Sneakers and Interactive Media Culture

These were spotted on sneaker freaker in Australia.

What exactly are these kicks? Looks like a hybrid nike dunk/vandal supreme.

Now that I am living full time in San Francisco, I had to make my pilgrimage to the Bay Area’s mecca for kicks–HUF. After buying a hot pair of Dunks Pro SBs in the black-red colorway, I spoke to them about their website. For those of you not in San Francisco who may have tried accessing them online, you were probably disappointed by their limited site, www.hufsf.com. However, they are planning an online store that should be up in about a week’s time. They are also expanding and opening a seperate clothing shop two doors down, which will open up more precious room in their original and current space for more shoes.

Nike iD Tailors Shoes For Buckeye View

Nike iD, the apparel company’s online division, is selling an Ohio State University shoe that customers can detail the way they want - including several OSU-related messages such as “Horse Shoe.” The $110 shoes are available in two styles and take three to four weeks to be made and delivered. Nike hopes the shoes connect with Buckeye fans who are hungry to flaunt the school’s national football championship. Nike’s also trying to break ground in the customizable footwear game. While it offers 35 models of customizable shoes, its two OSU styles are the first university-related shoes Nike has sold. According to John Tawney, director of Beaverton, Ore.-based Nike iD, the company is planning to include a dozen more schools in October. “The Buckeyes were national champions, so they got special treatment,” Tawney said. “Our relationship with the school is very strong.”

We always want what someone else has. We’re never satisfied with what we have. Well when it comes to kicks, this almost always rings true. For the true “sneaker dork ,” (term first heard by author from Nick, one of the principals at Nolita’s Classic Kicks) we’re never satisfied with what is at the American Footaction, Finishline or Footlocker store. Instead, we’re always jonesing after the newest Air Force 1’s and Dunks at Footlocker Europe, JD Sports in the UK or Atmos in Tokyo. And don’t think that only Americans are like that. A quick scan of some links from the Sneaker Style magazine from Japan shows that the Japanese are also avid purveyors of exclusives from JD Sports.

This phenomenon has not gone unnoticed from the area’s boutique sneaker stores. I called Isa this past week to see if the Safaris were in yet and what new releases they had. The guy on the phone said no Safaris yet, but did say, sotto voce, “we did get some Euro dunks, but I’m gonna keep those under wraps for now.” A glance underneath the glass cases at Premium Goods reveals the Dunk in cinder and bone and the other version in harbor blue, both from Europe.

So this begs the question, do Europeans and Japanese sweat American styles? Of course. The Japanese websites show highly inflated prices (even more than they are usually inflated) for the otherwise pedestrian general release Nike Dunks, like the black one with gum sole and more recent black mesh/maple version.

urls:
· www.footlocker-europe.com
· www.jdsports.co.uk
· www.atmos-tokyo.com

I spoke to the owner of Classic Kicks last week. Apparently, a bunch of vandals rode by the store on their bicycles and then smashed the front window. Soon after, a car pulled up to the front of the store and a number of kids bum rushed the store and cleared out all of the store’s clothing merchandise. A good majority of the sneakers were left unscathed since only single sneakers were on display. It sounds like a coordinated effort amongst the thieves.

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/18/nyregion/18SHOE.html

My boy, Kenny, keeps hooking me up with the links. Hot Michigan Dunks selling for 90 Euros at Footlocker-Europe.

http://www.footlocker-europe.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10001&storeId=10001&productId=27712&langId=-1#

These were being sold out of Melbourne, Australia.

http://www.btinternet.com/~nsinbath/linksnikes.htm

this link was provided courtesy of kenny eng.

http://www.pbase.com/mediaslaves/samples_03_04&page=1