Four-time Pro Bowl wide receiver Stefon Diggs is not only one of the most talented players in the NFL, but also one of the most stylish. The Houston Texans star has launched his own fashion line LIEMmanwho has been featured in Vogue and other high fashion magazines, sat down with Entrepreneur Magazine’s “How Success Happens” to talk about the launch, his vision and the way forward for the brand.
Watch the full interview above, and take a look at some of his most inspiring takeaways below, which have been edited for length and clarity:
What got here first: football or fashion?
“My mom told me I had a pair of cowboy boots when I was four that I didn’t want to take off—that I wore in the summer. I think that’s around the time I started loving clothes and shoes and wanting to wear whatever I wanted. My mom never really dressed me for school. She let me do whatever I wanted. Then I started playing football when I was five. So I think those loves came at the same time.”
On Fulfilling Your Dream of Playing in the NFL
“I watched my older brother play football and I looked up to so many athletes as a kid. I loved the game when I was young. And that love grew and grew as I got older. But I always had that distant mindset of, “I’m going to the NFL.” It was something in the back of my mind where I knew what I was going to do. I was destined to do what I always wanted to do.”
On the decision to switch to a “professional” approach to fashion
“It’s been a long process for me. I’ve been a consumer for a very long time, like all of us. I’ve been buying clothes for a very long time. My shopping addiction or habit… I like to call it “R&D.” I tell my financial advisor, “There’s a lot of R&D going on!” But over the last few years, I began taking it seriously. After buying the same white shirt multiple times and buying the same denim jacket at least eight times, I made a decision I wanted to start my very own brand. I began looking for materials. I learned how to sew. I began really getting into it. And so the brand name is LIEMhomme. Liem means honest and homme means man. I pride myself on being an honest man. I wanted to create a product that is honest. Be honest with the consumer about what they’re getting.
His design process
“I’m a big note taker. I write down everything that’s on my mind in Notes on my phone. These notes can become a slogan on one of my T-shirts and are a reflection of moments I’ve experienced. For example I was lying in bed when I did it “I Need a Hug” T-shirt Design. It was an overcast day in upstate New York and I wasn’t feeling my best. Something told me, “Man, I would like a hug.” So I wrote it down and then I took it to my COO and said I wanted to make a T-shirt out of it. So she said, “Okay, let’s do it.” And then a month or two later, the shirt sold out. So I guess a lot of people need a hug. These moments that I share with people are really things that are near and dear to me. You don’t know how many people in the world feel what you feel.”
On Coping with Adversity
“I’m a big manifestor. I believe I can get the things that I really, truly want. But it doesn’t come as a dream. It comes with hard work. I like to detach myself from my emotions sometimes, simply because I feel like there’s not much you can do when you’re emotional. I feel like when you’re emotional, you can make a bad decision here and there. There’s nothing wrong with making mistakes, but I feel like I make the most rational decisions when I’m thinking rationally. And that detachment is part of the way I play football. When I catch the ball, I know I’m going to get hit. But did I achieve my goal? Did I do my job? If you catch the ball, it’s amazing. If you don’t, people are going to have something to say about it. So you better just catch it. You’re going to get hit anyway.”
About my role as a mentor
“It means a hell of a lot to me at this point in my life. I lost my father very young. And being an older brother taught me a lot about sacrifice. You learn to sacrifice for the greater good, for your family. I stayed home for college. I could have gone to schools all over the country, but I wanted to be closer to my mom, to my younger brothers. I felt like that was essential to their success. And that experience taught me that you’re here for a reason. My reason was bigger than me. I lost my father — he was my best friend at the time. It was hard and it made me look inside myself. That’s why I’m always responsible. That’s why I’m always moving in the right direction. That’s why I’m always trying to be the best I can be — not just for myself, but for the people around me.”
His advice for dreamers
“Do something you love, because you won’t get bored doing what you love. And stop being afraid. I think most people are just afraid—what if it doesn’t work out? You can think of a lot of reasons why it won’t work out, but you have to stop thinking about it, because as Wayne Gretzky said, you miss 100 percent of the shots you don’t make. I don’t know how many he made, but he was right.”
How success is created
How Success Happens tells the inspiring, funny, and unexpected journeys that influential leaders in business, art, and sports have taken to turn into household names. Listen and subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts.