The guest
Bobby Hundreds: Artist, designer, and storyteller; co-founder and chief creative officer of streetwear brand The Hundreds, and author of 'This Is Not a T-Shirt' and 'NFTs Are a Scam / NFTs Are the Future.'
What this episode covers
Bobby Hundreds traces his path from a Korean-American outsider childhood in Riverside, California, through law school, to building The Hundreds as a streetwear brand rooted in community, blogging, and direct relationships with fans. He explains the mechanics of drop culture, deliberate scarcity, and collaborations as marketing, plus how fashion momentum turns 'on a dime' and why surviving each cycle matters more than winning. The conversation ranges widely into Korean culture (the concepts of han and nunchi), the government-orchestrated Korean Wave, Japanese streetwear, and how to spot rising talent. He also shares practical life systems like periodically changing his phone number and email to reset an overwhelming inbound flood.
Recommended on this episode
MediaRecommended
The Glory
Netflix
“there's a really good one right now called Glory”
“there's a really good one right now called Glory my favorite Korean drama is called Ean class I think it's Universal”— Bobby Hundreds
MediaRecommended
Itaewon Class
Netflix
“my favorite Korean drama is called Ean class”
“my favorite Korean drama is called Ean class I think it's Universal once you get over the subtitles”— Bobby Hundreds
BookRecommendedISBN verified
Pachinko
Min Jin Lee
“I strongly encourage everyone to read it”
“if you read penko by minen Lee this is supposed to be an amazing book been recommended a ton I haven't read beautiful book”— Bobby Hundreds
MediaRecommended
Pachinko (Apple TV show)
Apple TV+
“you can also watch the TV show beautiful both of them”
“my manager actually worked on the television show on Apple you can also watch the TV show beautiful both of them”— Bobby Hundreds
BookRecommendedISBN verified
The Hard Thing About Hard Things
Ben Horowitz
“I put him on to books like that like the hard thing about hard things”
“I put him on to books like that like the hard thing about hard things or Ben Horowitz Ben yeah Ben horowitz's book”— Bobby Hundreds
BookRecommendedISBN verified
Shoe Dog
Phil Knight
“is a great kids in Street where love that book”
“Phil Knights shoe dog right is a great kids in Street where love that book”— Bobby Hundreds
BookRecommendedISBN verified
Start with Why
Simon Sinek
“Simon Sy next stuff is like very easy to understand start with why”
“Simon Sy next stuff is like very easy to understand start with why that with why and Leaders Eat laugh”— Bobby Hundreds
BookRecommendedISBN verified
Leaders Eat Last
Simon Sinek
“Simon Sy next stuff is like very easy to understand”
“start with why that with why and Leaders Eat laugh but I I read a lot of FSG books”— Bobby Hundreds
BookRecommendedISBN verified
Deep Down Dark
Hector Tobar
“I love that book”
“a fictionalized non-fiction book on the Chilean miners it's called deep down dark 33 but it sounds kind of random I love that book”— Bobby Hundreds
BookRecommendedISBN verified
The Godfather
Mario Puzo
“I love The Godfather by Mario puso I've given that a out a lot that's probably one of my favorite books”
“I love The Godfather by Mario puso I've given that a out a lot that's probably one of my favorite books”— Bobby Hundreds
The guest's own work
BookBy the guestISBN verified
This Is Not a T-Shirt
Bobby Hundreds
“Bobby is also the bestselling author of this is not a t-shirt a memo about his life and how he built a brand around Community”— Tim Ferriss
BookBy the guestISBN verified
NFTs Are a Scam / NFTs Are the Future
Bobby Hundreds
“his newest book nfts are a scam nfts of the future about his 2-year journey into web 3 will publish through”— Tim Ferriss
ProductBy the guest
Phantom of the Opera collaboration shirt
The Hundreds x Andrew Lloyd Webber
“I'm wearing a Phantom of the Opera shirt it's actually a collaboration that we did with Andrew Lloyd Weber”— Bobby Hundreds
BookBy the guest
Five Bullet Friday
Tim Ferriss
“would you enjoy getting a short email from me every Friday that provides a little fun before the weekend”— Tim Ferriss
Also referenced (named, not recommended)
BookReferencedISBN verified
The Paleo Solution
Robb Wolf
“Rob wolf who is a former research biochemist and two-time New York Times best-selling author of The Paleo Solution and wired to eat”— Tim Ferriss
BookReferencedISBN verified
Wired to Eat
Robb Wolf
“two-time New York Times best-selling author of The Paleo Solution and wired to eat Rob created element by scratching his own itch”— Tim Ferriss
MediaReferenced
Garfield
Jim Davis
“to your question what was informing my art was Garfield comic strips Calvin and Hobs Bill Waterson”— Bobby Hundreds
MediaReferenced
Calvin and Hobbes
Bill Watterson
“Garfield comic strips Calvin and Hobs Bill Waterson and I think Calvin and Hobs to that point is more about the writing”— Bobby Hundreds
MediaReferenced
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Eastman and Laird
“we were growing up in the time of Saturday morning cartoons and comic books and Eastman and lar Ninja Turtles”— Bobby Hundreds
ProductReferenced
A Bathing Ape (BAPE)
Nigo
“the early foundations of Japanese Street Wear from a bathing ape Brands like neighborhood double Taps”— Bobby Hundreds
ProductReferenced
Neighborhood
Neighborhood
“Japanese Street Wear from a bathing ape Brands like neighborhood double Taps and I realized the media was drying up”— Bobby Hundreds
ProductReferenced
WTAPS (Double Taps)
WTAPS
“Brands like neighborhood double Taps and I realized the media was drying up not unlike what's happened in the last few years”— Bobby Hundreds
ProductReferenced
Von Dutch
Von Dutch
“it was a lot of Von Dutch Ed Hardy it was a lot of reality television it was a lot of Paris Hilton and bedazzled clothing and Juicy Couture”— Bobby Hundreds
ProductReferenced
Ed Hardy
Ed Hardy
“it was a lot of Von Dutch Ed Hardy it was a lot of reality television it was a lot of Paris Hilton and bedazzled clothing”— Bobby Hundreds
ProductReferenced
Juicy Couture
Juicy Couture
“a lot of Paris Hilton and bedazzled clothing and Juicy Couture and so no one was really looking to LA in a progressive sense”— Bobby Hundreds
ProductReferenced
American Apparel
American Apparel
“if anything was happening it was American Apparel it was more of these ringspun like fitted t-shirts and nobody wanted this aesthetic”— Bobby Hundreds
ProductReferenced
Tommy Hilfiger
Tommy Hilfiger
“did Tommy Hilfiger almost buy the company Tommy hilfer wanted to buy it he did yeah”— Tim Ferriss
ProductReferenced
Levi's
Levi's
“they had appropriated Levis and made vintage Levis a really hot commodity in the ' 80s and 90s”— Bobby Hundreds
ProductReferenced
Edwin jeans
Edwin
“I see Brad Pit doing jeans advertisements on television and the ads make no sense whatsoever probably Edwin I think Ed it was exactly Edwin”— Tim Ferriss
MediaReferenced
Squid Game
Netflix
“maybe something like squid game on Netflix is a causal Factor but maybe it's just a consequence of other things”— Tim Ferriss
MediaReferenced
Parasite
Bong Joon-ho
“Korean film as you know parasite you know sweeping the Oscars everything everywhere all at once is not a Korean film”— Bobby Hundreds
MediaReferenced
Everything Everywhere All at Once
“everything everywhere all at once is not a Korean film at all but just the influence of Asians and asian-americans in entertainment”— Bobby Hundreds
MediaReferenced
Gangnam Style
PSY
“some people point to SAI do you remember Gangnam Style 10 years ago absolutely course I can still do the dance”— Tim Ferriss
MediaReferenced
Physical: 100
Netflix
“there's a show on Netflix right now it's really popular is called the 100 or something like have you seen it buff Korean dudes”— Bobby Hundreds
MediaReferenced
RRR
“there was an Indian film and I'm so I'm sorry that I foret RR yes yeah that that did well at the Academy Awards killed”— Bobby Hundreds
ProductReferenced
Adidas
Adidas
“a collaboration can be for us as simple as us working with Adidas and doing a new color way of Aon putting our brands on it”— Bobby Hundreds
ProductReferenced
Supreme
Supreme
“you're a fan of the hundreds and you're a fan of Huff or diamond or Supreme and then you see them all kind of hanging out together”— Bobby Hundreds
ProductReferenced
HUF
HUF
“you're a fan of the hundreds and you're a fan of Huff or diamond or Supreme and then you see them all kind of hanging out together”— Bobby Hundreds
ProductReferenced
Diamond Supply Co
Diamond Supply Co
“you're a fan of the hundreds and you're a fan of Huff or diamond or Supreme and then you see them all kind of hanging out together”— Bobby Hundreds
MediaReferenced
Usagi Yojimbo
Stan Sakai
“we worked with Stan Sakai and Dark Horse Comics because I grew up with Eastman and layard's Ninja Turtles and I loved usagi Yojimbo”— Bobby Hundreds
MediaReferenced
Roald Dahl books (collaboration t-shirts)
Roald Dahl
“the next project was with the state of roll doll and we did all of his books as t-shirts and sweatshirts when bananas”— Bobby Hundreds
MediaReferenced
Pokemon
“if we're working on a project with let's say Pokemon you know getting their characters to interact and engage with our IP”— Bobby Hundreds
MediaReferenced
Star Wars
“when we collaborate with Pokemon we have a few projects coming out with Star Wars over the next year”— Bobby Hundreds
MediaReferenced
Harry Potter
“there's another collaboration that we're introducing to the world Pokemon project or Harry Potter project to an artist”— Bobby Hundreds
MediaReferenced
Who Framed Roger Rabbit
Disney
“we didn't work with Disney again for 12 years and that was with Roger Rabbit and the same thing applied with that one”— Bobby Hundreds
ProductReferenced
StockX
StockX
“if you trade sneakers you're buying them and collecting them and selling them off you're probably going through an app like stockx or gred”— Bobby Hundreds
ProductReferenced
GOAT
GOAT
“you're probably going through an app like stockx or gred and what they do is you send them the sneakers they list them on their website”— Bobby Hundreds
MediaReferenced
Bored Ape Yacht Club
Yuga Labs
“then board Apes happened and that summer there was a few projects leading up to board Apes but what board Apes did”— Bobby Hundreds
MediaReferenced
CryptoPunks
Larva Labs
“Crypt punks which were the biggest nft project pfp project at that time and still is in my opinion they're the Alpha and Omega”— Bobby Hundreds
MediaReferenced
Disney Lorcana
Disney
“Disney is coming out with lurana it's their version of a Pokemon card game like a magic to Gathering that's going to become a huge Collectibles”— Bobby Hundreds
MediaReferenced
Magic: The Gathering
Wizards of the Coast
“it's their version of a Pokemon card game like a magic to Gathering that's going to become a huge Collectibles”— Bobby Hundreds
MediaReferenced
Air (movie)
“if anyone has watched the air have you watched the air movie yet no it's the Jordan shoe deal movie”— Bobby Hundreds
ProductReferenced
Nike .Swoosh
Nike
“Nike entered the space with do swoosh what they're doing is very much along the lines of what I do”— Bobby Hundreds
ProductReferenced
Air Jordan
Nike
“we can draw it all the way back to Air Jordan Air Jordan did not stop at Air Jordan 1 they had great success with that shoe”— Bobby Hundreds
MediaReferenced
Dear Mr. Watterson
“there's a documentary called Dear Mr Waton I think and it's about the entire documentary is this guy trying to get bill into a dock”— Bobby Hundreds
MediaReferenced
The Brethren (documentary)
“in 2020 had done a documentary on this cult called the Brethren look a lot of that is mythology”— Bobby Hundreds
Big reveals from this episode
- A dying research attorney named Abe Edelman, during Bobby's law-school internship, told him he'd be a great lawyer but should never do it because his heart wasn't in it, urging him to pursue The Hundreds instead.
- Tommy Hilfiger wanted to buy the company, but the deal fell through right as the fashion market turned against streetwear.
- Their first 400-square-foot Fairfax store was doing what Bobby describes as 'millions of dollars' worth of business, with Jay-Z wearing the brand on the cover of USA Today.
- The first major Disney collaboration started because The Hundreds was infringing on Disney IP; Disney's lawyers threatened to sue, then offered an official collaboration instead.
- Disney let them merge the Disney font and logos with The Hundreds in a way that was almost confusing on purpose, and it was the first and last time Disney allowed a partner to do that.
- When a downturn hits, distributors and stores that bought for seven years straight stop returning calls within about six months, and the only strategy is to 'cut fast, cut deep.'
- The Korean government intentionally orchestrated the 'Korean Wave,' directly funding and working with music labels to export Korean culture as soft power.
Worth remembering
- Bobby skipped first grade and was reading full books, not children's books, around age four.
- He signed up for one of the first blogging platforms (Blogger/Blogspot) when blogging began in 1999, having grown up making punk-rock zines.
- Japanese designers like Nigo of A Bathing Ape reportedly studied American youth by observing how kids dressed outside high schools, then refined the styles back in Japan.
- Bobby was at a wedding in Sicily when Gangnam Style played and watched a small Sicilian town's grandparents and kids all dancing to a Korean artist.
- About 75-85% of pachinko parlors in Japan are owned by Koreans, tied to the tortured history covered in the book 'Pachinko' by Min Jin Lee.
- Bobby changes his phone number and email on a Friday afternoon, coordinating it to the minute with Verizon, to buy 48-72 hours of 'beautiful silence' before people find him again.
- During the NFT boom he says he sold 25,000 NFTs in 40 minutes, and was fielding calls from essentially every A-list Hollywood star wanting in.
- Garfield creator Jim Davis built his licensing empire off the 'stuck-on-you' suction-cup plush toys for car windows before realizing licensing, not comics, was where the money was.
- Bill Watterson refused to license Calvin and Hobbes and reportedly hacked a stuffed Hobbes to pieces with scissors in a meeting to make his point about merchandising.
- The Epitaph Records collaboration took 11 years to come together because every band had to sign off, and the label owner told them to keep all the money since it was advertising.
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