Oh hey. So for those of you who’ve been paying attention to all things Complex Sneakers, you already know that I’ve been writing a (somewhat) regular Friday column for a few months now. For those who don’t, now you know. What’s different, you may be asking yourself. Not much, really, other than now it has a name—and a spiffy logo. Maybe we’ll start archiving them as we go. You tell me.
Outside of the name, I’m not gonna try and define this too much. The world of sneakers has simply grown far too big to try and encompass it with any rules. I might use this space to write on an anniversary of a classic, or the debut of a new signature shoe. Maybe it’ll be an interview, maybe it’ll be a reader mailbag of sorts (although I promise to never respond with 90210 quotes or anything like that). I’ve got a lot to say when it comes to sneakers, but I’m sure you do, too. We never got to answer viewer questions on Quickstrike, so maybe we can try something like that here. Ask away in the comments, that’s probably the easiest way.
We never got to answer viewer questions on Quickstrike, so maybe we can try something like that here.
In the meantime, sneakers don’t stop. Every weekend it seems that there are another dozen limited releases dropping, with even more than usual coming next week to coincide with NBA All-Star weekend. There’s also the little matter of the new Kanye shoe, but we’ll talk more about that next Friday. It will be very interesting to see how adidas’ new app handles that release, and whether it becomes the model that other brands follow for their most coveted releases. I think we can all agree that something has to change, whether this is the answer or not. Lining up just for the chance to come back and buy something is not the move.
Another thing: I wouldn’t be doing this if I still wasn’t excited about new sneakers. And somehow, I still am. I’ve been into sneakers in some way or another for 30 years now, been writing about them on and off (mostly on) for nearly 20, yet seeing a cool new design (or a clever flip of an old one) has yet to get old. I got to play in the Kobe Xs yesterday, will check out the latest Concepts x New Balance 997s in person today, and that kind of thing still feels like when I got my first pair of “real” sneakers (blue on white Nike Bruins) way back in...well, a long time ago.
This is not to say everything’s perfect. There are still too many collaborations, too many retros of models hardly anyone wanted the first time, and too many “homages” to old designs rather than well thought-out original ones. There are alleged “inspired by” colorways that either don’t have anything to do with anything or just don’t make any sense at all. These are all fair game, too. Hopefully I can do it in a somewhat constructive way—whether the brands or the designers agree or not. It’s not about “shots” as much as it is about finding a way to keep this sneaker thing of ours healthy. Which should be what we’re all working towards, whether we’re industry heads, bloggers, or just consumers. Come back next week and let’s get things started for real.
Russ Bengtson is a senior staff writer at Complex. You can follow him on Twitter here.
