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Tim Ferriss

Bobby Hundreds — Building an Iconic Streetwear Brand, Making $7 Million in 40 Minutes, The Power of Garfield, Why Korean Entertainment is Taking Over the World, Maintaining the Mystery, The Fickleness of Fortune, and Developing “Nunchi” (#671)

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“Koreans are known to have this emotional repression, which then manifests and converts into brilliant art, romance, and passion—and also violence—and it’s called han.”

— Bobby Hundreds

Bobby Hundreds (@bobbyhundreds) is an artist, designer, and storyteller based in Los Angeles. He is best known as the co-founder and chief creative officer of global streetwear brand The Hundreds. He is also behind the Family Style Food Festival and the NFT project Adam Bomb Squad. Bobby is also the bestselling author of This Is Not a T-Shirt, a memoir about his life and how he built a brand around community.

His new book, NFTs Are a Scam / NFTs Are the Future, about his two-year journey into Web3, will publish through Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

Please enjoy!

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Castbox, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform.

Brought to you by Wealthfront high-yield savings account, Eight Sleep’s Pod Cover sleeping solution for dynamic cooling and heating, and LMNT electrolyte supplement.

The transcript of this episode can be found here. Transcripts of all episodes can be found here.

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#671: Bobby Hundreds — Building an Iconic Streetwear Brand, Making $7 Million in 40 Minutes, The Power of Garfield, Why Korean Entertainment is Taking Over the World, Maintaining the Mystery, The Fickleness of Fortune, and Developing Nunchi

This episode is brought to you by Wealthfront! Wealthfront is a financial services platform that offers services to help you save and invest your money. Right now, you can earn a 3.25% base APY—that’s the Annual Percentage Yield—with the Wealthfront Cash Account from its network of program banks. That’s nearly eight times more interest than an average savings account at a bank, according to FDIC.gov as of 12/15/2025 (Wealthfront’s 3.25% APY vs. 0.40% average savings rate). Right now, for a limited time, Wealthfront is offering new clients an additional 0.65% boost over the base rate for three months, meaning you can get 3.90% APY, limited to $150,000 in deposits. Terms & Conditions apply. Visit Wealthfront.com/Tim to get started. 

The Cash Account, which is not a deposit account, is offered by Wealthfront Brokerage LLC, member FINRA/SIPC. Wealthfront Brokerage is not a bank. The 3.25% Base APY on cash deposits is as of December 19, 2025, is representative, subject to change, and requires no minimum. If you are eligible for the overall boosted rate of 3.9% offered in connection with this promo, your boosted rate is also subject to change if the base rate decreases during the three-month promotional period. Tim Ferriss, who is not a client, receives cash compensation from Wealthfront Brokerage LLC for advertising and holds a non-controlling equity interest in the corporate parent of Wealthfront Brokerage LLC. This ad may not reflect the experience of other Cash Account clients, and similar outcomes are not guaranteed. See full disclosures here. 

This episode is brought to you by Eight Sleep. Temperature is one of the main causes of poor sleep, and heat is my personal nemesis. But a few years ago, I started using the Pod Cover, and it has transformed my sleep. Eight Sleep has launched their newest generation of the Pod: Pod 5 Ultra. It cools, it heats, and now it elevates, automatically. With the best temperature performance to date, Pod 5 Ultra ensures you and your partner stay cool in the heat and cozy warm in the cold. And now, listeners of The Tim Ferriss Show can get $400 off of the Pod 5 Ultra for a limited time! Click here to claim this deal and unlock your full potential through optimal sleep.

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Want to hear an episode with another world-building artist who also doesn’t allow himself to be outsmarted by corporations? Have a listen to my first conversation with legendary comic book artist and writer Todd McFarlane, in which we discussed rejection letters, meeting deadlines, compelling storytelling, leading a corporate exodus, bucking the status quo to become the status quo, and much more.

#639: Todd McFarlane, Legendary Comic Book Artist — How to Make Iconic Art, Reinvent Spider-Man, Live Life on Your Own Terms, and Meet Every Deadline

What was your favorite quote or lesson from this episode? Please let me know in the comments.

SCROLL BELOW FOR LINKS AND SHOW NOTES…

SELECTED LINKS FROM THE EPISODE

  • Connect with Bobby Hundreds:

Substack | Twitter | Instagram | TikTok

SHOW NOTES

  • [05:49] Signing to the prestigious Farrar, Straus and Giroux (FSG).
  • [07:21] Bobby’s black sheep origin story.
  • [11:13] When art entered the picture.
  • [13:52] Who was Abram Edelman?
  • [27:59] The double life of a parent-pleasing law student and clandestine artist.
  • [31:45] The Hundreds: from early days to 20 years on.
  • [44:47] The cosmic intervention of WARP magazine.
  • [52:02] Japan.
  • [55:27] The Korean Wave.
  • [1:08:05] Getting on the radar of tastemakers.
  • [1:13:44] Collaboration over competition makes a movement.
  • [1:18:32] Curating creatives assisted by nunchi.
  • [1:30:03] Necessary disconnections.
  • [1:41:22] Korea’s a creative hotspot today. Where should we look next?
  • [1:43:38] Rolling with the tides of fickle fashion.
  • [1:53:47] Collaborations, corporations, and the reason for limited editions.
  • [2:05:07] The current state of The Hundreds.
  • [2:11:32] Frank Ocean maintains the mystery.
  • [2:13:02] Getting collaboration deals without almost being sued or selling out.
  • [2:18:54] Hermit north stars.
  • [2:24:50] How to make $7 million in 40 minutes with NFTs (sort of not really).
  • [2:29:48] Making NFTs more useful than just another set of playing cards for wannabe day traders.
  • [2:39:21] Why did Bobby write NFTs Are a Scam / NFTs Are the Future?
  • [2:42:54] Charles Manson vs. SBF and subcultural security.
  • [2:48:10] Notable Web3 innovations emerging.
  • [2:51:45] A rumble over royalties and a counterintuitive lesson about collectible value.
  • [3:10:17] Recommended reading.
  • [3:12:13] Bobby’s billboard.
  • [3:18:50] Two tattoos.
  • [3:20:18] Parting thoughts.

MORE BOBBY HUNDREDS QUOTES FROM THE INTERVIEW

“Koreans are known to have this emotional repression, which then manifests and converts into brilliant art, romance, and passion—and also violence—and it’s called han.”
— Bobby Hundreds

“I’ve never looked at anyone else as a competitor. I have always believed that I’m competing against myself. If any other brand is winning or getting one over on us, that’s our fault if we want to play that game. And so I’ve never looked at anyone as an enemy or going against or mitigating our success in any way. We have to work collaboratively in order to build the entire platform so all can be seen.”
— Bobby Hundreds

“Being a little bit far ahead, we’re always the harbingers of the bad storm approaching.”
— Bobby Hundreds

“It’s not about making money; it’s about making noise.”
— Bobby Hundreds

“If you’re going to work with a big dog, always make it look like you got one up on them, whether you got paid or you just came out on top.”
— Bobby Hundreds

“So much of what we do in streetwear is theater, and that’s the message that I want to send to the audience—that it’s all one and the same.”
— Bobby Hundreds

“Branding is all about saying no, but I like saying yes to so much.”
— Bobby Hundreds

“Be slow to judgment.”
— Bobby Hundreds

“Everyone is in such a rush to be right and definite and have such a cemented idea of what truth is or what the reality is that they don’t want to give anything room to grow.”
— Bobby Hundreds

“Technology and science are all about making mistakes. Correcting, getting closer and closer to truth, which you never quite achieve. We should be doing that with people, too, but we abbreviate them all the time, and we stunt them in our minds and say, ‘This is what that person is. Now I can move on to the next one.’ We’re collecting them as JPEGs. And people evolve and they live and they grow and they change. They become different. We have to allow people to become different.”
— Bobby Hundreds

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Chris Andretta
Chris Andretta
2 years ago

Tim,
You’ve held a seat on my personal board of directors for 10 years now. Obviously without ever knowing it. You’ve consulted me on a range of different topics over the years and I’ve always greatly appreciated your advice. You’ve been an important mentor in my life and inspired a lot of fun adventures, businesses, and general personal growth. In the event I never get to tell you in person, thank you for all that you’ve done. I appreciate you.

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