Nike SB

Nike SB:

The best of Times? The Worst of Times?

Firstly I apologise for the lengthy hiatus whilst I finished college. Which also lead to a few sudden life and relationship changes but I feel I'm finally feeling confident enough to return to writing. There have been a few and there will be a follow up post revolving around how my collection has grown during my "time off". I thank all those returning and greet all newcomers.

Existance

Nike SB, as the name suggests is the section of the Nike franchise dedicated solely to the Clothing and Footwear for skateboarding. This is not unusual for such a high profile sports brand as it is also something that Adidas bought into and it is relatively fair to say these two companies, despite not being 100% dedicated to just Skateboarding trainers are still favoured by many and have much stronger and relevant releases, this is presumably down to much larger access to funding and much larger and knowledgeable marketing teams.

But why skateboarding? Nike do not have a separate name for their football releases and likewise Adidas do not differentiate between their basketball or running shoes. The exceptions being Adidas Classics, which as the name suggests is for "classic" releases and does not favour between runners or balling shoes. Competitively you could argue Nike's "Air" range is treated as a separate company with its separate marketing and significant design and technology differences (as with "Nike Free" runners which refers to the "free" sole). However the AIR range does also cover both runners and basketball sneaks with the Air Max and Air Safari ranges contrasted with Air Jordan and Air Flight releases.

SBs first releases were simply slightly more rigorous versions of The Bruin and Blazer models which rapidly gained a reputation amongst skaters as being decent trainers to skate in. Although the Blazer has always stayed the same shape, even during its rather unforeseen and unusual comeback earlier this year.On the other hand Bruins (under SB) have undergone multiple changes to the point where the shoe, other than having a swoosh, bore more resemblance to a dunk than the original. This is a prime example of Nike riding its own success, like a narcissistic donkey calling itself a horse for the sake of being ridden by royalty.

It would also appear it can exist if/when it is needed. Anybody remember Nike 5.0? no they didn't do very well because, in short they sucked. The release was poorly marketed and the Trainers themselves were of very poor quality and as many (myself included) learnt from experience fell apart after very few skates. So Nike 6.0 followed, which amongst skating communities (especially younger ones) gained relative success. During this time period SB lay extremely low only releasing extremely high profile collaborations and reworks of classic trainers like:... (you guessed it) Bruins. At some points SB is completely dropped and reborn but SB has once again returned and is going strong which I can assume is primarily down to the massive growth in the Sneakerhead Community and the current infatuation with streetwear.

iD

as I have previously highlighted I have an unusual fixation with Nike iD and its ability to take both popular and exclusive Colour ways and have you put them on your favourite trainer. For which I have previously cited "Infra-red" and "Bred" as both simple and effective colourways to test and transfer. Interestingly enough, and rather smartly Nike do avoid you from being able to replicate High Profile releases for some SB  relevant examples: the Staple "pigeons" and the Diamond "Tiffany" SBs. However a few weeks ago as one of its limited runs of prints and materials to customize your favourite Sneaks with Nike allowed it's Infamous Elephant print to be used on certain Air Max and Dunks it was impossible to make Air Max 1s in the "HUFquake" colourway but there was a high profile release they missed the 2012 Nike SB x Supreme dunks which could be almost identically copied bar 4 minor differences:
*The stars on the sole
*The colour of the tongue logo tab

*The Supreme innersole
*The "World Famous" keychain

Usually I would humour Nike for such a tremendous mess up, however this release happened the same week I finally copped a pair of the Supreme Collab for £240 twice that of a pair of iD'd Dunks.
While not possible to completely mimic there are also many of variations of Tiffany dunks availible to be made missing nothing than the Diamond logo on the tab and crocodile skin texture overlay. Including a favourite of mine using a Liberty London Floral with an iD'd "PSSY DSTRYR" on.
But they wont let you have SWEAT SHOP. (google it)

As I said iD is a very interesting thing.