Anwar Carrots Speaks On The Operations Of Peas & Carrots

2013 has been a strong year for Casey Veggies and the Peas & Carrots movement. New Jersey native Anwar Carrots and his decision- making has played a huge factor in the growth of the brand. His keen eye for upcoming trends and his ability to mesh bold colors like few other brands in street wear has made Anwar one of the strongest tastemakers in the West Coast.

Recently, Anwar sat down with XXL  to discuss his custom shoe with Puma, the Peas & Carrots collaboration with 40 Oz. Van, looking up to his favorite brands, why Pharrell's Ice Cream and Peas & Carrots at the same time maybe good for you and more. --Christian Mordi

XXL: Peas & Carrots seems to has grown in the past year, as you guys have 10 stores in your stock lists.
Anwar Carrots: Yeah we are actually in the midst of making updates to our stock list, as we have 15 new stores on the stock list. We have been picking and choosing carefully each spot we have representing our brand until we want to go full fledge and have the brand in stores all around the world.

How do you guys choose which stores you allow to hold large stocks of your line?
We choose the spots based off the personal relationships we have with stores. For example, we got a spot that supports us in Japan that reps us hard as well as Golf Wang and Freeminds, this is an actual homie I talk to on a regular basis. We are focused on keeping that integrity and putting our line in the spots we think are cool. A lot of these spots we had relationships when we go on tour with Odd Future and hitting these spots.

You guys have your clothing overseas in Paris. How did that come about?
Black Rainbow is the spot I had a relationship since I was 17 and working at Rouge Status. I know the owner personally. They are very influential and those are the types of people I like to build with and have my brand in their stores.

Over the past year Casey was apart of the LRG look book campaign. Tell us a little bit about that.
We were in the middle of a campaign, and we did a hat with them. We pushed it online and we sold out all units in a day. Then they asked us to do a shoot with them for magazine work. It was a really good look for Casey. They were looking to do more lifestyle stuff, they were focused on a lot of skateboarding and snowboarding and they saw a chance to build on the lifestyle side. Casey is a lifestyle artist, his last project was named Life Changes.

You are the creative mind behind a lot of these moves, how do you go about choosing which lines make sense to have Casey to be apart of, yet still not take away from the PNC line?
I would say the two things I go with are aesthetic and intuition. I go with my heart. If we actually like the brand makes a huge difference. Is the brand one that we like where it is going or one we looked up to in the past? These are huge factors.

Are there any brands you looked up to in the past?
We want to do more lifestyle things. A brand like Ice Cream would be cool to work with. It’s a lifestyle brand that is the total opposite of us, but it matches the aesthetic. It’s a good and a bad. Like mixing angels food and devils food. Like Peas & Carrots are a lifestyle brand that focuses on things that are good for you, Ice Cream is a skate brand that is by Pharrell that food-wise isn’t the best for you. I think the whole Roc Nation thing and the way it ties in with the music would be a nice collaboration. Also stuff like silverware..

You mean like household items like forks, ashtrays and such?
Think of like Crate and Barrel. Think about how they do everything. I always envisioned the brand to be something like Martha Stewart meets Migos. You got clothing and then you have your everyday goods. You have to understand that some people think like “Hey I cant afford a $40 T-shirt, but this $12 mug I can roll with.” Or they may see a silverware set cheaper than a shirt that may last longer. I want to cater to people's needs on an everyday level.

Recently, Casey went on tour with Travi$ Scott. Tell us a little bit about that situation, and did you guys do a pop up in each city? How effective was that in regards to pushing the brand?
It started while we were out in NYC. This was during the Mac Miller featuring Joey Bada$$ and Casey Veggies video shoot for “America.” So after one of Casey’s shows we went to the set of that. Sickamore, who deals with Rich Hil and some other people was there. He introduced us to Travi$ that night. We didn’t know too much about him outside of the fact he was working with Kanye, but he seemed cool. Then something happened later that evening when a prank caller called his room and our room we ended up linking in the lobby. We chopped it up then and we got cool and the rest is history.

In regards to the tour, we only did a pop-up in NYC. With that being said, we did move the brand in all cities, and Travi$ was able to push his brand as well. Not to many are familiar with his brand XX, which is him and Jalil Peraza but it’s an awesome brand. It was a like a month long commercial for Peas & Carrots as we got the chance to let people know who we are.

How’s the relationship with Puma? Can we expect more work from you guys soon?
The relationship is awesome. We have a Puma coming out that will be released in stores and online probably by the end of the year. I got my own signature shoe coming out with them as well.

You did the collab with 40 Oz. Van. Tell us a little bit about how that came to pass, and did you feel that it was a success? Do you think you guys may do work again?
It was a real chill collaboration actually. We were cool and things fell into place easily. It was real subtle and discrete, but it sold out. Timing was great because Casey was scheduled to make a press run in NYC at the time of the drop so we could focus on the collaboration and pushing it hard while Casey was busy. In regards to doing something again with 40.oz I wouldn’t be against it at all. It was a win.

How is the scene out in L.A. right now in regards to fashion? Tell us the energy out there and some things that you feel are brewing.
Tyler’s new line Golf. Its not even some Odd Future shit, its his own signature brand. Phreshcru who is banging with Dom Kennedy hard. It has been popping out here for a minute and every time we get some its in and out. Dertbag again as well, he just opened his own shop, I want to mention them even though he’s out in Connecticut. I feel like it’s a new generation of wave coming right now.

If I remember correctly your mom used to have a jewelry line. Can we expect you guys to possibly branch out and you make some really sharp bracelets or Peas & Carrots necklaces in the future?
Yeah my mom has her own jewelry as well as her own hair salon out here as well. Jewelry from Peas & Carrots would be awesome! I can picture it for sure. It all depends on if the right person comes along and adds to what we are tying to do. Its all about providing quality products for people.

Previously: Started From the Bottom: Anwar “Carrots” Talks “Peas & Carrots” Movement and Keys to Success