|
|
|
I also want to talk about the sneaker market generally. We've touched on Nike's position, but it also seems every once and a while a shoe sneaks in that becomes a must have... whether it be a certain New Balance or Puma, or even Reebok model. Where do you see the thrux of collecting moving? Remaining pretty geared toward singular interest, or becoming more eclectic?
I think in some ways the market has become much more eclectic. There's just so much choice now that the average sneaker lover has a million models to choose from and you now what, they're nearly all good. I mean you just have to look at our New Releases pages, there's mountains of shoes from so many brands it's hard to keep up. But saying that, there's only so many shoes that will ever be considered collectible and will actually appreciate in value. And you're talking about colabs in limited numbers, they are still the shoes that resonate at a profound 'street' level. Anyone who has more than 10 pairs of sneakers can be considered a collector I guess, but my view is that a collector in 2008 means someone who buys shoes based on potential resale value or what is hyped on the blogs. And they are probably a Nike head. If you check our online Price Guide (http://www.sneakerfreaker.com/feature/sneaker-price-guide/) that we published at the end of 2007, there's probably 300 Nikes and less than 100 of all the other brands put together, so that just shows how skewed the scene is towards one brand. There's only so many shoes at an extreme hype level, but there have been a few notable exceptions such as the Provider NB 1500 and the Patta Gel Lyte. They were both off the hook, but Nike still rule the roost when it comes to the stuff with the highest resale value. Adidas are making moves in the states from what I can see, and just maybe the penny has finally dropped for them, it certainly seems like they want to take Nike on in the cool stakes.
I'm interested in getting a little primer on the Australian sneaker scene. Obviously there are brands that resonate in different regions more than others. For instance, few Americans got that excited about a Diadora Borg Elite, but that shoe did play a role in the casual scene in England. What brands, or even styles, represent the growth of an aussie scene?
Well the scene here is vibrant, growing and pretty friendly and revolves around the magazine and the best stores in each city like Provider, Apartment, Highs and Lows and Footage. Certainly, it's a lot less competitive than other places but we do pay a lot for shoes, maybe twice as much as in the US. We're a very small market - 21 million people – the upside is that we can get pretty much any shoes we want here, including Nike SB, which may surprise some cats in NY and London. Aside from retail, we don't have a whole lot to boast about as far as home grown sneakers, but we do have the Dunlop Volley and KT26, which are two el cheapos I had as a kid. Everyone had them in the seventies because it was all that existed. Basketball is almost dead here, but Jordan has a huge following, and like anywhere, we got tribes into hip hop, rock, techno who all have a uniform of sorts. So all in all, it's same as anywhere, pretty well established by now and a thriving little community.
Shifting slightly and as a way of concluding - English seems the primary language of "street culture." You've made a move to make SF available in Spanish, and I wanted to know a little more about that.
Yeah, the magazine has been available in Spanish from earlier this year. It's a joint project with the guys from Trust Nobody, with Toni Garcia being given the hard task of translating my prose. The mag is published a little after the International edition and will probably be 90% the same, with some added spicy local flavour and updated news. So far it's going very well - Barcelona is home to a small but dedicated sneaker scene, and with Bread and Butter in town twice a year, it's well and truly on the map for just about everyone in the industry. On a personal note, I love Barcelona so it's nice for me to have a second home in Europe after London. Given Sneaker Freaker started as a hobby more or less, the fact that it's now translated into Spanish is so far out that I can't believe it myself some times.
|
