crooked tongues magazine News Features

Back in 2007 we elicited a spot of controversy by slating the brown leather and suede version of this design, and firing a few shots at the 'wooly mammoth' Consortium take. It felt like a weird mix of Freizeit, one of our favourite runners and a timely cash-in on the Visvim madness (and that was back before the state of the Yen elevated their footwear from very costly to mortgage expensive). As a result we couldn't get with it ...

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During yesterday's bileous outburst at Nike's explosion of autoclave sole units, we conceded that the Toki was the new-jack exception to the rule. After all, a chukka boot cut is the natural home for a vulc sole, right? The 'Lux' greys from May were bangers, and these blacks aren't too shabby either. All black, bar the red boat line, predominantly suede bar a nubuck heel and Swoosh, once again, they're a little more honest than any ...

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Sentenced as many of us have been to upbringings in provincial towns, Lacoste footwear has long been stigmatised by the three-quarter length trouser brigade when the sun starts-a-shining. But their Stealth programme has made solid headway in gradually affording shoes with crocs a level of credibility we never saw coming. It's also notable after this week's Patta preview, that to make noise with a collaboration, you've got to push it to the limit like Montana Industries on ...

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Uh-oh, someone's sold their soles. We don't understand these shoes. We don't understand them at all. As self-professed Nike disciples, the Air Trainer SC had us doing the running man earlier in the week. Faithful. Respectful. Almost reverential in their retro approach. These shoes right here are the opposite. Alright, the Dunk Hi is inoffensive by comparison - we know it's the whipping boy for any application in the quest to renew interest. When it comes to ...

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Sheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet.....the Twitter zone has been the new breeding ground for hype, and we spotted some 140 character teasers for this project via banter between the homies at Patta and the Converse man dem. We thought it might be a fancy Chuck Taylor low or something like that, but the Amsterdam crew done did it again, keen to evade any pigeonholing or allegations of formulaic behaviour when it comes to their collaborations by confounding us again with something different. Given ...

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The recent resurrection of the OG, slimmer Americana silhouette was fine and dandy, but as with the Laver, there's many of us with a preference for the wider, post-1970 variation...a higher cut is cool, but the low has plenty more versatility. Not only is this model steeped in classic status as a pioneering adidas court design, but the American Basketball Association blue, white and red, ultra-patriotic (providing you're a Yankee, but then again, it's a colour ...

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This shoe arrived like a diamond in the rough alongside a load of classics sullied by 'autoclave'...but that's a moan for later in the week. Let's stick to the positives - lately, we've seen some perfectly good resurrections staying in the States - Griffeys? Dynastys? Where they at? Why the hell haven't they hit these shores. Bet the O.G. Total Max Uptempo retro doesn't arrive here either. Sorry...lapsed into another negative. We didn't ...

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Remember when Slam City was the destination spot as a kid? It's good to see that it's still as relevant as ever, and at least 20 percent friendlier. That's not to say there wasn't a certain charm to being growled at when you wandered in and ruffled the hanging Holmes tees looking for your size, but in all staff incarnations, from Henry to Jake to Gareth, Dan and the rest of the team, Slam are definitely ...

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The black Tier Zero Blazer is easily one of the year's best. It exemplifies all that's good about the shoe, despite the deliberate downplaying of a fat-belly Swoosh, opting to perf the iconic branding like a tommy gun attack to ride the current tonal trend. Hard-to-cop distribution aside, the leather was nigh-on invincible, refusing to crumple even after nearly two solid months of 'wear testing' (also known as 'freeloading'), despite some initial street hobbling it ended up fitting ...

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We've done a couple of collaborations over the years, but this one with Ã©S has been a little longer in the making. A lot longer in fact. And it's much more than your usual makeup on a shoe. it's a whole new one. In three colours. Plus a backpack, jacket and hat - the whole shebang. Back in late '06, we became a little jaded with the general state of things and pondered aloud as to how ...

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London is a cynical place. Even more these days after store after store has closed doors locally. We liked the era of sporadic street beers with retail employees, managers, owners, family and friends of friends, but were kind of nervous about holding the BBQ again after the last one in '06 (technically more of a release party, and not held in the summertime, but the BBQ spirit was in effect).A lot has changed in three years, and on face ...

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As anyone who attended the CT BBQ '09 in Shoreditch can attest, it was pretty serious - a 2pm 'till 1am roadblock. If you didn't make it, you missed out in considerable style. Tomorrow we should be upping our commissioned pictures of the big day and a faintly more substantial writeup, but while we're waiting for 'em, we thought we'd stick a few pictures up, and thank the people who deserve thanking.In no particular order, for the ...

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You can't preempt those crazy guys at adidas Originals and the shoes they opt to resurrect, but these tennis numbers are some more early '80s classicism - incredibly lightweight without compromising a premium feel. The heavily perforated forefoot and nubuck on the toe are good, and while this white and green makeup can't contest with the mighty fine navy/white and yellowed midsole retro variation that capitalised on the sweeping contrast between midsole and outsole, it's still a ...

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The various incarnations of P-Rod's signature shoes have won plenty of fans in the Crooked office. Prior to Rodriguez's first built to spec silhouette, the Delta Force in blue and white was stupid underrated, going wood, and being found on shelves, even in the midst of SB-mania, for as little as a tenner. Ah, Delta Force SB, Don McLean was right - the world was never meant for one as beautiful as you. We've never quite ascertained as ...

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The etnies Plus collection seems to be perennially overlooked, and it's a shame - the Oi Polloi pieces, particularly their Bossa, were strong, and beyond partner endorsements, the Garvey is fresh too. We first clocked this unlikely meeting-of-minds earlier in the year but couldn't show it off at the time. Rick Klotz is a legend. He's one of the pioneers behind the twisted, pretentious, misshapen monster 'streetwear' has become, but back in the day, the likes of Pervert ...

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Despite the day-to-day obsession with athletic footwear, for many CT team members, the opportunity to put a performance shoe through its paces rarely occurs. We're happier to wear them for everyday purposes - as stereotypical Brits, our basketball game is weak. Very weak. So when the time came to perform a layup in front of LeBron's former high school coach at his educational alma mater, St. Vincent-St. Mary, last week Crooked represented very, very badly. So poorly in fact ...

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Sometimes you mess with a formula, the tides are gonna turn - we've seen many sacred cows reduced to corned beef by brands making the most of their resurrections, but adidas are keeping the TRX alive in the catalogue after the nicely executed washed-out 'vintage' variations, via these intelligent versions of the silhouette. The flared sole on these bad boys is the star of the show, so a well-chosen palette selection is essential, but replacing nylon and tongue ribbing for ...

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What, this isn't a madcap fusion of 5,633 shoes in honour of Mike's career assists stat? It's just a III? And we don't have to pay 220 notes to get it twinned with the 20? Putting this masterpiece silhouette next to the 20 was like one of those cautionary cystal meth 'before and after' government campaigns, exposing just how mad things went from a visual point-of-view. Nope, it's a True Blue III without catches ...

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The 574, the mid-pricepoint, leisure orientated running silhouette that's long been in the shadows of its costly, progressive performance-led big brothers is a curious candidate for offroad makeups. The 574T briefly rocked our world, and we're sure this 'H' prefixed trail boot version of the 574 once made a fleeting appearance in some Euro Footlocker stores as well as the likes of Atmos in Japan...or were those Trailbusters of some sort? The mind plays tricks. This is ...

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Vintage Jordan 1s are a shoe that'll forever be associated with Crooked. Beyond Dunks and Chapuka samples, the store used to be riddled with original 1s. And beyond the KO, the one that elicited the most interest (and a hefty pricetag to boot) was the high metallic variation, using green, red, purple, orange and blue (dropping in low-cut form in '86). Oft-spotted in Sears circa '85, by all accounts they hit the saleracks and outlets in '86 where skaters ...

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Yes, this has done the internet rounds lately, but this makeup is...mmm...interesting enough to justify its own news piece. This summer Nike got the AM1 very, very right with the Maxim and OG variations, but as Bret Michaels and his Poison buddies once proclaimed, every rose does indeed have its thorn, and this take on the first Max chapter is an opportunity squandered. This kind of lunacy was once only applied to unlucky Dunks, Uptowns and Court Forces ...

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The Rod Laver is a stone cold classic. The simple mix of mesh and leather makes them a versatile choice, whether it's the no-frills slimmer early '70s cut, reissued circa '04 or the wider variation thatâ€™s a summer in NYC staple, oddly catching appeal among the likes of Black Moon in their rugged â€™93 heyday and inadvertently becoming the Hacky Sack performance shoe of choice despite the original tennis intent. For this summer, itâ€™s been reworked ...

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2013

• May (19)
• April (24)
• March (26)
• February (27)
• January (28)

crooked tongues magazine News Features

More adidas ZX 700 Boats...

Nike Zoom Toki

Lacoste/SNS/Jonas Wiehager Rene Lacostes

Nike - D.O.A. (Death of Autoclave)

Converse/Patta/Le Le Converse All Star and Pro Leather 76

adidas Americana Lows

Nike Air Trainer SC

Foothills Launch @ Slam City Skates

Nike Blazer TZ

eS & Crooked Tongues Foothills Collection

CT BBQ '09

CT BBQ '09 - Cheers!

adidas Tennis Royals

Nike SB Zoom P-Rod III

Freshjive & etnies Plus Junior

Nike Air Max LeBron VII Launch

adidas TRX

Nike Air Jordan III 'True Blue'

New Balance H574s

Nike Air Jordan 1 'Metallics'

Nike x Chien-Ming Wang AM1

adidas Consortium Rod Laver Collection - First Drop

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