November 25, 2025 • 60 mins
Today on Brewsers, we talk to Teena with Saffron Gear. We talk about how she got started sewing, the importance of gear, and so much more. Follow us on instagram and twitter at Brewserspod. Like, share, review, enjoy and cheers. #brewsers #brewserspod #Enjoylife #DrinkLocal #Cheers
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
Welcome to Bruisers podcast. Well, beer, coffee, booze and Bruisers.
I am your host, Roddy John and today we talked
to Tina with Saffron Gear. We talked about how she
got started sewing, the importance of gear, and so much more.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
This is such a fun conversation. Tina has been around
the world of wrestling for a long time and she
was raised by some of the greats in wrestling as well.
So you don't want to hear from me, you want
to hear from her. So, without further ado, here is
Tina with Saffron Gear. I would like to welcome the
(00:57):
show with Tina with Saffron Gear. How are you doing?
Speaker 3 (01:00):
I'm doing fabulous. How are you.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
I'm doing well. So for those listing kind of penis
or word picture at where are you at? Where it's
going on around you?
Speaker 3 (01:08):
So currently I'm at home in San Antonio, Texas. I
moved here in April and I am currently working on
two sets of tights, the one for a Texas wrestler
Tomorris Shepherd, and then another set of tights for a
client in North Carolina, Elliott's Shop.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
Where did you move from?
Speaker 3 (01:34):
So before San Antonio I did have a brief stay
in San Marcus, but I moved from Nebraska. I had
left the business for a couple of years due to
health issues and started working a shoot job, and they
(01:56):
had actually moved me to Nebraska. I'm not from there.
I I'm sorry Nebraskans. I know you guys love your football,
your corn Huskers or whatever. Wait, I don't even know
if that's corn Huskers. It might just be Huskers. But
(02:18):
but no, it was literally like children up the corn,
just without the children doing all that. It was very
it was it was very plain, very you know, not
a lot going on, you know, just wheat and corn,
(02:42):
wheat and corn, and then if you look in the
distance you might see a prison, and then if you
look on the other side you might see another channel.
That's it was literally boring. I don't think we had
a Walmart, to be honest.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
That's insane that there wouldn't be a Walmart there.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
You would have to at least drive forty five minutes
wow to a different town either direction, you know, to
go to Walmart. Very so, you know, well, you know,
when I came here, I discovered lyt in Uber and
(03:23):
obviously Walmart and Walmart delivery. But it's there's not a
whole lot a whole lot there. It's definitely agricultural at best.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
What was your h Well, so where did you I
guess where'd you grew up before that?
Speaker 3 (03:42):
So? I come from a very long line of military service,
specifically Army that ended with me being the last one.
And and so we pretty much grew up everywhere. I
(04:04):
was born in Alaska.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (04:07):
We lived in New Jersey for at least like I
want to say, the first five years of my life.
And that's when I learned how to sow at six,
and then I started doing year, you know, sporadically, and
(04:29):
then it just kind of picked up eight.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Thank you for your service. As we're recording this, it
is better in this day. So thank you for your service.
So let's go all back in time. What is your
earliest memory of pro wrestling?
Speaker 3 (04:42):
Oh? I would say probably WCW's Saturday Night. I was
a huge mark for Jim Ross and Tony Shavoni. In fact,
my parents actually thought that I was autistic and maybe
(05:04):
a savant because I didn't talk like I do now
now you can't get me to shut up, But back
then I didn't talk at all unless I absolutely needed something.
And so the only time that I would actually talk
outside of needing something is listening to Jim Ross and
(05:28):
Tony Shabani. I don't know, I was just a huge
mart They were like my first fandom, I guess as
a child, and so, you know, it's kind of weird
how I got into gear at that age because my
(05:49):
parents were big fans. You know, we lived in New
Jersey and we were stationed at Fort Dix, and so
they went to a lot of show you know, in
New York. My dad primarily because of training. They'd send
them to New York for certain schools within the military,
(06:10):
and so he wouldn't meet a lot of the local wrestlers,
but he would also meet wrestlers that were on television.
And so the big thing back then was, you know,
they didn't hire babysitters. It was leave the door shut
and locked until we get home and don't answer it.
(06:34):
And so my sister would do that. Of course, she
wouldn't watch me. She'd just make sure no one's you know,
at the door every five seconds. And I would go
tinker with my mom's sewing machine. And that's basically how
I started learning how to sew, and then probably about
(06:59):
when I was seven, and like a year later, you know,
my mom would let me take you know, spandex because
spandex was the thing back in the nineties. Everybody wore spandex,
whether you were a wrestler or not. My parents used
to look like the anvil half the time. So they
(07:20):
would let me take their old spandex, and I mean,
I just started turning them into things that I would
see on TV. I wouldn't say nothing still to anybody,
you know, but I would. I would turn them into things.
And there was a local wrestler in New Jersey and
(07:40):
not New York, but in New Jersey, and he just
thought it was, you know something, being that young and
being able to do that, and it just kind of
started the wheels for my parents, like, well, we could
make money off of this, you know, it wasn't and
(08:01):
it was it was it was you know, here's the thing,
Like some people are like, oh, child labor, child labor.
You know that's horrible, because my parents did keep all
the money. I never saw anything besides you need to
do this, you need to do that. This is you know,
what they want, this is what they don't want, you know,
(08:21):
which when you're that age, you have to have somebody
kind of stay on top of you because you want
to be a kid, you know. So a part of
me like, I'm in the same boat. I'm like, oh,
they are such terrible parents, but you know, I got
a trade out of it. I got a skill set
(08:43):
out of it, you know. So it's kind of like
a double edged sword there. My parents made a lot
of money. I didn't, but I got a trade out
of it. So and that that lasted for a while
until a couple people on that Apparently my mom was
(09:03):
telling people she was doing it, and it wasn't her
doing it. It was just her saying that because a
child was doing it right. And so a couple of
people caught on, and you know, they had me stop
doing it for several years because they were looking at
(09:23):
some you know, ethical things that you know, what are
you doing, Like is this child labor? What is this?
You know, it's it wasn't. It was a different time
back then. It's not. It's not like how you see
on YouTube now where parents are like, yeah, be it
an entrepreneur, you know, you know, it was just such
(09:47):
a different time. But you know, while I didn't, you know,
see any of that. I just you know, how to
do all the work I did learn and trade, and
I'm very grateful for at least.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
That, right. I mean, like you said, if it was
happening nowadays, you would see it, like you said, all
over TikTok, all over the news. You know, young kid
makes wrestling gear for wrestlers. And you know, obviously are
all those kids make keeping all the money? Who knows.
But you know, whatever happens with the parents, happens with
(10:22):
the parents. That should stay within the family. But you know,
like you said, you learned to trade and you're still
doing it to this day. I mean, like you said,
you took a break for a little bit, but you
have a trade and now you're back into doing it.
Speaker 3 (10:35):
Yeah. I mean it's always been on and off. You know.
I picked it up again when I was fourteen, fixed
my parents' divorce, and you know, my mom needed help
with the household, so I would do it locally in
Missouri or whatever state she had us move to next.
(10:57):
And then I think I stopped doing it for a
little bit when I joined the Army, went through basic
did ai t you know, did all that, and then
I think when I got to my first duty station,
you know, I just would repair here instead doing full
(11:21):
sets because at that time I didn't know when I
was going to be deployed, and so I would really
feel bad if I took a year commission and then
they have to wait to see if I come back
to get it, you know. So I didn't really pick
it up again full time probably until two thousand and ten,
(11:47):
after I had gotten out, and even then it was
just you know, here or there. I wasn't trying to
do it full time. I was trying to graduate college.
You know, I was at the end of my college career,
I guess you could call it. And I was having
a baby, and so, you know, I was doing those things.
(12:11):
And then fast forward to two thousand and sixteen, I decided,
you know, I really loved doing this. Why didn't I
do this from the very beginning, like, you know, like
this is what I'm meant to do. I do. I
(12:32):
genuinely love wrestling. You know, I've never even when I
met first met JR. And Tony Shabani, I've just never
been one to actually mark out I just see it
as people who just happened to be more known to
(12:55):
others than myself, and they happen to be really talentedeople
that get paid more than I do. You know, at
the end of the day, we're all the same, and
so I just never really, you know, I love wrestling.
I love storytelling. I think gear, you know, is a
(13:18):
huge part of that because you know, if you go
back and you watch like nineties gear, while some of
it was kind of basic, less was more. You know,
you see Papa Shango's gear. You know, he's a shaman
of some sort. You know, you see ultimate Warrior with
(13:41):
the tassels and the trunks and the face paint and everything.
You know, he's some type of warrior and he you
know for the time, you know, the bright colors and
the running and everything, it all adds up. And I really,
you know, I'm not trying to copy Cody Brow, but
really it does help tell the story. To me. It's
(14:03):
part of the foundation of the story. You know, just
like the rockers, you know, midnight Rockers, you see them,
they're ready to party. That was the thing at the time,
was the neon colors and the spandex and the earrings
and the long mullets and you know what I mean,
(14:24):
so you know it's not for me, it's it's literally
a passion, and you know it goes so much more
than a costume. I I can't stand it when people say, oh,
they make wrestlers costumes, it's not a costumes. I realized
(14:44):
they're not their gimmick. But it's not really a costume
to me. It's like a whole nucleus of building, Like, Okay,
I see what you're selling. Now show me what you're selling, right,
you know, promost and yet you know, bring work the
(15:06):
whole nine yards. I wish, you know, I wish that
that was still kind of the thought process with gear
and over the eras you kind of see it shift
away from that and it's like, no, you've really got
to craft your gear based off of what you're trying
to show people what you're trying to sell them.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
Right, I almost think it went. I think it still
does really help tell the story. I just think that
in the nineties and maybe early two thousands, it was
still very simple designs, very like you said, what is
your gimmick? And obviously at that point, like the late nineties,
early two thousands, it kind of shifted to less uh,
over the top characters more like based on real people.
(15:52):
But then it kind of shifted back a little bit
as well, where we do have so much of these
over the top and I think we have now at
the point where you have a lot of the gear
is so intricate and there's so much little details that
a lot of them will put in, Like I know
Seth has done it multiple times with the Dusty Rhodes
Polka dots. Multiple people have done the Fiend after bray
(16:14):
Wyatt passed away, And like I hear, you know, obviously
the New Day are so into video games and anime
and that whole culture that they try to you know,
match as much as they can inspired by their gear,
So like I almost think that people are kind of yes,
they're doing their characters, but since also their real life
(16:35):
people try to put that in their gear as well.
I don't know if you've seen that making the gears
along the.
Speaker 3 (16:40):
Years as well, you know, you see it, you do.
I mean, I think that was a very great example,
was the New Day. But even Xavier was when he
was consequences, was it consequences Creed? Yes, ma'am saying that
right for Tannate? Yeah, even then, same thing with Jay
(17:05):
Lethal you see that a lot too, and so you
know with I think with now, you don't really see
you don't see the gimmick gimmicks like we did in
the nineties, you know, like Mantar Papa Shango, Ultimate Warrior,
(17:26):
things like that. You don't see that too much like
you may see it with Soul Taker or you know,
all the variations of Cain out there on the Indy
theme that I just absolutely I actually do like seeing those,
Like what variation are they going to come up with next?
You know? Great? Yeah, blue Cane? Blue Cane is great?
(17:53):
Is it game? The gay Kine? I think it's game.
I love that because he actually dances and stuff, and
it's like, oh my gosh, what if Kine actually did that?
Like I would have marked out watching his kid, I
mean that the house.
Speaker 2 (18:11):
You may have gotten him to do it, but yeah,
on TV, there's no way.
Speaker 3 (18:14):
Yeah. Maybe during his tag team run with Daniel Brian
might have might have gotten came to dance. I mean
we got him to hug right, So but you know
it just with the gimmicks. Now people have their wrestling
(18:35):
personas where it's it's just a person with a different personality.
You know what I mean, whereas like Mansar, I don't
God rest his soul. I don't even remember what that
was supposed to be, Like, was that supposed to be
like half animal? Because it's the huge head that couldn't
(18:57):
get into the ring that throws me off. But you know,
you don't see that. You just see people, you know,
Jesse James, you know, Roade Dog Jess James. No, he's
obviously Brian James, but you know he's a person person,
not so much a gimmick, I guess, you know, in wrestling,
(19:20):
same thing with Billy Gunn. You know, they just change
their name, but they're a person, you know, and not
a person that's like got some convoluted let's really suspend
your imagination here, you know. And so with that, you know,
(19:42):
people just kind of go with the color scheme, throw
the logos on there, and that's that, you know. And
so some of my clients are outlaws, so technically they're
kind of a gimmick, but they're kind of a person still,
(20:03):
and so they add certain attributes to their gear to Okay,
I'm a cowboy, so I'm gonna wear a lot of
brown and wear a lot of black. I may have
snake print. I may not have snake print. You know,
let me put you know, a bulls, you know, skeleton,
(20:26):
skull whatever, you know, I mean kind of like they
do like Steve Austin. Steve Austin is a great, great
representation of that. I mean, yeah, he only wore the
black trunks. Less is more, but you know his best,
you know, with the skull and you know stone called
(20:47):
Steve Aoston three sixteen or you know whatever. Other I mean,
he's had three or four different black leather vests. But
that seems to be kind of like the rule some
with some people. And so you know, I'm hoping that
(21:08):
people will start investing more into their characters. That's the
word I was looking for, not gimmicks. Characters. There we go,
so we straight away from gimmicks to characters. Now are there.
Speaker 2 (21:24):
I've heard there's not a lot of people making gear
out there. I mean, there might be making people making gear,
but they're might making quality gear like you are. Have
you heard that there there's a shortage of people making
quality gear.
Speaker 3 (21:36):
I don't think that it's a shortage of people making
quality gear because I can list you at least nine
maybe eight off on my hands thinking about it that
make quality gear. I think that people forget that the
(21:59):
ratio of gear maker to wrestlers, even just in the
United States alone, there's not enough of us to go around,
there really isn't. Some people have private gear makers that
they kind of gate key because they don't want their
(22:22):
gear maker to get over booked and then they can't
get it in a specific amount of time that they
may want it or need it, especially if they are
somebody that wants to get gear every other week or
every two weeks, you know. But there is a plethora
(22:45):
of gear makers out there, you know. And I think
a part of it too is a lot of the
gear makers that are still fairly busy, or I shouldn't
say fairly busy, they're massively busy that are active today.
(23:07):
The majority of them are also workers, and so they're
wrestling too on top of that, so they may not
take as many people just because they want to balance
their career too, and they have other goals that they
want to get. I will tell you, finding somebody that
(23:29):
just solely does gear and nothing nothing else is few
and far between anymore. I don't know why that is,
but I've noticed that, like the majority of the gear
makers that I know, they're either still working or they're
former workers that are transitioning out, and they're really good
(23:54):
at gear making.
Speaker 2 (23:56):
Yeah. I know a couple where I know some workers that, yeah,
they do their own and it's I mean, it's fantastic stuff.
And I'm like, you know, you are saving yourself a
lot of money, I guess, not having somebody else do it,
but if you could do it. And then, like you said,
some of them really do do gear for other people
because once they find out that they do gear like
oh yeah. And then again, of course it's always like
what are you charging? How fast you turn it around?
(24:18):
Stuff like that. But you said, if they are also
working themselves, it's going to get them or it's gonna
take them a lot longer just to get it. You know,
somebody else's gear up exactly.
Speaker 3 (24:29):
And you know, I had said something probably a couple
of weeks ago, and is I think it was kind
of misconstrued or purposely taken the wrong way. But I'm
not for everyone, right, my peers, they may not be
for everyone. You may just want somebody that takes your design,
(24:51):
recreates it and shoots it out great, right, fantastic. I'm
happy for everybody. There's some that, like myself, you know,
we are too oriented in it in the sense of no,
(25:12):
this is the foundation and this that and the other,
you know what I mean, Like it's some navy seal job,
you know, and it's like we got to put this
puzzle together, and it's like, look, I just want to
be an outlaw, you know, and I'm like, no, you
need to, you know. But really, I mean a lot
(25:33):
of it. Everybody has their preference as to what's customer service,
what they want out of a gear maker, what they're
looking for specifically in a gear maker. It's just like
you know, trying on shoes, you just kind of find
one that matches what you're looking for, whether that's price point,
(25:56):
turnaround time. You know. There's some that may just make
what you send them and if you know it looks
the way it does, it looks the way it does.
Some there's some that will be like, you know what,
I love this design. I love what you got here,
but you know this doesn't really match this, you know,
(26:20):
color wise or pattern wise, you know, And some people
don't like that. They're like, well, I didn't pay you
for your thoughts. I just want you to make this
and go on. And so I think it's just kind
of like everybody's different. You know, not everybody is a
fan of Burger King they go to McDonald's. Just like
not everybody's fan of McDonald's they go to Burger King,
(26:42):
you know. And I think that's what it is with gear,
is just finding somebody that works with your personality and
what your expectations are. I don't think it's so much
of a lack of quality. It's just finding what works
(27:05):
for you when it comes to getting here. You know,
communication is everything, right, and I tell my clients that
all time, and that you know, that's why I say
I'm not for everyone, because I communicate a lot. Like
I want to give you a play by plane. I
got your fabricn I got your template done, I got this,
(27:25):
I got this, I got this. I'm not someone you
pay you. Give them your design, give them your measurements,
your logos, the whole nine yards, and then I don't
say anything to you except for here's your tracking number,
here's photos boom. Like I want to make sure I'm
getting what you're wanting me to get from this design,
(27:48):
you know, Like am I nailing it. Are you happy
with this because this is an investment. Yeah, to me,
it's an investment. You know, whether you spend two hundred
dollars to two grand, you're still your hard earned money
is going into this. There's a lot of people out there.
(28:09):
You know, when I was growing up, guys were living
in their truck, eating porking beans to get to the
next show, and they would have done whatever it took
to ascertain the look, you know, whatever it took to
get that booking, to get signed everything. And you know,
(28:30):
obviously we've had many eras since the nineties and not
changes over time. And if you don't evolve with the business,
you can get left behind, whether you're a year maker
or a worker.
Speaker 2 (28:43):
Yep, you know.
Speaker 3 (28:44):
And so now it's there's a lot of people that
just they think it's a lot better or easier just
to go to Amazon or order something online, have a
friend slap a logo on it. You know. Well, if
you take your career seriously and you want to be
(29:06):
signed and you want to be noticed, well they could
probably book this guy over here that's just as talented,
that charges the less of a working rate, and they
could slap the same thing on them from Amazon with
the logo and get you know, you know what I mean,
Like you're not setting yourself apart. And I think sometimes
(29:29):
that that gets lost, like gear sets you apart from
the next person. Yep, you no weekend wrestlers, you know
death Well, I know a lot of death match wrestlers
that actually have pretty good gear. But if I was
(29:49):
a deathmatch wrestler, I don't think that I would want
to buy expensive gear only for it to get holes
and tears and god knows what else. I guess fluorescent lighting,
dust or you know what I mean, Like I probably
wouldn't invest in gear at that point just because you're
(30:13):
gonna tear it and you might as well save the
money to get it repaired or just order new. Yeah,
but gear, gear, gear should be like top priority, what's
your training? And you know also a lot of that
too is I try to keep it. I try to
(30:35):
keep things where people can look great. But you know,
I do try to remember that we're in era now
where a lot of these wrestlers have to work shoot
jobs or you know, they're still paying for training, they're
still you know, they don't get their travel and food
and all that paid for, you know, sometimes they take
(30:59):
last minute books, you know. And so for me it's
I want you to look great. I want you to
be able to afford it too, you know. And so
for me doing gear isn't it does? It does obviously
pay my my living, It pays for me to raise
(31:21):
my child, It keeps the roof over her head and stuff.
Speaker 2 (31:25):
I do know, I know what you mean where there.
I believe that the gear really almost tells more about
you than you even opening your mouth before anything like it,
Like it says everything, especially when it comes to the
entrances or walk into a ring or you know, you
want to tell this story of like you could have
(31:45):
anything underneath your gear, whether I mean whatever your body
looks like, whether it be you know, jackets and everything
like that, and you could really kind of tell who
you are, and then you know, as soon as you
start wrestling, you can tell the rest of that story.
So I very much agree with what you're saying that
year is very important to a wrestler.
Speaker 3 (32:03):
It is, it is. And you know, sometimes I take
gear commissions and people just look at me and like,
I can't believe he made it. I made one that
I didn't realize initially what it represented. Thank god, it
(32:25):
wasn't too horrible. It was upside down pineapple, and I
had I did not know. I didn't know what that meant.
And then I found out exactly what that meant. And
I was like, you know what, I don't see anybody
else doing this, so I'll just go ahead and you know,
take one. And then my aunt, Princess Victoria, you know,
(32:49):
she shares my stuff and she she you know, like
I said, come in, you know, two different eras in
my growing up. She would tell me about gears she
got in Japan and you know, I've seen it, and
(33:10):
you know, just like you know how the guys would
be when they found a good gear maker, you know,
during her era and things like that. And so she
shares my stuff and she shared it one day and
I was like, oh my god. I could not get
to my phone quick enough to be like, uh, Aunt
(33:34):
VICKI do you know what that means? Because if you're
sharing this on such a large platform, I want you
to And she knew, she knew before I did, and
she's like, oh, yeah, I know what that is. That
means this, and I was like, oh my god, I
didn't know, you knew that, like, you know, and she's like,
I thought it was great, and I was like, okay, well,
(33:56):
if you love it, I love it too, you know.
But not a lot of people, you know. I I'm
kind of an odd ball when it comes to gear,
Like I do put. I do work every single day.
It doesn't matter that I have a schedule. I have
a communications schedule because that's like when I'm trying to
(34:19):
spend time with my kids, but I generally am doing
something gear related every single day. I can't stay away
from it. I don't know what it is, but I'm
just like, oh, I kind of want to work on this,
and then by the end of the night it's a
set and it's like oops, you know where it Yeah,
(34:40):
where did the day go? You know. But I'm just
one of those like, if you show me something, even
if it may be politically incorrect or whatever it is,
if it looks like it could be a challenge sewing
or get it over, I wanna I want to mess
(35:03):
with it. Some people are like, I want to stay
away from anything, but the Pineapple kind of opened up
the floodgate for that, and I'm like, as long as
it's not bullying, you know, like being I guess uninclusive,
you know, to a disability or orientation or anything. I'm
(35:26):
willing to do it. But if it's you know, something
negative like that, no I won't take it. But I
mean I do. I do get a lot of interesting things.
I do get a lot of anime that seems to
be a huge hit, but I think my favorite would
probably be more cultural based. Okay, I have I have
(35:51):
one client, Jacob Tella. I do a lot of Polynesian
specific design lettering. Yeah, he's a great guy. I think
we're on gear number four or five now, and I
had to come back in twenty twenty four and he
(36:12):
was like, I think my second client back. And so
it's been great because he's just he's made such elite
in his career as the Texas wrestler, you know, and
then he's lost a lot of weight too and kind
of got really lean, and so it's been awesome just
(36:36):
like seeing all these x out marks of his measurements
over a period of time, and he just see these
singlets getting smaller and smaller and smaller, and it's like,
oh man, I'm gonna have to start making your logo
smaller because they're gonna go around you instead of across you,
(36:58):
you know. But he's he's one of my I really,
you know, I really love doing his lettering. It's almost
like therapeutic. And now I'm at the point because there's
so many little parts that you have to stitch down
with Polynesian lettering. I can almost do it in my sleep.
I've done it so much, you know. So I mean
(37:21):
I just did a tag set for him and Don
Fernando for the Don Dynasty coming Back, and I did
a robe and tights for Don, and then for Tacob,
I did his typical you know, single it that he gets,
but then added on knee pad covers with fringe, you know.
(37:48):
And so I really like doing the cultural stuff because
I don't just google it, like I really want to
kind of dig and be like, okay, well what does
this mean? What does this mean? What is he trying
to sell? Because he's Samoe and Dragon, this that and
(38:08):
the other. And so you learn a lot about different
cultures and you know, respect and you know obviously something
some cultures you know you're not supposed to do unless
you belong to that culture. So again that helps me
with that knowing what I can do what I should
(38:29):
stay away from. Yes, it's wrestling that the same time,
I do believe in giving respect to other cultures, you know.
So I mean it's fun there. There is fun in gear.
Some days it can be I want to pull my
(38:51):
hair out because I'm waiting on USPS or UPS, you know,
or I think when I first got here, you know,
we had two floods, two separate floods. The first flood
actually affected me because I live on a one way
(39:14):
service road, so they weren't letting people onto my service road.
So USPS just wasn't delivering our mail, and so that
kind of put me behind. You know, you wouldn't think
it would put me behind a couple of weeks. But
when you're trying to do everybody else and maintain some
(39:36):
sense of order, but stuff isn't coming in because of that,
it can be a complicated process, you know. So I
try to anything that I used a lot of, I
try to just keep in stock so I'm never running
out to deal with that. But also, you know, sometimes
(40:00):
some gimmicks, I get really cool stuff custom printed fabric.
So you know, you may see gear for Johnny Faith
and he's a us army that like myself, and he
had an amazing design done by I think it's Derek
the Winter in the UK and it's you know, dog
(40:23):
tags and you know, just very it's very his gear
is very army that related. It's very you know, you
know what you're getting when you see him do his entrance,
you know what's coming. And not a lot of people
do that gimmick very well. I mean, we had Sergeant's slaughter,
(40:47):
but he wasn't even a veteran, you know. And so
with me and Johnny, you know, it's like, okay, we
were both in. We may have been like hit and
miss a year, one coming out while the other one
was going in or something like that. So you know,
the military uniforms changed, you know, quite a bit during
(41:10):
that time. So we you know, we have one set
that is the Woodland you know BDU that you know,
my dad wore for the longest time. And then you
know our ACU Light Digital, which is pretty much what
I wore when I was in. So you know, things
(41:31):
like that I really loved doing. You know, like when
I know when you walk out, they're going to know
exactly who you are and what you're about. I love
that I love that. I love that too, you know,
And and honestly, you got to watch his promos. He's
he's really good guy and he really he really does
(41:54):
it well. I mean, obviously he was a veteran, so,
but other than that, like wrestling wise, he really puts
puts it all in there with the gimmick itself. So,
and then there was another one, Eli Driftwood, which I
believe was maybe derived from Odds Driftwood with the House
(42:16):
of a Thousand Corpses. Maybe I don't know, it's psycho
clown circus. That one we got custom printed fabric for
and it's blood splatter all over it.
Speaker 2 (42:27):
That's cool.
Speaker 3 (42:28):
Yeah, And he had like a matching blazer that he
had from another set of gear with a top hat
and it just you know, we did a zipper vest
and he had actually sent me photos of my nephew's gear,
my nephew, Trayvon Ali, he's Black Diamond Ali out in
(42:49):
North Carolina. I typically do tights in a zipper vest
for him, and so he sent me photos of his
gear that he did or of Trey gear that he
wore for WrestleMania Weekend booking. And we pretty much same
template idea, but I added a collar so he could
(43:12):
wear a tie with it if he wanted to like that,
you know, so he can flip the collar down where
the tie, wear it as a suit, you know, And
so things like that I really really enjoy because it
kind of it sort of touches with the gimmicks growing up,
(43:34):
but then it's still the character and not so much
a gimmick, you know what I mean. So those things
that those things can be really fun in gear, and
we're working on I think I'm working on a third
commission for Johnny now, which is just it's still the
ACU light from the first gear that he got, but
(43:57):
just a different matching top to go with those tights.
Speaker 2 (44:02):
That's awesome. Yeah, I love it when people put that
kind of detail. And I love that you are so
communicative with the people, and like you said, you're not
just trying to be like, Okay, this is what they want,
I'm just going to do this. You're like, all right, well,
let's really kind of delve into what story are we telling,
What can we do with this gear that you know
other people aren't doing, or just the little details like
(44:23):
you said, just about like adding that collar, just in
case he wanted to we're a tie or anything. So
I love that and that was his.
Speaker 3 (44:29):
That was his because he likes wearing a tie. And
he was like, is there a possible way we could
out a collar? And I'm like, you know, I didn't
really think about, you know, because my nephew, when he
first had the zipper vest done, he had a hood.
He had me put a hood on it back in
(44:49):
I think it was March February March that I got
that gear up to him and I was like, well,
I made it for a hood, so I had to
go back and I was like, you know what, I
think I can do that, Like let's let's see what
it looks like. Let's let's just see. And then we
both fell in love with it and it was like, okay,
we'll keep it, you know. And and sometimes you know,
(45:14):
with gear, one of my clients who is also a
collaborator with me on some of the logo work, Sean Evans,
a face Kicked apparel his he's an Outlaws, so you know,
we did he did his logo for me and then
(45:34):
I put it on the tights and I was like,
you know what, instead of all being brown, let's add
some black to the belt loops to break it up,
and then that led to adding some black to his
matching best and so just little things can really break
things up and not you know, like a good example,
(45:58):
I had a client that wanted blue tights and their
logos were silver, and I was like, well, I was like,
I know you got silver logos, but and he had
a belt that he added on there and it was
just going to be blue, and I was like, well,
why don't I add some silver to the belt because
(46:18):
I don't want you to look like a smurf. Because
that's what I was really worried about, was like I
just don't want you to be like blue, which is
like random suspects the silver here and there, you know.
And so that's a part of the communication because it's
not to me. I don't want to just get a
design that, you know, because nine times I'll tend the
(46:41):
designs I do get. They went to a gear designer,
had this person make the design for them, great work.
I haven't really had a bad design from anybody. And
then they're like, well, you know, I feel like some
I'm missing, And then that's when you communicate with them,
(47:02):
like what do you think is missing, like what is
you know, And they'll tell me like, well, I kind
of you know, I'm supposed to be a high flyer
or I'm supposed to be this, or I'm supposed to
be that, and you know, sometimes they get stuck on
what they do in the ring, and it's like, no,
(47:23):
you know, the design's not so much about like what
you do in the ring, you know, if you're a
high flyer, if you're a grappler technician. You know, it's
what do you want them to know about you? Right?
You know, you want them to be a fan of you,
not just what you can do in the ring, you know,
but she want them by your merch. You want them
(47:43):
to come to every show, you know, you want them
tell their friends about you. You know, at least that's
what I'm assuming the goals are. I'm not a worker,
so I don't know like everybody. You know, it's just
like every worker, their dream isn't always the e you
know what I mean, Like they're mount rushmore like, oh,
(48:06):
I want to make it to wrestle. Mme. Well that's
not everybody's goal, you know, And so I don't get
like personal personal with my clients but like I do
delve in, like when there's some apprehension like they feel
like something's missing, or you know, there's something that's said
(48:27):
that it's kind of like you know, a fish hook,
and it's like, uh, okay, before I start this, let's
go over this, you know. So I just feel like
it's really important. I don't know if it's because I'm
tight with my money that I'm just like, I want
to make sure that this is what you want because
(48:50):
this is an investment in you. You know, I want
you to be successful because if you look good, I
look good, right, you know, I mean not always not.
You know, I don't think gear makers get the credit
that they should in some in some instances because there's
(49:14):
there's a lot of talent out there that's even been
on TV back in the day that it's like it
has to be their gear maker making them look great,
you know, Like I don't I don't know how they
got on television. Had to be the gear you know.
But you know, I hope we get back to that
that people realize how important gear makers are because I
(49:37):
can tell you I have a lot of peers out
there that are just great. They're phenomenal I mean, you know,
and I don't think they get all the credit that
they should. But you know, there's a lot of great
It's it's never so much about quality, it's just finding
the right one for you.
Speaker 2 (49:58):
Yes, definitely if people did want to contact you and
you know, to start the conversation about getting gear made
or anything like that, what is the best way for
people to reach out to you?
Speaker 3 (50:09):
So the best way is I know Instagram has my
email on my profile. I don't know why that is.
I don't always get email notifications. You know this, But
you can reach out on TikTok and reach out on
ig on under Saffron Gear. You can reach out on
(50:32):
Facebook Saffron Gear. I'm pretty quick to respond. You know,
have your logos, have your design, you know ready, have
your measurement. I can't stress that enough. If there is
a measurement missing for what you're wanting, I will definitely
(50:56):
let you know. Okay, but I also need this, this
and this, you know, and there's so many gear designers
out there. Stop using AI because here's the thing. And
I don't think a lot of workers know this unless
they have a background with it. There's just some things
(51:21):
aren't achievable because AI like the blending, Like I can't
make two fabrics blend. I really can't. They're solids. They're
not liquid, so I mean I can't. You know. Ah,
same thing with logos. They're not very there. You can't
really read them on certain machines anyway. You know, there's
(51:44):
better chain designs, there's can Kobe Designs, Derek de Winter
in the UK. I mean, I could list them all
day long under the sun, but these people can hammer
you out a design with logos where there's no question
(52:04):
asked what needs to be done or how it's supposed
to be done, for relatively cheap, so there's no need
to really use a I. You know. The whole point
of the gear process is you need gear. You probably
needed it yesterday, but due to procrastination or training or
(52:26):
a sudden booking, you didn't get it. Now you need it.
Go to one of these designers. They will put you
together a design, your logo images, and all you have
to do is get me payment and the measurements and
it's a done deal. You know. But AI is really,
(52:46):
you know, taking jobs from good people in this business,
and it kind of gives them unrealistic expectations of what
their gear's going to look like, right, and you know
they're just looking at the overall. They're not looking at
the details until they get their gear and they're like, well,
(53:08):
this isn't quite Well, that's because you use AI, which
isn't real. You know, it's not real at least a
gear designer. You know it's an actual, you know template,
this is what needs to be done. Here's the logos,
this is what you know. It'll be pretty close. It
(53:28):
might not be dead on some people. It is some
people it's not, but you know it's more realistic, and
you know, definitely go to a gear designer. I've gotten
designs that were colored with paint on a phone over
(53:51):
existing gear, like yeah, but I want this, and here's
like a hot pink squiggly line, and over here's like
a white squiggly line. Like, just got a geared designer.
It will save you a headache, and it's worth it.
All of those people I listed definitely are worth it.
I have done designs over the years from all of them,
(54:12):
and I've never really had any trouble. I knew what
I was supposed to do and I did it. There
you go, But just reach out on all the social media's,
preferably not my personal ones. That's why I have staffron
gears so I can have a break, you know, for
family and stuff. But I'm pretty quick on getting back
(54:34):
to people and breaking it down. And you know, I
hope that I'm still around for another lifetime because I joke.
I joke with my Michigan people I've been I'm older
than rocks and water. I just don't quite look it,
but I'm older than rocks and water. So I'm hoping
(54:56):
to be here. I still have two bucket lis things
that I want to achieve before I ever thought about retiring,
and that's Triple A and CML. Oh. You know, my
non bio dad has wrestled and stuff in Japan and
(55:16):
everywhere else, but those are two places I don't believe
that my stuff has been seen. And so that's that's
my goals. And then I'll consider retiring after that. I
don't I don't foresee it. I think I'm probably going
to be on my death been making here because I
(55:37):
just I try. I really do try to take a break,
I really do, but I just love it that much.
I love sewing that much. It's an outlet for me.
It's not so much of the money part. It's it's
an outlet. It's creativity outlet for me. And just seeing
all these kids start out at like seven or eighteen
(56:01):
and now they're you know, almost thirty, and you just
see them, you know, they're elevating and they're getting more
body confident, They're getting confident and wearing bright colors, whereas
they just want to wear black gear when they first started.
You know, it's like watching your children grow. Literally, some
(56:21):
of these kids, especially my North Carolina kids, they it's
like watching them just grow up. You know. My nephew,
he is he has his specific fabric he likes that
is gray, white and black and just switching up how
we do it and you know, in configuration. And then
(56:46):
he warmed his auntie's heart by letting me do red
gear top and bottom. I was like, oh color. You know,
I was just such a proud aunt that he wore red,
you know. And then the same thing with Jake. Jacob
for the longest time would only wear black. And then
I remember, you know, his goals kind of wanted it,
(57:09):
you know, go in a more lucha direction. And then
he sprung on me probably a couple of weeks after
my mom had passed. Her favorite color was red. Everything
had be red, and he sprung on me and he's like,
I want to read singlet. And she loved watching me
(57:30):
do Jacob's gear, you know, because she could see the
size going down and he's like doing so much more,
you know, And she never met him, but she would
just you know, enjoy seeing me make his ear, and
you know, it just I had a hard time making
that one because her loss was still so fresh. But
(57:50):
at the same time, it's like, oh, if she saw
this red, she would just mark out because he's wearing red.
And then this time he got to wear white, so
I was like, oh my gosh, you know, so I'm
really proud of him too. It's great. It's great seeing people,
(58:12):
you know, come out of their shell and be like,
you know what, I can wear this and I'm going
to and they do and they make it look fabulous.
They make my work look fabulous.
Speaker 2 (58:23):
I love it. Well, Tina, thank you so much for
your time. I feel like I could talk to you
for hours just about stories from back of the day
and you know, just different things about what's happening with
wrestling in general. But you know, we'll save that for
part two. And I would love to have you.
Speaker 3 (58:36):
Back anytime, anytime. You just called me up and maybe
by then I'll mark Triple A and cmol off my
off my bucket list. If any listeners are listening, you're
gonna wrestle Lot one Thos. Hit me up for sure,
because it's on my bucket list exactly.
Speaker 2 (58:55):
We're gonna make that happen, all right. Thank you so
much to Tina for being on the show again. If
you are in the business and you need gear made,
(59:17):
definitely hit up Tina with Saffron gear. She can help
you out, or she can steer you to another direction
if that's where you need, but you're going to get
some great gear either way. So I love this conversation
and I cannot wait to have her back on the
show now. While you're following her on social media, definitely
make sure to follow us on social media.
Speaker 1 (59:34):
It is bruisers Pod.
Speaker 2 (59:35):
That is b R E W S E R S
p O D on the Instagram, the threads, and the Twitter.
If you want to send us an email, it is
Bruiserspod at gmail dot com. If you want to follow
me directly, it is Roady John. That is our O
d I E j O N. Roady John is the
name on the Twitter and an untapped in case you
want to find out when i'mdrinking. Maybe were gonna have
a beer together. If you want to follow me on
the threads or the Instagram. It is official word of John.
(59:56):
So t next time, make sure to enjoy life, drink
local mid chairs three three fo
Welcome to Bruisers podcast. Well, beer, coffee, booze and Bruisers.
I am your host, Roddy John and today we talked
to Tina with Saffron Gear. We talked about how she
got started sewing, the importance of gear, and so much more.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
This is such a fun conversation. Tina has been around
the world of wrestling for a long time and she
was raised by some of the greats in wrestling as well.
So you don't want to hear from me, you want
to hear from her. So, without further ado, here is
Tina with Saffron Gear. I would like to welcome the
(00:57):
show with Tina with Saffron Gear. How are you doing?
Speaker 3 (01:00):
I'm doing fabulous. How are you.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
I'm doing well. So for those listing kind of penis
or word picture at where are you at? Where it's
going on around you?
Speaker 3 (01:08):
So currently I'm at home in San Antonio, Texas. I
moved here in April and I am currently working on
two sets of tights, the one for a Texas wrestler
Tomorris Shepherd, and then another set of tights for a
client in North Carolina, Elliott's Shop.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
Where did you move from?
Speaker 3 (01:34):
So before San Antonio I did have a brief stay
in San Marcus, but I moved from Nebraska. I had
left the business for a couple of years due to
health issues and started working a shoot job, and they
(01:56):
had actually moved me to Nebraska. I'm not from there.
I I'm sorry Nebraskans. I know you guys love your football,
your corn Huskers or whatever. Wait, I don't even know
if that's corn Huskers. It might just be Huskers. But
(02:18):
but no, it was literally like children up the corn,
just without the children doing all that. It was very
it was it was very plain, very you know, not
a lot going on, you know, just wheat and corn,
(02:42):
wheat and corn, and then if you look in the
distance you might see a prison, and then if you
look on the other side you might see another channel.
That's it was literally boring. I don't think we had
a Walmart, to be honest.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
That's insane that there wouldn't be a Walmart there.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
You would have to at least drive forty five minutes
wow to a different town either direction, you know, to
go to Walmart. Very so, you know, well, you know,
when I came here, I discovered lyt in Uber and
(03:23):
obviously Walmart and Walmart delivery. But it's there's not a
whole lot a whole lot there. It's definitely agricultural at best.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
What was your h Well, so where did you I
guess where'd you grew up before that?
Speaker 3 (03:42):
So? I come from a very long line of military service,
specifically Army that ended with me being the last one.
And and so we pretty much grew up everywhere. I
(04:04):
was born in Alaska.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (04:07):
We lived in New Jersey for at least like I
want to say, the first five years of my life.
And that's when I learned how to sow at six,
and then I started doing year, you know, sporadically, and
(04:29):
then it just kind of picked up eight.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Thank you for your service. As we're recording this, it
is better in this day. So thank you for your service.
So let's go all back in time. What is your
earliest memory of pro wrestling?
Speaker 3 (04:42):
Oh? I would say probably WCW's Saturday Night. I was
a huge mark for Jim Ross and Tony Shavoni. In fact,
my parents actually thought that I was autistic and maybe
(05:04):
a savant because I didn't talk like I do now
now you can't get me to shut up, But back
then I didn't talk at all unless I absolutely needed something.
And so the only time that I would actually talk
outside of needing something is listening to Jim Ross and
(05:28):
Tony Shabani. I don't know, I was just a huge
mart They were like my first fandom, I guess as
a child, and so, you know, it's kind of weird
how I got into gear at that age because my
(05:49):
parents were big fans. You know, we lived in New
Jersey and we were stationed at Fort Dix, and so
they went to a lot of show you know, in
New York. My dad primarily because of training. They'd send
them to New York for certain schools within the military,
(06:10):
and so he wouldn't meet a lot of the local wrestlers,
but he would also meet wrestlers that were on television.
And so the big thing back then was, you know,
they didn't hire babysitters. It was leave the door shut
and locked until we get home and don't answer it.
(06:34):
And so my sister would do that. Of course, she
wouldn't watch me. She'd just make sure no one's you know,
at the door every five seconds. And I would go
tinker with my mom's sewing machine. And that's basically how
I started learning how to sew, and then probably about
(06:59):
when I was seven, and like a year later, you know,
my mom would let me take you know, spandex because
spandex was the thing back in the nineties. Everybody wore spandex,
whether you were a wrestler or not. My parents used
to look like the anvil half the time. So they
(07:20):
would let me take their old spandex, and I mean,
I just started turning them into things that I would
see on TV. I wouldn't say nothing still to anybody,
you know, but I would. I would turn them into things.
And there was a local wrestler in New Jersey and
(07:40):
not New York, but in New Jersey, and he just
thought it was, you know something, being that young and
being able to do that, and it just kind of
started the wheels for my parents, like, well, we could
make money off of this, you know, it wasn't and
(08:01):
it was it was it was you know, here's the thing,
Like some people are like, oh, child labor, child labor.
You know that's horrible, because my parents did keep all
the money. I never saw anything besides you need to
do this, you need to do that. This is you know,
what they want, this is what they don't want, you know,
(08:21):
which when you're that age, you have to have somebody
kind of stay on top of you because you want
to be a kid, you know. So a part of
me like, I'm in the same boat. I'm like, oh,
they are such terrible parents, but you know, I got
a trade out of it. I got a skill set
(08:43):
out of it, you know. So it's kind of like
a double edged sword there. My parents made a lot
of money. I didn't, but I got a trade out
of it. So and that that lasted for a while
until a couple people on that Apparently my mom was
(09:03):
telling people she was doing it, and it wasn't her
doing it. It was just her saying that because a
child was doing it right. And so a couple of
people caught on, and you know, they had me stop
doing it for several years because they were looking at
(09:23):
some you know, ethical things that you know, what are
you doing, Like is this child labor? What is this?
You know, it's it wasn't. It was a different time
back then. It's not. It's not like how you see
on YouTube now where parents are like, yeah, be it
an entrepreneur, you know, you know, it was just such
(09:47):
a different time. But you know, while I didn't, you know,
see any of that. I just you know, how to
do all the work I did learn and trade, and
I'm very grateful for at least.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
That, right. I mean, like you said, if it was
happening nowadays, you would see it, like you said, all
over TikTok, all over the news. You know, young kid
makes wrestling gear for wrestlers. And you know, obviously are
all those kids make keeping all the money? Who knows.
But you know, whatever happens with the parents, happens with
(10:22):
the parents. That should stay within the family. But you know,
like you said, you learned to trade and you're still
doing it to this day. I mean, like you said,
you took a break for a little bit, but you
have a trade and now you're back into doing it.
Speaker 3 (10:35):
Yeah. I mean it's always been on and off. You know.
I picked it up again when I was fourteen, fixed
my parents' divorce, and you know, my mom needed help
with the household, so I would do it locally in
Missouri or whatever state she had us move to next.
(10:57):
And then I think I stopped doing it for a
little bit when I joined the Army, went through basic
did ai t you know, did all that, and then
I think when I got to my first duty station,
you know, I just would repair here instead doing full
(11:21):
sets because at that time I didn't know when I
was going to be deployed, and so I would really
feel bad if I took a year commission and then
they have to wait to see if I come back
to get it, you know. So I didn't really pick
it up again full time probably until two thousand and ten,
(11:47):
after I had gotten out, and even then it was
just you know, here or there. I wasn't trying to
do it full time. I was trying to graduate college.
You know, I was at the end of my college career,
I guess you could call it. And I was having
a baby, and so, you know, I was doing those things.
(12:11):
And then fast forward to two thousand and sixteen, I decided,
you know, I really loved doing this. Why didn't I
do this from the very beginning, like, you know, like
this is what I'm meant to do. I do. I
(12:32):
genuinely love wrestling. You know, I've never even when I
met first met JR. And Tony Shabani, I've just never
been one to actually mark out I just see it
as people who just happened to be more known to
(12:55):
others than myself, and they happen to be really talentedeople
that get paid more than I do. You know, at
the end of the day, we're all the same, and
so I just never really, you know, I love wrestling.
I love storytelling. I think gear, you know, is a
(13:18):
huge part of that because you know, if you go
back and you watch like nineties gear, while some of
it was kind of basic, less was more. You know,
you see Papa Shango's gear. You know, he's a shaman
of some sort. You know, you see ultimate Warrior with
(13:41):
the tassels and the trunks and the face paint and everything.
You know, he's some type of warrior and he you
know for the time, you know, the bright colors and
the running and everything, it all adds up. And I really,
you know, I'm not trying to copy Cody Brow, but
really it does help tell the story. To me. It's
(14:03):
part of the foundation of the story. You know, just
like the rockers, you know, midnight Rockers, you see them,
they're ready to party. That was the thing at the time,
was the neon colors and the spandex and the earrings
and the long mullets and you know what I mean,
(14:24):
so you know it's not for me, it's it's literally
a passion, and you know it goes so much more
than a costume. I I can't stand it when people say, oh,
they make wrestlers costumes, it's not a costumes. I realized
(14:44):
they're not their gimmick. But it's not really a costume
to me. It's like a whole nucleus of building, Like, Okay,
I see what you're selling. Now show me what you're selling, right,
you know, promost and yet you know, bring work the
(15:06):
whole nine yards. I wish, you know, I wish that
that was still kind of the thought process with gear
and over the eras you kind of see it shift
away from that and it's like, no, you've really got
to craft your gear based off of what you're trying
to show people what you're trying to sell them.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
Right, I almost think it went. I think it still
does really help tell the story. I just think that
in the nineties and maybe early two thousands, it was
still very simple designs, very like you said, what is
your gimmick? And obviously at that point, like the late nineties,
early two thousands, it kind of shifted to less uh,
over the top characters more like based on real people.
(15:52):
But then it kind of shifted back a little bit
as well, where we do have so much of these
over the top and I think we have now at
the point where you have a lot of the gear
is so intricate and there's so much little details that
a lot of them will put in, Like I know
Seth has done it multiple times with the Dusty Rhodes
Polka dots. Multiple people have done the Fiend after bray
(16:14):
Wyatt passed away, And like I hear, you know, obviously
the New Day are so into video games and anime
and that whole culture that they try to you know,
match as much as they can inspired by their gear,
So like I almost think that people are kind of yes,
they're doing their characters, but since also their real life
(16:35):
people try to put that in their gear as well.
I don't know if you've seen that making the gears
along the.
Speaker 3 (16:40):
Years as well, you know, you see it, you do.
I mean, I think that was a very great example,
was the New Day. But even Xavier was when he
was consequences, was it consequences Creed? Yes, ma'am saying that
right for Tannate? Yeah, even then, same thing with Jay
(17:05):
Lethal you see that a lot too, and so you
know with I think with now, you don't really see
you don't see the gimmick gimmicks like we did in
the nineties, you know, like Mantar Papa Shango, Ultimate Warrior,
(17:26):
things like that. You don't see that too much like
you may see it with Soul Taker or you know,
all the variations of Cain out there on the Indy
theme that I just absolutely I actually do like seeing those,
Like what variation are they going to come up with next?
You know? Great? Yeah, blue Cane? Blue Cane is great?
(17:53):
Is it game? The gay Kine? I think it's game.
I love that because he actually dances and stuff, and
it's like, oh my gosh, what if Kine actually did that?
Like I would have marked out watching his kid, I
mean that the house.
Speaker 2 (18:11):
You may have gotten him to do it, but yeah,
on TV, there's no way.
Speaker 3 (18:14):
Yeah. Maybe during his tag team run with Daniel Brian
might have might have gotten came to dance. I mean
we got him to hug right, So but you know
it just with the gimmicks. Now people have their wrestling
(18:35):
personas where it's it's just a person with a different personality.
You know what I mean, whereas like Mansar, I don't
God rest his soul. I don't even remember what that
was supposed to be, Like, was that supposed to be
like half animal? Because it's the huge head that couldn't
(18:57):
get into the ring that throws me off. But you know,
you don't see that. You just see people, you know,
Jesse James, you know, Roade Dog Jess James. No, he's
obviously Brian James, but you know he's a person person,
not so much a gimmick, I guess, you know, in wrestling,
(19:20):
same thing with Billy Gunn. You know, they just change
their name, but they're a person, you know, and not
a person that's like got some convoluted let's really suspend
your imagination here, you know. And so with that, you know,
(19:42):
people just kind of go with the color scheme, throw
the logos on there, and that's that, you know. And
so some of my clients are outlaws, so technically they're
kind of a gimmick, but they're kind of a person still,
(20:03):
and so they add certain attributes to their gear to Okay,
I'm a cowboy, so I'm gonna wear a lot of
brown and wear a lot of black. I may have
snake print. I may not have snake print. You know,
let me put you know, a bulls, you know, skeleton,
(20:26):
skull whatever, you know, I mean kind of like they
do like Steve Austin. Steve Austin is a great, great
representation of that. I mean, yeah, he only wore the
black trunks. Less is more, but you know his best,
you know, with the skull and you know stone called
(20:47):
Steve Aoston three sixteen or you know whatever. Other I mean,
he's had three or four different black leather vests. But
that seems to be kind of like the rule some
with some people. And so you know, I'm hoping that
(21:08):
people will start investing more into their characters. That's the
word I was looking for, not gimmicks. Characters. There we go,
so we straight away from gimmicks to characters. Now are there.
Speaker 2 (21:24):
I've heard there's not a lot of people making gear
out there. I mean, there might be making people making gear,
but they're might making quality gear like you are. Have
you heard that there there's a shortage of people making
quality gear.
Speaker 3 (21:36):
I don't think that it's a shortage of people making
quality gear because I can list you at least nine
maybe eight off on my hands thinking about it that
make quality gear. I think that people forget that the
(21:59):
ratio of gear maker to wrestlers, even just in the
United States alone, there's not enough of us to go around,
there really isn't. Some people have private gear makers that
they kind of gate key because they don't want their
(22:22):
gear maker to get over booked and then they can't
get it in a specific amount of time that they
may want it or need it, especially if they are
somebody that wants to get gear every other week or
every two weeks, you know. But there is a plethora
(22:45):
of gear makers out there, you know. And I think
a part of it too is a lot of the
gear makers that are still fairly busy, or I shouldn't
say fairly busy, they're massively busy that are active today.
(23:07):
The majority of them are also workers, and so they're
wrestling too on top of that, so they may not
take as many people just because they want to balance
their career too, and they have other goals that they
want to get. I will tell you, finding somebody that
(23:29):
just solely does gear and nothing nothing else is few
and far between anymore. I don't know why that is,
but I've noticed that, like the majority of the gear
makers that I know, they're either still working or they're
former workers that are transitioning out, and they're really good
(23:54):
at gear making.
Speaker 2 (23:56):
Yeah. I know a couple where I know some workers that, yeah,
they do their own and it's I mean, it's fantastic stuff.
And I'm like, you know, you are saving yourself a
lot of money, I guess, not having somebody else do it,
but if you could do it. And then, like you said,
some of them really do do gear for other people
because once they find out that they do gear like
oh yeah. And then again, of course it's always like
what are you charging? How fast you turn it around?
(24:18):
Stuff like that. But you said, if they are also
working themselves, it's going to get them or it's gonna
take them a lot longer just to get it. You know,
somebody else's gear up exactly.
Speaker 3 (24:29):
And you know, I had said something probably a couple
of weeks ago, and is I think it was kind
of misconstrued or purposely taken the wrong way. But I'm
not for everyone, right, my peers, they may not be
for everyone. You may just want somebody that takes your design,
(24:51):
recreates it and shoots it out great, right, fantastic. I'm
happy for everybody. There's some that, like myself, you know,
we are too oriented in it in the sense of no,
(25:12):
this is the foundation and this that and the other,
you know what I mean, Like it's some navy seal job,
you know, and it's like we got to put this
puzzle together, and it's like, look, I just want to
be an outlaw, you know, and I'm like, no, you
need to, you know. But really, I mean a lot
(25:33):
of it. Everybody has their preference as to what's customer service,
what they want out of a gear maker, what they're
looking for specifically in a gear maker. It's just like
you know, trying on shoes, you just kind of find
one that matches what you're looking for, whether that's price point,
(25:56):
turnaround time. You know. There's some that may just make
what you send them and if you know it looks
the way it does, it looks the way it does.
Some there's some that will be like, you know what,
I love this design. I love what you got here,
but you know this doesn't really match this, you know,
(26:20):
color wise or pattern wise, you know, And some people
don't like that. They're like, well, I didn't pay you
for your thoughts. I just want you to make this
and go on. And so I think it's just kind
of like everybody's different. You know, not everybody is a
fan of Burger King they go to McDonald's. Just like
not everybody's fan of McDonald's they go to Burger King,
(26:42):
you know. And I think that's what it is with gear,
is just finding somebody that works with your personality and
what your expectations are. I don't think it's so much
of a lack of quality. It's just finding what works
(27:05):
for you when it comes to getting here. You know,
communication is everything, right, and I tell my clients that
all time, and that you know, that's why I say
I'm not for everyone, because I communicate a lot. Like
I want to give you a play by plane. I
got your fabricn I got your template done, I got this,
(27:25):
I got this, I got this. I'm not someone you
pay you. Give them your design, give them your measurements,
your logos, the whole nine yards, and then I don't
say anything to you except for here's your tracking number,
here's photos boom. Like I want to make sure I'm
getting what you're wanting me to get from this design,
(27:48):
you know, Like am I nailing it. Are you happy
with this because this is an investment. Yeah, to me,
it's an investment. You know, whether you spend two hundred
dollars to two grand, you're still your hard earned money
is going into this. There's a lot of people out there.
(28:09):
You know, when I was growing up, guys were living
in their truck, eating porking beans to get to the
next show, and they would have done whatever it took
to ascertain the look, you know, whatever it took to
get that booking, to get signed everything. And you know,
(28:30):
obviously we've had many eras since the nineties and not
changes over time. And if you don't evolve with the business,
you can get left behind, whether you're a year maker
or a worker.
Speaker 2 (28:43):
Yep, you know.
Speaker 3 (28:44):
And so now it's there's a lot of people that
just they think it's a lot better or easier just
to go to Amazon or order something online, have a
friend slap a logo on it. You know. Well, if
you take your career seriously and you want to be
(29:06):
signed and you want to be noticed, well they could
probably book this guy over here that's just as talented,
that charges the less of a working rate, and they
could slap the same thing on them from Amazon with
the logo and get you know, you know what I mean,
Like you're not setting yourself apart. And I think sometimes
(29:29):
that that gets lost, like gear sets you apart from
the next person. Yep, you no weekend wrestlers, you know
death Well, I know a lot of death match wrestlers
that actually have pretty good gear. But if I was
(29:49):
a deathmatch wrestler, I don't think that I would want
to buy expensive gear only for it to get holes
and tears and god knows what else. I guess fluorescent lighting,
dust or you know what I mean, Like I probably
wouldn't invest in gear at that point just because you're
(30:13):
gonna tear it and you might as well save the
money to get it repaired or just order new. Yeah,
but gear, gear, gear should be like top priority, what's
your training? And you know also a lot of that
too is I try to keep it. I try to
(30:35):
keep things where people can look great. But you know,
I do try to remember that we're in era now
where a lot of these wrestlers have to work shoot
jobs or you know, they're still paying for training, they're
still you know, they don't get their travel and food
and all that paid for, you know, sometimes they take
(30:59):
last minute books, you know. And so for me it's
I want you to look great. I want you to
be able to afford it too, you know. And so
for me doing gear isn't it does? It does obviously
pay my my living, It pays for me to raise
(31:21):
my child, It keeps the roof over her head and stuff.
Speaker 2 (31:25):
I do know, I know what you mean where there.
I believe that the gear really almost tells more about
you than you even opening your mouth before anything like it,
Like it says everything, especially when it comes to the
entrances or walk into a ring or you know, you
want to tell this story of like you could have
(31:45):
anything underneath your gear, whether I mean whatever your body
looks like, whether it be you know, jackets and everything
like that, and you could really kind of tell who
you are, and then you know, as soon as you
start wrestling, you can tell the rest of that story.
So I very much agree with what you're saying that
year is very important to a wrestler.
Speaker 3 (32:03):
It is, it is. And you know, sometimes I take
gear commissions and people just look at me and like,
I can't believe he made it. I made one that
I didn't realize initially what it represented. Thank god, it
(32:25):
wasn't too horrible. It was upside down pineapple, and I
had I did not know. I didn't know what that meant.
And then I found out exactly what that meant. And
I was like, you know what, I don't see anybody
else doing this, so I'll just go ahead and you know,
take one. And then my aunt, Princess Victoria, you know,
(32:49):
she shares my stuff and she she you know, like
I said, come in, you know, two different eras in
my growing up. She would tell me about gears she
got in Japan and you know, I've seen it, and
(33:10):
you know, just like you know how the guys would
be when they found a good gear maker, you know,
during her era and things like that. And so she
shares my stuff and she shared it one day and
I was like, oh my god. I could not get
to my phone quick enough to be like, uh, Aunt
(33:34):
VICKI do you know what that means? Because if you're
sharing this on such a large platform, I want you
to And she knew, she knew before I did, and
she's like, oh, yeah, I know what that is. That
means this, and I was like, oh my god, I
didn't know, you knew that, like, you know, and she's like,
I thought it was great, and I was like, okay, well,
(33:56):
if you love it, I love it too, you know.
But not a lot of people, you know. I I'm
kind of an odd ball when it comes to gear,
Like I do put. I do work every single day.
It doesn't matter that I have a schedule. I have
a communications schedule because that's like when I'm trying to
(34:19):
spend time with my kids, but I generally am doing
something gear related every single day. I can't stay away
from it. I don't know what it is, but I'm
just like, oh, I kind of want to work on this,
and then by the end of the night it's a
set and it's like oops, you know where it Yeah,
(34:40):
where did the day go? You know. But I'm just
one of those like, if you show me something, even
if it may be politically incorrect or whatever it is,
if it looks like it could be a challenge sewing
or get it over, I wanna I want to mess
(35:03):
with it. Some people are like, I want to stay
away from anything, but the Pineapple kind of opened up
the floodgate for that, and I'm like, as long as
it's not bullying, you know, like being I guess uninclusive,
you know, to a disability or orientation or anything. I'm
(35:26):
willing to do it. But if it's you know, something
negative like that, no I won't take it. But I
mean I do. I do get a lot of interesting things.
I do get a lot of anime that seems to
be a huge hit, but I think my favorite would
probably be more cultural based. Okay, I have I have
(35:51):
one client, Jacob Tella. I do a lot of Polynesian
specific design lettering. Yeah, he's a great guy. I think
we're on gear number four or five now, and I
had to come back in twenty twenty four and he
(36:12):
was like, I think my second client back. And so
it's been great because he's just he's made such elite
in his career as the Texas wrestler, you know, and
then he's lost a lot of weight too and kind
of got really lean, and so it's been awesome just
(36:36):
like seeing all these x out marks of his measurements
over a period of time, and he just see these
singlets getting smaller and smaller and smaller, and it's like,
oh man, I'm gonna have to start making your logo
smaller because they're gonna go around you instead of across you,
(36:58):
you know. But he's he's one of my I really,
you know, I really love doing his lettering. It's almost
like therapeutic. And now I'm at the point because there's
so many little parts that you have to stitch down
with Polynesian lettering. I can almost do it in my sleep.
I've done it so much, you know. So I mean
(37:21):
I just did a tag set for him and Don
Fernando for the Don Dynasty coming Back, and I did
a robe and tights for Don, and then for Tacob,
I did his typical you know, single it that he gets,
but then added on knee pad covers with fringe, you know.
(37:48):
And so I really like doing the cultural stuff because
I don't just google it, like I really want to
kind of dig and be like, okay, well what does
this mean? What does this mean? What is he trying
to sell? Because he's Samoe and Dragon, this that and
(38:08):
the other. And so you learn a lot about different
cultures and you know, respect and you know obviously something
some cultures you know you're not supposed to do unless
you belong to that culture. So again that helps me
with that knowing what I can do what I should
(38:29):
stay away from. Yes, it's wrestling that the same time,
I do believe in giving respect to other cultures, you know.
So I mean it's fun there. There is fun in gear.
Some days it can be I want to pull my
(38:51):
hair out because I'm waiting on USPS or UPS, you know,
or I think when I first got here, you know,
we had two floods, two separate floods. The first flood
actually affected me because I live on a one way
(39:14):
service road, so they weren't letting people onto my service road.
So USPS just wasn't delivering our mail, and so that
kind of put me behind. You know, you wouldn't think
it would put me behind a couple of weeks. But
when you're trying to do everybody else and maintain some
(39:36):
sense of order, but stuff isn't coming in because of that,
it can be a complicated process, you know. So I
try to anything that I used a lot of, I
try to just keep in stock so I'm never running
out to deal with that. But also, you know, sometimes
(40:00):
some gimmicks, I get really cool stuff custom printed fabric.
So you know, you may see gear for Johnny Faith
and he's a us army that like myself, and he
had an amazing design done by I think it's Derek
the Winter in the UK and it's you know, dog
(40:23):
tags and you know, just very it's very his gear
is very army that related. It's very you know, you
know what you're getting when you see him do his entrance,
you know what's coming. And not a lot of people
do that gimmick very well. I mean, we had Sergeant's slaughter,
(40:47):
but he wasn't even a veteran, you know. And so
with me and Johnny, you know, it's like, okay, we
were both in. We may have been like hit and
miss a year, one coming out while the other one
was going in or something like that. So you know,
the military uniforms changed, you know, quite a bit during
(41:10):
that time. So we you know, we have one set
that is the Woodland you know BDU that you know,
my dad wore for the longest time. And then you
know our ACU Light Digital, which is pretty much what
I wore when I was in. So you know, things
(41:31):
like that I really loved doing. You know, like when
I know when you walk out, they're going to know
exactly who you are and what you're about. I love
that I love that. I love that too, you know,
And and honestly, you got to watch his promos. He's
he's really good guy and he really he really does
(41:54):
it well. I mean, obviously he was a veteran, so,
but other than that, like wrestling wise, he really puts
puts it all in there with the gimmick itself. So,
and then there was another one, Eli Driftwood, which I
believe was maybe derived from Odds Driftwood with the House
(42:16):
of a Thousand Corpses. Maybe I don't know, it's psycho
clown circus. That one we got custom printed fabric for
and it's blood splatter all over it.
Speaker 2 (42:27):
That's cool.
Speaker 3 (42:28):
Yeah, And he had like a matching blazer that he
had from another set of gear with a top hat
and it just you know, we did a zipper vest
and he had actually sent me photos of my nephew's gear,
my nephew, Trayvon Ali, he's Black Diamond Ali out in
(42:49):
North Carolina. I typically do tights in a zipper vest
for him, and so he sent me photos of his
gear that he did or of Trey gear that he
wore for WrestleMania Weekend booking. And we pretty much same
template idea, but I added a collar so he could
(43:12):
wear a tie with it if he wanted to like that,
you know, so he can flip the collar down where
the tie, wear it as a suit, you know, And
so things like that I really really enjoy because it
kind of it sort of touches with the gimmicks growing up,
(43:34):
but then it's still the character and not so much
a gimmick, you know what I mean. So those things
that those things can be really fun in gear, and
we're working on I think I'm working on a third
commission for Johnny now, which is just it's still the
ACU light from the first gear that he got, but
(43:57):
just a different matching top to go with those tights.
Speaker 2 (44:02):
That's awesome. Yeah, I love it when people put that
kind of detail. And I love that you are so
communicative with the people, and like you said, you're not
just trying to be like, Okay, this is what they want,
I'm just going to do this. You're like, all right, well,
let's really kind of delve into what story are we telling,
What can we do with this gear that you know
other people aren't doing, or just the little details like
(44:23):
you said, just about like adding that collar, just in
case he wanted to we're a tie or anything. So
I love that and that was his.
Speaker 3 (44:29):
That was his because he likes wearing a tie. And
he was like, is there a possible way we could
out a collar? And I'm like, you know, I didn't
really think about, you know, because my nephew, when he
first had the zipper vest done, he had a hood.
He had me put a hood on it back in
(44:49):
I think it was March February March that I got
that gear up to him and I was like, well,
I made it for a hood, so I had to
go back and I was like, you know what, I
think I can do that, Like let's let's see what
it looks like. Let's let's just see. And then we
both fell in love with it and it was like, okay,
we'll keep it, you know. And and sometimes you know,
(45:14):
with gear, one of my clients who is also a
collaborator with me on some of the logo work, Sean Evans,
a face Kicked apparel his he's an Outlaws, so you know,
we did he did his logo for me and then
(45:34):
I put it on the tights and I was like,
you know what, instead of all being brown, let's add
some black to the belt loops to break it up,
and then that led to adding some black to his
matching best and so just little things can really break
things up and not you know, like a good example,
(45:58):
I had a client that wanted blue tights and their
logos were silver, and I was like, well, I was like,
I know you got silver logos, but and he had
a belt that he added on there and it was
just going to be blue, and I was like, well,
why don't I add some silver to the belt because
(46:18):
I don't want you to look like a smurf. Because
that's what I was really worried about, was like I
just don't want you to be like blue, which is
like random suspects the silver here and there, you know.
And so that's a part of the communication because it's
not to me. I don't want to just get a
design that, you know, because nine times I'll tend the
(46:41):
designs I do get. They went to a gear designer,
had this person make the design for them, great work.
I haven't really had a bad design from anybody. And
then they're like, well, you know, I feel like some
I'm missing, And then that's when you communicate with them,
(47:02):
like what do you think is missing, like what is
you know, And they'll tell me like, well, I kind
of you know, I'm supposed to be a high flyer
or I'm supposed to be this, or I'm supposed to
be that, and you know, sometimes they get stuck on
what they do in the ring, and it's like, no,
(47:23):
you know, the design's not so much about like what
you do in the ring, you know, if you're a
high flyer, if you're a grappler technician. You know, it's
what do you want them to know about you? Right?
You know, you want them to be a fan of you,
not just what you can do in the ring, you know,
but she want them by your merch. You want them
(47:43):
to come to every show, you know, you want them
tell their friends about you. You know, at least that's
what I'm assuming the goals are. I'm not a worker,
so I don't know like everybody. You know, it's just
like every worker, their dream isn't always the e you
know what I mean, Like they're mount rushmore like, oh,
(48:06):
I want to make it to wrestle. Mme. Well that's
not everybody's goal, you know, And so I don't get
like personal personal with my clients but like I do
delve in, like when there's some apprehension like they feel
like something's missing, or you know, there's something that's said
(48:27):
that it's kind of like you know, a fish hook,
and it's like, uh, okay, before I start this, let's
go over this, you know. So I just feel like
it's really important. I don't know if it's because I'm
tight with my money that I'm just like, I want
to make sure that this is what you want because
(48:50):
this is an investment in you. You know, I want
you to be successful because if you look good, I
look good, right, you know, I mean not always not.
You know, I don't think gear makers get the credit
that they should in some in some instances because there's
(49:14):
there's a lot of talent out there that's even been
on TV back in the day that it's like it
has to be their gear maker making them look great,
you know, Like I don't I don't know how they
got on television. Had to be the gear you know.
But you know, I hope we get back to that
that people realize how important gear makers are because I
(49:37):
can tell you I have a lot of peers out
there that are just great. They're phenomenal I mean, you know,
and I don't think they get all the credit that
they should. But you know, there's a lot of great
It's it's never so much about quality, it's just finding
the right one for you.
Speaker 2 (49:58):
Yes, definitely if people did want to contact you and
you know, to start the conversation about getting gear made
or anything like that, what is the best way for
people to reach out to you?
Speaker 3 (50:09):
So the best way is I know Instagram has my
email on my profile. I don't know why that is.
I don't always get email notifications. You know this, But
you can reach out on TikTok and reach out on
ig on under Saffron Gear. You can reach out on
(50:32):
Facebook Saffron Gear. I'm pretty quick to respond. You know,
have your logos, have your design, you know ready, have
your measurement. I can't stress that enough. If there is
a measurement missing for what you're wanting, I will definitely
(50:56):
let you know. Okay, but I also need this, this
and this, you know, and there's so many gear designers
out there. Stop using AI because here's the thing. And
I don't think a lot of workers know this unless
they have a background with it. There's just some things
(51:21):
aren't achievable because AI like the blending, Like I can't
make two fabrics blend. I really can't. They're solids. They're
not liquid, so I mean I can't. You know. Ah,
same thing with logos. They're not very there. You can't
really read them on certain machines anyway. You know, there's
(51:44):
better chain designs, there's can Kobe Designs, Derek de Winter
in the UK. I mean, I could list them all
day long under the sun, but these people can hammer
you out a design with logos where there's no question
(52:04):
asked what needs to be done or how it's supposed
to be done, for relatively cheap, so there's no need
to really use a I. You know. The whole point
of the gear process is you need gear. You probably
needed it yesterday, but due to procrastination or training or
(52:26):
a sudden booking, you didn't get it. Now you need it.
Go to one of these designers. They will put you
together a design, your logo images, and all you have
to do is get me payment and the measurements and
it's a done deal. You know. But AI is really,
(52:46):
you know, taking jobs from good people in this business,
and it kind of gives them unrealistic expectations of what
their gear's going to look like, right, and you know
they're just looking at the overall. They're not looking at
the details until they get their gear and they're like, well,
(53:08):
this isn't quite Well, that's because you use AI, which
isn't real. You know, it's not real at least a
gear designer. You know it's an actual, you know template,
this is what needs to be done. Here's the logos,
this is what you know. It'll be pretty close. It
(53:28):
might not be dead on some people. It is some
people it's not, but you know it's more realistic, and
you know, definitely go to a gear designer. I've gotten
designs that were colored with paint on a phone over
(53:51):
existing gear, like yeah, but I want this, and here's
like a hot pink squiggly line, and over here's like
a white squiggly line. Like, just got a geared designer.
It will save you a headache, and it's worth it.
All of those people I listed definitely are worth it.
I have done designs over the years from all of them,
(54:12):
and I've never really had any trouble. I knew what
I was supposed to do and I did it. There
you go, But just reach out on all the social media's,
preferably not my personal ones. That's why I have staffron
gears so I can have a break, you know, for
family and stuff. But I'm pretty quick on getting back
(54:34):
to people and breaking it down. And you know, I
hope that I'm still around for another lifetime because I joke.
I joke with my Michigan people I've been I'm older
than rocks and water. I just don't quite look it,
but I'm older than rocks and water. So I'm hoping
(54:56):
to be here. I still have two bucket lis things
that I want to achieve before I ever thought about retiring,
and that's Triple A and CML. Oh. You know, my
non bio dad has wrestled and stuff in Japan and
(55:16):
everywhere else, but those are two places I don't believe
that my stuff has been seen. And so that's that's
my goals. And then I'll consider retiring after that. I
don't I don't foresee it. I think I'm probably going
to be on my death been making here because I
(55:37):
just I try. I really do try to take a break,
I really do, but I just love it that much.
I love sewing that much. It's an outlet for me.
It's not so much of the money part. It's it's
an outlet. It's creativity outlet for me. And just seeing
all these kids start out at like seven or eighteen
(56:01):
and now they're you know, almost thirty, and you just
see them, you know, they're elevating and they're getting more
body confident, They're getting confident and wearing bright colors, whereas
they just want to wear black gear when they first started.
You know, it's like watching your children grow. Literally, some
(56:21):
of these kids, especially my North Carolina kids, they it's
like watching them just grow up. You know. My nephew,
he is he has his specific fabric he likes that
is gray, white and black and just switching up how
we do it and you know, in configuration. And then
(56:46):
he warmed his auntie's heart by letting me do red
gear top and bottom. I was like, oh color. You know,
I was just such a proud aunt that he wore red,
you know. And then the same thing with Jake. Jacob
for the longest time would only wear black. And then
I remember, you know, his goals kind of wanted it,
(57:09):
you know, go in a more lucha direction. And then
he sprung on me probably a couple of weeks after
my mom had passed. Her favorite color was red. Everything
had be red, and he sprung on me and he's like,
I want to read singlet. And she loved watching me
(57:30):
do Jacob's gear, you know, because she could see the
size going down and he's like doing so much more,
you know, And she never met him, but she would
just you know, enjoy seeing me make his ear, and
you know, it just I had a hard time making
that one because her loss was still so fresh. But
(57:50):
at the same time, it's like, oh, if she saw
this red, she would just mark out because he's wearing red.
And then this time he got to wear white, so
I was like, oh my gosh, you know, so I'm
really proud of him too. It's great. It's great seeing people,
(58:12):
you know, come out of their shell and be like,
you know what, I can wear this and I'm going
to and they do and they make it look fabulous.
They make my work look fabulous.
Speaker 2 (58:23):
I love it. Well, Tina, thank you so much for
your time. I feel like I could talk to you
for hours just about stories from back of the day
and you know, just different things about what's happening with
wrestling in general. But you know, we'll save that for
part two. And I would love to have you.
Speaker 3 (58:36):
Back anytime, anytime. You just called me up and maybe
by then I'll mark Triple A and cmol off my
off my bucket list. If any listeners are listening, you're
gonna wrestle Lot one Thos. Hit me up for sure,
because it's on my bucket list exactly.
Speaker 2 (58:55):
We're gonna make that happen, all right. Thank you so
much to Tina for being on the show again. If
you are in the business and you need gear made,
(59:17):
definitely hit up Tina with Saffron gear. She can help
you out, or she can steer you to another direction
if that's where you need, but you're going to get
some great gear either way. So I love this conversation
and I cannot wait to have her back on the
show now. While you're following her on social media, definitely
make sure to follow us on social media.
Speaker 1 (59:34):
It is bruisers Pod.
Speaker 2 (59:35):
That is b R E W S E R S
p O D on the Instagram, the threads, and the Twitter.
If you want to send us an email, it is
Bruiserspod at gmail dot com. If you want to follow
me directly, it is Roady John. That is our O
d I E j O N. Roady John is the
name on the Twitter and an untapped in case you
want to find out when i'mdrinking. Maybe were gonna have
a beer together. If you want to follow me on
the threads or the Instagram. It is official word of John.
(59:56):
So t next time, make sure to enjoy life, drink
local mid chairs three three fo
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