People of Carhartt:
Steve Tapa
We had the opportunity to sit down with Steve Tapa a boxing sports agent and manager to talk professional athletes, hard work and work ethic, and of course Carhartt.
Who are you and what do you do?
My name is Steve Tapa and I'm a boxing sports agent/manager.
Does what you do influence your style at all?
Definitely. I'm not your traditional sort of suit and tie type of guy. So I tend to be, you know, in nice comfortable denim jeans, loose t-shirt... Yeah, pretty comfortable.
What does putting in the work mean to you, especially when it's not always seen? Especially in terms of what you see in sports athletes?
I think my role is quite hands on, so there's a lot of planning behind the scenes in terms of logistics, career building, but also mapping out certain careers in terms of a pathway for athletes and how we want to achieve those goals within say three to six years. So there's definitely a lot of planning and lot of organising behind the scenes in terms of trying to make sure we can get the best fights. Making sure that I can support these athletes and getting them the best deals and promotional deals, but also making sure that we can help them succeed at the very top as well.
Has being around athletes changed how you approach pressure, resilience or routine?
Definitely. I mean, I always say to my team that, you know, while they're inside the ring or at a boxing tournament, my job is to fight for them outside of the ring, whether that's at a marketing level, at a management level, or at a negotiating level. So I'm always looking to see if I can put out my best foot forward and giving them my best performance outside of the ring for them on their behalf as well.
Carhartt has always represented people who do the work, often behind the spotlight. Do you see yourself in that?
Definitely. I'm the type of person that likes to stay behind the scenes and when I think about Carhartt from back in the days, I always think about, you know, it's working class, working really hard. They're the type of people that get the country moving and if you think back to, you know, back in the US in the early 90s, and a lot of the working class, working men would wear Carhartt, you know, construction sites, builders, tradies. So yeah, I think I'm a bit of a grafter behind the scenes and thats what Carhartt kind of reminds me of.
What do you think Carhartt represents in a world like sport, which can seem super polished when you only see the end result.
Yeah, when I think about Carhartt, I think about someone who's dedicated, working really hard, putting in the long hours, you're grinding 24-7 to get that end result and Carhartt is something where if you think about it, it's somebody working really hard to get the task done. When you think about your builders and your construction workers, it's all working class really.
Some people wear Carhartt to work, others wear to make a statement. Where do you sit on that spectrum?
Yeah, I mean, you've got the two kaha versions. You've got traditional Carhartt and then you've got the Carhartt WIP, which is kind of like a mix between workwear kind of apparel, but also taking the aesthetics of fashion into account and making it more mainstream. And if you look at back in the early 90s, when Carhartt WIP came out in Europe, some of the stuff that they were pushing was just, you know, was just awesome to see the colors, the oversized denim, you know, denim jeans on red wing boots. Those were so cool back then.
So do you think you're more work wear or fashion or somewhere in between?
I think I'm somewhere in between. If I said I was wearing it to work, a couple of my tradie mates would be laughing at me because I'm not a tradie.
Okay and then last question. Is there a particular moment or memory you associate with either wearing Carhartt or being around it?
Yeah, I think back in the days when you wanted to head down into the city, there was a place off High Street in Vulcan Lane and they used to stock some really cool one-off pieces of Carhartt and Carhartt wasn't really in the big shops back then and they would stock, you know, your traditional mustard Carhartt vest and you'll probably pair it up with a nice pair of Timbs or Red Wing Boots , but yeah I just think back to those early days going down to Vulcan Lane off High Street and grabbing like a nice mustard Carhartt vest or a jacket.
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