Welcome to the program guys. You've been selected among the best runners in the world to participate to this series of interview, we couldn't have Kipchoge so here you are..
Flo: Well - it’s no surprise you mention us being part of the “best runners” in the world...still - we’re honored to be considered here!
Jörg: I am not shy telling everyone that I hated running in my youth as I found it particularly boring. It takes forever for the scenery to change. That’s why I love cycling a lot. But then running burns more calories and you don’t have to spend a sh**t load of money on equipment or have to bring stuff to fix tire, chain, etc. etc.
More seriously, how are you ? Could you please introduce yourself and explain what BEINGHUNTED mission is ?
Jörg: Jörg is a short version of “George” in German. My parents didn’t think internationally when they named my brother (Thorsten) and me. I spent 10 months in the US and one kid in highschool spelt my name - only heard it never saw it written - “Yawrg”. That’s literally how it should be pronounced. Or the sound a frog makes when you step on it (I’m assuming) or a creaking door. I will turn, actually, when I hear either and see who called my name…
I grew up fascinated by graffiti, skateboarding, hip hop, rave/techno, i-D, The Face, D’nB, Stüssy, Anarchic Adjustment and later Acronym and visvim. I studied Communication Science, Marketing Psychology and American Cultural Studies in Munich (my hometown). I ran a web design agency, I started Beinghunted. in 2001 as a blog - blueprint for many of today’s “hype” websites - did retail for 10 years and sold all the brands I love (Supreme, wtaps, visvim, Nike Tier0, New Balance, Vans, Stone Island, Kaws’ Original Fake, etc. etc. etc.) - then pulled out of that business and turned my 20+ years experience and knowledge (T-shirts, jackets, sneakers) into an agency which is now Beinghunted. Since our client projects aren’t enough already (!) we’ve started doing a magazine with a lot of help from friends in our network (Sacha & Maarten / Justin & John!) plus I’ve been doing T-shirts as Beinghunted., too. For the love of it. But we do have some great stockists, globally, too.
Flo: I’m Flo - I joined Beinghunted. end of 2017 after working with adidas - mainly in the area of Trend Marketing but also in other more brand marketing and communications functions (some internal / some external). In particular in Trend Marketing you as a person basically function as an interface between the brand and culture - however there are limitations at place in these corporate contexts simply due to the nature of bigger corporations...With Beinghunted. we operate as a consultancy, creative agency, brand & gallery - we are connected to a global network of like-minded people and in all our “own” projects (not client work) . like the brand, magazine or the gallery - can do whatever feels right and freely explore. As an consultancy / agency we function as a connecting or translating element between brands and “culture” (it’s a very broad term and we certainly don’t cover everything, but in most case we would at least know who to ask ;) and try to bridge the gap and make sure the context remains vaild when these two elements connect.
How did you two started working together ? Like, how big is the team now and what are the most recent projects that you've been working on, that are not protected by an NDA so you can tell us more!
Jörg: When I moved to Berlin in 2005 I only knew a handful of people. Through the shop - which was a bit off the regular commercial area - I got to know some very interesting folks who found me because of the brands (so there was a common ground already) many of them became good friends. In those years there were a lot of events, parties, openings, etc. etc. so it was easy to connect. Flo used to work for an agency here in Berlin that I had close ties to since the early 2000s. Through Beinghunted. I knew/know 4-5 of his predecessors in the position he had. We had no working relationship prior to me leaving my old store but - as he’ll mention - he lured me into participating in this amazing bike tour through Southern Tyrolia. Probably the nicest trip I’ve ever been on.
We stayed in touch, when I started Beinghunted. as an agency he gave me some jobs to work on and when the time came I was glad that he could join me and we’ve done some great projects together as our areas of interest and expertise align nicely. We are currently 5 in the team. But that number fluctuates. I’m very excited about the latest Artifact T-shirt series as I was able to license images by the Russian Painter Vasily Vereshchagin from the State Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow. All of our projects with the GORE-TEX brand are great as we get to work with brands and people I hold in very high regard. Doing a showroom in Paris during fashion week with Futura in January was an absolute highlight!
Flo: I met Jörg shortly after i moved to Berlin and we’ve worked together on some projects and he was part of the first #adidasJourneys project (a cycling trip to South Tyrol) - after Jörg started Beinghunted as an agency I also started working with him on some of the adidas Consortium projects (as I was handling the brand marketing for this product segment at that time) - I guess the stars simply aligned in 2017 when I was looking for a change of perspective within the industry and Jörg was looking for support in handling and developing the agency business.
We’ve been cleaning ship in the past weeks and have a new magazine out soon / new t-shirts - and actually we’re developing @themodernoutdoorstandard as a passion project of the team.
What's your point of view on running becoming such a huge thing (again). You've seen lots of different trends coming up and down for a long time, how do you explain this momentum around running ? (if we have to pay for this question please address the bill directly to Guillaume)
Jörg: As mentioned earlier, I never had any enthusiasm for running. It did start to gather momentum, I believe, when <paid advertisement> Nike started its collaboration with Jun Takahashi - “Gyakusou”.</paid advertisement> The stuff just looked amazing. And it worked, too (is what I heard). I had customers come in every season to buy one of everything. Literally, head to legs. Not the shoes for running though ; ). The athletic brands realized, that apart from lifestyle, their “raison d’être” got lost among all the lifestyle marketing initiatives and decided to focus on “core” athleticism again. The easiest of which is running… You probably remember all the run clubs springing up around 2010. I think it just stuck. And then a new wave of more progressive brands started doing their thing. It’s just such an easy thing to do, to go running. And now there is cool stuff to wear, too. That’s an important factor, obviously, for the new generation of kids starting out.
Flo: A global crisis like this certainly puts things into perspective and challenges materialism, and puts more of an emphasis on personal well-being. I know this has been going on for quite a bit and has not been sparked by this - but it will see another peak (during and after this). In a nutshell I’d say people are trying to look after themselves in a better way and running is one of the easiest things to do - bingo.
DST / I know you two are both runners. For people who never really got into it, what would be your best advices to start but most importantly to keep doing it ?
Flo: Looking at every single run I’d say you have to make it through the first 20mins - it will get better from there - looking at running in general I think it really starts being fun when you’ve built up a basic stamina for it (depending on how fit you are this might take a few weeks of doing it regularly)...For me running completely changed when I started looking at it more holistic and started looking at my pulse and follow some sort of work-out schedule connected to this - it helped me to understand what i have to do and to keep track of progress.
Jörg: I have to be honest - I need to really trick myself into actually doing it. Which means: get up at 6:00 so the mind isn’t fully there yet and I won’t argue with myself why I should do it. Then put the running gear right next to the bed so you literally just slide into it and then wake up downstairs in the street looking all “runner” so I’m like “OK, why not - I can’t just turn around now, might as well just do a quick one around the block while I’m at it”.
How often do you guys run in a week ? Are you following a program or just go with the flow ?
Jörg: Not that often. It needs to be the right temperature as I don’t warm up easily and I have a problem with my knees from playing volleyball for 10 years. So from late spring through the summer. Around the block. Not much longer. 1-2 a week. I do work out at home, too, so it’ll be alternating. Also, I need to be a bit careful with cardio as I’ll burn my calories easily and I’m not a good eater. So if I do too much burning I’ll look like a stick figure very quickly (some would say it’s a good problem to have?).
Flo: I run 3-4 times a week - usually 2-3 shorter runs and 1 longer run on the weekend - usually there would be some kind of goal attached to my running - this year I simply wanted to do more than 1000km, a goal that helped to keep me going in the colder months, and potentially do a half-marathon at some point….with all the races cancelled I am just putting in the groundwork and want to see if I can push myself a little harder on the 10k distance and really improve my running this year.
The best thing about running in Berlin?
Jörg: Where I live I actually can run through a very nice area - the Museum Island. It’s quite nice to be there very early in the morning when no one else is around. It’s fun to see tired people walking their dogs or other people running who you know had the same strategy (just go half-awake or asleep so you don’t realize what you’re doing).
Flo: The best thing about running in general is that you can do it nearly everywhere and don't need much to do it. There’s a lot of water and green areas in Berlin - so if you know your way around you can find yourself a pretty scenic route with as much free flow as possible - i’d say the city doesn’t feel as dense as other metropoles. Still no matter where, running is always a nice way to explore a city - so I try to go for a run wherever I am (doesn’t work out on every trip - but on most!).
I'm not going to ask you what is your running shoes, even though this is a common question to all our portraits series. But you have a crazy collection of sneakers, so even if you don't wear it or own it. What is your personal favorite running shoe ever designed ?
Flo: I actually don’t mind the question - I’ve been working exclusively and then very closely with adidas over the past 12 years and have followed and tried almost everything on this end - the adizero adios (3) - has been my to go shoe for faster rounds - on the day to day I am currently exploring my options - currently with an Asics Nimbus 20 - but I am super curious to try a Hoka One One or even the latest developments from Nike...just very interested to find out what some of these brands are all about. The best shoe ever designed is hard to point out - I am very much attracted to current models as they usually carry the best available technologies of that moment in time - as iconic as a shoe (from the past) might be - as soon as it re-releases as a retro version it loses something to me as it transcends from state of the art performance to lifestyle or from tool to toy.
Jörg: The best shoe in that category - and one that has been overlooked - is the Nike Gyakusou Lunarspider LT+ 2 (burgundy colorway). It’s actually not overlooked when I wear it (not for running) as people do comment every time. I wish I had taken two as this one I would really hate to lose once the Lunar sole starts to crumble...
Any fun collaboration you would like to see happened on some running gear ?
Jörg: Patrick Stangbye from Norway is a very interesting person with a lot of amazing ideas - but also challenging. I think he would be great to work with. Or Adam Katz Sinding. People who have the aesthetic expertise but who are also very performance-driven but not professional athletes? But in general I’d love for the brands to create great products themselves first, then maybe allow someone else to offer input and ideas. I would like to see some of the Japanese outdoor brands put their stuff to the test. Running, hiking, etc. - I’m assuming a lot of it would work already but maybe with a bit more “performance-based” know-how it could get even better.
Flo: It’s great to see that the scene is becoming much more diverse and that there are
more smaller labels and companies - in general I’d love to see more interaction between these independent labels and smaller corporations / performance brands - as I have a lot of confidence that these constellations will have the best possible outcome! Other than that it would be great to see circular approach in this field of performance wear / maybe a rental service for performance wear! When will you start your own brand?
Do you plan on participating in a competition quite soon? Berlin marathon?
Flo: I was counting on doing a Half in April - but we all know how this played out ...Marathon is on my list too but I think it has to wait a little longer, I am not quite there yet.
Jörg: Hell no!
Any other runners that you would recommend to be part of this series ?
Jörg: Patrick as mentioned above.
Flo: I mean a lot of the people you already know / however two Kase Masatoshi (an old friend I used to work with in Trend Marketing) - whenever we meet somewhere we try to go for a run (there’s a picture of us coming down brooklyn bridge in New York that Daichi Ito accidentally took on his morning run that day) + Andy Barr he’s been working on adidas Running & adizero in specific for ages - I am certain he has some good stories to tell!
