Few rags-to-riches stories can match the script of Western Sydney streetwear juggernaut Jake Paco. From opening his first Geedup store in Parramatta in 2010 and sleeping there overnight when he had no place to stay, Jake’s now the driving force behind the biggest streetwear brand in Australia—and he has the rest of the world firmly in his sights.
The Australian Financial Review Young Rich Lister built Geedup from the ground up with a steady blend of grassroots engagement and savvy business acumen. At a Chivas Regal Pioneers Workshop in Sydney, Jake shared his secrets for entrepreneurial success. From creating “pissed-off customers” to increase demand for Geedup clothing drops, to turning away celebrities and influencers at a pop-up event in New York City—Jake’s audacious approach to business is paying huge dividends.
As an ambassador for Chivas Regal’s ‘How We Rise’ platform, Jake hosted a workshop in Sydney for the next generation of Australia’s business and culture leaders to share the secrets behind turning a brand into a business.
As he explained in his workshop, and an interview with Complex AU, it’s tenacity that has helped Geedup become the most in-demand name in Australian streetwear. From collaborations with UFC fighter Tyson Pedro to rappers Fivio Foreign and Fat Joe, Geedup has become one of the most sought-after brands on the market.
But it wasn’t always so rosy. For years, Jake didn’t turn a profit from Geedup, and a falling out with an early business partner threatened to shutter the brand before it truly got off the ground. However, a relocation from Parramatta to Surry Hills and a re-evaluation period between 2017 and 2019 set the runway for Jake and his team to re-launch the brand, making it bigger and stronger than ever.
After dominating the Australian streetwear scene, Geedup is turning its attention to a huge push abroad. They’ve enlisted AJ Corleone, formerly of Crooks & Castles, as their US brand manager, and already made a splash during New York Fashion Week in 2023 with a pop-up event.
Speaking to Complex AU at his Chivas Regal Pioneers workshop in Sydney, Jake shared his thoughts on entrepreneurship, taking Geedup global, and what it takes to make it in the streetwear business.
The term entrepreneur means a lot of different things to a lot of different people. What essential quality do you think makes an entrepreneur?
The key quality is just the ability to see things through, good or bad. No matter hard it gets, you just can’t fucking quit. Because I started back in 2010 with zero business acumen, zero skill set in manufacturing, and zero retail experience—but I just started, and I didn’t fucking quit.
What’s one unconventional business principle you’ve followed that has led to your success in the streetwear game?
I've always believed I needed more pissed-off customers than happy ones. If you feed everyone, no one's coming back for the next drop. It also takes the heat out of the product, the urgency around the purchasing process, and the mad rush to get to the finish line. Intentionally leaving a lot more people pissed off than happy is how we’ve scaled.
What is the most important thing to consider when starting a streetwear brand?
One thing that you’d have to give serious thought to is how badly you want it. Because if you don’t want it as badly as you need to breathe, you won’t make it. Imagine this: you’re at the bottom of a pool, looking up at the top of the water, and you have to get to the top to breathe—if you don’t want it as bad as that, don’t bother starting. It will chew you up and spit you out.
The brand is expanding into the US and the UK. What’s your approach to this expansion?
We need to give our Australian audience, our existing customer base, something to be proud of outside of conquering this country. If we don’t, I tend to believe excitement and attention will die down. It’s like if your favourite team gets to the semis every final: Can we finally get a championship? When will we get one? In terms of approach, New York is that championship. You conquer New York, and things grow from there. It all starts there. The UK doesn't influence New York. Australia doesn't influence fucking anywhere. So that's why I went straight there. I wasn’t going to try and fuck around in Los Angeles and try and work my way up to New York. I just decided to go straight there. When we went to New York, we decided to go during New York Fashion Week but did nothing that had anything to do with fashion week. We had an event, and only about 200 people were in there—we did that intentionally. We had about 4000 people show up, but we only let 200 people in. I intended on that. It was more pissed-off customers. We turned Mercer Street into a block party, and the cops tried to shut it down.
With international expansion, are there parts of the brand you’ve had to adapt to fit other markets?
The advice we were getting from some people about streetwear and the US was: Fear of God, Yeezy, earthy tones, all that oversized shit—that’s what’s doing well over there. But that’s not us. I'm not going to change the brand’s DNA to be accepted in another place. Like, we've never fit in. We have to be intentionally ourselves. We’ve never tried to fit in a lane. You’re with us, or you're against us. Don't really give a fuck either way, but we're doing this, and this is how we're doing it. So there was a lot of noise around. I guess what I’m trying to say is if someone is giving you advice and they haven’t done it before, don’t listen to it. Even if they’ve done it before you, still try not to listen—because the same advice doesn’t work for everyone. Even in my case, I would tell people not to try and do what I’ve done to a T because there are 101 ways to skin a cat, and I’ve only shown people one way.
Lastly, if you’re not in Geedup, what brands are you wearing?
If I’m not wearing Geedup, it’s usually Nike. But it’ll be a cold day in hell before you see me not wearing Geedup.