Snake America Forty Nine
Snake is a bi-weekly electric magazine covering salable items. This week: a summer sneaker preview. Reader Royce sent the first my way and I took the lead. Subscribe.
TBD: Nike Tennis Classic AC, all white: A new retro that coincides with the slight uptick in all-white sneaker coverage and which confirms the slow bubbling up of these things since that APC collaboration retro All Court for 2009 with Nike. Not a bad retro and the Killshot, John McEnroe's first shoe, was re-introduced that summer too and was easier to find than the APC. All up and down lower the Broadway sneaker chain stores, with the All Court just in one semi-secret store. ... I have gone into each year thinking the summer would be the one of the early 1980s Nike but it's yet to happen and in 2015 it looks like we're in for Adidas. That's unfortunate. This pair of Tennis Classics, a few years old, is respectable if chintzy. Is there a difference between them and the APCs? Not sure. The subtle ramp-up of all-white sneakers appears to have been leading to the above-mentioned, a skinnier, lower interpretation of original 1981 Nike. Shouldn't it be a Nike? It should. If you take the swoosh off this thing, or plug the swoosh-holes with spackle or white jam it's a Kent Wang summer sneaker or one of the Common Projects they resemble. Or a handful of other shoes not worth knowing about. Maybe the rich-people shoes that have taken their cues from old Nikes are cutting into the company's profit margins and forced their hands here? Maybe but not probably. I doubt it's a twitch on the line item. These should be bought in bulk, left in a musty basement for a few election cycles and then worn. Caveat emptor.
Lanvin neoprene mid sock sneaker: These are pretty cool, man. All the Lanvin runners since the dawn of time 2012 share a shape and must be made off the same last. Those first-run Raf Adidas look like Brooks or Asics runners in photos, but in person they're fatter than a mid-1990s skateboard shoe. This shape is ... inexact? ... Early '90s New Balance? Tech-support guy? Initial-run Saucony Jazz? Its own thing, sure, but somewhere between the Nike HTM moc with the suction cups on the bottom and an aqua sock, also by Nike. There's a good second in Lost in Translation (USA 2003) where Hiroshi Fujiwara, the H in the acronym up there and a guy who has a Mary Tyler Moore haircut now, is wearing a giant cross necklace and a scally cap. Pretty good progression. I don't think these Lanvin sneakers shouldn't be worn with drapey clothing. Or if you're underweight or south of a healthy BMI. Not into black either. Looking like you're both going through emotions and ready to exercise is a bad combination. One should try for the exact opposite. As always, but especially with this shoe, obesity is recommended. Last year's Lanvin sneakers do look like Brooks meets Diesel, though.
eBay: Teva Sandalboot, size 11: Sheepskin stompers with a pretty good silhouette, like they climbed a mountain themselves. These are stout boots. Patagonia made these stand-up shorts in the 1990s that I think rested straight on their leg-holes when left alone, like a ghost or the shoe in which Mother Hubbard lived but smaller. The shorts looked rough when worn but the principle behind them is a good one(1). The Teva sheepskin winter sandal boots I'm spending my free time writing are bulbous, like muscles or better Cold War winter parkas. There's nothing funny about these shoes and they're not ugly. They're a mistake but they work. Compare to this Nike which doesn't. Every item of clothing--and stand of hair, every cuticle--needs to be straight to prevent the wearer from looking like a horse's ass. It's a challenge. Recommended.
eBay: British military plimsolls, size 7: I'm not going to front that I knew British plimsolls came in these colors before seeing this auction. I thought those plimsoll reconsiderations by Nigel Cabourn and Converse a couple summers ago were ugly, but turns out they were just exact. Why gross mustard? Is it mustard? Why green-light this twice in a row? What a fool I am. I bet these looked good at the time with bloomers or a nice double-breasted navy sport coat or a Russian sweatsuit but I'm not sure how they work now. I bet also if you lived in Mumbai they were convenient but not as convenient as the white ones. Anyways, good on Cabourn for midwifing a perfectly-executed, if ugly, retro. It says in the shoe copy on EndClothing.com that the companies beefed the sneaker up but I don't see any differences or any beefing. It also says Cabourn has a "collection of over 3000 rare pieces of original military clothing." So the collection is either way over 3,000 pieces of vintage military clothing, with only that many being rare--or he only has rare stuff. Where's the warehouse? I like the idea of him taking the tram across the Thames from his crib in London to where the power station and Tate Modern are, the warehouse district, where his all-rare vintage warehouse is. What if he crossed a river to get into his Vietnam shorts collection? There are big spot camos and small spot camos and everything else but it's a two-hour commute. What's rare? Who draws the line?
Geta sandals, deadstock, 9 pairs left: Pretty good deal on a pair of Japanese wooden clogs: under $20, 10% off and free shipping. That said, I'm not sure these are the genuine article. Oxford defines the Geta as having a "thong pass between the first (big) toe and the second toe." The thongs are fat, like balloon-animals, and traditionally go from toes to the heel bone. These look like slides. They Getas? The first reference to a Geta in the New York Times is in 1923 ("Learning Lessons of the Quake") and doesn't go into detail about the shoe. Another is from 1965 and isn't helpful... These aren't square ... but I'm not the one to say whether an old wooden sandal from Japan is a Geta or not. You can buy the real deal on the Etsy shop for Kaede, a Kimono retail consultancy that is in downtown Manhattan. Or at this spot Kimono House on Thompson St. below Houston, which sells and rents Kimonos, though likely not Getas, and has been in business since 1977. Also worth mentioning: Etsy has filed paperwork for an IPO, for this year. From the Times' story:
Etsy’s own metric, known as adjusted Ebitda, or earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, says that the company made $23 million last year. But it lost $15 million according to standard accounting principles.
Pretty good adjustment. Also it says the offering is being led by both Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. I guess they are hanging out again now.
Thanks for reading.
Snake
Last Snake: Silver Nike BWs, Western biker vest (for sale; for sale)
Snake Before That: Bulls rings shirt, Morris The Cat shirt (for sale; for sale)
(1) The opposite here is old worn no-wash jeans, etc. Fine or better worn, best undiscussed.