ABOUT THIS EPISODE
In episode 13 of Two Tokens Short, Robert De La Rosa and Mitchell Newberger sit down with brothers Jack & Jason Wu to talk about building a brand that puts function, natural materials, and longevity ahead of trend-chasing. From jackets and totes sewn in New York to modular lamps designed in CAD and tested in AR/VR, the pair unpack how to make beautiful things that are meant to be used for decades, not months.
We trace their path from Parsons and double RL to launching a three-pillar studio—Cloth, Home, Craft—and sourcing folk art and antiques as living references, not shelf props. The conversation moves through domestic manufacturing trade-offs, pricing for value (not volume), and how AI fits (and doesn’t): helpful for research, ops, and forecasting—never as a substitute for voice, story, or craft.
We get into:
Building a startup label around use first design and repairable materials
Why “cost per wear” beats fast fashion every time
Domestic production realities (fabric, sewing, margins, accessibility)
VR/AR prototyping and small-batch industrial design for lamps
Lessons from the Santa Fe International Folk Art Market & artisan partnerships
Healthy skepticism of chatbots vs. practical AI for workflow and data
Marketplace dreams: connecting makers, renters, and heirloom-grade goods
✨ Insert Coin, Unlock Conversation.
