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Long Island stand up! To acknowledge this coming weekend’s Fourth of July holiday, and celebrate the mass exodus of New Yorkers to the beach, Nike created the the AIr Force 1 Premium “Jones Beach” Birch/Sail-Stone-Soft Blu SMU (Special Make Up). The sneaker goes on sale this coming Friday for $120 at Extra Butter NY, and looks dope, but come on guys. A Jones Beach Air Force 1? Seems like a bit of a stretch. There’s no relevant artist, no sneaker head, this is just a beach/music venue where you go to drink beer in the parking lot and listen to Steve Miller.
Nike AF1 special versions are usually tied to two things: artists who design the sneakers or athletes who are on Nike and are deserving of recognition. When Nike tries to spread the hype sauce beyond these ideas, they get a little WTF. In addition to the Jones Beach AF1, hit the jump to see our list of Air Force 1s that feature Questionable Marketing/Design Conceits…
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On July 4th, Los Angeles tattoo artist-turned culture icon Mr. Cartoon re-releases his original Nike collaboration Air Force 1 in a special Livestrong colorway. The new Black/Black-Varsity Maize Mr. Cartoon Air Force 1 will be the first time Mr. Cartoon’s “Spider Web” toebox goes on sale to the public. It was first released as a 2005 Hyperstrike version of the Mr. Cartoon AF1 (50 to Cartoon, 50 to UNDFTD), with additional retail outlets selling the still limted, but different tattoo pattern. This Livestrong-ed up colorway joins the other “Greatest Hits” including the soon to be released Futura FLOM Dunk, Hideout Woven, and Busy P. Air Force 1, created to hype Lance’s involvement in the Tour de France, which starts on Saturday, July 4th.
Mr. Cartoon is a sneaker kingpin, and his signature models of both Nike and Vans helped define the earlier years of the newest generation of sneaker heads. Hit the jump for a history of Mr. Cartoon’s collaborations, including the Livestrong AF1, which comes out on Saturday…
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Last night on twitter, the sneaker heads were buzzin’ about Lil Wayne’s sequined Supra Skytops when he took the stage for Young Money’s set. Are they coming out? Did Supra send them to Weezy? Well, the answer to both questions is…no.
Our source at Supra says they had no idea where the customs came from, which means Wayne had them made on his own. We’re guessing one of his Young Money weed carriers hooked up with the same person who customizes Paris Hilton’s sidekicks. See more shots of the shoes below, and if you’re feeling them, hit up the comments and try to persuade Supra to break out the bedazzler…
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Big news on the blogs today: Eddie Van Halen and his merch crew are suing Nike over a Dunk Low that looks like his Frankenstein guitar. Does it look like the iconic Van Halen print? Yes. Can they prove it? Doubtful. The lawsuit could potentially add a smidgen of press to promote the band’s next tour, but as far as money, chances of Eddie catching anything are low. What the suit will do, however, is likely get the sneakers taken off of shelves, removing a decent kick from the market. It’s no Nylon Dunk, but you know, for some kid out there, these are the perfect shoes to match his “Running with the Devil” T-shirt.
This whole process got us to thinking. Usually it’s Nike’s law team that is on the “taking sneakers off the shelf” tip. Whether it’s proactive to avoid a suit, or going after little guys trying to get a nut, their team is top notch, so it rarely comes to actual legal blows. Read on for some recent examples of the Swoosh cock-blocking the sneaker game because of a stupid little thing called “copyright laws”…
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A “Best Of” list already? It’s the middle of June, and we’re coming up onthe 6 month mark of 2009. Holy crap.
In order to get a grasp on what’s been happening in the first half of 2009, Complex will be dropping a different top 10 list each day this week, cataloging the best of the year in fashion, music, video games and movies. To kick things off, our editors picked The 10 Best Sneaker Drops of 2009 (So Far). Read on to see the list and find out what order we ranked them in. If you don’t agree with our choices, check out www.blogspot.com and start your own blog to let the world know what you think. Or, just leave a comment to let us know your picks…
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In HOLY CRAP news, Eric Koston announced his new footwear sponsor yesterday, Nike SB. Koston has been a skate hero forever, and with the way the Berrics is popping off right now, this couldn’t have been a better get for SB. Koston has always been a Nike head, but he’s also been a trend leader in skate shoe design since his start.
In an interview with Retrokid for SOLE Collector back in April of ’08, when he was asked about P-Rod’s deal with Nike, Koston said, “I think they ripped him off…I think a company like Nike, they should be paying out the fucking ass…Somebody of Paul’s ability and marketability, he deserves more. LeBron’s getting a $100 million deal, it’s just not comparable.” If one were to extrapolate off of this quote, he could safely say that Eric Koston is chilling. So, in celebration of one of skateboarding’s greats, and to mark what will undoubtedly be the start of a flood of awesome SBs with his name on it, we’ve compiled Eric Koston’s greatest signature shoes from his start with éS to his move to Lakai. Hit the jump and get schooled about the dude, and his design process.
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On June 1, the Jordan Brand will release the sneaker pictured above to boutiques around the country. It’s called the Campus Chukka, and at a $110 retail price point, the sneaker is an off-court shoe that’s going to go head-to-head with the emerging lifestyle sneaker category that’s currently taking over the streets.
Most people that run lifestyle footwear houses (ALIFE, Gourmet, Supra, Vans) have some Jordan fandom tucked away on their reference walls, but who knew that they’d be facing competition from the top in the next ten days? Would you buy the Campus Chukka over the Supra TK Societys or Gourmet’s spring hotness? Hit the jump to see the sneakers on the market that most closely resemble the Campus Chukka, and compare notes and vote on how you’ll blow left of your post-Memorial Day cash…
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Still think you’re too cool to clean your sneakers? OK, dumbass, have fun spending all that money you don’t have on new pairs, while we preserve ours and keep ’em nice and crispy. Sneaker cleaning can get tricky and if you don’t know what you’re doing, you can ruin the very pair you’re trying to protect.
Luckily for you, Complex’s Lifestyle Editor and sneaker kingpin Bradley Carbone put together this instructional video on how to clean your kicks. Watch the video below on how to successfully treat your footwear with a number of different remedies.
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Each week in the Friday Faceoff, the editors of Complex will have an open debate with one of the other websites in the Complex Media Network on a timely topic. We encourage everyone to chime in with comments about our choices, whether you agree or disagree. Don’t worry, we can take a sneak-diss or two.
For the first installment of our Friday Faceoff column, we challenged NiceKicks.com Founder and Editor in Chief Matt Halfhill to pick what he thinks are the best sneaker releases of the year thus far. After picking our own Top 5, we went back and forth with Nice Kicks about each others’ choices. Let the battle begin…
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Hopefully you’ve had a chance to check out the new issue of Complex, on stands now, which features our exclusive story on the making of the Air Yeezys. And hopefully you’re not in NYC waiting in line to buy the shoes right now in the pouring rain.
Regardless, the shoe drops tomorrow, so below we’ve assembled some unseen outtakes from our exclusive interview with both Kanye West (superhero) and Mark Smith (Creative Director of Special Projects in the Innovation Kitchen for Nike). Hit the jump to hear about the design process, selection of aesthetics for the shoe, and why Kanye is the everyman when it comes to repping for the ‘hood in the Nike design offices…
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