words & image // Zack Schlemmer
Similar to LA Gear, British Knights was a popular sneaker brand among the youth of the early 90's that eventually faded into obscurity. Contrary to the brand's name, the British Knights company was actually founded in the United States in 1986. Designwise, BK's usually featured a thick sole (think Air Force One), big tongue, and about as many BK logos as you could fit onto the shoe. Many had some kind of Jordan elephant print-esque motif or other crazy patterns like the shoe featured in this ad. In other words, the shoes were loud! Most younger readers may have never even heard of British Knights, but if you were a kid in the 80's and 90's you probably owned a pair or had a friend that did. If you grew up watching Nickelodeon game shows, you might remember them being offered as a prize on shows like Family Double Dare and Legends of the Hidden Temple. BK even had everybody's favorite rapper MC Hammer doing commercials (and dissing Nike!).
British Knights were also notorious for being worn by the Crips gang because "BK" was used to stand for "Blood Killers". The Bloods and Crips were all the rage in American media at the time and British Knights were banned by many schools, which may have led to the downfall of the brand.
Whatever the actual cause of the demise of the brand was - whether it was the Crips, or kids just moved on to other shoes as they got older - British Knights are definitely a part of sneaker history not be be overlooked. Would you cop a pair?
