Keezy // Haven Court

San Jose, April 6 2024

For the viewers who don't know you, can you tell us a little bit about yourself, what you're doing, and what you're about?

Um, I make clothes, dude. I started on YouTube 2018-ish, end of 2018, 2019. Started a brand called Haven Court during COVID, and we're here now. And you guys are nice enough to come out here to do this whole magazine deal, so I said, yeah, fuck it, why not.

Appreciate it. So I know you just did the Johnson Leather collab. Can you tell me a little bit about how that went, the thought behind it, how it started, and if it met your expectations?

Shoutout to Vince, who’s an employee at Johnson Leather. I found out about the entire thing through Branciaga, who some of you might know. Brandon was going around the Bay trying to put every store in the Bay on TikTok, and I found it there. That same week Vince DM'd me and he was like, "Yo, do you want to make a jacket?" And I was like, yeah, fuck it. Why not? So I went over there, met them, and that's how the whole process started and we worked on the jacket. And yeah, I would say the pop-up was super fun. It was dope. It's good to see a lot of familiar faces.

You've done a couple of collabs already for your brand. When it comes to collabs, how do you balance staying true to your own identity while incorporating the look of the brand you're collaborating with?

That’s a damn good question actually. I actually said yes to too many collaborations this year and I'm actually putting some to the side because timing sucks. I think designing during collabs is like an organic thing. It just kind of happens. I throw an idea, they throw an idea. And then, normally, I've noticed through most collabs I've done so far, I'm the one to limit people and be like, let's not make 16 pieces. Let's make two or three and call it a day. Sometimes it's more about the person getting to know what's happening other than them actually buying into every single piece during the collection. Even with Hidn, we did the t-shirt. That was it. It was more of just that we’re here.

Could you tell us a little bit about what's upcoming for Haven Court? Any plans you have?

Organized chaos. This year in general I just want to drop more because last year I only dropped three times which was crazy because too many things happen in life, so I want to just try my best to just make more things this year in general.

When you do drops, do you release them randomly or stick to a seasonal schedule?

I'm like everyone else, I just use a mood board. I do a digital mood board, I don't use paper. I know most people use a big poster and put pins and stuff. I just use Adobe Illustrator. I just put a bunch of images of what I want and then it kind of condenses down to like, I want these five items to come out during this time. Sometimes certain things finish first and then you're just like, fuck it. Whatever. You might as well just toss that shit in there.

Where do you see yourself and your brand in five years? Do you ever plan on opening a physical store?

I want the business to be self-sustaining and fully running with employees. The full nine. And then yeah, brick-and-mortar. I don't know where the brick-and-mortar is going to be at. It really just depends, especially because in the Bay a lot of stuff is closing down. We don't have too many centered places for this type of stuff. But yeah, I do want to do a brick-and-mortar. We'll see what happens.

Do you have a specific creative process when creating things? How do you come up with ideas?

I have this giant box of Bay Area rap CDs I collect. Everything starts there. Sometimes I pick apart the album cover and look at what is this guy wearing or I remember this from back in the day. I don't follow it 100% of the time. But the root essence of it is that.

That's interesting. I've never heard something like that. I feel like most people use Pinterest or magazines or Google.

I can't use Pinterest or anything like that, not even Instagram. A lot of that stuff gets forgotten. No one talks about Bay Area rap anymore. It’s a very small community that’s specifically within the bay. I try my best to take that where other people can still wear it.

The Bay Area culture is strong in your brand. How do you create items that cater to a broader audience while staying true to your identity?

It helps to not put so many logos on your stuff. A T-shirt that you're wearing, even the packaging that it comes in, that's a universal thing. Like if you went to any corner hood store, they’re gonna have packaging like that. It’s still associated, but the actual item is a shirt. 

With the popularity of TikTok and social media, the fashion industry can feel oversaturated. How do you create a brand or image that stands out in this era?

When I first started on YouTube, it was just chuck everything at the wall and hope something sticks. I did fake sneaker reviews to Adobe Illustrator tutorials, to thrifting vlogs. It didn't matter. Then COVID hit, and I was like, oh man I'm gonna double down on this shit. So I started doing five videos a week, and then Fashion trend videos. Then I did vlogging with b-roll and stuff. I would toss in more shit that I've known how to do on Premiere. Instead of just what am I doing, I thought how can you twist it? I think that's what it came down to. And then it became a lifestyle sort of vlog. You can replicate someone's vlogs, but you can't replicate the person. That's how you separate it at the end of the day.

What are your thoughts on Orange County compared to the Bay Area? What do you like and dislike about OC?

There's hella Asians out there. I fuck with it. They got all the Vietnamese, they got the baddies out there, they got the ABGs out there. That doesn't happen in the Bay, bro. Southern California got pretty ass women bro. It's amazing. I love the Bay, don't get me wrong, we got attractive women in the Bay, but they be hiding in trees and shit like that. Y'all got good food out there also. The only bad thing for me is that I’m just too centered out here. People know me from being out here. I'm one of the only, if not the only YouTuber that does what I do in the Bay. I'm not trying to toot my own horn, but it's just what it is. So if I leave, it would feel fucked up. As far as my perception, I had no idea how much fashion shit was going on in OC. When I first met Tony 2 years ago, I asked him why are you in Santa Ana, shouldn’t you be in LA? He’s like no you don’t get it there’s a lot of stuff around here. He took me around to Santa Ana where the Stussy Archive store is and I had no idea.

The Bay area and OC often share similarities in being the underdogs of California, being overshadowed from LA. What other similarities do you see in the two areas?

I never thought of it like that. As far as the bay is concerned, there’s a lot of music, influence, reference, and history. Tupac damn near grew up in the Bay. E-40 and Too Short starting out of the trunk music, that all comes from here.

With the bay area culture being so ingrained into your character and brand, have you ever thought about moving away?

If I did, Southern California looks nice. New York looks cool too. If I had unlimited money I’d go to New York. It’s the bigger city. I like cities, I like the hustle and bustle. You’ll never catch me in the woods or the beach. I went to the beach, man I can’t live there it’s too lazy.

What challenges have you faced in building your brand and social media presence?

With the business side, bookkeeping. Doing clothing on social media, you have to constantly reinvent yourself, which is kind of tiring after a while because of how many times you gotta keep changing it in order to get engagement. With youtube I just decided that it makes more sense to do vlogs than it does to do anything else. Because it's something that you'll come back to 10 years from now. You're not really going to come back to a video on how to dye Air Force Ones or how to bend the brim on your hat. It's going to get a lot of views, but I think socially, vlogs hit more. Like moments in time. 

Being a one man team for the most part, how do you do it? 

You just do it. Yeah, there's no answer. I get that question a lot. I have a to do list, whatever the first thing is, do it and do it right now. Don't wait until tomorrow, unless it only requires you to do it tomorrow. But if it needs to be done, do it right now. Why not? 

Would you say you're a pretty organized person?

No. Hell no. 

What is your education background? Do you believe college is important for people in this field?

No, don't do it. I went to SF State, and I wasn't a school person. My sophomore year I dropped out, not on purpose, they kicked me out because I stopped showing up. I didn't tell my parents for like two and a half semesters. I would wake up every morning and just go to the city and hang out. I eventually went back and I finished with a really shitty degree, Asian American Studies. It was dumb. At that time, I didn’t know you could do this (own a brand). When I first went SF State I tried getting an entrepreneurship degree but they shut down the major. Then I was gonna do film, but I already knew everything. I couldn’t do all that, so I was like I’m out.

Would you say you’re self taught for the most part?

Yeah, YouTube University. And graduated. Actually, I haven't graduated. I didn't get my plaque.Yeah, help me out. Yeah, subscribe.

What jobs did you do before starting your brand?

I did sales for a long time. I did retail sales, door to door sales, cold calling. I've sold fucking vitamins before. On the side I also tried to sell shit. Like anything bro. When I was in high school, I used to go to Market Street in San Francisco and buy Bape hoodies and then I'd sell them out of my trunk. 

Have you always been into fashion? What introduced you to it?

In the 2000s, it was all the Nigo stuff. That was during the time of Nigo and Pharrell showing up to award shows dressed all crazy with the chains. And I was like, who's this Asian guy? So that's what got me into it. At that time, no one was making money doing that. It was a hobby. It was an expensive hobby that no one knew where it was going to go. Then I got back into it years later in 2016. The whole Jordan 1 thing blew up and then I got back into it. I had a homie that was like, yo, you should try YouTube. And that's how the whole thing kind of started again. 

How important is privacy to you? Showcasing your life so much through social media—do you ever worry about consequences?

I don't make controversial content. There are moments, but other than that I don't give a shit. I'm a regular guy. Just don't show up here if you're a fan. 

Have you always enjoyed being in front of the camera? Has it always been natural?

Fuck no. If you noticed in the beginning, a lot of my first videos, I wasn't in front of the camera. I was trying to film other people. It's almost like taking a selfie and then having the courage to post it online. It’s also easier to vlog with someone. If I'm alone, to this day I can’t do it.

As someone who’s very open and sharing about the ins and outs of the fashion industry, do you see yourself ever stopping in being this open through your Patreon?

That'll end eventually. For the Patreon podcasts, I actually got inspired from Joey Diaz. He’s hella funny. This guy just literally puts his phone up and he just starts talking. I thought that was such a good way of trying to just get what's happening now online without having to edit anything. You just press record, unrecord, and post. As far as sharing the factory information stuff, there's so much information out there now. I just don't have time. That's it. But I mean those videos are still up, it’s like forever content.

What made you start sharing stuff like that?

Because life is about people, it's not about take take take. It's about give. Friendships, business, life, that's what it's all about. It's not about you give me one, I give you one. It's about, I give you all and maybe you might give me something. 

Do you think the Bay is like that?

The Bay is so different from LA. If you start something out here in Northern California, you might be the only dude in town. 

Do you see that as a pro or as a con, being the only person really doing something in an area? 

That's a great question. Pro, because obviously you're the only game in town. Then the con is that things are so singular here. A lot of people don't pay attention to this part of California. A lot of people are just focused on LA. They don't really give a shit on what's happening up here.

How do you balance your personal style with trends in your brand?

I think now I'm just trying to establish the brand to have specific pieces that I'm always known for, which I've kind of done already. But I want to hone that in to feel almost like a Levi's. I’m a jeans brand. That's what you should expect every time you come here. For me, that's more important than anything else. The trendy stuff is cool, but if you're constantly chasing that, eventually you'll burn out.

One Lux, your first brand. What'd you learn from it?

Don't make up a stupid fucking name. Don't make clothes without having people know about it first.

Last question. How did you get your nickname, Keezy?

I've had a lot of nicknames. Keezy stuck since 2015. I had a homie that said it ain't easy being Keezy. I was like, all right, imma just jack that. Also I never like using my real name on the internet. Even on Facebook my name is Craig Tumbleton.