A Story of Reaching New Heights, and Overcoming Great Odds ... Hard work pays off!

[Zuhal Danyildiz]

Photograph by pil hwan oh
Have you ever been teased by your family, friends, classmates or co-workers because you do so different things than they do? Let’s be more specific … You study more than your classmates do; you work over office hours and 7/24 … You skip holidays, Friday and Saturday nights… You think too much of what else you can do?

More than everyone … More than it is necessary … Why?!

I haven’t gotten an answer except ‘this is something in you!’ The great part of being extraordinary is the fact that “the product you put out there.”
It is your product that hundreds of people benefit it from.
And it’s totally worth it!
We will never know what life has store in for us, but I hope that this article may be of help for you, if you are in the process of opening a new chapter in your life, and looking for an inspiration! I have to tell you that this is one the best interviews I have ever had because this is the type of story I always enjoy covering.
As New York City seems to forget sunshine, we will do our best to bring a warm and pleasant conversation to you.
Enjoy!



Photograph by pil hwan oh
A humble beginning with a lovely mom … the first stop Detroit


Shane- We were born in Cincinnati, Ohio. Working class family. My mother pretty much raised us by herself. She took all of her kids (seven of us) to Detroit as a single parent. For the longest part of our youth, we grew up in Detroit. I was in 4th grade 7 years old. We grew up there very humble beginnings, and we were definitely not rich, not middle class. We went to a great high school. I earned a full-time scholarship to go to University of Michigan. The way we got this scholarship was my brother and I we decided to make our own money because we didn’t have a lot of money then we started “ caddying."

So me and my brother started carrying golf bags in the summer and in the weekends, and we just started earning money that way, and we found out about after 6 months and 2 weeks that you can actually earn full time academic scholarship as long as you work as carrier for 2 years, we had financial aids we had good grades.
Break ..! I think that this is something rare … Many people don’t like schools that much; however, it doesn’t prevent them from being such a successful businessman & woman. Or many people may show great performances in colleges and in graduate schools, but when it comes to real business life, they experience such failures. I would like to dig into this secret!
So were you guys always studious? How did you balance school and work?

Shawn—Yeah, we’ve always been serious about school. Even in our family, our siblings used to make fun of us because even there was a really big snowstorm (because it really gets cold in Detroit,) so my mom said that you can stay at home but Shane and I went to school anyway. Well it is something in us. We were all raised the same way. We have younger brothers in their twenties. People used to ask us you guys are twins, did you ever switch the class or one takes the other one in ... We never did that and after going very prestigious high school, we went to the University of Michigan. I studied mechanic engineering; Shane studied industrial design.

Shane—I remember a quick, funny story … When we were in high school my brother- in- law who was in collage, and my parents they used to sit around the table, and play cards. All night partying Friday or Saturday nights, and my brother and I we locked in the room reading, and studying and they used to say something like, “what’s wrong with these kids!?”
By this example, I am now happy to know that I am not alone anymore, and it feels relieved. I mean it!
Thereafter, what happened? How did your life start changing?

Shane- At the University of the Michigan I had a couple of internships designing for General Motors. Because we’re from Detroit I pretty much thought that that’d work for automotive industry designing cars but a couple of months before I graduated, a friend of mine was working at Adidas in Oregon, Ohio. He called me up one day. I already accepted the job at General Motors (GM) but he said, you know what Shane, just come up to Oregon for the interview Adidas. If you don’t like it go back and work for GM but at least come up for free trip, you’re going to stay in Oregon, stay for the weekend I’ll give you a car … So I just went up there not expecting anything just for free trip. And when I got the office at Adidas they had this basketball court in the middle of the office. They have kicks in the weekends we can drink beer, and party. Everyone in the office really young… I said, “I cannot pass this off.” They offered me a job on the spot. I accepted designing shoes for Adidas. And Shawn took a different role …

Shawn -This was the early 90s when auto industry was really big. So I went to study engineering. It was really easy for me because Shane and I we are both really good at math and physics, and usually engineers have good careers path. I internship at Chrysler and I started working for them full time. After graduation I went through management program where I got my MS in mechanic and engineering at night.
We were in corporate in America for years, and we decided that we want to control our destiny so we started our own business. I moved to New York to trade stocks. We didn’t think that we were going to work together.

When did New York come into stage?

Shawn- It was the opportunity. I was looking for different ways to start my own business, and it was by chance I met a brother who was in New York trading stocks and I came to visit him if there is something I could see myself doing. I fell in love with New York, and the job. I resigned. People thought I was crazy leaving Detroit, such a great job, house, car, motorcycle and family. I moved to New York, left everything behind. I found some one to live with in a small two-bedroom apartment in Harlem. Three months later (by chance) Shane always wanted to move into New York to freelance for different companies. That was just coincidence, he resigned from the company called AND1 designing basketball shoes, and we became roommates. So Shane was designing shoes with these freelance companies, I was trading stocks. Later that summer in 2001 right after 9/11 things started going bad for the economy. I left trading stocks to work with Shane in freelance business, and we became partners.


Shane-- In late 2003 we were able to start up. There were a few things. One is that throughout the years I was working for Adidas, and then I started freelance designing for Puma, Converse, and Reebok. All these big companies. I traveled over to China, met all the factory bosses and I have a relationship with them so Shane and I started our own company. We had a factory that wanted to work with us. We saved up quite a bit of money to put towards the business and Shawn put together a business plan. We were able to get a loan to start Shane and Shawn brand. So we’ve been in business now a little bit over five years.


“We have always been aggressive business people.”

It is crucial!

I don’t think I am created for such a tough business, (as much as I would like to), and never figured out whether business makes people aggressive or you have to be a fearless warrier?

Or being a DREAMER … Here are some key tips from Shane & Shawn brothers …



Where do you guys see yourself both in the U.S. and in the international arena?

Shawn-- As a brand, Shane and I were really aggressive business people. We dream, so we always look at our brand as being an international label. We didn’t want it to be an American brand that stays in the U.S. as a boutique. We want Shane and Shawn to be the next D & G, next Calvin Klein, the next Hilfiger you figure. We started off with shoes because that was our expertise. Now we have handbags. We are just in the process of partnering with different companies to expand our business. Not only in the U.S. but also international. So we’ve always seen our brand as being an international brand if you go into bags, and clothes, etc.
Shawn’s words seem only idealistic or you may think that it is difficult to imagine this sort of progress in the time we are experiencing; the financial recession, but bear in mind there is no right time! The right time is always TODAY!

From your perspective, how do you evaluate the economic situation at the moment?




Shawn-- As far as the current recession, it’s tough on everyone. We have billion-dollar businesses finding themselves in bankruptcy. Every week there is a lot of new companies shutting down. For us, what we look to do, these times stay as lean as possible. Which we’ve always been very lean. We don’t hire new people that we really don't need. So we don’t have to make those changes with our infrastructure. We did have to make some changes with decreasing our overhead by being strategic. We have a balance between the dream alive and making everything as efficient as possible so we have a balance between the dream and the reality. I think we keep a good balance. Because you can’t continue to do all the same way of business, you just don’t have customers that have a job, buying as many goods as they used to…

We definitely make sure that we can survive in the recession. Recession is lasting longer than a lot of people thought it would. Anyone who says that they were prepared for this is not being truthful… No one knew that it was this big.

So everyday we’re doing things that compensate for loss of business and if we do see business is up in the sky, we don’t go ahead and hire new people. So I think we are being cautious as we are going forward. So we cut down the orders, and are as lean as possible. In 2010 if we really see it up in the sky again, I think we’re going to continue to be as conservative as we are today so that we’re not up and down.

I have always been curious about the fact of how successful people can handle difficult times. At the end of the day, everyone more less goes through the same kind of problems; however, what makes people different is how they defeat them. I love to learn your own ways of overcoming those tough times.




Shane - For me, it’s definitely two things: one is our spirituality. I think that is something that regardless of where you are… Even if you are by yourself, you can always get down on your knees and can pray, and get the stuff off your mind. To me that’s the first and the foremost. I pray every night; I give thanks for everything that I have. At the end of the day you have to think about other people who are even worse off who really are!

Second thing for me is our family! Our mom is the center of our universe. We have her name tattooed on us. We both have the same thing. She’s always been the person who makes you feel everything is going to be all right no matter how challenging it is, and that definitely keeps us going through no matter what.



Shawn-- To me there are three things. I agree with Shane. There are recommendations. One, concentrate on good things as much as possible. There is always going to be something that gets you down or disappoints you. If you concentrate on the good things, the bad things don’t have an affect on you as much. It’s a tone of a vision. It’s just the time you spend about it.

Two other things that I started doing recently that helped me out a lot is “meditation.” I meditate on my own. Because every single day some thoughts are going through my mind. We work all day; we get out of work we’re thinking about work… We go to gym we’re thinking about work… Our girlfriends come over we’re thinking about work. Outside of sleep we create dreams. Just concentrate here and now!

How do you start a day? What does your daily agenda look like?



Shawn-- Usually starts about 7:30 a.m. … Morning work out, get to the office at 9 o’clock. We try to keep our meetings three per day. If we overbook, we can’t get the work done so usually we have three meetings throughout the day. I’m on the business side so I’m working with either lawyers, or strategic partners with our brand, our staff, marketing events, launching new business, partnership, and I deal with a lot of investors. And that goes on until 8 o’clock at night and I get out of here and go home, maybe do my meditation and try to relax for the evening. If I’m not relaxing for the evening we're going to an event usually from 8-10, we’re networking with New York movie shakers, and celebrity stuff like that making sure that Shane and Shawn brand continues to move.

You’re pretty overbooked already!

"We’re going towards taking two days off then we don’t burn ourselves."

What is to come in business?

Shawn --What’s great about what’s going on right now with the economy is that there are some good things coming out. What we found out is that a lot of companies try to reorganize the way they do business. If you do the business the way you’ve been doing it, it’s going to go down. So people are being more creative. Shane and I we have been working with larger companies to strategize partnerships where we use our strengths in partnership with their strengths and they try to create more business and opportunities for us to be more successful in the futur

We started creating certain brands right now.

We actually do have one and it is called ‘Shane and Shawn Blue Label’ which is targeted towards Macy’s. So that’s something that we just signed on a partnership with. So Shane and Shawn will be designing and marketing, this other company will manufacture and sell. And we have a couple more strategic partnerships going on right now too. Now, what we’ve been working on will only be focused in the United States but we definitely have an international approach to it.


Is there any country in particular like in Europe?



Shane-- We’ll probably attack Asia first before we go to Europe because
there is definitely a big thirst for American life-style and culture
China?

Definitely China… China is incredible. One of the fastest growing economies in the world.

What do you think of Globalization in terms of China and India’s contribution to help to boost the economy?

Shane-- I think it’s great, especially for emerging brands like ours. I think we are a lot more nimble. When you’re a larger company, for example D&G or Gucci, you have to go through a lot of channels and a lot of different people to get a store opened up somewhere in China, Beijing, Hong Kong or India. With us, we make all the decisions. We can make a move really quickly, and I think we can grow a lot faster in India and China than we could in Europe right now because it’s so fluctuating.


I believe the flow between the U.S. and China is faster!



Shawn-- One of the reasons we manufacture in Asia.; they’re manufacturing and we’ve been manufactured in Asia. A lot of American businesses have a partnership with China’s companies and so do European companies. They either manufacture in Europe or in Asia. Europe and the U.S. both have their own companies but they get manufactured in China. But China is a place that they’re manufacturing all of our goods, and because they’re manufacturing all our goods they started to have a growing middle class. They have a really fast growing middle class lately. So all those people who have jobs working in factories, They start making some money and then they open new factories.
They started consuming the goods they’ve been manufacturing for years. I think they’ve been our manufacturers and partners. It’s easier for us to do business with them and to grow because they’re tired of being the manufacturers. They want to be part of the partnership instead of manufacturing only.



Shane-- This past season spring 2009 we actually launched the first handbag collection. We have another style for women handbag coming up next month a long with ‘messenger bags.’ It’s not only in the store but online and at Best Buys. They’re getting into design right now!
I have a confession ;-)
Let’s talk about the moment when I was sold, and decided that I should interview them!
Obama Painting was kind of surprise to me at the show. I was totally sold, and it also got me the point of interviewing you guys.What do you think of President Barack Obama, and how did you come up with this idea?



Shane-- I think he’s what we needed, what the U.S. and the world needed. I lived in Barcelona for two years and I received a lot of the anti-American sentiment like ‘Americans are being big bully, pushing our and everyone else’s agendas.’ I think it was great to have some one who said,’ look I don’t need the strong army anymore we need to sit down and we need a dialogue not only with our friends but also with the enemies.’ Not that he talked and looked different, I think he has brought a fresh air. He’s so intelligent, so mart. Every time I see him interviewing like he was in Ghana recently where slave trade is going on. He showed us he has this broader worldview, and I think that was missing in the U.S. for a while.
How about the idea of using Obama paint for your artistic series?

Shane-- Because I studied art and design. I’m a designer now. Shawn designs as well in the company. I think me going through art school I’m definitely in love with fine arts so we always have this idea of Shane & Shawn brand is partnering with artists. We had this beautiful paint downtown artist Zito, we gave them the shoes they paint on them and master paintings and sell the pieces for good cost. We had been talking about this for a long time and it finally happened. The artist, Zito, who did the Obama painting, and I we kind of toast around the ideas first we thought that it should be an icon like Marley Monroe, Britney Spears. We thought all about big entertainers but then we were like “Obama!” He doesn’t get anymore classy.
And … New York


Shawn-- New York is definitely the greatest city in the world. There is no place that has the diversity. What I love the most about New York is that you can walk down the block you can hear so many different languages now you have these different ethinicities that are all intermingled with each other.
The energy is incredible… No one is just working from 9-5 and satisfy. We’re from Detroit that’s how people are. Most of America is like that. Here everyone is moving to do something really, really great and do something more that keeps us energized. There is no place that has the access where you can meet everyone. No matter how big companies they use New York office.
Any Favorite Restaurants?
Shawn-- My favorite is Nobu Restaurant, Downtown. I’m a sushi lover and they make the best sushi.
Do you cook?
I cook very simple stuff not anything fancy. When I ‘m at home I order Indian food. I love spice.
How about you, Shane?


Shane- I like small, slack, and fun place ...

In this part, Shane successfully described his favorite restaurants in very exciting tone, “It’s an Indian Restaurant in lower east side … and it is decorated with some red papers hanging on the ceiling … The best part is that you bring your own drink.” …
But he couldn’t recall the name of the restaurant ;-)

Shane -The couple things I love about New York again is the same thing that Shawn mentioned the diversity. But as a designer when I used to work for Adidas we used to fly all around the world for inspiration but I used to be always excited about coming to New York. I remember flying and coming to New York over the bridge looking at the New York skylines. It was all lit up. I was also kind of sad because I knew it was not going to last long. I was always envious of the people who just walked around and leave there. I’d like to have that feeling like ‘I live here,’ and be part of that energy everyday. So I told myself that I have to leave in New York as a designer. It hasn’t let me down. I love this place. It’s a dream place for everyone.
As long as you’re hardworking! ;-)
As long as you’re hardworking... It’s not going to come into your labs ;-)

Last but not least, as we get finishing I would like to show one of the amazing and impressive sides of these two charming businessmen is that they are also philanthropists.
To me, this is the part what matters most in our lives: “How would you like to be remembered in the future, and to how many?”


Shawn- I also want to add to this … Even though time is as hard as with the economy it is, my brother and I we definitely would like to give back to community. One thing we’ve been doing lately volunteering at this place called “Harvest City,” one of the largest food rescue organization. Just last week, we rescued three thousand pounds of vegetables that was sent directly to the shelters. It is really good philosophy that no matter how hard you think time could be stressful people are much worsen. And another notices on the positive side, my brother and I we just started being more active in the political arena. As we grow, we always going to be volunteering and I think we will get more and more involved in politics too.

Hard work & perseverance pay off!


Special thanks to:
Sofia Karlsson for being a beautiful reason for me to have the privilege to interview Shane & Shawn.
Pil Hwan Oh for beautiful photo shoots.
Eloisa Mata, University of Texas at San Antonio, Texas for contributing.
Maik Furstenberg for contributing.
Melinda Hummel for inspiration.

[zyra jack]

Shane and Shawn, you guys are really great. To both of you, I'm so proud of keeping strong in tough times like what we are experiencing right now,the recession. We all know that many job hunters need a game plan if they're going to make it in this tough economy and find debt relief, but your strategies work not to hire new employees which do you think not really needed by company. Both of you are right, hard work and perseverance really pay off.