**The Importance of Hands-on Creativity**

As we sit down with Cedric, senior apparel designer at Contemporary Athletics, it's clear that he values hands-on creativity in his work. "I think having the ability to get your hands dirty is a big thing," he says. "It can become a lost art when you're stuck behind a screen all day." Cedric believes that this hands-on approach is essential for designers, allowing them to connect with their ideas on a deeper level.

**Finding Balance in Creativity**

Cedric also emphasizes the importance of finding balance between technology and traditional methods. "You don't want to be too caught up in the digital thing," he warns. "Sometimes you just need to step away from the screen and get creative." At the same time, Cedric acknowledges that technology is a powerful tool that can enhance creativity. "It's all about finding that balance," he says.

**Influences on Creativity**

Cedric opens up about what influences his creativity. He reveals that music plays a significant role in his work, with artists like R&B and jazz musicians serving as inspiration. "I listen to state of jazz playlist a lot," he shares. "It's outstanding and always finds something new." Cedric also mentions the influence of older artists, citing Jazzmatazz and Guru as favorites.

**Design Process**

Cedric's design process is highly collaborative, with influences from both old and new sources blending together to create something unique. He credits Ivan, a musician who was compared to a guru by Ali Shaheed Mohammed, for his ability to blend styles and create something innovative. "It gets me in the mindset to create," Cedric explains. "The process is almost meditative at times."

**Career and Passion**

For Cedric, designing clothes is both a job and a passion. He finds joy in being able to turn his hobby into a career, and he's grateful for the opportunity to work with his hands every day. "It's what I want to do," he says. "I get to make clothes that people love."

**Conclusion**

Cedric's conversation offers valuable insights into the importance of hands-on creativity in design. By balancing traditional methods with modern technology, designers can tap into their full potential and create something truly innovative. Whether it's through music or fashion, Cedric's passion and dedication to his craft are an inspiration to anyone looking to pursue a creative career.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enI hear word et daily thanks everybody for tuning in live obviously we're broadcasting across a bunch of different platforms and we can take your comments and questions and if you have them please drop them in for this next segment because we are joined now by Cedric Hudson with the very impressive title as I just told them off fair senior apparel designer at adidas Cedric thank you so much for coming in here and joining us this is this is fantastic you know I wanted to talk about senior apparel designer such such a cool title to have like how did you get into this man probably a lot of hard work and blessings for sure yeah a little bit of both yeah a little bit of both a good mix so I went to Indiana University study fashion design there and during my second year in the program I transferred from Virginia Tech I ran track in college so I had the athletic background - what did you what you running track I was a long jumper actually nice I jumped me 24 feet school and college so yeah yeah so I had opportunity help you know give me the opportunity to go to college and so when I transferred to Indiana you know they had a fashion design and after my second year in the program I got an opportunity to intern Reebok in Boston and then went back to school with a lot of new knowledge and just kept just kept chugging along because I met a lot of people that summer that really showed what I needed to do to get better mm-hm and so I applied my design learnings in the athletic background and I applied to adidas probably like four times before I got an internship there yeah and then I got the internship after 2012 when I graduated and I've been with them ever since so it's been like ongoing probably almost like six years now and so you just kind of work your way up I mean I love that idea you Missy kept going after and going after it you know it didn't get deterred which i think is an important lesson for anybody going after what you want know what I'm saying I mean you gotta just you know if you want it bad enough you'll do what you got to do to get there and you know sometimes people get real oh yeah usually when you get real low that's when you know a breakthrough is probably on the way so you got to just kind of push through that keep plugging through yeah so what is it that you like about design like how what's your philosophy on design well it's kind of funny but tears like people always asking like you know how do you even know it's like I didn't I didn't grow up wanting to be like a designer hey where there's a kid like yeah but the thing is growing up I was doing origami all the time or the model cars or you know building things all the time and I mean I would ask for origami paper for my birthday or Christmas like and so I think you know when I started taking pattern development in college I just realized I was a yo this is it's like origami for Verona for people so I was like yo this is apply that to this you know what I mean but I mean if you think about it like you know I'm isn't Yaqui and the stuff he does with the pleats please and all that like it's origami like all those things like you know it's it all kind of goes hand in hand so it's it's a cool thing man I mean I think I'm fortunate that it kind of just came on to me in that way and it sent my family on my mom's side you know she's a great great crafts person she she does everything under the Sun yeah I watched her so as a kid she used to tell me my great-grandmother she used to make dresses for the woman in neighborhood that's what kind of my tattoo is signifying just let her die yeah that I think her percent you know those talents down to me and then same thing my my uncle used to get comics in a newspaper so I feel like I was kind of the first person to really take advantage of the skill sets you know yeah I had the best opportunity so I'm just trying to do my best to take advantage of my youth in the time of the the world we're hanging with with all the technology and yeah I want to bring that up you know talking with that you know it sounds like you can buy the creativity with you know some of the background that you had with your relatives you know kind of instilling that any flusha getting for sure how do you utilize the technology side of it yeah I mean you know I mean obviously there's internet you know I was born in 89 so I kind of I didn't really like to grow up with Internet into it we had like high-speed Internet not too like 2001 or something yeah you know still like well so you know back then it wasn't really a thing but you know nowadays it's more so I would say the programs like you know illustrator and Photoshop and InDesign for making presentations and all of those things and I think it's just a combination of how you blend all that together with the more analog approach so with the paper and pen and write scan those things in and then you can then you can Photoshop them to kind of freak them a little bit like so I think it's you know with your aesthetic and your skill set to as how you kind of blend all those things together I feel like that would be an important thing you know for anybody who's coming up yeah in design right now that it would probably be easy to start moving into just doing everything online but I feel like and I could be wrong you know I am NOT a senior apparel design that it'd be important to also have like some hands-on filled with everything yeah I mean you know I learned how to sew real deal in college you know we took patterning and the draping and all those things so I'm able to be hands-on and manipulate patterns and work hand in hand with with our sewing room to get things done so I think having the hands-on ability to is a big thing so I think that's very important yeah I think when you know the young kids are coming up is like don't get you know caught up with the you know the digital thing or the you know the you know just the great sketching and stuff I mean all those things are important to get your idea across but being able to actually make yeah be hands-on cuz it can become a lost art I feel like you know you have our heads tell you that to me now like Oh back my day you know well but I think it is a good thing to be able to kind of just really get hands-on and separate yourself from the screen sometimes yeah but at the same time that technology is a big big asset and so you know you got to be well-versed in everything so try and balance yeah try to find that balance you know which it's it's an important thing I would think you know going forward like what I I know and this was off air I found out some things that you know that influence your your creativity I know musics a big part of it for sure so what what artist is there any one artist that's the most influential is it just gonna and it's a lot man you know so I like people that know me like I'm a big like I'm a big like R&B jazz guy okay so you know like Tom mentioned Reginald Chapman and Christian Skye Braxton cook a lot of these new up-and-coming guys I mean man it's like it's everything and then you got cash like Nicolay and Fontaine and all those types of vibes like that's like where my head's always that really yeah I listen to this thing you're walking around that's just what's ya know that's like my inner life you know yeah but I like listen to the state of jazz playlist a lot nice it Spotify I must have my own playlist for my brand contemporary athletics that I you know I just had that on the side so I like to just kind of cuz for me it's like the music that I like so I can you know put in that playlist I can this always go to and write that but state of jazz is I think is outstanding so one of my favorite playlists and here's something new and it just kind of like how does an it's newer jazz already seen yes it's it's really cool man and I mean it's I always find something new you know and then I also still listen to like old stuff like so especially like Jazzmatazz a guru yes that's like that just kind of blends everything together and then my the guy Ivan have like I love his music so much and you know he was interviewed on Ali Shaheed Mohammed's microphone check podcast and he he compared him to a guru and I was like alright cool it's kind of like your design process just in general you're blending the old with the new you know the old hands-on technology got old jazz and new jazz and it gives me the right mindset you know it gets me in the mindset to create it gets me in the mindset to kind of give over to the process which I think a lot of jazz musicians do because you know it can be frenetic at times it can be slow it can yeah and I think it's I think I kind of connect with it in that way oh that's cool well it's good that you know you found out what you know what influences you the most and what you know brings out that creativity and just congratulations on the job I mean senior apparel designer yes I mean like sometimes I mean it's kind of playing when you say like that I don't but I it's a good title yeah I do try to check myself sometimes in kind of you know yeah I stand that I'm very blessed to do what I do for a living like you know I mean I just make clothes man yeah yeah yeah but yeah it's what you want to do it when I see my hobby that I've you know turned into a job that's what you know a career yeah so I'm excited to go to work every day you know some people probably be like yeah show might not right you know I really can't complain I mean a lot of other people have really tough jobs out here gerbiling I mean no place in complained so I try not to you know and I tried yes do what I got to do well congratulations what's the best place for people to follow you at steady said so CED why underscore CED on Instagram and in my side brand contemporary athletics at sea underscore athletics yeah either one of those guys I'm pretty active on both so yeah alright well Cedric thank you so much for coming in really inspiring yeah no thanks a lot of courseI hear word et daily thanks everybody for tuning in live obviously we're broadcasting across a bunch of different platforms and we can take your comments and questions and if you have them please drop them in for this next segment because we are joined now by Cedric Hudson with the very impressive title as I just told them off fair senior apparel designer at adidas Cedric thank you so much for coming in here and joining us this is this is fantastic you know I wanted to talk about senior apparel designer such such a cool title to have like how did you get into this man probably a lot of hard work and blessings for sure yeah a little bit of both yeah a little bit of both a good mix so I went to Indiana University study fashion design there and during my second year in the program I transferred from Virginia Tech I ran track in college so I had the athletic background - what did you what you running track I was a long jumper actually nice I jumped me 24 feet school and college so yeah yeah so I had opportunity help you know give me the opportunity to go to college and so when I transferred to Indiana you know they had a fashion design and after my second year in the program I got an opportunity to intern Reebok in Boston and then went back to school with a lot of new knowledge and just kept just kept chugging along because I met a lot of people that summer that really showed what I needed to do to get better mm-hm and so I applied my design learnings in the athletic background and I applied to adidas probably like four times before I got an internship there yeah and then I got the internship after 2012 when I graduated and I've been with them ever since so it's been like ongoing probably almost like six years now and so you just kind of work your way up I mean I love that idea you Missy kept going after and going after it you know it didn't get deterred which i think is an important lesson for anybody going after what you want know what I'm saying I mean you gotta just you know if you want it bad enough you'll do what you got to do to get there and you know sometimes people get real oh yeah usually when you get real low that's when you know a breakthrough is probably on the way so you got to just kind of push through that keep plugging through yeah so what is it that you like about design like how what's your philosophy on design well it's kind of funny but tears like people always asking like you know how do you even know it's like I didn't I didn't grow up wanting to be like a designer hey where there's a kid like yeah but the thing is growing up I was doing origami all the time or the model cars or you know building things all the time and I mean I would ask for origami paper for my birthday or Christmas like and so I think you know when I started taking pattern development in college I just realized I was a yo this is it's like origami for Verona for people so I was like yo this is apply that to this you know what I mean but I mean if you think about it like you know I'm isn't Yaqui and the stuff he does with the pleats please and all that like it's origami like all those things like you know it's it all kind of goes hand in hand so it's it's a cool thing man I mean I think I'm fortunate that it kind of just came on to me in that way and it sent my family on my mom's side you know she's a great great crafts person she she does everything under the Sun yeah I watched her so as a kid she used to tell me my great-grandmother she used to make dresses for the woman in neighborhood that's what kind of my tattoo is signifying just let her die yeah that I think her percent you know those talents down to me and then same thing my my uncle used to get comics in a newspaper so I feel like I was kind of the first person to really take advantage of the skill sets you know yeah I had the best opportunity so I'm just trying to do my best to take advantage of my youth in the time of the the world we're hanging with with all the technology and yeah I want to bring that up you know talking with that you know it sounds like you can buy the creativity with you know some of the background that you had with your relatives you know kind of instilling that any flusha getting for sure how do you utilize the technology side of it yeah I mean you know I mean obviously there's internet you know I was born in 89 so I kind of I didn't really like to grow up with Internet into it we had like high-speed Internet not too like 2001 or something yeah you know still like well so you know back then it wasn't really a thing but you know nowadays it's more so I would say the programs like you know illustrator and Photoshop and InDesign for making presentations and all of those things and I think it's just a combination of how you blend all that together with the more analog approach so with the paper and pen and write scan those things in and then you can then you can Photoshop them to kind of freak them a little bit like so I think it's you know with your aesthetic and your skill set to as how you kind of blend all those things together I feel like that would be an important thing you know for anybody who's coming up yeah in design right now that it would probably be easy to start moving into just doing everything online but I feel like and I could be wrong you know I am NOT a senior apparel design that it'd be important to also have like some hands-on filled with everything yeah I mean you know I learned how to sew real deal in college you know we took patterning and the draping and all those things so I'm able to be hands-on and manipulate patterns and work hand in hand with with our sewing room to get things done so I think having the hands-on ability to is a big thing so I think that's very important yeah I think when you know the young kids are coming up is like don't get you know caught up with the you know the digital thing or the you know the you know just the great sketching and stuff I mean all those things are important to get your idea across but being able to actually make yeah be hands-on cuz it can become a lost art I feel like you know you have our heads tell you that to me now like Oh back my day you know well but I think it is a good thing to be able to kind of just really get hands-on and separate yourself from the screen sometimes yeah but at the same time that technology is a big big asset and so you know you got to be well-versed in everything so try and balance yeah try to find that balance you know which it's it's an important thing I would think you know going forward like what I I know and this was off air I found out some things that you know that influence your your creativity I know musics a big part of it for sure so what what artist is there any one artist that's the most influential is it just gonna and it's a lot man you know so I like people that know me like I'm a big like I'm a big like R&B jazz guy okay so you know like Tom mentioned Reginald Chapman and Christian Skye Braxton cook a lot of these new up-and-coming guys I mean man it's like it's everything and then you got cash like Nicolay and Fontaine and all those types of vibes like that's like where my head's always that really yeah I listen to this thing you're walking around that's just what's ya know that's like my inner life you know yeah but I like listen to the state of jazz playlist a lot nice it Spotify I must have my own playlist for my brand contemporary athletics that I you know I just had that on the side so I like to just kind of cuz for me it's like the music that I like so I can you know put in that playlist I can this always go to and write that but state of jazz is I think is outstanding so one of my favorite playlists and here's something new and it just kind of like how does an it's newer jazz already seen yes it's it's really cool man and I mean it's I always find something new you know and then I also still listen to like old stuff like so especially like Jazzmatazz a guru yes that's like that just kind of blends everything together and then my the guy Ivan have like I love his music so much and you know he was interviewed on Ali Shaheed Mohammed's microphone check podcast and he he compared him to a guru and I was like alright cool it's kind of like your design process just in general you're blending the old with the new you know the old hands-on technology got old jazz and new jazz and it gives me the right mindset you know it gets me in the mindset to create it gets me in the mindset to kind of give over to the process which I think a lot of jazz musicians do because you know it can be frenetic at times it can be slow it can yeah and I think it's I think I kind of connect with it in that way oh that's cool well it's good that you know you found out what you know what influences you the most and what you know brings out that creativity and just congratulations on the job I mean senior apparel designer yes I mean like sometimes I mean it's kind of playing when you say like that I don't but I it's a good title yeah I do try to check myself sometimes in kind of you know yeah I stand that I'm very blessed to do what I do for a living like you know I mean I just make clothes man yeah yeah yeah but yeah it's what you want to do it when I see my hobby that I've you know turned into a job that's what you know a career yeah so I'm excited to go to work every day you know some people probably be like yeah show might not right you know I really can't complain I mean a lot of other people have really tough jobs out here gerbiling I mean no place in complained so I try not to you know and I tried yes do what I got to do well congratulations what's the best place for people to follow you at steady said so CED why underscore CED on Instagram and in my side brand contemporary athletics at sea underscore athletics yeah either one of those guys I'm pretty active on both so yeah alright well Cedric thank you so much for coming in really inspiring yeah no thanks a lot of course\n"