crooked tongues magazine News Features

We've been waiting on a collaboration between the Hideout and Converse for a while now, ever since those images leaked for the chambray Chucks that never materialised. Whether you've queued outside or swung by for the more esoteric unhyped pieces, the store formerly known as Hit and Run is a London institution, with some serious knowledge behind it in stark contrast to a retail realm of identikit buys and blog-informed buys. We're pretty certain that Mr. Kopelman ...

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Those trendy apps, eh? There's one for everything. Now Nike's on the case. We've downloaded more than we've ever actually used, but all angles seemed to be covered. This News post would have been written on an app, if that touchscreen keyboard wasn't so awkward when it comes to writing much more than ten words. It's not conducive to our brand of keyboard diarrhoea and the subsequent paragraph padding. The problem is that just ...

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If you read these pages regularly, then you might have noticed that we like hip-hop a little bit. Consider the PRO-Keds Biz Markie 69ers the antidote to the current trickle of rap-endorsed moonboots and a perfect partner piece to the Bobbito Royal Flash. Every rapper now gets retros or retros of retros seeded to them and bangs on about their sneaker obsessions on MP3s, but they're pretenders…new jacks. Biz Markie might have a predilection for conversational oneupmanship on ...

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There's no substitute for adidas's basketball output during the 1970s and 1980s. Cobras, the Ecstasy Hi, Rivalrys, Conferences and City Lines are all unsung heroes, but the adidas Forum is still king of the court output in our eyes. Super expensive, the full grain leather, Velcro, thermoplastic heel counter, dual density inlay sole, microcellular midsole with Dellinger web and serrated multi-disk outsole made this shoe a baller's favourite beyond the sport, just because it looks so vicious ...

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There seems to be a simple sneaker for every second of every day of the year at the moment, but the Alife Northeastern Casual is better than the usual anti-nonsense footwear. Alife's true strong point has long been in re-interpretative leaps of faith that create some compelling designs that outlasted streetwear's bubble burst — Ritefoot remains an initiative light years ahead of the competition that preempted a minimal and wilfully odd movement, but that was offset against some sensible ...

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Seeing as we covered the Quai 54 yesterday, we thought we'd put these long-gone Harajuku Nike store exclusives up here as a partner piece because they're awesome.These are officially old, but delivery times from Japan can be epic and these are further proof that the LE Jordan V Retro+ colourways are killing at the moment. We love seeing Japan exclusives because they wake a little part of our brains that's stuck in the late 1990s. As ...

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Nike's Olympic-themed rollout of retail spaces in late 2008 was an interesting one. Normally we cringe at space talk, but the idea of it being the spot for members of great initiatives like the mighty Run Dem Crew to gather — a clubhouse of sorts —was a good one. It took a little while for us to understand the purpose of it, but we finally understood after a few visits. But that inaugural incarnation was a little dingy and light-free ...

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Remember when Blazers were that shoe that always hit the sale racks? We loved picking up the smaller swooshed black/white leather variations at Foot Locker several years ago for peanuts, but after years of continual push, the VNTG versions of the fat branded OG version have started shifting units. Look to the feet next time you're out and you'll see some bold shades of suede on the feet of folk who aren't forum dwellers of shoebox ...

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Remember when we used to laugh at hype and queuing and all that stuff? We kind of yearn for those days. People only get partially interested in 2011. So when we noticed that there was a Euro Jordan release out on monday, we literally ran out the door, and we haven't done that in a few years. Paris's Jordan Brand sponsored Quai 54 streetball tournament (taking place on the 30th of June and 1st of July this year ...

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The Hyperfuse system's being applied to Nike shoes across-the-board at the moment, but there's no substitute for the real thing. You can apply that technology to shoes from '82, '85, '87, and '90, but we think it really comes into its own on the original Fuse launchpad — the Zoom Hyperfuse. Last year we were very impressed by the seamless mix of supportive, breathable and resilient layers, and how they merged to create something that was both bugged-out but ...

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"RUN AROUND NAKED. KINDA." We love that Air Flow tagline. There's some shoes that seem to have been on the retro wishlist since Crooked's inception. Significant examples of fan favourites include the Nike Air Span (not retroed yet), Nike Air Safari (retroed), Nike Air Pegasus '89 (retroed), Nike Air Stab (retroed with added banana), Nike Air Structure (retroed) and Nike Terra ACG (retroed with a ruinously ugly sole unit) and NikeTerra T/C (not retroed). Then there's ...

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We like the Skytop III. As Jay-Z once asked, what's all the fu*king fussing for? We've liked the latest iteration of Chad Muska's signature sneaker series since we were conspiratorially ushered to a corner of a temporary Berlin showroom and shown it in January. We've got a lot of time for the original Skytop, because it changed the game in its own towering way when skate sneaker design was getting a little dull — in wheat ...

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The Jordan VII might not have the III, IV, V or VI appeal globally, but it has its charms, and few shoes can distill 1992 with the ease of this Air Jordan instalment. We've had bad luck photographing the 2011 incarnation of the shoe, even though they're in the office and warehouse (we actually, finally, got hold of some Bordeauxs that we'll be putting up next week too), so we've had to resort to brand images ...

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The sneaker retail landscape in central London isn't what it used to be, but every now and again, something crops up that's of interest. We hear you, "Why are you posting about another retailer, you self-defeating idiots?" Because we like a sanctuary from sitting behind monitors all day during the summer months, and if you visited the Ultralounge during the World Cup last year, you know that both entities have a tendency to get pleasantly carried away when ...

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With all the store product plugging lately, how about we drop a little non-store related exclusive? You all know the Air Flow — it's a shoe synonymous with Crooked Tongues as an oddball experiment that became a cult shoe that's a grail for many. You saw the Lunar edition a couple of months back, and rumours of an impending TZ reissue of the original colourways were confirmed recently — we've got pairs of them on the desk right now ...

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We haven't studied the impending adidas Originals collection close enough to split them thematically, but these nylon Superstar Vintage and Campus 80s seemed to sit well together. Plus they're both linked by being incredible. Can you blame us for festooning the News section with adi output at the moment? You'd assume that the Superstar 80s would be the partner for the Campus 80s, but this pack puts the Vintage variation alongside it. Remember when we all flinched ...

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We make no apologies for featuring the adidas 380 every time an attractive colourway debuts. This is still our favourite reintroduction of the year (and we've got the Air Flow reissue on the desk at time-of-writing), just because adidas delivered on a model that isn't an obvious contender for reintroduction, but one that exudes class. We're also deeply grateful that this ZX hasn't been sullied with any Materials of the World nonsense, like a matador's ...

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We never thought we'd see much hype for the Clyde again, with the shoe destined to remain a favourite among those with taste, but the new Undefeated pieces are causing a buzz. We know there's ballistic nylons and other fabrics on the way (Eddie mentioned them in a Complex interview a few months back), but these canvas versions are banging — it's a new look for a shoe that usually shines in suede form (other leathers sail too ...

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Nike Sportswear's going all out with the 90s this year and some of the best efforts echo some older triumphs. We never really pondered just how many variants there are on this model until we put the list together for Complex late last year — there's a lot out there. Hyperfuse, Currents and the Free-influenced madness welded to Tinker's masterpiece are cool and all, but there's no beating the real thing. It's strange that a shoe ...

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adidas Decades have taken many forms over the years, but you can't beat them in a slimmer, high form. There's plenty more classics from the 1984 era that come close, and this shoe might look a little primitive alongside the mighty Forum, but it originally clocked in at a significantly lower RRP than the Velcro-strapped masterpiece. It's a shame that we can't get our shoes made closer to home, but in a realm where shoes make ...

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We're seeing the Reebok Pump Fury take many conceptual forms at the moment. Seeing as this model's walked the inflatable line between fictionality and looks so utterly out there that they've become chic in their futurism since 1993, a touch of high-end styling doesn't harm the Pump Fury one bit. If you're looking to make over a sneaker and all your wacky ideas have dissolved due to limitations in terms of production or ideas, we ...

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Jack Purcells are a favourite round here. We think Converse made a wise choice when they acquired this franchise around 1972 (anyone else think it's odd that the Jack Purcell's onetime sibling brand PF Flyers ultimately took the Jack Purcell Windjammer? Maybe it was because they already had their own circular vamp Oxford style), and they're doing interesting things with it both inline and in the First String division. We were a little upset when the Hideout ...

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We've been in two minds about how Hyperfuse relates to some of our favourite Nike shoes. We love the Zoom Hyperfuse in high and low forms — the layered technology makes up so much of that shoe's identity, that it's pretty much irresistible. A third of NBA players seem to be wearing it in one form or another. But we like our Air Max, Dunks and Air Forces in a more conventional, labour-intensive mesh, synthetic suede and leather ...

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The Jordan III is rolling around with a curious level of ubiquity after several wilderness periods where prices shot through the roof. Everyone with a vague interest in the Jordan line seems to have a story about this shoe, whether it was spotting the True Blues on the 'Eazy-Duz-It' cover in early 1989 and finding out that they couldn't find them in their local sports shops on these shores (Jordan IVs later in the year was when Nike smelled ...

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There was once a time when the shelves weren’t heaving with technically-minded running shoe designs. Sneakers were a little more basic, and just as Mr. Bill Bowerman was probably getting irate with somebody from the Onitsuka corporation, adidas were unleashing the Achill design. 1968 was a pretty significant time for breakthroughs in athletic footwear. They say that Charles Manson and Altamont put pay to the “good old days” the following year, but we think it was just getting started ...

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2012

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crooked tongues magazine News Features

Converse & The Hideout Chuck Taylor collection release

Nike 1948 iPad App

PRO-Keds & Biz Markie 69ers

adidas Originals Fairway/White Forum Mid & Superstar II

Alife Northeastern Casual

Air Jordan V T23

Nike 1948 reopening

Nike Sportswear Blazer Mid AB Vintage

Air Jordan V 'Quai 54'

Nike Zoom Hyperfuse 2011

Nike Air Flow Reissue

Supra Skytop III

Air Jordan VII 'Cardinal' 2011 retro

Nike Sportswear presents 'Live for the Game' launch at Selfridges

Nike Sportswear Air Flow TZ Tonal Pack

adidas Originals nylon Superstar Vintage and Campus 80s

More adidas Originals ZX 380s

PUMA x Undefeated Cali Canvas Clydes

Nike Sportswear Summer Air Max 90 makeups

adidas Originals Decade Hi Summer makeups

Shinzo Reebok Pump Fury

Converse "Oxford" Jack Purcells

Nike Sportswear's London Hyperfuse Launch

Air Jordan III True Blue release

adidas Originals Achill reissue

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