Austyn Gillette has been everywhere lately, and this week he sat down with The Nine Club to spill some tea. It’s a really in-depth interview, but to sum up, “Austyn Gillette discuss growing up in La Habra CA, how he got on Habitat, getting on HUF footwear, starting his clothing brand Former, why he left Habitat, riding for WKND, returning to Habitat, getting on Globe Footwear, moving to New York, designing his new pro shoe and much more!” That’s a lot, so it’s most definitely worth the 2.5 hour listen.

The consensus is that Austyn is a pretty laid back guy, but has a good head for business. When he was in talks with Converse, Austyn used that laser focus to stay true to himself but still make the most of his career with HUF. Here’s how he says it played out:

HUF was just a conversation. Just me and HUF. And he was like – I forgot what he was asking – he didn’t really think we were serious about riding for the brand. And then I was like, well, what if Dylan and I get on the team? And he was like… “I’ll call you back!” 

Watch the full interview above, or jump to 27:23 for the rest of that story.