Four-time Pro Bowl wide receiver Stefon Diggs isn't just 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 THE INVENTORwhich has been celebrated in the pages of Vogue and other high fashion magazines, and landed with Entrepreneur's How success happens show to discuss his inception, his vision and the future of the brand.
Watch the full interview above, and check out some of his most inspiring takeaways below, which have been edited for length and clarity:
Which came first: football or fashion?
“My mom would tell you that I had a pair of cowboy boots when I was four years old that I wouldn't take off — that I wore in the summer. I think that was around the time I started to love clothing. and wanting to wear what I wanted to wear, my mother wouldn't let me do the things I had at the same time.”
Pursuing his dream of playing in the NFL
“I watched my older brother play football and countless athletes I watched as a kid. I had a love for the game when I was young. And it grew and grew. how I grew up But I always had a distant thought, 'I'm going to the NFL.' It was like a thing in the back of my mind where I knew what I was going to do. I was destined to do what I always wanted to do.”
To decide to go “pro” with fashion
“It's been a long process for me, I've been a consumer for a long time, like all of us. I have been shopping for clothes for a long time. My addiction to shopping or habit… I'd like to refer to it as 'research and development'. I tell my financial advisor, 'There's a lot of R&D going on!' But over the last couple of years, I really started to take it seriously. After buying the same white shirt several times and buying the same denim jacket at least eight times, I decided I wanted to start my own brand. I started looking at fabrics. I learned to sew. I started to really dive deep. And so the brand name is LIEMhomme. Liem means honest and homme means man. I kind of pride myself on being an honest man. I wanted to build a product that was honest. Be honest with the customer about what they're getting.”
Its design process
“I'm a big note-taker. Everything that's on my mind, I write it down in my notes on my phone. Those notes can become a slogan on one of my shirts and are a reflection of the moments I've been through. I was in bed when I did I Need a Hug Shirt Design. It was a cloudy day in upstate New York and I wasn't feeling too well. Something said to me, 'Damn, I need a hug.' So I wrote it, then sent it to my boss and said I want to make this a shirt. So she said, 'Okay, let's do it.' The next thing you know, a month or two later, the shirt was sold. So I think a lot of people need a hug. Those moments that I share with people are truly things that I hold near and dear to me. You don't know how many people in the world feel the way you do.”
In the face of adversity
“I'm a big manifester. I believe I can achieve the things I really and truly want. But it doesn't come as a dream. It comes with hard work. I like to disconnect from my emotions sometimes just because I feel like you don't do much when you're emotional, I feel like you make a bad decision here and there, but I feel like I make the soundest decisions when I'm thinking rationally. If you get it, it's amazing if you don't, people will have a few things to say about it.
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For his role as a mentor
“It means damn near everything to me at this point in my life. I lost my father very young. And being an older brother taught me a lot about sacrifice. Learn how to sacrifice for the greater good, for your family. I stayed I could have gone to schools across the country, but I wanted to be closer to my mom, with my little brothers, and this experience taught me that you are here for a reason that was bigger than me at that moment – he was my best friend at that time and that's why I'm always accountable I'm always pushing in the right direction that's why I'm trying to be the best I can be – not just for me, but for the people around me.
His advice for dreamers
“Do something you love because you won't get tired of doing the things you love. And don't be afraid. I feel like most people are just afraid – what if it doesn't work? You can make up a lot of reasons why something doesn't work. it will work, but you have to get out of your head, because as Wayne Gretzky said, you miss a hundred percent of the shots you don't take, but he was right.”
About how success happens
How Success Happens chronicles the inspiring, entertaining and unexpected journeys that influential leaders in business, art and sports took on their way to becoming household names. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.
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