Steve Van Doren was in town recently as part of the annual Vans Warped Tour. From helping his father Jim Van Doren (founder of Vans) in the showrooms as a toddler to managing retail stores in his teens, Steve proved that he had a natural flair for marketing and PR that money can't buy. It might have something to do with his penchant for feeding fast food to the masses. After all, nothing breaks the ice like a waffle on a stick! We caught up with Steve just before Bowlarama went down to find out why Vans still seems like a family company.
Jarrett Reynolds is the Global Design Director of NSW Apparel. He’s also a mad cat lover and a reminder that not everyone at Nike is in the shoe game – there are clever people wherever you look. Jarrett’s chief talent is to make ridunkulous jackets such as the Flywire Windrunner and the beautiful Laser Runner, which we are just nuts about. How did he get there? What good is night school?
You’ll have to find out...
Ben Pruess is one charmed dude. A pro-snowboarder since the age of 16, he literally flew with the greatest of ease, before landing in the snow-biz in various roles. His claim to fame now is his lofty position at adidas as Vice Prez of Originals, which seems like a job for a pretty smart operator. Sit back as Ben fills in the gaps and reminds us all that art is art and business is business. Take heed young steeds!
One of the great privileges of our job is spending quality time with the wily old veterans of the shoe biz. After decades in the trenches, they’re usually obstreperous, charismatic and wildly entertaining story tellers. In the case of Reebok, Paul Litchfield is all that, and a corporate treasure to boot. After joining the firm in 1985, Paul was the project manager for Pump and also oversaw the development of Hexalite and ERS. Challenged by Paul Fireman to ‘make Pump work’ within a few measly months, Paul accepted the gauntlet and helped push Reebok to become the world’s biggest footwear brand by the late ‘80s. Now Vice President of Advanced Concepts, Paul is still a hard charger, designing and refining the next generation of Reebok innovation.
When you think of Jordan Brand there is only one eponymous man that comes to mind. But what about the players behind the scenes - the ones that have kept the Jumpman franchise bubbling like a Berocca since 1985? Introducing Gentry Humphrey, Jordan Brand's General Manager and undisputed king of the hill. Gentry is no overnight rising star. He has been holding down the Jordan fort for the last 18 years, making and breaking deals, all to create the most sought after sneakers on the block. When he's not jet-setting to catch a game of hoops, he's the go-to-man when it comes to getting the dirt on Jordan sneakers. We sent along our main man X-Drift, Melbourne's certified Jordan junkie, to hit Gentry with the all questions you'd ever want answered!
Packed full of positivity and punch, there’s a new kid taking pole position in the female sneaker market. Introducing Keep – simple, straight to the point and a breezy breath of fresh Californian air! A testament to self-belief, Keep’s head honcho Una Kim ain’t afraid of anything. Doing things her own way is the key to keeping it real, and Kim has become the figurehead for a new style of lady sneakerhead. As she says, ‘We make Keep for those women who are tired of clown shoes, too many bells and whistles and the misappropriation of the color pink.’ Nuff said. And did we mention that all Keep products are cruelty free?
Founded in 1905, Quick is renowned for its clean and straightforward aesthetic and also for its proud sporting heritage, most notably on the football pitch. A Dutch national icon worn by the likes of the great Johan Cruyff, Quick almost faded from memory after its bankruptcy in the late nineties. But thanks to the tireless passion of Rini van Trigt and John Ouwejan who revived the brand in 2001, Quick is once again producing footwear with a European sense of class. We caught up with Rini and John for a quickie and managed to get our heads around what it means to be flexible and strong!
With a multiskilled and multinational background in both skate and retail, Eric Obre Is a self-made man. Now firmly ensconced at DC Shoes as Director of Footwear, he has a stack of tips for any wanna-be sneaker designers out there. Word-up as Eric lays down the law about retro, colabs, small wheels and living your job 24/7.
Levi Maestro is quickly becoming a force to be reckoned with. From flipping broken boards to filming sneaker whores, one thing is for certain…..Maestro Knows. After moving to the City of Angels three years ago, Levi became known as the dude with a video camera and a smile as big as the Hollywood sign. Not waiting for any kudos, props or handouts, the Maestro took his birds-eye view of LA and created a critical cult status in a scene that was desperate for a breath of fresh Cali air. You may know him as the kid rolling around the streets in his ride, wrecking Yeezys on the court and smashing one too many burgers, but we knew there was way more to Maestro than meets the eye, so we hit him up for a quick chat to find out what exactly he knows.
Founded by a boisterous French tennis player, Lacoste’s reputation as a purveyor of vintage chic and modern styling has seen it resolutely pegged as an old fogies brand. That is, until the arrival of their heritage driven ‘Stealth’ collection. From literally nowhere, the famous Croc bagged startlingly original colabs with Alife, Kid Robot, Colette, Solebox and this very magazine, which saw them leapfrog competitors and carve their own niche in a crowded market. Mark Godwin heads the International Stealth Category, and we tracked him down in Tokyo to ask him how he went from selling MARS bars to travelling the world talking about shoes for a living.
Bryon Sheng is a man with a plan. From the age of 16 when he started at Foot Locker, he has always had his eye on the end game. In fact, He has literally spent his entire adult life in the footwear industry. Oddly enough, after we spoke with Bryon about his success at adidas with their Remix Division, he then left his job to become a partner at UndrCrwn. Impossible is Nothing? Ask Bryon...
Meet our man in finland, PK. Some guys love sneakers, some guys paint them, but PK is in a league of his own - he makes his own kicks! That’s right, he builds his sneakers 100% by hand, right down to the very last stitch. It’s not everyday you meet someone who can say that, let alone pull it off.
There’s a new brand hitting the shelves that could possibly be described as the longest ‘overnight success’ story in footwear history. Cipher first opened its doors in 2003, being sold gully-styles straight out the back of creator Collin Thompson’s Acura. A master of on-the-job training, Collin took his know-how with him through a journey of ups and downs that eventually led to the brand relaunching to a new audience in the ’08. With a new crew of advocators, Cipher is quickly becoming the new Indie brand of the moment. Fresh, fruity and glossier than Juicy Tubes, Cipher is more fashion than hardcore sneakerhead, but there's always room at the dinner table!
From humble beginnings working on the floor of his Pop’s shoe store, Harry Oh was determined to get into the biz. Like a sponge, he soaked up every ounce of knowledge and enrolled at the Pasadena Art Centre College of Design, which led to a coveted internship with K-Swiss. Several years later, Harry is now graced with the illustrious title of Senior Designer, meaning he oversees a team of technical tinkers on a mission to take the five-stripes into a whole new era. Remember kids, there is no ‘i’ in team work!
When Nike decided to do skate, they did it big!
Back in 2002, their crack team began an astonishing period of sublime product development that created unprecedented hype – Alpha Numeric, Supreme, Jedi, Homer, Tokyo, Dunkle, Raygun, Aloha, Bison, Pigeons, Tiffany, Hemp, Hunter... Bam! All of them dropped like bunkerbusters complete with fat tongues and Zoom Air. Nike SB made sneakers the coolest damn thing in the world and Kevin Imamura was on the frontline to see it all happen. But before that, he worked in college radio and magazines, using his grounding in pop culture to kick open one door after another. Following your passion is one choice piece of advice, but as Kevin says, connecting the dots is what it’s all about.
Mark Doherty is one rare bird. A fair dinkum Aussie that bleeds green and gold, he has risen through the ranks to become one of the top heads at ASICS, where he markets concepts for their performance range of footwear. Along the way, he has infused his biomechanical prowess with his own peculiar sense of humour, and in the process, helped make ASICS the leading athletic shoe company. He loves a joke as much as he loves shoes, which makes this a thoroughly entertaining discussion.
Lemar & Dauley is a streetwear brand that sure are hard to pin down. With a past history of crazy colour and kinetic graphics, the guys are also heavily influenced by art, using Warhol's Soup cans (ode to Pop Art), Haring’s Radiant Baby symbol and their own compact, often semantic slogans to good effect. With a past footwear colab with adidas already in the can, this time the boys have buttered up with a new project for DC,incorporating the lure of the beach and regatta sailing, mixed with their knowledge of fashion and revamped the Admiral collection for DC, making it one of the most visually daring releases for 2009. This is not one for the faint hearted...
Nike SB designer James Arizumi talks us through the Zoom Veloce SB, inspired by Nike runners from yesteryear, but made with all the skate-tech you’d expect from the boys at Beaverton!
This is the voyage of Reebok’s Michael Schaeffer. His continuing mission: to explore strange new technologies, to seek out new markets, new materials. To boldly go where no Senior Director for Directional Design ever has gone before. It’s a PUMP, Jim, but not as we know it.
If you were heavy into the London vintage scene back in the mid-nineties, chances are you bought some of your rarest get-up from the stallholders at Camden Market or Portobello Road. In that case, you probably met Russ. When Russ met Dan, who shared an addictive obsession with the Swoosh, it was the foundation of a fashion career that would turn into the “in-joke” that is the Trainerspotter brand.
As you know, it can be harsh out there, people. The global economy is volatile to say the least. While many dream of starting a business and some even dream of making shoes, few make it a reality. It takes nuts to step off and start something; in the current climate it's been a pleasure to watch Pointer grow. As the brand enters its fifth season its creativity is already expanding beyond hot shoes. But don't be fooled; talk to Gareth Skewis and Rose Choules about footwear and you realise fast that sole is at the company’s centre. I bothered Gareth by email for several days in order to extract info for your reading pleasure. Mr Mat Fowler is your Art Director for this excursion...
No doubt you have all seen and heard a little whisper of the new Apple x Nike project known as Nike+ (or Nike Plus). The project was launched in New York in late May with a suitably quixotic media event on Chelsea Pier featuring Mark Parker (Nike CEO) and Steve Jobs (Apple CEO). I think it’s safe to say they are the owners of the two largest brains i’ve ever seen live on stage.
Takashi Imai is a designer and the director of MADFOOT!. On this fine day at his studio in Harajuku he tells how he got into sneakers and how MADFOOT! was started. His first encounter with sneakers was over 25 years ago in 1980 at the age of 10. The sneakers are still fresh in his memory; the first pair he loved was a pair of PUMA SM Riders. His father’s interest in marathons around the same time complemented his interest in cool running shoes which he would pick up one pair after another.
This is the story of six sneaker-heads put on a plane - and then another plane and then on a bus for three hours afterwards - to have their trip memory-sticked and photographed to find out what happens when one sneaker company is so generous as to invite them over to create their very own masterpiece.
