2007 - BEST OF THE BEST SNEAKERS

BOBBITO GARCIA / NEW YORK / KOOL BOB LOVE AIR FORCE 1

Yo Bobbito, tell us out of all the shoes in 2007, what’s the one you would have sold your mum for?
In my Bounce Magazine (www.bouncemag.com) column ‘Let ‘Em Marinate’ I regularly feature what I’m most wearing at the time. I’d have to say the greatest response I received to any of the shoes included in the article by far were my own AF-1 ‘Kool Bob Love’ lows and hi-tops. I was really pleased by that. I put a lot of energy into making sure they were tight.

This year was the 25th anniversary of the Nike AF-1. how did you come to be so heavily involved with the whole project?
Nike and I have been collabing together since 93, but never on a shoe that was released for retail. With the 25th anniversary, the timing was perfect.
I was the only person in the world who could talk about the shoe from a pure basketball, hip hop, street, sneaker culture and historical perspective. They had me as an ambassador, and I appeared at events from Hong Kong to Toronto. On the design side, I collabed with Nike Art Director Al Baik. I told him what kind of logo I wanted, and he nailed it on the first attempt. The colors, fabrics, and blocking took a lot longer to get down. I loved the process.

Out of all the designs that dropped in 2007, which did you prefer?
Hmmm. I think my Aubergine AF-1 were bananas. I can’t wait for my Beef ‘N Broccoli to drop this December though. They will get a lot of wear out of me through the winter.

How many MODELS did you end up doing this year?
Seven – three in the spring, four in the fall. I also did some designs for the AF-25 Low, but they never got released.

What shoe are you looking forward to in 2008?
Anything that Clark Kent is putting his hands on . . .