Eric Emanuel Euro-Stepped From Python-Skin Jerseys to an adidas Collab

On episode 39 of The HBR Show, we sat down with sportswear designer and customizer Eric Emanuel. For those unfamiliar with his work, Eric Emanuel first burst onto the scene after graduating from FIT with a degree in marketing; despite having little hands-on experience in menswear, Emanuel quickly ventured into designing and customizing sports apparel with flashes and pops of luxury. Initially, this meant that Emanuel was selling vintage jerseys—think Michael Jordan’s #45 White Sox jersey, for example—and elevating the pieces with lavish python detailing. Emanuel sees them as direct descendants of Don C‘s now-iconic snakeskin snapbacks. Even Emanuel openly admits that, at a point, the jerseys became “a little bit—ehhh—too easy.” Two years after he started his custom jersey business, Emanuel started making cut-and-sew pieces. “The first thing I did was the Chicago Bulls short, which was always my favorite short. I did it in a sand, salmon and navy colorway and it sorta took off.” It was in that moment that Emanuel thought, “Oh wow, this will work.” Emanuel’s offerings have since expanded to include cashmere silk durags, 97% alpaca fur headbands, latex tearaway pants, and other elevated sportswear staples. His stockists include UNKNWN in Miami and TriBeCa’s Patron of the New, among others. Nowadays, Emanuel has been producing a line of collaborations with adidas, working with New York Sunshine, and plotting his next move. Click above to listen to the conversation in full and b