Eric Jones, Redefining men’s style with his shoe company LFLS

Eric Jones, 23, is customizing shoes for a particular brand of men for his collection LFLS. Jones, a.k.a. Doctor Dapper, has been styling and profiling for years, since his college days at the University of Arkansas. Thankfully he’s sharing his classic man brand with men, and women, that want to give their shoe style the attention it deserves.

Jones’ LFLS shoes – which are made in Brazil, but he’s transitioning to have it made in Spain – officially became an LLC during his junior year in college on December 31, 2015. For the last two and a half years he’s kept his company going even after graduating from college and despite the death of his mother; who was his number one supporter. The words black excellence should come to mind when you think of the Arkansas native. He understands the importance of building generational wealth and knows that walking in your purpose is the key to life and he plans on doing it in style.

Read more about Eric Jones in Episode 11 of People You Should Know.

 

1. LFLS shoes are definitely unique when it comes to men’s shoes. You design them with zippers, tassels, and other endless options. Why put so much flair in men’s shoes?

I don’t consider it a lot of flair because I’ve seen some real extra shoes in the industry. I see it as something that’s kind of like vintage with a modern twist. I wanted to add some unique features that wouldn’t be extra, but would make a statement. I just wanted to add something that I haven’t seen on a lot of men shoes and try to introduce men with that kind of vintage style shoe or a style of dress.

2. How do you think men dress now compared to 20, 30 or 40 years ago, and what do you love/hate about it?

I liked the way that African-American men used to carry themselves a while ago. You couldn’t catch them without a suit, top hat, dressed nice and then their queen beside them was dressed real nice in a nice dress, maybe a hat as well and nice shoes. I miss that we don’t have that dapper, classic man look as prominent now today. That’s why I try to bring it back through my brand and my personal brand Doctor Dapper. Nowadays I hate that it’s really like baggy clothes, sagging, and street stuff. Back then we had to carry ourselves in a way to look professional and look the part because we were kind of looked at like ‘Oh this black guy isn’t that smart’. So we had to carry ourselves in a way that was more fitting. I miss that from back then, you know, the classic man look and dapper look and I hope it comes back and becomes even bigger than what it is right now. I don’t really hate anything about the past. I like how the clothes are more fitted and more tailored nowadays. I really don’t like how they were loose and baggy back in the day.

3. What inspires your creativity to design the type of men’s shoes you make?

It just comes to me actually. It’s kind of funny because the first shoe I ever drew became my most popular shoe. It really came from me just looking out in the industry to see what was out there, and what was being done. Then looking at bigger brands and seeing what they were doing, then looking at smaller brands and then bringing that to the table and adding my own twist to it or feature. That’s how I sort of go about it and I think its pretty cool to just look at some shoes and add my own little touch to it.

4. What separates your shoes from other designers?

My business as a whole separates itself because of the story behind it and me putting my face on the forefront of my brand; being a black-owned brand. The biggest thing about my brand that’s different from everybody else is the story behind it and the way I’m doing it and making it happen.

5. What’s the story behind your brand?

It starts way back when I was a kid, and not saying I knew I was going to do dress shoes, it starts way back then because of the different things that happened to me when I was growing up and the way that I was raised. I was raised in the church. My stepdad was the pastor and my mom was first lady and she tried to keep me in nice little suits, button ups, and whatever she could afford. So the dapper look came from way back then and she liked nice heals and hats and stuff being the first lady of the church. So I’ve always had a love for fashion and that kind of church style and classic man style from a long time ago.

(Eric grew up poor and watched his mother work 2 to 3 jobs to support the family. So he spent a lot of time with his grandmother; who passed when he was a teenager. This, along with living in a toxic neighborhood, influenced Eric to want more for himself and his family. He graduated high school and went to the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. It was during his second semester freshman year that Eric found his passion for fashion. During his junior year Eric started LFLS, even though his mom wanted him to wait until after graduation. While attending school, both of Eric’s parents passed away. His mother’s death was particularly hard because she had encouraged him to pursue his goal and financially backed his company. She passed before seeing him graduate and seeing his first pair of LFLS shoes. Eric says without his mom he wouldn’t be where he is today.)

6. Your mother was your main supporter and she unfortunately passed away weeks before you graduated from college. What do you think she would say if she could see you today?

She would be so happy! It’s crazy because before she started helping me she wasn’t really feeling it; she wanted me to get a job but after she saw me start posting stuff and get samples and all that she started sharing a lot of stuff on Facebook; telling everybody back home about it. She used to call me Mr. CEO. So just seeing my stuff on SEC Network (Southeastern Conference), and all these interviews, and just being on the news about it sharing my story and traveling would make her so happy to see me living out my dream and inspiring people.

7. What advice would give to a young black man that has a business idea but doesn’t know where to start?

The first thing is passion and you’ve got to have resilience too. The system is set-up for us to fail anyway; that’s the first thing. So you have to know that you’re going to face a lot of obstacles, ups and downs, and you’re going have a lot of no’s. The few yes’s you get mean the most to you. So yeah, I would say passion and resilience and just keep hitting that girt that grind. Never stop no matter what you do because the only way for you to fail, at the end of the day, is if you give up yourself. That’s why I’ve never given up and I have these key reasons behind my brand for the reason why I’m doing what I’m doing; and why I started doing what I’m doing. So if you have those reasons and you know those reasons and you can clearly say to anyone walking in the door you have a purpose behind this then you’re pretty much set for sure. At that point nothing will stop you from chasing your dreams and achieving your goals.

8. How do you keep up with a growing supply-and-demand as a new business?

How I’ve done it…it depends on how fast your brand is growing, honestly, because when I get to that point I feel like you have to have some set ways, like laid the foundation, for when your brand does pop and if your brand does skyrocket. So in the beginning it’s going to be ups and downs – especially in retail. Some months are high some months are low, some weeks, some days. So you got to know that part of the process, the ups and downs, the highs the lows. Just having everything set in place, like having a quick chat with the bank and say ‘Ok I want to talk about a line of credit’ to be prepared for when I need to order 300 pairs of shoes or 1,000 pair of shoes. Just having that set in place. Then having a factory ready to go that you can work with to fill the small orders you need right now, but when you need a big order you can go in and say ‘hey the time has come for me to place a larger order’. Just staying ready so you don’t have to get ready when the time comes. Supply-and-demand, in the beginning, isn’t going to be too crazy because it should be handled in the beginning.

9. How would you describe your brand LFLS?

Eventually, of course, I’ll be introducing more shoes tailored to different cultures and different kinds of fashion like corporate America – more conservative style – and then the fashion-forward – more flashy, popping, eye candy style – like I have now. But I really tailor my brand towards the African-American community of young professionals fashion-forward that want to make that first impression count. The way I’m going about it is pretty cool because it’s also making more people that like street wear and urban wear and not so much the dapper look hop on-board with the dapper look so I really like that.

10. What does LFLS stand for?

That stands for Like Father, Like Son. That’s the name of the company, that’s what’s on the LLC. I named it that because I want to have the same designer dress shoes for fathers and sons, and now since I have my women’s shoes I want to have it for mothers and daughters. So I just dropped it to LFLS so women wouldn’t come and say, ‘Oh, Like Father, Like Son, but those are women shoes right?’ So that’s the name behind the brand, but a lot of people like Like Father, Like Son so I’m going to keep it alive for sure.