crooked tongues magazine News Features

We heard about 10.Deep's hookup with adidas a while back, but until we saw a release date, we assumed it's release was a long, long time away - this year is moving a little too fast for our liking.. We've got the utmost repect for the brand for weathering the current streetwear storm, dropping gems from the Digital Gravel era to the present day and maintaining an aura of legitimacy while seemingly shifting units (props to local 10.Deep pushermen, Charlie and Kish). The brand also brought Kid Cudi and Donnis to our attention too, which contrary to mixed opinions regarding the current slew of Rapidshare rhymers, is a good thing indeed. So what happens when you let these New York denizens on something as simple as the summertime standard that is the Stan Smith in a shorts-friendly mid-cut? One thing we've never had the brand down as is perpetrators of subtlety, but after spotting the samples, consider us sonned. This is pretty damned clean. Clean that is if you can deal with the emboss and perfs on the medial side to make out the brand's name in BIG letters and numbers. We're cool with that.

Titled the 'Raw Dog' this design, like the slang in its basest term, is pretty uncompromising, taking this design by force and feeling more like a hijack of a premium nubuck upper down to the bootleg approach to labeling the tongue, but it still stays fairly simple, because too much fuss externally on the Stan is a no-no. The heel tab adds to the luxury side, and like the Crooks & Castles epi leather Vans, it's flossy without filing the rougher elements of the partner brand heritage too much. It's also the first time we've seen a trefoil accompanied by a knuckleduster, yet somehow it all makes sense. These drop in the Crooked store and your friendly Consortium retailer on the 10th of April.