THE FINAL THIRD

Superkix.com

As a borderline obsessed sneaker lover I have to make sure that all of you are aware of my favorite site for picking up sneakers. Superkix.com is by far my favorite spot to find sneakers. This site displays the current inventory of over 40 sneaker boutiques for you to choose from. When you search the site you can refine your search by size, brand and also price.

Depending on what your monthly budget is for sneakers, yes I have a monthly budget for sneakers, you can adjust your search accordingly. I just picked up a sick pair of Nike Blazers that I am wearing as I write this.

Check out Superkix.com when you need a new pair of kicks!

Stephen Ireland

I figured we should start off with one of our traditionally worst dressed players in the world for this one in Stephen Ireland. I have no idea where I would even start to look for jeans like that. What the hell?

Many of the Premier Leagues biggest stars came out to catch the 50 Cent concert and boy did they really miss all of the mirrors when they left the house.

Adebayor

Little too much bling and lose the jacket. The sneakers are not that bad actually.

Hesky

Jolean Lescott

We are a big fan of Jolean after he played in our pick up game last summer here in Los Angeles. All that aside, he has to lose that Gucci hat and upgrade those sneakers.

Patrick Vieira

Did he realize that his pockets are on the wrong side of his jeans?

Shaun Wright Phillips

Not bad SWP. The problem is that you seriously look like you could be in in junior high school.

Nike All Court Low Blue Canvas

I am a definite fan of canvas, and these new Nike All Court Low Blue Canvas are simple and stylish.

The Nike All Court Low was just spotted in a pretty cool drop over at 21 Mercer and if you are running over there to snatch up a pair you just may end up being distracted by some other model. These appear in direct contrast to the slick patent leathers that we just saw.

The All Court Low in Navy Blue canvas have a very vintage feel to them with great embroidered detailing and a solid navy upper. The low cut sneaker has a white vulc sole and looks great to say the least. Via Nicekicks

So this new trend in using augmented reality to promote brands is all the rage these days but I just don’t how many people actually get into it. The last one I saw was in an issue of Esquire magazine and it just seemed like so much work to see the prize. Now Adidas has jumped into the game with a virtual 3-D world that can be accessed using a future line of five men’s sneakers. Apparently you just hold your sneaker up to your webcam where each shoe will feature a code in the tongue that will allow you to see the virtual world and navigate it with the shoe.

The shoes you will need to play the game will be available starting in February and they will be priced $65 – $85.

Two weeks ago I was in Dowtown Los Angeles for Art Walk and stopped in to see Blends Sneaker Boutique on 4th St. and was happily surprised. There are sneaker shops poping up all over L.A. these days and it is always interesting to see how legit they are.

If the words “limited edition” aren’t part of the lexicon of a sneaker store, move on. And Blends more than holds their own in this department, the selection might not be as vast as Sportie L.A. but it’s certainly as rare, with a workmanlike selection of Vans, Nike, Adidas, and New Balance.

I actually picked up a pair of the Nike Air Zoom Toki’s while I was there.

Blends also has locations in Costa Mesa and San Diego. Although I have never visited the shop in San Diego, the Dowtown L.A. location has a better selection than the Costa Mesa location. Check out the Blends website and blog.

The Torch is actually sonic welded together and free from stiching. It is a lightweight shoe that is in line with Nike’s considered principles of being more efficient to make. 

Sneaker Freaker caught up with Jesse Leyva from Nike to shine a little light on Torch!

It seems like a lot of stuff that’s been happening at Nike recently has been rolled into this new Torch concept.
Yeah, it’s almost like the best of everything. It’s really the culmination of all the different things we’ve done lately – from the Air Max 90
Current and even before that with the Trainer Dunk Low and the Air Maxim 1 – all those shoes played a part in how the Gen II BW looks
and works.

You’ve reduced the shoe down to a pretty minimal construction…
Weight reduction was a big part of it and was inspired by what the Nike soccer design team has been doing with the Mercurial Vapor boot. They were looking at shaving weight by reducing materials but still keeping that sharp, contemporary look. Just removing the collar foams alone helped reduced weight and then from a tooling standpoint, the original BW has a heavy polyurethane midsole.
Now we’re using Cushlon which is super light. The craftsmanship we’ve learnt over the years has been incorporated into our best practices.

Tell me about the Torch material? It looks like it almost came from the apparel guys.
It didn’t come from apparel, but there was some stuff done with bags in the Nike kitchen at a prototype stage that definitely inspired what Torch ended up becoming. And then the footwear inspiration jumped off with the diamond pattern from the Rejuvenate Olympic project, which were the shoes that help athletes recover after sport.

Can you describe how the material works? It’s actually three layers right?
Yeah it’s a three layer material all welded together which meant we were able to maximise comfort, support and structure. Torch is
something you’ll see across multiple styles at Nike. So with the base Max 90 model, we now have the Huarache 90, the Moire 90 and the
Flywire 90. And with this Torch technology, we wanted to start with the BW and then take Torch across all the Nike franchises including
Air Force 1.

How is the Air Maxim 1 Torch we’ve seen different to the BW?
It’s totally different, because the Air Maxim 1 has Flywire, whereas the BW uses no-sew construction, where the goal is to remove as many stitches as possible. However they both feature the Torch material.

The original BW is famous for the persian colourway. I was intrigued as to why you went with an upper that’s a single colour?
Well we are doing the original persian colour, it’s just that we want to launch Torch across multiple styles and take away the colour and
let the materials be the story. As the shoes roll out, you’ll see the original colours revealed down the track.

Good to hear. I’m sure that’ll keep the kids happy. How does Considered apply to this project? Is it simply a more efficient production method?
From a Considered standpoint, we looked at everything from using green rubbers to the way the pattern is laser cut as opposed to hand cut, as well as the materials which we’re sourcing and the removal of certain layers. Torch is a three layer system instead of four of five layers on a traditional shoe. If we were to really go through and spec it out, I could show you exactly how much better we are at manufacturing these days. That wasn’t the goal of the project as such, but we didn’t take our eye off Considered either.

Thanks Sneaker Freaker

The fourth collaboration between Nike and Patta this year results in an Air Max 1 that is understated with signature Patta styling. The release includes heavy duty canvas and high quality ballistic nylon with subtle accents in the signature Patta green.

The Patta x Nike Air Max 1 Premium TZ will be launched exclusively on December 18 12:00 PM at Patta’s new Precinct 5 store.

spotted at High Snobiety

I really can’t believe that the Reebok Pump is celebrating it’s 20th Anniversary! I don’t want to date myself but I vividly remeber when they came out when I was in high school. To say that it was a phenomenon is putting it mildly. I had a pair back in the day and I wish I kept them. I love the part in the documentary where they talk about Dee Brown and how he would pump up his shoes before his dunks in the NBA Dunk Contest. That was the defining moment for the Reebok Pump.

Filmed in Boston, MA, “The History of Pump Technology” is a 22-minute film that documents the story of Pump by those who know it best, including: Paul Litchfield, the inventor of the Pump technology; Dee Brown, the 1991 NBA Slam Dunk contest winner; and Tennis Hall of Fame member Michael Chang.

The documentary, directed by Colin O’Toole, was produced in association with Spine TV, the film production arm of the leading global sneaker website, Crooked Tongues.

spotted at Spine TV