I really never even seriously considered a book but a few years ago someone approached me out of the blue and I said I would think about it.

I don't consider what you're wearing when I design a shoe. I don't have a particular look in mind or make a shoe thinking, "This would look great with a blue pinstripe suit." I just let you dress yourself. I'm looking at the shoe itself, not as a component of an outfit.

There are too many brands. You can start your own brand from your bedroom. It's a good thing and a bad thing.

When I was a kid I was very particular. I was actually beyond particular. I would iron my money and spray it with Polo cologne.

I've been working with Five Four. The partnership started as one monthly collaboration, but now I'm the creative design director. There are still going to be collaborations for monthly drops, but we are launching e-commerce.

Basically for everything that comes out of Five Four, I've come up with the idea or changed it in some way. I'm also working with Putnam Accessory Group, a private label hat manufacturer. I'm in the process of re-branding a line they have called Chuck. It was mostly hats and bags, but I'm adding apparel and eyewear and whatever I feel like adding to turn it more into a brand. I'm supposed to be working with Pharrell on Billionaire Boys Club, but that's on hold.

Bigger brands like Shinola are capitalizing on what all of us small companies did. Shinola is just totally fake. It's a corporate entity that's taking advantage of what everybody else has done. They say it's all about made in U.S., but one Wal-Mart hires more employees than their whole company.