Looks like the hardest working man in hip-hop show business is about to make a splash in the sneaker world. This morning on his blog, The Roots’ ?uestlove proudly unveiled his upcoming Nike signature shoe, the Air ?uesto 1. After a year in the making, the kicks will be available in select stores on August 1st in two very, uh, how do you say, interesting colorways–one of which will be a limited release:
25 lucky people across the US will open their boxes to receive a “golden ticket”—and unlike mr wonka i aint talkin a piece of paper.
the shoes will be golden (the one on top)—them shits are the ones to kill for.
i cant make the “official” announcement on what you will get if you are the lucky ones but lemme just say im gonna stand in line for my own damn shoe.
Best of all, ?uest will be dj’ing in several stores to promote the shoe’s release:
aug1- i’ll be at ALIFE in NYC
aug5- i’ll be at UBIQ in philly
aug 7th I’ll be at Undefeated in LA
Now, my question to you guys: Would you pick these up, or pass ‘em by?
I already know what you’re thinking. “Spring is officially here, so why are you posting about a measely winter scarf?” Well, that’s because it’s not really a scarf, it’s a Necklace, and being as though the Necklace is specifically crafted (handcrafted, that is) for sneakerheads and Class A hipsters alike, it transcends any and all seaonal restrictions.
Conceived by the pop culture investigators at IHavePop, Necklaces are made of custom 100% cotton shoe laces, and are hand knitted by a group of elderly women in The Netherlands. The real kicker: only 10 exist in the entire world. So you can rest assure that the Necklace won’t go the way of these. Another interseting fact here, is that 10% of the sales proceeds go towards Arthritis research. I’m pretty sure the elderly women responsible for constructing these had some some influence on this decision.
I’d love to see a second run of these done in assorted colors and lace types (e.g. fatlaces). That would be dope! In the meantime, holla at Reed Space if you want to check out the Necklace up close and personal, they received 3 of the world’s 10.
I’m a little late with this, I know, but I finally had a chance to check out Complex’s interview with Nike design veteran Tinker Hatfield. For those that aren’t familiar, Tinker is best known for designing the Nike Air Max 1 and a large portion of the Jordan signature line. In the interview he reveals some interesting facts regarding the Jordan brand (MJ hated the design of the X’s), and talks about the inspiration behind some of his most revolutionary designs (the Air Max 1’s were inspired by a French museum). What I found really interesting though, was his take on the current state of sneaker game:
Complex: Bape was made popular by their interpretations of the Air Force One. How do you feel about other brands mocking up Nike silhouettes?
Tinker Hatfield: It’s certainly a form of flattery. I feel in some ways though in the long run, it’s possibly hurting athletic footwear. I think we’re having more trouble promoting new performance designs than we have in the past. There are all these remakes and people are digging the remakes because they can actually participate in the remaking. I have to say I have a lot of limited edition Air Force Ones and Jordans and Air Maxes in my own closet. I think it’s really fun to wear them, and you can sort of put your own stamp of style into those kinds of shoes. It’s kind of a love/hate thing for me. I kind of hate it because it makes it harder to sort of convince people that this new kind of product is better than the old one, when they love the old one so much. But it’s kind of cool that they love the old one so much, and I was a part of that. So it kind of goes back and forth with me.
To celebrate the fifth and final season of their hit show ‘The Wire’ (the realest show on tv, if you ask me), HBO asked the renowned streetwear/visual communications agency Staple Design to produce a series of limited edition hooded sweatshirts. In the end, Staple brought aboard 5 artists to created 5 uniquely designed hoodies; each representing a single season of ‘The Wire’, and limited to 20 pieces per design. Unfortunately, these hoodies won’t be available in stores–they’ve been given to the show’s cast and crew and a few others were auctioned off for charity. No Good! It wouldn’t hurt to keep an eye on eBay though…*wink*.
The Adidas brand has played a tremendous role in hip hop culture, but what do you really know about the Three Striped Giant? This brief, but clever ad traces the history of Adidas–from the brand’s humble beginnings in Germany, as the brainchild of Adi Dassler, to its current status as international sneaker and sportswear icon.
Wow, the part about Jesse Owens receiving one of the first pair of Adidas in 1936 from Adi himself…that’s major!
For some time now, folks on nearly every end of the web have been trashing Hurricane Chris’ recent shoe collab with Fila—the Fila Helmsman. To say the very least, the shoe takes a huge “L” in the looks department. But what really has people buzzing, is the fact that the Helmsman bites the design of Prada’s Linea Rossa sneakers in a major way. Not a good look, but in all fairness, it’s also nothing new. Most of the hip-hop inspired/endorsed footwear that we’ve seen over the past few years have all borrowed (some more heavily than others) from previous shoe models. The main differences in this case however, seems to be the fact that 1.) the Helmsman is produced by Fila (a brand name that holds very little weight in today’s sneaker scene), 2.) it’s endorsed by Hurricane Chris (a little know rapper/ringtone artist), and 3.) there are very few modifications to its design that differentiate it from the Prada original (so you end up with what appear to be back alley Prada knock-offs). Maybe Fila should have gone in a differnet direction with these. At any rate, I’ve yet to see anyone rocking the Helmsman’s in the streets, but I have started to see this Fila tv spot quite a bit lately.
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Here’s a pretty fresh ad spot for the Nike Air Force 1 that I stumbled across earlier this week. It’s directed by Christopher Riggert for Radical Media, and the visual effects are very well done! Peep.
In this “age of collaborations†that we now seem to live in, it’s very seldom that I find myself caught off guard, or completely captivated by many of the collaborative projects that constantly emerge onto/from the “hypester†scene. Denim collabs are definitely an exception, however. In what may seem like an unusual pairing to some, Adidas and Diesel have teamed up to produce a men’s and women’s collection of denim (due out sometime this spring). Is this their answer to a similar project by Puma and Evisu? I wouldn’t rule out the possibility. Whatever the case, I like what I see so far, and it should be pretty interesting to see how Adidas and Diesel make out with this. You can see more shots of the collection here.
Donwan Harrell, founder and creative director of PRPS, recently sat down with Debonair Magazine to discuss the ins and outs of premium and luxury denim (his company produces the latter, as you’ll soon find). He offers a few tips on distressing your own jeans to emulate the premium look, and also explains some of the factors that make premium and luxury denim, well, premium and luxury denim. Not the longest interview in the world, but it’s certainly worth the read! Peep.
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