Ep. 32 - Ryan Babenzien (Greats Shoes)

As previously stated, season 3 has been prerecorded so amidst these times of COVID-19, please note these conversations all took place prior to Social Distancing recommendations and mandates. Episode 32 hosts Ryan Babenzien, the founder of the very versatile shoe brand, Greats, which has experienced an impressive rise within the saturated market of footwear. We talk about growing up riding dirt bikes on Long Island, his 12-year stint living in Los Angeles, as well as his return to his native New York to create and organically grow one of the first digitally native brands. Having spawned from the desire to create a line of shoes representing some of the greatest silhouettes ever designed, there’s a lot we unpack including great insight as to what he’s experienced over the last 7 years and why Greats has been able to excel. I thoroughly enjoyed this conversation as it‘a the first episode that dives a bit deeper into the business side things. Ryan was incredibly gracious about the ins and outs of everything from start-up to sharing operations-based information of Greats and I can’t thank him enough for being open. We also have some fun chatting about cars and watches, of course, so stay tuned for that.