Are shoes an important item in men’s wardrobe?
It’s one of the most important.

Why is that?
Maybe men are following women. A right shoe can change their whole look–they can wear the same pair of boots or sneakers with jeans or a suit. And the rules aren’t strict like they used to be.

How has your company changed in the last ten years? How has the company adapted to all the changes–the recession, the internet?
We have Collection being the best, better being Star USA, and then Converse being good. But beyond that, the second season we were in business, there was 9/11: we had the recession, we’ve had wars, we’ve lived through a lot and as you say the whole growth of the internet, and social media, and everything else. We’ve been lucky that through all of it, we’ve continued to grow very nicely. Most brands don’t make it ten years in the fashion world. I think we’ve stayed true to who we are.

How did your involvement with Converse come along?
It started with shoes in 2001 began selling a limited collection in 2002.They had never worked with a designer before, and they saw my respect for old world, heritage, pop culture, and my affinity to music. Now we’re in our eighth year working together. It’s definitely the most successful collaboration ever in the footwear industry.

So you are taking their traditional shoe and updating it every single time, and evolving within a traditional form?
It’s called respect. Respecting the integrity of the original product–Chuck Taylor, Jack Purcell or whatever,–and now making it your own. And sometimes that’s more difficult than designing something totally new. We created the laceless sneaker, which sold 4 million pair in a year. As a kid I wanted to wear that shoe without laces. I sat in the design studio one day and sewed in some elastic. Sometimes it’s those little things that no one else really thought of and it’s truly been like a mark for what we’ve done in the industry too.

The Bowery store is sort of like a special vision for the company, not just selling the clothes, and collection–I found records, I found books. And you try to preserve the atmosphere of the old club that was there?
I was a fan growing up of CBGB’s. I think it closed in 2006 or 2007. One day when I was over in the neighborhood looking at something else, and I walked into the space with the landlord and everything had been torn out. The stage it was just raw space. I still felt that there was still a soul living there.

You preserved the walls as they were.
So the idea was to create this cultural space that of course it has to be commercial enough, you have to make money. We sell clothing, we sell both new and vintage clothing, we sell vintage audio equipment, vintage vinyl records, books, but you don’t have to spend a penny.

Management didn’t think the store is a good idea, the neighborhood’s not developed, its too close to our SoHo store. I listened, which sometimes I don’t do, and I always try to be democratic but I can’t always be democratic. We had the opening show and all the artists came out and played. Now we do free shows at least once a month in there like Semi Precious Weapons. The reason it works really is that is has that soul. You can’t fake what happens when Guns & Roses showed up. I think there were definitely some doubters in the beginning, a fashion company taking over CBGB, but not anymore.

You do it with convictions, not because it’s trendy.
When we do these shows on Thursday nights we do it for the fans. You don’t have to be a customer of ours; we love doing rock and roll music. To see Michael Monroe for free with free drinks; how much better does it get than that?