Meet John Michael | Owner of Secluded Archive

We had the good fortune of connecting with John Michael and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi John, we’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking
In all honesty, I love “risk” and every aspect that comes with it. I would rather fail one hundred times at trying something than sit back and have that thought of regret for not trying. Taking risks played a significant role in where I am today. If I had never released my first music video or piece of clothing I probably wouldn’t be who I am now. I sat on 10 different hoodie designs before releasing my first piece. Had I not just said okay it’s now or never there wouldn’t be a Secluded Archive or WavyLifeOfJohn, I would simply be a regular guy. Life to me is about taking risks, failing, and then coming back ten times better. I love the drive and creativity aspect of taking a risk.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
Personally, I think what sets me apart from others is that I try to make pieces of clothing that people can relate to rather than just having a logo on a piece of fabric. Most of my designs are based on mental health because I feel that sometimes people don’t like to speak to others about how they are feeling so they need an outlet, That outlet for me is designing so I figured why not design pieces for people to have an outlet. Getting to where I am today wasn’t easy, I failed so many times and battled within myself to even drop anything, but one day I sat back and said “I could either fail and get back up or never try and regret it.” The next week I dropped my first hoodie and sold 50 units. I want the world to know that if life was easy everyone would be rich and happy. The times that you are down are when you wind up finding yourself, so cherish those moments when you are “down” and find yourself. A few months will go by and you will look back proud at how far you came from that low point. This a quote that helped me realize that “I could either fail and get back up or never try and regret it.”

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Well, work comes first so after a long week of working. The first place I will take them is to get a chopped cheese. That’s a new york staple meal. A fine delicacy as many would call it. Next, I would take them to go shopping to get some new clothes because here in NY, you need to be as fly as possible. Now in terms of going out and having a good time, I would just take them to Astoria or anywhere in Queens, to be honest. In the summer you can come across a block party on one street, get some fire food and hear good music for hours. At around 7-8 pm we go get ready to go to the club and enjoy the night with good music, hookah, and beautiful women.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I would like to dedicate this shoutout to multiple people. The first person is my grandma who passed away in 2019, Her passing motivated me in so many ways to become the best version of myself. Secondly, I really owe my success to all of my friends, before I had released any clothing they would consistently ask me to drop something for them to wear even if I didn’t sell it to the public they wanted to wear what I had shown them. So shout out Fabian, Donavan, Amir, and Dominick. These guys stood by me when I was at my lowest and pushed me to keep going and chase my dreams. The last people that deserve a shoutout are my family. They always support every decision I make and I cant be happier to have them in my corner.

Website: https://secludedarchive.com/password

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wavylifeofjohn

Twitter: https://twitter.com/wavylifeofjohn?lang=en

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/WavyLifeOfJohn?app=desktop

Image Credits
@codeseis and @bry.jpeg