Jae Tips wears a grin on his face for the entirety of our 20 minute(-ish) video call.
The designer/rapper is getting taxied around Taranto, Italy as he speaks with me by way of Google Meet (on his phone, which means I get a lot of low angles of his shiny pink grills).
The launch party of his latest sneaker with Saucony, the Jae Tips x Saucony Matrix “No Shoes In The House” – which, fyi, marks the first time the silhouette has been released since the year 2000 – is what brings him to Europe. The affair is being held at footwear boutique Sneakers76, which is cool with Jae as this trip marks his first time in Italia.
The 34-year-old has been brainstorming with the Michigan-based sneaker-maker since 2021, but it was only last year that their collaboration made its debut. It's already very popular, to the point where sneakerheads are turning to resale marketplaces such as StockX to cop a pair.
Jae can't be mad at the game since flipping sneakers is something he used to do himself. He also worked at Footlocker. “I've learnt a lot about the sneaker industry from a lot of different angles,” he reckons.
“I started meeting people in high positions in the big brand, and it made me realise that there was more to the game that what I knew it for. So I kept pushing myself to learn.
“Fast-forward a few years later, I'm here talking to you.”
“It's a long way from the Bronx,” he says, referring to his home where he was born John Cotton.
Yet, he looks out the window to see a – to all appearances – local passerby on a scooter wearing shoes of his design.
“How does it feel to see that?” I ask.
“It feels amazing,” he says, his grin somehow growing wider. “It's amazing to design on this level. I don't want to take it for granted that I get these opportunities. Saucony keeps believing in me and keeps giving me space to design. I just want to keep making everyone proud, and make everyone feel that a project they spent a lot of hours on and time is worth it.”
Here's how the rest of our conversation – about the Matrix shoe, about his come-up, about Disney, My Hero Academia and all sorts of other things – panned out.
I'm just grateful Saucony decided to partner with me. I was designing hats in my own style and the brand saw this as something it wanted for its shoes. So, you know, I'm grateful the team chose to work with me instead of looking me over like others.
You're taught to wear muted colours and stick to the basics these days, I feel, but I remember growing up in times when everything was colourful and everything was inspired by something loud. Those were the best times. To me, when I see a blank piece of paper, all I see is colour... All I see is excitement. I see is the adventure you can go on. I never want to leave any room thinking, 'I could've done better.' I'm always learning how to put colours together like no one else.
The advice I give people all the time when it comes to my designs is wear what you already have on – you don't need to switch it up. Let the shoes do the speaking for you. You don't have to match everything with everything; you can put them on with whatever you're comfortable with, with what you were already going to wear, anyway. It's all about what's going to make you feel good and happy.
We were always set to release around this time of the year, the time when everything is about family. So, it's “No Shoes in the House” – the message is to put your loved ones before work.
The design is inspired by a Ralph Lauren x Disney collaboration that they did in the nineties. I released some hats a few years ago inspired by the same thing. I may be telling my secrets but I find a lot of inspiration in Disney.
I didn't tell the story so well then because hats are different to shoes, but I used wool on this sneaker to nod to the headwear that came before this. The result is a shoe that feels authentic to me, my story and the things I'm interested in.
I watch more animation now because of my son who is currently big into anime. He falls in love with things and watches them again and again. An anime he watches a lot of is My Hero Academia. Outside of anime, he keeps watching the Pixar movie Elemental. I watch them all with him for the aesthetics.
Restaurants. I think a lot of the best marketing comes from restaurants, coffee shops and things like that.
I wear Omnis a lot. I wear every colour that Saucony send me. I feel like it's just the most comfortable and you can just slip them on and head out.
The first silhouette I worked with: the Grid Azura 2000. It was a shoe that Saucony was ready to throw away, and then I came in with me re-design which was very off the wall. I think I put life back into the shoe – I put another spin on it.
I think Joe Freshgoods; I think Salehe [Bembury]; I think James Whitner. These are people that have reached out to me and, you know, told me about their experiences and things I can do different, or ways that I can navigate the industry. I appreciate them. I don't see them as competition, I see them as part of my community.
Yes, definitely. I'm excited to be working with different silhouettes and colours. I hope people are excited about what's to come. There are some different things coming up that are different to what people have come to expect.
