sneaks4freaks

Puma Kicks Off With Retroed ’68′s

So the European Football Championships in Switzerland and Austria kick off in a few weeks and the first of the brands to take advantage is Puma . With a heritage in football reaching back as far as 1948 when Puma release it’s first football boot , the Atom , Puma celebrate with release of four shoes for a one time only drop for this year’s competition .

The Roma will be released in four designs , one in it’s original make up of a soft white leather upper with suede team royal blue formstripe while the other three designs feature a more direct tribute to the winning Italian football team from 1968 , their only victory in the tournament to date .

The original is lovingly retroed here and will even feature the original gold sticker of authenticity on the sockliner .

As for the Roma 68′s , all the designs feature the Italian Azzurri blue jersey material on the lining with the detailing on the tougue being the badge of the FIGC ( Italian Football Federation ) with the two gold stars ( Italy being twice World Cup Champions in 1968 ) . Available in black , brown and Azzurri blue .

Altogether a nice clean drop , nice work Puma .

Another colorway ?

Personally , I like my kicks DS and fresh outta the box and I know others do , but if the distressed look is in vogue at the moment , I guess we’ll have to run with it .

The shoes featured are G.S. ( Grand Slam ) 1981 , Forest Hills Vintage 1977 , Stan Smith Vintage 1977 , Nastase Master 1976 and the Rod Laver Vintage 1970

Available at our friends , ryöüki::sneaker böütique now !

Deep Fried Motherboard

Holla !

Yes I know it has been ages since the last update . Moving house and a few technical problems , like a frazzled computer motherboard has meant no movement and news on the site for the past four weeks .

Thanks for all the e-mails and I will answer them as soon as , until then , please be patient .

Harry .

No guessing where the latest inspiration for Oki Ni ‘s new Dunny has come from . The iconic computer game ‘Space Invaders’ was the first of a batch of arcade games from Taito that broke new ground and created many a wasted day for yours truley back in the early 80′s . Given a new twist , Oki Ni uses the 8-bit pixelated images to design a limited edition Dunny . The Dunny , has to be the most well known toys character from the Kidrobot stable and this 8″ version has been produced in a run of 175 pieces . Retailing at £26 from Oki Ni online , the Dunny will hits the shelves later today .

Footlocker And Reebok Serve Up Some Grid Iron

On the 28th October London’s Wembley Stadium will play host to two of the biggest names in American Football as the NFL bandwagon comes to town . This one off game will see one of America’s favorite national pastime visit the UK with all the glitz and glamour you’d expect .

Tickets are like gold dust and if you haven’t managed to secure any yet , be prepared to pay over the odds to get the best seats . Luckily for you Footlocker and Reebok have got together to offer 10 pairs of VIP seats , accomodation and travel for the week-end in a free competition in the run up to the game .

Entering couldn’t be easier , just click on the banner below and enter your details for your chance to see the New York Giants go head to head with the Miami Dolphins .

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To celebrate , Reebok have produced 4 pieces of team apparel which will be available at selected Footlocker stores accross the UK . The sweats and hoodies have been designed exclusively for the game and will not be available after stocks sell out , so get in quick and don you colours .

Lacoste x Kidrobot @ ryöüki

The conception of Kidrobot occured in 2002 , designer Paul Budnitz created a range of products that met the needs of the urban toy collector . From Dunny’s to prints , caps to hoodies and sweats , the Kidrobot empire continues to grow and become ever more popular . Most recently known to sneaker headz for it colaborations with Nike and JB Classics , Lacoste now steps up to the plate with a 3 shoe series of limited edition kicks and Peecol‘s from the designer himself .

Born from the success of tennis star René Lacoste , the company has long been in the shadow of the other major sports brands but has also been a main stay of urban street culture since the early eighties . Originally producing sports attire and equipment ( Lacoste designed the first metal tennis racket which was distributed by Wilson and used most famously by Jimmy Connors ) , the Lacoste brand really broke through in the early to mid eighties to become the uniform for terrace casuals here in the UK . Worldwide , the brand had been very successful , but now , from working with the likes of Kidrobot , Lacoste is now breaking new ground and seeking a new audience .

The three trainers in the series from Lacoste are the Missouri , Revan2 and Revan3 . Paul Budnitz and Chad Phillips from Kidrobot chose the designs for the shoes to match their toy lines , using the Bones , Eyeball and Robot Head patterns . The shoes are also a blaze with 3M detailing which is a nice touch . With a limited to a production run of 500 worldwide they will have a global retail presence , costing from around £70 – £80 , the shoes will be a good entry point for a collector looking to break their Lacoste cherry .

REVAN 3

Each pair of sneaks will be accompanied by a Kidrobot Peecol , which will be exclusive to the release and individually designed for each of the shoes in the series .

REVAN 2

My favorite by far from the three has to be the Missouri . With it’s autumn release date – first week in November for the UK – these will just suit the winter climate IMO with the other two more likened to summer kicks . The colour pallete is muted and the detailing subtle , married with a great choice of all round shoe .

MISSOURI

Available naturally from Kidrobot‘s 3 US stores and Barneys in NYC , expect to see these land in the UK at ryöüki::sneaker böütique very soon both in store and online .

The usual high end sneaker stores accross europe will also be seeing these along with

Atmos , Japan

Livestock , Canada

Dakota and Incu , Australia

Puma Bespoke Range Hits

Oki Ni has by all accounts been ringing the changes of late , it’s showcase store on Savile Row closing , re-jigging it’s brands and updating the look of their website . All of this has seen Oki Ni step away from the spotlight as far as sneakers are concerned , but now with Puma as it’s new stable mate , the first of it’s colaborations is about to launch . Last night I visited Oki Ni ‘s latest offering at their guerilla store for the launch party , where I got to see the new products and meet some of the people behind this new partnership .

The Bespoke Range , an 18 month project in the making , shows Oki Ni visit the realms of the Puma Archive and return to it’s Savile Row roots , a street synonymous with tailor made-to-measure clothing of the highest quality .

8 items make up the range , 4 kicks , 1 track , 1 hoodie and 2 caps , which tie traditional producers with modern street fashion . Each piece , limited to a production run of only 100 , will be available online from today and at Oki Ni ‘s pop-up shop here in London’s Little Portland Street from 27th September to 6th October .

The Sneaks

It would n’t be a Puma Archive release without a Clyde in the line up and this range is no different with The Clyde Brogue putting an unusual twist on this iconic trainer , the upper is where we see the tradition break from the norm . Sitting on the Clyde silhouette sole , Goodyear Welted shoe maker Loake have hand made each shoe in the finest materials and with an attention to detail that is normally associated to high end footwear . The leather , cut , punched and sewn by hand is then finished with a combination of burnishing , antique dressing and hand polishing . The detailing follows on with a heavy duty shoe box and branded felt individual shoe bags . Purists will no doubt look at this kick thinking , is it a shoe or is it a trainer ? on reflection I’m still undecided on this one and how well it will be recieved , but one thing is for sure , with the £180 price tag , they won’t be for everyone .

The Savile Row Stepper is made from suiting materials from family run quality cloth supplier H.Lesser & Sons . The Stepper , originally released in 1984 for one year until it’s recent appearance last year as a re-issue was a mid cut version of the Clyde . The shoe features a wool pinstripe upper , calico formstripe and hand tailored stitching . The feel of this shoe is superb and really has to be seen in the flesh . With the cloth weather treated , this is not a summer only kick and with a £100 tag price , won’t break the bank either .

The last two kicks are my pick of the range . The Prince of Wales Liga , originally an indoor football shoe , gets the make over of an upper made from the finest Prince of Wales check fabric , keeping the shoe light in weight and subtle in colour . These work for me because of the blue and red detailing on each shoe which is then married over with a set of matching laces . A really nice shoe and when you see and feel the shoe you get that touch of quality the this range was trying to achieve . Both Liga’s will be retailing at £100 , a price worth paying ? IMO yes , quality materials and a limited run hit the spot .

The Apparel

Oki Ni have chosen both a track top and hoodie to run with the range . The Puma Archive T7 Track Top follows on from the kicks in using materials sourced from H.Lesser & Sons . The wool twill cloth sits well on this track - the T7 was the first piece of apparel produced by Puma in 1969 as a warm up jacket for both football and athletics .

The Oxford Hoodie on the other hand , uses the skills of shirt fabric provider and cotton spinners Thomas Mason Ltd . The normal sweat hoodie is replaced by fine shirt material which is an unusual take of the traditional street uniform of today .

Headgear

Now , this is the concept that I really wanted to see . The Bowler Cap is manufatured by hat maker Walter Wright , a company that for over 100 years has been producing felt and straw hats . Made from Russian rabbit felt which I was told , is the finest grade available , the cap combines the traditional baseball cap style with the production process of the traditional english bowler hat . Created from a specially design aluminium mould , the felt is then stretched and then hand steamed over it until the shape is taken , finished off with a hand embroidered Puma logo from Savile Row embroiderer , Hand & Lock , the cap comes with it own felt bag and hat box , a very different cap indeed .

Finishing the range , Puma ‘s traditional cloth baseball cap but this time made from the wool twill used for the Liga shoes . Retailing at £80 and £40

All in all , the twist that Oki Ni puts on traditional products that we all know is there in spades . With the limited production run now back to the store’s normal output , we should expect to see some exciting releases in the future from their new partnership with Puma . Watch this space .

My thanks to everyone at Oki Ni .

POP UP STORE

3 , Little Portland Street , London

27th Sept – 6th Oct

Mon-Sat 11am to 7pm

Sun 12 noon – 5pm

New Week , New Era @ Footlocker

New Era has been around for some time now , since 1954 New Era have been producing the iconic fitted ‘ 59FIFTY ‘ cap , aka ‘ the Brooklyn ‘ , which has been the stable wear in Major League Baseball for well over 50 years now . Taken from the ball park and onto the street , the cap is now firmly set in modern street culture and sees no sign of stopping soon . Landing recently in London’s west end , the New Era family set down it’s new store on Brewer Street with it’s set of London inspired caps .

Together with FootLocker Europe , New Era has launched it’s hunt for the next face of it’s latest ad campaign , ” Are You Part of the New Era ” . Over the next three months you’ll have the chance to win that right in a three country wide competition .

Interested ? …….. read on .

Where and When ?

This coming Friday and Saturday , Footlocker stores in London , Manchester , Paris , Berlin and Munich will open their doors for the new hopefuls with the opportunity of being taken for a test photoset . The next chance will come in October ( 5th and 6th ) at the same city stores .

The first 50 through the door to be photographed will also recieve an AYPNE goodie bag so it’ll pay to be early .

But don’t worry if you can’t get there or feel like doing something a little more artistic at home as you will have the ability to upload your entries to the competition online >>HERE<<

The Prize ?

The winner will then be featured inside December’s VICE magazine as well as featuring as the model for New Era in FootLocker across Europe . A stack full of FootLocker vouchers seals the prize for this fantastic opportunity .

GOOD LUCK !