Brand Building with an Indigenous Designer

0:01People ask, like, what does it mean to be an indigenous fashion designer? Everything I make is brought to you by the values of my Osage-like ways and the way I was brought up. I'm Benjamin Gottlieb, back with Shopify Masters. It's your companion for starting and building a business. You know, sometimes all you got to do is put pen to paper to get your business started. Or, in the case of HUD Oberle, foot to sewing pedal machine. Clothing is kind of the vessel in some ways of, like, making money, doing the releases. It takes so many people to make one of my ideas come to life. Hud is the founder of Here's to You.

0:36It's a lifestyle clothing brand. He launched a couple of years ago with a hand-sewn wool sweater and sold out in just a couple of hours. Hud is also on the board of the Native Forward Scholars Fund, and he is the recipient of the Native Americans 40 Under 40 Award. We're chatting today as part of our series spotlighting indigenous entrepreneurs on Shopify through our Build Native program. And Hud, what a pleasure to meet you. Thanks for being here. Yeah, no, I'm excited to chat. I'm excited too. We've been having some incredible conversations here in Santa Fe, New Mexico. We're here during the Santa Fe Indian market this week.

1:09Hud, the story of how you started your brand, it's so relatable, right? Especially for folks who are listening right now who are interested in entrepreneurship, starting small with a small idea and just going for it. How did you build up that courage just to start and go? Well, that's such a great way to frame this question because here's to you. People think, first thing they think is cheersing. You know, here's to you, maybe birthday or whatever, celebration, promotion. But my mind kind of goes to Casablanca. Am I right about that? Okay, yeah. So the name actually came from a conversation I had with my Ika, which is grandma in Caddo.

1:44And I was so excited to just dive into the clothing aspect, but I knew I needed a great name. And I was like, you know what, Ika, what's a catchy word or phrase? And she thought about it and she said, here's looking at you. And I hadn't, I'm not too familiar with the movie Casablanca, but I was like, do you mean here's to you? And she's like, no, it's here's looking at you. And so I played around with it on my notepad and I did here's to you. And I found the H2Y acronym and I just like fell in love with it. And I just wanted to run with that. And a good piece of advice here, don't sleep on grandma's advice anytime, right?

2:17Oh, yeah. It's reliable. I mean, I enjoy involving my family into this journey. My mom always comes to like the 40 under 40 accolade you mentioned. She went out to Vegas to see me accept that award. And she's out here at Santa Fe Indian Market. So I just like, you know, involving my family and all of my accomplishments because without them, I wouldn't have definitely gotten any of that. Well, I want to get into your experience, both as a creative director, also just how the brand has grown and evolved over time. Let's stay in the beginning, the beginning moments, right? When you sew this wool sweater, I think it's what, summer in New York, right?

2:55Who's wearing a wool sweater summer in New York? If it's not hot, it's raining. And it sold out so quickly. What was that experience like? And what sort of validation did that give you? Well, it was a very conscious decision to not just launch the brand with like a screen printed T-shirt or just a hat, you know, from the start, which, you know, is a good strategy to start small and go big. But I learned how to... You didn't follow that strategy. No, I did not. I actually learned how to sew in March 2022. 2022. Launched Here's to You August. And I learned how to sew in March. Just my mom taught me some basics.

3:26YouTube University is what I say just watch a bunch of YouTube videos um but I wanted the brand to like its starting point people's first impression to be like this is intentional it's handmade um you know the the sweater it it has these colorful circles on it and everyone asks what is like what's the symbolism and I don't know if we'll get into this but there's like people come think I'm like coming from an indigenous fashion world like there's some like indigenous meaning but really from the beginning here's to you is kind of wanted to niche into art and creativity and originally those colored circles were like spray painted like rainbow different colors but I couldn't get those tiny details with sewing on top of the the felt so I just did circles that were just perfectly round but it just like was a great launching point to have that like handmade I did a lot of behind the scenes of me actually sewing it so people got to know the brand through that sweater.

4:22You bring up an interesting point, which is this idea that if you're a Native American artist, for example, that there's a certain type of art that you create. And we were talking about this before we started sitting down here and getting to the interview. You are very supportive of that, but not that we're stuck, that not that Indigenous artists and creators and entrepreneurs should be stuck in one sort of way of designing, right? Yeah. I'm pro people using Indigenous motif symbols, Native artists, Indigenous artists, and I'm pro people like me who don't have to use it all the time. I want artists, whether it's fashion or fine art or music, to make art that makes them happy.

5:01And the Indigenous community, we need people everywhere. We need people in fashion. We need people that are carrying on traditional crafts like beading and metal, like silversmithing work. But we also need people that start their own advertising agencies so when we have successful businesses, we can go to them. We need people everywhere. and I want people to make what makes them happy, whether that's using the indigenous symbols and traditional motifs or not. I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that Shopify has been a part of your journey. Oh yeah. Curious why? My job before starting Here's To You, I was working for an indigenous fashion brand and we actually left our previous website host, Shophost, to move to Shopify.

5:42So I just, it was a small - This is urban native era? Urban native era, yes. And we were a small team. So like I had a hand in the website as well as fashion, designing the clothing as well as like building out the marketing campaign. So, you know, that included the email hosting. So I got I got familiar with Shopify and I felt familiar with it. So that's that's just what I went with. It was familiar to you, but how has it facilitated the sales of your products? Like I said, since you worked as a creative director, I'm sure you're familiar with other ways to go as well. Yeah, well, like I said, the email marketing aspect is so integrated, so easy to use.

6:17And then, I don't know, just the ease to use it because as almost nearly a one-man show, there's so many other things to handle and the templates that Shopify has to still express the creativity I have, but not be too demanding on my time to do that. and the versatility, like there's some avenues I want Here's to You to go that's not necessarily apparel, but it's open to, you know, hosting a blog or event calendars and having like events that I've hosted. So it has those capabilities. So it's all like it helps the business in all different ways. You're approaching this from a creative perspective, right?

6:55You're a creative person. You've worked as a creative director. And one thing that I found really interesting about your entrepreneurial journey is that you actually made a creative brief for Here's to You, right oh yeah what should be in a creative brief and for folks who are listening are like wait i haven't done that for my business yet why should they start there in the early stages well for me it's a tool to ask myself the questions and get me to a point of deciding like is this project whether it's the the umbrella project here's to you or a specific collection a specific campaign is this i ask myself specific questions in that creative brief and i learned the creative brief process from my time in college at the University of Colorado at Boulder.

7:35So, you know, a lot of people say they don't use their degree, but I really, go Scobos, baby. But I really value my degree. So I learned that from there and taking it. But I asked my questions like, why is here's to you the vessel for this idea? Why is here's to you or myself uniquely qualified to share this concept? So if I can't answer those questions, I probably shouldn't do it. But if I can't answer those. Let's get moving on it. So almost like a hyper critical approach to what you're trying to create, right? Yeah. And down the line of answering those questions, it gets me to like what actually makes sense as a visual, as a tagline, as the phrase that goes on the shirt or the hat or the marketing campaign.

8:17It gets me to those correct answers where I feel comfortable. I have reasoning for why I'm using a certain graphic or saying or word. That's really interesting. So So not being afraid of challenging yourself and your own preconceived notions, it sounds like was what you're saying in terms of this, having this creative brief, right? Yeah. And it gives you the aha moments. So for one example that I really, I think, utilize this process was last year, my summer collection. I was like, what do people need? And one of the avenues of the brand is convincing everyone they're creative because the belief, if you believe you're creative, you'll be more confident.

8:53You'll have more creative relationships. And it can be just like how someone organizes their day or how they interact in their interpersonal relationships can be creative. So I was like, how can we get people that don't think they're creative to start to be creative? So I was asking myself these questions, like what is something that like everyone has been creative at some point? And all through our childhood, everyone did art and crafts growing up in lower grade elementary school or whatever. For me, not very well. But that, I mean, what's well, you know, what does well mean? It was good to you.

9:28You loved it. I definitely did. Your grandma loved it. It was on the fridge. So everyone's had their grandma put their art on their fridge. So, so I eventually got down this rabbit hole and I was like, okay, summer art camp was the concept of the summer collection. And we, I did an activation and people came in and there was this just like blank canvas. And I had everyone that came by just add a little aspect. So everyone got creative that day that came in, painted a little something. Sometimes it was stick figures. My one rule was no words. You had to do some visual. So some people painted like a very elaborate, like Chihuahua, which is they had as a dog.

10:04So yeah, it's just about getting people creative. So that's how I eventually got to that point of like, the first question was how to get people feeling creative. And that's a perfect transition here to what Here's To You really is, right? Because yes, it's a clothing brand. And yes, you have releases. but it's also more than that. You're trying to build and foster a certain culture surrounding the concept itself. What have you been doing in that vein and how has that supported your business in general? Yeah, well, it's all about world building. And I think that term is kind of getting a little bit more popular, but like brands, brands are, you know, whether it's consciously or they're being told by someone who they follow that has a brand or that gives advice.

10:47But like for a brand, you want to build a world where people can immerse themselves in. I think some motivations is down the line of like a metaverse where you can like fully go digitally into the world of Here's To You, where like you can paint anywhere or do whatever as your like digital self. But yeah, like you said, clothing is kind of the vessel in some ways of like making money, doing the releases. but I purposely made Here's to You a broad name that it could be, you know, it has a lot of options. So I've done some in-person events where people can interact with the brand, but also get to know local artists that are in the area of the event.

11:26And then I want to get off the ground this fall, which is kind of a little nugget for everybody, a artist editorial where artists are sharing their first person stories. I got the idea from the Players' Tribune for professional athletes where they share about mental health and sometimes it's timely to like mother's day where an athlete maybe had a very large impact from their mother on their athletic journey but i want that for artists and artists from all backgrounds so that's under the here's to you umbrella you know i want there to be a place for artists to feel relatable to the artists that are sharing these first person um articles so i really want to get that off the ground that's like a big goal for me Well, good luck with that.

12:10Thank you. And I hope part of that is chatting with us here on Shopify. My guest today is Hud Oberle, the founder of Here's To You. We'll get back to the interview in just a moment, but first a quick word to you if you're listening or watching this program. If you like what you hear or what you're seeing, please subscribe to Shopify Masters wherever you listen to your podcast or click that subscribe button below. And again, if you're watching on YouTube, check out our description box. We've got a link to a free trial there. you can sign up for Shopify for free and start your own entrepreneurial journey.

12:41Back with Hud Oberle. Hud, I want to talk to you a little bit more about the production process for your clothing. How many people does it take to do this? I would imagine this takes a lot of person power, but you've started small. So what does it take to kind of put all this together? It depends on the item, honestly, like the sweaters, some of the things I've hand sewn, you know, my, my hands literally have been on those a little more in the process. And then I've also, you know, released for the people watching, I have some here's to you items where like the, the garment was made outsourced and I added the embroidery visual or the graphic or the patch.

13:20And so, you know, it depends on the product. You know, if we're thinking supply chain and thinking like consciously about all the hands, That touches so many hands. It takes so many people to make one of my ideas come to life through a clothing release. Well, let's talk about this piece of clothing you chose to wear today. You mentioned that you've sewn on the patch and also there's the embroidery appears to you. What did it take to make this shirt? And anything you'd like to share with folks who are watching or listening about that process? Yeah, well, I think if someone's specifically looking at clothing as an option for their business, I saw I think I was scrolling Instagram maybe the explore page and I saw someone wearing a work shirt like this and I was like oof I like that and I can easily tie that into like painters or people who are like maybe using a work shirt actually for utility to keep a paintbrush or whatever tool in the pockets it's like okay I'm gonna make that and then the world building back to world building like the creative department patch you know there's like athletic department or gallery department as a brand.

14:28So there's like this way of like getting people into a community and feeling a part of it. And so I want people to feel like they're a part of the here's to you creative department. And then this font is kind of based off of like a usual work shirt, like a plumbing service or yeah, service-based business that has work shirts. It's kind of like in this font. But yeah, sewed on the patches. I sew on my own tags to all of my garments. So yeah, I mean, I don't know. I block out. I'm a big on calendar and like organizing time. So just like block out sewing garment detail to the work shirt. So literally on your calendar, you'll say like eight to 10, this is garment sewing time.

15:07I'm insane with the calendar. I got gym time. I got breakfast time. I got shower, cleanup time, lunchtime, nighttime routine. It's all on there. What about creative time? Everything. I mean, you know, the concept of here's to you is you're creative all the time. But of course I do. I'm actually trying to add more time of like tactile. So I do like want to do some pastel. I want to like learn pastel work and like just creating that in my off time. Like I do, I like to do corporate Mondays as I call them, where I go into Midtown Manhattan, which is very corporate part of Manhattan and like post up at a very corporate coffee shop.

15:45But even then, if I'm behind between projects or between calls, I bring a notebook and my pastels and just like, I'll draw the tree or the succulent that's in the coffee shop. Or I guess, I don't know if you call it drawing, but yeah. Sure, I mean, like you said, it doesn't matter what you call it. If it's your art and you like it. Exactly. Then it's art. It's an expression. Identity is so important, not just for, I would imagine, your brand, but for all sorts of companies that do all sorts of stuff, right? Who you are as an individual, what your company represents. You know, this interview is part of a series we're doing, chatting with indigenous entrepreneurs and artists.

16:20I'm curious to you, what does it mean to you to be an indigenous artist and entrepreneur? And how important is that, not just for your identity, but for also this world building aspect you've talked about, building this community, really? Yeah, I think, I don't know. I have, I think, maybe not a common viewpoint on that. I think I view me going through my day-to-day life as just like everything I do is indigenous. I was raised around my Osage values and like our gatherings and our Elanchka dances that happen every summer. And then also like some of my Caddo and Comanche traditions. But within those gatherings and our traditions, there's a lot of structure, especially with the Osages.

17:07So like sometimes I think that's where my like insane calendar like detailness comes from. But like having a lot of structure. Structure in the rituals, you mean? Yeah, yeah. Structure in the rituals, like same time every day. just a lot of things are the same and they have to happen a certain way. And you have to wear things specifically on one side of like your body or it's very particular. And so I think I express that in my life where I'm very particular about a lot of things. And so, you know, people ask like, what does it mean to be an indigenous fashion designer? Well, everything I make is brought to you by the values of my Osage like ways in the way I was brought up.

17:46So everything I make, even this work shirt that has no indigenous like symbolism is an item made by an indigenous fashion designer. It is indigenous fashion. So everything I do is kind of like that. And like, you know, I grew up in a town that didn't have many native kids. And so like in my high school, I didn't want to be different. I felt different because obviously I look a little more like I just look different from everyone. But HUD is short for Hariba, which is my Caddo name. which is obviously indigenous. I was never going to escape it. You know, it's just like who I am. It's everything I do is from an indigenous person.

18:24And that goes back to what you mentioned earlier, which is that not everyone necessarily needs to be celebrating traditional indigenous or native arts. You can do it in your own way. And what you're doing really is celebrating your own values through what you're creating here with your CEO, right? Yeah, because like our communities are so community-based, but there's also like, there's still accountability for the role you play and add to the community, you know? And there's some individualism, like, you know, there's fashion designers and you want people in all industries to be representative.

18:58So you can lean on each other when you need help from another like sector or whatever it is. Shopify is all about building entrepreneurship, supporting entrepreneurs, no matter who they are, no matter where they come from. It really is important, not just to me, but to the entire company. That's what we stand for. And I would be remiss if I didn't mention that there remain a lot of barriers for indigenous and native folks here in the US and across North America into getting into entrepreneurship, right? They don't have the same safety net necessarily all the time. There's more at risk. The resources aren't available.

19:33I'm just curious, do you see yourself and how you represent your brand as potentially a North Star to look up to for other native entrepreneurs? I want to be representative of that. You know, like I said, well, so Hariba, as I mentioned earlier, it means someone you look up to. So that's kind of something I've lived with my whole life. It's almost like I knew that beforehand. I just brought the question. Yeah. That's really cool. Yeah. That means someone you look up to. Yeah. So like, I don't know. I think people that are celebrated in the indigenous community for, you know, carrying on traditions.

20:09but I think you know there's people that have made it in like the entertainment world that you know they haven't just done indigenous films but they're on a certain level where they're they're celebrated because like you see yourself represented at the highest level at the Oscars or whatever it may be so you know everyone's on their own path I'm on my own path that hopefully motivates other people to not just do what I do but do what makes them happy because I'm trying to do what makes me happy and still like, you know, carry the values that my family raised me on. Well, I think it's pretty clear that you're doing that with your brand.

20:41Thank you. You, along with a number of other indigenous entrepreneurs and artists are here in Santa Fe this week. We're here at the Santa Fe Indian Market. One of, if not the largest gatherings of indigenous artists and entrepreneurs annually in the U.S. Why are you here? Why is it important for you to be here and what do you hope to get out of this experience? Such a big value and like, I think something I've built on that, you know, it didn't happen at the snap of my fingers, but building a network, you know, whether that was working in film, jumping to fashion, having a background in advertising and marketing where I can, I do freelance marketing on the side where like I partner with indigenous nonprofits.

21:23So, you know, I'm always like trying to think of who can I connect with? And I think, you know, the two, two main things I attribute to my, well, maybe three success is, um, being very observant, which my mom taught me to be really observant, especially around my Osage gatherings. There's a lot of things she pointed out to me ever since I can remember that just like helped me pay attention to small details. Secondly is the network, which I was just kind of like trying to build on is just like, just getting to know people and getting in front of people. Um, you just gotta like, Sometimes you just got to show face.

21:56Sometimes you got to maybe skip the nap and show face, especially in New York where I live. There's so many events happening all the time. You want to get out there. But number one thing I attribute to my success I'm always trying to improve on is communication. I've been a part of groups where communication lacked and things fall out. Things slip through the cracks. Communication is where I draw my interpersonal relationships from. I think communication is so key. And that's the thing I, people ask me about like, what, how'd you get to where you are? You know, a lot of DMs about like mentoring or can I help on a video call?

22:31Pick your brain. I just like first number one thing is communication. Be a good communicator. Express what you want. Express if you don't like something, you know, the, the highest operators, especially in fashion, I think they're designers. They, they'll post jokes on their Instagram of like, um, I need that like a fourth of an inch higher. Like I was talking about a graphic and like that is like, you know, it'll bother. you if it's not a fourth of an inch higher. So you have to communicate that. So those are the three things I really value. And so coming out here, I'd say maybe it's mainly that network thing.

23:06It's about 1 ,500 artists come here and show their art and work. And then I think there's hundreds of thousands that come and see it and non-native, native. So you got to get out here and show face, make connections, and then build on that, activate the network. That's what I'm to do also now because I feel like I've laid the foundation, but I want to activate that network now. And I think the learnings that you've shared that are drawn from your own heritage, your Osage heritage, they're transferable to all types of entrepreneurs, no matter who you are, no matter where you come from, this idea of communicating, this idea of structure, some really good learnings, I think, in terms of how to be successful, right?

23:43Oh, yeah. Well, Hud, this has been fantastic. Really appreciate it. I'm sure the audience does too. Thank you so much for doing this, man. No, thank you all. I'm so excited to be part of this. That's Hud Oberle, the founder of Here's To You. And thank you for watching this episode of Shopify Masters. If you don't mind, hit that subscribe button below.