I'm Imran Ahmed, founder and CEO of the Business of Fashion, and welcome to Drive,

Bof's new podcast series, delivered by D.H.L., where we hear the stories of fashion's most dynamic entrepreneurs in their own words.

Today I sit down with Bobby Kim, founder of the Los Angeles-based streetwear label, The Hundreds.

There's this thing in Korean culture called Han.

I've always capitalized on that Han, on that energy, and that frustration,

and try to convert it into ways where I can not only better the world for myself,

but better the world for everyone else.

I think that is the job of an

artist, is to not make yourself look better, but to make the world look better. It was never a

business play for us, and I think the way that we structured this company is kind of unorthodox,

especially in light of how modern entrepreneurship goes. So here's my conversation with Bobby Kim to learn what it

really takes to build a global fashion business from scratch. Good morning, Bobby. Nice, nice to be here

with you. We're here in Los Angeles, your home base. Yeah. And I'm really pleased to have the opportunity to talk to you about the hundreds and

the empire you've built from, how many years has it been now?

It's been 15 as of July.

So we're 15 years in.

Right.

So, but where I'd like to start really is, um, actually what you were like growing up.

Um, are, this series is called drive. And I'm really trying to understand what drives people. So maybe, maybe you could tell us a little bit about what you were like growing up. I think you were born in

Baltimore, right? And then you moved here to L.A.? Yeah, I was, exactly. I was born in Baltimore,

and I don't remember much of it. I probably spent a few years there. And then my parents moved to

Southern California. You know, they were part of that first wave of Asian immigrants that came after the

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