SNEAKERNESS COLOGNE 2010 RECAP!
What happens when it rains 1500 visitors, dozens of brands, two levels of product and one giant expo hall? You find yourself saturated in SNEAKERNESS of course. Back in mid April, waves of people made their way to SNEAKERNESS Cologne with many hoping to land new joints, others looking to reconnect with long lost footwear loves, some wanting just to swim in oceans of kicks and everyone trying not to overdraw their savings accounts. The event consisted of stores, brands, vintage dealers and collectors all showcasing buckets of desirable goods. All those who walked through the SNEAKERNESS space played their part in making this event a success with seemingly everyone digging deep to wear their all time favorite kicks.
The already football-mad Germans were treated to a fine showing by Nike with a presentation of their True Colours Story featuring artistic colabs with Nunca (Brazil), James Jarvis (England), Delta (Netherland), Mr. Cartoon (USA), So Me (France) and Kronk (South Africa) while the humorously dubbed 'Masters of Manufacture', Supremebeing and their maestro Damien Quinn, spent a portion of time providing first hand proof that all you need to create footwear is learn how to use a sewing machine, super glue and a pattern.
KangaROOS showed both their Heritage line and collection titled Urban Sneaker, while ROOS' in-house designer, Philip Keil, was on hand to drop knowledge to avid collectors. Sneaker customiser Champate turned a caterpillar (Nike Dunk) into a butterfly by stripping back its individual parts. adidas offered 11 guests the opportunity to have their designs applied to a pair of triple stripe sneakers. US brands Greedy Genius and Heyday both enjoyed their respective debuts in Cologne while first aid sneaker cleaning kit, the 'JASON MARKK Sneaker Solution Set' surprised more than a few collectors with its effectiveness.
Djinn showed up with the goods, not only presenting their sneakers, accessories, caps and colabs (with Wemoto and Jordan, respectively) but they unleashed 20 limited edition SNEAKERNESS COLOGNE x Djinns caps with the events logo stitched in above the brim. Hub Footwear also put their best feet forward while Element, Asics / Onitsuka Tiger, Espadrilles, Pro-Keds, Reebok and Gourmet were all proudly and colourfully represented, as were retailers THE GOOD WILL OUT, GRAND, THEFLASHGIB and A CUT ABOVE.
SNEAKERNESS also ran SNEAK BOMBING, an art battle hosted by Babak One from the store Dedicated, featuring Cologne artists Kayone and Sair4 against Dusseldorf creatives Pleasure P and Omega. Other artists on hand included ONUR, GABY GABY and Lace-King Lune who contributed works to help decorate SNEAKERNESS. The events after party saw 450 people get their groove on to the turntabling sounds of Bobbito Garcia. $2 Euro beers meant the festivities lasted until 4am, which meant that one of the finest kicks related events on the planet was capped of in style. No doubt the next SNEAKERNESS will be one of the hottest tickets in town.
