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Always funny when 23 year old sneaker know it all tries to tell you what the OGs of a sneaker was like...when you were there to see it first hand.
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pump was a cool gimmick back then when it first came out.38 yrs old here, not sure when my first AM1 was but i do vivdly remember choosing to buy a pair of reebok pump preseasons over og carmines back then smh
45 here and been a sneaker head since 1985 when mom bought me the silver nylon Vandals for $20 at a mom and pop. Believe it or not, my first pair of AM1 was bought this year - the curry retro bought at Marshall’s for $45. I was always into the latest performance and now that I’m ending my basketball days I’m going back and grabbing all the Reebok classics and Nike runners I ignored.
Cold!Bacon and Eggs NikeId AM1. I have been meaning to post this since I picked them up. Inspiration came from another poster on this thread(can’t remember name) who posted some of their own designs.
Always funny when 23 year old sneaker know it all tries to tell you what the OGs of a sneaker was like...when you were there to see it first hand.
Yeah, too true... can't count the amount of times I've had young fellas hitting me with "I've been in this game a long time so..." and stuff like that. Good fun.
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WARNING: Long Post Upcoming
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On a different note, when did you older guys (like me) first feel like you were experiencing an actual 'sneaker community' or 'sneaker subculture' separate from from whatever subculture you may have been into (hip hop, skate... etc.)? For me personally, I've been a hip hop head since the mid-80s, so sneakers was simply part of being fresh. Always trying to have the flyest kicks in your neighborhood (and most importantly, flyer than your friends). The love for sneakers wasn't really an isolated thing, but simply part of the overall style that went hand in hand with our culture. Seeing 45south posting above about wanting a pair from that BDP picture is exactly how I/we used to be as well. My love for Air Flights because got started because of EPMD (and the "Unfinished Business" cover). It wasn't even really because I at the time felt like those shoes were the most amazing, but because I really like EPMD, so by proxy, you know (I was fairly young, of course). Growing up in Denmark, we used to reference sneakers in terms of being "hemmelige" which directly translated means "secret". It basically implies the same meaning as "rarity", which was to have stuff no one else had or even knew how to get. I remember in the late 80s into the early 90s, everything (it seemed) was about Jordans. Don't get me wrong, I love Jordans, but they felt a bit like what everyone was rocking. During the 90-91 NBA Season (may have been in playoffs), Pippen was rocking some all red nubuck Air Flights. Just for a game or two, I think. Then during that summer, I was in Cannes, France with my girlfriend (and her family), and to my complete surprise, I saw those red Flights in some small shoe shop. I was mind-blown. I didn't have money for them, of course, but I used all the money I had (which was intended for the trip) and borrowed the rest from my girl friend, so I could have them. Wasn't able to buy as much as an ice cream cone the rest of the vacation, but I didn't care. I was invincible with those red flights. Anyway, I could go on like that forever. Back to my original question - so when was there a feeling of this "sneaker thing" being a thing? For me, it wasn't really till 10-15 years ago, maybe? I remember when the internet started getting going in the late 90s and things would start popping up. Even NT (not sure what year I first discovered it), but I would just check out stuff and not really get involved, per say. Lurking, I suppose. Anyone remember Customatix? Wow, that blew my mind... my first experience with the concept of being able to make custom sneakers. I made 2 pairs from there in their runner silhouette (I SO wish I still had them). Probably made those in 2000-2001, I'd guess. At the time I was working as an Art Director in an advertising company (I had moved to the US in 1999), so I was made aware of Customatix via a website job of a friend in that industry. Then, when some years later bigger brands started offering customized shoes (I feel like Vans was first, but I could be wrong), I was just loving it. Having gone all those years (since the mid/late 80s) trying to have the most "hemmelige" sneakers, and now you could straight up make a pair nobody else would have. Heaven. Oddly, although I was mainly into basketball shoes still, I made a couple of pairs of AM1 IDs back then (06 and 07). Perhaps because of the runners I had made from Customatix, or perhaps in part because I just never really loved AF1s (sorry to any AF1 lovers). If I remember correctly, those were the only two silhouettes available at the time in the ID program. Also, I had been into Vinyl Toys at that time and remember when the KidRobot AM1s came out. That probably created a whole new appreciation of the AM1 in my conscience. See... now I'm babbling again. Geez.
When did you guys first start experiencing the love for sneakers being an actual communal thing, isolated to some extend from whatever subculture you had been a part of?
Good read! I know that in 06/07 Dunk lows were also on iD because I made an atrocious pair that were like brown suede and patent leather lime green....I have no clue what I was thinking. I think it was around 07 or little later where AM1 had alligator and crocodile, I had like 3 pair in my cart and never pulled the trigger unfortunately.
PS. did you keep the red flights? haha
After teasing them for a minute, Champs finally loaded these:
https://www.champssports.com/product/nike-air-max-1-mens/H8145111.html
@dblplay1212 I wrote it wrong - I meant to say that they were the first pair to have that (not the only). The "OG Mesh (Royal)" from 2000 and "USA (Patriot)" from 2002, for example, have mesh upper eyelets as well. Can't think of others since, but there may be. Sorry for the mistake.Did not know that was the only pair to have that. Thanks for sharing.
After teasing them for a minute, Champs finally loaded these:
https://www.champssports.com/product/nike-air-max-1-mens/H8145111.html
After teasing them for a minute, Champs finally loaded these:
https://www.champssports.com/product/nike-air-max-1-mens/H8145111.html