings from the US A little bit less now. I mean we still use some of it, but just like the import structure of everything. Yeah, it's just changed the way we're looking for materials.

[Interviewer 2]

How does, how does working and living in London affect the creative. The creation of a brand that is still very much rooted in Americana. Like how do you kind of. What's the tension there?

[Carter Young]

I mean, I don't, I don't actually know if it's such a tension. Like, I think it's quite interesting to live outside of the thing that you're studying. You can kind of see it more objectively. Like I, I found myself being attracted to things that I didn't even know were specific to the American experience before I moved away from it. Like even something simple like the way you sit in a diner and they refill your coffee. Like that experience just doesn't exist where I'm living now.

[Interviewer 2]

Top you off, hun?

[Carter Young]

Yeah, exactly. Like there's kind of a sweet interaction that you just don't get.

[Interviewer 2]

What is in London? Like just, I'll be another seven quid, mate.

[Carter Young]

No, it's just like off. They don't tell you to leave the table. Like they don't like Bring the. You can sit as long as.

[Interviewer 2]

Oh, that's cafe culture.

[Carter Young]

Yeah, but they don't, like. They're not gonna, like, come over and check in.

[Interviewer 1]

No, but then you don't have to tip, so it all works out.

[Carter Young]

Yeah, I guess.

[Interviewer 2]

Y' all don't got ihop.

[Carter Young]

No, no, we don't have IHOP yet.

[Interviewer 2]

What's it. What's an example maybe, of, like. I guess it's not a eureka moment, but. Yeah, you're. You're outside of the American echo chamber in bubble, and you're like, oh, besides free refills at the diner, I don't know.

[Carter Young]

I think it's, like. It's, like, getting a little bit more clarity on exactly what the brand's thesis is. Like, for example, being in the States, I was doing Americana where. And it was inspired by, like, the cultural canon of American stuff, like Steve McQueen and, you know, traditional ivy clothing and things like that. But as I moved away, I've realized that what I'm trying to do is find a way to make those references more contemporary. And I think, like, it's almost a step removed from that original presentation of American iconography. So I can see it in kind of a modern context where it's, like, post American iconography, if that makes sense.

[Interviewer 1]

Less of a copy and more of a personal evolution.

[Carter Young]

Yeah. I've kind of rejected the word nostalgia, which used to be kind of prevalent in my work and my research and things like that, because I'm not trying to recreate, I'm trying to evolve.

[Interviewer 2]

It sounds like in the few interviews you've done before this, like, it sounds like new Americana is like, a phrase that you don't really want, like, put on you. Is that.

[Carter Young]

No, I think. I think new Americana is great. I think, like, the issue is that what I think existed or what I was trying to add to the conversation was, like, there was this New York thing, and there was this, like, Southwest thing, and there was this LA thing. And that's pretty much what you thought of when you thought of, like, Americana, right?

[Interviewer 1]

Like, the three verticals that you're allowed to dress in as a man?

[Carter Young]

Well, yeah. Like, if you. If you wear a Western shirt, people are like, that's Americana and that's specific to an area. Or, like, you know, those, like, L A tailoring brands or, like, the, you know, baggy denim, and that kind of stuff is like, an L A thing. Or like, Amy Leon, Dore and Kith and this crowd out here. And, like, I did think that there was a big swath of the country that was missing. So new Americana in my mind refers to, like, something else that's kind of in between those things.

[Interviewer 2]

What is that?

[Carter Young]

Well, I think it's like, what I'm trying to do with the line. Like, I think it's something that's not really informed by prep and East Coast Ivy style as much as some of the other brands that exist right now in the market. It's like borrowing a little bit from the Western stuff because I think, you know, Western clothing isn't specific to a region anymore, and it's certainly not like the LA thing. I think that is a very distinct look from what we're doing. So if you look at. I guess it's like a little bit akin to what we were talking about with, like, vintage Abercrombie being collected. Like, feels much more of the middle of the country and like. Or the Rust Belt.

[Interviewer 1]

Where do most of your customers live? What's like, the number one market? Is it New York?

[Carter Young]

I mean, definitely the States is my biggest market in general, and then I'd probably say New York and LA are two biggest nexus points. But then outside of that, like, Denmark and Japan are probably in competition for our second biggest market.

[Interviewer 2]

Have things taken on a bit of a British flavor since you moved over there? Whether. I mean, in a good way.

[Carter Young]

I like, have things taken on a British flavor. I think they always kind of had it, like, I think based on my reference points, like, I was always kind of looking at British stuff. Like, I did a collection inspired by David Thewlis and Naked, like the film from the 90s. And it's like, yeah, that's a really British movie. But it's because it reminded me of stuff I saw.

[Interviewer 1]

Super depressing.

[Carter Young]

Yes.

[Interviewer 1]

Like, the most depressing movie ever.

[Carter Young]

Super bleak, you know, Reminded me in the Midwest, not the bleakness of it.

[Interviewer 1]

British flavor, they got it for clothes. Food, not so much.

[Carter Young]

I mean, there's some cool food.

[Interviewer 1]

Like, what's the. What. What's the go to?

[Carter Young]

I don't know, man. Like, Turkish food's really good.

[Interviewer 1]

Okay, I meant like traditional British food.

[Carter Young]

Oh, yeah.

[Interviewer 1]

Not the good shit that other people have.

[Interviewer 2]

Brexit British food.

[Carter Young]

Yeah. Like, I'll say Camberwell Arms. Very good.

[Interviewer 2]

What is that?

[Carter Young]

It's. It's just like a pub with really nice food.

[Interviewer 2]

Oh, okay.

[Carter Young]

Yeah.

[Interviewer 2]

What is it?

[Interviewer 1]

Like pies?

[Carter Young]

Yeah.

[Interviewer 2]

Jellied eels?

[Interviewer 1]

Yeah.

[Carter Young]

You know what? I'm quest to get some jellied eels. It's not that easy to really. Yeah, there's like a few Places that.

[Interviewer 2]

Look up with Big John.

[Carter Young]

Yeah, yeah.

[Interviewer 2]

Is he big in London?

[Carter Young]

Yeah, he's big everywhere.

[Interviewer 2]

Okay.

[Interviewer 1]

I got to dress him. We got to get him in some fucking made to measure enough dead sock fabric.

[Carter Young]

No, we'll find a way. Do you ever connect?

[Interviewer 2]

Yeah, he does. I've been chatting with him.

[Carter Young]

Okay. Big John's a Bosch.

[Interviewer 2]

I'm a Bosch soldier. Like, of course I have a direct line to the general.

[Interviewer 1]

Running up the flagpole with the ball is that dream booking.

[Interviewer 2]

We're in Australia. When he was. When he was detained in Perth. I was about to fucking riot.

[Carter Young]

Wait, why was he detained?

[Interviewer 1]

He. For being woke.

[Carter Young]

For being.

[Interviewer 2]

For being too Bosch, bro.

[Carter Young]

Yeah, yeah. Bosch.

[Interviewer 1]

Free Big John, dude. Till it's backwards, truly.

[Interviewer 2]

But then it was like, yeah, he's gonna go back and get his money. It was something with the visas.

[Carter Young]

Yeah. Okay.

[Interviewer 2]

Australia's crazy. What. I mean. Okay, so you defined for us. Thank you very much. That New York is very Amelian door and kith right now.

[Carter Young]

Yeah.

[Interviewer 2]

Which, hey, I'm not arguing against that. What about London? What's the menswear scene looking like in London right now?

[Carter Young]

There's a lot of great young brands. Like, I think that a lot of the creative industry in London has moved to Paris after Brexit. But the brands that are still left, I think there's some, like, really incredible ones, like Speciale and Notting Hill. I think they're doing incredible stuff. Some of our showroommates, like Sage Nation, I think he's doing great. Yeah.

[Interviewer 1]

Ymc too.

[Carter Young]

Yeah, exactly. Like, killing Incredible and, like, Studio Nicholson's really interesting. Yeah. It's kind of a mix. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Felix. There's a few different things. Shout out Felix. For sure.

[Interviewer 2]

Yeah.

[Interviewer 1]

The prince.

[Interviewer 2]

Is it.

[Interviewer 1]

Is it.

[Interviewer 2]

Like, how do you describe the aesthetic of just, like, forget the brands for a second. Like, how are the people dressing? Is it still kind of soccer kids and jorts?

[Carter Young]

There's definitely some of that, but I do think there's, like, it's almost. It's hard. It's really hard to describe. Like, I think that the closest analog in the US to what I'm seeing, like, on the cooler, younger fashion people out there is, like, what Connor at Clothing To Wear is doing in Philadelphia, like, with that kind of mix of vintage stuff. That's. Some of it's designer, some of it's not designer, but it just looks like a cool cartoon character would dress, you know, an avatar.

[Interviewer 1]

Yeah, it's you in real life.

[Carter Young]

Yeah.

[Interviewer 1]

Versus Fortnite skins.

[Carter Young]

Yeah. It's like, cool vintage military stuff and tailoring all kind of jumbled together. But I wouldn't say that there's, like, an overarching thing, except for, like, I'm not seeing a ton of logos. I'm not seeing a lot of prints anymore. It's pretty, like, sober.

[Interviewer 1]

So sell my Cortez.

[Carter Young]

I don't know. Cortez are cool. Oh, you mean the. You mean the streetwear brand?

[Interviewer 1]

Yeah.

[Carter Young]

Like, I thought it was Cartiz.

[Interviewer 1]

Whatever, dude.

[Interviewer 2]

Okay, you tell us.

[Carter Young]

I don't speak British and I'll translate for you.

[Interviewer 1]

They tend to enjoy logos in my. In my.

[Carter Young]

No, like, trap stars. You, like, there are. Like, that stuff exists. Yeah, it's just like, you know, when I'm hanging out with, like, Hugo, for example, from mfn, like, he's not wearing traps. He dresses like he's from the Midwest.

[Interviewer 2]

Thermal under a flannel.

[Carter Young]

That's what it's like. That's what's cool. Right. But that's kind of what's cool everywhere. I think it's like, global homogenization.

[Interviewer 2]

You don't think that there's. But so then what would make the men's wear, the London scene, like, unique or specific?

[Interviewer 1]

Because.

[Interviewer 2]

And that is a very hard question, because it is so flat. Everything's been so flat. Right.

[Carter Young]

I. I think it is like the. The. The tailoring heritage. Like, I do think there is an understanding by the average person of, like, how to get something tailored to your body or, like, the need to have a tailored suit rather than just something off the rack.

[Interviewer 2]

Is that because it's just so embedded in British culture?

[Carter Young]

Yeah, I think it's, like, still super common to get suits made. Like, I think there's just the same way that, you know, our market had been flooded with, you know, suit supplies, bonobos, those types of things. I don't think it. It permeated in the same way there, specifically in London, like, about a Topman. Topman was great. Shout out. Top man.

[Interviewer 2]

It's gone, right?

[Carter Young]

Yeah, it's for a long time. Good. That was like, my first suit for.

[Interviewer 1]

A lot of people.

[Carter Young]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Interviewer 2]

Well, Top was top end and urban. Same owner?

[Carter Young]

No, no, different companies. Okay. It was Top Shop.

[Interviewer 2]

You didn't have an urban outfitter suit.

[Carter Young]

I don't think we made suits at the time.

[Interviewer 1]

How skinny was your top man suit?

[Carter Young]

I don't think I could get in it now. Yeah, it was like.

[Interviewer 1]

It was like, indie sleaze adjacent. This is like strokes error, probably.

[Carter Young]

I was. I was probably, like, 15, going to a school Dance. And I felt so cool.

[Interviewer 1]

That's.

[Interviewer 2]

You were so cool.

[Carter Young]

It was, like, way too blue, though. Like, I didn't really understand. It was like politicians, like those, like, brown shoes.

[Interviewer 2]

You had the brown caramel sho.

[Carter Young]

I, I, I, I'll find a picture. I'll send it to you guys.

[Interviewer 2]

Okay. What about. Okay, what is a men's fashion victim look like in one. Just paint the picture for us.

[Carter Young]

I mean, there's definitely, like. Well, by fashion victim, you mean, like, something tragic, like explore page head ass.

[Interviewer 2]

Like, the way that you, if you had to just like, blanket statement. Blanket statement? Yeah, blanket statement. Describe, like. I mean, you kind of did it with a New York guy. And, you know, I understand why you would, like, describe them that way, but if you had to do it to one, it would be.

[Carter Young]

I think there's, like, still kind of like a Balenciaga runoff thing happening. You know, like the really baggy mall denim and, like, a bomber jacket and a bad bleach hair job.

[Interviewer 1]

Yeah, I know exactly what you're talking about, which is a shame.

[Carter Young]

Like, I'm not. I'm like, yeah, it's kind of like a two Hollis look. You know, not like one two Hollis is way, but yeah. 1.1.5.

[Interviewer 1]

Damn.

[Interviewer 2]

Has moving to London, like, what's the most British thing about you and how long have you been there for?

[Carter Young]

I've been there for about two and a half years now. And then, actually, you haven't taken on.

[Interviewer 2]

Like, the British affectation, I don't think. You don't talk like this.

[Interviewer 1]

Yeah, like Madonna.

[Carter Young]

I can if you guys want me to. No, I think it'd make a bad body.

[Interviewer 2]

Yes.

[Carter Young]

I say, like, a few British things, and I kind of catch myself even, like, calling pants trousers. Like, it's just. I got that locked and loaded, bro.

[Interviewer 2]

You say cunt?

[Carter Young]

Yeah, more or less. No, I'd say, like, I recently stopped drinking coffee and I switched to tea.

[Interviewer 2]

Oh, that's crazy.

[Carter Young]

That's really British.

[Interviewer 1]

Is it working?

[Carter Young]

In what sense?

[Interviewer 1]

I mean, were you drinking coffee because you enjoyed the taste or. Oh, it wasn't a caffeine thing.

[Carter Young]

No, it was like, I had such a bad caffeine addiction that I was just getting headaches throughout the day.

[Interviewer 1]

I wasn't like, how many cups are we talking?

[Carter Young]

Probably seven, eight, bro.

[Interviewer 1]

Damn, that's out of control.

[Carter Young]

No, isn't.

[Interviewer 2]

That's 1 Celsius.

[Interviewer 1]

Yeah, 1 Celsius more efficient, dude.

[Carter Young]

Well, no, like, I, I. Maddie and I went to the Dominican Republic this summer, and I came back with, like, a Horrible stomach infection. And I couldn't drink coffee, so it was like going through withdrawal at the same time. And I was like, I'm not going back to that.

[Interviewer 1]

Sleepy boy.

[Carter Young]

Yeah, yeah.

[Interviewer 2]

I'm tired and I'm pooping. So tired and I can't stop pooping. How many cups of tea you doing now?

[Interviewer 1]

How many pots?

[Carter Young]

Yeah. A conservative. Two or three.

[Interviewer 2]

Do you do tea time at 4:00 or 3:00'? Clock?

[Carter Young]

One of the.

[Interviewer 2]

It is.

[Carter Young]

Yeah. If you try to call me during that time.

[Interviewer 1]

Oh, really?

[Carter Young]

I'm eating finger sandwiches.

[Interviewer 2]

What are you. Cucumbers and cream cheese and what are you doing?

[Carter Young]

Yeah, yeah. All that scones?

[Interviewer 2]

Yeah.

[Interviewer 1]

Biscuit?

[Carter Young]

Yeah. Do you do jam or cream first?

[Interviewer 2]

I don't know.

[Interviewer 1]

Neither.

[Carter Young]

I'm not.

[Interviewer 2]

We don't drink tea.

[Interviewer 1]

I'm not a ass Brit, dude.

[Interviewer 2]

We have representation while we pay taxes.

[Interviewer 1]

We're real American.

[Carter Young]

So what do you guys do at 4pM?

[Interviewer 2]

Don't have health Nap. We don't have health here.

[Carter Young]

That's pretty Spanish of you.

[Interviewer 1]

Yeah, yeah.

[Interviewer 2]

Is there anything that still gives you culture shock in the UK after two.

[Carter Young]

And a half years?

[Interviewer 2]

Yeah.

[Carter Young]

Like, when I leave the doctor and I don't have to pay anything, it's like, I'm like, I get my wallet out and they're like, you can just leave. You're released.

[Interviewer 1]

Your buddy's no good here.

[Carter Young]

Yeah, yeah.

[Interviewer 2]

This is the nih. You're still bleeding.

[Carter Young]

Yeah, yeah.

[Interviewer 2]

You still have a stomach infection, but you don't have to pay us.

[Interviewer 1]

Is the care up to snuff?

[Carter Young]

I gotta say, they've taken care of me. I. The other day though, like, I got a call from the doctor. It was a number I didn't recognize. And she was like, oh, I found something concerning on your blood work. You come back in.

[Interviewer 2]

Oh, your butt. I thought you said your butt.

[Carter Young]

No, no, my blood.

[Interviewer 1]

Your butt. Your butt work came back.

[Carter Young]

Yeah, they do that thing there. They didn't do that in the States, but they do a full bum, bum work. Bum work.

[Interviewer 1]

Yeah. But fanny work.

[Carter Young]

She, like, called me. She's like, will you come in and, like, get this checked out? It turns out it was totally fine. The fact that the doctor called me, she was worried about something that I had, her personal line. I was like, tight. Never had that.

[Interviewer 1]

And she called you from her cell phone?

[Carter Young]

Yeah, I know it was maybe a little unprofessional, but I don't know.

[Interviewer 2]

She fall back.

[Interviewer 1]

Dr. DM me on Instagram.

[Carter Young]

Yeah. She sends me, like, I'm on her Close friend story. Now it's all just, like, pimple popping.

[Interviewer 2]

Okay, so getting good treatment from medical professionals is still shocking to you?

[Carter Young]

Yeah, it's crazy. You could.

[Interviewer 2]

Are you a British citizen?

[Carter Young]

No.

[Interviewer 2]

So you can be an American and they'll just take care of you?

[Carter Young]

Yeah, I'm on a visa that gives me, like, NHS coverage. Oh, yeah. Just switched on to that, like, in earlier this year.

[Interviewer 2]

So before that you were like. Because I've heard from British people that. I mean, I think they're spoiled. They don't know how bad we have it over here. But a lot of British people don't with, like, the NHS or NIH or whatever. Just like.

[Carter Young]

Yeah, I think, like, anyone can find a reason to complain about whatever they have.

[Interviewer 2]

Complaining. Is there anything. What's. What's the thing you miss most about America?

[Carter Young]

Oh, man. Probably like, driving places. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Like road trips and stuff.

[Interviewer 2]

Car culture.

[Carter Young]

Yeah, I miss killing the.

[Interviewer 2]

I miss killing the world.

[Carter Young]

I hate the pedestrian walkable cities.

[Interviewer 2]

Yeah.

[Interviewer 1]

You're not driving over there at all.

[Carter Young]

Yeah, I have my license and I've driven. Taking a few day trips and things like that. But there's no point in having a car. Like, the buses run on time.

[Interviewer 1]

Gotcha. Big public transportation guy now.

[Carter Young]

Huge public transportation, unfortunately, I sit on the top of the bus and I just pretend.

[Interviewer 2]

Pretend it's a roller coaster.

[Carter Young]

You take the tube, so I take the tube, but I haven't ridden a bike in London. First time I've ever ridden a city bike was yesterday, trying to catch up with Matty's dad in the marathon. And I got one of the boosted ones.

[Interviewer 1]

Yeah.

[Carter Young]

The motorized White ghost. Incredible.

[Interviewer 2]

Yeah. Oh, yeah.

[Carter Young]

What?

[Interviewer 2]

They used to be faster.

[Carter Young]

Really?

[Interviewer 2]

They cap.

[Interviewer 1]

They.

[Interviewer 2]

They used to top out at, like, I want to say 18, and now it's at 15. Oh, it's at 15.

[Carter Young]

Yeah.

[Interviewer 2]

But they didn't lower the price.

[Carter Young]

Yeah, yeah.

[Interviewer 2]

So you take longer, but you pay. You pay the city.

[Interviewer 1]

You have the tunes going and, like, you're doing the main character thing.

[Carter Young]

No, I was, like, incredibly stressed trying to find him on the tracking app on the marathon. It wasn't, like, fun, but the experience of writing it was uncut.

[Interviewer 2]

Jack, you don't have, like, limes and shit? You don't take limes in Paris.

[Carter Young]

No, I just walk everywhere. Damn. I walk, like, if I can, like, between 10 and 20,000 steps a day consciously.

[Interviewer 2]

Now you're an E. You're about to be an E bike convert.

[Carter Young]

I don't know. It was cool, you know, every once in A while. You know, it's. It's kind of like drinking like every once in a while, you know, But I'm not going to do that shit every day.

[Interviewer 2]

Well, you could.

[Carter Young]

Yeah, yeah, I could, but have more fun.

[Interviewer 2]

I don't know if you're talking about drinking or e. Biking, but yeah, a.

[Carter Young]

Little bit of both.

[Interviewer 1]

Do.

[Interviewer 2]

Do them at the same time.

[Carter Young]

Yeah.

[Interviewer 1]

Maybe that's an idea when you're coming back or you're visiting New York for the first time. Like you said, like three years, I think you said off my. Yeah.

[Carter Young]

Like, it's been a while.

[Interviewer 1]

What are you like, most looking forward to do? Is it like just like walking around and drinking it in? Like, what I know you're here for, like, you're very busy, right?

[Carter Young]

Yeah.

[Interviewer 1]

But what's like, what was something you were excited just like personally about?

[Carter Young]

Well, like, both of my brothers are here, like I mentioned, so doing anything with them is a blast. And their wives and like, you know, our. Our niece who's here now, so we. It's not that often we get to like spend that much time together. So I mean, even just like going out to eat or walking around is fun. Just like you say, drinking it in. But yeah, I kind of seeing my old haunts and like seeing the stores we're in, like here to go see Cueva. And everything's a bank now. Yeah, sorry.

[Interviewer 2]

Everything just got turned into a bank. It really is green.

[Carter Young]

There's a second rice to riches.

[Interviewer 1]

Yeah.

[Interviewer 2]

Yeah.

[Carter Young]

What is that about?

[Interviewer 1]

Sir? Another rice to riches has just been erected.

[Carter Young]

No.

[Interviewer 2]

Is there signs like no skinny allowed or something?

[Carter Young]

That's what it says.

[Interviewer 1]

Yeah, it says fat only.

[Interviewer 2]

I think the one on the. On Spring street in Soho says like, literally no skinny.

[Carter Young]

That's incredible.

[Interviewer 1]

Yeah, the city's changed. Like, you've noticed that, like, straight up, certainly.

[Carter Young]

Yeah, it's very different.

[Interviewer 2]

I mean.

[Interviewer 1]

I mean, we see it, but when you're in it, it's, you know, you need perspective, something.

[Carter Young]

No, it really is crazy. Like, I was walking down towards Soho and like, even big name stores that were there are closed now.

[Interviewer 2]

It's like no more 21 Mercer.

[Carter Young]

Nike, bro, isn't there a Nike store?

[Interviewer 2]

There's a Nike one on Broadway, but no more 21 Mercer.

[Carter Young]

Got it.

[Interviewer 1]

No cool guy.

[Interviewer 2]

Unfortunately.

[Carter Young]

Yeah, no cool guy.

[Interviewer 1]

Can't make a custom bespoke pair of air Force ones anymore.

[Carter Young]

I feel like cool stuff has moved kind of eastward. It's like kind of all in this.

[Interviewer 2]

Area about dime square.

[Carter Young]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think I've Heard of that.

[Interviewer 1]

It's made its way across the pond.

[Interviewer 2]

What are you like, are you like drinking in inspiration when you're here or you're just handling business?

[Carter Young]

Seeing family, I mean it's mostly like I just haven't been back in a long time so it's like seeing all the people that you know, I used to essentially when I started the brand I was here. So I used to hang out with then like I'm with my pr, Henry Kessler, spending some time together and like Avidan from gq, we're going to hang out later and Avi. Yeah. You know, like just seeing people like you guys where it's like when I was in New York it was cool to run around with everyone but not everyone makes it out to London or Paris. So that's true.

[Interviewer 2]

Sounds like broken.

[Interviewer 1]

I'm not saying that Is the plants get back here more often?

[Carter Young]

Yeah, yeah, certainly. I think it's just been a while because we had spent so long setting up the business somewhere else. Adam moved out. My business partner Adam moved out to London November last year. We opened a studio there in February. So it just took a long time to get on our feet before I was ready to come back and travel and do stuff that wasn't an immediate day to day task.

[Interviewer 2]

What if you had done if Adam did not enjoy London?

[Carter Young]

Oh man, I think about this all the time.

[Interviewer 2]

Were you nervous?

[Carter Young]

Yeah, yeah.

[Interviewer 2]

Does he like onehead?

[Carter Young]

He does. He fits in perfectly.

[Interviewer 1]

There was no backup plan?

[Carter Young]

Well, I mean Julius, one of our other people that help us with the business, one of our business partners lives out here in New York still. So we still have some Nexus out here. But if Adam wasn't there with me, business would not be what it is today. It's us together working every day in the same space that I think has really allowed us to get ahead.

[Interviewer 2]

What's the. How do you guys share job responsibilities? Like what do you, what do you handle? What does Adam handle? What does Julius handle?

[Carter Young]

So Julius does all the production. So he's production sourcing, strategy. I'm like design technically like CEO. I'm kind of calling like the creative and kind of strategy decisions that we're going to be making that on the label, right? Yeah, exactly. And then Adam is like in charge of all of the operations. So he's often like he's off. He's interfacing with like pretty much any company that we work with or people that we work with. Everyone knows Adam like that.

[Interviewer 2]

What's your design process?

[Carter Young]

I mean usually it Starts with. If I'm thinking about a new collection, it'll start with a piece of media. So spring 26 was. I read that short story the Swimmer by John Cheever, which is recommended to be an alcoholic.

[Interviewer 1]

Another depression. You love depressing.

[Interviewer 2]

I can't stop swimming.

[Carter Young]

Yeah, I think it's.

[Interviewer 2]

This guy loves water.

[Carter Young]

It's too much water. Yeah. Yeah, dude, I love depressing stuff.

[Interviewer 1]

You love an existential crisis, clearly.

[Carter Young]

I think it's like, I watch Mad Men too young, you know. Oh, that's how you be a creative depression.

[Interviewer 2]

Get drunk and on your wife.

[Interviewer 1]

Yeah.

[Carter Young]

So I. I like that.

[Interviewer 2]

Is that. Sorry, is that, like, flyover? Not flyover. Like, the swap. Does every piece of media you consume have to do with, like, the swath of America that you kind of are pulling inspiration from? Or is it not necessarily one, One for one?

[Carter Young]

Because it's not a one for one.

[Interviewer 2]

It's supposed to be, like, Long island or, like.

[Carter Young]

Yeah, no, it's not a one to one. Not even everything, like, takes place in America that I'm interested in or absorbing. It's like, the same way as, like, you know, to a lot of kids, like, Joy Division is an American band because when they're 13, they find a record and they're like. They don't know it's from England. They're just, like, listening to something that they find transgressive. You know, it's like, this guy killed himself.

[Interviewer 1]

What? Yeah.

[Carter Young]

Oh, my God. Like. Yeah. It's like finding out him or, like, Elliot Smith killed themselves. It was, like, huge for me as a kid. So. What the fuck?

[Interviewer 1]

I love this.

[Carter Young]

People do that with a knife. Yeah. Twice.

[Interviewer 2]

He killed himself twice.

[Interviewer 1]

It's a tough way to go.

[Carter Young]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Interviewer 1]

Probably should just hang yourself like Ian Curtis.

[Interviewer 2]

All right, so Josh the Swimmer.

[Carter Young]

Yeah.

[Interviewer 2]

Is the source material for spring 26.

[Carter Young]

Yeah, I was. Yeah. I was thinking a lot about, like, that type of guy, that type of era, what he would be wearing, and then thinking about how those codes have kind of permeated through culture and trickled down into, like, what we wear today and kind of playing with that for colorway and materiality and stuff. But it really starts with, like, I have, like, a loose idea like that, and then it's all about fabric and cut and, like, what silhouettes I'm interested in right now. Or it's a reaction, really, against what I did six months before or what I'm seeing people wearing in the streets.

[Interviewer 1]

How does that reaction typically go when you look back at your past designs with little Hindsight.

[Carter Young]

Well, the thing is, by the time it hits the store, I've been looking at it for about nine months. So it's not that I, like, have disdain for anything I've worked on. It's just like, I'm almost disinterested in it because over it. Yeah. I've sat with it for so long.

[Interviewer 1]

The seasons aren't in conversation with each other. You are like, mo. You're, like, moving on.

[Carter Young]

Yeah, more or less. I mean, it's like there's an iterative process. Like, there's always going to be denim in the line. I'm not going to look at denim and be like, h, whatever. I'm over. No more jeans.

[Interviewer 1]

This.

[Interviewer 2]

You can't swim in jeans.

[Carter Young]

No, I can't do that. Oh, you can, but it sucks.

[Interviewer 1]

I would recommend drown yourself.

[Carter Young]

Yeah. Yeah. I would say that, like, there is a conversation in the sense of, like, if there is a silhouette that's performing well, like, there is a commercial mind to the medium that we chose. Like, you got to bring it forward.

[Interviewer 2]

Sure.

[Carter Young]

But it's often like, I don't just want to do something in another color unless I thought it was still relevant six months later. Obviously, this clothing I make, the intention is to be, you know, perennially relevant. I just mean in terms of, like, where I am in my creative impulses. Right.

[Interviewer 2]

What does sell the best for Carter Young?

[Carter Young]

I think that, like, the thing that's been growing quickest for us is our custom tailoring offering.

[Interviewer 2]

Like, we're going to talk about that.

[Carter Young]

Yeah. I mean, even just, like, because we offer a made to measure suit, it just about twelve hundred dollars starting. I just had to do the conversion in my head. There's a lot of people that have never bought a custom suit before who are coming to us for their first time. And because Adam and I are so approachable in the studio, I think it's way easier to understand what you're looking at when you're looking at a suit. Whereas some places are a little more Byzantine and, like, trying to understand, like, what you're getting.

[Interviewer 2]

So it's almost, instead of going mass, going more narrow. Like, literally stuff made for one person.

[Carter Young]

Yeah.

[Interviewer 2]

That's like what is resonating.

[Carter Young]

I think it's, like, incredibly special because I think what a lot of people forget is, like, tailoring is often in the modern context, worn around, like, lifestyle milestones. Right. Like, if you have a wedding or a graduation or a work event, like, you know, you're expected to kind of dress up and wear a suit and I think like a lot of the mid market suiting retailers don't really exist anymore. Like, the price has either gone too high or they've gone so low and down to like rentals or like cheaper materials. And so I think that like when people are trying to get into wearing things, like we're trying to meet them where they are with like, yeah, it's not inexpensive, but it's affordable. If you've never done it before, that.

[Interviewer 1]

Is kind of, you know, a lot of guys will like hit us up about like, you know, could get that first big boy suit. We'll say, for lack of better term. And if they say, oh, I got like, whatever, a thousand bucks, twelve hundred dollars, you are kind of in like a dead zone.

[Carter Young]

Yeah.

[Interviewer 1]

And it is cool.

[Interviewer 2]

So you got to go lower.

[Carter Young]

Yeah.

[Interviewer 2]

Or save up or go.

[Interviewer 1]

Yeah. You got to debase yourself.

[Carter Young]

Used to be with the basted suit and then it was the Ludlow suit.

[Interviewer 1]

But it's like suits. It's like suit supplies there at a thousand bucks and it's like, do you really want that?

[Carter Young]

Yeah, yeah.

[Interviewer 1]

You know, their kind of designs and how on trend or relevant if it kind of ebbs and flows. So I think you're doing the Lord's work is what I'm trying to say.

[Carter Young]

Oh, thank you. Sweet. I mean, yeah, I think like, it. It meets people where they are. It's a need that like my both my brothers got married two years ago and it's like getting them suits for the wedding was really. We ended up just making them. And I made my oldest brother's suit with Manuel from Camisas Manolo. So like, we ended up just making the things we wanted because we couldn't find them, you know, so if made.

[Interviewer 2]

To measure, suiting is what's really taking off. What from Carter Young sits and sucks and doesn't make any money for you.

[Carter Young]

It's crazy because, like, nothing really.

[Interviewer 2]

Everything's ahead.

[Carter Young]

No Mrs. No. I mean, there's things we're experimenting with. Like every season we'll try to push the boundaries of what we're able to do. And I think sometimes we get it on and it's good and sometimes it's kind of a slower mover for me. And honestly, a lot of times it's like the things that I don't expect to do well do really well. Our T shirts for us have done super well.

[Interviewer 2]

Like the striped boys. Those are nice.

[Carter Young]

Thank you.

[Interviewer 2]

The ice. The ice blue.

[Carter Young]

Oh, you know, you know, the colorway.

[Interviewer 2]

I was doing a little shopping.

[Carter Young]

Yeah. But, like, you know, it's. It's a T shirt from. Not inexpensive for a T shirt and, like, communicating quality for 85 bucks.

[Interviewer 2]

All right.

[Carter Young]

I think it's a bit more. I think it's 95o. I could be wrong.

[Interviewer 1]

Thanks, Obama.

[Interviewer 2]

85 pounds.

[Carter Young]

Yeah. It's tough with the conversions, really changes. But yeah, the T shirts have done extremely well for us and also at our. Our wholesale partner, and that was surprising. Yeah, I think, like, our price bracket, like, if you're. If you're spending that much money on a. On a suit or you're spending that much money on a shirt, like, there are so many options for T shirts. But I guess because we tried to develop it with a really heavyweight fabric and interesting cut and, you know, details, I was surprised that people understood. Exactly.

[Interviewer 1]

It's a ringer tee, right?

[Carter Young]

Yeah, exactly.

[Interviewer 2]

At the neck, not at the sleeves.

[Carter Young]

Correct. Yeah.

[Interviewer 2]

It's $125.

[Carter Young]

Thank you.

[Interviewer 2]

Tariffs?

[Carter Young]

Yeah.

[Interviewer 2]

Did tariffs fuck you up?

[Carter Young]

Yeah, it wasn't. It wasn't great. I mean, fortunately, we shipped the bulk of the collection before the de minimis was closed.

[Interviewer 2]

Oh, thank God.

[Carter Young]

But, yeah, four individual orders. Like, yeah, it's been a bit tricky, but we've.

[Interviewer 1]

What's your strategy?

[Carter Young]

Well, still our stock is in the US So right now we don't have to pay tariffs. Oh, but I'm saying, like, as it comes here. Correct. Yeah, gotcha. As it comes to next season, we're, like, figuring out whether we're going to do DDP or, you know, still in the process.

[Interviewer 2]

What do, like, what's the vibe with just like the other small brands in London that are, like, having to deal with this shit? Like, are they like, literally, I've seen some people, they're like, oh, we actually set up, like, a US Affiliate so we can, like, kind of loophole around that. Others are just like, yo, we're not shipping in the US Right now or can't afford to, or they eat it or they pass on the pricing. Super. Like, what's the general vibrations right now?

[Carter Young]

I mean, there is no overall consensus on what to do. Like, I think a lot of people are just like, whatever works for them and their clients and tell, like, if your market's big in the US you're probably offering, like, some sort of rebate against the tariffs because otherwise people just aren't going to buy it. But if you're mostly distributed in Europe and Asia, maybe you just let the customers in the USA if they want to go to one of our wholesale partners. Yeah, it's really, It's. It's difficult because it. It changes so consistently. That's the only constant in this whole, like, you know, new relationship between countries that it's hard to predict.

[Interviewer 2]

The only constant is change.

[Carter Young]

That is so true.

[Interviewer 1]

Bars, bro. What?

[Interviewer 2]

The Hot Magani said that.

[Carter Young]

I have that above my desk.

[Interviewer 1]

Nice.

[Interviewer 2]

Right above the picture of the girl in the bikini with the beer. I keep the beer on the bottom shelf.

[Interviewer 1]

Yeah. And then a white Lamborghini Countach.

[Carter Young]

You guys been in my office?

[Interviewer 2]

Yeah, bro.

[Carter Young]

Yeah.

[Interviewer 2]

Yo, I got a question for you. Does ESSENCE owe you money?

[Carter Young]

Yeah.

[Interviewer 2]

What, are you just not gonna see it? Like, what's.

[Interviewer 1]

Yeah, what's the deal, dude?

[Carter Young]

Yeah, I'm not gonna see it. It's just.

[Interviewer 2]

It's just forever gone.

[Carter Young]

And maybe in a couple years, I get a couple dollars.

[Interviewer 2]

Is the amount that's on that list that's going around the Internet, like, accurate?

[Carter Young]

Do you have my amount pulled up?

[Interviewer 2]

No.

[Interviewer 1]

We probably could. It's public information.

[Carter Young]

Yeah, but it's.

[Interviewer 1]

Is it wrong?

[Carter Young]

No, I just didn't read the email because I have my own, like, accounts receivable, so it's like, I didn't need to check the list because as long.

[Interviewer 2]

As they don't use fucking 3 million, I got it.

[Interviewer 1]

Right.

[Carter Young]

Let's see what it says.

[Interviewer 1]

$24,788.55 USD.

[Carter Young]

Yeah, that's like. That's, like, part of their orders.

[Interviewer 2]

Oh, God damn.

[Carter Young]

Oh, we didn't ship the whole thing. Like.

[Interviewer 1]

Oh, yeah. You're like, we're not giving you shit.

[Carter Young]

Yeah, like, we. We ship part of it, and that is the amount of, you know, what they owe to it.

[Interviewer 1]

Yeah. Damn, bro.

[Carter Young]

That's pretty accurate. That's crazy.

[Interviewer 1]

I mean, that was just some sub. It's public information that someone just put on their sub stack. Like, all the.

[Carter Young]

Yeah.

[Interviewer 1]

Is that just, like, air and dirty laundry?

[Carter Young]

You find that quick.

[Interviewer 1]

I'm. I'm a professional.

[Carter Young]

You're really good at Googled.

[Interviewer 1]

What do you Google?

[Interviewer 2]

I close it.

[Interviewer 1]

Do you want to know what I Googled? I Googled essence. Money owed to Carter Young.

[Carter Young]

That's crazy. Like, the. The AI answer is that just, like.

[Interviewer 2]

There'S nothing you can do about it. That. That's just what it is.

[Carter Young]

They.

[Interviewer 2]

You're losing that money sunk cost. Because they were too big. Were they so big that they could set the terms and kind of push you around?

[Carter Young]

No. The terms are essentially that you have to pay upon delivery, but when you go into bankruptcy, Canadian bankruptcy law essentially puts all of their assets in their asset pile and all of their debts in the debt pile. And there's a pecking order just way.

[Interviewer 2]

So what number are you? Amiri Jacques Mo.

[Carter Young]

I'm above both of those.

[Interviewer 2]

Okay. Yo, Justin. Trio, get your fucking shit in order, bro. Stop.

[Carter Young]

Get.

[Interviewer 2]

Get Katy Perry out of here and take care of this young man.

[Interviewer 1]

He's a little preoccupied.

[Interviewer 2]

Gotta fly business.

[Interviewer 1]

No, like, dude, he's fucking an astronaut. Give him some credit. That's sick.

[Carter Young]

No, like, you know, the people that work there, like, I don't blame them. Like, I don't think it's anyone's individual fault, but it's pretty. Pretty lame.

[Interviewer 1]

If we could turn back the clock a little bit. ESSENCE first reaches out and.

[Carter Young]

Yeah.

[Interviewer 1]

Like, we want to put you on.

[Carter Young]

Yeah.

[Interviewer 1]

The biggest brand roster on the planet. What are you like, holy. I made it.

[Interviewer 2]

Like, it was cool.

[Carter Young]

Yeah. But they bought us as a woman's collection for the first two years, I think.

[Interviewer 1]

Is that surprising?

[Interviewer 2]

That's woke.

[Carter Young]

It's crazy. Like, I would say a good portion of our sales, even to this day, are still to women. And we still sell to some stores that only buy us as women's wear. I mean, my.

[Interviewer 2]

My background, the brand is unisex.

[Carter Young]

Correct. Like, my background is menswear. I'm not going to be disingenuous and say that I'm making, like, women's tailor.

[Interviewer 2]

Yeah, but pants, bro.

[Carter Young]

Yeah, but I do think that, like, there's a certain shared sensibility between what I do and, like, what looks good in women's stores. Like, I think it's a little bit softer. Menswear.

[Interviewer 2]

Did getting stocked at Essence do, like, from an exposure side of things? That must have been kind of a big deal back then.

[Carter Young]

Yeah, yeah. At the beginning.

[Interviewer 2]

When did you get, like, $28,000 worth of, like, exposure?

[Interviewer 1]

If you really had to break it down?

[Carter Young]

No comment. It was cool. Like, I think what happened around that time when I was still living in Philadelphia is, like, we had relaunched the brand as a direct consumer focus. So we were still doing wholesale, but obviously from the States, it was a little bit more difficult. And then our friend Gianna justice connected us with Chris Black, and Chris wrote a story on me for Air Mail, and that really kicked things off. And then Chris's wife, at the time, Alex, was working at Essence, right? Yeah. And connected us with Isla lynch, who's there, and they bought us as a woman's through that whole series. Yeah. I mean, like, I think that's how they found out about us in the beginning. And that's why we were classed into women's.

[Interviewer 2]

But they were featured on the email publication.

[Interviewer 1]

Sign them.

[Carter Young]

It was, it was.

[Interviewer 1]

It was signed off. Sign out the inbox, bro.

[Carter Young]

It was crazy. Like, the open rate on that email, They've never seen anything like it.

[Interviewer 1]

Generational numbers on the opens.

[Carter Young]

Dude doesn't. Thank God you didn't hit Spanish.

[Interviewer 2]

Thank God you didn't go to spam.

[Carter Young]

Yeah, yeah, no, thank God.

[Interviewer 2]

So, okay, so ESSENCE owes you money. Adam didn't do his job.

[Carter Young]

No, Adam. Adam is very good at his job.

[Interviewer 1]

Not his fault.

[Carter Young]

Yeah.

[Interviewer 2]

I mean, thank God you are able because there's got to be a lot of brands that wouldn't be able to take that type of hit.

[Carter Young]

Yeah.

[Interviewer 1]

Right.

[Interviewer 2]

So thank God it kind of came at a time where you guys had transcended, I guess, like the startup brand.

[Carter Young]

Yeah.

[Interviewer 2]

Transcended newsletters, featured in emails and was there ever a moment or decision maybe, besides. Want to know, do you regret selling Essence?

[Carter Young]

Oh, no, I don't regret it. I think, like, I wouldn't be in the position I was today without that exposure and, you know, that relationship. And like, some of the people I met while working with Essence are probably people that I hope will be in my career for the rest of my life. So, like, yeah, it ended really poorly. But, you know, I don't regretful.

[Interviewer 2]

Not Jacques Mo, bro, they're owed three. Over $3 million.

[Interviewer 1]

At least you're not like, is that even number one? I feel like there's some other.

[Carter Young]

I think this is number one.

[Interviewer 2]

What is?

[Carter Young]

Think GPS is number one? Yeah, they can't take it.

[Interviewer 2]

Well, the big ones like Balanciaga and Gucci were owed $0. Like, they were taken care of or it's almost like they were big enough where they were able to set the terms.

[Carter Young]

Yeah, I think that was taken care of.

[Interviewer 2]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. Well, besides. Oh, did you ever. Because even before this whole ESSENCE fiasco, I knew of some small brands or kind of in like, the Carter Young, like, tier of, like, size and. And scope, where they're like, yo, we don't with ESSENCE because they do, like, kind of shady things that it sounds like a lot of retailers do, but again, because they were so big, they were able to turn on like, 50 off sale, like, while the US was asleep, so that the Asia market could, like, you know, go crazy and then, like, block their vpn. Like, the actual designers, the designer couldn't see that they were on sale and things like that.

[Carter Young]

I. I mean, thankfully, I have not experienced that level of espionage that you know? Yeah, that. I know.

[Interviewer 1]

Good at it. So, you know.

[Carter Young]

And, you know. You know, frankly, I'm glad I don't know about it.

[Interviewer 2]

What's that?

[Carter Young]

I'm glad I don't know.

[Interviewer 1]

Right.

[Carter Young]

You know?

[Interviewer 1]

Yeah. Don't tell me. I don't want it.

[Carter Young]

That's what I'm saying. Like, it's over now.

[Interviewer 2]

Yeah, it's over.

[Carter Young]

You know, it's over.

[Interviewer 1]

Done and dusted. We're so over.

[Carter Young]

Yeah, just like, it's over, dude. Yeah. Don't. Don't reveal.

[Interviewer 2]

S six feet in the ground. Was there ever a moment or decision, like, early in the brand's timeline where you're like, that. That almost sunk us?

[Carter Young]

Yeah, all the time. Like what? Like what, dude?

[Interviewer 2]

Tell us about your fuckups.

[Carter Young]

Yeah, like, every. In the beginning, like, every sample that I made was like, if I don't sell 3 of this sample, like, I'm out of business.

[Interviewer 1]

Right.

[Carter Young]

You know, does that.

[Interviewer 2]

Razor thin of a margin.

[Carter Young]

I started this line when I was 21. Yeah. I didn't have any money.

[Interviewer 1]

Yeah.

[Carter Young]

I was using my savings to, like, fund this. And, like, Adam started off as my fit model. And, like, Maddie, my girlfriend, is going to help me the whole way, and, like, I've gotten free creative direction work from her. Thank you. You know, like, you know, art direction and stuff the whole time. And, like, I think without. Without that, like, community in the beginning, like, helping me out or, like, believing in what I was doing, like, there's no way I would have been able to get to the point we are now. Like, stuff was expensive. Like, it's expensive to go make something, especially in the garment district. Like, yeah, samples cost a lot of money. Making a pattern costs a lot of money.

[Interviewer 2]

Like, that's, like, one thing goes wrong.

[Carter Young]

Well, it's like, I couldn't do tailoring in the beginning because I just did not have money or the market to make it. Like, the stuff that I'm most passionate about now, I just couldn't do. I had to start with. I started with a denim jacket. That was, like, the thing I felt strongest about because, you know, it's. It's such an archetypal Americana piece that, like, to be able to add something to the conversation of denim jackets felt really compelling. But if I could have done it my own way, I probably would have started with a suit.

[Interviewer 2]

I mean.

[Interviewer 1]

Yeah.

[Interviewer 2]

So you launched it while you were 20. Said in, like, while you're at Parsons.

[Carter Young]

No, you're at nyu. Yeah. Yeah.

[Interviewer 2]

Did you go to school for design?

[Carter Young]

No.

[Interviewer 2]

Do you think it is. Do you think kids that are hoping to launch a brand should go to fashion school or design school, or should you just watch YouTube tutorials?

[Carter Young]

I mean, it's a different world. Like, I think the problem is, like, now the way you monetize something isn't really from the thing itself anymore. Like, a lot of it, as you guys know, is probably from, like, media promotion or other sales channels that come from, like, creating content around the thing that you're doing. So I would say that, like, in a traditional relationship to a fashion, you know, creative or designer, like, you would study the thing, you would make the thing, you would sell the thing. But now starting a brand is so much more than just that. Like, it's not just. You can make really good product and it will get out there on its own merit. Like, you have to play the game in the machine.

[Interviewer 1]

If you could go back, what would you. What's something you would do differently then with that knowledge now?

[Carter Young]

I mean, I don't know. Like, I think at the time I was like, first starting to make clothes. It was like 2016, I was 18. Like, I was just getting used to things. Yeah, I probably would have documented it better maybe. Like, not like, put on it. No, not more social media necessarily, but like. Yeah, just for my own, like, record and archive. Because, like, a lot of those early days are probably the most interesting parts of the brand for a lot of people. Like, like, how did you go from, you know, living in the Midwest to, like, moving to New York and, you know, starting something? Like, I think.

[Interviewer 2]

Well, that's why you go on podcasts.

[Interviewer 1]

Yeah, that is true.

[Carter Young]

Yeah, exactly.

[Interviewer 1]

You have the medium and the message.

[Carter Young]

Yeah, but I'm obviously like, you know, you. You remember things you want to.

[Interviewer 1]

Oh, true.

[Carter Young]

You know what I mean? Yeah.

[Interviewer 2]

Rose colored glasses.

[Carter Young]

Yeah, exactly.

[Interviewer 2]

Do you feel okay? So besides, like, kind of we. I want to talk about, like, the differential or the. The two sides of the same coin, where it's like the product and the clothing and the business and then also like, the brand.

[Carter Young]

Sure, right.

[Interviewer 2]

Because they are so related, but kind of different. Once you have the product nailed, what is the most important thing on the brand side of things to really lock in?

[Carter Young]

I think the narrative. Like one of the best pieces of advice I ever got when I was like, first starting to get into, you know, clothing design was I was working for Matthew Williams at Elites, and it was like the end of my internship and he's essentially like, what do you want to do in. In clothing? And I was like, I would like to start my own brand one day. He's like. Like, I'm paraphrasing. Like, the world doesn't need more stuff. Like, if you're going to make something, you better have a reason or a narrative or something that you're adding to the conversation. Because otherwise, just go design for someone else.

[Interviewer 1]

Intentionality.

[Carter Young]

Exactly. So, like, you can make a good product, but why not make a good product for someone else if you don't have anything new to say about it?

[Interviewer 1]

There's actually good advice. Shout out, Matthew.

[Carter Young]

There's no shame in that at all. Like, I think it's great, like, to make a great pair of jeans if it doesn't have your label in it, but it's only a pair of jeans. Yeah, go do it for someone else. Like, not everyone needs to start their own brand. There's a lot of headaches. Yeah.

[Interviewer 2]

He's like, are you narcissist? Yeah.

[Carter Young]

Yeah.

[Interviewer 2]

Okay, Start doing shit.

[Interviewer 1]

Do you think there's too many brands right now or are you in favor of, you know.

[Carter Young]

Well, I. I think there's, like. There's an argument to be said that there's this, like, thing happening where brands are getting ultra niche. Like, I think the way the market works now is, like, you become big for one thing, and then they want to see you repeat that.

[Interviewer 2]

Right.

[Carter Young]

You know, and people could argue it's great branding because it comes. Becomes a hallmark of the brand, but it's also, like, I think it can be quite limiting for people. So I'd like to see a lot of younger startup brands try to expand their worldview more than just repeat the same thing. But I think there's always room for more because I think the market's always changing. There's a lot of white spaces I see in the market of stuff that I would have done if I didn't have a brand now.

[Interviewer 2]

Yeah, the elite customer. Hi, I'm Chris Gethard, and I'm very excited to tell you about Beautiful Anonymous, a podcast where I talk to random people on the phone. I tweet out a phone number. Thousands of people try to call, talk to one of them. They stay anonymous. I can't hang up. That's all the rules. I never know what's gonna happen. We get serious ones. I've talked with meth dealers on their way to prison. I've talked to people who survived mass shootings. Crazy, funny ones. I talked to a guy with a goose laugh, Somebody who dresses up as a pirate on the weekends. I never know what's gonna happen. It's a great show. Subscribe today.

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[Interviewer 2]

How often did he show? Did Matthew Williams show his cool head tattoo?

[Carter Young]

I mean, it's on his head. I don't know.

[Interviewer 2]

Was he like, hey, what's up, man? Yeah, just, you know, just right over here.

[Interviewer 1]

What's going on?

[Carter Young]

Yeah, like, you know, one time I came in, he was just sitting around his chair, petty, a cat, Dr.

[Interviewer 1]

Evil style.

[Carter Young]

Yeah, that's a cool headset.

[Interviewer 1]

Was he good boss?

[Carter Young]

Yeah, he was incredibly kind. Like, my Maddie had. Had visited me in Italy when we were both out there and like, he and his then wife and their kids, like, took us to dinner, like, really took care of us.

[Interviewer 1]

Was it a big, small team? Big team.

[Carter Young]

So when I was there, it was in the Slam Jam headquarters. So it was like this.

[Interviewer 2]

It was a Milan.

[Carter Young]

Yeah. No, it was in Ferrara in, like the small.

[Interviewer 1]

Yeah.

[Interviewer 2]

Didn't you, like, work in a church or some?

[Carter Young]

It's not a church. No, I live near a castle.

[Interviewer 2]

Oh, that's sick.

[Interviewer 1]

How do you know you lived near. So I watched.

[Carter Young]

I felt like a surf.

[Interviewer 1]

You live in the castle?

[Interviewer 2]

I watched. Call me by your name.

[Carter Young]

Yeah, after I plow the field, he would let me, you know, hang out.

[Interviewer 2]

By the stove, fuck up the beach.

[Carter Young]

But no, it was, it was, it was a team. Like some of the Slam Jam employees were there and they were about five people that spoke English. So I remember, like, I got this, like, rash and I had to find a dermatologist and no one spoke English. So I had to pantomime my way through like a field.

[Interviewer 2]

You didn't have an iPhone?

[Carter Young]

No, I had an iPhone. But like trans, like you could trans.

[Interviewer 2]

Google, like Translate or anything.

[Carter Young]

I feel like in 2017 that wasn't as prevalent. Maybe you still had to type that.

[Interviewer 1]

We'll have to go to the records for that, but. Okay.

[Carter Young]

Yeah.

[Interviewer 2]

Well, well, real quick. So you talk about how like some it should be as simple as like study the thing, make the thing, sell the thing. But there's so much about like the brand side of it. Do you feel pressure to play the fashion game more so than you already are? Like, we're talking, you know, present in Paris, suck editors, dicks, see product to influencers. You have to design with the trend forecasters. Merchandisers are advising is going to make the hot next season. Or do you think that sticking your guns is like what's gotten you this far and that's what you're going to keep doing?

[Carter Young]

I think like a lot of what we, what we have right now in abundance that maybe some other people don't. You know, it's like kind of a trifecta of things you can have as a business. Like you can either have a lot of money, you can have a lot of manpower and resources, or you can have a lot of creative intention.

[Interviewer 2]

So do you have just intentions?

[Carter Young]

I think we got a great creative intention.

[Interviewer 1]

So much hustle with these guys.

[Carter Young]

Yeah.

[Interviewer 2]

So little money.

[Carter Young]

We know exactly where we want to take the brand, what we want the brand to be.

[Interviewer 2]

Where do you want to take it?

[Carter Young]

I mean, eventually, at its biggest phase, like, we'd love to open a store, we'd love to increase our made to measure tailoring program. We would. I mean, eventually we, you know, we'd like to essentially be the place you go to when you think of just buying a nice pair of pants. Like, I don't want it to necessarily have to be a fashion purchase. I want it to just be, oh, that's a trusted label that I can go to to get things that I want in my wardrobe.

[Interviewer 2]

Wearability.

[Carter Young]

Yeah, wearability.

[Interviewer 1]

Real clothes for real people that give a shit.

[Carter Young]

Yes.

[Interviewer 2]

London store, New York store. Yeah, Detroit store.

[Carter Young]

That's a, that's a debate in the office who's winning. You know, we'll see what we can afford.

[Interviewer 2]

It sounds like, it sounds like from other kind, like like minded brands. It's like London is like the testing ground and like relatively cheaper before you like make the leap into New York, which is just insanely expensive.

[Carter Young]

Yeah, I mean, London is For Zoron, it's a big. There's a picture of Adam Friedland and Zoron together, and Adam's wearing whatever. Oh, really?

[Interviewer 2]

Oh, really?

[Interviewer 1]

Incredible. Well, throw that in the zoo board.

[Carter Young]

Easy, dude.

[Interviewer 1]

Shout out, Adam.

[Carter Young]

Cool picture.

[Interviewer 1]

Shout out cool, Adam.

[Interviewer 2]

Yeah, we need. We need. And then was Zoron wearing his New Yorker nowhere hat?

[Carter Young]

I don't remember.

[Interviewer 1]

But his suit. Supply suit.

[Interviewer 2]

He's wearing a suit. Supply suit.

[Carter Young]

Yeah. It's funny, like, people say London is very expensive. It is expensive. It's a major city. But on average, I would say it's, like, maybe 20% cheaper than it is living here.

[Interviewer 1]

Yeah.

[Carter Young]

And I mean, a lot of that has to do with, like, no tipping. Produce is cheaper. Healthcare is cheaper. Like, there are also.

[Interviewer 2]

It's a geographically bigger city. You don't. Like, people aren't living in the.

[Carter Young]

Yeah, you can spread out. Yeah, you can really spread out. What?

[Interviewer 2]

Okay, so seeing guys like Adam Friedland wearing your shirt, especially Lincoln Zoran, like, that makes you feel good, right? When you see, like, cool people or people respect. Wearing your.

[Carter Young]

Yeah.

[Interviewer 2]

How does it make you feel when you see whack people wearing your. Yeah, because, like, we have this baby all the time, but we.

[Carter Young]

We don't.

[Interviewer 2]

We don't have the perspective of a designer.

[Carter Young]

Yeah. I mean, what did Michael Jordan say?

[Interviewer 1]

Republicans buy sneakers, too.

[Interviewer 2]

That's the mindset.

[Carter Young]

That's how I feel.

[Interviewer 1]

What do you do when you get to the point where, like, in. I don't think you're at this level yet, which is good, I think, but, like, at a certain point, like, you can't control who wears your stuff. You're paying customers, and it's almost like the toothpaste is out of the tube, and it's like something that, like, you know, is that something to be embraced? I think that's a current debate that's happening right now. It's like, should brands lean into a cringe customer?

[Carter Young]

I mean, it's. I don't think it's about the brand leaning into it. I think, like, if you want to buy it, like, it's for sale. I think the difference is, like, when you create the scaffolding of the worldview around the product, like, that's where you have the opportunity to influence who's interested in it. And if you're making decisions that are true to what your brand's vision is, I think the right people will come. And if they don't, then maybe look at what you're putting down from the top.

[Interviewer 1]

Maybe take a hard look in the mirror, bud.

[Carter Young]

I mean, truly to a degree though, because it's all about.

[Interviewer 2]

You're making decisions and strategizing now for further down the road.

[Carter Young]

Correct? Yeah. Everything now is, is laying the groundwork. I mean, everything for the past couple years has been laying the groundwork for. I think any success that you might see now has been a long time in the making.

[Interviewer 2]

Have you ever like sacrificed a big check or like a sure thing or layup for like this for the long term play?

[Carter Young]

Yeah.

[Interviewer 2]

Tell us about it.

[Carter Young]

I can't. If I. If I said no, I can't talk about it.

[Interviewer 2]

What?

[Interviewer 1]

Like, if I said like a, like a maybe. Okay. Whack ass collaboration.

[Carter Young]

It's a lot about like distribution choices.

[Interviewer 2]

Okay.

[Carter Young]

You know, like making the product, not making the product harder to get, but making sure it's in the right doors that are really going to introduce it in the right way.

[Interviewer 1]

Sure.

[Interviewer 2]

So Urban Outfitters, when they came and.

[Carter Young]

Knocked and you're like, sorry, boys, they never knocked.

[Interviewer 2]

Good Kith.

[Carter Young]

They never knocked either.

[Interviewer 2]

All right, you worked at kiss. Yeah, yeah, we can please hear yourself out. No, I'm kidding, I'm kidding, I'm kidding. We respect Ronald and the empire that he's built. We truly do.

[Carter Young]

Yeah.

[Interviewer 2]

And he's collaborating with Stein.

[Carter Young]

Yeah.

[Interviewer 2]

And orally. And some of our favorite brands. What did you.

[Carter Young]

Oh, so is that where this debate came from?

[Interviewer 2]

No, no, that's.

[Interviewer 1]

But it's a kind of, you know, part.

[Interviewer 2]

It's like the ald.

[Interviewer 1]

It's a big debate that's happening online right now.

[Interviewer 2]

There's one. There's one screenshot from a substack that went by.

[Carter Young]

I was gonna say where online?

[Interviewer 1]

Twitter.

[Carter Young]

X.

[Interviewer 1]

There's actually everything.

[Interviewer 2]

There's seven. There's 17 people. There's 17 people talking about it.

[Carter Young]

It. Yeah.

[Interviewer 1]

Now there's a viral tick tock about the London ALD store and a girl talking about, you know, who can afford it.

[Carter Young]

Yeah.

[Interviewer 1]

And what that means for like that person, a tech bro in London or whatever. And then it inspired a little bit of discourse that was talked about for 24 hours.

[Carter Young]

But I missed the discover.

[Interviewer 1]

It's all good.

[Carter Young]

What a shame.

[Interviewer 2]

What did you see while working at Kit that surprised you and left an impression?

[Carter Young]

So when I was working there, I think it was 2015 or 16.

[Interviewer 2]

Okay.

[Carter Young]

And I was working street wears golden era. Yeah.

[Interviewer 1]

Soundcloud era.

[Carter Young]

I came in the first day like I had braces and I was wearing a pair of boots. Joggers.

[Interviewer 2]

Sorry, were you wearing joggers?

[Carter Young]

No. I tried to look, you know, really nice. Supreme. Bogo. Yeah, exactly. No, you weren't allowed to wear that.

[Interviewer 1]

You had braces.

[Interviewer 2]

Really? You couldn't wear Supreme?

[Carter Young]

No. You couldn't have frame.

[Interviewer 2]

Did you have to wear kith?

[Carter Young]

No. But you couldn't wear Supreme.

[Interviewer 2]

Wow. Could you wear. I guess LD wasn't really big back then.

[Carter Young]

I also think Ronnie, like, was friends with Teddy, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. They're boys.

[Interviewer 2]

Yeah.

[Carter Young]

No, I had braces until, like, senior year of high school.

[Interviewer 2]

Damn. Were you not. Were you ugly in high school?

[Carter Young]

I don't think I was ugly.

[Interviewer 2]

When'd you get hot?

[Interviewer 1]

Always the year I turned pretty.

[Carter Young]

What do you mean? I have a good personality. Which means way later. Yeah, yeah.

[Interviewer 2]

Okay, so you wrote. So you roll up to kith and braces and not wearing supreme because you're not allowed to.

[Carter Young]

Yeah. And I was wearing, like, nice shoes. And I remember. Remember Nick. Nick Anacone was like, do you wear those every day?

[Interviewer 2]

What do you mean, nice shoes?

[Carter Young]

Yeah, I was wearing a pair of, like, suede boots.

[Interviewer 1]

Like, okay.

[Carter Young]

Shoes that was. I'm like, I'm going to my first real, like, internship.

[Interviewer 2]

Okay. Not, like, sneakers or, like.

[Carter Young]

Yeah.

[Interviewer 1]

And he's like, cool guy boots.

[Interviewer 2]

Not anything from the 10s.

[Carter Young]

Yo. It was probably like. No, this was back when people wearing, like, the camel suede Chelsea boot.

[Interviewer 1]

Like, oh, the Bottega joints.

[Interviewer 2]

Oh, really? Okay.

[Carter Young]

This is like the Yeezus tour. You know what I'm talking about?

[Interviewer 1]

Yeah, no, I. I know.

[Interviewer 2]

This is like Kanye apc.

[Carter Young]

Yes, Kanye. I actually.

[Interviewer 1]

Yeah, PC.

[Carter Young]

That's like, a perfect distillation of what was going on.

[Interviewer 2]

Which now all the mood boards, like, yo, you guys remember, like, you don't remember this because this is ancient history.

[Carter Young]

The short sleeve hoodie.

[Interviewer 1]

Yeah.

[Carter Young]

Oh, no, that's crazy.

[Interviewer 2]

That was bad.

[Carter Young]

Yeah.

[Interviewer 2]

But when I was the 90. White tea. Yeah, that was crazy.

[Interviewer 1]

Yeah, it was out of control with the skeletons or whatever on it.

[Interviewer 2]

Yeah, no, no, it was just a white tea.

[Carter Young]

No, it was just. It was. Oh, it was a tall scoop tea. Right?

[Podcast Host]

It.

[Interviewer 2]

Maybe a butt wipe tea.

[Interviewer 1]

I think it was like a stretched, like, almost boat neck.

[Carter Young]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. But I remember there was a graphic tea, though.

[Interviewer 2]

But this was butt wipe tea era, to be clear.

[Carter Young]

Got it.

[Interviewer 2]

With the. The baseball shirt.

[Carter Young]

Oh, yeah.

[Interviewer 1]

Curved him.

[Carter Young]

Yeah, yeah.

[Interviewer 2]

Okay, so you're. So you're at Kiff anyway, with your braces and your cool menswear fit.

[Carter Young]

Yeah, it was, like, real cool. I'd probably still wear that shit. Well. Well, mainly made.

[Interviewer 2]

Were you there for the summer you got clowns.

[Carter Young]

Yeah. You're a clown. On my first day.

[Interviewer 2]

What do you wear on day two?

[Carter Young]

Sneakers.

[Interviewer 1]

Okay.

[Carter Young]

Hell, yeah. But then.

[Interviewer 2]

Yeah, presto.

[Interviewer 1]

What?

[Interviewer 2]

You spent a summer there?

[Carter Young]

Yeah.

[Interviewer 2]

What was, like, the biggest thing you left with or maybe that surprised you and left an impression on you?

[Carter Young]

There were quite a few things. Like, Nick at the time, like, it was still in the back of atrium. So I was. I was spending time with, like, Thomas I cannot. Who is their head of special projects for years. And then Nick Thomas. Yeah. Really nice dudes. And, like, there's a designer there named Christian Figueroa. And, like, he was the one who originally taught me how to use Illustrator. Like, I was just spending time in all the departments because I was an intern. And, like, I spent a lot of time in the stock room with, like, these guys, Mac and Kadim, and, like, just seeing how a store ran. I didn't know anything.

[Interviewer 1]

Right.

[Carter Young]

They were telling me about what brands move. They were telling me about where they put it in the store and the positioning. And Lucas, at the time, the store manager was like. Like, we put this here because this is where, you know, it draws people in, and they have to walk past these.

[Interviewer 1]

Merchandising 101.

[Carter Young]

Exactly. And I also learned about range planning because it was when they were launching their first womenswear collection. So it was about, like, how you launch a new extension of a brand. Like, they never done women's wear. So it was all about, what does it mean for, you know, the Kith womenswear line?

[Interviewer 2]

Hire Emily Oberg. Yeah.

[Carter Young]

Pre Emily Oberg.

[Interviewer 1]

Okay.

[Interviewer 2]

I thought you.

[Interviewer 1]

Okay.

[Interviewer 2]

She was the first creative director. So this was like.

[Carter Young]

Like, no. Yeah.

[Interviewer 1]

For women still.

[Carter Young]

Ronnie was. Was still doing Gotcha. Yeah.

[Interviewer 1]

Which is why we need to bring in Emily.

[Interviewer 2]

How did.

[Interviewer 1]

All right. Bringing the hot girl.

[Carter Young]

What do you mean? What do you mean?

[Interviewer 2]

So you learned everything from merchandising to inventory to design.

[Carter Young]

Yeah, yeah.

[Interviewer 1]

True statement. Without Kith, there's no car. Young.

[Carter Young]

I want to go that.

[Interviewer 2]

Okay.

[Carter Young]

All right. I mean, like, yeah, a lot of those connections, like. Like. Like I mentioned with, you know, Thomas and everyone, like, like, that helped me get my foot in the door, but I think I would have still been down that pathway without working there.

[Interviewer 2]

Did you ever use the employee discount.

[Carter Young]

Maybe? Yeah, I think I did. I think about, like, a sweatshirt.

[Interviewer 2]

What do you call it? Mercer pants. Yeah.

[Interviewer 1]

Get fresh and some Mercer trowel.

[Carter Young]

No, I bought. There was this brand. It was called, like, older brother or something.

[Interviewer 2]

Brother, Brother, Brother, Brother.

[Interviewer 1]

Yeah.

[Interviewer 2]

They were around Back then.

[Carter Young]

Yeah. Brother Brother sweatshirt.

[Interviewer 2]

I think they're from Detroit.

[Carter Young]

No way.

[Interviewer 1]

I think they are.

[Carter Young]

That's crazy.

[Interviewer 2]

I think they're one of these, like, like, inspired by, like, American workwear manufacturing in Michigan.

[Carter Young]

Detroit. Yeah. Since I was born, I had the idea for Carter Young. You know, it just oozed out.

[Interviewer 1]

Came out the womb with a business with a range plan.

[Carter Young]

To be denim focus.

[Interviewer 1]

Right.

[Interviewer 2]

What was your favorite kith treat.

[Carter Young]

Since you were a child?

[Interviewer 1]

You predate the treats then. No, yeah, yeah.

[Carter Young]

I remember when he was just bringing cereal in the store and I was.

[Interviewer 1]

Like, cereal man was in his box, dude.

[Carter Young]

Yeah.

[Interviewer 2]

Grown men buying sneakers for children. Why not give them food that's meant for it?

[Carter Young]

Made sense that I embrace this. Like, I fit right in.

[Interviewer 1]

Target market.

[Interviewer 2]

What was. Okay. What else? Okay. Kith Elix urban. Did you work anywhere else that, like, really formed the Carter Young man helmet.

[Carter Young]

Laying for a little bit. And like, I've always had a love of old helmet lang. Like, like, studied that stuff for a long time. And then when I was there, Alexander Plokov was still designing.

[Interviewer 1]

Oh, that's right. It was before New York ledge.

[Carter Young]

Yeah, it was before they brought in, like, the archive line. So I was still friends with some of the people who are working there. And when that happened, I got to, like, work on that a little bit, which was quite interesting.

[Interviewer 1]

The reissue stuff, right?

[Carter Young]

Yeah, correct, the reissue stuff. But, like, yeah, I would say that was pretty formative from another side of, like, seeing a large scale fashion business. Before I went went, you know, to work for Matthew in Italy. Then I did like a couple stints other places. But that's pretty much like.

[Interviewer 1]

That's the resume.

[Carter Young]

Yeah, I mean, everything else was just like a short, you know, market assistant.

[Interviewer 2]

Kith helmet. Elix Urban pants.

[Carter Young]

Carter Young, more or less.

[Interviewer 1]

What a journey, dude. Yeah, what a journey.

[Carter Young]

I mean, there was. There was a stint at the Row and a stint at Louis Vuitton. What do you do for a couple months?

[Interviewer 2]

No, for real.

[Carter Young]

Yeah.

[Interviewer 2]

What were you doing there?

[Carter Young]

I was. There was this woman named Jade and I was her market assistant. So she was helping your steaming clothes? No, it was more like photography.

[Interviewer 1]

Oh, wow.

[Carter Young]

Yeah, it was like she was photographing all of the looks every season in the showroom, and I was just her general assistant. But some of my best friends in New York I met while working at.

[Interviewer 1]

That internship as a young go hard with an amazing up and coming brand. What are your thoughts on, like, the row? Obviously different price point, but, like, look at their men's stuff. A lot of basics, essentials, some of the rude Americana. What are your thoughts on?

[Carter Young]

I think it's beautiful. I think they. The creative direction is incredible. And I think, like, the product is really nice. I think it's like, I wouldn't buy any of it. It's far too expensive for me. And like, especially being someone that produces clothing, it's cool. I get it. Like, you're paying for the brand vision and if you can afford it, I think it's good stuff.

[Interviewer 1]

But, like, I know the market.

[Carter Young]

It just doesn't connect.

[Interviewer 2]

I was gonna say as someone that knows the cost of producing and selling, like, do you look at a lot of brands? We don't have to name names unless you want. And we're just like, like, like that is only cost, you know, 3x what it should because of like the brand and the, the tag attached to. Besides the obvious, like high fashion houses. Is that prevalent in today's world?

[Carter Young]

Yeah. Maddie and Adam will tell you. If I walk into a store, I can get pretty catty. Oh, yeah. Like, if I touch something and I'm like, this isn't what it should be. Or like, this is wrong. But I'm not going to say that on air.

[Interviewer 1]

Right?

[Interviewer 2]

Like, not the brands.

[Carter Young]

No, no, but it is.

[Interviewer 2]

But it is. But it is prevalent in like today's world where it was like, you are paying for the brand and the tag, not necessarily the product itself.

[Carter Young]

I think it's more than that. Like, I think it is just about the degradation of like, what consumers are willing to accept for their money. Like, I think online shopping has really ruined people's abilities to judge. Like a nice fabric versus a not nice fabric.

[Interviewer 2]

You can make any. Anything look good online.

[Carter Young]

Yeah, that's what I'm saying.

[Interviewer 1]

Most people do that. That's all they do.

[Carter Young]

That's what I'm saying.

[Interviewer 2]

That's what we can't do.

[Interviewer 1]

That's what we have.

[Interviewer 2]

We have not figured it out yet.

[Interviewer 1]

This is the best value.

[Carter Young]

Looks.

[Interviewer 2]

Yeah. Looks like shit online. Great. On.

[Interviewer 1]

So nice.

[Carter Young]

I mean, honestly, like, most of what it takes to win as a fashion business is how good you are at figuring out your logistics and making and removing the friction between seeing something online and the purchase. Yeah.

[Interviewer 2]

Before they cancel the order.

[Interviewer 1]

Yeah.

[Carter Young]

If you deliver it too late.

[Interviewer 2]

Too late. Delivered, delivered.

[Interviewer 1]

No backseats, no back chargeback window has expired.

[Carter Young]

Hardest part, like, you know, like getting your product out to people. You can have a great operations. The operations, like what Adam does is incredibly integral to what's made this business grow.

[Interviewer 1]

But the Art of hand feel is like lost on a generation of Genesis.

[Carter Young]

More so than handfield. It's also fit. Like I think people look at things flat or they look at things on a model and they know one measurement on their body and they don't really think about the rest of them.

[Interviewer 1]

And I think model is 7 to 113 pounds and wears a size XL.

[Carter Young]

Which is like very average. Like that's the normal. But like for some reason people get it wrong.

[Interviewer 2]

Well, I do think a lot of brands designed for like the perfect fit model, not just like regular guys.

[Carter Young]

Yeah. You can kind of tell, like some brands have different fit models and like the average height of. Or the average height. Height at Urban Outfitters for a fit model was 5, 10. Like that was the height that's above average. Right.

[Interviewer 1]

For actual demographics of Americans. Right.

[Carter Young]

I think I would say that's above average. Yeah. But high fashion houses, it's usually like six, one.

[Interviewer 1]

Okay.

[Carter Young]

You know what I mean? With like.

[Interviewer 2]

Yeah, it's more a seven foot wingspan.

[Interviewer 1]

Yes.

[Interviewer 2]

And it's a waist.

[Interviewer 1]

36 inch, 30 waist.

[Interviewer 2]

You're hot. Why don't you make yourself the face of the brand?

[Interviewer 1]

Yeah.

[Interviewer 2]

What's.

[Interviewer 1]

Yeah.

[Carter Young]

Well, thank you. I've never heard that before.

[Interviewer 2]

You've always been hot. You've always had a great person, even with the braces.

[Carter Young]

I.

[Interviewer 2]

It's not for me really, but like, this is this.

[Interviewer 1]

You talked about some press in the past doing this. Are you trying actively maybe as the brand grows, like get out there as more of like a guy?

[Carter Young]

Not necessarily. Like, I think, you know, I like talking to you guys and I think like, you've known me for a lot of years, so I figured that when we were going to talk about something, it was going to be an interesting conversation and like, man.

[Interviewer 2]

What do you think so far?

[Interviewer 1]

Yeah, what's the review?

[Carter Young]

It's doing okay, I think. I think. Close the dose.

[Interviewer 2]

Oh, shit. We forgot to hit record.

[Carter Young]

Damn. We gotta start. Oh, that was intentional. But I think like, if. If this wasn't like video recorded, I probably feel more comfortable.

[Interviewer 1]

You gotta pay for that, so don't worry.

[Interviewer 2]

Yeah, don't worry about that.

[Interviewer 1]

It's only a couple thousand people.

[Carter Young]

I'm not gonna clip online.

[Interviewer 1]

Was there ever.

[Interviewer 2]

Was there ever like talk between like you, Adam, Maddie about like, hey, like you should be. Because a lot of, a lot of times now it's the brand side of things, right. Where it's like, hey, the designer kind of has to be like the guy.

[Carter Young]

Or the girl behind 100.

[Interviewer 2]

And there was talk in the Carter Young business about. And we were just like, nah.

[Carter Young]

Yeah, pretty much. Like, what about Adam?

[Interviewer 2]

He's hot.

[Carter Young]

Adam's so hot. Yeah, Adam, like, you know, here's our hot logistics guy. Yeah.

[Interviewer 2]

Here's our hot op.

[Carter Young]

That's.

[Interviewer 1]

That's our story.

[Interviewer 2]

My ops are hot.

[Carter Young]

Everyone who works at Carter Young is hot.

[Interviewer 1]

Yeah.

[Carter Young]

It's not a prerequisite. It's just how it works.

[Interviewer 2]

Okay.

[Interviewer 1]

It's just the universe.

[Interviewer 2]

Even Julian Julius.

[Carter Young]

Yeah, he's hot.

[Interviewer 2]

Julius.

[Carter Young]

Yeah.

[Interviewer 2]

Yeah. What about Adam, though? Has it ever been.

[Carter Young]

No, I'm saying that, like, you know, Adam used to model for me.

[Interviewer 1]

Right.

[Interviewer 2]

But why don't you make him like the face?

[Carter Young]

I mean, the people that know he is the face. That's what I'm saying.

[Interviewer 2]

Like, people.

[Carter Young]

Like, sometimes there are buyers from stores who may say, who's that guy who works for you? He's kind of a cutie.

[Interviewer 1]

Can I say less?

[Interviewer 2]

I'll sweeten the deal. If Adam eats me out, I'll pit out.

[Interviewer 1]

I'll pip out Adam.

[Carter Young]

I prefer to see it more as, like, uniting houses.

[Interviewer 2]

Oh, sure.

[Carter Young]

Not so vulgar.

[Interviewer 1]

Right. Moving from outside of the castle, it inside, if you're lucky.

[Carter Young]

Yeah.

[Interviewer 2]

Crossing the moat.

[Carter Young]

Yeah, it's kind of like 1066, you know, I'm a student of love. Adam.

[Interviewer 2]

We'll have Adam till your land.

[Interviewer 1]

Yeah, but sure, but on some real shit, you have no interest in being like, I'm a guy out here.

[Carter Young]

Certainly. I think that that's inevitable. Like, it's endemic to what I chose. I named my brand after myself.

[Interviewer 2]

Yeah, true.

[Carter Young]

Yeah. There's no hiding from it. It's just like, I would rather people get interested in what I'm working on and then if they come to find me later, that's fine.

[Interviewer 1]

I don't want them. Yeah, I get it.

[Interviewer 2]

Why sell them like milk when you whatever the fucking cow for free or whatever.

[Carter Young]

That's a, you know, dude. 100%. Yeah.

[Interviewer 1]

I'm dairy free and I'm lactose.

[Interviewer 2]

What's your favorite part of the job?

[Carter Young]

I think that the coolest thing that we get to do is, like, hang out professionally. Like, you know, it's a reason to be in the room with people I find more interesting or more talented than me. And it's like, if there's something in culture that we're interested in, we now have an avenue, like, similar to you guys. We're where you get to be like, oh, let's intersect, let's talk, let's be around. So I think it's like. Yeah. Having a reason to be with these.

[Interviewer 1]

People is the job, is the gateway, the vessel.

[Carter Young]

100%. We always say that fashion as a creative medium is really tied to an economic engine, more so than being a fine artist or being a musician, where you can put out an album when you're ready for it, or you can put an art show when you're ready. Every six months, I have to deliver a new collection. Yeah, it's like, I don't know.

[Interviewer 2]

Fine art, maybe, huh?

[Carter Young]

No, I mean, fucking. I just mean in the sense of like. I mean, like a regimented.

[Interviewer 2]

Okay.

[Carter Young]

Yes. Yeah.

[Interviewer 2]

Okay. It is structured. There's a calendar.

[Carter Young]

Correct. Yeah. I mean, I know what you mean. Fine art, money laundering. But, like, we always say that we're trying to build somewhere is the. Is the economic engine that allows us to, like, support people that we find more creative or more interesting, but maybe don't have the instinct to, like, create something of their own. And, like, that is the best part of the job. 100%.

[Interviewer 2]

What's the worst part of the job?

[Carter Young]

Taxes.

[Interviewer 1]

Yeah.

[Interviewer 2]

Is that really why you moved to the uk?

[Carter Young]

No, I pay tax in two countries.

[Interviewer 2]

Oh, you fucking idiot.

[Carter Young]

Move back. Yeah. No.

[Interviewer 2]

Or corporate over there.

[Carter Young]

Going somewhere else. Yeah.

[Interviewer 2]

What are you doing? Go design in Switzerland like Demna.

[Carter Young]

I don't think that's going to be any better. I think those taxes are, like, insanely high.

[Interviewer 2]

Oh, fuck.

[Carter Young]

You're right.

[Interviewer 1]

Yeah.

[Interviewer 2]

But you can have no taxes, right?

[Carter Young]

Currently on Turkey, Caicos.

[Interviewer 1]

Yeah.

[Interviewer 2]

Cayman Islands.

[Carter Young]

Yeah.

[Interviewer 1]

There you go.

[Carter Young]

Okay.

[Interviewer 1]

Something like that.

[Interviewer 2]

That. Yeah, let's talk about. Yeah, we talked about the major measure a little bit. How did it come about that you designed George XCX's wedding suit?

[Carter Young]

So I would say, like, about three years ago, Maddie was doing research and she noticed that the 1975 on their last tour were wearing a ton of, like, I guess, really sartorially influenced outfits. And she looked into the creative director, and it's this woman, Patricia Villarillo, who. Who is an incredible creative director and stylist. And Maddie's like, you should really reach out to her and see if she wants to do something, because at the time, I was trying to move more into tailoring. So about three, two and a half years ago, we met here in New York at the Mercer Hotel. We just kind of had, like, fucking.

[Interviewer 2]

Kanye and Jay Z.

[Interviewer 1]

Your own Watch the Throne.

[Carter Young]

That's pretty much what it was, but I wasn't gonna say it, so I'm happy you guys did. But, like, watch the suit. Yeah. Yeah, we kind of had like a general meeting where it's like, I'd love to work with you on something, but wasn't really sure what it was going to be. And then over the next two years we've worked on various projects and like, you know, she gave me the opportunity to do some custom tailoring for the band. And then for 97. Yeah, we dressed them at their Glastonbury lining set. And then when it came time for George's wedding, like, you know, she, she was like, do you want to make something custom? And we collaborated and worked on it for about eight months together with Patty and George.

[Interviewer 1]

And then they're like dialing the fit and the details, like what, what takes eight months?

[Carter Young]

Yeah. So essentially his touring schedule was really tough, so I fit him. Once we got some fit suits made, then it was refitting those, finding the fabrics he liked. So we did a second fitting with some new samples and then a third fitting, but it just happened to be spread out.

[Interviewer 2]

Were there any special details to his suit besides finding the exact fabric that he wanted?

[Carter Young]

Yeah, I mean the fabric is kind of lets the drape sing. But we did two suits. So the, the six by one double breasted that we did is actually a similar archetype to what we did for our collaboration tuxedo and with your collaboration with Patricia. Exactly, yeah. And then the single breasted suit is based on our kind of relaxed single breasted fit and we did the house cut.

[Interviewer 2]

Why didn't you get an invite to the wedding?

[Carter Young]

Must have been lost in the Royal mail, you know.

[Interviewer 1]

Yeah, totally, dude. Yeah.

[Interviewer 2]

Do you think that the next morning, the suit, suit. Did the suit survive the night or was it like, you know, thrash covered in cigarette burns?

[Carter Young]

You know, from all the pictures I've seen, he wore it, including the jacket, all night.

[Interviewer 2]

Yeah.

[Interviewer 1]

Look at that. Great. It's a good sign of a good.

[Carter Young]

So comfortable.

[Interviewer 1]

Right. Of course you also did so well.

[Interviewer 2]

You also did a custom suit for the homie, Conrad K. The co creator of industry.

[Carter Young]

Yeah, right.

[Interviewer 2]

For the BAFTAs. Is that right?

[Carter Young]

I believe he wore it there, but I, I think we just made it in it. Generally, how did you go everywhere? Conrad was one of our first customers.

[Interviewer 2]

Wow, that's tasty.

[Carter Young]

Yeah. When, when I was still living in Philadelphia and you're still designing pants for Urban Outfitters. I was still designing pants for Urban Outfitters and I think when we moved to the uk, Adam was kind of like looking up our customers to see if anyone was based in London just to let them know that we were out there and he saw Conrad and he's like, oh, this guy's got money. Yeah. Like, we're close to each other. We should, we should hit him up.

[Interviewer 2]

Did you know who he was? Or you're just like, oh, a UK customer.

[Carter Young]

UK customer.

[Interviewer 1]

Oh, wow.

[Carter Young]

Yeah, he, at the time, I mean, we then looked him up after and we were like, oh, oh, he works. Yeah.

[Interviewer 2]

He's been on Throne twice, two and a half times.

[Interviewer 1]

Created the best show of the past decade.

[Carter Young]

Two and a half times?

[Interviewer 1]

Yes.

[Interviewer 2]

We had Nick and we had Mick and Khan on twice. And then one time Khan was in New York just by himself. So we did kind of like a Friday fiasch. We call it just like a paywall 30, 45 minute episode.

[Interviewer 1]

Yeah, chill hang.

[Interviewer 2]

Because it's between seasons.

[Carter Young]

And it was like, yeah, yeah, yeah, dude, incredible friend. Like, it's been great to get to, like, know him as he's working on the last season and like, week seems intense.

[Interviewer 1]

Great show.

[Interviewer 2]

Can you give us any spoilers?

[Carter Young]

No.

[Interviewer 2]

So we talked about how like, the, the made to measure suiting is like a pretty thing you guys are dialing in on, but you also have this collaboration capsule with Patricia Villarillo. Is that how you say it?

[Carter Young]

Yeah, Villarillo. You pronounce everything. We call her Patty.

[Interviewer 2]

Patty. How is this like another kind of like, revenue stream and just like long term creative partnership when you link up with stylists and image makers?

[Carter Young]

Honestly, this collaboration happened super organically. Like I mentioned, Maddie was the one who originally got interested in her work and tipped her off, or tipped me off to what she was working on. And then as we started working together, we found out we had all these shared references, reference points in common, and obviously from her perspective, she's dressing some of the biggest bands in the world in tailoring. And I'm also just looking for suits for people's occasions, references helping people get dressed. And so we're both out there looking for tuxedos and we, we can't find what we're looking for. Like her from brands and then me from vintage or like what's on the market on a consumer level. And that's kind of how we started talking about, like, we obviously dress some of the most interesting, like, you know, rock bands in the world. Like, what if we made every guy feel the same way? Like these, these bands. So we came up with what we thought was like, the perfect tuxedo and the perfect fabric and the perfect fit. And it took two and a half years to dial in. And then Engineer the pricing so that it's a reasonable opening price point.

[Interviewer 2]

Is it around the same, like 1200?

[Carter Young]

Yeah, yeah, that's am using. It's around there. 1200 pounds. 1200 pounds, right, right. Clarify sterling and then that includes the made to measure price and then figuring out how to do made to measure logistics. Like, while it sounds more business, opp side of the business, like, I do think that's part of the creative partnership was like not only making the product, but then figuring out how people were going to get the product. Right.

[Interviewer 2]

How does it work?

[Carter Young]

So essentially, if you're in London, you come into the studio and you get measured. If you're in New York, we send you to a tailor that you know, we trust. And if you're anywhere else. Yeah, exactly. Necessary. We do a virtual consultation. We show you how to measure yourself and talk you through what you want.

[Interviewer 1]

It's a crazy value prop because. And not to, you know, prevent anyone from owning multiple tuxedos, it's really. Despite being close horses, you know, that's. You only need one. If assuming you know, your body stays relatively the same, that's like you're good forever, hypothetically, which is like. So what you're offering is. That's kind of crazy.

[Carter Young]

Well, I think it's.

[Interviewer 1]

You're losing money, bro.

[Carter Young]

Yeah, I'm losing. I'm losing money coming out of crazy, crazy Carters.

[Interviewer 1]

Everything must go.

[Carter Young]

I. I think that's like, in the most, like, grandiose version of what I'm trying to offer. It's like a new relationship between producer and consumer where you feel that when you buy something, you're not getting ripped off. Like in modern life. I feel like I'm getting ripped off all the time.

[Interviewer 2]

You are.

[Interviewer 1]

It's a cruising altitude of existence.

[Carter Young]

Exactly. And I'm like, I'm pretty sick of it. So as someone who's producing things, like, it's kind of, I guess my right to be able to say maybe we'll cut our margins a little bit if we can make something that's actually a more fair product. I'm not saying it's.

[Interviewer 2]

I was going to say, if that's a driving philosophy of the brand, does that mean that you're. You're kind of like, limiting the growth?

[Carter Young]

I wouldn't say I'm limiting the growth necessarily. I'm limiting, like perhaps investor interest or like margin on paper, but I think actually it's inhibiting, I mean, exacerbating growth. Like, I think, think.

[Interviewer 2]

Have you ever had to turn on an investor bag because they were like, we need you to grow 10x quarter.

[Carter Young]

Over quarter for different reasons. But yeah, I've turned something down.

[Interviewer 2]

It was like Saudi money or something. Like, yo, come, come be a tailor to Riyadh.

[Carter Young]

You missed my show at Riyadh.

[Interviewer 1]

Yeah, you crushed it, dude.

[Interviewer 2]

Yeah, Riyadh fashion.

[Carter Young]

It was big. Yeah, yeah. Shout out. Shout out to my friend Rod Al Jabril.

[Interviewer 1]

Yeah.

[Interviewer 2]

Can we get front row seats the next Riyadh show?

[Interviewer 1]

Yeah, we'll be there with bells on. Dude, I don't care. I don't have no ethics.

[Carter Young]

Yeah, yeah, it depends. You're gonna do the Real Comedy Week.

[Interviewer 2]

Make the, the rap shirts, but it'll be actual journalist blood.

[Carter Young]

You know, that's crazy.

[Interviewer 1]

All right, okay, that's a joke.

[Interviewer 2]

What are we talking about here?

[Carter Young]

Yeah, you just specify. Yeah. So you're just doing tuxedos in this collaboration? We're doing the, the two piece tuxedo. So a jacket and a pair of trousers, a double pleated trouser. And we took one of Patty's vintage T shirts and recreated it like perfectly, including rips at the shoulders and like the best wash. And so you're meant to wear the tuxedo with a beat up T shirt.

[Interviewer 1]

High, low, Rockstar, as you said.

[Carter Young]

That's what I'm saying.

[Interviewer 2]

Are you seeing like these like, brand and then call them stylists, call them creative directors, image makers. Like we're. It feels like it's maybe a burgeoning like, like partnership because it is not. You're not working necessarily with the celebrity, but you're working with the person that like. Yeah, created the celebs.

[Carter Young]

I mean, image. We have an incredible like, like network of, of stylists that we work with who are really talented at creating the world. Like, you know, people talk about celebrity. It's kind of the front line of like, you know, modern, you know, coffee shop culture of like talking about just like the one piece of monoculture we have left.

[Interviewer 1]

Yeah, but it's famous folk.

[Carter Young]

Yeah, exactly. We work with like, you know, Patricia. We work with like Michael Fisher, Felicity K. Rose Ford, Kit Swan, like this incredible list of talents. And like, like they're shaping the visual culture of these celebrities wardrobes, which in turn trickles down to like when people come in and get a suit, they're showing me pictures of their favorite celebrity. So yeah, I'd consider it. Like, I don't know if it's a new frontier. Like, I think these relationships existed a lot more in the past as well. But I think it's an interesting one. Yeah.

[Interviewer 2]

Do you like it when guys come in and like, hey, I want to look like Jacob already? And you're like, I can me, I can maybe help you get there. But, like, you gotta kind of hit the gym, bro.

[Carter Young]

I mean, it's like, I think when guys come in and they say that it's often not because they want to look like Jacob Elordi's body type, but it's because they don't understand what about what he's wearing they're interested in. So bearing that out of, like, figuring out, is it the lapel that you're interested?

[Interviewer 1]

Right.

[Carter Young]

And then, like, making them feel good is actually.

[Interviewer 2]

Sorry, bro. You're kind of ugly. I hate to break you, but you gotta work with what God gave you.

[Carter Young]

No, I can work with anything.

[Interviewer 2]

Oh, he is God.

[Interviewer 1]

Yeah, right.

[Carter Young]

No, I think, like, anyone can look great in a suit if it fits right.

[Interviewer 1]

That's so true. That is facts.

[Carter Young]

But if it doesn't fit right, I mean, I can't help.

[Interviewer 1]

You're going to look even worse. You're already ugly in this scenario.

[Interviewer 2]

You're going to hate the way you look, I guarantee you.

[Interviewer 1]

Yeah.

[Interviewer 2]

Who's your dream collaborative partner besides Patricia? Patty?

[Carter Young]

Yeah. I think. I mean, there's a lot of things I'd like to do in terms of collaborations. Like, there's things in the fashion world that would be interesting. There's things in the art world. There's like, literary things I'd be interested in, I think.

[Interviewer 2]

Achiever Estate.

[Carter Young]

Yeah, exactly. I do think that those types of things would be quite interesting. But I guess on a large scale, probably someone that could affect or get my work into the hands of a lot more people. So maybe like Urban Outfitters? Yeah, maybe like a Levi's or a Gap. Oh, sure.

[Interviewer 2]

Leo, if you're listening.

[Carter Young]

Yeah, Calvin, if you're listening. Eventually, those are places that I'd really love to try my hand when it comes to.

[Interviewer 1]

Because you haven't done a lot of collabs, right?

[Carter Young]

Yeah.

[Interviewer 1]

Now there's the footwear.

[Carter Young]

Yeah, we've done a few footwear.

[Interviewer 1]

Right. So when it. When you were talking about these, like, dream partners, is it just like, James and I debate a lot about what makes a good collab, and I. I don't think it's like rocket science or anything, but, like, how do you. How do you approach collaboration?

[Carter Young]

I think, like, there are two general, like, ways to approach a collaboration in my mind. One is, like, if you're trying to enter a new product category, you can test that product category, doing a collaboration.

[Interviewer 2]

And if, like, you don't have the expertise of the operations, like, like do footwear, for example.

[Carter Young]

Like, if someone does it, the best, just go to them. Sure. And the other one is like a world building.

[Interviewer 2]

Said that.

[Carter Young]

How do you mean?

[Interviewer 2]

He's like, why design your own? You could design the jeans for them.

[Carter Young]

Yeah. Crazy. I don't know.

[Interviewer 2]

And then he went like this.

[Interviewer 1]

I never heard that before.

[Carter Young]

Yeah, I don't know about this.

[Interviewer 1]

And that's. On God.

[Interviewer 2]

So entering. Entering a new product category.

[Carter Young]

Yeah, entering a new product category or like a world building thing, like outside of your traditional domain. Trying to get a new audience, audience share, audience there. And so, like, I think when I'm approaching a collaboration, it's like, all right, what do I. What am I not good at doing historically? Or what have I never done before? I'll seek someone out who's an expert in that field. Or it's like, oh, man. What musician would be amazing to like, work with interest?

[Interviewer 2]

Carter Young, Fortnite. Coming soon.

[Interviewer 1]

Yeah, yeah.

[Carter Young]

Incredible.

[Interviewer 1]

That'd be a banger, bro.

[Carter Young]

I'd love to pay more. Riyadh Fashion Week or Fortnite.

[Interviewer 2]

Carter Young, formerly former. Former prince Andrew. Coming soon.

[Interviewer 1]

Yeah, yeah. Three way.

[Carter Young]

I don't think I can handle that. That's great.

[Interviewer 2]

Would you ever dress a prince?

[Carter Young]

Yeah, sure. How many. How many princes are there left?

[Interviewer 1]

There's probably a lot.

[Interviewer 2]

Saudi Arabia, A shitload.

[Carter Young]

Yeah. Damn. Well, yeah. What qualifies a prince? Like, I don't.

[Interviewer 2]

I don't know.

[Carter Young]

Yeah, I mean, yeah, you're a prince.

[Interviewer 1]

In my eyes, dude.

[Carter Young]

You're king.

[Interviewer 1]

Don't worry about it.

[Interviewer 2]

King Carter. Why don't you just drop some logo? Some Carter Young logo. Just cash in, though.

[Carter Young]

I never thought about that. That's crazy. Come on.

[Interviewer 2]

Come on, Cya.

[Carter Young]

See you. Yeah, just like, you know, you gotta like, you know, you gotta like how you win. I just don't think I. I like products like that.

[Interviewer 2]

Was that another. Has that ever been a conversation in the cardio offices where it eventually got shot down, but, like, it was.

[Carter Young]

I made a logo sweatshirt when I was like, 20. There's like three of them.

[Interviewer 1]

Yo.

[Carter Young]

Rare. Yeah. So if you find one.

[Interviewer 2]

Didn't the quarter.

[Interviewer 1]

Does a quarter zip have a little. Had a little embroidery? It did have a little banger, but it's like, tasteful. I wear that. I love that.

[Carter Young]

Thanks. Yeah, I think, like, I'm not opposed to branding hits. It's just like. It's just not what I'm into right now maybe I'll change some hats.

[Interviewer 2]

Just some cardio hats.

[Interviewer 1]

I buy a hat for sure.

[Carter Young]

Thanks, guys. Yeah, good to know.

[Interviewer 1]

That's about it.

[Interviewer 2]

If I can collab. I've never done hats before, but we'll collab.

[Carter Young]

If I'm selling a hat, then, you know, I need the money.

[Interviewer 1]

Really? You wear hats, do you not? You're not a hat guy. You have a beautiful haircut.

[Carter Young]

Thank you. I'd work on a hat. I just mean in the sense of like. Like if I. If I'm selling like logo hats, you know, if I down bad, if I could have a reason. Like we made hats last season on a suiting fabric and I thought it was interesting, but like that's cool. If it's ever just like a. A cop out.

[Interviewer 2]

Like, do you think if you. Do you think if you dropped logo it would sell?

[Carter Young]

I really don't know.

[Interviewer 2]

Maybe that's the other thing, right? Sometimes might not.

[Carter Young]

Yeah, you guys said you'd buy it, so. Yeah, I'm sure that would help.

[Interviewer 2]

What? Okay. Besides your own business.

[Carter Young]

Yeah.

[Interviewer 2]

What do you like to spend your money on?

[Carter Young]

Oh, I really love nice experiences. Like, what are you talking about? I love a massage. Like incredible self care. Yeah. Or like Maddie and I were in budapest maybe like 2 years ago in the thermal baths there. I spent like all day.

[Interviewer 2]

So it's kind of like health and wellness stuff. Seemingly, I guess.

[Interviewer 1]

But like we also went sick all the time apparently.

[Carter Young]

Oh, sick all the time. I don't know. Yeah, I need more health and wellness.

[Interviewer 2]

Yeah.

[Carter Young]

I like to spend my money on like, Like I like colognes too.

[Interviewer 2]

Oh yeah?

[Interviewer 1]

What's the scent du jour right now?

[Carter Young]

Fritz. And I'm wearing something called Virtuous by ilk.

[Interviewer 1]

Okay.

[Carter Young]

It's a brand I just found.

[Interviewer 1]

I'll sniff you on the way out.

[Carter Young]

Nice.

[Interviewer 2]

I L K. Yeah. Is it British?

[Carter Young]

I don't know. I don't know anything about it. Virtuous Selfridges.

[Interviewer 2]

Okay.

[Carter Young]

Yeah. I was trying to find something new.

[Interviewer 1]

How do you shop when you, when you are shopping, you're in Selfridges. Is that R and D oppo research? Like, like how do you shop? Because you said you could be a little catty. Let's dig into, let's dig into that a little bit.

[Carter Young]

Yeah. I love touching products. Like I think like as a product driven person, like, I love to just see what's out there. Like if I don't know what other people are selling, I don't know what the base level standard is or like I don't know what I can improve on. Like, if you don't see everything out there, you're in a vacuum. Like, you know, you might make something that someone else is already selling better than you. And then what do you, what's the point?

[Interviewer 1]

What's some shit that you've seen and touched that you're like, like that you even as a designer, like, you're like, oh, that's even aspirational for, like, me. Where are some brands that are doing it right that aren't ripping people off like we talked about before?

[Carter Young]

I think, like the best shirt in the market right now at like, price point included, like, everything is Kameesa's Manolo.

[Interviewer 1]

Okay.

[Carter Young]

Manuel, like, I think the fabrics he chooses and the finishing, like the hand is just incredible. I mean, the guys at Speciale are amazing. Cecile Tolkien's, I don't know if you've touched her knitwear. No, but it's like a cut above love. She's like, phenomenal.

[Interviewer 1]

So you'll give flowers. You're not gonna be like, all this is ass, right? Like you.

[Carter Young]

No, no. There's great stuff out there and there's great stuff from, like, mass market brands too. Like, if I walked into Unico and I touch a pair of denim and it's great, like, you know, it's equal opportunity.

[Interviewer 1]

Yeah.

[Carter Young]

It's completely merit based.

[Interviewer 2]

And then are you like, inspired to go like, yo, we gotta, we gotta up our knit scheme or. Yeah, you know what, like, I got. Or is it like, we gotta retain our, you know, positioning? Because this is like, what's working. And at this price point in this, this production cost and everything, if I.

[Carter Young]

Don'T think I'm selling a good product, I'm not going to bring it back. Like, if I, if I had made it and liked it and then think I can do better that I'm going to try and do.

[Interviewer 2]

So those hats made a suiting fabric or.

[Carter Young]

No, they, they, they did pretty well. That's a good idea.

[Interviewer 1]

Yeah.

[Carter Young]

It just, I don't know, I got to the next season, I didn't, I didn't think the suiting fabrics I had worked for it.

[Interviewer 2]

Right.

[Carter Young]

So I just didn't want to force it.

[Interviewer 1]

What do you have? You're virtuous.

[Interviewer 2]

What do you have coming up for Carter Young that you're excited about?

[Carter Young]

We got, product wise, quite a, quite a big suite of things going into the new year. Like, I do think that the tuxedos are the things I'm most excited about right now. I think it's an incredible product in a really novel way of buying into custom suiting. Like, our tailoring suite for next year is going to be incredible. We are doing actually knitwear with Cecile Tolkien.

[Interviewer 2]

Oh, nice.

[Carter Young]

So I can't beat them.

[Interviewer 2]

Join them.

[Carter Young]

Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Like, Matthew, I found the person that made the. The best. The. The best knits that, you know, I've touched, and I asked her if she'd be willing to work with us. So for spring 26, we have this cotton cable knit polo and this linen, like loose thermal woven V neck and tasty. Both made in Italy. They're incredible.

[Interviewer 1]

Okay.

[Carter Young]

And then our. Our new ties, I think are.

[Interviewer 1]

Oh, yeah, that's sick.

[Carter Young]

I just think that's pretty cool. Really cool stuff.

[Interviewer 1]

Dead stock.

[Carter Young]

Dead stock.

[Interviewer 2]

It feels like you. I don't know if I'm gonna say this correctly because I'm not a designer, but it feels like the. Like you're bringing a lot of technique into SKUs and products that wouldn't normally have those techniques and materials featured. Is that fair to say?

[Carter Young]

Sure, yeah, I guess so.

[Interviewer 2]

Like, you showed us the ties and it's like, oh, yeah, you would never expect this. This was actually meant for something else. But you see it as a tie, like, actually makes it awesome and unique.

[Carter Young]

I wouldn't necessarily say it's like the goal is novelty in itself. Like, I don't think I'm trying ingenuity.

[Interviewer 2]

I don't.

[Carter Young]

Right. I don't think I'm trying to be like, transgressive. I think the point is how can I be. Make something interesting and unique? Like, I don't just want to be weird for the sake of being weird or weird because I think it's a better, you know, move forward. Right.

[Interviewer 2]

I mean, like, the denim shirt I have is like a yellow denim.

[Carter Young]

Yeah.

[Interviewer 2]

Where I'm like, I was. I personally was drawn to that because I was like, I have. Have whatever old wrangler denim shirts, but I want this, like, weird sand yellow wash. Give me the piss. Give me that piss, baby. Piss on me.

[Interviewer 1]

Carter.

[Carter Young]

I think that's an official Rick Owens color.

[Interviewer 2]

Really?

[Interviewer 1]

Yeah. That sounds like such a Rick thing.

[Carter Young]

For sure. Yeah. So I can't. I can't.

[Interviewer 1]

Other bodily flu. Right.

[Carter Young]

All right.

[Interviewer 1]

What is the actual colorway for that? Your piss yellow. What do you call it?

[Carter Young]

We called it the Larkin wash, which is Maddie's sister's name.

[Interviewer 1]

Okay.

[Carter Young]

So I named it after her. Okay. Yeah.

[Interviewer 1]

Big pisser.

[Carter Young]

Chill.

[Interviewer 2]

The biggest.

[Carter Young]

I'm not going there.

[Interviewer 2]

What's the dumbest purchase you've made recently with your hard earned cash, Sterling.

[Carter Young]

Oh, I make some dumb purchases. I'm like an impulse shopper. Like for clothes? Not really for clothing.

[Interviewer 2]

For what?

[Carter Young]

More just like. Like if there's like a new candy or something in this background aisle, probably.

[Interviewer 2]

What's the latest candy? You.

[Interviewer 1]

Yeah. What candy are they dropping?

[Interviewer 2]

Put us on.

[Carter Young]

I just bought something at a Sunrise Mart.

[Interviewer 1]

Yeah.

[Interviewer 2]

Is it Japanese?

[Carter Young]

I don't know what it was. It was like. It's been.

[Interviewer 2]

It's a Japanese.

[Carter Young]

Yeah.

[Interviewer 1]

What language was on the label?

[Carter Young]

It's like Pan Asian. Like, it could have been Korean.

[Interviewer 2]

Okay.

[Carter Young]

I'm not really.

[Interviewer 2]

What was the flavor?

[Carter Young]

Some sort of bean. Like, it wasn't red bean or black bean. Okay. It was a new bean. Something you've never hands off.

[Interviewer 2]

A new bean. Green bean, black bean, pinto bean.

[Carter Young]

What?

[Interviewer 1]

It tastes like piss bean. What bean did it.

[Carter Young]

It was pretty mild. Honestly, it wasn't amazing.

[Interviewer 1]

A mild bean.

[Interviewer 2]

Are you sure it was a candy and not just a bean?

[Carter Young]

You know, it was eating beans. Yeah. I'm so. I'm so British now.

[Interviewer 2]

Yeah, you with beans for breakfast.

[Carter Young]

Beans are cool.

[Interviewer 2]

I love.

[Interviewer 1]

They're so good.

[Carter Young]

Like jacket potato with tuna and cheese and beans.

[Interviewer 1]

Oh, the Spud Bros. Yeah. No, no, no, not tuna.

[Carter Young]

That's for me. Tuna is really big. Really? Yeah.

[Interviewer 1]

Have you. Have you gone to the Spud Bros?

[Carter Young]

No.

[Interviewer 1]

It's like a food truck, right, or what? I just know they go viral and they.

[Carter Young]

They have it everywhere.

[Interviewer 1]

Oh, there's one here. Wait, really?

[Interviewer 2]

I don't know if it's like, affiliated with these guys, but I think it's called the Spud Bros and it's just.

[Interviewer 1]

Okay.

[Carter Young]

No, I'm saying, like in the uk, like any kind of cafe.

[Interviewer 1]

Oh, you could just get that.

[Interviewer 2]

What's your favorite? Like, kind of gross. Maybe not late night, like drunken stuff, but just like. I'm feeling a bit naughty. Let me get a curry kebab. What are you feeling?

[Carter Young]

Okay. Chinese restaurants in London.

[Interviewer 1]

Let's talk about.

[Carter Young]

Have this thing called curry sauce.

[Interviewer 1]

Yeah.

[Carter Young]

It's not Chinese. No, but it's.

[Interviewer 2]

It's like the Irish fries. Like the spice bag.

[Carter Young]

Yeah, it's very similar.

[Interviewer 1]

And dump it on some chips. Yeah.

[Carter Young]

You get chips with Chinese food. Yeah. And you get curry sauce. It's incredible.

[Interviewer 2]

There's a Chinese restaurant in Scotland.

[Carter Young]

Yeah.

[Interviewer 2]

That is on Tick Tock all the time where it's. You know, this little girl has like a Scottish accent and she's like running through like, her dad's orders and the chips and the curry sauce looks so good.

[Carter Young]

Yeah.

[Interviewer 2]

And it's like a standard editions, like, any order.

[Carter Young]

Yeah, I think, like, it's very common in uk. Chinese shout out.

[Interviewer 2]

General Bosch.

[Carter Young]

Yeah.

[Interviewer 2]

Carter Bosch.

[Carter Young]

Yo.

[Interviewer 2]

Before we get you out of here, do you have any constructive criticism you'd like to give us?

[Carter Young]

Yeah.

[Interviewer 1]

How do we do?

[Carter Young]

No, I mean, Poland Springs are the top notch.

[Interviewer 1]

Yeah, that's okay.

[Interviewer 2]

You. What's the water you with the most in London?

[Carter Young]

I've been drinking Vita Coca. Oh, yeah? Really? I'm, like, addicted to it.

[Interviewer 2]

Careful, brother. You sound like a very addictive personality. Coffee.

[Carter Young]

Yeah, I know when it comes to liquid Asian.

[Interviewer 2]

Pan Asian candies.

[Carter Young]

Just. Yeah, just drinking curry sauce.

[Interviewer 2]

Ooh. Okay, so your constructive criticism is good water.

[Carter Young]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. You should.

[Interviewer 2]

That's drip.

[Carter Young]

You should feature it more prominently.

[Interviewer 2]

Well, they don't pay well.

[Interviewer 1]

This was great.

[Carter Young]

Thanks, guys.

[Interviewer 2]

What do you want to plug? Where can the kids follow you? Should they follow the brand or the man?

[Carter Young]

Definitely the brand.

[Interviewer 1]

Yeah.

[Carter Young]

Please, please follow.

[Interviewer 1]

Don't follow the man.

[Carter Young]

Please follow.

[Interviewer 2]

Do you care about. Do you guys care about. So you have an eye on socials and, like, care about that type of stuff?

[Carter Young]

Yeah, to a degree. Like, I think, you know, like I was talking about with building a modern clothing business, like, buyers care about socials, therefore I care about socials.

[Interviewer 2]

Making TikToks and shit.

[Interviewer 1]

Oof.

[Carter Young]

And on TikTok.

[Interviewer 2]

You're missing out.

[Carter Young]

I know Twitter.

[Interviewer 2]

You're also missing out.

[Carter Young]

I. I was on Twitter and it made me really sad. Yeah.

[Interviewer 1]

Yeah.

[Carter Young]

But I got off the.

[Interviewer 1]

Everything racism feels violent, maybe really different.

[Interviewer 2]

You don't see drone. You don't see drones flying into ra. Russian soldiers. And then scroll, and then it's just like, e. Girl porn. And then you scroll and it's some, like, misinformation. You scroll. It's like a. A foot E clip.

[Carter Young]

Yeah, man. This is. This is like not what I'm trying to absorb.

[Interviewer 2]

It's like, so good.

[Carter Young]

Yeah.

[Interviewer 2]

Just deadens everything. Yeah.

[Carter Young]

Like, I don't. I don't like that. I think, like, I think feeling dead about things or like, not having an opinion on things because you're so overstimulated is like, something I'm trying to get away from. Oh, really? I think that's really bad.

[Interviewer 2]

Yeah, that makes one of us.

[Interviewer 1]

He's leaning into the skin. Wait, just real quick. Has Carter Young in your experience? I don't know. I know you're not participating maybe in some of the social media, but has. Has it come across your desk, like your brand hitting the kind of like explore page, green screener, menswear, TikTok reels influencer guy where like you're, well, you know, seven new brands to, you know.

[Carter Young]

Get the best, whatever, definitely. And like, you know, I'm, I'm appreciative of those people because like, they're probably doing something that I'm just too shy to do.

[Interviewer 1]

Okay.

[Interviewer 2]

Does it move the needle sales wise, do you know?

[Carter Young]

Can do. Yeah. It's like, depends on who it is.

[Interviewer 1]

Sure.

[Carter Young]

You know, all these influencers, like, they're doing it because they like the brand. Like, I don't, I don't pay these influencers.

[Interviewer 2]

Like, huh, that's a bit tbd, I think.

[Carter Young]

Unless they're being mean.

[Interviewer 2]

Well, no, I think also they just need content. And so it's like, oh, I found this brand, let me talk about it.

[Advertisement Voice]

It.

[Carter Young]

Well, they say they like it. I'm taking them at face value.

[Interviewer 2]

Why? Yeah, all these trustworthy photographers.

[Carter Young]

Yeah. Hey, as long as they're being nice, I'll take you to face value.

[Interviewer 2]

Okay. As long as they nice. Sure.

[Carter Young]

What else?

[Interviewer 1]

If they've never worn this shit or been hands on, does that bother you? That it's a. Almost like a blind recommendation? Because like James said, they need to have something. Maybe.

[Carter Young]

You know, it's like I feel like I've just kind of accepted it as a cost of doing business. Like, it's not that it would bother me because they are saying nice things. Maybe if they were saying mean things and never touched it. Yeah, it'd be pretty upsetting.

[Interviewer 2]

But like, but does that propagate the culture of just like buying whatever looks good online to then, like, buying whatever society?

[Carter Young]

Certainly, like, it's all part of it. But at the end of the day, like, you know, I'm trying to grow a business. Like me, Adam, Maddie, Julius. Like we are.

[Interviewer 2]

Yeah.

[Carter Young]

We're trying to make a company and.

[Interviewer 2]

You gotta, you gotta buy the beans.

[Carter Young]

Yeah, we gotta buy beans.

[Interviewer 1]

Like rare beans, rare Asian beans.

[Carter Young]

How am I supposed to get like my, my jacket potato fully loaded if we can't afford the beans?

[Interviewer 1]

That's so true.

[Interviewer 2]

No tuna this week. The tiktoker didn't like us.

[Interviewer 1]

We haven't gone viral.

[Interviewer 2]

No cheese only.

[Carter Young]

Thankfully, the things I need are pretty cheap.

[Interviewer 2]

Okay, good.

[Interviewer 1]

Sounds like it.

[Interviewer 2]

Well, Carter, we want to thank you for coming onto the only podcast that matters. Follow this man, Go touch his clothes. Shop in hand.

[Interviewer 1]

It's good.

[Interviewer 2]

We'll just buy it online because we, we will. We do Own it. And we will tell you that it is good.

[Interviewer 1]

Yeah.

[Interviewer 2]

Yeah, man.

[Carter Young]

Thanks, guys.

[Interviewer 1]

Absolute pleasure, bud. Jeff.

[Carter Young]

Yeah? I have one more bit I wanted to.

[Interviewer 1]

Okay, go on.

[Carter Young]

This is good.

[Interviewer 2]

Final bit.

[Carter Young]

So we did. We did Perfectly Imperfect with. With Tyler Bainbridge. And I didn't really understand that when I was. I put a selfie in. It's just me in a suit wearing a pair of sunglasses because, like, that's kind of how I dress. And everyone in the comments, like, the dare, if he was actually British. And I was like, this is crazy, because I'm not British. And everyone's like, because I live in London, they just assume British.

[Interviewer 1]

You and Harrison have a similar vibe. Vibe haircut.

[Carter Young]

Yeah. They were like, oh, it's the truth.

[Interviewer 1]

Wow. I'm happy we could get that in at the wire.

[Interviewer 2]

Were you wearing a black suit?

[Interviewer 1]

Yeah.

[Interviewer 2]

Black tie, white shirt.

[Carter Young]

It was a gray suit. It was totally different. It was a different thing.

[Interviewer 1]

The truth dude shout. Was that Paul Pierce?

[Interviewer 2]

Carter Pierce.

[Carter Young]

Yeah, man. That's what. That's what's changed since moving to London.

[Interviewer 2]

Like, is what you became. The truth became the dare.

[Carter Young]

I become the truth became the truth.

[Interviewer 2]

You guys have the same earrings and bangs.

[Interviewer 1]

It's a. It's a similar.

[Carter Young]

When we were fitting George, she was like, you remind me of my friend Harris.

[Interviewer 2]

Oh, that's fucking hilarious. We'll send a photo of you to Harrison right now. Chef. Take us out.