The Noah Johnson Interview with Throwing Fits

Summary

Podcast Title: Throwing Fits
Episode: The Noah Johnson Interview with Throwing Fits
Release Date: March 26, 2025
Host: Throwing Fits (Larry and James)

---

Introduction

In this episode of Throwing Fits, hosts Larry and James engage in a candid and humorous conversation with Noah Johnson, the newly appointed Editor-in-Chief (EIC) of High Snobiety. The episode delves into Noah's journey in the media landscape, his vision for High Snobiety, and his perspectives on the evolving world of menswear and lifestyle media.

---

Noah Johnson's Transition to Editor-in-Chief

[06:50] Larry: "Noah, you are the new editor in chief of High. You started working, what, two months ago?"

Noah discusses his recent transition to the role of EIC at High Snobiety, highlighting the alignment of his vision with the company's direction. He reflects on the broader responsibilities that come with the position, emphasizing the shift from traditional editorial roles to a more CEO-like leadership that involves overseeing various departments and impacting the company's bottom line.

Notable Quote:
[08:04] Noah Johnson: "I like to be really specific and have a clear point of view, which is just focusing on the culture of style broadly, and then coming up with a look and feel and an attitude and implementing that across all your platforms."

---

Evolving Role of Editor-in-Chief in Modern Media

[10:57] Larry: "What stacks you bringing in. What's your snack?"

Noah elaborates on the changing dynamics of the EIC role in today's fragmented media environment. He emphasizes the importance of having a distinct editorial voice and maintaining integrity amidst the rise of affiliate marketing and social media's diminishing effectiveness for audience engagement.

Notable Quote:
[12:16] Noah Johnson: "Brands love these things [events and panels]. And so we'll all keep doing it, but frankly, like, the job at hand right now is raising the standard of editorial excellence across High Snob."
[14:41] James: "People never change, dude."
[14:44] Noah Johnson: "You need to have to show up in a different kind of way. For sure."

---

Editorial Excellence and Brand Integrity

Noah emphasizes the importance of high-quality content and genuine storytelling over performative or pandering approaches. He shares his experiences in publishing impactful stories, such as the Sam Hines Kiko piece and discussions surrounding brands like Evan Canori.

[17:45] Larry: "So what's been an example of something on the editorial side in your very short tenure so far that you were like, yo. Like that we need to do more of that."
[19:05] Noah Johnson: "Sam Hines Kiko story was edited by me. That's a really good one."

---

Challenges in the Current Media Landscape

The conversation touches upon Noah's critiques of the saturated and often superficial nature of today's social media platforms. He laments the decline in meaningful engagement and expresses a desire to drive traffic back to more substantive content platforms like Substack.

[61:03] Noah Johnson: "I just want more people to come to the website. I want there to be a more clear and direct way of building a big audience."
[63:22] Noah Johnson: "There's just no longer any engagement. There's no audience to be had on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook anymore."

---

Insights on Menswear and Fashion Trends

Noah shares his observations on the current state of menswear, highlighting the success of brands like Evan Canori and the shift towards quality and authenticity over conspicuous consumption. He discusses the challenges of standing out in a market where "everything is cool," advocating for integrity and originality in fashion storytelling.

[53:22] Noah Johnson: "The brands that I'm close to are all doing well. They're just saying no to more accounts increasingly just because."
[56:15] Noah Johnson: "Good clothes are really expensive. And I think it's good to, like, say that and to know that and be like, you shouldn't, like, like, buy a ton of good clothes all the time."

---

Balancing Business and Editorial Integrity

Noah reflects on the delicate balance between maintaining editorial integrity and navigating the commercial aspects of running a media company. He underscores the necessity of fostering strong relationships with trustworthy individuals and ensuring that editorial content remains unbiased despite the prevalence of affiliate marketing.

[65:14] Larry: "But you want your editors to have a bias, right?"
[65:53] Noah Johnson: "I think with myself as an example, I believe that integrity."

---

Future Directions and Aspirations

Looking ahead, Noah expresses his commitment to elevating High Snobiety's editorial standards and adapting to the ever-changing media landscape. He also touches on his personal aspirations, including writing a book and continuing to support authentic fashion narratives.

[74:04] Noah Johnson: "I will just say I've yet to seen one that I think is [a great content creator]."
[84:16] Noah Johnson: "I am anti corporate fast fashion."

---

Conclusion

The episode offers a deep dive into Noah Johnson's perspectives on media leadership, fashion integrity, and the evolving challenges of the digital age. Through engaging dialogue mixed with humor, listeners gain valuable insights into the responsibilities of an Editor-in-Chief and the importance of maintaining authenticity in both media and fashion.

Notable Quote:
[62:38] Larry: "Should young people not aspire to work in media?"
[63:10] Noah Johnson: "If you do get stranded, because when my blade crashes on an island in the Long Island Sound, on your way to Little St. James."

---

Key Takeaways

• Leadership Evolution: The role of an EIC now encompasses broader business responsibilities, akin to that of a CEO.
• Editorial Integrity: Maintaining a clear and authentic editorial voice is crucial amidst the rise of affiliate marketing and superficial content.
• Fashion Authenticity: Emphasis on quality and originality in menswear over mere trend-following or conspicuous consumption.
• Media Landscape Challenges: Social media platforms are becoming less effective for meaningful audience engagement, pushing a return to more substantive content platforms.
• Future Aspirations: Commitment to elevating editorial standards and exploring new avenues like book writing to support authentic storytelling.

---

Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• Noah Johnson [08:04]: "I like to be really specific and have a clear point of view, which is just focusing on the culture of style broadly, and then coming up with a look and feel and an attitude and implementing that across all your platforms."

• Larry [61:05]: "But you want your editors to have a bias, right?"

• Noah Johnson [65:53]: "I think with myself as an example, I believe that integrity."

• Noah Johnson [62:38]: "I wish Instagram would just turn off for six months just to see what happens to the world."

• Noah Johnson [56:15]: "Good clothes are really expensive. And I think it's good to, like, say that and to know that and be like, you shouldn't, like, like, buy a ton of good clothes all the time."

---

Final Thoughts

Throwing Fits successfully navigates the intricate balance between humor and insightful discussion, offering listeners a comprehensive understanding of Noah Johnson's vision and the future trajectory of High Snobiety. This episode serves as a valuable resource for media professionals and fashion enthusiasts alike, emphasizing the enduring importance of authenticity and integrity in both industries.

Transcript

[Noah Johnson]

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[Larry]

All right, Noah, you requested no introduction, so let's just get right into it.

[Noah Johnson]

Really?

[Larry]

I'm just kidding. Get high with the snob asap. Like the mob. Click on the link and read the blog. Narcad is the name Kinori on his frame tap into the pod with Larry and James throw gang. We are joined by the byline Big dog the EIC mvp. The media maestro. Not Taylor Swift strap on. But he's an editor in chief. Must be a Mexican doctor. How he's fixing these essays. Your dong deformed? He long forms in therapy but man's got issues he got no and or the how he's dropping these articles. Your clickbait trick fakes his drip breaks you cakes. Oh, you're not with high snob. How about you high slob on these nuts his editor letter get your girl wetter. Better call him Pat Tillman. How he's killing these buds. He's chasing the greatest story ever told. A born natural like a canary fold not at the Wall Street Journal, but he's all about that. Free Evan doesn't love ships but he give him that mess head Nor our bad he narc dad. Editor in chief of high society. Noah Johnson. Noah, how the hell are you?

[Noah Johnson]

Ah, fired up.

[James]

What up, pimp?

[Noah Johnson]

Shades on. It's bright in here.

[James]

Welcome back, bro.

[Noah Johnson]

Thank you. It's good to be back.

[James]

Yeah.

[Larry]

Free Evan, baby.

[Noah Johnson]

It's been a while.

[James]

It took a lot of convincing.

[Larry]

It took a lot of coordinating around your schedule. You're a busy man.

[Noah Johnson]

Sure. Yeah.

[Larry]

You're a man on the go.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah. And there were some. Some life. Life events that opened up certain doors.

[James]

Like getting a new job.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah.

[James]

Oh, okay.

[Larry]

Oh, yeah. We didn't want you in your gq, that's for sure. No kidding.

[James]

Can you get a promotion first before we give him some fucking promo?

[Larry]

Is the Conde ban still in effect?

[Noah Johnson]

I have no idea. Come on, you have to ask. Somebody works at Conde.

[Larry]

Did you have to run this by High Stomp?

[Noah Johnson]

HR I had to run it by Conde.

[James]

HR youR're still under contracted. What's up, man?

[Noah Johnson]

Just, you know, the Supreme Apex Twin drop just came so I just. Yeah, of course. Loaded up. I feel like my whole world kind of came full circle. All my interests. The cycle is complete.

[James]

Yeah. The ultimate collab that you've been waiting your whole life for. Let's get right into a fit check. Did he wear any Apex Supreme?

[Noah Johnson]

I didn't wear any today. No.

[Larry]

It's on ice.

[James]

Yeah. What do you got on? Also, we can learn how to pronounce all these cool brands.

[Noah Johnson]

Now I'm wearing a press.

[James]

Head to toe.

[Larry]

Head to toe?

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah. Jeans and hoodie.

[Larry]

For real.

[Noah Johnson]

And then Evan Canori boots and T shirt.

[Larry]

Are these the trickers Collab?

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah.

[Larry]

What are the socks?

[Noah Johnson]

Sick, right? Oh, man. Don't ask.

[James]

A press. Not a press. Say. That's what I basically say.

[Noah Johnson]

A press. It's It.

[James]

Because they're not French. So it's like.

[Larry]

Also, there's no accent.

[Noah Johnson]

They go. Some people is. There's not an accent over the.

[Larry]

I call those people assholes.

[Noah Johnson]

I'm not big into correct pronunciation. I mean, you know what they say. Like, mispronunciation is a sign of high intelligence because it means you read more than you talk.

[James]

Right, right, right. You're writing and reading. You're not actually communicating with anybody ever.

[Noah Johnson]

That's what I say.

[Larry]

Mispronounce real Editor in Chief talk. What about the jacket?

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah, that's James Coward. That's a nice.

[James]

A really nice Shout out James Coward.

[Noah Johnson]

Dude hyped on that.

[Larry]

That jacket I'm wearing is really nice.

[Noah Johnson]

I'm really psyched on it. I got it recently. And what about chcm?

[Larry]

What about your super bright day? Glow Blaze or neon orange sticks?

[Noah Johnson]

I got two head. Radical Pros.

[Larry]

Two Head.

[Noah Johnson]

I got. Oh, my hat is from Haven.

[Larry]

Oh, Shout out the in house line.

[Noah Johnson]

Yes. It's like in house.

[Larry]

Shout out Arthur and his brother, whose name I forget.

[James]

His twin.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah.

[James]

And twins. I don't know. They look exactly the same.

[Noah Johnson]

They're not twins, actually. I asked. They're in New York.

[James]

So now I'm just racist.

[Noah Johnson]

One of them's older.

[Larry]

They're Canadian.

[James]

God damn it.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah. That was a racial.

[Larry]

What. What are the socks and what are the panties and the shirts?

[Noah Johnson]

My underwear is Handvark. What's that brand we take off our pants?

[Larry]

Hanes. Is that what you're trying to say.

[James]

How they pronounce it in Berlin?

[Noah Johnson]

No. You guys know it.

[Larry]

How's the hand feel on the handvark?

[Noah Johnson]

They're good. They're 100 cotton.

[Larry]

Good cock.

[Noah Johnson]

Like a. I like a. Not a boxer brief, but not a boxer like the in between, where it's like a loot. Like a.

[James]

You want saggy briefs?

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah. They have legs. They're not.

[James]

They're long.

[Noah Johnson]

John can't wear briefs in the. Modern.

[James]

Yeah, modern. He wears boxers, though.

[Larry]

Want some droopy draws?

[Noah Johnson]

I do wear boxers, too.

[James]

Yeah.

[Larry]

Oh.

[Noah Johnson]

Adding sun spell makes good boxers.

[Larry]

They do.

[James]

Sun spell makes amazing boxers. Very pricey, though. What about the shades?

[Noah Johnson]

Thistle.

[James]

Jewels. What do we got? Oh, look at that.

[Noah Johnson]

Cartier. Oh, the other bracelet is from a jeweler in Maine. And then these are just Chinatown. No, my wedding band is from.

[Larry]

You got your wedding band at Chinatown Market?

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah.

[James]

Excuse me. Just Market.

[Noah Johnson]

Right.

[James]

The Artist Formerly Known as Friends at Market.

[Larry]

Where do you get your wedding band?

[Noah Johnson]

It's from that place in Williamsburg that everybody gets wedding bands at. There's like, a free Apple Store. It's not cool.

[Larry]

It's Pilgrim Surf Supply.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah.

[James]

Shout. Shout out our friends at Pilgrim as well.

[Noah Johnson]

G Star Raw.

[James]

And this is New Top or Popular or neither?

[Noah Johnson]

New top it is. New Top. Shout out my daughter's name on it.

[Larry]

J. Oh, I was gonna make a joke about that, but never mind.

[James]

Yeah. You had to bring your daughter.

[Larry]

I'm not gonna make the joke now.

[James]

You had to bring your daughter.

[Noah Johnson]

Make fun of my daughter, but you can.

[Larry]

No, no. And you were sipping on some Oron beer. Delicious rice lager from Okinawa. And soon to be sipping on a Toobo Chico. Fit check. Drink check complete. Let's get into the meat and potatoes. Yeah, buddy.

[Noah Johnson]

Damn, I didn't know we were going to do. I would have worn something cooler.

[James]

What do you mean? This is like your unif. You're a uniform guy. Kind of, sort of.

[Larry]

Honestly, I thought there was going to be more Evan Canori.

[Noah Johnson]

Truth is, I typically. I. Yeah, I mostly wear Evan Kori.

[Larry]

Yeah. Burlap sack core.

[Noah Johnson]

Hence the six Evan Canary jokes you made in that intro.

[Larry]

Two, which.

[Noah Johnson]

Which were all right, but.

[Larry]

How much money have you spent on Evan K in your life?

[Noah Johnson]

A lot. Way too much. Like a you don't get it for free amount. No, I don't get it for free.

[Larry]

What's wrong with you?

[Noah Johnson]

I don't ask.

[Larry]

Evan, have you ever asked?

[Noah Johnson]

I've probably gotten a few things here and there. Sometimes I, like, steal stuff. Not steal, but kind of leave with something.

[James]

What's the statute of limitations?

[Noah Johnson]

A long time.

[Larry]

Boots are the cheapest thing that E sells.

[Noah Johnson]

You can get a shirt for less than the boots.

[James]

Those are benchmade, brother. Those are not cheap.

[Noah Johnson]

This shit's not cheap. Nothing's cheap the boots are one of.

[Larry]

The only Evan Kori items, and it's great stuff, but it's one of the only items that doesn't have a comma in the price.

[Noah Johnson]

No, but, you know. Yeah, I mean, good, good clothes are expensive.

[James]

That's true. What you want?

[Noah Johnson]

What do you want?

[Larry]

I don't know.

[Noah Johnson]

You should get the boots, though. These things are great. Love these. They're like Tim's kind of know.

[Larry]

They kind of look like British Tims. Yeah.

[James]

Tricks are something hor do for money.

[Larry]

They look like oic Timberlands. All right, Noah, you are the new editor in chief of High. You started working, what, two months ago?

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah, about that.

[Larry]

What was the pitch from High Snob that got you on board?

[Noah Johnson]

I don't know that there was one. I mean, I think it was, you know, when you work in media for a long time, like, I have it, at some point, you're like, all roads lead to editor in chief one day. Like, what's the.

[James]

Inshallah.

[Noah Johnson]

What's the shop? I could go run, you know, and then when you, you know, in this media atmosphere, in this climate, there aren't many of those jobs. So you sort of get to a place where your options are what they are. And David is someone I've known for. David Fisher, the founder.

[Larry]

Mr. Snob.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah, Mr. Snob is someone I've known for a really long time, who I really respect and admire. And we just started having, like, kind of pretty casual conversations about this role being open, you know, usual.

[James]

How long does that take?

[Noah Johnson]

One thing led to another.

[James]

That com. Like those conversations, that. Like a year long process.

[Noah Johnson]

No, it was a few months, though. But it could have gone on forever. It was actually really good. It was like. It was what you want. I think at a certain level where you're not just interviewing trying to get the job, you're interviewing to make sure the job is the right thing for you.

[James]

You earned that.

[Noah Johnson]

You know what I mean?

[James]

Yeah.

[Larry]

Did. Was the job kind of like. Like tailored to your needs and. And wants and how. How you want to run the shop?

[Noah Johnson]

A little bit, maybe. I think our vision really aligned. Yeah, I guess so. The previous editors, who are great editors, Willa Bennett and then Tom Betridge, had unique skill sets that are really different from mine. So I think I came to it and it's like, here's who I am, here's what I'm into, here's what I think I can do. And then. But in terms of the actual role, it's like, you're the editor in Chief, you're in charge of everything.

[Larry]

We're all wearing hoodies now. No one's wearing. No one's wearing ties anymore. We're all wearing hoodies now.

[James]

Yeah.

[Larry]

Dark dad's here.

[James]

In a nutshell, what is like. Like, what is the. The Noah skill set like? It just off the top, what do you bring to the table?

[Larry]

Have you worked for him?

[James]

Yeah, and don't ask me what a skill set is.

[Noah Johnson]

It was a long time ago. I will say. Yeah. One of my actually skill sets is finding good people. Everyone I've worked with and hired, including YouTube Bozo, is like, awesome. The track record is really solid.

[Larry]

Name name them. Besides Jimmy and Larry, who else? GN G and Delar.

[Noah Johnson]

Sam Hine. Actually, I didn't hire Sam Hine, but I. I nurtured him. You raised him.

[James]

Yeah. So you have an immaculate track record.

[Noah Johnson]

Steph Yatka, who also worked with that Style dot com. I don't know. Just a lot of good people.

[Larry]

That's right. Style.com big rip.

[James]

A couple fashion bros press hits on style.com.

[Noah Johnson]

Really?

[James]

Yeah.

[Larry]

You. You included us as two of the most important people in menswear.

[Noah Johnson]

Yes. What were you doing at the time? You had a fashion bro. Fashion Bros. That was. That was the complex show, right?

[James]

Yes.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah. All right. I forget. It was like a long time ago.

[Larry]

It was like, us like Heron Preston and Raph Simmons. Sick is that era.

[James]

Y.

[Noah Johnson]

Honestly. Honestly encapsulates that era pretty damn well. And you two are the only ones still really killing. I mean, Rap Simmons brand is over. What's Heron do? He designs H and M or something?

[Larry]

Yeah, he collab with the department of sanitation in New York.

[Noah Johnson]

That was the real hero five years ago.

[James]

Yeah.

[Larry]

Was it?

[James]

He's cleaning up the streets just yesterday.

[Noah Johnson]

Know anything about it?

[Larry]

Well, I guess, like, in generally speaking, you know, we talked about, like, we all came up kind of like, I don't know, in the certain era of media. 2010s altogether. But like, right now, in 2025, what's the role of an editor in chief in this media landscape that you said is, like, so specific to right now?

[Noah Johnson]

Well, I guess my thing is, like, I'm not really a generalist necessarily. Like, I like to be really specific and have a. A clear point of view, which is just focusing on the sort of culture of style broadly, and then coming up with a look and feel and an attitude and implementing that, like, across all your platforms. You know, it's like, how does your ins. Yeah, it's vibe. Although I sort of think we're past the. I was thinking, like, we're no longer Vibes based. Really? You really have to, like, do something now.

[James]

Haven't they just rebranded Vibes as aesthetics, though?

[Noah Johnson]

Kind of.

[James]

Yeah.

[Larry]

You know, an aura.

[James]

Oh, yeah.

[Noah Johnson]

I don't actually. I. The aura thing sort of missed me. Why did people start saying, oh, you're old, dude. I know.

[Larry]

Well.

[James]

Well, just replace Riz, you know, have you.

[Noah Johnson]

But Riz is hornier than Aura. Right?

[Larry]

Aura is like a vibe.

[James]

Yeah.

[Noah Johnson]

Know what aura is?

[James]

But one's unspoken and one spoken. Right. Riz is, you know, deployed.

[Noah Johnson]

Is.

[James]

Is a weapon that you could deploy, and then aura is kind of just how you exist. No, sure.

[Larry]

Anyway, did you know that we're now referring to the Hoes as the Huz?

[Noah Johnson]

The Huz. All right.

[James]

H Z. Yo pocket that one. Know that?

[Noah Johnson]

I didn't know that. I don't think that's going to catch on.

[Larry]

No. Call me woman, cuz I got Hus and bands.

[Noah Johnson]

That's it.

[Larry]

No, I'll workshop that.

[James]

Yeah.

[Larry]

All right. You got to. You got to create the aura, create the vibe. But you're specific. What do you mean? You got to do something. Like, what does that mean?

[Noah Johnson]

Well, like, I was. Lately, I've been. This is. This is maybe kind of lame, but, like, I check the substack app more than I check Instagram or Twitter now. This just happened. I just had a changeover.

[Larry]

Fudgeing lame.

[Noah Johnson]

I'm sorry. But part of it is because I'm, like, building, like, a media company, and that's where all the interesting shit is happening. That's where people are going. But I just find, like, when you're in there, you're like, there's more writing, there's more substance. There's, like, actual ideas being transmitted, and there's not debatable maps. I know. It's not all good. I'm not saying RSS feed.

[James]

It used to be like, here's the bloggers that I'm reading. And obviously we lost all that social media. We're kind of going back a little bit. Yeah, yeah, I get it.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah.

[Larry]

But like, we, you know, we had Nikki. We had Tom on right before he started id. We had Nikki from Marie Claire.

[Noah Johnson]

Y.

[Larry]

We had Will on way back in the day. Everyone kind of like. Like, an EIC is almost like a. You don't have to play politics, but you're also like a figurehead.

[Noah Johnson]

Oh, for sure. It's like more like being a CEO than being an editor. I had, which is how I used to Think of Will Welch at gq, which he's a job he's incredibly good at. And, you know, like, I think I was starting to say this earlier, but, like, when you're an editor, you just. You're always, like, getting to that. You start as an assistant editor, then you're an associate editor, then you're a senior editor, then maybe you're a deputy editor or features editor you like. And then I always just thought, eventually you're the editor in chief. Like, if you do it right and you keep going, that's where you're going to land. The thing I didn't realize is the editor in chief is a really different job. You're like a businessman. You're like, running a little company. You're not as focused, and you have to work with all the departments in a different way. You have to have way more oversight of the business and how it all works. You know, you have a real impact on the bottom line and all this stuff. So that's been a big.

[James]

Yeah.

[Noah Johnson]

A big. Yeah. Part of the new job.

[James]

How's that adjustment going so far?

[Noah Johnson]

I love it to be really. And I find that I'm, like, kind of good at it, or I. I mean, that really needs to be seen, frankly. But I. At least I'm like, yeah. Like, let me get in here and figure, let me know what this business is all about and what kind of impact that can have on it at a place like gq. The editors didn't. Weren't really in those conversations. You know, if you were, it was.

[Larry]

Very indirect because it's Conde Nast and then the title. Whereas Heist. Nobody Is Everything.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah. Or it would just be like, you know, we had Will and other kind of managerial type people who handled those conversations or, you know, now that you're.

[Larry]

An editor in chief, do you finally have Will Welch's respect?

[Noah Johnson]

I don't know. You have to ask him. I hope.

[Larry]

I hope.

[Noah Johnson]

I mean, damn. We worked together for nine years.

[Larry]

Damn.

[James]

That's a long time.

[Noah Johnson]

Eight and a half years.

[Larry]

Yeah.

[Noah Johnson]

Sam Hine and I started those same week there. It was a long run. But, you know, it was always like, we started with GQ style. It evolved a lot, changed a lot over time. It was always interesting, it was always new. Yeah.

[Larry]

I mean, you are a known sour puss. So, like, as editor chief, fair.

[James]

It's a general assessment. Yeah.

[Larry]

You got to slap a smile on that face and socialize. Right. Like, is that an adjustment? Are that you're tackling head on where you're Just gritting and bearing it, or are you still is the grumpy no we know and love still?

[Noah Johnson]

You're saying, am I going to change as a person Fundamentally, Yeah. To do better this job, I mean. Yeah, probably never change.

[James]

People never change, dude.

[Noah Johnson]

Yes. Yeah.

[Larry]

You need to.

[Noah Johnson]

You need to have to show up in a different kind of way. For sure. There's a different expectation. There's a different attitude. Yeah, I think I can do it. We'll see.

[James]

You can't hit the water cooler and be like, yo, what up? When you're boss of everyone you know.

[Noah Johnson]

Can you go home and change, please? I haven't had to send anyone home to change yet. I'm sure it'll happen. Typically, it happens in the summer when. When the tank tops start coming out.

[Larry]

Really?

[James]

Are you gonna ban tanks?

[Noah Johnson]

100%.

[Larry]

What about shorts in the office?

[Noah Johnson]

I think maybe a high snob. I let it rock.

[James]

You're actually debating whether or not you're gonna let people wear shorts?

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah. What are you talking about? You can't wear shorts to an office.

[James]

It's high snobiety, dude.

[Noah Johnson]

You can't have bare shins in, like, we still have conference rooms in meetings.

[Larry]

Yeah, I'm with you. Don't wear shorts when you fly or to the office.

[James]

Well, flying shorts.

[Noah Johnson]

Flying is psycho.

[James]

Yeah.

[Noah Johnson]

I was just flew back from. I was on a plane the other day, and this dude just gets to his seat, stands up, and just takes his pants, and I look over, I'm like, whoa. And he's like, rocking mesh shorts.

[James]

Okay.

[Noah Johnson]

I was just like, all right. I mean, we were in, like, the late flats, and so he was getting cozy for a little nap, but still I was like, I don't know, man.

[Larry]

You know what? I.

[Noah Johnson]

Too much bare skin.

[Larry]

I'm gonna admit, I do do that on the lay flat. If it's a. If it's a red eye and I'm sleeping, like, for real, I'll change into TF shorts.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah.

[James]

I'll button my top button, let the belt go, get, you know, a little cozy that way, but just do sweatpants. No.

[Noah Johnson]

What are we talking about?

[Larry]

I get too hot.

[Noah Johnson]

It does. It does get uncomfortable.

[Larry]

I get too hot. Are there any, like, responsibilities of, like, the contemporary EIC that whether it's something you've realized as you've done the job or in the conversations with David where you're like, yo, I'm sorry, but that's just not who I am, and I'm not going to do that.

[Noah Johnson]

Huh. Good question. I mean, yeah. I think there's a lot of expectation about how public you'll be. I mean, a lot of people right now are. Seem to be making their name, like, doing panels and like, appearing at.

[Larry]

And you're like, I got six panels.

[Noah Johnson]

That's a good one. Being on a lot of stages talking to people about things, and I think that that's something that I'm less interested in doing. I'd rather be writing. I'd rather be. I mean, not that I won't be doing that.

[James]

Like, leading by example versus, like, being like, here's the thought leader we served him up for.

[Larry]

Yeah, you're a dog. You're a dog.

[James]

Ticket holders.

[Noah Johnson]

I'm a what?

[Larry]

You're a dog?

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah. I want to be in the exact moment, a dog. I want to be in the mix more. I want to be, like, editing, assigning, writing stories, like, more than I want to be sort of out in the world just talking about what we do. But there will. There will be a balance, you know.

[Larry]

But you're going to have to do a little bit of that.

[James]

Yeah.

[Noah Johnson]

Oh, for sure there will be some of that. I just think that aren't isn't. There's just got to be some fatigue around the, the endless activations and discussions and round tables. And I mean, to be honest, High Snob does it and I will be doing it, but I think, especially if.

[James]

That'S putting, you know, money at the bottom line, food on the table, like, you gotta.

[Noah Johnson]

Brands love these things. And so we'll all keep doing it, but frankly, like, the job at hand right now is like, raising the, the, the standard, the, the. The level of editorial excellence across High Snob. It's like getting more great ideas out in the world on our channels. And like, that's the priority.

[Larry]

So what's been an example of something on the editorial side in your very short tenure so far that you were like, yo. Like that we need to do more of that.

[Noah Johnson]

That we've done.

[Larry]

Yeah. Under the NJ era. Nothing.

[Noah Johnson]

No, I mean, I thought that's a tough question. I've been there for two months, so I'm not.

[Larry]

You saw Cock Ring in the sauna. That was pretty cool.

[Noah Johnson]

I did. That was crazy.

[James]

You never know. Well, if you're, if you're prepared, you never need to get. You know, that's what I thought.

[Noah Johnson]

I was like, I get. Yeah, he's just rocking it, like, all the time in case it would be weird if he was like, I gotta go grab my ring. I left it in my bed in my Bag by cockering TR. By the time he gets back, he might have missed his chance.

[James]

Two passing in the night.

[Noah Johnson]

Dude.

[James]

Yeah.

[Larry]

Was it under his balls?

[Noah Johnson]

I think.

[James]

Was it under his balls?

[Noah Johnson]

I. I don't. I don't really know. I don't know. I don't know.

[James]

All right, I'm gonna get a closer look at this warlock.

[Larry]

Well, I'm Monal. Editorially speaking.

[James]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Noah Johnson]

What was the question? What was the.

[Larry]

Yeah. Like, what's an example that you point to? Or maybe.

[Noah Johnson]

Maybe we've done. That's good.

[Larry]

Or maybe something in. Just in the general media landscape in like fashion, culture, menswear, that you point. You could point to that whether it's a GQ under your tenure. Because I think they're still posting stuff that happened like a little bit.

[Noah Johnson]

I mean, Sam Hines Kiko story was edited by me. That's a really good one. That came out this week. I did a. The last thing I did was this us story on usm. The furniture that came out a while back.

[Larry]

Is that the new, like, Hypebeast furniture?

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah. I mean, it's sort of Ben, you know, supreme did a collab a while back and it's like Nico's whole, like, office is all usm, but it certainly is new.

[Larry]

Eames got to a.

[Noah Johnson]

Got to a crazy level. Yeah.

[James]

What about your op ed stuff that was crushing in terms of rage clicks. Are we bringing that? Are we pointing that over? Oh, yeah.

[Noah Johnson]

100.

[Larry]

Where are we at?

[Noah Johnson]

It was a shame too, because that was. That was going to be launched as like a newsletter. I had a cool, like, name for it. I had a sick, like, logo. It was like a whole damn. Just getting started.

[Larry]

And just your face extra red with like a. Yeah.

[Noah Johnson]

About to explode.

[James]

Putting his face like they superimposed on Oscar the Grouch.

[Larry]

Dude, where are we on short coats? Where are you on short coats?

[James]

Oh, yeah.

[Noah Johnson]

I don't know. Chore coats. There are a lot of pretty sick chore coats out now, huh? There's like a lot of.

[James]

Everyone saw your post was like, we've got to step our game up, dude.

[Noah Johnson]

But it is funny. It's still that the. The ripple effect. Someone for some reason I saw. Is it called Huckberry or Huckleberry? I saw a Huckberry newsletter, like, blast that went out. That was like. The subject line was like, chore codes aren't dead. I was. Who the are you talking.

[James]

Their entire marketing strategy was reacting to your grievances.

[Larry]

How does it feel that your legacy is just going to Be the. The ch. Coat killer.

[Noah Johnson]

I don't know. I mean, there's a few things I've did. There's way more I like. There's. I want credit for a lot of things that have happened. What else?

[Larry]

What else?

[James]

Yeah.

[Noah Johnson]

I always think about the crocs thing. I wrote for four pins years ago. That was like, crocs are cool.

[Larry]

Yeah.

[Noah Johnson]

And now everyone were. At the time though, no one was rocking crocs.

[Larry]

Didn't you tell there's a lot.

[Noah Johnson]

I was wearing big pants when everyone else was wearing skinny pants. Oh, I had pleated pants. Everybody had flat front pants.

[Larry]

Didn't you were like, hey, fashion, leave skating alone.

[James]

Yeah, that was a good one.

[Noah Johnson]

Was that a four pin store?

[James]

Yeah, for sure.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, there's shameful moments in there. But, you know, my, my view of that is it's like I always thought, you know, I'd rather have the argument at a bar after a few beers and forget it about the next morning. Just like move on with your life. You don't have to commit to every idea about how pants should fit in some huge way. I think it's more fun to talk about it and see where it leads, which is what the columns are sort of about. What people take themselves and their image and what they buy for good reason.

[James]

Your whole personality, like, you know, if your whole personality is chore coats.

[Noah Johnson]

Of course, for a lot of people it was. Which is the point of the story.

[James]

I'm taking umbrage with your dude.

[Larry]

Well, people that wear shortcuts just look like they work at a restaurant now. Like, that's the restaurant uniform.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah, it is. Like. Yeah, that's right.

[Larry]

What else are you trying to kill? What else is.

[Noah Johnson]

I don't know. Give me some ideas. I was. I'm open to killing what anything needs. Like, I'm totally sort of a gun for hire, like, contract killer. Dude, what do you want to kill?

[James]

That's. What do you want to kill?

[Larry]

Short shorts?

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah, for sure. 100% kill or kill.

[Larry]

Okay.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah, it's gross. It's also funny because all the post. You're one of these guys, you have thigh tattoos.

[Larry]

I do, yeah.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah.

[Larry]

I don't Post.

[Noah Johnson]

All the people that are like, kind of weird about tattoos, like, they don't want their parents to see their tattoos, get thigh tattoos. And then when they're like in Nolita, like drinking ice lattes, they wear short.

[James]

Shorts in their hoochie daddy shorts. Yeah, yeah.

[Larry]

Now it's like the sign of like a, like a, A, like A. It's like a red flag. Thigh tattoos.

[Noah Johnson]

Case in point, a guy's an abuser. Yeah. What does it mean exactly?

[Larry]

Oh, yeah.

[James]

All right.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah, yeah.

[Larry]

Okay. I don't know.

[James]

You'll kill anything. You don't even give a.

[Noah Johnson]

Well, I do. I mean, what about.

[Larry]

What about backwards fitteds?

[Noah Johnson]

I mean, like, kind of sick maybe.

[Larry]

It's happening, man.

[Noah Johnson]

Is it?

[Larry]

Yeah.

[Noah Johnson]

Like a new era.

[Larry]

Yeah.

[James]

Wait, Fred Durst mode.

[Larry]

Like, straight up, like Baboni baboon.

[Noah Johnson]

We don't really look at what those guys wear and take it seriously, do you?

[Larry]

Who.

[Noah Johnson]

Who looks crazy?

[Larry]

People. Fucking crazy. You kind of look like people right now. Do I like a vagrant with a crazy mustache? You need to do the mustache in your fit check.

[Noah Johnson]

Mustache is organic, handmade, hand grown.

[James]

Right, right, right.

[Larry]

Like an Evan Connory jacket.

[Noah Johnson]

That's right.

[James]

Yeah.

[Larry]

Is it scary being at the top of the editorial masthead? Like, everything falls on your a press covered shoulders.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah, it keeps me up at night.

[Larry]

Really?

[Noah Johnson]

I don't know. No, I think you just got to do it with a certain amount of confidence. Like, my attitude was like, I don't think I ever felt this in my life for my career, but this one, I was like, I know what I'm gonna do here. I know what I want to do. It's gonna fucking succeed or it's gonna fail. And I'm not gonna. Like, it's not gonna fail because I didn't do the thing I wanted to do. Like, we'll just, just. We'll just see what happens.

[Larry]

So what are you gonna do if it fails?

[Noah Johnson]

I hope call you guys and go to. Where'd you say, complex?

[James]

Flip it through the roll decks. Wait, so you had no imposter syndrome at all when you get offered this role from David? Or is that. Was that creeping up?

[Noah Johnson]

I guess it did creep up a little bit. And I. It's funny because imposter syndrome was one of those things I always thought was fake. I just thought people just say that when they're feeling. It's like a fake sign of modesty or something. It's just kind of like a show. I always thought. I don't know. Who feels that? Just excited when cool shit happens, aren't you? This time around, there was. There was. There was a little bit of. In like my first week, maybe there was some reality check of like, oh, this job's not going to be what I thought.

[James]

Really, like, as easy or.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah, just not even as easy. It's just like, was the realization of, like, how how big the role was and the impact of it. And you know, High Somebody is a super interesting company. It has a big agency component like editorial sort of leads and provides direction for, you know, nearly 300 person company that does all kinds of stuff beyond what we publish. And I have a crucial role in that. And are you involved with the, how.

[Larry]

Are, how are you involved with like the E commerce side of it, with the creative agency side of it or is it. Does a company keep everything siloed?

[Noah Johnson]

It's not all siloed. We all work together and that's kind of what I spent the last couple months doing. And why like frankly, if you want high somebody.com right now it doesn't look like the website. Hopefully what's going to look like in six months. But it's been just like a lot of building, blinking and building internal Lincoln builds, you know, like going hanging out with the guy who's the buyer of the shop and understanding where his head is at and where that's headed and how that can inform editorial and how I can send some aura his way.

[James]

One hand washing the other type some riz.

[Noah Johnson]

His way. Yeah, exactly.

[Larry]

You can aura farm.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah.

[James]

Or a farming.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah, or a farm.

[Larry]

Or a farming.

[James]

Yeah.

[Noah Johnson]

Okay. Yeah, that's when I'm okay. Harvesting someone's aura.

[Larry]

You can harvest aura?

[James]

Yeah.

[Larry]

Did you set the tone on day one and just like walking and punch the biggest dog in the yard or.

[James]

Like slap David Fisher?

[Noah Johnson]

No, I went in, I came off the elevator with no shirt on.

[Larry]

What was the first. What was the first day fit? That's a tone setter.

[Noah Johnson]

I know, I know. And I thought about it, but now I forget.

[James]

Shorts and a tank top.

[Noah Johnson]

No, I think I wore an Evan Canary tweed herringbone.

[James]

Oh, a suit.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah, I wore a suit. Yeah, I've been wearing the suit a lot.

[Larry]

All right, guys, streetwear's dead.

[Noah Johnson]

I've been wearing the suit a lot. No tie? No, I think I probably had a, a like a crew neck sweatshirt and a shirt on. It was really cold, super duper cold that week. I remember you wear a hat.

[James]

That gives a new meaning to a sack suit. Dude, a sack suit. You know the term a sack suit.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah, I know that's like. But you're like the JFK suit.

[James]

Yep. J Press et. But you're wearing Evan Cory, which resembles a burlap sack. That's the joke and the fact I have to explain it. We're over it now.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah, yeah.

[James]

Sorry guys.

[Larry]

What's been the. What's been the sickest Perk so far being EIC. Like what was the reaction from. From fellow EICs and from brands and publicists?

[Noah Johnson]

It was nice. It was insane outpouring of positivity and support that was quite frankly maybe permanently damaged my ego. It was oh really? So.

[Larry]

Oh, damn.

[Noah Johnson]

Overwhelmingly positive and awesome.

[Larry]

Was it your most liked Instagram post.

[Noah Johnson]

For like a week? I don't know. But like I was getting a hundred messages like, d, I'm not my. Isn't like always blowing up. I'm a normal person. But like for two days the DMS and the texts were. It was like 100 people were hyped for you.

[James]

And on the higher.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah, yeah, that's cool. And like coming like people I work with years ago, people that I didn't. How my numbers looking?

[Larry]

You got some, some prestige Personas, some blue checks in the comments.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah, yeah.

[Larry]

There was Dr. Taco, Will Weld, Poggy the Man, Sartorially, Inc. Jocham, Steph Yakka.

[James]

People want to see you win, dude.

[Noah Johnson]

Your wife. It was good. And people sent, you know, they were, there were gifts. They were nice, nice things from all kinds of people, designers. Like, I had the best comment though.

[Larry]

I had the best comment.

[Noah Johnson]

What was it?

[Larry]

Bad day to be a short coat.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah. That was good. That was good. This is what you're good at.

[Larry]

You got gifts.

[Noah Johnson]

Well, like little things.

[James]

An edible arrangement.

[Noah Johnson]

Yes.

[Larry]

Envelope of cash.

[Noah Johnson]

Emily Bodhi sent me some beautiful cookies, like from Italy where her factory is.

[James]

And I was like, can't resell those.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah, I can't even wear them, frankly. I was like, is this the father?

[James]

So they eat these? Get fat so I can't fit into my body.

[Noah Johnson]

I crushed them. They were. They're delicious. They're like the little Biscottis Gottos.

[Larry]

What's been the hardest thing about being eic?

[Noah Johnson]

Well, just the fact that you have to kind of do everything and that you know, you're gonna like go to sleep at night with like a million things incomplete and knowing that like some of the projects that feel super urgent are not even going to get your attention for three months. You know, just patience.

[Larry]

Damn. Sounds like you're not good at your job.

[Noah Johnson]

I know.

[James]

Hard sell.

[Noah Johnson]

It's because I'm like just on sub stack all day. Okay.

[Larry]

Besides free, any big perks? Like you got to travel a lot, right?

[Noah Johnson]

I'll be traveling a lot. Oh yeah. Some might consider a perk. Yeah, I think just like better access, you know, like the, you know, when I'm have. When I'm engaging with with brands, everything's just like at a higher level, you're getting straight to the, to the top. You're getting closer to the top.

[Larry]

Oh yeah.

[Noah Johnson]

There's a little less, I don't know, waiting through with people who aren't necessarily decision makers.

[James]

That's the cheat code. Just be the boss.

[Noah Johnson]

Exactly. Then you don't have to.

[James]

That's B2B right there. Dude. Ms.

[Larry]

Prod is finally replying your emails.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah, exactly.

[Larry]

Hell yeah.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah. I don't know. I think it remains to be seen what the perks are but I, to me it's just, it's just like the job itself, like getting to make the decision.

[James]

You don't seem like, like you've never I think struck anyone as like he's a clout chaser or whatever.

[Noah Johnson]

No, no. Is that, that's kind of a diss, huh? A little bit.

[James]

I think it's absolutely a pejorative.

[Larry]

Yeah.

[James]

But I think there's people that work in media, legacy media or otherwise where it's like they're there. They almost take less money to get the perks.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah.

[James]

And that can obviously corrupt someone very quickly.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah. Historically that was what media about but now there's sort of neither.

[James]

No money and no purpose.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah. There's less of both, which is a tough, tough spot to be really.

[Larry]

Should young people not aspire to work in media.

[James]

Unless it's to work for you?

[Noah Johnson]

Right, they should definitely work for me.

[James]

Yeah.

[Noah Johnson]

No, I think that I, I still think that like having a big. A lot of people aren't self starters or don't know how to build their own personal empire. We're not all, you know, Emily Sundberg. I think that like some people really benefit from being part of an organization.

[James]

But I would say the sub stack boon that's happening almost like is the opposite of what you're saying because like that's where you see all the, all these self starters and entrepreneurs are right.

[Noah Johnson]

You're right. It is totally working.

[James]

Not that everyone's succeeding to Emily's level or throwing fence.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah.

[James]

Number two, Fashion beauty podcast.

[Noah Johnson]

And I will say what's number one?

[James]

Cup of Joe. It's a whole media network for mommy bloggers in Williamsburg. Yeah. Wow. And shout out Joanne. She's crushing, dude.

[Noah Johnson]

Really?

[James]

That's hundreds and thousands of subscribers.

[Larry]

She's an og.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah. But there's no one that's really like in fashion that's above you guys. No, not on substack though.

[Larry]

Not in terms of the metrics that substack uses to measure Subscribers.

[Noah Johnson]

Top charts. So how much money you guys make? A lot.

[James]

Dude, it's all. Well, actually, I was gonna say it's public, but it's not public. We're making up. We should be in jail for white collar.

[Noah Johnson]

I think those shirts would be a little nicer though, if this was.

[James]

Oh, shut the up, dude. You said y'all. This could be an Evan.

[Noah Johnson]

Oh, yeah. At least I'm plugging the shirt.

[Larry]

The highest compliment.

[James]

It's already sold out.

[Larry]

The highest element Noah Johnson could pay.

[Noah Johnson]

Sell out, huh?

[Larry]

What do you love more, Evan Kanori or your daughter?

[Noah Johnson]

I mean, they're really different things, right?

[James]

Yeah, totally. Well, mental gymnastics.

[Larry]

Are the stereotypes then true or not true of Gen Z workers being lazy and entitled?

[Noah Johnson]

I mean, no one. No one I work with is lazy and entitled. But why do you think there's a lot of people at ISOB Is. No, that's not a specific question.

[Larry]

I don't know.

[James]

It is the generations is question.

[Larry]

Are there a lot of Gen Z employees at isob?

[Noah Johnson]

I don't really know how old everyone is.

[James]

You're not supposed to ask. Hey, how old are you? Yeah, hey, sweetheart, how old are you?

[Noah Johnson]

I do. I do have access to that information, Sure. I just hang out by the water cooler. I'm like, so what year were you born?

[James]

Yeah, what's the free snack situation? What's a kitchen snack situation like at high snap dece? You can. You can pump those numbers up.

[Noah Johnson]

I'm gonna work on it.

[James]

Yeah.

[Larry]

What stacks you bringing in? What's your snack?

[Noah Johnson]

I like. I'd like a. Like a kind of roasted cashews and dried mango. Whole food situation. Come on, what do you want?

[James]

Gushers cheese.

[Noah Johnson]

It sures are not good, are they? No, I've had a gusher a long time. It can't be good. No, they're fire organic ones.

[Larry]

Upstate cheese.

[Noah Johnson]

Andy's. Yeah, yeah.

[Larry]

Corn with a Q. That popcorn.

[James]

Bjornicorn's.

[Noah Johnson]

Good. All right.

[Larry]

Are you the palest. Are you the palest editor in chief in high somebody's history?

[Noah Johnson]

Maybe? I mean, Willis pale, Famously. I mean, that sounds like we won't.

[James]

Comment on a woman's appearance on the show.

[Noah Johnson]

Cut that. I don't know. I'm probably the fairest maiden in the land.

[Larry]

You. You are not a ginger, right?

[Noah Johnson]

I don't identify as a ginger.

[James]

Okay, Strawberry blonde.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah, exactly.

[Larry]

So that.

[Noah Johnson]

This is the thank you for correctly identifying.

[Larry]

This is about the imposter syndrome we talked about.

[Noah Johnson]

I should have like in parentheses, like instead of my pronouns. Strawberry blonde, strawberry slash Blonde. But once in a while there's like the ginger thing and it's like. No, I just.

[Larry]

Just.

[Noah Johnson]

I'm. I'm. It's just different. I don't know. All due respect to gingers, sure.

[Larry]

I. With gingers. Yannick. Sinner. A ginger.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah, yeah.

[James]

True.

[Larry]

Yeah. No. What's cool now?

[Noah Johnson]

I think everything is. Oh, that's the problem. That's half full. The. The majority of things are cool to.

[Larry]

You, in your opinion?

[Noah Johnson]

No, but like, in. Just in general, like, everybody kind of looks cool. Everything is like, cool and smells good. It's just kind of like, like the. The vibe has been sort of dispersed, like evenly over all culture and is that good? No, I think that's bad. That's the problem.

[James]

Everything is cool. Nothing is cool. Right?

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah.

[James]

Yeah.

[Larry]

Or is it. Is the bar just like the standards are too low or it's like, oh, look, you care.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah. No, I mean, don't you think that, like, that there's way less people that just look super whack now?

[James]

Like it's a rising tide, lifting all ships type situation? Maybe.

[Larry]

I don't know. I think also we're all just in a bubble.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah. Like, all the. That I like is like, killing it and like the places like, like CHCM is always bumping and like selling out of everything.

[James]

Yeah. Like, is that because men's fashion became a hobby, which is, like, weird, but it is a thing right now.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah, I think so. And I think it also just advanced, like, it had to get through kind of an ugly phase of, like, luxury brand kind of. I don't even want to say, like, logo and centric, because it wasn't really about, like, logos, but it was about.

[Larry]

Sort of status about snakes on pants.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah.

[James]

Conspicuous consumption.

[Noah Johnson]

That's right.

[James]

Those were hard.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah. Pretty sick to bring those back. They're like the NBA jeans kind of. You had a snake and then a bunch of, like, NBA logos.

[Larry]

I got the whole jungle on my pants.

[Noah Johnson]

But I think, I think getting through that and then you get into this era of like. Like people want to be more like in the. If you know, you know, kind of camp, you know what I mean? But want good clothes and like, this is why. Or Lee is selling and killing it. That's why there's so much hype around a press, actually, which is sort of unlikely, is there in our world. We published that story yesterday on a press.

[Larry]

Yeah.

[Noah Johnson]

By Eugene Go Crazy. And it went crazy.

[Larry]

Wow.

[James]

They're next up.

[Noah Johnson]

For real.

[James]

For real.

[Noah Johnson]

You know, I mean, I haven't been At I stop for very long. But it is the biggest story like that we've published since I've been there.

[James]

Damn. People want to probably like learn about it because it's like, it's a little mysterious, you know.

[Noah Johnson]

I think so.

[James]

Japanese.

[Larry]

How the do you say it?

[James]

Yeah, exactly.

[Noah Johnson]

That's how we should have started the piece actually. I don't think it. I don't think we ever get just.

[Larry]

Be like, you know how you Google.

[James]

Like how to pronounce Webster's defines a print.

[Larry]

You know how you do how to pronounce whatever in Google and then there's just a mouth that does it. You should have installed that widget.

[Noah Johnson]

That's a good idea.

[James]

Yeah. Widgets, dude.

[Noah Johnson]

That's the thing that saves media.

[Larry]

Honestly, some of the biggest like YouTube videos are how to pronounce like Levi.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah.

[Larry]

Yeah. And it's like hundreds of thousands on millions of views. That's a free one for you. All right, Revenue.

[Noah Johnson]

Thanks for that.

[Larry]

What sucks?

[Noah Johnson]

Well, it sucks that everything is cool.

[Larry]

What do you mean by that? Everything is like has like a intentional design. Like oh, the. You know the packaging of this soap is really going to pop on.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah. Like there's all this like it's hard to tell the difference between what's really good and what's not. Like, I'm sure you guys saw that. That God damn. This is really the. The Evan Connori episode as one could have expected. But the Zara rip off of Evan Connor's store, we're gonna ask about that. Which is so bizarre because it wasn't. It was just a photo shoot.

[James]

They built. They built a fake store.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah. Like it wasn't a domestic scene that they built. That could be like aspirational for someone. You built a fake retail environment to shoot. Weird. But especially later I was like, I wonder if this. You think it's just AI that image. You think they were just like it's possible. Anyway. So I think, you know there's a lot of like these companies like Flamingo Estate or something that come around. They have all this like. You know what that is? Yeah.

[Larry]

No, it's just big chunk of soap.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah. There's just like everything feels like it's from a farmer's market.

[Larry]

They're aura farming, bro.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah, they are farming.

[Larry]

Does that, does that trickle down though? Is that a good thing where like, like everything. There was a moment in time and we're still in that moment where everything looked like Ame Leon door. Right. Every photo shoot, every lookbook was loafers and vintage Jeans?

[James]

No, even just the set.

[Larry]

It was like a. A guy on a chair. A guy in a chair on a rug with, like, a backdrop. Just a textile hang behind him.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah.

[Larry]

A tapestry.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah.

[Larry]

So that was like the bar.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah.

[Larry]

That other brands aspired to. And from that we probably got some good stuff. We got a lot of too. But, like, is it not a good thing that. That Evan Connory is, like, the apex for. For you?

[Noah Johnson]

For me, it probably is a good thing. I mean, yeah, the. The. The brands I like do well. I mean, Mantle does extremely well. Even if you look at a brand like Colbo, which I don't personally wear. But, like, he seems to be killing it. Is that your slaps? Shout out Tom and. And ven space. Chris Green shop in Brooklyn, I think is killing it. He's carrying all the brands I like. I think neighbor soccer shop in Vancouver is killing it. It carrying all the brands I like. I mean, tariffs, though. Yeah, yeah, fair enough. But so I think we're gonna. Tariffs don't really apply there, do they? Yeah, Trump is. Is putting his tariffs on organic.

[Larry]

I looked at. I looked at a. I added something to cart on essence just to see there was a 40 tax.

[James]

Yeah.

[Larry]

Which wasn't there before on a 450.

[James]

Tariffs are real, dude.

[Noah Johnson]

All right.

[Larry]

It's all just textiles. And I thought it was just like, nah, bro, it's everything. Or they're off now.

[James]

Don't we have U. S Steel? Isn't that the whole thing?

[Larry]

No, they got bought by Japan.

[James]

Oh, my God. When did that happen?

[Larry]

Japan wanted to bite, and Biden blocked it.

[James]

Okay.

[Larry]

Yeah.

[Noah Johnson]

What are we talking about?

[Larry]

What sucks?

[Noah Johnson]

Oh, so the fact that everybody. I'm the guy that famously hates stuff, and I don't have, like, great answers for you. I think I've been in, like, positivity mode.

[Larry]

That's great.

[Noah Johnson]

Building this media world.

[James]

It's called growth, brother.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah.

[James]

But it's weird. Like, so I was at event space the other weekend, and there's, like, 10 guys trying to find their size and power boot Michaels. And part. And part of me is like, the more good taste in the world, the better. But then it's also, like, you don't want to be. You don't want to feel like a statistic.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[James]

But it's also not, like, a snobbish thing. I don't know.

[Noah Johnson]

It's. Maybe that's a better. Better way of saying what I was feeling. Like, what do you do when everyone's wearing the shoes that you wear and then you need new shoes. But they're good shoes.

[James]

They're great.

[Noah Johnson]

But.

[Larry]

But my. Okay, my point to that would be that everyone that is a sheep is like, on this now, right? On whatever. Evan Connor A press our legacy orally. They will move on because they are sheep. A few people stick around, but if you actually really like this, like, for me, it's all really about it for me.

[James]

And versus true to this.

[Larry]

Right. For me, it's ol and orally, where it's like, been a fan, loved it, been wearing it for many, for a long time. They are very much of the moment, the natural cycle of things. They're not gonna be at the moment in the future. And I'll still be there, I think.

[James]

But you want your favorite brands to succeed as well, right? You want them to get paid?

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Larry]

So I don't know. I think you just have to have faith that, like, the people chasing the moment will move on to whatever else next.

[Noah Johnson]

Have some integrity. Where will they move to?

[Larry]

I don't know.

[James]

Whatever is cheaper.

[Noah Johnson]

Fair.

[James]

That's the other thing too. It's like the barrier of entry that is based in like, how much these things cost. Like, the. A press hoodie is sick.

[Larry]

Yeah.

[James]

It's like, probably more aspirational than like, you know, versus the amount of people that are actually like, buying.

[Noah Johnson]

But at least we're in the realm of. Of what's even real. I mean, so much like fashion and style media, like, ends up. Attention ends up being directed towards what's happening on runways and fashion week. And like the designer, creative director shuffle. And that's some of those brands people, you know, Dries Van known as a brand that people buy and care about. But a lot of it is like, what are we even talking about? Who is this for?

[Larry]

It's high school gossip. That's what it is.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah. Which is fun, like in the way that you can be a fan of sports, you can be a fan of fashion and follow those narratives and. Sure. But I, you know, isn't it. It's kind of better to get into, like, what we're really buying and wearing, I think.

[James]

Yeah, but what about. Okay, so to your point, what about like, this, the fashion media also creating these narratives around, like, the trend du jour and these cores like that just seemingly endless. That's not real either.

[Noah Johnson]

No. Well, yeah, no, the core thing is funny. It's still sometimes fun to hear. Like a good one.

[Larry]

Yeah, of course.

[Noah Johnson]

Like, you're kind of like, you do. You do love it. But. Yeah, no, it's it's pretty tired.

[Larry]

Not wired.

[Noah Johnson]

What? Fair enough.

[James]

Yeah.

[Noah Johnson]

In like, one of my first. First week, maybe at High Snob, someone was like, we were just, you know, there were a lot of questions about what do we do? What don't we do? You know, people are looking for direction, trying to, like, feel me out. I didn't step in there with some, like, presentation. And someone was like, so how do you think. How do you feel about cores? I was like, about what? You know, cores. You want to do some planks? I was like, I think we can leave the cores along.

[Larry]

Yeah, we're over.

[James]

We're. We're post core worlds.

[Larry]

We're in post core.

[Noah Johnson]

Post core, yes.

[James]

Thank God.

[Noah Johnson]

I mean, bring me it. Bring me a core. Some, you know, change my mind. With a great core.

[James]

There hasn't been a real course as normcore.

[Larry]

Amelia Petrarca wrote about Boom Boom, which.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah, that was a Sean Monahan thing.

[Larry]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Noah Johnson]

And Sean Monahan's the guy that was part of.

[Larry]

He did norm court.

[Noah Johnson]

K hole that came up with normcore.

[James]

Okay.

[Noah Johnson]

I don't know about the boom boom thing. I gotta. I gotta.

[Larry]

I think I passed Boom Boom. Honestly.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah.

[James]

What was Boom Boom? I missed this completely.

[Noah Johnson]

Trump era opulence.

[Larry]

It's like. It's like banker. It's like banker stripes kind of corpo stuff.

[James]

Like.

[Larry]

Yeah, like big, big shoulders.

[James]

So. Okay.

[Noah Johnson]

Got a power that one did. Feel like. I don't like. Yeah, like a well articulated phenomenon. But then you're like, am I seeing that in the world? I don't know.

[Larry]

Well, I think young kids did, like, were into the old money aesthetic, but.

[James]

Again, maybe that was real. That was a real thing that happened. Unfortunately, quiet luxury was real.

[Noah Johnson]

And I mean, the brands that are like the. The luxury brands that are killing it are Hermes and, you know, it's like these old world luxury kind of boom boom brands, you know?

[Larry]

Do you have any design?

[Noah Johnson]

Maybe Boom Boom is more like Dolce Gabbana.

[Larry]

Do you wear any designer capital? Heard of it? Oh, my guy likes the boys.

[Noah Johnson]

I don't own any. Yoji.

[James]

No, no. Stuff from the master.

[Noah Johnson]

Okay.

[Larry]

Really?

[Noah Johnson]

I don't know. I own a lot of combe des garcons. Yeah, that's really the.

[James]

Do you have the sparkle shorts?

[Noah Johnson]

Oh, man. Come on. Don't. Don't tease me. Those are.

[James]

Oh, yeah, they're my favorites.

[Noah Johnson]

They're my grail.

[Larry]

Yeah.

[James]

The Frank ocean ones.

[Larry]

Is that why you're so mad when I wore the Dre Sparkle?

[Noah Johnson]

Yes, of course you wore the fake Comb shorts. Wow.

[James]

That's Dries. You're talking.

[Larry]

It was crazy.

[James]

Crazy.

[Larry]

That's Dre.

[Noah Johnson]

That's his last collection. A huge street fan.

[Larry]

Really?

[Noah Johnson]

Not really.

[Larry]

Do you like what the new kid, Julian.

[Noah Johnson]

I don't know. I didn't look. He showed this week, right? Yesterday.

[Larry]

Yesterday.

[Noah Johnson]

Oh.

[James]

What do you think of hater at Tom Ford?

[Noah Johnson]

Exciting. I think Hater's one of the greats. I. I was like thinking that through. And I'll get a sparkle suit. He likes sparkle. I don't love the like the. The. The like tuxes Timmy wears that are like the crop jacket. I don't really love you proportions. I'm not into that half ass morning coat. Yeah.

[James]

Where the tails at?

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah, exactly. It gives me the morning coat.

[Larry]

He's also wearing jeans. He's wearing leather jeans.

[Noah Johnson]

Really? Yeah. I didn't get a good look at it, but I think haters of jeans.

[James]

That was. That was Sarah Burton.

[Noah Johnson]

Sorry.

[Larry]

Sorry.

[James]

So butter jeans.

[Larry]

If we're not looking at the backward fitteds on Bad Bonnie and Bieber. Who do you look at as like. Who do you take style keys from artists channelac Musculade.

[James]

He's a flat brim.

[Noah Johnson]

That was good.

[James]

Thanks, dude.

[Noah Johnson]

He's a flat. He's like a Rick Owens guy now.

[James]

Yeah, totally.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah.

[James]

He's like a street art.

[Larry]

Rick Owens start Entourage. Yeah.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah. I don't know. Skating is not in a. Is not in a place of. Of tremendous style inspiration for me at the moment. I feel like skating is having an identity crisis.

[Larry]

Really? Tony Hawk would retire.

[Noah Johnson]

Bro. What do you have against Tony Hawk?

[Larry]

He's a legend. He's just like, yo, bro, come on.

[Noah Johnson]

Like he needs to step down. Unless somebody else.

[James]

Yeah, he just resigned as the president of skateboarding.

[Larry]

They just put out a Tony Hawk game.

[James]

No, they're remastering three and four. Get your facts straight.

[Larry]

What's your kid show?

[Noah Johnson]

Were you guys Tony Hawk Pro skater players?

[James]

Come on.

[Noah Johnson]

Everyone was right.

[James]

THPS2 is the greatest video game of all time.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah, agree.

[James]

When they instituted the manual, I got a lot of opinions. We can say that for the video game pod.

[Noah Johnson]

I like how you're a low key skate head, dude.

[James]

I was, bro. I was terrible at skating, but I love skating.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah, it's always. It's always. It stays with you. It's here. Of course.

[Larry]

Yo, you know, lifestyle. You know what you should bring back, you know, you should do a story on is CCS archive.

[James]

Oh, dude.

[Larry]

Yeah, My dad gave me one. He's like, yo, I found this When I was like, cleaning out the bookshelf.

[Noah Johnson]

And I was like, oh, what year? I don't know.

[James]

Gotta be. Fulfill the dream era shorties type.

[Noah Johnson]

I want to say that, like, Slap magazine and Thrasher to some extent, like, shaped me as a youngster, but it was really the catalogs, it was just purely like, just like product. The sneaker pages. Yeah. Just like completely geeking.

[Larry]

Like, the jeans in there, Like, I would wear them right now. Now.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah.

[Larry]

I think it's like 98.99.

[James]

Times Square is not real. But that's how they. They dress. Like they're in a CCS mail order catalog.

[Noah Johnson]

True.

[James]

Which is cool.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah. Yeah. But that's on its way out too, right? It's kind of the 90s nostalgia or whatever. Whatever it's called Y2K. Y2K, exactly.

[James]

Yeah.

[Noah Johnson]

You feel sort of was fleeting.

[James]

Wait, who's swaggy? We got to figure out who's.

[Noah Johnson]

Oh, I don't know. I don't have.

[Larry]

Who do you look at? And you're like, yo, I like whether they inform the way that you take. You pick up cues from. Or you're just like, oh, I.

[Noah Johnson]

With the way that someone who's doing it right now, live and in person. I don't have a good answer for you.

[James]

Damn.

[Noah Johnson]

It's not because I'm a snob. I just don't obsess. I don't look at that.

[Larry]

The answer's Sam Hein, bro.

[Noah Johnson]

Well, I say, actually, I 100 the person. It would be Bieber. I actually. I don't know about the flat brim. No, I just mean when I see a photo and I'm like, whoa, I gotta look at this photo. Like, I gotta, like, let me see. It's not like Jacob Elordi with a little purse. Like, I don't really care. Like, Like, I'll blaze right past that. But the Bieber thing, I'm like, wait, what is a train wreck?

[James]

Because it's kind of a train wreck.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah, I guess that's the other thing is you're a little bit like, is he okay?

[Larry]

No, wait.

[James]

Is it weird to think that there's people that probably like, bite your steez like that, follow you on ig, like civilians.

[Noah Johnson]

Is that cross reminder? Yeah, maybe it is weird. I do. I will say. I. I hear from people. I. You know, there's the. The DMS of, like, certain people are like, always, like, what kind of.

[James]

Sure.

[Larry]

Bro. How do I wear this burlap sack? I'm gonna potato sack myself.

[Noah Johnson]

They sent me a Picture. They're like, where does my head go? Yeah, that's very real. No, I mean, like I said earlier, I think I want credit for a lot of things. I think I see a lot of people in brands where I'm like, yeah, I, I helped. Oh shape that.

[Larry]

Well, to be fair, the brand shaped it. It.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah. I mean, I don't have a brand and never designed a thing in my life, so.

[Larry]

Damn.

[James]

He just wears, he puts his, puts his burlap sack on like everyone else, one leg at a time. Yeah.

[Noah Johnson]

I mean I never dress. I, I. My fatal flaw is that I don't dress to look good. I don't like, wear flattering stuff. I wear clothes that I like and think are cool.

[Larry]

How do you find new brands?

[Noah Johnson]

I don't. I only like one brand. No, I mean the, the best way to find new brands is, is through a, A shop you trust.

[Larry]

You know, I, I love 100 agree.

[Noah Johnson]

Sagar's vision at neighbor. And like he started carrying Sono, for instance. I think maybe I saw it first there. It's like a little brand from London that I really like. And he's been carrying a brand called Slope Slow that I think is really sick. Like a Japanese.

[Larry]

What the you call me knitwear brand. Yo, you're gonna. Are you gonna wear the Lauren manoogie and Menswear?

[Noah Johnson]

For sure.

[Larry]

Yeah. That Next up. For real. For real.

[Noah Johnson]

I think low key.

[Larry]

You think Chris is the best dressed man in New York?

[Noah Johnson]

I don't know. Chris dresses. Chris is the best. One of the coolest and coolest looking people in New York for sure.

[Larry]

He looks like the grim reaper when he skates.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah, it's awesome. Crazy.

[James]

He's got reaper Steve.

[Noah Johnson]

He's a really good skater. And so is Evan, needless to say. And, and I think that. But yeah, this is a, this is a theme in my life. The people I look to, people whose clothes I want to wear, do come from skating. Yeah. Lauren Manooga is gonna be good. My wife has a little bomber that I like to wear. I have several pieces that I wear. Chris and I are in some, in talks about developing some things Interesting. Hoping he's gonna bring me into his cool. To the menswear. Menswear development.

[Larry]

Yo. Go down.

[Noah Johnson]

Maybe I'll be in the show.

[Larry]

Fly down to Peru, bro. Do that story.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah, yeah, I'd love to.

[Larry]

How can we trust your editorial prowess and what's cool when you live on a farm?

[Noah Johnson]

I hate when you stop like we're jamming and it's cool. And then you look at the screen and a question comes time to.

[James]

On Noah. When you look at the time, I.

[Noah Johnson]

Can tell when it's gonna be a good one too, because James kind of like, do you feel settles in and like, prepares for it?

[Larry]

Time to be me. All right, say it again. Okay. The question is, can anyone anywhere in the world be cool? Because you live on a farm upstate, yet you are for all intents, but.

[Noah Johnson]

It is in the woods.

[Larry]

Okay.

[Noah Johnson]

I don't know. I think I'm less cool since I've been there. I do think you are cooler when you're in a like heat center of cool. Like I think. I think proximity does go a long way when you're here. Live in kind of a cool.

[James]

The.

[Noah Johnson]

We don't need to get into it. But where I live is kind of cool.

[Larry]

What's your address? Actually, you could drink on the train. The home. That's cool.

[James]

Yeah, that's so cool.

[Noah Johnson]

Metro North. Just like tall boy, brown baggot. Yeah, yeah.

[Larry]

You and John Draper, you give your.

[James]

Beer its own little Evan Connor suit.

[Larry]

Dude.

[Noah Johnson]

Yes. That's good.

[James]

Thanks, dude. Yeah, I try.

[Noah Johnson]

But you're here every day, like three days a week. Yeah, I'm here a lot. I'm here. I'm in Paris. I'm in. No, I'm just saying a few times here I go to Paris and that's where I get a lot of my aura harvest. Aura.

[Larry]

I thought the whole high. Something is not in Paris.

[Noah Johnson]

I know it's confusing.

[Larry]

What? What? What is what? Can you explain that? Not in Paris, not in London.

[James]

Yeah. What the is that the David Fisher original?

[Noah Johnson]

I think it was a Tom Petridge original.

[James]

Really?

[Noah Johnson]

The first not in London. I mean. Sorry. The first not in Paris was the first seized fashion season during COVID And Tom, for high snap, did a really sick kind of digital like fashion week thing where like Kim Jones and Rick Owens and a bunch of people sub like videos and. And like whatever digital material and. And they did an all online thing. It was super successful. And I just like built into this kind of IP and now it's an event series, collabs, all this stuff.

[James]

Gotcha.

[Larry]

But it's not in like, for example, not in Paris is in Paris. Okay, all right.

[James]

I could see how it is confusing for sure.

[Larry]

Yeah, it's French, you know.

[James]

Yeah. Throw gang. Let's be real. Most skincare products aren't made for men. And when they are, they're usually not great. They're overly complicated, packed with questionable ingredients or just don't Deliver the results. But that's where caldera lab comes in.

[Larry]

That's right, Larry. I got a simple one for you. It's called the good. It's an award winning serum that swept the awards. And just like that one scene when you put it all over your face, you're going to look healthier, smoother and more hydrated. It has over 3.4 million antioxidant units per drop. You thought 2.5 was a lot. 3.4 according to a scientist, helps protect your skin from all environmental stressors.

[James]

Yeah, I don't think you've seen an aura, but I want to say that, dude, I am loving the eye serum. Right. It's designed to help reduce the appearance of tired eyes. You know, your boys got tired eyes, but no more. All my dark circles and puffiness, boom. Right out the door. Thanks to caldera Labs Eye Serum, 70% of users reported diminished darkness under their eyes. Get on the right side of history, fam. Okay. Whether you're starting fresh or upgrading your routine, Caldera lab makes skincare simple and effective. Do not settle for drugstore junk or steal your partner's products. Elevate your own skincare routine that's made for you. Head to caldera lab.com/thrunk fits and use throwing fits at checkout for 15% off your first order.

[Larry]

What about specifically drilling down on menswear? What's happening in menswear that's exciting you right now? Your pickle.

[Noah Johnson]

Well, I guess we're in a moment of. Well, like I was saying earlier, I think the exciting thing is that the. But good guys seem to be doing well. And by good guys specifically, I'm like the ones I've already named Chris Green event space. Sweet to a chm Sagaret neighbor. Yeah, you know, departmento in la. I like. I like Andrew over there. I think like so retail. Well, I'm just saying emporiums of menswear where the brands and clothes are. Are doing well with the brands I like, as far as I can tell. I see the shit is selling out. I see more new brands that are like aligned with my kind of values. Interest appearing.

[Larry]

Yeah.

[Noah Johnson]

The brands that I'm close to are all doing well. They're saying no to more accounts increasingly just because.

[Larry]

Sorry. Kith.

[Noah Johnson]

Exactly.

[James]

A lot of power in saying no.

[Larry]

No. A press for you, Ronnie.

[James]

All right.

[Noah Johnson]

And I think moving away a little bit from the. Yeah. From just like the luxury brand cycle and into the world of the real.

[Larry]

But do you think that that's a trend? It's just a pendulum swinging back from, like, three years ago.

[Noah Johnson]

I think genuinely, there's no, like, stars there right now. Like, I think when Virgil was doing it was, like, sort of undeniable. Like, there was. There was going to be cool, surprising, interesting novel happening. And right now, everyone's just moving around different jobs and just making nice clothes. I think Bottega has looked really nice, but now he's gone and, you know, it's like. Like, who's the star? Who's the. Who's the. The visionary that is setting the agenda? I just don't think there is. Well, Pharrell for sure, but he's Pharrell.

[James]

Jonathan Anderson, but he left Louis, so it's like that was a.

[Noah Johnson]

He'll be somewhere new soon and. And he'll probably start to do it. But even he is, I don't know, maybe quieter. I mean, he's great.

[Larry]

But the fact that there are no stars, is that not ostensibly maybe a good thing where it's not about, like, the personal. It's not the LeBron. It's like the team.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah.

[James]

Or. Or North Star that everyone. Anyway.

[Noah Johnson]

You know, like, it would be. But unfortunately, I don't think the clothes are very good either. Like, I think if. If, like, all these brands were a little quieter and the clothes were really beautiful, that would be great. But I think you end up with, like, these kind of debacles where the creative director is struggling for commercial success at a brand that's waning, and it's sort of heat index, and you're just like.

[James]

And you're fired after two seasons. Yeah.

[Noah Johnson]

And then you don't really get any of it. You're kind of quiet and your clothes are back.

[James]

Is it. Are we, like, seeing what's popular? Is.

[Larry]

Are we.

[James]

Can we just define as wearable? That's the thing that I feel like, where it's like just every. All the cool brands you mentioned, which. Sure. Great textiles. Maybe it's expensive, but it's all just wear. It's like, wearable stuff.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah. Yeah. Looks cool. Super wearable. But I do think I wrote a thing. The one thing I really did is I wrote a piece for High Snob about good clothes, and I keep. It's an annoying, stupid phrase.

[Larry]

Good core.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah. Good course. That's actually pretty good clothes from boom.

[James]

Boom to good good.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah. I think it's just that thing where you're like. Like this James Coward jacket I have is just a good jacket. Like, it's a. It just feels good to wear. It is.

[Larry]

He's Canadian or San Francisco.

[Noah Johnson]

It's. I think it's two guys in Canada.

[Larry]

Okay. James and Coward. Yeah, Coward. That's. That's tough.

[Noah Johnson]

I don't know their names. I actually don't know too much about James Coward. But they're. They're. I like the brand, so.

[Larry]

Good clothes are.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah. I think. I mean, it's wearable, but it's also like, there's a. There's wearable and then there's another thing to it which is like. Just feels better than other stuff.

[Larry]

Yeah.

[Noah Johnson]

I don't know.

[Larry]

A little weird.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah. A little off.

[Larry]

A little off. A little left to center.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah. And not an obvious reference. Like, I think part of the thing maybe with ALD that was to its detriment. I'm not that familiar with. With the. That brand or those clothes. But like it. When everything is a vintage reference and then vintage becomes huge. You're. You're gonna slip. And I think that the. Even with a brand like orally, it's way less referential than super contemporary. Yeah. It's just. You're just like, I can't. Like, maybe it's close to a bean barn coat, but it's not. It's actually pretty different.

[James]

Well.

[Larry]

Or. Lee, I think what. What sets it apart is that the dude, and I know this because I interviewed him for the Substack, the only podcast that matters, he develops every textile from scratch. So a lot of it is like a familiar looking garment, but in a. In a fabric or textile that is unfamiliar or like. And like. Oh, well, does that a lot too.

[James]

The colors, dude, just the orally, it's all proprietary pigments and pantones and hues.

[Noah Johnson]

Also the thing they really hit well for me, being like a dork who goes to shows and looks at shows is the styling, too. Like, the styling of those shows is crazy.

[James]

I think that's the thing that people. That's a way like a portal to fall in love with the brand is like, yo, these models look awesome.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah.

[James]

In pictures that I'm seeing.

[Larry]

And also doable.

[James]

Yes.

[Larry]

It's not like super fantasy or otherworldly.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah. And then there's a cool new balance that looks good with it. That's that you can buy. You know, there's Mew Mew new balances, like 1400. I still want to understand why can't buy those.

[James]

Because it's Mew Mew, dude.

[Noah Johnson]

I don't know.

[Larry]

You can get them.

[Noah Johnson]

No, I can't.

[Larry]

No.

[Noah Johnson]

No.

[Larry]

Do you ever. Do you ever do some gender bending wear?

[Noah Johnson]

Women's clothes. Yeah.

[James]

Laura Manoogian. Right?

[Noah Johnson]

Laura Manoogian, for sure. I like. No, but, like, I really like Gabrielle Cole right now. And she. Does she. I mean, she makes menswear. It isn't gender bending at all, but it's a. A little a. What do you call it?

[James]

Zesty. Zesty, yeah, yeah, it's a term.

[Noah Johnson]

No, it's a little a yo.

[Larry]

A yo. Cor. Know, if you could only wear four brands for the rest of your life, what are they?

[Noah Johnson]

Crooks and castles.

[James]

Huff.

[Larry]

Huff. Weed, Socks.

[James]

Birdhouse.

[Noah Johnson]

Huff for the socks.

[Larry]

Spitfire.

[Noah Johnson]

That's a real question.

[James]

Yeah. You're Mount Rushmore.

[Larry]

Ek it.

[Noah Johnson]

Evan Kanori.

[James]

Yeah.

[Noah Johnson]

Combe des Garcon.

[Larry]

Okay.

[Noah Johnson]

Can I have something weird? Can I do, like, Helmet lang? Really? Before 2005.

[James]

Archive. How much archive Helmet Lang do you own? How many bulletproof vests?

[Noah Johnson]

Actually, none. I only have a couple things.

[Larry]

Let's fix that.

[Noah Johnson]

Oh, these have to. This is aspirational. This is. Don't. I, I. I make the rules here.

[James]

Okay, sure, Whatever, bro.

[Noah Johnson]

And then, like, Adidas for tennis and skating.

[James]

Oh, do you.

[Larry]

Oh, man. Who was I talking to? Oh, I was. My barber, Paul. He is getting into tennis, but he skates and he's like, yo, I wear Nike SBS to play tennis. Because it's like the same technology, parallel movement, a lot of, like, small steps for, you know, when you fall. What's up with that?

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah, it makes sense. I mean, you. When you want. The main thing about tennis shoes and skate shoes is they have to be flat.

[James]

That. Yeah.

[Noah Johnson]

Like a running shoe has a higher heel than a, you know, a toe. I don't know about that, though. It seems like he's just trying to be cool. He should probably get some tennis shoes.

[Larry]

Probably. I think he's just a respect beginner.

[James]

Yeah, it's like Nicholson and what's it, Butchers of Eastwick. He's playing in the Michigan Dunks. Dude, he's playing tennis like that Zoo board picking.

[Noah Johnson]

I'm talking about that. Everyone always.

[James]

He's playing tennis. And if Jack can do it.

[Noah Johnson]

Basketball shoes and tennis shoes are also, like, very similar. Yeah, it's like lateral movement and.

[James]

Yeah, right.

[Larry]

Noah, now I'm gonna ask you a question. If you could snap your fingers and change just one thing about the lifestyle media landscape, what would it be?

[Noah Johnson]

Wait, I actually, I wouldn't. Not Adidas for life. I would take our legacy.

[James]

Okay.

[Noah Johnson]

Because I like. Yeah.

[James]

Shout out the Boys.

[Noah Johnson]

Probably it would be workshop, though. That's a different brand, Right?

[James]

You're speaking my language, dude.

[Noah Johnson]

That's what I wear. Anyway, go on. Just wanted to correct for the record.

[James]

Okay.

[Noah Johnson]

I don't know. You were asking me something.

[Larry]

Yeah. Oh. If you could snap your fingers and change one thing about lifestyle media, the whole landscape, would it be.

[Noah Johnson]

The problem right now? I would fix social media.

[Larry]

Really?

[James]

Go on.

[Noah Johnson]

There's just no. I mean this is a problem across the board. It's not a secret. But there is no longer any engagement. There's no audience to be had on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook anymore.

[Larry]

Twitter's for porn and violence and racism.

[James]

Don't forget that.

[Larry]

Racism.

[Noah Johnson]

Once upon a time it was like communities of like minded people that would like click your links and yeah. Share your links and then like leave some mean comment.

[Larry]

There's, there's high fashion Twitter.

[James]

Yeah.

[Noah Johnson]

There's little pockets of it. But those platforms now, they, they deprioritize whatever links. They don't want you to link anything.

[Larry]

They don't want you to leave the platform.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah, exactly. And so it has to do with the, the way this isn't really like a media problem, this is a social media problem.

[Larry]

But like a band aid to that was. And I don't know if this is still under the Noah Johnson administration, but high snobiety and other places would kind of like almost leave the entire gist of the article in the caption.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah, exactly.

[Larry]

Like this is where the people are.

[James]

Yeah.

[Noah Johnson]

That's why everyone's doing it. Exactly. You just have to, you have to build that community on that platform and just stay there with them. But I just find it annoying. I want more people to come to the website. I want there to be a more clear and direct way of like building a big audience. And like, you know, I'm still like, I still want to drive traffic. I want to post a story and be like, wow, a lot of people came here and looked at this story, which is an old, it's a little bit of an outdated mentality. But I, Yeah. But also hang on to it a little bit.

[Larry]

Is it almost reflective of the whole conversation we just had about like, yo, the trick to getting people to wear clothes is like make good clothes. Is it just like make good.

[Noah Johnson]

That's my hope. Yeah, that's my hope. That's the plan.

[Larry]

Good luck, brother.

[Noah Johnson]

That's, that's my one slide deck.

[Larry]

Yeah. All right.

[James]

But it is crazy to think that if like you had this newsletter where you were like talking every week or you're delivering that hot take that is also based in reality, you're not actually like rage baiting. You feel those things. Like, like more people might sign up for that newsletter to get directly than to like read that column.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah.

[James]

Via whatever publication.

[Noah Johnson]

Right.

[James]

That's just like the nature of the beast.

[Noah Johnson]

Exactly. Which is. Yeah, I get it. It's all good. That's. That's what we've got. But just like the que. You know, if I could set my fingers and change it, I'd like.

[Larry]

I would love Instagram to just turn off for six months just to see.

[Noah Johnson]

Like what happens to the world.

[James]

Who's left? Dude.

[Larry]

Just see what would happen to the world.

[Noah Johnson]

Dan down. You should. I think that happen.

[Larry]

I think the design of everything would change. I think like people's intentions and purpose of doing things and. And consuming things would change. I think like entire cottage industries would just disappear overnight.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah.

[James]

A lot of brands would go out of business. I'll tell you that.

[Noah Johnson]

It is like it would change for the better or it would be worse.

[Larry]

I don't know.

[James]

Thinning the herd, bro.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah.

[James]

Natural select. It's natural selection.

[Larry]

It's all marketing. Right. Yeah, it's just a marketing platform in a lot of ways.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah.

[Larry]

For the most part at least where we exist.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah.

[Larry]

It's also like, I guess like infographics and.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah.

[James]

How would I learn what good politics.

[Noah Johnson]

Are, dude, you see infographics on Instagram? I do not.

[James]

Thank God.

[Larry]

Not anymore. The Pinterest is for. What about menswear media? Can you give us just like a state of the union on it in this this year right now? What the going on?

[Noah Johnson]

I don't know. What do we have? We've got my. My old colleagues at GQ doing a nice job.

[Larry]

The gentlemen.

[Noah Johnson]

You know the, the, the. The big dogs. Esquire's still around probably. I see those gentlemen at events you have. I don't know there. I like. One thing that comes to mind is my friend Laura at Magasin has a menswear editor that works for her.

[James]

Shout out Louie dudes.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah.

[James]

Seems Lewis Louie seems cool shout out to him.

[Noah Johnson]

We love huge shout out. He's great.

[James]

He's listen literally so.

[Noah Johnson]

But like that to me is. It was a very interesting development. We got the good homie Jacob Gallagher. Now we do over at the. The Gray lady. And I think with Laura.

[Larry]

What Laura Riley. Like that's interesting. And magazine like that's all product driven and affiliate links. Like that's the business model and she's not. She's open about that.

[Noah Johnson]

That's.

[Larry]

This is what it is like Is that kind of a future?

[Noah Johnson]

Everyone's doing that. Yeah. Everyone in media is making money on affiliate. For sure.

[James]

That's why GQ Recommends exists, right? Let's be real.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah. And you know, I actually think it's a good thing because it's so like when it kind of first started, it seemed weird because it was like you'd only have relationships with certain stores and certain brands that had affiliate programs like available. But now everyone does it. So I actually think in terms of like there being a. The bias. I mean, look, it's tricky be it needs to be done properly, but I think. But you want it so common now. It's almost just like.

[Larry]

But you want your editors have a bias, right?

[Noah Johnson]

For sure. But you want them to have a bias towards what they believe and not whether they're getting money.

[Larry]

Yeah, true. Is that. Is that. Is that possible in lifestyle media?

[Noah Johnson]

Well, you hope so. I mean, I don't know. I do this job and I feel like I've been able to do it for as many. As many, many, many years as I have have by. By playing it that way. So with myself as an example, I believe that integrity.

[James]

One of the good things, transparency. And we're not talking about his skin, folks.

[Larry]

The last good guy in menswear media.

[Noah Johnson]

I mean. Yeah, yeah, it is me. Yeah, sure.

[Larry]

Leave your far side with the high Stop magazine. Do you have like a dream cover star?

[Noah Johnson]

Oh, yeah. But I'm not going to tell you what it is.

[Larry]

Who's gonna happen.

[Noah Johnson]

Who do you think it should be?

[James]

Some Federer. Some tennis guy.

[Noah Johnson]

Federer?

[James]

Yeah.

[Noah Johnson]

I'm not a big Federer guy.

[James]

Really? You're not a Fed head?

[Noah Johnson]

Really? I always thought it was a little contrived. I thought he was like too suave. It was sort of weird.

[Larry]

I can see he's a different era.

[Noah Johnson]

I know. Fair enough. I like. Well, none of the.

[Larry]

You like meth guys. That's why you should put Bieber on.

[Noah Johnson]

The COVID Meth guys.

[Larry]

I can see.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah, it's true. I like meth guys. It probably won't be a. There probably won't be a tennis player on the COVID No realistic Carlito. No.

[Larry]

Ben Shelton. I mean no Joao.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah, there's. There's cover. Yeah. The first mags print magazine will be out in September. So I'm in a lot of COVID.

[James]

But that wasn't like your cover, right? Like, was that already? Wait, was that.

[Noah Johnson]

No, it come this coming September will be my first.

[James]

Oh, got it. I see what you're saying.

[Noah Johnson]

Nothing that's come out yet.

[Larry]

Who's gonna be reveal it six months early? Come on.

[Noah Johnson]

On Baron Trump.

[James]

Oh, yeah, that would do Numbies. Dude.

[Noah Johnson]

Ste Lord, bro, It's like we got the real story.

[Larry]

What do you affiliate link to, like, Lockheed Mar. Supreme?

[James]

Not anymore.

[Larry]

All right.

[James]

They divested Raytheon.

[Noah Johnson]

Probably like a big, like, Lair guy. He's just got, like, really big Lamar guy.

[Larry]

Do you with Lair?

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah, I love Lair.

[Larry]

So expensive.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah. And the prices just keep going up. It sucks. All these brands where you're like, the Row and Lair, like, it's been a few years where they've kind of been hot. And I'm like, like, this 20% more expensive now than it was. 360. Like, everything is just creeping up.

[Larry]

I think that's so, like, this is the most obvious statement of all time. But one of the reasons why street wear was so popular is that it was cheap.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah, totally. But it didn't seem it at the time. Dude, you have no idea how much heat like supreme used to get because it was so expensive.

[Larry]

How much is a T shirt at Supreme's peak, like, 40 bucks.

[Noah Johnson]

They were like, well, it depended. But, you know, hoodie is $110. That was. That was very expensive.

[Larry]

But it was. But it was one of the best. Like.

[Noah Johnson]

Like, the quality is great. It was worth it. But I'm just saying, like, in. In. In the days when we were at Complex and when supreme was really hot. One criticism of supreme was that it was way too expensive, which is quite funny now, the way people shop in our industry.

[Larry]

It is surprising that, like, as much as we try to put on or. Or love and. And glaze, you know, a press orally, our legacy is expensive.

[Noah Johnson]

It's very expensive.

[Larry]

And like, in our, like, kids. Kids. True kids are like, always just, like, trying to find whether it's like, dupes or just like the IG brands that are just, you know, D2C or even like, she. Like, she and like, fast Fashion is still huge with kids.

[Noah Johnson]

Zara. Yeah.

[Larry]

Costs.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah, it.

[Larry]

That was the number one brand, I think, in magazine, as mentioned by her readers.

[James]

Even that cheap, dude.

[Noah Johnson]

Now, cost isn't that cheap either, but it is less than.

[James]

Yeah.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah.

[James]

Well, a lot of things are.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah, it's a. It's. It's the reality. You know, good clothes are really expensive. And I think it's good to, like, say that and to know that and be like, you shouldn't, like, like, buy a ton of good clothes all the time. Like, you should. You should.

[James]

If you're buying good clothes you don't need a ton of them thing. Yeah, it's counterintuitive.

[Larry]

Damn. Why am I still buying that?

[Noah Johnson]

You can't. Because you're rich.

[James]

Because you're rich. Retired podcaster money.

[Noah Johnson]

Orion keeps cutting you guys fat checks.

[James]

We. They're just cutting us cans, dude.

[Larry]

They're.

[Noah Johnson]

They're.

[Larry]

They're float. Float.

[James]

But we would love to get Ryan. It's delicious.

[Noah Johnson]

Nice.

[Larry]

Yo, fly to Okinawa. Do a story on Orion too.

[Noah Johnson]

There's a really good brand, I think, that makes all their pants in Okinawa called Tuki. You know Tuki? No, I love Tuki.

[James]

How's it spelled?

[Noah Johnson]

T U K I.

[James]

Okay.

[Larry]

Sounds Fire.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah, they make a pants, put you guys on game. They only make pants.

[Larry]

But, like, they only make pants.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah, it's really.

[James]

So they're dialed. If they only make.

[Noah Johnson]

Super dialed.

[James]

It's like Orion and beer, dude. They only make beer.

[Noah Johnson]

Their factories are next door to each other. Yeah.

[Larry]

Fire. Have you started using AI to write articles yet?

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah, yeah. Everything I've written five years or so has been AI.

[Larry]

Be honest.

[Noah Johnson]

No, but I've hit. I have. Yeah.

[James]

Yeah.

[Noah Johnson]

AI is pretty remarkable. No, I haven't used AI even. Even a bit for something like that. No.

[Larry]

You know what you could do? And this is like the commercial of the guy that's, like, pissed and like, he writes the email and then like, uses AI to, like, make it nicer. I feel like you could use that.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah, yeah, I. I know. I was. I was writing something the other day and I, like, I like, moused over the text and the computer. Something popped up and I clicked it. It was like, make nicer. Make more professional. Make more something. I could. Everybody knows about this. I think it's an Apple thing. And I was like, what'd you do? I clicked make. I think I clicked make more friendly.

[Larry]

Hey, guys.

[James]

Does not compute.

[Noah Johnson]

Exclamation mark. And a Happy Monday. It did like, the 8 equals Eagles equals D. Yeah.

[James]

Yeah.

[Larry]

How many wise on the head did you get?

[James]

Yeah.

[Larry]

Okay, so no AI yet.

[Noah Johnson]

No, I don't. I don't have any. I don't have a good AI take for you. No, I mean, I think. But it's. It's gonna happen. I mean, it's happening, obviously.

[Larry]

What about. I mean, whether AI or not? What. What's your media diet specifically? What do you consume?

[Noah Johnson]

Stack.

[Larry]

But like. Okay, who on Substack?

[Noah Johnson]

You said Laura, Sean Monahan, who we mentioned earlier, I think is good. Natasha Stag. I like, shout out to Tasha. Has she been on?

[James]

No, but we Were emailing with her about something in your purview potentially.

[Noah Johnson]

I don't know if we can say that.

[Larry]

Who do we invoice for that, by the way?

[Noah Johnson]

Oh, yeah, that's right.

[James]

Yeah.

[Noah Johnson]

Is that the first time you'd heard from her? Well, whatever. We don't have to talk about that. She's great.

[James]

She's a genius.

[Larry]

How do we get coverage on high sobriety?

[James]

Yeah.

[Noah Johnson]

I don't know. It's. I mean, this is a good start. We're building something here.

[Larry]

No, like, for example, two Way Street.

[Noah Johnson]

Oh, when the shirts drop, give us the exclue.

[Larry]

Really Exclusive text you like, yo, here's a photo of me wearing the shirt with my ass out.

[Noah Johnson]

No, you got to be like, yo, the shirt's dropping next week. Here's some photos, here's some info. Here's some quotes from our CEO, and I don't know. I'll send it to Jason. I'll send it to the.

[James]

Here's a quote from James the throne CEO. Yeah. Are you looking for the picture of your butt to show him right now?

[Larry]

I am.

[James]

It'll be out.

[Noah Johnson]

What is it? You made a jock strap?

[James]

No, no, we. We just have his butt in a photo.

[Larry]

Yeah, we can run that.

[Noah Johnson]

No, that's good, though.

[James]

Yeah.

[Larry]

Right.

[James]

There's one that shows more cheek.

[Noah Johnson]

I. You can almost see, like, the crack.

[James]

You can almost see we have better.

[Noah Johnson]

We have more almost grundle there.

[Larry]

There's more. Where's the extras?

[Noah Johnson]

You wax your legs?

[James]

No, no, no.

[Larry]

I just don't have the hair. I don't have a hairy back of my thighs. Do you?

[Noah Johnson]

Probably a little bit.

[Larry]

Yeah. From all. It's not ginger, though. It's not ginger.

[James]

It's all that burlap rubbing on your thigh, dude.

[Noah Johnson]

It's mostly been rubbed off.

[James]

Do you read?

[Larry]

Like, for real? Okay. Just substack. You're just. You're just cruising substack.

[Noah Johnson]

Substack has a lot of my attention lately. And then, you know, I read the New York Times. My boy Gallags and I use the Apple news app a lot, which is actually a good way to just kind of like get. Get an overview of what's happening in the world. Really? Yeah.

[James]

So you get got by those notifications as well, though?

[Noah Johnson]

Oh, what the Entirely. Yeah, yeah. Tariffs order. Yeah, I don't have a. I wish I had a. I wish I. It was possible to have a more robust and exciting media diet right now, but I just don't think it is.

[Larry]

Yeah. Also I think maybe that's a Good thing. Like a lot of times nothing's happening in our world. And that's okay.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah. You just have to think. Read a book. Yeah. Listen to a.

[James]

Or riff about on your podcast. You know, whatever it takes. Go ride a bike.

[Larry]

This is a real question.

[Noah Johnson]

All right.

[Larry]

As someone that.

[Noah Johnson]

Thanks for prefacing it that way. As opposed to the rest of the questions. Yeah.

[Larry]

Contrary to popular belie, we haven't been recording.

[James]

Yeah.

[Noah Johnson]

This is just started.

[James]

Yeah. David Fisher hit us up for make a wish for his new guy. Get. Pump up the confidence, dude.

[Larry]

You started [e-mail]. what was it?

[Noah Johnson]

Yep. Ask men.com.

[Larry]

Really?

[Noah Johnson]

No.

[James]

Oh, Ask Jeeves. It was Ask Jeeves.

[Noah Johnson]

I know you mean my job.

[Larry]

What was your what? It was like an outdoorsy magazine, right?

[Noah Johnson]

Oh, I worked for Men's Fitness.

[Larry]

Men's Fitness.

[James]

Oh, right.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah. I don't.

[James]

Like, you were oiling up the guy's abs on the COVID That was my job.

[Larry]

You're the fluff.

[Noah Johnson]

Oiling the abs, but okay.

[Larry]

You talked about, you know, rising up from like, editorial assistant, assistant, senior vp, whatever.

[Noah Johnson]

Actually, I didn't do that.

[Larry]

That what you just started.

[Noah Johnson]

I didn't. Rise. Rise up.

[James]

You born eic.

[Noah Johnson]

I. I, like, immediately got a job as an associate editor at that. At Men's Fitness. Actually, I was the outdoors editor. I had a really sick job.

[Larry]

What was your job at. What was your job title? Complex.

[Noah Johnson]

I forget. Bradley hired me. Shout Out Bradley. And I think I was the style editor. Style editor.

[Larry]

You're a good boss.

[Noah Johnson]

Was I?

[James]

You're a great boss.

[Noah Johnson]

You're like, thank you.

[Larry]

Yo, email me 10 list ideas by the end of the day, and then Joe. And then I'll pick the three that you have to write this week.

[Noah Johnson]

No, you're.

[James]

You were definitely like a. Let him cook. Like, of the like, that's your philosophy. I feel like at least that was my experience.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah, well, you. You were good at cooking. I mean, not everyone cooked like you. Sure. You. The four pins thing was like.

[James]

Yeah.

[Noah Johnson]

Had to have a little bit of a mind of its own, and it worked.

[James]

Yeah, I guess you're right. Are you still that kind of boss or is it all dependent on, like.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah, I think the. The ideal setup is good people that you really trust that you let go 100.

[James]

Yeah, yeah.

[Larry]

Good people. Rarest commodity of all.

[James]

All right, so you're hiring a. How could someone, like, what's the best way to like, pitch you or even just like a apply for a job to, like, go to the job board at high Snob.

[Noah Johnson]

Or is it like there are jobs posted on the job board? Wow, this is a great plug. Yeah, I want to plug right now is go. I'm hiring a couple positions right now.

[Larry]

Deputy editor.

[Noah Johnson]

A deputy editor. Huge.

[James]

That's a big one.

[Noah Johnson]

We're looking for an in someone to run the Instagram, which is also a really cool job.

[James]

Right.

[Larry]

VP of posting.

[Noah Johnson]

I do like. I do check my dm' I don't respond to annoying dms. And you know the way to. I don't know the best way to really get my attention, but it would certainly require like complete thoughts and sentences and like some amount of syntax. Yeah, I like a little bit of professionalism. I like a little bit of like. It does not dear Mr. Johnson though, because sometimes get the dear Mr. Johnson here. Mr. Whoa. To whom it may concern in the DM.

[Larry]

Mr. Van Johnson.

[Noah Johnson]

And yeah, but you know the other thing I like is an email because when people DM DM me and say what's your email? I'm like, bro, what's your email? If you can't figure out my email, then drop an email. No way.

[James]

That's the first test.

[Noah Johnson]

That's the test. Exactly. You know how much being an editor you have to find emails all the time that aren't easy to find. So like whoa. That's the. That's the test. Find it.

[James]

He just opened up his first Instagram.

[Larry]

There was spicy, was it not?

[James]

I saw some Cooter dude.

[Larry]

Yeah, yeah. What the.

[James]

Who are you following on Instagram?

[Larry]

Dude, My explore pages is.

[Noah Johnson]

Oh my God, you're explor Pages page is crazy too, bro.

[James]

We should.

[Noah Johnson]

There's nothing I can do about it. There's nothing I can do about it.

[Larry]

My explore page is crazy.

[Noah Johnson]

Cuz of course, of course.

[Larry]

Gotta. Because like this is what's presented to me. Of course I'm gonna click on it.

[Noah Johnson]

And then further generating enforces the. It's a self perpetuating cycle.

[Larry]

I can't get out of it.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah, mine's the same, but it's just potato sacks.

[Larry]

Yeah, of course. What do you think? This is the question. I was getting it as someone that has risen through the ranks. Been in this game for 20 years.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Larry]

What do you think?

[Noah Johnson]

40?

[Larry]

No.

[Noah Johnson]

Just turned 50. No, get to the question.

[Larry]

What do you think of the menswear content creators that are like with the little mics?

[Noah Johnson]

I'm sorry.

[James]

This is my worst green screen warriors.

[Noah Johnson]

My worst silverback millennial. Take the. The green screen guy who's like here and that's like talking with authority about salvage denim or like like trying to be the informative, servicey, knowledgeable expert and I'm just like is there not a.

[James]

Market for that as Mensworth becomes more popular and that's how people consume content. Like they wouldn't have read the blog post that we would have read.

[Noah Johnson]

That's true. Yeah. I mean those blogs are all gone. Like you got to learn it somewhere. I guess what kills me is not that they're making the effort to do that, it's that they. Everything feels like it's introduced as new or just started to happen.

[James]

Yeah. It's pretty annoying. I'm with you.

[Noah Johnson]

It's just constant like and it's always a little wrong. It's always a little like that's not right.

[James]

A lot of mispronunciations which is always fun salvage.

[Noah Johnson]

I'm pretty grumpy about about I have. I. I will just say I've yet to seen one that I think is.

[Larry]

Really great but counterpoint.

[Noah Johnson]

Tell me if there is one I'd love to meet him and hire.

[Larry]

You're talking to them I guess counterpoint though, like is that not like, like can you fight that tide? If that's just what it is. That's just what menswear.

[Noah Johnson]

Totally. It's not and I'm certainly in the position right now of having to like bridge the gap between yeah. That world, those creators like harnessing their aura or harvesting their aura. Both. And like yeah. Acknowledging that a big part of my audience is that audience and I need to speak to them but I just feel like there's a way to do it it with a higher standard of you know, storytelling, editorial integrity.

[Larry]

Yeah.

[Noah Johnson]

And like I'd rather do things like publish the story about the brand aess than like do some sort of condescending weird pandering.

[Larry]

Well you know some guy is going to read that interview, copy paste it into chat, GPT distill it down to five bullet points and then like just film himself with a bunch of a press photos in the background.

[James]

Point, point inside of his head.

[Larry]

He's going to get.

[Noah Johnson]

And then my millions.

[Larry]

He's going to get millions and millions and millions more views than the article will.

[Noah Johnson]

That's true. So what should I do about that?

[Larry]

I don't know. Adapt or die.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah, yeah. I'm working on it.

[James]

Get a green screen brother.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah.

[Larry]

Get a Tik tok. Get a. Get a tripod.

[Noah Johnson]

Turn High Snob into just a pure Tik Tok account.

[Larry]

Is it. What, what is the Tik Tok tr.

[Noah Johnson]

We have a Tik Tok account. But I'm saying on there. Cool. The coolest stuff on Tik Tok probably.

[Larry]

Hell yeah.

[Noah Johnson]

I.

[Larry]

Okay, I believe you. What do you miss most about working gk? Q?

[Noah Johnson]

Just. Just Sam Hines tender gaze.

[Larry]

How many tender gaze does he have?

[James]

Yes.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah. You know, I miss a lot about gq. You know, I have no homies. Yeah, the homies probably partying, right?

[James]

All the parties.

[Noah Johnson]

There was a lot of good parties.

[James]

It was a lot.

[Larry]

Man of the year. Sports of the year.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah. Sports of the year was one of the great parties.

[James]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Larry]

Celebrity branded tequila brands. That's the kill of the month.

[James]

That was a great party. I love that series for sure.

[Noah Johnson]

Of the month.

[James]

Yeah.

[Larry]

That was basically what the GQ parties are, right? Yo, Ryan Reynolds launched the Tequila bro.

[Noah Johnson]

Are you not gonna go to Ryan Reynolds Tequila party?

[Larry]

We don't get invited.

[James]

We have a conflict with Tom Holland's na Beer. I don't know if I could make both. Dude.

[Larry]

Very busy.

[Noah Johnson]

Fair enough.

[Larry]

The homies.

[James]

The homies.

[Noah Johnson]

Spider man doesn't drink.

[Larry]

No, he's not. Realized he was an alcoholic.

[Noah Johnson]

News about that.

[Larry]

Yeah, he realized he was alcoholic. But it's like, bro, you're not describing, in my opinion, alcoholism. You're just describing being British.

[James]

Yeah. Describing being a chill colonizer.

[Noah Johnson]

Dude.

[Larry]

It's basically the same thing, I guess. Yeah. So it's the folks, the. The.

[James]

The people, the boys, the human capital.

[Noah Johnson]

That would be. That would be the main thing for the gentlemen. Yeah.

[Larry]

Who's your best friend at High Snob right now?

[Noah Johnson]

Real question. You're up.

[Larry]

No, I don't know. Just thought of it.

[James]

Yo, you're. That's great.

[Noah Johnson]

There's a lot of dogs in the office that I'm working on. Yeah. Thank you. I'm working on my relationship with them. There's a Dalmatian, actually, that's quite chill.

[James]

Real dogs. You're being real. Oh, I thought you were doing canines. Okay.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah, bro.

[James]

Are you dog guy?

[Noah Johnson]

I love dogs. Yeah. I don't own one, so when I see them, I get very, very excited.

[James]

That's cool.

[Noah Johnson]

So the Dalmatian's very chill. I try to get him in my office and it's like. To hang out, but he kind of was.

[Larry]

That's dumb. She shot with Rocky.

[James]

That's for Vogue. Yeah, he's doing a Cruella deville thing in Vogue, so.

[Larry]

That's right.

[Noah Johnson]

I don't think it's the same Dalmatian. No, that was probably AI.

[Larry]

What? What has better lunch options. I guess they're kind of in the same ish area. Right.

[Noah Johnson]

Conde is better because it's closer to the Odeon and French. Two places work.

[Larry]

You go there for lunch, bro.

[James]

Three beer lunch.

[Larry]

Maybe Odon and Frenchtte.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah, all the time.

[Larry]

Damn.

[Noah Johnson]

You don't need to have beers. You can get a club soda with lime.

[James]

You need to have beer.

[Larry]

Dude.

[Noah Johnson]

What?

[James]

What are you, Tom Holland? Shut up, dude. Yeah, yeah.

[Noah Johnson]

No, I mean, yeah.

[James]

All right, Yep, let's move on to the.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah, it doesn't really matter. What about where the heist and by the office is? Oh, actually, we'll tell you something interesting. It's right in front of the Wall street bull.

[Larry]

Yeah. With the balls.

[Noah Johnson]

Oh, and the office we're in. In. I've already talked about the balls. No, well, you just spoiled it. But the office we're in is the office where the original film Wall street was filmed.

[Larry]

Oh, sick.

[Noah Johnson]

So that's cool.

[Larry]

Greed is good.

[Noah Johnson]

And then outside is the bull statue, the bronze bull, the famous iconic Wall street bull.

[Larry]

Yeah.

[Noah Johnson]

And every day there are two lines on the bowl to take photos. One in the front to take a photo with the bull's head and one at the back to take a photo with the bull's balls. The line for the balls is always course.

[James]

Yeah.

[Larry]

I've learned about that on Tik Tok.

[Noah Johnson]

Damn, I thought that was my original discovery. Anyway.

[Larry]

No, everyone knows about the bulls balls. Yeah, I guess I didn't know that there's a line.

[Noah Johnson]

It's funny because they're like super polished. Like, the balls are really shiny.

[James]

They've been gleamed up.

[Larry]

Dude, how many times have you fondled the bull balls? It's good luck. You got to do it on your first day.

[Noah Johnson]

I haven't touched him once, but I will. I will go do that. There's. The line is long, man. You can't just like, Like, Excuse me, I work here. Excuse me. I'm the editor in chief, Please.

[James]

I'm the editor in chief of the balls. Of the bull's balls.

[Larry]

What was your proudest moment at GQ Areas?

[James]

That's what I want to hear.

[Noah Johnson]

I mean, probably short quotes are dead.

[Larry]

No, for real.

[Noah Johnson]

I don't know. I don't know. I mean, I'm proud of capital Stories. Right. I wrote. Yeah, I think there are a lot of stories I wrote over the years that were awesome. Great stories in some cases, but just like very fulfilling personal projects. Yeah. The capital one getting to like, Mr.

[Larry]

Blue right before he kicked the indigo bucket. RIP.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah.

[Larry]

To the God.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah.

[Larry]

And before they got bought, I guess.

[James]

Yeah, I was gonna say.

[Noah Johnson]

And, you know, the first year, year and a half, two years, I don't remember, we did a magazine called GQ Style, which was started as a quarterly. Then we did three, then we did two. It was.

[Larry]

That was GQ Hype Hype.

[Noah Johnson]

GQ Hype came later. No, GQ Hype was the, like, digital cover series. GQ Style is a magazine separate from regular gq. It was me, Mobile Will and Sam Hines.

[Larry]

How you guys Trojan Horse the new administration?

[Noah Johnson]

Kind of.

[James]

Yeah.

[Noah Johnson]

We actually did Trojan Horse the New masculinity. So all those issues. Yeah, okay. All those. All the GQ Style. Everything in. All those issues of GQ Style were. Were. Were just, like, incredibly sick and awesome bangers. Only gee. Well, we were just doing the thing we wanted to do, and just, like, with the confidence of knowing that it would. Was that something would happen, and something happened, which is that they made Will the editor in chief of GQ.

[James]

Brad. Brad Pitt, Ryan McGinley, National Parks, GQ Style.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah.

[James]

So there you go. That's the caliber. That's the bar.

[Noah Johnson]

That was probably.

[James]

We're talking about.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Larry]

Bro, I saw a photo on High Synobiety of a guy jumping on a trampoline.

[Noah Johnson]

I know. Yeah.

[Larry]

What's up with that?

[James]

You brought Peggy Throne out of the house.

[Noah Johnson]

I haven't instituted the no trampolines policy.

[Larry]

That's number one rule.

[Noah Johnson]

It's. The trampoline policy is coming.

[James]

Yeah.

[Larry]

Guys, you can smoke meth at the office, but no trampolines.

[James]

Yeah, well, you smoke.

[Noah Johnson]

You know, there's. There's these cliches about fashion photography, and one of the. The most famous ones was, like, the guy on the COVID of GQ Jumping. Yeah. In a tight suit. Yeah. So I'm. I'm. I am anti jumping. We just did a little shoot for the Shop with Issey Miyaki. That actually looks kind of cool. It's fine.

[Larry]

Oh, that's what. That's what I saw.

[Noah Johnson]

Yes. It's. It's not like an editorial moment necessarily, but it's fine.

[James]

You guys are both missing things that when you're on meth, you need to burn off steam. And the trampoline. Come on, guys.

[Noah Johnson]

Well, I'll find other ways. You know, I'll get some kettlebells or something. But the trampoline's got to go. The jumping and clothes is just like.

[Larry]

Well, it's showing movement, especially the studio.

[Noah Johnson]

The studio is boring. You have a photographer who's Like, I need movement. So one of my big initiatives. Initiatives is, like, no more studios. I hate photography in studios. I do not like fashion photography, and I do not like studio photography.

[Larry]

Damn.

[Noah Johnson]

A seamless backdrop. There's nothing more deadly interesting. The world immersive doing, bro.

[Larry]

I think you're the reason why people do seamless is because they're very inexpensive.

[Noah Johnson]

No, exactly. They serve a purpose. And these are things I'm learning.

[Larry]

These in front of green screen and AI that. Yo, Evan Canary showroom.

[Noah Johnson]

There you go.

[James]

Yeah, dude.

[Larry]

Yo.

[James]

Bizarre method tm.

[Larry]

How many high somebody covers is Evan Canary gonna get this year?

[Noah Johnson]

I mean, we're only doing one mag this year, so probably zero. Okay, you mean him on the COVID or EK credits?

[James]

Oh, well, credits. We don't have time. We don't have time, dude. We're wrapping up here, you know?

[Larry]

Okay, but in all seriousness, can you tell us why he is your favorite designer? I want to hear you wax poetic about this.

[Noah Johnson]

I'm not gonna wax poetic.

[Larry]

What?

[James]

Not.

[Noah Johnson]

Well, all right, I guess I will. I don't know. I don't have an answer to that.

[Larry]

Let's hear why from. From his number one customer proponent, homie. Why? He is, in your opinion, the best.

[Noah Johnson]

So there's a. There's a world sort of sensibility there that I totally identify with. He's a bit younger than me, actually, but we come from an east coast skateboarding background.

[Larry]

He's from Troy, New York.

[Noah Johnson]

He's from Connecticut.

[James]

Okay.

[Noah Johnson]

But he. I just think we watch the same scapegoats and listen to the same music, and we're informed by a lot of the same look and feel of things. And when you're in that world, there's an obsession with minutiae. Right. Like, wheels are measured in millimeters, and 3 millimeters makes a big difference.

[James]

When you're talking Benjamin Franklin say that. Christ.

[Larry]

Three millimeters, bro.

[Noah Johnson]

You said wax. So the point is.

[Larry]

Bro's got the shrimpy.

[Noah Johnson]

The point is you're trained to notice. Notice, yeah. Detail. Yeah. And of course, that applies to, like, how the pants look, how the tea looks, how the hoodie looks, how the fat, how the hat is worn and fits, etc. Etc. And then that leads to a certain obsession with clothes and the quality of clothes, and it just builds and grows from there. That was Evan's journey. That was my journey a little bit. Right. So then he did his thing, started his brand, and. And. And we met. Met at a time, I think, when. I don't know, it just was, like, immediately appealing. To me, when I met him and saw the clothes he was making, I was like, I like this. I think it looks cool. I think it feels cool. I like this dude. We personally got along really well. I met him and I was like.

[Larry]

How did you guys skate?

[Noah Johnson]

Let's go skate.

[James]

Did we just become best friends?

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah, that was me. I was like, could we be best friends? And he was like, no.

[Larry]

How did you guys link up?

[James]

You gotta spend enough money first.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah. He was like, you're a kook. He's a. He's like, difficult to penetrate. Pause. Yeah.

[Larry]

Three millimeter.

[Noah Johnson]

I was. I was. I was persistent because I'm shameless.

[James]

When I like those tender gays we're talking about.

[Noah Johnson]

When I like somebody, I'll just be like, we're gonna hang out now. Let's hang out. Let's go skate to the bar.

[Larry]

How did you guys.

[Noah Johnson]

He did a showroom in New York. Okay. Probably eight years ago. And actually Will knew him first or was aware of him because he was selling at the store RTH in la.

[Larry]

Right. Which is in Venice.

[Noah Johnson]

No, in Hollywood.

[James]

Yeah.

[Noah Johnson]

And we went. It's. It's in Hollywood. Yeah, it was in Hollywood. Now he's in Palm Springs or something. So Will's close with Renee, who runs rth. Will got to know Evan because Evan's clothes were in that shop for a little while. Evan comes here. So we went and saw him. My first year at GQ Style, yeah. And it felt. I was like, this is my first year at gq. I'm meeting this designer. It was like one of his. Maybe he was in his second year. I just was like, like, here's my partner. This is like a dude who's, like, on his journey, and I'm on my journey, and we have to share all these values. And then. And then we became good friends. So the other thing about. Just to answer the question, if you have a great friend that you share all kinds of aura with, why the term is interest, and they make clothes and, like, I'm gonna wear the clothes. Like, I don't. I don't know what to say. I'm not. I don't even see it as, like. I mean, I definitely see it as supporting the brand for sure. And. And I hope.

[Larry]

Steal the stuff.

[Noah Johnson]

I hope I've done that a little bit.

[James]

Other people might see it as term glazing.

[Noah Johnson]

Two things maybe ever was a long time, bro. What you say?

[James]

No, I said you. Some people might see it as terminal glazing.

[Noah Johnson]

Exactly. It is. Maybe a little bit. But you wouldn't say that about, like, if your friend had a restaurant, you went all the time and ate there. And if people ask you your favorite restaurant and you named your friend's restaurant, you wouldn't, like, get for that.

[James]

Can't eat pants, bro. I don't know what to tell you.

[Noah Johnson]

You should try. I mean, they're organic, homegrown.

[James]

You could probably eat Evans. Yeah, for sure. Get some fiber.

[Noah Johnson]

Edible. That's the best part. And that's where I was headed with all this, which is, like, if you do get stranded, because when my blade crashes on, like, an island in the Long Island Sound, on your way to Little St. James.

[James]

Yeah, yeah.

[Larry]

Do you chop her into the city? You getting that type of money now?

[Noah Johnson]

Look, my time is money. I don't have.

[Larry]

When. So I was. I was. I was not in New York when this happened, but. But even in the wilds of Uganda, I felt the ripples of. When Zara.

[Noah Johnson]

Really?

[Larry]

Back in Uganda, when Zara ripped off Evan Kadori.

[Noah Johnson]

Oh, yeah. Oh, it was. Yeah. There was like a breeze through the safari.

[Larry]

Yeah. It's like, what?

[Noah Johnson]

Something's wrong.

[Larry]

Something happened.

[Noah Johnson]

All the gorillas, like, perked up and ran away.

[James]

Zara did what?

[Larry]

Silence impoverished child. Something's happening with Zara and heaven.

[Noah Johnson]

Did I wax. Did I answer the question? Because I feel like I. I needed to have a debate.

[James]

We want to move on, bro.

[Noah Johnson]

Okay, I agree.

[James]

No one gives a.

[Noah Johnson]

All right.

[Larry]

Thanks. Yeah, but when Lawrence was like, yo, bro, you saw Z ripped off M. Canori, you were the guy that blew the lid off that story.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah, yeah. Oh, well, sure.

[Larry]

Do you do his PR or do you just get paid in free clothes?

[Noah Johnson]

Neither.

[James]

But you were like, this cannot stand. I took. And I took that personally.

[Noah Johnson]

If someone sent that to you, would you have shared it? No.

[James]

I don't give a.

[Noah Johnson]

You would have just been like, I.

[James]

Tell anybody I love Zara, dude, you would.

[Noah Johnson]

You would just kept that in the pocket. Anyone in our world would have.

[James]

Have.

[Noah Johnson]

Would have jumped on that. We were out, weren't we? Together?

[James]

We were out and Jonah was with us and he was like, reporting.

[Noah Johnson]

Jonah, like, ran to the. Ran away.

[James]

He was tracking down Deep Throat.

[Noah Johnson]

Started mixing phone calls, went to the.

[Larry]

Bathroom, did a phone booth with a notepad.

[Noah Johnson]

I know. He got all weird, cuz we're at the bar and then he. He comes over. He's like, morris, can I talk to you for a second? And they, like, went over inside in the corner. I was like, what the.

[James]

He was doing his. He was doing Real reportage. He was tracking down sources, and he. And he wrote it. He wrote a blackbird about it, you know?

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah. Good for him.

[James]

Yeah. But you're just like. Well, you're just defending your boy. Or also just, like, shouting out an injustice.

[Noah Johnson]

Shouting out an injustice. I'm. I'm anti corporate fast fashion. I mean, I think it was shameless.

[James]

Let's be clear.

[Noah Johnson]

Why aren't you.

[Larry]

Jokes aside, why aren't you. Why aren't you holding Zar's feet to the fire every time they rip somebody off?

[Noah Johnson]

I don't know. I have no. I've never seen another example. Also, most of the time, when I see it, it's already being shared. It's already going viral. This one landed in my lap, and I was like, no one's, like, seen this yet. I'm gonna share this. I'm not gonna break the story.

[Larry]

I didn't. They call me Scoop Johnson.

[Noah Johnson]

I think it would have been weird if.

[James]

Get me more pictures of spider Man.

[Noah Johnson]

Even if. Even if I did have an agenda here to defend Evan's honor, Like, what's wrong with that? Why wouldn't I do that?

[Larry]

Kind of gay. Do you wear.

[Noah Johnson]

If. If. I mean, you guys are in the pocket of big fashion here, so I. What are you talking about? If that was our legacy work.

[Larry]

I love skims.

[Noah Johnson]

If that was And.

[Larry]

Or the skincare brand I do.

[Noah Johnson]

Skims is cool. We should talking it. If that was one of your guys, you would have done the same thing.

[Larry]

I wouldn't post about.

[James]

Be like, this is a gross injustice.

[Noah Johnson]

I didn't say gross injustice.

[Larry]

I. I have texted Yum. When I have seen big brands rip off Ol. I do text some and like, bro, the. He's like, you think you wouldn't.

[Noah Johnson]

You wouldn't post about it. Why Your posts are.

[James]

You're.

[Larry]

I got. I got an aesthetic. I got to protect Pe poo poo.

[James]

Only.

[Noah Johnson]

Only tweet.

[Larry]

That's the rule. Only tweet. Peepee poo poo joke. That's the. That's the rule you got to institute.

[Noah Johnson]

I didn't think sharing that was. I didn't really think too much about it.

[James]

Right.

[Larry]

Okay.

[Noah Johnson]

That's the. I. Yeah, I share liberally. If it didn't get any likes, I probably would have deleted it. If nothing happened, I would be like, oh, we're gonna delete that. Pretend it never happened. I do that all the time.

[Larry]

I didn't know you posted it, to be honest.

[James]

Is that like you were in Uganda?

[Noah Johnson]

Oh, wait, man.

[James]

You know, two GS, dude. Yeah.

[Noah Johnson]

You're harvesting aura.

[Larry]

Exactly. And Rick.

[James]

Rare.

[Larry]

Rare cobalt.

[Noah Johnson]

I thought you were going to be like a real changed man, but you're not, clearly.

[Larry]

What do you mean?

[Noah Johnson]

It's all performance the same.

[James]

No, you missed the whole pod where he was a changed man.

[Noah Johnson]

Are you gonna.

[Larry]

Are you gonna come to event? Our event actually occurring tomorrow.

[Noah Johnson]

Our event? You and who?

[Larry]

Our event.

[James]

I'm here, dude.

[Noah Johnson]

Well, you invite me. Well, well, because this is the invite.

[Larry]

Because we're recording this, so this drops on March 19th. On March 20th. Or throw an event where all proceeds go to clean water access and building schools in Uganda. You're going to show up. You're gonna make a donation.

[James]

Free drinks, dude.

[Larry]

Probably not.

[James]

Hot pizza drinks.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah, I'll be there for sure.

[James]

Did you not know when this was coming out? We're just keep watching.

[Noah Johnson]

I have no idea the date. I figured it would come out tomorrow.

[James]

No, no, no, no.

[Noah Johnson]

You guys are way ahead.

[Larry]

Yeah, we deposed Mark Anthony Green, your old colleague.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah. How would that go?

[Larry]

Great.

[James]

It was. It was fantastic. Yeah.

[Larry]

Are you gonna make a movie?

[Noah Johnson]

Probably never. Will make a movie. I want to write a book, though.

[Larry]

Your whole life a movie.

[James]

Yo, how is. How is the. The, you know, creative writing going? You're fiction.

[Noah Johnson]

Well, now I have this new. I thought. I didn't think, to be honest. I thought GQ was going to be the end of my media career and I would retire. I was just going to like, go be like a. A park ranger and write novels upstate.

[Larry]

Good luck, bro. They don't have any park rangers anymore.

[Noah Johnson]

I know. Yeah, that was a good. That was really good that I. I chose.

[James]

No one writes books. They're on substack.

[Noah Johnson]

Chose this job instead.

[James]

Come on.

[Noah Johnson]

But, yeah, I'm always writing my little stories and. And. And always working on the, you know, the great American novel and. And when the schedule frees up, I'll get it done.

[Larry]

What's your book about?

[Noah Johnson]

I'm not gonna miss that.

[Larry]

You'll still misunderstood.

[Noah Johnson]

What's Opus about? It's about whatever. That's about Opus.

[James]

You stole Mark Anthony's Green idea like your Zara.

[Larry]

Dude, Opus is in theaters now. Go check it out.

[James]

Wait, am I tripping or have I. Have there been times where people could have, like, read your writing? Like in. In, like, in, like, literary journals? I feel like I read a little bit.

[Noah Johnson]

There are a couple little things published, but not. Not poetry.

[James]

You ever do poetry? Am I bugging?

[Noah Johnson]

No, not really.

[Larry]

Are you a writer?

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah.

[Larry]

You're like, I'm a writer or I'm an editor.

[Noah Johnson]

That's like my favorite. That's the thing. I wish I was. And sometimes I'll say it. Like if someone asks me what I do and there's no stakes, I'll just be like, I'm a writer.

[James]

There's no one.

[Larry]

Are there no stakes?

[Noah Johnson]

Well, like if I. If I'm never gonna see him again.

[James]

Some of your wife's shitty friends.

[Larry]

On the Metro north.

[James]

Yeah.

[Noah Johnson]

You know when you're like, I'm. If I'm like, I'm an editor, then they're like, oh, so you like. They want to like think I'm like a copy editor. And then I. I don't know.

[James]

All right, I. I'll. I'll out myself. I've done this before where instead of saying podcaster, which is very embarrassing, I'll say journalist.

[Noah Johnson]

Wow, that's good. Sometimes I don't see. I wouldn't do journalist. I would say writer, but. Yeah, same.

[Larry]

Do you wear Evan Cory on date night?

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah, for sure.

[Larry]

What does your wife think when you show up to a romantic candle at dinner? Just wear.

[Noah Johnson]

She's wearing ek too.

[Larry]

Oh, really?

[Noah Johnson]

We're wearing matching.

[Larry]

Really?

[James]

The couple that burlaps together. Together.

[Larry]

How much money do you make?

[Noah Johnson]

A lot. Yeah, that's all relative.

[James]

True, true.

[Larry]

A lot more than those kids in Uganda.

[Noah Johnson]

Probably true.

[Larry]

Yeah, it was. It was a nice little. Little bump. Bump up from Conde.

[Noah Johnson]

Did you just ask me if I want to bump?

[Larry]

No, your pain is a nice little bump. Do you want to. I mean, we could make it happen. I'm sure. I thought those years are behind you.

[Noah Johnson]

Well, you know, I.

[Larry]

What's your stance on cocaine usage?

[Noah Johnson]

Ideally, your career trajectory goes in. In one direction, you know, But I didn't take the job for the money. I mean, I took the job ticket cuz I need money. I need cocaine money.

[Larry]

Yeah, these bumps are going to pay for themselves.

[Noah Johnson]

Seriously?

[James]

Yeah.

[Noah Johnson]

Caviar. Caviar.

[Larry]

Bumps only beside. Oh, come on, bro. Besides Evan Canor story.

[Noah Johnson]

Okay.

[Larry]

And besides clothes, what do you spend your hard earned money on?

[Noah Johnson]

Tennis.

[Larry]

Yeah.

[Noah Johnson]

Expensive courts, rackets, shoes. Yeah. And I don't get enough free. That's one area where I'm like, you're geared.

[Larry]

Well, I can't say it.

[Noah Johnson]

What?

[James]

Queer.

[Larry]

Yeah.

[James]

All right, throw to me real quick.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah, I am. I do. Like, that's like from skating. Yeah, you know, that's like the whole thing. Thank you for acknowledging that. Yeah, and that's why I kind of so obsessed with tennis.

[Larry]

Do not respect. Dudes. That aren't like, like I don't give a like what. I know you awful.

[Noah Johnson]

You're like a good tennis player. You have the worst gear. You have like a kid's racket. It's so bad. I'm like, dude, it's so much better if you got a good racket.

[Larry]

So give me a racket.

[Noah Johnson]

That's not how this works.

[James]

Go buy one.

[Noah Johnson]

You're rich.

[Larry]

Which one?

[James]

Don't you have Yonex now you have.

[Larry]

To go, I do have a Yonex, but I haven't gotten it strung yet.

[Noah Johnson]

Wow. You have to go like do some demos. You have to go on the journey. You have to figure it out.

[Larry]

Do that, bro.

[Noah Johnson]

I just want to do demos. I don't want to do that.

[Larry]

I don't want to read the st like tennis forum and threads and play better.

[Noah Johnson]

Last time we played, I crushed you would do a little better.

[Larry]

You didn't crush me, did you beat me? Six, four, six four, six, four. That's close.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah, you won some. Yeah, we had a good. A good match.

[Larry]

Yeah, I was off that day.

[Noah Johnson]

But seriously, you should might have been.

[James]

Your Fisher Price racket.

[Noah Johnson]

Seriously, like, I'm like, whoa.

[Larry]

You don't think it's corny that to be so into the gear?

[Noah Johnson]

Not that into the gear. And yes, bro, you buy.

[Larry]

You're like, oh, I gotta go buy some lead tape to get some more heft on my.

[Noah Johnson]

I did get some tape.

[James]

Damn, dude. More top spin with the lead tape is adding.

[Noah Johnson]

I wanted it to be a little more head heavy. Yeah.

[Larry]

Pause. I would love to be more head.

[Noah Johnson]

I'm a heavy headed kind of guy.

[Larry]

Okay. The question is how much money have you spent on Evan Kor in your lifetime? But I think we're not going to get an answer. What's the average price of a piece of clothing that you're copying these days?

[Noah Johnson]

I will say most of what I buy is expensive.

[James]

Yeah. That's a $800 hoodie, dude.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah.

[James]

No, it wasn't a press. Well, okay. Six aess like a $600 hoodie.

[Larry]

It's fire insane.

[James]

I went to. I went to Ven when I saw the kids trying on power boots. Cuz I went to buy the zip.

[Noah Johnson]

Up after I get it saw.

[James]

No, they sold out.

[Noah Johnson]

They sell out.

[James]

Really Just he only had crew necks left and I wanted the waffle line stuff which is all gone.

[Larry]

Yeah, it is.

[Noah Johnson]

It sounds crazy.

[James]

I think Jonah bought the last one when he was in town or some.

[Larry]

It is $675, but it's fire.

[James]

It's just. Honestly, this is what we're talking about. Damn. You get what you pay for good clothes. Aess is sick.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah. I mean that's high.

[James]

It's all sold out everywhere too.

[Noah Johnson]

I didn't know it was that much. You want to buy it?

[Larry]

No, I've been.

[James]

I was. Literally everything is. You can't buy any. A press right now.

[Larry]

It's crazy.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah. Anyway, yeah, I try to. To. To. To buy. Not that much.

[Larry]

What was the last thing you bought?

[Noah Johnson]

This hoodie. When Andy Jeans. Actually, I just. Within the month.

[Larry]

Okay.

[Noah Johnson]

The hoodie I bought from Union because they got a huge dump of a press stuff because I think they were doing like a pop. I don't know. It was one of those moments where like I got the email in my inbox and I. I was like in real time, you know, Like I saw it hit and I was like a. And I knew. I was like, this sells really fast. So I clicked so fast and then my size was there and then I just pulled the trigger, you know, like it was good luck. I didn't know it was going to happen if I didn't like I could have missed it. If I was half hour later, I would have missed it.

[Larry]

Do you get or kind of like do you get on Flow Team and.

[Noah Johnson]

Like accept free clothes codes if people send stuff? I. I don't. I'm not. It's not a big part of what I do.

[Larry]

What percentage of the stuff that you get sent is dog and what percentage you keep?

[Noah Johnson]

I mean 95 is. It's not dog. It's just not for me.

[James]

Right.

[Noah Johnson]

I just. Just immediately give it to the. The next person, you know.

[Larry]

Does High Stump have a free table?

[Noah Johnson]

I don't. Yeah, I guess so. I don't know. It goes somewhere. Let's buy a free table table.

[Larry]

Why don't you donate to the kids in Uganda, bro?

[Noah Johnson]

All right, I will. We could get on the. Like, we'll figure it out. I don't have.

[James]

You're a good everyone. You're a good person. Okay.

[Noah Johnson]

Thank you. There's not that much. Why am I being attacked about these? I'll do my best.

[James]

Yeah.

[Noah Johnson]

For the. For the nation of Uganda. I mean not just the children.

[James]

That's all you could ever ask.

[Noah Johnson]

I don't. I don't think I've like been at High stop long enough and like to like. I'm not getting inundated with free.

[Larry]

But the free like.

[Noah Johnson]

And I don't post things and people know that they look at my channels, my platforms, and they're like, I'm not adding brands. And this guy's only post about Zara. Yeah.

[Larry]

Basically, you need a free Zara.

[Noah Johnson]

They. They know. No, I haven't got any free Zara. I don't really know anything about Zara except for that it's Spanish.

[Larry]

The dude that owns it is one of the richest men in the world.

[James]

Yeah, bro.

[Noah Johnson]

Well, he should. He should hire some creatives with original ideas.

[Larry]

Damn. Got him. I'm sure he will after hearing that.

[James]

Also, I need a. I need. I need a press money. So, Zara, I'm available, dude.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah.

[James]

Are you kidding me?

[Noah Johnson]

Fair enough.

[Larry]

No. We've reached the end of the interview with the really podcast. Yes. The last question. Do you have any constructive criticism you'd like to give us as a former boss, as an editor in chief of one of the most venerable menswear media titles in the world? Yeah, hit us, bro. How could we be better?

[Noah Johnson]

That was great. I thought it was good. I wish Lawrence would ask more questions.

[James]

That's not how it works.

[Noah Johnson]

This is the format.

[James]

It's a play by play. What is it? Play by playing? Color commentator. Yeah, that's how it works. Okay.

[Noah Johnson]

I didn't realize there was like a structure.

[James]

No, we work on it together. And then he asked the questions.

[Larry]

There's the straight man.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah.

[Larry]

And the not straight man. Not commenting on his sexuality.

[James]

Yeah. That's like. That's how the New Yorker described us. And people were like, larry's gay. I thought he was married.

[Larry]

That's my woman. That's my tender gay.

[James]

Yeah.

[Larry]

Okay, so, Lawrence, you ask more questions.

[James]

Cool.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah.

[Larry]

That's it.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah. I'm sorry, I don't know. 10 out of you guys are great. That was. That was totally cool. I had a good time.

[James]

We wouldn't be here without you.

[Larry]

Where can the kids follow you? What would you like to plug? Would you like another beer?

[Noah Johnson]

I have another beer. Yes, please. I'm. I'm Noah V. Johnson on all the. The ats and read high and honestly, read it. I hope I don't regret this, but I. I am hiring. If you are a experienced media professional with, with good taste and good ideas.

[Larry]

What if they're unexperienced?

[Noah Johnson]

Find me. You need some experience. I got a lot of people that are like, I've been working in, like, ads. They're like, selling insurance for a few years. I'm ready for a career change. I'm sorry, I'm not going to be the guy that's gonna like, Fix your life and take you out of Ohio. Like, I'm not your. Your. Yeah, that's not.

[James]

I'm not gonna get you out the mud of Cleveland, Ohio, and bring you to the balls.

[Noah Johnson]

You need to, like, I don't want. You need to be up on. You need to know what's up. You need to know people and be connected.

[Larry]

Damn. It's almost like you're hired him off the strength of we arethemarket.com and my dude.

[James]

I was once in a generational prodigy.

[Noah Johnson]

Dude.

[Larry]

You don't take. You're not going to take a chance on like, raw. Raw talent. You're like, oh, I with you for sure.

[James]

Take a chance on raw dude. In my experience.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah.

[Larry]

Now you have a daughter.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah. No, I definitely encourage the use of protection and that.

[James]

Thank you. That. Okay. That's the official stance of ice.

[Larry]

We're plugging birth control and the high society job board.

[James]

Honestly, you know, the best birth control is head to toe. Evan Kanori.

[Noah Johnson]

Hey, that's rude.

[Larry]

Yeah. Burlap sex.

[Noah Johnson]

It's actually sexy. Don't you think? All that. All that.

[James]

No, I don't wear it and I don't enjoy it.

[Larry]

It's like, yeah, bro, once I get these nine layers off you.

[James]

Yo.

[Noah Johnson]

Honestly, if you're wearing leather pants. Pants.

[James]

Yeah. From Trey Bien.

[Larry]

Oh, man.

[James]

I will say we had a. Like a joking. A jokey discussion about Evan Connor on an episode, and the audience was so mad, we had to, like, publicly apologize.

[Larry]

You had to publicly apologize?

[James]

Yes. I don't need to wear it to appreciate it. That's all.

[Larry]

Well, pants are a bit balloony, but the outerwear is good.

[Noah Johnson]

Yeah.

[Larry]

And I would never, probably never wear tricker boots.

[Noah Johnson]

Trickers?

[Larry]

Trickers.

[Noah Johnson]

Why?

[James]

Possessive?

[Larry]

Looks like.

[Noah Johnson]

Is there colonizers?

[Larry]

No, bro.

[Noah Johnson]

They're too slim.

[Larry]

You look like.

[Noah Johnson]

When we finish up, switch shoes. Shelby, you're gonna want.

[Larry]

You could go with your mustache, too.

[James]

You look like the brother dude.

[Larry]

Noah Shelby.

[James]

Noah Van Johnson.

[Larry]

Nobody messes with the Peaky Snobbers. Okay, this is an episode of the only podcast Matters. Chef, you look happy. Chef. Take us out.

[Noah Johnson]

Thanks, guys.

[James]

Thank you.

[Noah Johnson]

Marketing is hard, but I'll tell you a little secret. It doesn't have to be. Let me point something out. You're listening to a podcast right now, and it's great. You love the host. You seek it out and download it. You listen to it while driving, working out, cooking, even going to the bathroom. Podcasts are a pretty close companion. And this is a podcast ad. Did I get your attention? You can reach great listeners like yourself with podcast advertising. Advertising from Libsyn Ads choose from hundreds of top podcasts offering host endorsements or run a pre produced ad like this one across thousands of shows. To reach your target audience in their favorite podcasts with Libsyn Ads, go to libsynads. Com. That's L, I B S Y N Ads. Com. Today.