...Breds?

Air Jordan Bred

The Air Jordan's Bred releases have received a lot of publicity in both the fashion and sneaker communities as well as the general news and media. So just like that cheesy situation that arises between peers... I'll tell you the bad news first.

Sneaker Killings

Usually this blog tends to take a light-hearted approach to things, however this is one subject I will approach with utter seriousness. People are being killed for their sneaks. Now many people have said "I'd kill for those" I myself have said it about the Nike x Staple Design Navigation pack. But I wouldn't some people have gone far enough to actually take another humans life for shoes. Most recently and notably was the killing of Joshua Wood which has been reported to be for his "Air Jordan XI "Bred"s. I may be underplaying the seriousness of this but somebodies life is not worth a pair of $185 sneaks that are by far not the nicest of the "Breds" (personally I feel the IV's) and the fact they will most likely be available on eBay in a few weeks.  What I'm getting at is that there are shoes that are worth much more. 

I do not want 2013 to be remembered as the year of the Sneaker Killings. So please, while i think it is important to take fashion and sneaks seriously. Life and death is a whole other level.

Bred Itself

"Bred" is a clever way of making a standard black and red colourway sell, because its not like the majority of Jordan's don't already have black or red in the colourway. I doubt this is due to a lack of ideas in the Jordan HQ. Considering the latest Thunder/Lightning releases have actually restored my faith in the brand and the future of street/sportswear in itself. But while people seem to go crazy for Breds it doesn't excuse the fact this colourway was existed since 1999 when NikeID was originally launched. Seriously: black body with touches of white/grey and a red sole and red details and you have made yourself a pair of Breds... simply enough. surely?

The Titles
If any of you clever kids looked at the titles of these posts and realised my oh so witty pun of "Infra-Breds?" you'll have probably coined my idea. now imagine, Nike ID "Air Jordan Spiz'ike Infra-Bred" is this a ridiculous combination? or is it the start of something beautiful? 

Infra...

"I hate to advocate drugs, alcohol, violence, or insanity to anyone, but they've always worked for me."


I've just listened back to a recording of myself from boxing day after I was a pint bottle of Bulmer's, quite a few JD and cokes and copious amounts of wine down, hence the Hunter. S.Thompson quote. It takes two minutes of listening to drunken drivel to actually reach the focus of my "in depth" discussion with my phone... my boxing day purchases especially when all goes silent and I state "Today I have bought some beautiful shoes"

After this the question I ask is one of terminology. What should I call shoes when I talk about them? Because I think the term trainers doesn't seem specific and seems to be the word used by those who don't really under stand, as I'm sure you've all heard "£100 on a pair of trainers?!" and I feel it doesn't reinforce the knowledge or culture behind streetwear. While Sneakers seems quite an american and cringey term that seems a little too risqué for a little unimportant blog like this one. Ill settle for sneakers and if "sneakerism" were a religion and shoe with an infrared colourway would make it a holy artifact. Which in respect to Nike make any of the Air Max 90 Infrareds the holy grail of sneaks.

But yes £100 is what I spent on my Nike Air Max 90 OG Vintage Infrared which I think is a good deal considering all places selling them for less had them in a January release and by the time I had money in my bank many pre-sales had ran out. So to get my shoes at least 5 days early I queued up in JD Sports on boxing day amongst the cretinous customers all pushing to spend their Christmas and dole money on some new 95s, PTs or Air Pegasus 89s... god I hate Air Pegasus, but I digress.

Following the hellish excursion for food supplies for the day and that sweet, sweet IR we faced the second ordeal of the British public transport system, all in search of some accessories and clothes to set off my new sneaks. My first port of call was the Candy Store where I bought one of this seasons staples: a thick cuffed beanie (Carhartt) and I finally gave in to the camo trend that assaulted fashion this year like the military that it was designed for, with a grey camo tee (Benny Gold).

But on one final, none vain, note you have the patience, creative drive and money you could customise yourself (through Nike ID) some spiz'ikes with some of that critically acclaimed Infrared, whic has also been underplayed by nike, but lets face it they dont need the "spare change"

About Generic.

Generic Update.

Other than "The Article" I haven't really posted about the blog itself. so I thought I'd give everybody a slight insight into the "Guerrilla Journalism" tactics I employ whilst writing.

First of all I want to explain my choice of spelling despite both word and Blogger telling me I'm spelling guerrilla wrong, this is a conscious decision on my part. Guerilla (one R) is a form of marketing ploy adopting an American spelling. However I'm referring to the warfare tactic as described in The Art Of War. This is just my way of making "sporadic article writing" sound good but it stems from me not being able to write at work which is where most of my discussions take place. so on my walk home i will record myself on my phone usually, falling into rants and then typing it up at college. It allows those little jewels of knowledge, which are often forgotten, to be kept whilst maintaining your everyday lifestyle.

Another point I wanted to express was that I am aware that this is not just my passion, nor do I hold the only opinion on fashion and streetwear. This is why I want for you to share with me your ideas, opinions I want this "passion" of mine to be shared. So please if there's something you want to post or have an opinion on please just send an email to 

jjgordonman@gmail.com


with the subject as "POST:(your post title)
Your work will be credited and much appreciated. I never started this page with the idea of it being me rambling on about what i like and dont. Thank you for the support.

-Josh

Quick Sneaker update

Sat in my college Library lurking through various fashion blogs for inspiration to talk about because as I've said before, a lot of what is going on at the moment are brands playing it safe and not straying too far away from risks and even those that do I've began to scrutinise. However I have come to the conclusion I wasn't all wrong, nor was I completely correct.

On New Balance:

Things have not gone merely as bad as I feared in my previous post where in questioned the future of new balance. New balance haven't announced any more disgusting release, or at least any as bad as the "m890v3 Rainbow" (yes that will be a recurring reference). But have joined many other brands, such as Reebok, in announcing a Christmas release. While it does upset me that on the 25th I will not  have the £91.80 ready to send PayPal, and in turn NB. However it will be of the utmost priority for me to try and cop a pair of THESE as they are not only beautiful sneaks, but will probably tie me over until the "Adidas x Bape x UNDFTD" release which was pulled back until spring 2013. As well as offering a slightly easier to obtain, and much cheaper alternative.

My other dilemma:

So Nike have announced which colourways will be used as a part of their OG releases personally I am most looking forward to the Air Max 90 infrared re-release which has taken a full turn back to its original release in 1990 and (thankfully) not re-visited the other older infrared colourways. Not because they aren't nice, but simply because they are true classics in their own right. But the boys at Nike have not been sitting on their thumbs waiting for the money from their most popular classics being re-released to pour in. They have been busy filling up every sneaker head's calendar with January and spring 2013 releases and with Christmas, getting four paychecks, a tax refund and my 18th birthday all before the end of march this next season is going to be a hectic scrabble to get some exclusives, collaborations and re-releases all in the name of the swoosh.

New Balance, New direction?

First of all I apologise for how long this post has been, presumably because nothing too interesting has been happening recently, but through my news updates on my phone I discovered 2 rather interesting New Balance updates. First of all I’d like to discuss how socio-economic factors affect the fashion industry and in particular its niche markets like streetwear and high fashion. During time of depression people “feel the squeeze” a little more (just to note I hate using such cliché phrases but it’s early and I’m a writer, not an economist).  As a result brands, especially streetwear, tend to tone down their designs as they want to be more appealing and cannot physically afford to take risks in term of “out there” designs. 

   This is what I assume to be the reason for the increase in high street popularity of New Balance they fitted this definition perfectly: not too out there, not too expensive and being a floor-drobe “staple” shoe of sneaker heads, fiends and pimps alike certainly didn’t hinder NB’s position during the hype over streetwear of the last 2 years, along with having a “made in England” appeal during Britain’s most patriotic year. No one could be blamed for thinking they are possible the luckiest brand of the decade. 

     If you’ve read my previous articles you’ll be no stranger to collaborations, and presumably know they excite people. I am guilty of this especially with shoes I would pay a lot more money than I’d like to admit on a pair of ‘Size? X Dave White x Nike air stabs’... Wait size? ...A trainer or tee being exclusive to a retailer makes it that little bit more exciting more desirable this is no different for my reaction to the Size? X Staple X New Balance “black pigeon” but I couldn’t help but take it with a pinch of salt. This announcement came in the same week as the New Balance Infra red announcement, that magical Colourway that gets sneaker reds and collectors sweating from the brow and their fingers ready for some serious F5 mashing on day of release.
      So I hear you ask “what’s the issue?” Well these two announcements make me thing that new balance are using the funding from their new fan base, whether its people discovering them through streetwear or people buying them because their local FootAsylum have them stocked next to their favourite chinos and generic as fuck tee shirts with SWAG written over photos of models the company don’t even own the rights to, they can afford to take the risks, at first I thought this was a prediction that would not come true but another announcement came the “New Balance Spring 2013 M890v3 Rainbow Colourway” Just Google that one...
  
It also worries me that both the infrared CW and Staple design collaboration are two of my favourite Air Max 90 designs, I fear this trend may continue and i really don’t want sneakers to fall into the “homogenous cesspool” Matt Irving talks about (as referenced in “the Article”).


(Size? x Staple Design x New Balance Black Pidgeon 577, New Balnce 574 Infrared, Nike x Staple Design Air Max 90 navigation 2004, Nike Air Max 90 Infrared)