Thanks to Japanese Grannies, Tim Apple Finally Got Shoes That Cook
Tim Cook is known for many things but personal style is not one of them. And, hey, that's fine: when you exist in the shadow of the OG tech-fashion touchstone, the only way to win the game is not to play.
But Tim Cook does sometimes try. Or, at least, whoever sources his footwear tries. And, for once, they won.
Every now and then, Cook will step out in a pair of Nike kicks that serve as a tangible reminder that Apple and Nike have been pals for nearly two decades. Corporate synergy at work!
The problem is that Tim Apple's shoes usually do not cook.
Recall the bespoke Nike shoes that Cook wore last year. They were ostensibly a promo for Apple's "Made on iPad" campaign but the problem was that they did indeed look like a sneaker designed on an iPad. Oh well, Apple doesn't employ this guy for his swag.
And yet, at the opening of Apple's new Ginza flagship store, Tim Cook looked cooler than he perhaps ever has in his life.
This is thanks entirely to the efforts of the Sashiko Gals. This collective of Japanese mothers and grandmothers, all aged between 40 and 80, transform ordinary sneakers into extraordinary works of footwear art using sashiko stitching, a time-consuming Japanese technique that demands a sewer spend hours creating intricate little runs of thread.
"The group was started by women who were affected by the [2011 Tōhoku] earthquake 13 years ago," Kuon founder Arata Fujiwara told Highsnobiety last year, noting that the Sashiko Gals provided employment to families who might've otherwise lost any source of income in the wake of the disaster. "Their master is the best sashiko artisan in Japan," he added.
And, looking at the shoes they made for Tim Cook, you can tell.
The Sashiko Gals ennobled Nike's thick-soled Vomero Plus sneaker with a patchwork indigo upper and innumerable little stitches that dance across the laces, the heel, even the sole. On the reverse side of the tongue, they even stitched Cook's name.
Hirofumi Kojima, creative director of influential sneaker retailer atmos, snapped a few pics of Cook wearing the sneakers at the Apple Ginza opening, documenting perhaps the first instance of Cook wearing something that could be considered objectively cool.
If that's what it takes to get Tim Apple to really start dressin', maybe he ought to have Japanese grannies prep his wardrobe more often.
Highsnobiety has affiliate marketing partnerships, which means we may receive a commission from your purchase. Want to shop the products our editors actually love? Visit the HS Style Guide for recs on all things fashion, footwear, and beauty.
