- Apr 23, 2009
- 950
- 152
This is coming from a person thats been around from 2004??? Grow up… Can you please match what Tom has donated?
Read meths response and let that sink in..
Instyleshoes "Give Back 14" : 14 Year Anniversary & Give Back to Niketalk
- Thread in 'General' Thread starter Started by instyleshoes,
- Start date
This is coming from a person thats been around from 2004??? Grow up… Can you please match what Tom has donated?
Read meths response and let that sink in..
Thats My Word
formerly derrty6232
- Apr 29, 2006
- 9,561
- 3,218
It's like the capulets and montagues, the rivalry doesn't have to make sense at this point. 
- Aug 25, 2008
- 3,923
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$14 for each sale 
That's going to be a nice check at the end of the month.
Hats off for that one
That's going to be a nice check at the end of the month.
Hats off for that one
- Dec 24, 2011
- 4,866
- 1,196
I actually started off on ISS back in 07, came here in late 2009.
Met a lot of great people on there, still talk to them everyday.
Glad to see yall giving back. $14 from every purchase will add up
Met a lot of great people on there, still talk to them everyday.
Glad to see yall giving back. $14 from every purchase will add up
superblytrife
Supporter
- Mar 20, 2002
- 21,056
- 22,805
I got no beef with you, ISS. Props on what you're doing. $14/sale will add up to a nice check towards a good cause.
I hate I$$ though. Except when selling overpriced, hyped shoes. Works like a charm over there.
I hate I$$ though. Except when selling overpriced, hyped shoes. Works like a charm over there.
- Oct 24, 2010
- 94,434
- 33,493
why respond to any of these kids
the only people who still bring up the old ISS crap are people who are misinformed, people who try to be funny, and kids who know nothing about the history of NT/ISS and just try to act cool.
ISS changed ownership a long time ago and its well known.
yall need to stop with the crap and the hate for no reason especially when the guy is taking money from his own sales to help out NT and make our donations even bigger.
and yall wonder why some of the OG's dont come back to this site anymore. SMH
- Jan 14, 2001
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I actually started off on ISS back in 07, came here in late 2009.
Met a lot of great people on there, still talk to them everyday.
Glad to see yall giving back. $14 from every purchase will add up
Thanks for the aknowledgement on our Give Back Program, but it seems you are mistaking the ISS Forums and the ISS Online Store. They later re-named the ISS Forums to Sole Collector sometime after the Magazine launched.
-ISS
INSTAGRAM : @instyleshoes1999
- Apr 15, 2004
- 44,373
- 74,073
- Jul 15, 2001
- 4,304
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Props to ISS for this. 
- May 8, 2012
- 10,486
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Could someone please inform me of what happened with ISS vs. NT many years ago?
- Mar 29, 2008
- 26,528
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very long story
Ja's 2¢
formerly vcshoxj6
- Jun 20, 2001
- 6,720
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- Jan 14, 2001
- 217
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Yikes. That post is even uglier than I remember!
Glad those days are a distant memory, and we have the opportunity to do what we are doing with NT today.
@Method Man, Thanks for clarifying that our post is Legit. I look forward to a day when you don't feel compelled to do that again. You probably do too. To answer your question about ownership of Instyleshoes :
In Summer of 2010, ISS Steve contacted UTA Steve about a buyout. The purchase happened & as many of us know, both UTA Steve and ISS Steve made very public posts about it. In August of 2010, UTA Steve called me up and asked if I wanted to Own / Run Instyleshoes. I purchased 95% of ISS from UTA right then and there, and in the past month (Sadly, as Uptempoair was closing it's doors), I purchased the rest of ISS making me 100% owner. That's the story of how I got control of the Company (for anyone else that was wondering).
The next part is more important :
WHY buy Instyleshoes?
I've been asked this many times, including this past week by those that have read this very thread. In short, because the Good outweighed the Bad (in my own opinion back in 2010). As Method Man has mentioned a few times now, I'm "one of Niketalk's own" who started way back in the early days before Niketalk even had it's own proper url. I elected to take on the task of trying to rebuild something that I had "grown up with". I knew about the "Fiasco" and also the issues mentioned in that ugly link above, as I read about them here with the rest of you guys back in the day and thought "WTF".
INSTYLESHOES was one of the first online boutiques. It was Flight Club before Flight Club even existed as we know it today (then it was "Vintage Kicks" and looked very different). In the early 2000's, Instyleshoes was one of say, five or so sites that offered exclusive and hard to find shoes that we all loved, some of which we had never seen before (there weren't ANY other sites offering PE's back then). Picture quality and also acknowledging the "fakes" that were coming out / being one of the early educators against it were all things that Instyleshoes stood for. In the early 2000's, I remember checking out BOTH Instyleshoes (the store, NOT the forum) and Niketalk daily. It was exciting and I learned a lot from both. In 2003, a mutual friend put me in touch with UTA Steve, and I got to work closely with him from 2003-2010, learning a bunch. Thanks (and good luck to) "Uncle Steve" is an understatement.
I believe in giving back to those that got me to where I am, both personally and professionally. I'm lucky to work with a team of 13, some of which have been alongside me for the ride about a decade or so now. Since 2010, I've put in a lot of energy to try and bring Instyleshoes back to the way I remembered it as a kid and I've had a lot of help doing it with having such a great team around me. One of the biggest pieces is that we help our clients, for a variety of reasons, sell their collections. Some have contacted us and said "I'm going back to college, I need to sell my collection to pay tuition" or "I've got a kid on the way and priorities have changed". That's a lot of what we do, and we payout fairly. In a sense, those shoes are going to get sold regardless, so why not through ISS and we will share our profits accordingly with those that help us. That's what ISS is today.
As for the Niketalk Sponsorship and this Give Back Program, it goes really without saying, how happy I am to be here (despite a very justified amount of resistance from some older members of this forum).
Going back to the point of this post, I'm very much honored to celebrate the 14th Anniversary of Instyleshoes with you, Niketalk. It brings two things that I love together. That's kind of it, not much more to it than that actually.
So, again, thanks to those that have supported ISS being a sponsor here on NIKETALK. Especially to Method Man, who had the biggest reasons of anyone to not want to see INSTYLESHOES on this forum.
Thanks,
Tom
Instyleshoes Owner & Team Lead
INSTAGRAM : @instyleshoes1999
- Dec 23, 2003
- 18,412
- 5,848
I can sure use a give back from instyleshoes I spent $1,300.00 on the site in June & September of this year.
That $14.00 a sale is pretty generous
That $14.00 a sale is pretty generous
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- Sep 13, 2004
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they just bumped up the prices on the website by $20 bucks to cover this marketing scheme. jokelang
- Jan 14, 2001
- 217
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Say what now?
- Dec 23, 2003
- 18,412
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can we get more info on how to ship stuff to iss
- Jan 14, 2001
- 217
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Just email us, and we'll go from there. And thanks for your orders with us!
Thanks,
ISS
INSTAGRAM : @instyleshoes1999
- Jan 4, 2004
- 806
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Tom, I applaud you for what you're doing; A percentage and a fixed amount (per sale) out of your pocket, that is more than gratifying of you. Many sneaker sites have came and gone, but none have ever given back like this. Keep it up, with ISS under new management, and your great bold character, I know we can expect noting less!!!!
- Jan 14, 2001
- 217
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Thanks for the public kudos P.
We would like to ask for NT's thoughts on which initiative we should work with next? As mentioned, we've contributed to the sizable Room to Read dontation that Niketalk made last year, but we are asking if you guys have an opinion or want for us to donate with any specific charities moving forward.
All suggestions are welcome.
Thanks!
-ISS
INSTAGRAM : @instyleshoes1999
- Mar 19, 2004
- 212
- 87
Wow...........
In All my years I have been in the background here and in the industry of shoes, would I ever think to see a turn around like this.
I cant recall his real name anymore, but his screen name was Rock Deep and I recall he was linked to you guys and his quest to give knowledge on fakes. Until the floor fell out with him in here. Is he still around or in the background?
I think its great what your doing, even if we both know the marketing benefits of this. The "Charity Game" is what draws people to come to sites and justifies profit margins at times with certain companies.
I still say this to myself and now to you. TRUST ME .
CHANGE YOUR SITE NAME AND REBRAND
Come see me www.blastradius.com
PM me to chat
In All my years I have been in the background here and in the industry of shoes, would I ever think to see a turn around like this.
I cant recall his real name anymore, but his screen name was Rock Deep and I recall he was linked to you guys and his quest to give knowledge on fakes. Until the floor fell out with him in here. Is he still around or in the background?
I think its great what your doing, even if we both know the marketing benefits of this. The "Charity Game" is what draws people to come to sites and justifies profit margins at times with certain companies.
I still say this to myself and now to you. TRUST ME .
CHANGE YOUR SITE NAME AND REBRAND
Come see me www.blastradius.com
PM me to chat
- Jan 14, 2001
- 217
- 454
@BabyJordan0312,
Thanks for the post.
To answer your question :
No, we are not affiliated with RockDeep in any way since we bought ISS in 2010. I don't have any first hand knowledge of what happened with him here.
Thanks for the Kudos on "Playing the Charity Game", however it is indirectly in intent that we got involved in it. When we became a sponsor here on NT in 2013, I wanted for us to make Niketalk a true partner in our business by giving a percent of all sales on our website back to Niketalk Initiatives. In discussions with what to do with the money, the best idea that was introduced was to put it towards one of the many charity's that Niketalk already had a relationship with.
Moving forward, one of the things I'd like to see the money go towards is funding the information pipeline / resources for finding out GM pairs vs retail release pairs. Niketalk is the best resource on the planet with regard to this topic, but every day we see these Grey Market Resellers popping up and taking advantage of the unaware public. We do want to help educate, I believe this is the best place to accomplish that.
As for rebranding ISS....well, I've been asked that quite often actually. In my opinion, ISS (as it was up through 2010 when it changed hands) had problems, but not impossible ones to fix. There were the obvious HUGE issues they had, but, many doors have opened for us now because of them....the biggest being us having the chance to be here now doing this. We have ZERO room with this crowd, and we are well aware of that. Which is also a part of why we are doing it.
I do believe in giving back to those that got me to where I am in life, that's me as a person. Professionally, the same principal applies. I learned a LOT about what NOT to do by seeing the original ISS reputation go up in smoke, and that always bothered me because I was (then a kid) visiting their site as frequently as this one. BOTH sites have helped me be in the position that I am very grateful to be in today. Call that corny or whatever, but it is 100% the truth.
We aren't selling that many more shoes than we normally would by doing this promotion or because of our sponsorship here per se. We are here doing this because I want us to be here, even against the wishes of almost everyone else on my team helping me run ISS. It's easy for people to say "it's all marketing" and I get that, but I thought it was a great way to acknowledge where we came from as well as where we are going as a company. I've also been called stubborn once or twice. ; )
So there you have it.....that's why I continue to choose to support the ISS branding as well as doing this Give Back 14 Campaign.
Thanks,
Tom
INSTYLESHOES Team Lead / Owner
INSTAGRAM : @instyleshoes1999
Thanks for the post.
To answer your question :
No, we are not affiliated with RockDeep in any way since we bought ISS in 2010. I don't have any first hand knowledge of what happened with him here.
Thanks for the Kudos on "Playing the Charity Game", however it is indirectly in intent that we got involved in it. When we became a sponsor here on NT in 2013, I wanted for us to make Niketalk a true partner in our business by giving a percent of all sales on our website back to Niketalk Initiatives. In discussions with what to do with the money, the best idea that was introduced was to put it towards one of the many charity's that Niketalk already had a relationship with.
Moving forward, one of the things I'd like to see the money go towards is funding the information pipeline / resources for finding out GM pairs vs retail release pairs. Niketalk is the best resource on the planet with regard to this topic, but every day we see these Grey Market Resellers popping up and taking advantage of the unaware public. We do want to help educate, I believe this is the best place to accomplish that.
As for rebranding ISS....well, I've been asked that quite often actually. In my opinion, ISS (as it was up through 2010 when it changed hands) had problems, but not impossible ones to fix. There were the obvious HUGE issues they had, but, many doors have opened for us now because of them....the biggest being us having the chance to be here now doing this. We have ZERO room with this crowd, and we are well aware of that. Which is also a part of why we are doing it.
I do believe in giving back to those that got me to where I am in life, that's me as a person. Professionally, the same principal applies. I learned a LOT about what NOT to do by seeing the original ISS reputation go up in smoke, and that always bothered me because I was (then a kid) visiting their site as frequently as this one. BOTH sites have helped me be in the position that I am very grateful to be in today. Call that corny or whatever, but it is 100% the truth.
We aren't selling that many more shoes than we normally would by doing this promotion or because of our sponsorship here per se. We are here doing this because I want us to be here, even against the wishes of almost everyone else on my team helping me run ISS. It's easy for people to say "it's all marketing" and I get that, but I thought it was a great way to acknowledge where we came from as well as where we are going as a company. I've also been called stubborn once or twice. ; )
So there you have it.....that's why I continue to choose to support the ISS branding as well as doing this Give Back 14 Campaign.
Thanks,
Tom
INSTYLESHOES Team Lead / Owner
INSTAGRAM : @instyleshoes1999
cs02132
Supporter
- Nov 1, 2007
- 13,118
- 13,483
yoo
mad random but i was thinking the other day... is this SOLESUPREME? the guy with all the OGs? that would be crazy!! lol that name randomly popped up in my head the other day and i wondered what happened to him
man.. i remember solesupremes thread on ISS crashing my computer back in like 08
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- Jun 12, 2012
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- Jan 4, 2004
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It's pretty wild to think how times have changed huh? ISS splitting into two; ISS and SC; SC becoming a part of Complex and ISS becomes affiliated with NT.
Rock was actually a mod here on NT, I can't recall him ever being affiliated with ISS or NT, we won't get into what happened there, because that would be totally off topic. But as far as re-branding goes, I think in today's competitive world, it's rather challenging for most to establish something from scratch unless your supply is so distinct. ISS is just one of those sneaker household names that everyone knows about, has its built credibility and surely enough some negativity which Tom is going an applauding job cleaning it up.
