THG 63_Larry Kerns

[00:00:00] DJ And?: Hey everyone. Welcome back to another episode of the Hilltop Glove Podcast. Today we have the pleasure of interviewing the sock ministry brothers. Larry and Mario believe that being well-dressed is an essential building block to living a good life. , their mission is to revive the concept of the distinguished gentleman.

[00:00:15] DJ And?: Their vision is reminiscent of a time where being well-dressed was the rule rather than the, except. They both believe that being dressed well is to be dressed intentionally for whatever occasion or purpose they have committed themselves to making sure their clients take control of their images and present themselves in the best and most effective way.

[00:00:33] DJ And?: The brothers are diverse and the provision of their services, they can be found on site styling. Clients for weddings. Photo shoots and conventions. How you doing today, brother? Good to meet you. Yes, I'm 

[00:00:44] Larry Kerns: good. Thank you. How are you? Thank you so much for 

[00:00:46] DJ And?: having me. I hope that was a good introduction. Yeah, 

[00:00:48] Larry Kerns: I hate, trust me, I couldn't have said it better myself.

[00:00:51] Larry Kerns: Beautiful. Beautiful . 

[00:00:53] DJ And?: Now I will go ahead and let folks know we don't have Mario with us at the moment. That's correct. Your brother. We're speaking with Larry. Yeah. So we're gonna go from [00:01:00] there and I know we're gonna have a great conversation. Yes. Yeah. We've been looking forward to seeing you. Yes sir.

[00:01:03] DJ And?: This stuff is top notch. Appreciate everything. Looks, looks great on the site. Yes, brother put. Alright. And I actually have a friend coming from Charleston. His big thing was making bow ties. Okay. So that was the first time that I had introduction to people who are working in the sense of, Hey, we want you to look good and move around, but I've never seen anybody take it to the level that you all have.

[00:01:20] DJ And?: Gotcha. Locally, Just starting off, man, for our audience, would you be able to tell us a little bit more about yourself growing up as brothers and what influenced you as a child? Yeah. 

[00:01:32] Larry Kerns: Wow. I'm the oldest and so I grew up with brothers and it's just like what you could imagine.

[00:01:39] Larry Kerns: Yeah. There's a lot of. Diversity in the house. We, we all walk a different path in life and you know that, that kind of thing is just pretty much the, just characteristic of every day and just our lots. Yeah. The truth, even till now, there's one of us that's the calm one and one of us that's the more, studious and there's one of us that's the wild and adventurous one. That's, and just the whole nine. My brother was here. [00:02:00] That's. Tell you he is the one who was the wild winning. Like still is. Like those things still.

[00:02:04] Larry Kerns: So there's three of y'all? Three There's three of us, yeah. Wow. Yeah, there's three of us. There's 

[00:02:08] DJ And?: three of us too. Yeah. And the same balance 

[00:02:10] Larry Kerns: of equation. Yeah. Nah, that's interesting. Yeah. That's 

[00:02:12] DJ And?: very interesting. Yeah. Excellent. Now, did you where did 

[00:02:15] Larry Kerns: you grow up at? Grew up in Greenville.

[00:02:17] Larry Kerns: Beautiful. So Greenville, born and raised. Greenville, South Carolina. Yeah. 

[00:02:20] DJ And?: Excellent. Excellent. So growing up, What influenced you as a child to lead the path that you all are on now? 

[00:02:26] Larry Kerns: So for me, I'm actually, I'm a child of the eighties and nineties. All right, cool. And so I grew up watching, in the nineties fashion, like labels like Ralph, Lauren and that kind of, and we had a lot of the urban labels, like your Carl Cank and your fubu and your cross colors.

[00:02:43] Larry Kerns: Yeah. And a lot of that kind of thing that wa it was a really big deal. What you looked like was a really big deal. Matter and as much as now we live in a time of individual expression. Yeah. , in the nineties, we literally wanted to have on what everybody else had on.

[00:02:56] Larry Kerns: Yes. In the nineties. There was a new pair of Jordan's and my [00:03:00] thing was we, we were wearing I don't know if you guys remember, there was a trend where we were wearing like black jeans and like these rayon shirts and the long sleeved rayon shirts. Unless you know what, like everybody wanted to have the same thing on.

[00:03:11] Larry Kerns: And , it was so important. Yeah. Like influences in terms of like style or watching Eddie Murphy and Boomerang. Yeah. You know what I mean? Watching Eddie Murphy and Harlem Nights and just kinda that whole style thing. And it's almost like. , the leading man role.

[00:03:26] Larry Kerns: You know that guy who's the guy who all the girls want, the guy who, gets all of the attention. Is the guy who from a wardrobe standpoint, is the best dressed guy on Of course, the screen. Yes. True. And so at the end of the day, that's my influences in life is feeling like being the leading man is also the same, is synonymous with being the best dress maker.

[00:03:44] Larry Kerns: Yeah. Excellent. 

[00:03:44] DJ And?: Yeah. Great. Makes sense. Great point. And I like that you bought in like dealing with the eighties to the nineties. Yeah. And style. We're talking about the importance of style and. Standards. Standards, certain ways of dressing, things that are always classic, that never go outta [00:04:00] style.

[00:04:00] DJ And?: . And the names that you mentioned and what they were wearing at the time, I always like teasing. You said the ray, I was thinking about Johnny Gill. Yeah. 

[00:04:07] Skip: I was thinking about too, when he said the black black pants and the round shirt. I was thinking about dj Jazzy Jeff too. 

[00:04:11] DJ And?: Yeah. Remember those videos?

[00:04:15] DJ And?: S for sure. For sure. Yeah. But that style, that same. , same time period. Yeah, that time period. And that style was so I actually. what we were dealing with going into the two thousands. , all that stuff. It started to bleed over and then it started falling apart. It went other ways.

[00:04:29] DJ And?: , I know that influence and what you saw style-wise. How did you take that from that point and that period and move it forward to today? , 

[00:04:39] Larry Kerns: A lot of those. Really just, I've been working in the industry for a long time. , explain that a little bit. And so I've been working in retail.

[00:04:45] Larry Kerns: I started my career in like 1997. Okay. Working at a small men's boutique, much like the one that I own now. Yeah, of course. And so that's where my retail career started. And just, there's different. . We live in the south and live in the south, and so we primarily are [00:05:00] dressing people for church and dressing people for, whatever for Easter, formal events and that kind of thing.

[00:05:05] Larry Kerns: And so there are certain things that in order for them to move forward through time , you have to still lead by those examples. , you have to be like the perpetuation of those. Style points and those rules of, of engagement, so to speak. . And that's pretty much, what we've had to do over the years is just model those things so that at the end of the day you end up still being it's almost like iconography a little bit.

[00:05:29] Larry Kerns: Yeah. Because people look at you and they're like, whatever he's doing must be the right thing because he's always been doing. The right thing. Yes. You know what I mean? And so it's like even still now, like I was talking about in the eighties and nineties, looking at people like your Eddie Murphy's and those people who were in those movies.

[00:05:45] Larry Kerns: You, you even go back further to like your Billy D. Williams and those people like that. Yeah. You look at 'em and every time you see 'em Yeah. They're still representing the same brand. 

[00:05:54] Skip: So I got a question branching off of that. So it's Style in some senses can be results 

[00:05:58] Larry Kerns: based.

[00:05:59] Larry Kerns: Absolutely. [00:06:00] Okay. Absolutely. And real. The reality of the matter is what you said in the intro is really where we come from and that's being intentional. Yeah. And being intentional, meaning that you dress with an, with a result in mind. Yeah. So you identify your audience, you know who it is that you're actually trying to make your impression.

[00:06:17] Larry Kerns: , we always talk about dressing to impress. Yeah. We go a step further and say dress to impress who. , it's important to know who you're trying to impress so that you know what the standard needs to be. Yeah. . And yes. So like at the end of the day, if it's because I'm trying to get a job, if it's because I'm trying to land the girl.

[00:06:32] Larry Kerns: Yeah. If it's because I'm trying to do whatever the result is actually what my thought process is. Going into making my choices even down to wardrobe choices. A lot of people feel like wardrobe choices and just those kind of aesthetics are superficial. . . But the reality of the matter is, as much as you should not judge books by their covers.

[00:06:49] Larry Kerns: It is human nature to do that's true. It is very natural for us to judge books by their covers. And so with that in mind, what we always say is if people are gonna be looking, then we wanna make sure we give 'em something [00:07:00] to say That's true. That's so good. . 

[00:07:02] DJ And?: It ain't gotta be looking. Let's give 'em something good to see.

[00:07:05] DJ And?: That's it. So how do you and this is interesting cuz we know we talked about moving through different decades style changes, things update, right? Sure. We get new ways of doing things and different ways of wearing things. How, first of all, how would you. Youo, identify your unique. And second question, how do you help customers identify their 

[00:07:24] Larry Kerns: style?

[00:07:24] Larry Kerns: Yeah, I think a lot of it is exactly what I was saying before. Meaning that you identify your audience and knowing who it is that you generally speaking or trying to make your impression on. Yeah. At this point we've built our own personal brand. Yeah. We go with in terms.

[00:07:38] Larry Kerns: From a fashion standpoint, and we do make a clear distinction between fashion and style. Break that down. 

[00:07:43] DJ And?: Tell it 

[00:07:44] Larry Kerns: to our audience. Fashion is more of an industry thing. Fashion is more like when you go to, when you go to fashion shows. Or like when you see runway shows or whatever.

[00:07:52] Larry Kerns: Whatever the designers want you to see. That's fashion. , it's current. It's very seasonal, meaning that it will change the [00:08:00] next season. The designers have to come up with something else. They have to show you something different. , that's fashion. Fashion is basically somebody else telling you what is the right thing to wear.

[00:08:08] Larry Kerns: Style is personal. Ah, and style is actually the distinction that you make, that I can be wearing something. You can be wearing it, and the, and our individual styles will make what you have on somehow look different than what I have on it, even though it's the same garment. Same exact, yeah.

[00:08:23] Larry Kerns: So fashion is the garment. . And the style is like the attitude. We always say this, we say we sell the garments, but the swag is, the swag comes in the package. Yeah. You understand what I mean? Ok. And that's kinda where we come from. So your style is really, how you put it together.

[00:08:36] Larry Kerns: If I have on a hat, if I, a guy could put on a hat and he wears it straight on. Or he, some guy's wear. Lean to the side. Yeah. That kind of thing. That's, that style is the details. The details in your own personal spin that you put on actually the choices that you make. All right.

[00:08:50] Larry Kerns: So 

[00:08:50] Skip: So bring this back and I guess cuz part of our podcast, we always delve on things that touch on hip hop culture. And the impact of hip hop culture. Sure. And that's neat that you. The point about [00:09:00] style and fashion. , because it seems like when it comes to culture, especially when it comes to the way we wear clothes how we move about, there's always that fashion side is always trying to capture Sure. That style. Yes, sure. Yes. And it's just very interesting that you brought it up in that way, and I never thought about it. You really cleared up a lot of. . That for me, just hearing from that perspective. 

[00:09:19] Larry Kerns: Yeah it's important.

[00:09:20] Larry Kerns: To make sure that you understand because that's how when we get caught up in fashion, that's how sometimes we end up being like, you remember, the Martin show, you remember Jerome. You know what I mean? That kind of thing because you find something that is on trend at the time.

[00:09:33] Larry Kerns: Yeah. And you identify with that, but you're not necessarily fluid with it in terms. Things changing in terms of, trends changing and that kind of thing. And so you end up getting stuck in that place. And you have a lot of people, even in the hip hop culture where there are certain things that we were doing a long time ago and you look at 'em and now guys have gotten into their thirties and forties still trying to do some of the stuff that they were doing back when they were in their teens and twenties.

[00:09:55] Larry Kerns: You know what I'm saying? Yeah. and it's like that stuff doesn't translate. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And and [00:10:00] that's the idea of individual style being that, you pay attention to the trends. You're aware Yeah. Of what people are doing, but at the same time you also think through the process too. Okay. It's not just necessarily something that you let the industry dictate to you. And 

[00:10:13] DJ And?: build on this. I know you were talking about this earlier having certain particular, have you say points or. How would you put it points or certain schemes to work off?

[00:10:23] DJ And?: Style-wise? Always think this is interesting cuz I know I follow folks on YouTube. Do style Yeah. For men. Sure. And show how to groom yourself properly. Sure. And they give you certain point on certain things to do. There's even a gentleman I follow who talks about wearing jewelry properly.

[00:10:34] DJ And?: And stuff like that. Are there certain things something that you could. expressed to our audience, like three little points of emphasis when it comes to looking at and trying to identify your style. , that would be important if they were to come into your shop. Some information that would help you.

[00:10:50] DJ And?: , lead them on a direction. Yeah. 

[00:10:52] Larry Kerns: So we, when we first start, the conversation always begins. It begins really, and ends also with under the [00:11:00] client understanding that it's them who has to wear it. Gotcha. And so at the end of the day, my, my personal opinion my professional opinion. Yeah.

[00:11:08] Larry Kerns: It matters somewhat and I hope it has some influence and has some impact on the customer's choice. . But at the end of the day, it's them. Who has to wear it. And so they ultimately have to be satisfied with it. And so what my job is to do a lot of education. , I'll try to teach you what those, what those norms are or what the rules, if you will.

[00:11:27] Larry Kerns: Yeah. , are I'm very old school, so I'm classic haberdashery like literally. There are certain things that you have to do, certain things you're doing. I'm white after Labor Day guy. Could you tell us? Yeah, that's what I 

[00:11:36] DJ And?: wanna know. That's what I wanna know.

[00:11:38] DJ And?: What are those? Cuz my dad, he's big on this. He like, he has all the GQ magazines, right? Yeah. Yeah. And he did his breakdown for us on All right, you get, you you're gonna have black. Brown navy khaki pants or pants of whatever color, you're gonna have 10 shirts to go with that seven ties.

[00:11:52] DJ And?: And then from that you can flip and have different wardrobe. Yeah. Is there, this is the type of stuff, I think it makes it easy for folk. Yeah. Because like me kept, I'm boring. Yeah. [00:12:00] I wear great. Okay. All the time. Tones, no colors. My dad always teases when he sees me with color, he say he must be feeling good today.

[00:12:07] DJ And?: Are there certain things like, like you said, there are certain things you can express to somebody like, Hey, you know what, in your wardrobe, especially as a man of a certain age , say you're over the age of 25. , you should have these things in your collection of clothing. Yeah. So that when you go out, say to have drinks after five, or if you're going to work you'll know you'll have something in your wardrobe, a fit that will work for you, something that you can wear. Almost like having a how do you say, like having an avatar ready to go. You have your little swatches you can put on because the way you're dressed right now. Yeah. I love to walk around like that all the time.

[00:12:35] DJ And?: Wow. . But I know for me that would be, it would be something difficult. Yeah. So if I'm coming in and I'm like, Hey, how could you get me to dress in a way that's comfortable? But also sharp. Yeah. Yeah. 

[00:12:47] Larry Kerns: So I think a lot of the things actually that you mentioned, Uhhuh, that are like in your dad's lexicon Yeah.

[00:12:52] Larry Kerns: Are actually like a lot of the things that are appropriate. Those are real. It's, those are actually real applicable, concepts for, for you to use in your [00:13:00] wardrobe. Yeah. I'm, like I said, I'm big. I'm old school and so I'm big on fundamentals and so when somebody comes to me like, we have a lot of people, believe it or not, I got 40, 50 year old guys that come to me and says, I never owned a suit.

[00:13:11] Larry Kerns: Oh. And so a guy comes to me like that. He doesn't know his sizes. He doesn't know what's the right thing. He doesn't know. He definitely doesn't know what's on trend and what's not. No and My place to not only just tell him, I could take the route of just trying to sell him something and put him in something that you know is right for this time.

[00:13:27] Larry Kerns: Trust me, take my word for it. This is right. Or I could go back and try to bridge that gap a little bit. Inform him, let him know what his sizes are. Let him know how. Things are supposed to fit. And even maybe teach 'em a little bit of, the historical, this is what it used to be.

[00:13:41] Larry Kerns: This is coming back. People used to do it like this and this is how we're doing it again. Now, this is classic. This has always been around, it never goes outta style. Yeah. And so that's where we go from there. So you mean, you build your wardrobe off of off of certain basics and certain staple things that to your point, Will actually like, be universal and you can use them at all times.

[00:13:59] Larry Kerns: You'll [00:14:00] never fly out brown and black shoes. Brown and black shoes. Yeah. And so there's a lot of options and a lot of alternatives out there. , I'm the guy who you come to and I'm saying, if you don't have brown and black, you know when somebody say, what's, what color shoes should I wear with this?

[00:14:11] Larry Kerns: Yeah. I'm literally. , like the choices are either brown or black because you might have a green shoe. Yeah. You know what I mean? You might have a, cranberry red shoe and that's cool. That's cool. But it's not something that I can expect every gentleman to have in his wardrobe. Thank you. So let's Lord learn how to build it off the basics.

[00:14:29] Larry Kerns: One of my mentors, as a matter of fact, he always says that you have to know the rules before you go out and try to break 'em. A lot of people are out here trying to break the rules and trying to be the exception, and they don't know what the rule is. You dunno. Supposed to do. But they're out there, trying to rebel and, rage against the machine, yeah. 

[00:14:46] DJ And?: And I know I, because I like to dress and look nice, and I'll have specific things that I wear because I know for me it's easy. Sure. Yeah. I know. I can go to it. I know it looks good on me. Sure. . That's probably why I wear gray all the time. 

[00:14:58] Larry Kerns: And you know what? I don't think there's anything wrong with that.

[00:14:59] Larry Kerns: [00:15:00] Cause that's you. That's you, y'all. That's you. That's your style. Yeah. That's my style. You know what I mean? So that's your individual style. Yeah. That's your choice that you make at times. And I'll tell you, I used to be the same guy and I've been doing this for a long time. Yeah. I met my wife, my, my wife and I went to high school together.

[00:15:13] Larry Kerns: And when we started dating and she noticed the same thing. She said, all you wear is blue and tan and gray. . And I'm think. Now I'm feeling like I'm a guy who, I'm a dresser, it's just, that's my life. But she didn't like, she didn't appreciate the fact that I just didn't wear a whole lot of color.

[00:15:27] Larry Kerns: So she told me, I'm gonna put some color into your life. And I thought I'm doing fine. Yeah. Look good on my own. You know what I mean? I can do this. You know what I mean? This is my job, and before I knew it then, I looked in my closet, it was oranges and pinks and yellows and all kinds of stuff going on in my closet.

[00:15:43] Larry Kerns: And it was, and it's okay. So you know, I'm still who I am. Yeah. With a little bit of splash of something else. Yeah. And sometimes, Somebody like me, or somebody in my case, somebody like her comes along and they introduce just a little bit of something else to you. Yeah. Not to change you, but to add, but just to enhance.

[00:15:58] Larry Kerns: You. Enhance. I like that. Literally [00:16:00] if you think like a photograph or something like that, sometimes you mess with the colors. Yeah. You know what I mean? When you're editing a photo, sometimes you'll actually adjust the hues or something like that, and that's all it is. Sometimes just adding a little bit of something to you, not to change you, but just to make you just a little bit better.

[00:16:13] Larry Kerns: Just step you up just a little bit. Just style handsome. Yeah. E exactly. Yeah. Yeah. But we work with your individual style though. I don't you, and I don't want you to dress like me. I want you to dress like the best version of you. So you just come 

[00:16:22] DJ And?: into your shop as is , and from there you can help direct that person.

[00:16:27] Larry Kerns: Absolutely. Absolutely. 

[00:16:28] Skip: Beautiful. And like you said, kde sua. I know you talked a little about your wife. I know we wanna transition a little bit in the family, but the term my brother's keeper , yeah. Refers to taking care of watching over, your fellow human beings. , but in your case, literal.

[00:16:41] Skip: you're your brother's keeper. Sure. Absolutely. Vice versa. Yeah. So honestly what's it like working with your brothers? 

[00:16:46] Larry Kerns: It's it's interesting because there's a dichotomy of dynamic there because there's a personal relationship there, but then there's also the necessity and the urgency of a business relationship there.

[00:16:58] Larry Kerns: . Yeah. So it's our business [00:17:00] relationship actually has come, has been born out. The impact that our personal relationship has. Interesting. And, but the both of us feeling like we have something to offer, something to bring to the table so we feel like, whatever this is gonna be Yeah.

[00:17:12] Larry Kerns: What, how, what, whatever the magnitude of this will be. Yeah. It'll be much better because of us joining forces, if you will. , and but those two dynamics do. A lot. , at times, I'm the big brother and at the end of the day, there are certain times when I have to decline.

[00:17:27] Larry Kerns: Yeah. And I can't necessarily always been. And so he'll, I'll tell you, he'll you at happening to me. I'm the big brother. Sometimes some things for a long time. For a long time I was undefeated and unchallenged. But then we got into this relat. We got into a business situation and at the end of the day, sometimes we have to, I have to follow his lead.

[00:17:49] Larry Kerns: Yeah. And sometimes I have to, do what I'm told and, be in the place. And I'll tell him a lot of times, tell where you want me to stand. Tell me where you want me to be in. That's what I need to do. Yeah. And it's important that those kind of, as, [00:18:00] as much as we can keep those things segregated Yeah, of course.

[00:18:02] Larry Kerns: That we do that. Yeah. Because otherwise then we end up not. Reaping the benefits, the full benefits of actually, joining forces in that way. , 

[00:18:10] DJ And?: because it is a, that is a cool part to have in a relationship because basically you can get over all that weird, uneasy feeling because you already know each other.

[00:18:17] DJ And?: Sure. Yeah. Sure. Very developed from there. And that leads to a natural ability to have a good business relationship. If you think about it in, in proper 

[00:18:23] Larry Kerns: concept. Yeah. And of course, at the end of the day, at the end of the day, we. We're still brothers and we're still men.

[00:18:28] Larry Kerns: Yes. And so being men, we actually, we still have the problem, the challenge of ego. Yeah. That comes into about, at the end of the day. Yeah. You can't help it. It can't be avoided. And so as much as we try to, try to respect each other's space and we try to, make sure that we understand each other's individuality at the same time, there's also the challenge of, there are sometimes when I want what I.

[00:18:48] Larry Kerns: And there's sometimes that he wants what he wants. And sometimes, we do have, there, there are some, some testosterone challenges some days in the world of Fashionist style. You can't leave the ego outta that. Yeah. And you can't leave the ego out because [00:19:00] it's all subjective.

[00:19:01] Larry Kerns: Yes it course. And at the end of the day, it's always what you think. . And as much as we can, we a lot of times do try to collaborate. And so what we'll do, we'll work with a client or we'll work even. Vendor Yeah. Sometimes. And make choices and we'll compare notes.

[00:19:14] Larry Kerns: What do you think? What do you think? . Okay. I'll just defer to what you think in this particular case. And we and we a lot of times have to agree to disagree. Okay. But then we also a lot of times, have to pull rank and there are certain times when we have to pause and we have to say, wait a minute.

[00:19:28] Larry Kerns: No, You know who's follow who let's make sure we and we are very careful to make sure that we don't get lost in the urgency of business. And we lose because we do prioritize our personal relationship over at the end of the day, if this whole business collapses, we still, we still have to be brothers.

[00:19:46] Larry Kerns: We're still family at the end of this. Yeah. And so I think it, it squashes a. Possible drama. Yeah. That there could be. Yeah. Cause you know, he, we, I have my path in life. My brother has his path in life. Yeah. And sometimes those, those two train, those trains [00:20:00] run on totally separate tracks.

[00:20:01] Larry Kerns: Yeah. And but we, at the end of the day, remember that, beyond anything, we are not, we're, we may get upset with each other. Yeah. We always, my brother and I say all the time, we fight all the time, but at the end of the day, we kiss and makeup, we go out to eat. Exactly. You know what I mean?

[00:20:13] Larry Kerns: That's exactly, that's it. That's how it works. Yeah. Then it. , right? 

[00:20:18] DJ And?: Yeah. Yeah. And I know just moving on, cause I know I don't wanna hold too long so we can get a good wrap up, but I do want to ask you this question when it with the business, first of all, you're black owned business. Yes sir.

[00:20:30] DJ And?: Yeah. How do you source your products? And where are you located? Here in Greenville? 

[00:20:35] Larry Kerns: We source our products. Through traditional wholesale, market marketplace. So we have relationships with with manufacturers and with vendors and so we, that's all hat one today.

[00:20:44] Larry Kerns: Like that, and I gotta tell you something it's not something that came easily to me. I work in corporate, in the corporate retail world where, you know, you open up your back doors and whatever the company decided for you is what comes into the building and you make those choices that way.

[00:20:56] Larry Kerns: And it's almost like to do it. Own is to get [00:21:00] into the back door of the industry and learn things in a way that you hadn't learned them before. Yeah. And but that's how we acquire our goods through relationships with vendors, with through wholesale vendors. And that's pretty much our, the tack that we take.

[00:21:11] DJ And?: So a lot of black folk, they don't understand that. And I know one thing about our podcast is getting. , especially with millennials, to understand how business operates. , how it really works. Yeah. So for instance, they're gonna go into your website, they're gonna come to your store and see you have all this stuff going on and see it, but they don't know how you get it.

[00:21:25] DJ And?: Sure. And I tell people, man, there is a background business going on here. You don't realize the work that they can absolutely put into source of material, bring it to you. Cause I'm up here looking at your site and looking at those stuff up here and I'm like, and everything in, I know you. 

[00:21:37] Larry Kerns: Stitching. No, not at all. Couldn't possibly. Yeah, exactly. It's important to have mentors. I definitely had a mentor and somebody who took me under his wing in the business and he, he said, listen, this is what I've done. A lot of things that somebody, nobody ever told me. Yes. And you hope, hopefully, pass these things down through the generation, so to speak.

[00:21:52] Larry Kerns: Yeah. And help the next guy. That's a blessing. 

[00:21:54] DJ And?: Yeah. That is a blessing. That's another thing we always podcast, podcast is having great mentors. Cause a lot of older folk, especially like for [00:22:00] some reason, They don't communicate well with the younger generation. Yeah. To pass down these ideas and this information so that we can continue on and continue to thrive as well without needing to suffer.

[00:22:11] DJ And?: It's important. Yeah. Like I don't want to have to go across the Brooklyn Bridge to get you a cheesecake. So did he gimme a record deal? Make it 

[00:22:17] Larry Kerns: little easier. Exactly. Exactly. Yeah. I. It's important. We, and I think certainly in our community, talking about being black owned businesses, yes.

[00:22:25] Larry Kerns: It's the only way that we survive. Thank you. The only way we survive is that we have to coalesce a little bit. Yeah. We have to have a coalition of like-minded people and like-minded people. , understanding the challenges that we have in the marketplace. Yeah. And also when the next guy comes along, if there's any way that we can help 'em along. It's the only, it's and quite frankly, it's the way that people in other communities progress. Less. But somehow or another, there's a challenge in our community. People, when we have something we want, it's our nature to try to hold onto it and try to keep it to ourselves.

[00:22:51] Larry Kerns: And it's like the model has already been established. Yeah. The other communities that's how they end up own every gas station on every corner in the neighborhood and how they own [00:23:00] every grocery store. And that's how that works. And it's just pushing that down. And we have to lead by examples and we, if nobody else is doing it, we have to do it so that other people see that it's being.

[00:23:10] Larry Kerns: Perfect. Perfect. 

[00:23:12] Skip: And I think a lot of that too it really leads into just the fact that maybe from a societal standpoint , we've always struggled with finding an identity finding a place, at least a place and a purpose of respect. Sure. Sure. To where people look upon us in a positive light and so anytime we create that space, whether or not we're blessed with being in that space, or we created ourselves , it's very hard for us to see ourselves outside of that identity and that. True story and to make that transition, cuz we don't really see that in our culture. No. And one of the things I always compare it to is like the old preacher.

[00:23:42] Skip: Syndrome. , you see it a lot in the church. Yeah. You'll see a church, you'll see a pastor at a church and it might be a large church. And it might be a small church. . But you always see a dynamic like after a couple years. Another church splinter is off. Yeah. And it's the same, you know's like a younger pastor, that takes followers, right? . . Yeah. But we never talk about [00:24:00] it. It's just one of those things that happened. Sure. Why does that pastor feel like they have to leave? To create their own thing where they were already somewhere if we're all supposed to be working together as a community.

[00:24:08] Skip: And there's nothing against chart, it's just 

[00:24:11] DJ And?: why create the wheel again? Yeah. Why 

[00:24:13] Larry Kerns: create the wheel again? And they see that. But I think that there's also, there's probably some fault on both sides of a scenario like, That, in, in the spirit of the point that we were making before is that there, there has to be, there has to be respect given to the people that came before you.

[00:24:27] Larry Kerns: Yes. Such that you understand that they have something that they can teach you. That you know that a lot of what we do and a lot of what we have, we wouldn't have and we wouldn't be able to do it if it weren't for them. Gotta be able to receive. But then there's also the responsibility on the part of the elders or the generation that came before to make sure that you that you make this transition, that you pass the baton, so to speak, because you understand that your time.

[00:24:46] Larry Kerns: Do you understand not only that your time is limited, but you understand that things change? Yeah. And sometimes you need another perspective. You need another vantage point. And sometimes in order for. In order for us to continue like I was just using it as an example [00:25:00] in our family. My mother and my aunts and stuff, they were responsible for all the family gatherings.

[00:25:05] Larry Kerns: We got Thanksgiving coming up. Yes. And , they're starting to get older. Yeah. Yeah. One of my aunts passed away last year. . And so it's like you've realized that gen the generation changes and they, and at some point you gotta pass that down. Yeah. And you can't just say, okay, now it's your turn.

[00:25:19] Larry Kerns: Yeah. Yeah. You gotta say, here's my pound cake recipe. Thank you. Here's my mac and cheese recipe. So lemme let me give you this and let me see what you do with it while I'm watching. Thank you. And lemme see if you do something different with it. Yeah. So make sure I don't mess it up now.

[00:25:34] Larry Kerns: Cause you know that point, I'm not gonna run no experiments on Thanksgiving Day. But at the same time, what you may not realize is that if you give me what you've got, I take it with current, current information, what I know now, I may be able to add my spin to it. And it keeps. Yes. And understand that it's not necessarily about us, but it's about the concepts that we help perpetuate.

[00:25:54] Larry Kerns: Exactly. And we keep that going. And that becomes, I think a cultural thing Yes. That we can keep going through [00:26:00] time. Yeah. And that's 

[00:26:00] Skip: institution building. 

[00:26:01] Larry Kerns: Yes. Absolutely. Yeah. Absolutely. Which we don't see a lot of. Yeah. Which we don't see a lot of. It seems like in our community, we're doing a lot of trend setting.

[00:26:09] Larry Kerns: Yeah. But like not a lot of culture, not a lot of, we don't adhere to a cultural standard. Yeah. Like standard. Fear of culture building. Yeah. And it's on, but everybody, to your point, tries to reinvent the wheel. Yeah. Everybody feels like their thing is the new thing or their, or that their way is a, is an innovative way when there are certain things that are not broken.

[00:26:27] Larry Kerns: Nope. So there's no need to try to fix them. You know what I mean? And and I think we, if we start seeing more of that, I think we'll probably see something different in our communities. And that's a great 

[00:26:36] DJ And?: dialogue cuz we started at one point and we ended up back up at that point.

[00:26:39] DJ And?: That's why you have certain classic 

[00:26:41] Larry Kerns: styles. Absolutely. because it ain't broke. Yeah. That's no 

[00:26:44] DJ And?: reason to fix it. I keep wearing my gray. Yeah. I'm telling 

[00:26:49] Larry Kerns: right. 

[00:26:50] DJ And?: That's how it works. Keep it going. Yes. But just to finish out, we always like to ask our. What current projects they're working on, how we can find you out here in the interweb on the [00:27:00] social media.

[00:27:00] DJ And?: . And then also for you, for your instance, if you could drop the location and where people can actually come to your shop. 

[00:27:06] Larry Kerns: Okay. We actually are on social media with these OC ministry, the sock ministry through all three words on Facebook and Instagram. , we're located in Fountain End, South Carolina, which is the Southern part of Greenville, South Carolina.

[00:27:17] Larry Kerns: We learned that this morning, county. Yeah, . So we're there right on Main Street, right at, right in the heart of everything. Fountain End is a community that's growing and and it's actually gonna be a destination probably in the next year or so. It's gonna be , it's gonna be probably a new spot.

[00:27:30] Larry Kerns: Ain't spot a spot for people to show up in Fountain End. So we're in a good place there. We actually everything, all, everything that I'm doing right now, we actually are trying. Develop affiliations and partnerships with other organizations like we're doing we're providing wardrobe for the Cotillion that's sponsored by the Alpha Kappa Alpha.

[00:27:47] Larry Kerns: Nice, nice. And so we'll, so we got our feet, like both feet plugged into the soil on that right now. Yeah. Going forward that's pretty much, where we'll be found is is trying to make alliances and build those kind of [00:28:00] connections in the community and just spreading the word and trying to keep it, trying to keep it.

[00:28:04] Larry Kerns: Awesome. Awesome, man. 

[00:28:05] DJ And?: That's dope, man. So yeah just for our audience, man, if you need to, especially if you're a gentleman and you're trying to look fly dope, trying to have some nice threads on you for if you're going out to a date, if you have a business meeting, if you're trying to get a job, or if you just wanna look good.

[00:28:19] DJ And?: Please see the sock guy. I'm trying to see the side. Please. See the sock ministry here in Greenville. And I know even if question, and this is a big one, I didn't think about this. You all do ship correct? Absolutely. Every day. So don't, if you can't make it up here, not a problem. They can't ship things to your door.

[00:28:34] DJ And?: Do you all do any online consultant? We don't 

[00:28:38] Larry Kerns: do online consulting per se. It's harder to do, but I'll be literally be honest with you, my job in a lot of, ca in a lot of cases is a lot of personal shopping. I literally, before I came here today, was delivering something that we talked through. Oh, I wouldn't even, don't we through on Facebook.

[00:28:52] Larry Kerns: And so literally I had to drop it off before I came here today. So yeah it's, yes, they do personal service, full service. Absolutely full service. So 

[00:28:59] DJ And?: I know [00:29:00] we're, I know I'm gonna take advantage of. Up because I always have what I call my my swag Staggers Fridays. Yeah. I always go in dressed well, looking nice, so I want to feel good going into the weekend.

[00:29:10] DJ And?: Gotcha. Make sure everybody else comes in. So I will be bothering y'all, give you a call and get some things. Thank you much. I look forward to it. Certainly. Yes. Yes sir. Just signing out for this episode. I know I, DJ and what Skip, skip Tamaya is in the background, making us look pretty, taking pictures of some videos of us and of course we have from the, so ministry.

[00:29:27] DJ And?: Thank you. Thank you very much. One, thank you for joining us today. 

[00:29:30] Skip: Oh, and special shout out to you CF Upstate Circle 

[00:29:33] DJ And?: friends for hosting us today. Yes. And we're in the 

[00:29:36] Skip: new article media recording studio. Amazing podcast studio. Nice. Just getting started. Amazing people like I said we're it's the first interview we've done here.

[00:29:45] Skip: Yes. You already enjoyed it. Beautiful. Just wanting to shout them out before we. We got off 

[00:29:49] DJ And?: air. Yeah, man, I'm telling you man extremely beautiful place. Excellent garden in the back. They've done a good job of taking this as this place and rehabbing it. So if you have a chance to stop by, if you want to donate or if [00:30:00] you wanna do something for the calls, please stop by and do we'll make sure to keep promoting it as we go through. But I want to thank the audience for joining us today and of course, the Hilltop Club Podcast signing out. Be good to somebody that you know around you, man. Be peace. Fly here, move easy on this Saturday, and we'll see you on the next episode.