An Interview with Jae Tips @ Paris Fashion Week

Amidst the hustle and bustle of Paris Fashion Week, we had the opportunity to sit down at the House of Saucony and chat to the creative mind that is Jae Tips. From driving extremely successful collaborations with longstanding brand Saucony (‘What’s The Occasion’ Pack & ‘Remember Who Fronted’), to endeavours in music, fashion and business, Tips has well and truly made big waves on the scene. Delving into the inspiration behind his latest pack as well as giving the next generation some food for thought, continue reading below for the TDD x Jae Tips exclusive!

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An Interview with Jae Tips

It’s Paris Fashion Week. We’re feeling good. 

We’re here. Excited. Nice to be here!

Jae, you are a multi-hyphenate creative and a great creative mind. You’ve had two collaborations now with Saucony, with a third one on the way. So, what was it about the brand that made you want to collaborate with them?

To me, I’m a big believer in energy. Like, energy is everything and I’ve collected shoes my whole life, but Saucony was the first brand that saw me as more, not just a collector or just some insights, or a guy that they could use to learn something about their marketplace. They saw me as a partner. And I told them if they believed in me, then, you know, I’ll make some history. And I think I did that.

I think we can say you did do that! I mean, the reaction from your collaborations has been insane across the board – sneaker collectors, enthusiasts, fashionistas, everyone’s been loving it. If we can just go back to the last collaboration briefly, What’s the Occasion? – it’s great for people like me who can never decide what shoes are for the occasion. I’m an outfit first, shoe after kind of person. What inspired that collaboration?  

I think just what you said. I think always having so much on your bucket list or your to do list. And sometimes you just need a little bit of intention. Like, you need a little bit of, “I need a reason to wear this” or “if this is what I’m doing today, I want to put on a good pair of my trainers”.

“I want to wear my Saucony’s today”! So, as much as it was Wear to a Party and Wear to a Date, you make the occasion. It’s whatever occasion you want it to be. But it’s also like, these are one of my shoes that I need to wear because I’m doing something nice today.

Yeah. I love that! And they are proper going out shoes, bright colours. I love it. Really cute. I wanted to ask, this is slightly off the collaboration topic, but your authenticity within all of your art is really what I feel has cultivated such a positive response. It’s really relatable and inspiring. So for younger creatives, the next generation who are trying to figure out how can I put my authenticity into my art, what advice would you have for them?

I think society sometimes puts us automatically in a box. And I think that the way that I like to design creatively is outside of the box. I think a lot of young creators, they don’t feel like they can do certain things. I want to put a message out there that, no, everything is in your limits. You can do whatever you put your mind too. You want to design shoes, you want to be a top chef, you want to be the number one designer in the world? So what, you don’t have any background? Learn today. Figure it out today. So that’s what I kind of want to do. Maybe I don’t inspire people to go and get a shoe collaboration, but I inspired them to maybe do something they weren’t doing yesterday. And to be excellent at it.

Of course. I feel like it’s a thing as a creative, when you’re young and it kind of feels like you have dreams with no boundaries. And then as you get older, it’s like, oh, actually, society tells you that you can’t, that’s a bit too big of a dream. So when us as creatives get to a certain point, we have to let the younger generation know this is so possible. You just gotta work hard at it.

If you could wrap your head around it, you could do it.

Absolutely. And you’re living proof of it! So, on to the exciting stuff [picking up debut ProGrid Omni 9 collab].

Oh yeah. That’s a good one.

This is your new upcoming drop. Can you tell me a little bit about the shoe please? 

The relationship with this model began when we were working on What’s the Occasion. I saw this model on the table. A lot of the shoes you see people wearing now, like the Omni 9’s, I saw them on the table and I said, I’ll do anything to design on this model! So we planned a trip. We went up to the office and we worked on it for like two days straight. And what I landed on is, growing up, my only job ever was I worked at Foot Locker. 

I worked at a shoe store and I knew that shoes like this, shoes that were comfortable, you knew when you had things to do. It’s like, you got to put in your comfortable shoes and you had something to do. So the theme of these shoes are like your comfortable shoes and your to do list. Yeah. You gotta put these on when you have a full day of errands, a full day of things you gotta get done.

And you’re going to look good while doing it!

It’s going to make your day better. That’s all I’m about doing, putting something that’s going to brighten up the day. The compliments are going to be heavy. People, everywhere you go, people are going to say I like your shoes.

We love that. A little confidence boost on the go. 

If anything, that’s a quote right there. Another confidence boost from Saucony and Jae Tips! 

100%. And, on that note, I’m going to need to get myself some because I need to do errands and I need to look good while doing it. Thank you so much for your time, Jae Tips!

FIND STOCKISTS FOR JAE TIPS X SAUCONY VIA THE BANNER BELOW…

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