Wiggs talks moving to New York, working for Supreme and raising/donating $140K in the last two months. Yes, read that again. This man is an inspiration for us all.
When did you do the first sidewalk sale and what led you to doing it?
Our first sidewalk sale launched early June. This was around the time when protest across the nation were starting to spark off, looting was still a thing and we just sat there looking at each other thinking “what can we do to make somewhat of a difference”? I suggested to two of my friends that day (Perry Goodman & Sachiko Clyde) that we should just go through our closets, put some clothes together and have a sidewalk sale. I work at Supreme, Perry works for Palace and Sachiko has an amazing women’s vintage collection, so we just gathered what we didn’t need and put it together for a good cause.
The idea was birthed on a bench in the same park that we do the sidewalk sales at biweekly. Sitting there with Perry and Sachiko we were just disgusted with where the world was at. At this time so many people were starting to donate to various non profits and gofundme’s, so we wanted to contribute in some kind of way. Speaking about this and getting sparked on the idea was one thing, but days later Sachiko sent me a text saying “hey babe, so are we doing this on Sunday?” When I read that text I just thought to myself “okay, this shit is on. Let’s do this, let’s make a commercial and whatever we have to do to promote this and bring people out from our neighborhood to support.”
Who got involved?
Before the first one happened, a bunch of my friends who skate for Supreme or work for Supreme hit me up offering to donate what they had and that was aside from Supreme clothing. So we had a lot of skateboards, Nike shoes, Spitfire wheels, anything skate related from a skate community of amazing people. Leo Baker, a long time friend of mine, made contact with Stephen and they dropped off probably 20-25 pairs of Nikes. Perry got his boys together to drop off Palace stuff. Sachiko did her vintage rack, but now kills it with selling flowers. My friend who lives in Greenpoint who makes homemade juices “tom’s juice” sold juices that day. That was kind of it as far as brands. The boys of Ready Set, especially Paul Coots, was a huge help in making us tables for the sale the morning of, which was really rad. And the Ready Set boys continue to help us out with those tables every week. The first sale we were just like “ok, let’s just figure this out.” Clothes were on the table and hanging on the fence behind us. It was just like a full on Greenpoint flee market and still is. Very grassroots, which I like. Oh, also my friend Stu King works for carhartt WIP and he brought a bunch of amazing threads.
How much did you raise? Where was it donated to?
The first sidewalk sale, we raised $15k in 5 hours. We were probably expecting to do $500 that day, but thanks to everyone who showed up and thanks to everyone who just donated to us we hit that number. Our first non-profits we donated to were emergency release funds and EJI. Two long term non-profits who have been putting in this kind of work for a minute and will continue to do so moving forward.
That’s amazing. Were you surprised by the outpouring of support from people?
I was just surprised by how many people showed up to show love and buy something knowing that their purchase was going towards a good cause. Stephen and I were working our table and kept checking our Venmo throughout the day and every time we saw a higher total in our balance we would jump up and down like little kids. Hearing what people had to say about the sale and the gathering of people, it just showed me that people really have their hearts in the right place. We can get together as a community and unify and make a big difference. The world is in such a shit place and nice for people to just turn their energy away from that and get together and contribute to these sidwalk sales and raise a bunch of money so we can put it somewhere that really counts. This has been a good reminder that New York in general, our main ingredient is community. We thrive on this in particular. Its just so beautiful to see who all shows up every week, new faces and old and everyone is in a good mood.
What other brands and people have gotten involved since the first one?
I feel like since we are all running out of personal things to donate, there has been a shift in what has been sold at the following sales. People are getting creative with their ideas. We have had some stuff from Alltimers, Quartersnacks. I’m roommates with William McFeely so he dropped off Bronze stuff, hotel blue. But the great thing about this is that local vendors are having tables and killing it too. Also, local artists, such a Lylynn Pham. She has made the solidarity tee shirt that is tye dyed and that’s like the shirt of the summer. We have had Playground coffee shop, Fantasy Explosion, Sunday school. The list just keeps getting bigger every week man!
How many sidewalk sales have you done since? How much were you able to raise?
Sunday, August 9th will mark our 6th episode of doing the good deed on Nassau Ave and Russell haha. No, we are approaching our sixth one which is insane. Thanks to Todd Jordan and people at Supreme. They have matched our last sale putting us at a total of $140,146.88 in just 5 days. It’s really insane when you think about it, but again that is the power of a community. And where other than in NYC is community the strongest? I can’t think of a place to be honest. All of our proceeds are BLM related. We also focus on the LGBT queer community, we help out street vendors passing by, encouraging them to sell at our sales to make money. We give them clothing, food, shoe,s water. I’m really excited to give money to Julius which is the oldest gay bar in NYC. Due to Covid they are at risk with keeping their doors open, so we want to help save an old NYC establishment. Which is also a safe space for the LGBT queer community to go to and have a good time. That bar is amazing and they have good food there! We have focused on bailout programs and education. I’ve even helped a community fridge in the LES with a weekly Trader Joes donation.
Are you planning to do more?
This is the most common asked question and, yes, of course. We plan on doing more until the weather turns to absolute shit, or in there is a second lock down.
Incredible. Going back, I know you grew up in Cali. What were you into growing up? How did you start skating?
I’m originally from Inglewood. Moved to the LA burbs after the LA riots, or more so during. We moved to an all white neighborhood. My mom’s main focus was education. I was always in between South Central LA and Claremont, CA because we have a family bbq business in the heart of South Central. So growing up I did things most black kids didn’t do, and then I would go back to that zone and they always called me different or funny. I played soccer, hockey, golf, would go to art camps and skateboarding. These are things my cousins and friends I have in the city just looked at as odd activities for a black kid. Which is sad, so I was stereotyped from both communities. Black kids called me white washed, and other kids would say I’m not black enough. Around high school all I wanted to do was skate. Baker 2G changed skateboarding in my eyes when that video came out. So I was this hesh black kid running around the suburbs jumping down shit, listing to punk with my friends. And that turned into something I was really into: punk music. So my friends back in LA always thought I was super weird for that. During this same time is when I started educating myself on black activists, simply because this was not taught in school.
I started skating in the 6th grade when this kid named Rob was showing me a CCS catalogue with Heath on the cover. He absolutely would not shut up about Heath and we looked through every page of this CCS. He was like “DUDE THESE ARE FREE. JUST CALL THIS NUMBER”. So he gave me the number and my mom doing my laundry at the time was curious as to why I had a 1-800 number in my jeans pocket. She ended up ordering me a CCS and that year I was like “WHOA MOM I WANT A SKATEBOARD FOR MY BIRTHDAY”. So we went to this skate shop called Jers board shop. My first set up was super baller: Mike Carroll board, Spitfire wheels, Black Panther bearings, Grind Kings and Black Magic grip tape. But ever since that first board, skating was all I’ve ever wanted to do.
That is a baller first board. What made you move to New York?
I first came out to NYC in 2011 or 2012 with a few friends on a little skate trip. I was working at a skate shop and not skating, just super bummed out over some chick. I don’t even think I had a skateboard at the time or skate shoes and I was working at a shop which was crazy. But some of my buddies mentioned that they were coming out to NYC and I should come a long. The first day pushing in this city and seeing the cities energy, I was just like “whoa I need to fucking snap out of it one, two move here, three skate again.” So every year for about 3-4 more years I would come out to NYC in the summer and stay for like a month. I made a bunch of friends here and enjoyed exploring the city on my own. One day I got a call from my current roommate Andrew Price, the guy who makes the uncle leroy videos, my buddy Cody and Dere. And they were like “YO MOVE IN TO OUR APARTMENT, WE LOVE YOU and we know you want to move here. Derek is moving out”. So that call got me juiced. I was working two jobs at the time and I started saving serious money, like only eating beans, apples, and eggs just to have a secure move out here. And I made it happen! Also the Digable Planets Blowout Comb album was playing in my car at all times and that album really made me feel like New York was the energy I wanted. If you haven’t listened to that I highly suggest.
Moving here can be a struggle for people. How was it for you?
When I moved here a lot of people knew I was like “street photo buddy” and were trying to get me gigs in that kind of field I would say. But again I had a network of friends here due to so many visits, so a lot of people were looking out for me. My friend Lauren Nikrooz would bless it with a set design job or whatever things would just pop up and I was hungry to make that money here. I actually got asked to work at Supreme LA before I moved out, but knowing I was going to move here that didn’t happen. So I was working at Trader Joes for maybe 2.5 years here. I transferred from LA with that job which was great. But the pay wasn’t that great and I was desperate for a second gig. I was considering dog walking, bar backing, anything. I just accepted the reality that I had to get a second job here in New York, which was tough. James at Labor heard I was moving out here and called me when I was in LA and asked if i wanted to be rep at 5boro, but I didn’t have a car. Just shows you the heart that man has. Thank you, James. But I used to visit him all the time on my off days and he suggested that I go try the food at Dimes since I’m from LA, which I did and instantly became friends with some of that staff. So Dimes was my coffee spot which was perfect because I would buy the cheap cigarettes from this deli around the corner. But I started hanging in the city a lot more and a lot of those hangs were with those people and one day during lunch at Dimes I had an interview! So that was another job I had, which I really enjoyed. Serving and hosting there was super fun.
How did you end up working at Supreme here?
I knew a few guys at the old Lafayette location. I would go in on the slower days and we would chat it up. One day when I was on the hunt for work I walked in to talk to Martin Davis the manager at the city location and asked him if he was hiring. We talked for a while and I told him how I know everyone at the LA store and how they asked me to work for them. He encouraged me to send him my resume asap, which I did, but it didn’t work out. Fast forward to a year later, I’m leaving a Trader Joes shift ,walking to Dimes and I pass buy Supreme and Martin waves me in, asking me where I’m going, am I still doing two jobs. Answering yes to both questions, he told me Supreme Brooklyn is looking and he wants to help me out if I’m interested. So I said yes. Martin’s words were “sweet, get on the phone with your LA people, hit up everyone you know and put them down as a reference, I’m going out of town, but as soon as I get back, I swear i’ll send this over to Todd”. One morning I woke up to an email from Todd Jordan and that was that. We had a few interviews, but I’ve been at Supreme Brooklyn since day one. So shout our Martin, shout out everyone at Supreme LA, shout out Sage and shout out Sabrina from dimes who helped put in the good word for me.
Why do you think Supreme has been able to keep such an intense demand for so many years?
I think the company has such an intense demand still to this day because they know what they are doing. They have been doing this for so long. Designs, collabs, skate team, everything is just done the right way to where it brings in this attention when it happens and people just want a piece of it.
I remember we ended up skating Marcy playground pretty early one year on New Years Day. What keeps you going out skating like that with so many other things on your plate?
That was my first day skating in a long time haha. But I try to stay motivated, skating flat with my buddy Max Henderson or my roomate drew is always a good time. I really get fired up when I see Brand Hendy skate or Nate. That keeps me motivated. Like many people say, older videos, I’m constantly watching Welcome to Hell, Baker Bootleg, Mouse just for inspiration. But it’s just finding the time, providing the balance and then BOOM, all of a sudden you’re fired the fuck up and hopefully you get a trick and have some fun. Seeing old friends skating on IG too gets me hyped to skate. Or I’ll even skate the bowl or a little flat with the guys at the shop. Right now however, since Instagram is like the skate clip mecca, Coles, aka shithead, is like the fucking truth. That kid gets me really hyped to skate.
Thank you for everything you’re doing, Wiggs. Really. And thank you for taking the time to do this.
Hopefully we will push around again in the future man! Thanks for the interview, this was fun. I want to say thank you to everyone who has supported these sidewalk sales and I want to thank my little dream that has naturally developed throughout this.
So shout outs to: Ian, Sachiko, Perry, Lylynn, Max, Andrew Price, Drew Hurley, Little Angel, Stephen and Tyler, Paul Coots, Stu King, Camilla and Stella, Tom, Andrew Bawtinihimer, Brandon, Dylan and JR and Jeff at Supreme BK for allowing me to take the time off to make these happen. Much love to all of you guys.
Wiggs : Our Community Leader!!!! Nothing but love.