Sneakers magazine Sully Wong Interview Translated (english)

What’s the story behind the making of the brand? How did the idea to form a brand come about? How did George Sully and Henry Wong meet?

Henry and I first met at a trade show, I had a clothing line at the time, and he was running a booth that carried detail appliqué materials for apparel merchandise. At his booth we got to talking about the frustration we felt with corporate brands masquerading as independent brands, and seducing the public into thinking its legit culture…we were both sick of watching these corporate fucks flipping our culture and pimping it back to us! To make a long story short with Henry having a background in production and me in design, and both fans of sneakers, the decision to go forward with the brand was an easy one.

How do you see the sneaker market of today and where do you see Sully Wong positioned in it?

Its funny how things change in the market…It was not long ago when most kids would go to the local mall and buy from like commercial sports store chains… they would go to a clothing or shoe rack and pick up something clearly massed produced and buy it. I’m assuming they bought the clothing to be accepted, to be part of the group, to be like there friends, we use to call that type of shit, uniforms! Everybody wanted the same shit.

Fortunately for us we came up at a time when the commercial market decided to say fuck mass produced product and hello to rare limited or special edition product. Like Coke and Pepsi, there was Nike and Reebok, and of course the other few.  Now there are hundreds of sneaker brands all getting just as much attention if not more simply because they are a rare find. Funny….these days your sneaker is more successful when your less known, and we like it that way.

What do you bring to the table that isn’t on it already?

I always say….we’re not trying to re-invent the wheel, we just add rims on it. There’s not one sneaker brand that hasn’t been influenced by another.  Our Design is Personality  influenced, we make tribute sneakers honoring those past and present, is that different or more special than someone else’s effort? I’ll leave it to the public to decide.

If you give a customer three reasons to buy your shoes and not someone else’s – what would you tell them?

 ok that easy…..

 1. we are still significantly part of the process of our shoe making.

 2. Absolutely no child labor in making or product…unlike some brands we all know and love.

 3. At the end of the day… we are artists first! Weather we come out with one shoe a year or more it doesn’t matter to us! Its just art… a simple point of expression brought to you in the form of a sneaker. we can give you plenty more reasons but the decision is best left to the customer, so we’ll let them have final say.

In what price range do you see yourself in sneaker stores in Germany and why are you choosing these prices?

We like to know that our prices are reasonable.  There are hard times around the world…We’ll always try balance our prices against what’s going on locally in the market we are selling to, simply because we want people to have the opportunity to by our product despite sometimes not having all the means to do so. our range is roughly 120-250 USD

If you could draw a prototypical image of a Sully Wong customer, what would it look like?

Our customer is a slick intelligent hipster who owns skateboard, plays in a rock band on the weekend, and know how to drop a hip-hop freestyle anytime any place.

Where does the brand draw its inspiration? What inspires you guys?

We are inspired by unique personalities that have left a special mark on society. Henry and I are a simple clash or North American / Asian culture clash brought to you in the form of a sneaker.

 Please name three other footwear brands that you respect and why…

Its so hard to choose… there are so many brands that we love and  respect for so many different reasons. I just can’t narrow it down without feeling that we left someone out.

Plans for this year?

More Sneakers!!!