-Yohan ‘Yo’ Esbensen and Travis Barker at Magic years back.
My business partner said you are from Canada, and also lived in New York. How/why did you end up out here in California, specifically West of Lincoln? Give us a little history behind all that is ‘Yo.’
I grew up in Ottawa, Canada where at age 18, I dropped out of high school and moved to Whistler, BC to pursue my dream of an endless skateboarding summer and snowboarding winter. After 2 years and enough injuries, I headed back East and landed in New York City 8 months later with a one-way bus ticket, $3000 cash, and no job experience other than grocery store produce clerk, ski lift attendant, where I was fired from for letting some kid go all the way around at the top of the mountain, I was also a driver for exotic dancers/”working girls”,and finally I worked at the Dual Mountain Drycleaners.
I lived in NYC from 98-03 where my first job was a bartender at Terra Blues on Bleecker St. They let me go after a week for looking too young. Landed a job as a bellman at The Inn at Irving place where i met Wes Anderson, Courtney Love, and Sheryl Crow (all very good tippers). I settled into a small 5th floor walk up on 6th and A. and started getting a taset of the big apple. Film production interested me so I interned on an independent film company which landed me a paid position on the next production. From then on I was constantly hired on major film sets as a “goto guy” by my next door neighbor. My responsibilities included a lot of driving around for “special” on-set requests for cast and crew, which led me to become a full-time employee for Martha Stewart. This is where I doubled as her secondary driver and the main contact for John Walsh of America’s Most Wanted when shooting in the New York/New Jersey locations.
What brands did you grow up wearing/respecting?
Union, Supreme, and Alife were the only brands that I paid attention to at that time. I often stopped by the original Union store to speak to the O.G. himself, Chris Gibbs. This is where I first dreamt of starting a label of my own.
I left my wife of 4 years, and yes I was married at 21, bought a ’88 Ford Bronco, loaded my 2 dogs, and hit the road. I then landed in Sarasota, FL where I worked for 3 weeks at Gulf Coast Trailers fixing rusted boat trailers. From there,I saved enough money to bum around Texas for 3 weeks before getting to Venice, CA for the first time. I fell hard for the lifestyle over here and vowed that I would return when the time was right. I made it back up to Whistler for a rowdy reunion and then took the Trans-Canada Highway all the way back to Ottawa and down again to New York City. I spent just over 3 months living out of “Saucy”, my beautiful big Bronco. I spent 1 more year in Brooklyn taking my time to decide for sure where in Los Angeles would be best for me. 3 months after moving to the westside, I was offered the ultimate chance to open the UNDFTD Santa Monica location with who else but Mr. Gibbs!
My business partner remembers seeing a 9/11 video you shot with a friend on ‘Channel Zero.’ Obviously you were living there then. Let’s hear a little bit about that if you don’t mind.
I was heading to a freelance shoot that morning and ended up with the video that I decided to share with the world years later. John Walsh called later that day and told me to get some vans ready as they would be arriving the morning of the 13th. We drove unobstructed all the way down broadway through checkpoints with all officers cheering us on as if John himself “was going to find the real bastards who did this!” We spent the whole day walking around ground zero while John did his thing. I shot rolls of film and picked-up some debris including a beanie baby from the top of the world gift shop. This bear later ended up on our W.T.C. AUTHENTIC T-Shirt. Everything changed after that, I got a desk job at a record label where I assisted the General Manager and President for 9 months, all the while watching them blow through a $4 million budget! They fired me, hired my intern, and tanked the company. At this point I was done with New York City for a minute.
Growing up, was becoming ‘President’ of a widely successful clothing company something you specifically wanted to be?
After my dreams of becoming a pro-skater or snowboarder were over. I always dreamt of being able to be the guy who gets to recognize talent and character and sponsor the next generations. I found new mentors and studied companies.
-The ‘million dollar t-shirt idea.’
Give us a little information on how A.W.O.L. came to be Board of Authority which in turn became Rogue Status/DTA.
AWOL began as 200 shirts that I gave out during my first couple of months at UNDFTD to try to bring a sense of community to certain like minded people and to attract repeat customers. We got great feedback and it motivated me to keep applying my ideas to a cotton canvas, spawning the first 200 tagged shirts with Board of Authority. My new buddy Nino Scalia was kind enough to make sure that Rob Dyrdek got 4 of those shirts. Shortly after Rob came to the shop and asked what I was trying to do with the whole thing. “I am trying to crack this!” was my response. We partnered and changed the name to Rogue Status.
Okay, let’s clear up some rumors; Rogue Status and DTA are owned and created by YOU, Rex, and Jasper. Specifically, how did the business partnerships with Rob Dyrdek and Travis Barker come to be?
1 year after getting Rob’s attention, we were all having breakfast with Travis Barker where we discussed distribution and from there made a turnkey solution having the 3 of us partnered up.
So, we now know you worked for UNDFTD, what other industry related companies did you work for? How did you get your foot in the door to the industry?
UNDFTD opened the door for me. James Bond and Eddie Cruz were kind enough to really let me be me. They made me a part of the family when things were really taking off with Stussy, UNION, and Supreme LA. This all opened and created a platform for me to jump off of.
You guys are now ‘Gumball 3000 Veterans’, how was it this year crossing the U.S. compared to crossing foreign countries? Which was better?
It was incredible tearing up the U.S. this year but we do that on the daily, so we are really looking forward to next year’s route; London, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Montreal, Toronto, and New York City. We are currently building 2 custom cars now for next May.
DTA didn’t start off as a clothing company. I know it is how you met Rex. Let’s hear some background on that.
DTA is actually a gang that was started at grade school when i was 12. It was the rival gang that didn’t like skaters. So, after a couple years of 7-Eleven rumbles and house party fights, we all squashed it and became a stronger crew in high school. Jocks, punks, skaters, and what have you.
When i moved here from New York, I didn’t trust anyone. I kept the grass cut low so I could see the snakes coming. Now I am surrounded by people I can trust. I am already the wealthiest man in the world with friends like mine! Now we are going to get rich or die trying. Cool?
What is your stance on the clothing industry these days? There have
been some ‘beefs’, but we aren’t going to get into that. Let’s just
say that not everyone that you have collaborated with, you are still
friends with. Additionally, what do you think of the majority of
brands these days?
Business is business. Actions speak louder than words.
Well put. Anyhow, blowing up so quickly and seeing so much, would you be so kind as to give the up and coming clothing brands a little bit of advice?
The best advice I was ever told is “Do you.” It is never done until you do it. Oh, and you’d better get some thick skin cuz it aint pretty out here!
Can you give some of the salivating public some information on anything new and exciting they can look forward to? My crew and I
remember seeing some sneak-peek stuff in regards to ‘DTA Studios.’
Give us what you can on all of the above.
DTA is going to really take off. ROGUE STATUS is the brand. DTA is
the posse that brought you RS. Get a little closer to the crew and
start your own chapters in your own hood. DTA is something for
everyone. Run with it!
Yo, its been great, and thank you for doing this interview with us.
We really, really appreciate adding you to our ‘Debriefings’
section, and we are confident that the public is going to eat this
interview up! Thanks again, and we can’t wait to see what’s next…
——————————————————————–
This interview was conducted by $C@R, and questions created, edited, and transcribed by Matt.
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