Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Five Minutes | Eugene Kan


I met Eugene during his last run through New York City over an especially tasty meal at Slurp. Eugene is currently the Senior Editor of Hypebeast. For those not familiar with Hypebeast, heaven forbid, the site was founded by Kevin Ma back in January '05 as "a one-stop news source for Internet-savvy street fashion enthusiasts".

Back track a few years and Eugene was an aspiring soccer player at the University of Alberta who did some minor blogging on the side for local retail, Foosh. After graduating from the U of A Eugene packed up his Economics Degree and made the move from desolate Canada to Hong Kong with the intentions of pursuing a professional soccer career. During his time their he was 'scouted and recruited' to join the Hypebeast team.

Eugene essentially dictates 'the cool' of street fashion and culture helping to grow the site into required reading for anyone in the industry. He also has a few independent ventures on the go that I am sure you will be hearing about in the near future. Thanks for the time Eugene.


5 things people don't likely know about me are...

1. I just bought four bars of super dark (85%-86%) Chocolate
2. I can speak French?
3. I'm an asshole
4. I quit this sucks

5 things I don't leave home without are...

1. Keys
2. Card holder(s)
3. Mobile phone
4. Lip balm
5. Shoes

My 5 favorite spots in Hong Kong are...

Fuck this is a tough one... I don't venture out too far... Sheung Wan (cool vibe), Soho (cobblestone roads, good restaurants that I never eat at... I just hear they're good), Mong Kok (cause I'm fuggin' MK gangsta for life) and well some of the beach areas.

If I wasn't living the dream at Hypebeast I would be...

Probably hating my life and working at a bank... or maybe working at a streetwear store? What can you do with an Economics degree?

The best thing about working at Hypebeast (aside from Kevin) is...

Randomly meeting people from Winnipeg that are interning in New York... well people in general.

The best email I have received at Hypebeast went something like this...

I've been saving this one in the vaults for awhile...

To Whom this may concern,

I am very interested in being added to your blog list because I believe unlike most of the people you have already added to the list I have a great since of style and I am not so one sided and one dimensional when it comes to clothes and music and etc. I have the heartbeat of the streets with me and I understand clothes at the highest degree and Im flyer than the rest of these people...seriously.

MY BLOG IS GIVING AWAY A FREE PAIR OF YEEZYS BLACK AND PINK ON OUR BLOG AND I THOUGHT YOU MIGHT WANT TO BE A PART OF THAT. SO MR. HYPEBEAST STOP allowing wack mutha fuckas to win and let some people who really know whats hot out here to get a little shine.. we put in the work and im sorry I don't live in New York or California but don't let that be our fault because we don't know heavyweights in the clothing industry.NO I dont wear skinny jeans and no I don't wear baggy jeans...I just wear my PRPS just right..and my butchers high top on my ankle...and my Commonwealth fitted on my head...ferragamos on my face...diamonds in my mouth...damier clip hanging...i mean cmon..thats me everyday...and with that said I'm begging you for once let someone who isn't famous just get a little shine. my staff is more informative on clothes and music then 3/4 of the people you showcase and I think its a smack in the face to the public to showcase people who aren't fly and people who were complete losers in high school to get shine and we cant get a mention. Also we are developing some hot clothes right now that also should be featured....

In conclusion if you dont like anything I said thats fine..we are wiling to allow you all to say that you are giving away the Yeezys with us if you want to create more fans of your empire! I promise...we have a pair size 10 and we are going to give them away...thats how fresh we are...ask them wack ass non cool mutha fuckers yaw showcase all the time can they do that...sorry if im cursing but I want to show you the passion we have for this and I want to be added to the blog list asap... [WEBSITE REDACTED] we the illest in the world!!! just look at our music selection cmon man be real with yaw self..the people have spoken and they all understand what cool shit is and little flannel shirts and dirty vans aint it...and you all need to stop lying to the people and showing them bullshit...Im telling you that because the people are chattering now like these guys have fallen off a little bit and I know you all are great but give me an opportunity to help you. call me [NAME REDACTED] [PHONE NUMBER REDACTED]...and lets win...help me showcase this free pair of Yeezys right now!!!

The post that I took the most slack for was...

They all wack! Trade secret... if I don't want to co-sign it but it “has” to go up... I just STAFF it haha.

The last article of clothing I purchased was...

A bunch of Wings + Horns stuff from HAVEN

If I had the opportunity to switch places with any person in the industry it would be...

I'm not sure, industry-wide I like my position. I GUESS, my answer would have to involve the brand I like the most. So I would like to switch places with Hiroki Nakamura of VISVIM.

If I could have lunch with anyone dead or alive it would be...

Grandpa Kan and eat mad dim sum!!!

My favorite book is...

Bad question cause I haven't read a book in a long ass time but I read the NY Times every day or so.

If I had to wear one pair of shoes for the rest of my life they would be...

Black fragment design x Converse Chuck Taylor All Star Highs... they aren't necessarily my favorites but unparalleled versatility.

My drink of choice is...

Water on the real, I'm the guy that buys $8.50 USD bottles of water at the bar.

After completing this interview I am off to...

Be Asian and gamble.

The best part of the University of Alberta was...

Living in the Sugar Shack and throwing 13 kegger mashers... and probably playing varsity soccer. Yeh I sound like a fuckin' “bro” haaaaaaa.