WE ALL SHARE THE SAME HOME SO LETS ACT LIKE IT................................................................BE THE PERSON YOU WANT TO BE - TODAY. .................................................................................... TALK TO YOURSELF WELL. - JPD
INTERVIEW WITH INTERNS
INTERVIEW WITH JULIAN PRINCE DASH
What do you do?
I make things and I help people make things.
On paper, I am a designer, tailor, educator, artist, factory owner, nonprofit founder, retailer, consultant, and father.
In reality, I build systems where creativity, craftsmanship, and community can exist under the same roof.
Holy Stitch! is a factory, school, tailor shop, retail store, and experiment in what manufacturing could look like if people mattered as much as product.
What do you think about AI related to what you do?
AI is a tool.
A sewing machine did not kill tailoring.
Photoshop did not kill art.
The internet did not kill storytelling.
AI will eliminate a lot of average work.
But the more artificial the world becomes, the more valuable authentic human experience becomes.
People can generate a picture of jeans.
They cannot generate twenty years of mistakes, pattern revisions, factory knowledge, relationships, failures, victories, and intuition.
I use AI as an assistant, not a replacement.
The goal is not to compete with AI.
The goal is to become more human than the machine.
How long have you been doing what you’ve been doing?
Officially since 2006.
Unofficially, since I was a kid trying to turn imagination into reality.
I’ve spent nearly twenty years sewing, teaching, designing, mentoring, building brands, and figuring out how to make impossible ideas real.
What do you think you are best at?
Seeing potential.
In people.
In clothing.
In neighborhoods.
In ideas.
Most people see what something is.
I tend to see what it could become.
A pair of jeans becomes a story.
An empty building becomes a factory.
A struggling kid becomes an apprentice.
A sketch becomes a business.
Why are your jeans the best?
Because they are not trying to be the best.
They are trying to be honest.
Most jeans are designed around efficiency.
Mine are designed around experience.
I know how they are patterned.
I know how they are sewn.
I know why they fit.
I know who touched them.
I know where they were made.
Many jeans are marketed in San Francisco.
Mine are actually made here.
The best jean is not the most expensive jean.
The best jean is the one that survives long enough to tell a story.
What is your goal with the shop?
To prove that manufacturing, education, retail, and community do not have to be separate businesses.
I want someone to walk in needing a hem.
Leave with a skill.
Meet a mentor.
Get inspired.
Start a brand.
Get a job.
Teach someone else.
The long-term goal is bigger than a store.
It is creating a model that can outlive me.
If you were my age again, what would you say to yourself?
Stop worrying about being understood.
Most people do not know what they are building while they are building it.
Focus on health earlier.
Save more money.
Document more.
Buy less stuff.
Call your mother more.
Trust your instincts.
Be patient.
The things that matter most take longer than you think and happen faster than you expect.
What’s up with the lawsuit and how come Levi’s and Holy Stitch don’t work together?
The short answer:
Business is complicated.
People assume companies collaborate because they share a love of denim.
That is not how the world works.
Large corporations have legal departments, risk management, brand protection concerns, budgets, politics, timelines, and priorities.
Independent creators have freedom.
Corporations have scale.
Sometimes those interests align.
Sometimes they don’t.
As for lawsuits, disagreements happen in business.
I try not to define myself by conflict.
I’d rather be known for what I built than what I fought.
The bigger question isn’t whether Levi’s and Holy Stitch work together.
The bigger question is:
Can San Francisco once again become a place where jeans are actually made, taught, repaired, customized, and celebrated by the people who live here?
That’s the mission I’ve been working on regardless of who joins the journey. Holy Stitch has publicly received support and donations connected to its educational efforts in the past, while continuing to operate independently.
Final Question: Who is Julian Prince Dash?
A kid from nowhere who refused to stay there.
A father.
A builder.
A teacher disguised as a denim designer.
A student disguised as a teacher.
Someone still trying to figure it all out while helping other people do the same.
And hopefully, when it’s all over, someone who left the fabric of things a little stronger than he found it.
