- 6 weeks ago
Four-time Pro Bowl wide receiver Stefon Diggs is not only one of the most talented players in the NFL, he's also one of the most stylish. The Houston Texans star launched his own fashion line LIEMhomme, which has been celebrated in the pages of Vogue and other high-fashion magazines, and sat down to discuss its launch, his vision and the brand's future.
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00:00Founders, celebrities, game changers.
00:04These are the people changing the face of business and inspiring the next generation
00:09of entrepreneurs.
00:14Our first guest is four-time Pro Bowler, Stefan Diggs.
00:19Now besides being an incredibly talented player, he's also one of the most stylish men in the
00:25NFL and in fact he's launched his own fashion line, Liam, which has been praised in the pages
00:32of Vogue, GQ, and everywhere else.
00:36You look great.
00:37Thank you so much.
00:38Halfway decent, as my mom would like to say, but I appreciate it, thank you so much.
00:43So how do you think of yourself these days, NFL great, fashion founder, or are they one
00:50and the same?
00:51Right now I try to keep it as modest as possible, as humble as possible.
00:56I go into everything I do real confidently.
00:58So when did the fashion bug bite you?
01:02Has it been something that's always been in your life?
01:05Was football and fashion always two things competing for your attention or did one come
01:09first?
01:10My mom would tell you.
01:11I like to bring up my mom because that's one of the only people that can tell you these
01:13stories from when I was young, but I had a pair of cowboy boots when I was like four years
01:18old that I couldn't come off of, that I used to wear in the summertime.
01:22I think that's around the time I started having a love for clothing and shoes and kind of wanting
01:28to wear what I want to wear.
01:30My mom never really dressed me for school.
01:31She kind of let me do my thing too.
01:33So that kind of went in the same way, and then I started playing football when I was five
01:36years old.
01:37So I guess they kind of happened simultaneously.
01:40I had a love and true passion for football.
01:42I watched my older brother play football.
01:44I watched countless athletes that I kind of looked up to as a kid, played a sport.
01:50I had a love for the game when I was young, and it grew and grew as I got older.
01:55But I always kind of had a distant mindset of like I'm going in the NFL.
01:59It was like a thing in the back of my mind that I knew what I was going to do, I was destined
02:04to do, I always wanted to do.
02:06And I felt like my path was going to kind of align with the things that I wanted.
02:10When the moment comes in your life where you go from, you know, being the kid who loves
02:17those cowboy boots and loves fashion to being someone who's going to launch a fashion line.
02:24Like how did that decision happen?
02:27I guess it was a long process for me considering I've been a consumer for a long time as we
02:32all have.
02:33I've been buying clothes for a long time.
02:35My shopping addiction or my habit, if you may, I would like to say I refer to it as
02:41research and development.
02:42If you ask my financial advisor, I tell them it's a lot of R&D going on.
02:46But over the past couple of years, I really started taking it serious.
02:50Like I wanted to kind of start my own brand.
02:52And then after buying the same white shirt multiple times and buying things, the same
02:57denim jacket.
02:58I have like at least like eight denim jackets that I hold near and dear to my heart.
03:02But it's like, okay, at what point do I start to take into consideration?
03:05Can I make those things?
03:06I started looking into fabrics.
03:07I started to really dive into it a little deeper.
03:09So the brand name is Liam.
03:13What does that stand for and what's the kind of vibe of Liam?
03:17So if you look up the name Liam, it means honest.
03:20The second portion of it is ohm and that's man.
03:23You know, I kind of pride myself in being an honest man for the most part, if you may.
03:28I try not to tell any lies actually, but I wanted to build a product that was honest
03:33and you know, was honest with the consumer about what it was getting and really meet
03:38them where they are.
03:39So your shirts, a lot of them have slogans on them.
03:42Yeah.
03:43I need a hug.
03:44What's the other one?
03:46They are watching us.
03:47Yes.
03:48And I think another one is I've decided I don't like you anymore.
03:52So where do these slogans come from?
03:56Is there stuff that strikes you and you write it down?
03:59Like where did that come from?
04:01I'm a big note taker.
04:02Like I feel like anything that's on my brain or anything that's on my mind, I write it
04:06in my notes.
04:07Sometimes I don't necessarily physically write it because we have handy dandy iPhones
04:11these days.
04:12But I like to put things in my notes and I like to use them as reminders.
04:15But those shirts and those slogans really are like reflections of moments I've had or
04:20like just, just I was in the bed when I made I needed a hug shirt.
04:25I felt like I was, it was a cloudy day in upstate New York and I wasn't feeling too well,
04:30but something told me like, damn, I need a hug.
04:33And then I wrote it down and kind of got with the person I worked with on my clothes, my COO.
04:39I said, I actually want to make I need a hug shirt.
04:41She said, okay, let's do it.
04:43I've seen, you know, a month or two later the shirt sold out and I guess a lot of people
04:47need a hug.
04:48Yeah.
04:49As you know, in your college career and you know, you've had some pretty tough injuries
04:54that you've had to overcome and I'm guessing you've had some, you know, mental, you know,
05:00obstacles that you've had to overcome, you know, do you deal with those in the same way?
05:05Do you have a kind of path that you like to follow when you're, when you're dealing with
05:09an obstacle?
05:10It's, it's kind of crazy because football, you're going to have to emotionally detach
05:15yourself and somewhat physically detach yourself from your mind.
05:20You go through a lot physically on a consistent basis.
05:22And I think it's crazy because I mean, people that go to the gym on a consistent basis, you're
05:26literally going into the gym to somewhat kind of put yourself through something that's
05:30not comfortable.
05:32But in the ability to grow is coming from discomfort, like when you're uncomfortable, you'll start
05:36growing, you're going in the right direction that you would appreciate.
05:39But football is just, it's just a different kind of game.
05:41You know, mentally, it kind of prepares you for a lot of things that I feel like every
05:46kid should play some kind of sport growing up just so you can kind of experience wins,
05:51losses, falling short, adversity, just little things that you kind of will experience in
05:56life.
05:57And life is a lot worse at times, the older you get, the more we go through.
06:01I mean, the lack of responsibility you have as a kid, you can at least have those foundational
06:06pieces of falling short in certain areas or working at something, getting better at things.
06:10And it kind of turned you into the work world where you can kind of not only just manifest
06:16things, but work to make things happen.
06:17Like, I'm a big manifester.
06:18Like, I believe I can get the things that I really and truly want.
06:23And that's just not, that just doesn't come with like a dream, it comes with hard work.
06:26So I feel like how I handle it personally, I like to detach myself from my emotions at
06:32times just because I feel like you don't get a lot done when you're emotional.
06:36I feel like you're, when you're emotionally driven, you might make a bad decision here
06:39and there.
06:40And there's nothing wrong with that.
06:41There's nothing wrong with mistakes, but I feel like I make the most sound decision when
06:46I'm thinking rational.
06:48So how is it, how do you think rationally when you're going up for a catch and you know what's
06:55about to hit you?
06:56Oh yeah.
06:57That's that emotional detachment.
06:58That's that mental detachment that I talk about.
07:00Just because like, you know, it's on the other end of it.
07:03But the bigger outcome is like, that's the foundational piece is when I catch the ball and I know I'm
07:07going to get hit.
07:08Did I accomplish the goal?
07:10Did I do my job?
07:11Did I do what I'm destined to do or what I'm designed to do in that specific play?
07:16I mean, if you come up with the catch, it's amazing.
07:18If you don't, people are going to have some things to say about it, but you're better
07:22off just catching it.
07:23You're going to get hit anyway.
07:24So I want to talk a little bit about mentorship and leadership because, you know, as we know,
07:32sadly, your father passed away when you were really young and you were put in a leadership
07:36role in your home.
07:39You know, what does being a good leader or being a good mentor mean to you?
07:44It means damn near everything to me at this point in my life.
07:48It kind of showed me that losing my father very young, my little brother was younger than
07:54me, that learning how to sacrifice as a young man, when you learn how to sacrifice for the
08:01greater good for your family and kind of teaches you those things that life teaches you and sacrifice.
08:07And by sacrifice, I mean like I stayed kind of, I stayed home for college.
08:11I could have went to schools all across the country.
08:13I stayed home.
08:14I wanted to be closer to my mom, to my little brothers.
08:16I feel like it was pivotal for their success and their future that I was closer to home.
08:21Leadership for me kind of is just pivotal and it showed me that life is kind of designed
08:26in a way where you're put here for a reason.
08:29My reason was bigger than myself at that point.
08:31I lost my father.
08:33That was my best friend at the time and losing your best friend is hard.
08:37Yeah.
08:38Losing your father is obviously harder, but that was my best friend at the time.
08:41And I kind of learned how to not lean so much on other people.
08:46And that's why I like, kind of like looking inward is always like a big thing for me.
08:49Yeah.
08:50That's why I'm always accountable.
08:51That's why I'm always pushing the right direction.
08:53That's why I'm always trying to be the best I can be.
08:56Not only for me, but the people around me, so.
08:58Well, speaking of your little brother, I know you've never played against each other
09:03professionally, but can he cover you?
09:07We had this conversation since we were children.
09:10I feel like we've been going at it for a very long time.
09:13I think this year is going to be our first time actually having some interaction.
09:17We almost had a last year.
09:18Yeah.
09:19He got a little banged up throughout the season, but it's going to be the first year that we
09:22get to see each other.
09:23And I feel like it's going to be a nice little battle of Texas.
09:26Hopefully it happens on Thanksgiving.
09:27Yeah.
09:28So I can talk a lot of trash afterwards.
09:30You know what I'm saying?
09:31While I eat my turkey.
09:32Of course.
09:33We'll see.
09:34But to answer your question, not on this good day.
09:37I would have said bad day, but not even on a good day.
09:41Yeah, yeah.
09:42You know, for people watching this, you know, whether they want to start a fashion line
09:48or become a professional football player, but they want to do something and they want
09:54to create something.
09:56You know, what so many of us, we have ideas.
10:00Oh, this would be so great.
10:02Someone should do this.
10:03Someone should do that.
10:04But how do you get yourself to like make that step to push yourself forward to get the idea
10:10out of your head and into reality?
10:12What's your first steps for that?
10:14Spending time with yourself.
10:16I feel like COVID created more entrepreneurs than the past 10 years and sometimes financial,
10:25obviously.
10:26Yeah.
10:27I feel like if you have a desire to do something or you're having a thought to do something,
10:31just do it.
10:32And it's easy to say that.
10:33For me, it took me three years, a lot of research and development.
10:35As I say, a lot of R and D.
10:37Right.
10:38But if you have a love for something and you want to make something that's like substantial
10:43to you or something that means something, do something that you love because you won't
10:46get tired of doing stuff that you love.
10:48Stop being scared.
10:49I mean, I feel like majority of people are just scared.
10:51Like what if it doesn't work out or you can build as many reasons as to why something
10:57won't work out, but get it kind of out of your head because I don't know who said it.
11:01I want to say Michael Jordan, but not a hundred percent.
11:04You miss a hundred percent of the shots you don't take.
11:07Wayne Gretzky.
11:08There we go.
11:09I don't know how many shots he took, but he was right.
11:13So that's my take on it.
11:15So is there something that you, maybe during a game, maybe the game isn't going the way
11:21you would like it to.
11:23Is there something that you tell, do you have any kind of mantra in your head, anything
11:28that you tell yourself to get yourself in the right head space?
11:32Yeah.
11:33It's crazy.
11:34Cause my up till when I was 14, like even when I was young, I played Pop Warner and my
11:37dad used to remind me that like, even if you make a good play, forget about it.
11:42You know what I'm saying?
11:43Like it'll help you build your confidence.
11:45But if you hang your hat on that one play, it's a false reality.
11:50You don't need as good as your next play.
11:52And if it doesn't go right, it's not the end of the world.
11:55But I kind of start wrapping my brain around like, yeah, I had a good player.
11:58I had a good game, but like, what about the next one?
12:01And it will also give you that constant drive or motivation to be better for the next one.
12:06Also being a leader, I feel like, how can you make people around you better?
12:11You know what I'm saying?
12:12Not just yourself.
12:13I try to remind myself, I got a little sayings like that and little stuff.
12:15That's great.
12:16It's some worse things I say to myself to remind myself of.
12:19I don't think I can say them on camera, but I like, I'm real hard on myself.
12:24And that's why when it comes to constructive criticism, I promise you, there's nothing
12:28you can say to me that I haven't said to myself probably like the worst.
12:33How do you split your brain to think about football and fashion or do you?
12:37Is it all one thing in your head or are you able to like silo these different things that you're doing?
12:42I feel like I have like compartments in my brain.
12:45Obviously, I'm crazy.
12:46We all know that.
12:47We all look crazy.
12:48But I have little sections in my brain marked off with, you know, allotted time.
12:53I always keep the main thing, the main thing.
12:55I love football.
12:56I feel like it, if you love the game truly, it requires a level of respect and time that
13:02you put into it.
13:03Considering it's the off season, I'm just training right now, getting better for the next season.
13:08But when the season rolls around, that's what I kind of like.
13:10Elimiting all distractions and everything I worked on in the off season, fashion or anything.
13:14It kind of gets pushed to February.
13:16I also feel like regardless of how I play this game, I got more football behind me than
13:21I do in front of me.
13:22And that's just the nature of the game.
13:24I've been blessed up to this point to play going on my 10th year.
13:27Yeah.
13:2810 years, almost a decade of doing this.
13:30Yeah.
13:31Three or four years, I'm going to still be 33, 34.
13:34A lot of life in front of me.
13:35Yeah.
13:36I'm considering to have a passion and a love for other things outside of football that's
13:40going to wake me up in the morning and say, I want to get this done.
13:43People just don't understand what it's like to do something for, I guess, your whole life.
13:49And at one point it doesn't.
13:50You know what I'm saying?
13:51I'm not going to say this, but Tom Brady retired and unretired.
13:55Yeah, right.
13:56You know what I'm saying?
13:57He has a certain level of love and appreciation for the game and it's all he's done for X amount
14:00of years.
14:01Yeah.
14:02Not just the 20 years he's been playing.
14:03It's kind of hard to give up that dream that you've always had and start doing different
14:08things.
14:09Yeah.
14:10Because nothing in life will fulfill you as much as your professional dream and the things
14:14you reach.
14:15I feel like it was important because I kind of had a little bit of experience with that
14:19in college.
14:20When I broke my ankle, I ended up having surgery and I missed the rest of my season.
14:23I'm like, damn, what do I even like to do?
14:25When I start having more time to get to know myself and learn myself, I start understanding
14:29myself a little bit more emotionally too.
14:31Well, in my opinion, I think you're pretty good at this.
14:34Halfway decent.
14:35I think things are going to go well for you.
14:37I appreciate it.
14:38Halfway decent.
14:39I told you in the beginning, I'm trying.
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