In these days of belt tightening and beige tinted sneaker conservatism it's great to see someone still looking to up the ante with a poplin' collection of in-your-face classics. Meet Erik Natapradja who has been collecting sneakers since the heyday of Nike SB. When it comes to unhindered creativity few brands came close to the SB team and their penchant for pop savvy designs that super glued themselves to the imagination. Erik has an enviable array of heat, including Supremes, Dooms, Chocolates, Dinosaur JRs and much, much more. If SB's aren't your thing then no doubt you'll drool over his Visvims, Pigeon NBs and Kaws Air Max currents! As Erik explains, ' I was born in Indonesia but currently live in Bloomington, IN. Back when I lived in Indonesia I wasn't really concerned about sneakers or the scene around it. But after I moved to the United States, I started falling in love with collecting kicks, plain and simple. I actually never considered it ‘collecting'; I just bought what I liked.'
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Back in 2008 I was surfing the net looking to buy a new pair of kicks and while online I came across various forums - I became curious to say the least. At first I couldn't comprehend why these so called ‘members' were showing off their collections, talking about new releases and the history of sneakers. But nonetheless, I joined the forum and posted my new pick-up - the Nike Zoom team edition SB Shrek. I was floored to see the response! I met a lot of new friends in Indonesia that had the same interest and vision as me – to help peeps in our community become more aware of fakes, pushing them to only buy legit sneakers. Thus IST aka Indonesia Sneaker Team was born.
My collection consists mainly of Nike SBs because I have small legs, so unfortunately Jordans don't suit my style. There's also plenty of Air Max, New Balance, Visvim, and anything that'll look nice on me because I'm the kind of person that likes to rock everything I buy. One of my favorites is the Nike SB Freddy Krueger because it was never released to the public. Also at the top of the list are the Nike SB Chocolate and Nike SB supreme low because they have a dope concept and are the 1st generation of Nike SBs. And let's not forget about my Visvim FBT Mastermind Japan editions - they are so comfy and unique...you can' go past them! Check out my collection here!
Words and Photography by Erik Natapradja
