StreetStyle Tastemaker On The Rise
YouTube, a social media platform that has the power to change someone’s life forever. It is such a successful platform that it became an industry of it’s own right; calling the people who uses YouTube as a career YouTubers. It is definitely an enticing job, you sit in your bedroom record yourself then upload a video and hope someone gets attracted to your content. Christian Cantelon most famously known as CharlieDubNut on YouTube and also the person behind SneakerTalk is making his own name on the Social Media Platform. He’s currently famously known for his successful documentary “The Life of a Sneakerhead” that rivals GQ’s own documentary. I had to opportunity to sit down with the Streetstyle tastemaker on the rise and learned quite a lot about his inspiration.
Jake: Congratulations for being signed with Much Media. Tell me what was it like to be signed with MUCH?
Christian: It was an incredible feeling for me, when I found out that they wanted to sign a contract with me I was still on my pyjamas and I woke up jumping around and I took a shower, a really cold shower to really rejuvenate me and wake me up like this was reality setting in. It was a dream for me to work with Much for the longest time, so for them to actually want to take me on was such an honour for me, and I know it will lead to a ton of opportunities that I will not get otherwise.
Jake: When I first met you you had a YouTube account, tell me about that.
Christian: It all started for me in High School, I made a Channel called CharlieDubNut which I still post videos not just as active as my sneaker stuff, because sneakers take up 99% of my life. But for CharlieDubNut, I wanted to make some Vlogs, and practice my on Camera Presence and Script Writing, also just to get myself out there and get some exposure. And from there I made rant videos, small fashion videos here and there, some tech videos, sort of like a jack of all trades… it was just really a creative outlet for me to relieve stress and have fun, and hey it’s free. And I just really wanted a way to communicate my ideas to people I couldn’t really communicate with in everyday life.
Jake: So from that YouTube channel another one was born, how did that happen? Where did the Idea came from?
Christian: SneakerTalk originally happened when I had a top ten series on my original channel. And so I covered the top ten sneaker stories every single week, which lasted about 5 weeks until I was hit with a time crunch because of exams. And for that 5 weeks that I’ve been doing that Sneaker Talk Top Ten Series I really found out that there was an audience who were willing to watch it and wanted more. And so, I thought I devote so much of my life to sneakers and this series is doing really well… so why not just branch out and totally make a different channel for it so I can have my own fans for vlogging and my own fans for sneakers. That way I can work on two different audiences at the same time, and I can devote more time and focus on my sneaker channel.
Jake: So with sneaker talk, what video surprised you that it reached such an audience/views?
Christian: While at Seneca, we had a documentary class and so being the sneaker person that I am, it only made sense for me to make a sneaker documentary. And my professor at that time, Doug Grant said “No, no, you want to get outside of your comfort zone, step outside of the box” but I insisted to him saying “No, I have a really good idea and I want to get this done” So I made a documentary the life of a sneakerhead, and I premiered it at the college. It went pretty smooth, however, I did make it last minute. So I literally edited the video and 2 minutes later I ran upstairs and gave them the USB. There were a little glitch in there, but the audiences response was great, so after that I went home, edited the errors I made, I uploaded it to YouTube and within weeks it got hundred of views, thousands and now it’s at 350,000 views. And that really pushed my channel gave it a lot of good exposure, exposures I wouldn’t have gotten otherwise.
Jake: So Why Sneakers? There’s a lot of fashion outlets to choose from but why sneakers?
Christian: Back in my senior year in High School, my sneakers were beat up like crazy. And I knew I need some new sneakers, so I went online, I searched on ebay for some sneakers and there was way more than what I anticipated there to be. I discovered so many brands I couldn’t even understand or heard of before, and it just opened another door for me, likeI could really express myself through shoes. There’s so many shoes out there, I want them all cause they all look cool. And sneakers for me really piece the outfit together, I often base my outfits based on the sneakers I’m wearing that day.
Jake: With all the sneakers out there, what’s your favourite brand of sneakers?
Christian: My favourite brand of sneakers would have to be Nike. Just because I have a lot of them and no matter how hard I try to add more variety to my collection, I keep going back to Nike. Because Nike is just a classic brand, and they just keep pushing the envelope to make excellent sneakers.
Jake: Who is your all time YouTube inspiration?
Christian: That would be a guy named Jacob Keller (Alwaysfreshapparel) I started watching his videos back in my senior year of High School. (Three years ago) I was so intrigue by his taste in fashion and watching his videos is one of the reasons I’m into fashion right now. Because if I didn’t watch his videos I wouldn’t care for streetwear, and wouldn’t care for sneakers. Watching him and his journey in the past years motivated me because, he went from a person who wears old navy t-shirts that were two sizes too big to wearing streetwear to brands like zanerobe and blackscale. And now he has transitioned from streetwear to high fashion, wearing things like the adidas yeezy’s, Tom Ford, and other really high end stuff that I can never afford but it’s crazy to see how far he came from being unfashionable to incredibly fashionable. Also, he’s a total taste maker in the streetwear and high fashion in the YouTube Community.
Jake: Favourite Clothing brand?
Christian: I’m more for the mid-range brands, and I have to say H&M. I mean H&M has started producing better quality stuff this year with a lot of their pieces, and the price is just right and gives you the opportunity to justify buying it. I also feel like I get my moneys worth wearing their clothing. As far as High-end I think I buy high-end streetwear more so my favourite is Gold and Denim, which is a brand that is based out of California and everything is all handmade.
Fashion is fashion and overall it has many branches to reach out and touch. Christian definitely killing his streetstyle game right now and no doubt will build his own empire soon. posts regularly on his sneakertalk channel and some vlog on his original channel. Catch him is you can and you’ll certainly see him strutting his style in TORONTO. Make sure to subscribe and follow him on his social media accounts.
Photos and Videos are credited to their respected owners.
