crooked tongues magazine News Features

The Reebok Pump 20th anniversary is in full effect, and the 20 collaborative shoes are being unveiled day-by-day. Other than our distinct lack of partner take on 'The Pump', for the most part, the rest of the partner store releases are excellent. Boston's Bodega is manned by a knowledgeable bunch who always go that little extra when it comes to their double-label projects. Their 'secret' approach to retail gets ripped off left, right and centre, but that's got ...

Wow. There must be something in the water at the moment. Just as our faith in collaborations reaches an all-time low, Bobbito, Patta and UBIQ engage in an effortless restoration. PUMA aligning themselves with sport-orientated boutiques, think UNDFTD earlier in the year, and now Philly's UBIQ, seems to yield some killer results. UBIQ's approach to retail is always intelligent, ambitious and progressive. Sorry if it sounds like we're dickriding, but from installations to their own-brand pieces, they ...

Air Maxes might be an American running creation, but we Europeans are the ones that run the Air Max market. In the UK, we made the '90 a road classic, and the Light has its place on the feet of a generation of UK MCs too back in a time when British rappers didn't dress like they'd been living in a squat. The Dutch in particular, know the value of a running shoe with a formidable silhouette, and ...

Of all the smaller brands in the trend market, we all know their performance status is undisputed, Saucony's reissue division seem to have reemerged while the big guns on the heritage market were floundering to give the people what they want. They haven't flooded the market with the contents of their archives either, instead intent on elevating a few core styles, and since we saw the Shadow 6000s earlier last year, it's been a shape that we ...

Despite attending a press day with a lot of promise, it was riddled with embargoes, so we've got no previews of upcoming product for the News today. Instead we'll take a look at an existing model in the store that we didn't give sufficient shine to in this section - the Pointer Benson is a solid candidate. Where some of our favourite Pointer pieces like the Debaser are keenly priced and built to wear to destruction, on speaking ...

Every year Nike chuck the nerds and nostalgics a bone in the shape of a retro runner we didn't imagine them taking the time to bring back. It makes sense, given the brand's athletic heritage, and it's definitely something we look forward to seeing in the showroom during buys. For 2010 they've got some serious reissue projects in store, but for 2009, the Air Max ST has been a highlight. Yep, there's differences in mesh ...

Big windows are nothing new. In fact, they've been part of local lore since we clocked sports store previews in 1991, and deserve the same kind of street level reverence as the AM 90 - another Max that seems to get more Euro-love than it does in the States. Next year sees a Max 90 Flywire/Maxim 1-style remake, which we're imagining will be accompanied with a spot of history as part of its promotional push. We hope so ...

This one's been a grower in the office. Following the Flywire modifications to 1987's Air Max, the other heavy hitter from that year has had its second significant remix. While the king of cross training is such a fine piece of Hatfield design it wasn't in dire need of a rehaul, it's worth considering that from the get-go, that shoe was being tweaked, whether it was alterations in the tongue's stitching, sample mesh toeboxes, or ...

It's odd that it took this long for a project like this to surface. We maintain that all seven of the Kool Bob AF1s remain unsurpassed, and embarrassed most who apply colours and fabrics on footwear for a living. There's no substitute for a basketball shoe Jedi like Bobbito when it comes to reworking a classic - the man just overstands what made sneakers popular in the first place; a no-fuss approach to grabbing attention.Right now, your average ...

The Valley collection from the Ransom by adidas designs range, set for release on these shores just over a fortnight, is another reason we took such an interest when a box of samples arrived at Crooked headquarters - we were bemused at the scale of a project we'd assumed would be confined to two colourways on an existing silhouette, guessing that maybe they'd be tricked out a little with a d-ring or three in line with the favoured aesthetic ...

The Ransom by adidas collection was given an early outing on the pages of Crooked <a href= 'http://www.crookedtongues.com/editorial/?e=53'>back in May</a>, with Ben and Matt dropping science on the project's genesis. Now the release date is looming, and after showing the rugged Summit boot design on these very pages, it made sense to spotlight further pieces like the Creek over the next few days. We were a little concerned that by the ...

The Air Max 90 has been subject to several modifications in recent months, whether it's Flywire frameworking, a Huarache mashup or extra mesh in tribute to the the neoprene Kilgore classic, the Air Current (with the Moire brought to the party too this past Summer for good measure) Curiously that name remains for this more subdued hybrid workout, with the Air Max 90 upper on a more flexible Free-style sole unit. Naturally, it can be seen as an unnecessary ...

A while back, a short while before brand Jordan merrily threw every design into the blender, sold their best bits by ambiguous line art and release date rumours and generally caused us as a retailer, and yourselves as friends and customers a great deal of confusion, we saw a great article in Sole Collector that showcased some tremendous player sample Jordan V makeups in high and low forms. They weren't based on some wild system of numbers pertaining to ...

Whereas in the past, newcomers have been kept in the shade by the big guns, now with trends taking a slightly sharper turn, there seems to have been a Grand Canyon sized opening in the market for smaller brands. Obviously the big-budget boys are scheming to thwart them by creating more esoteric pieces that try to invoke an indie sensibility, but after years clocking billions, recreating that authenticity is a difficult task. Still, there's some gullible consumers out there ...

This is a polarising piece of footwear. For some, the Pump's opening salvo in the next level of technology wars, upping the stakes after years of emphasis on shock absorption into new realms of tactile custom fit, was the straw that broke the camel's back, sending things stratospheric, but forgetting that simple design has longevity. For some, it was, with its considerable bulk, immense price tag for anyone fortunate/spoiled enough to grab a pair around November 24th ...

We wouldn't normally feel inclined to cover window displays, but seeing as we've got 'em in the store, our logo is in the mix, and Barcelona's LimitEDitions crew are our peoples, it felt right to showcase Ricky and team's latest spot of painstaking store merchandising. One of LimitEDitions draws, beyond a preposterously large inventory, is the vast glass-covered expanse that surrounds the doorway. We've seen a fair few touted displays to coincide with shoe projects ...

For some reason shoes like these Cortez send us down memory lane to a time when Crooked was a bulletin board style affair in mid-late 2000 with expectant collectors and connoisseurs asking "When's the store launching? You said it would be up and running by now..." and other posts along those lines. We remember seeing models and plain makeups in this vein drifting around back then. The rise of the Cortez from much-envied US holiday pickup, as easy-to-cop Stateside ...

Between these and the Shotmaker, we've been banging on about PRO-Keds like we're taking backhanders lately. Incidentally, we're not doing that, but we are putting our money where our enthusiasm is and stocking the shoes in the Crooked Tongues Store. First brought back to our collective consciousness by Dante sending through a pair of 69er Shotmakers in navy earlier this year, the simpler designs like Royals have been on our feet a lot lately. With what feels ...

In its inaugural inceptions, the summer's Maxim 1 had been coated in some old world colourways that were smart-looking, but hardly revolutionary, but it was clear that Parra would go at least a little more buckwild with the Flywire panels and sci-fi fabrics this update offers. And with a mix of looks that evoke Parra's fellow Dutchmen, Patta's Air Max 87 design and Nash Money's 'History Of Air' customs, plus the man's own Air Max ...

Uh-oh. We're pushing our sports footwear remit once again, but these shoes were too good to pass on. We were pretty much done with boat designs, but the merger of non-slip dockside cool with chukka cuts has offered a respite for the style as far as we're concerned. We attribute our decline in boat shoe love to played-out ubiquity and the fact no one rocks them with '80s movie jerk finesse of James Spader in his evil heyday ...

The PRO-Keds Shotmaker harks back to the '81/'82 era, and may well have been one of the brand's last hurrahs, bar the Competitor, at performance level. From then on, this division of Keds lived on for us as a brand that never really seemed to tap into its archive beyond the states - until now. As part of the current rollout thats had us buzzing over the CVOs, and Royal Los and Mids (assisted by the good people of ...

It's a shame that Jeezy rhymes with Yeezy, because what's one of the nicest hip-hop tie-ins since the happy days of Broughams, Eldorados and Fleetwoods could well be percieved as something of a retaliation. Which isn't the case here. We actually saw the genesis of the Def Jam collection around the same time whisperings of a Kanye Nike came about, and as Jeezy fans since the Drama-assisted 'Tha Streets Iz Watching' and his star role in Boyz ...

Linked thematically but often totally different in their silhouettes, shapes and purpose, during the '70s and '80s, adidas managed to represent for any key city you care to name on a round-the-world naming mission of sorts. The different waves, from defiantly European, low-slung creations, to chunkier, technical North American drops travelled even further afield over two decades. For winter 2009, the 'Your City' Consortium collection from adidas Originals is unique in its offering.Whereas previous collaborative projects might focus on ...

The patent touches on mita's ASICS 'Kirimomi' Gel Lyte IIIs left us wanting before, with one makeup from Tokyo's most prolific shoe collaborating retail empire evoking Colette's 1500 a little too hard for our liking. Less is more on that shoe, regardless of the wacky split-tongue innovation. mita's Gel Lyte Speed on the other hand, is appropriately gaudy - we're not claiming that this is an exercise in restraint by any means. We'd have to ...

Some people in the office described this duo of Air Max colourways as "a bit high street" on their debut out the box. You know what? That's a good thing. The craze for grouped 'stories' makes us feel more than a little drowssssssssszzzzzzz....sorry. It's getting increasingly tired, and the insipid results tend to drive away more fanboys and girls than they attract. These however, in all their conventionality, feel kind of refreshing. We're aware that's ...