Growing up everyone told me I had to have a balance of street and book smarts. Jeromy Bailey(21) and Joey Freeman (20) from Winston, N. Carolina are two individuals that represent exactly that. Jeremy Bailey who is on a 4-year scholarship to Winston-Salem State University and Joey Freeman while not in school, is taking real estate classes. Tired of observing their generation walking around like cloned zombies, Bailey and Freeman decided to start a custom sneaker company (One Out of One) with the objective of living life with an individualistic ideology. While J. Bailey takes classes during the day applying his marketing practices to the company’s advertising avenues, Freeman is constantly grinding getting the message out about One Out of One, what it means and represents. These two individuals are cut from the old school, and they want people to know they are in it for the longevity and not purely for the financial prosperity. If you see anything you like, forget about hence the name One Out of One.

Scheme: What were you two doing before you decided to start this company?

1/1: School, yeah we were hitting the books pretty hard and we were just trying to figure out what was next.

Scheme: What inspired you to go ahead and pursue this custom sneaker company?

1/1: Pretty much around this area people have the same color schemes, we wanted to switch it up and create something we can do for our friends you know.

Scheme: I’ve seen your website, do you mainly focus on AF1’s or do you customize a variety of Dunks and Reeboks or is it just limited to Nike?

Joey Freeman: Really we’re open to doing any kind of shoe, we get asked that question a lot, and what I mainly tell people is that a lot of people ask for AF1’s. We’re not really trying to nail ourselves down to just that, we’re about customizing anything that you want to do.

Scheme: What is the sneaker culture like down there in N. Carolina?

Joey Freeman: It’s a bit behind, we’re really just trying to keep up with everybody else.

Scheme: What kind of styles do people usually recommend, have you gotten crazy color requests, or do people ask for designs of people like 2Pac or Big Pun?

Joey Freeman: I think right now it’s mainly colors, but they do ask for designs as well, we did get one order where the guy wanted Pink Panther on his kicks. (Laughs)

Scheme: What about the both of you what is your sneaker collection like, what is it comprised of?

Joey Freeman: My collection is mainly Nike’s and I’m a big Jordan fan, I have every pair that came out. I remember they used to come out during the school week, so I would have my step-father pick them up while I was in school; so mainly Jordan’s and Nike’s but I’m also starting to get more into classic Adidas.

Scheme: So are you guys in college or are you mainly more focused on the business?

Jeromy Bailey: Well I’m on a full academic scholarship at Norfolk State.

Joey Freeman: Uh…I dropped out.

Scheme: What happened?

Joey Freeman: Man, just to get some things going.

Scheme: How did your folks feel about that whole decision?

Joey Freeman: Well, I’m still doing my thing, I’m into some real estate classes, I’m not at home sitting on the couch doing nothing.

“Right now you have people basically picking things for you. You have a certain amount of designers you can get, often times we are stuck wearing the same things…where is the individuality in that?”

Scheme: Where do you plan on taking the business what do you see for the future?

Joey Freeman: We were talking about this earlier, we don’t want to be one of those people that customize shoes just to make money. I think in the long term we want to make a change in how people go about buying their clothes. Right now you have people basically picking things for you. You have a certain amount of designers you can get, often times we are stuck wearing the same things…where is the individuality in that? What we want to do is encourage people to change the idea of good fashion, because what people say is good fashion sometimes isn’t. We started with the shoes because that’s the first thing people think about when they start customizing clothes. So when we go ahead and customize the shoes we are going to start seeing everybody wearing their own styles which will carry over into shirts and stuff like that.

Scheme: So who came up with the image for the logo and why did you guys decide to call it One Out of One(1/1)?

Joey Freeman: I came up with the design for the logo. It just kind of came to me I guess it was God giving that to me. The whole concept of One Out of One is with the customization; when you get your kicks you will be one out of one, so none before it and none to come like it.

Also, I’ve always been really into art, my father is an artist so I’m familiar with making original pieces and or making prints and you may have 35 out of 300 with these kicks but there will never be another pair like them, so that’s where we get the one out of one from.

Scheme: So how many kicks can you say you have customized thus far?

Jeromy Bailey: Probably around 15 to 20 and we are working on about 2 or 3 pairs right now.

Scheme: Are you guys planning on doing anymore showcases similar to the one you previously did this year?

Joey Freeman: Yeah definitely, right now we are getting support of our shoe and we are trying to let people know we are legitimate and then we can have a showcase and people actually come.

Scheme: How did you guys get hooked up with hip-hop artist Joe Scudda (Justus League)?

Jeromy Bailey: Ah, Myspace it’s a beautiful thing. While I’m in class…I call Joey the promotion guru, he’s usually spreading the word and what I do is apply what I learn from these marketing classes to our shoe company.

Scheme: What would you say is the hardest part about starting the shoe company?

Joey Freeman: Trying to defy that image of trying to hustle and just get a dollar from customers. We are trying to keep people coming back. So we make sure everything we do is quality, we don’t spray paint at all everything is done by hand.

Scheme: How long does that process take?

Joey Freeman: It depends on how detailed the work is, a basic shoe and a basic color scheme may take like 6 hours and with the detail on top it could be 8 hours or more.

Scheme: When artists go into the studio they need things around them to help them stay focused, what kind of things do you all need for you to complete these products?

Joey Freeman: Me personally, I like it when no one is around I throw on some music and just focus on the shoe.

Jeromy Bailey: Yeah mainly music.

Scheme: What are you guys listening to right now?

Joey Freeman: Right now Lupe Fiasco, just good music in general no pun intended, I know Kanye has a label called G.O.O.D Music. Shi Stimuli as well, and we’re going to be working with him; of course the whole Little Brother and Hall of Justus movement, and that Gnarls Barkley is hot.

Scheme: If people want to get to your shoe how can they get in contact with you?

Joey Freeman: The best way we have our phone numbers on the website(www.oneoutofone.com) so you can get in contact with any one of us on the website. Our whole focus is, get what you want on the sneaker, so we talk it out, and if you have Myspace (www.myspace.com/oneoutofone) send us a message.

Scheme: What is your opinion on hip-hop? You say you’re not in it for the quick buck but it seems like today everyone is in it for the dollar. Do you feel like there should be a balance of both?

Joey Freeman: I think if you do something that you can be real and you can still make a profit. Someone like a Mos Def (hip-hop artist/actor) who has never been a famous rapper or anything but he gets money, but he’s not going to make a record just to make a record. If you come real enough with it, you can still be real and make money.

Jeromy Bailey: My thing is there are certain groups that are talking about relevant things, then there are people that are putting out songs to get a check and make a nice video. I’m more concerned with making a difference about how people approach their clothes and I think it’s about creativity and individuality. I think that’s something that’s going to last longer than any money we can make. Something that can out live us even when we are dead and gone…that’s what it is for me. Making something that’s going to last even when I’m gone and my children can look at their father and say he was a part of something.

Scheme: Do you think hip-hop is dead?

Joey Freeman: I wouldn’t say it’s dead because I’m such a big hip-hop fan I would say it’s taking a nap or something, it’s in a slumber. (Laughs)