Converse Converse Converse!! August 2009

Out with July and into August as Japan releases pictures of the new colorways coming next month. Converse is known for sticking to its solid or two toned colors. This August is blowing in a fresh breeze of brand new Converse looks with brand new details materials and a plethora of colors to spare! Ill be closely following this one for release dates in the US - stay tuned!

Obessive Sneaker Disorder to Cover Anivram's Art Show August 8th/ The Upcoming Week

Yes, its true. We have made enough noise for Internet Show Obsessive Sneaker Disorder to make us a....obsession by confirming to come cover us at our Sneaker Art Show on the 8th! Come on down!

New Balance x Overkill "Berlin Wall" Pack

Nearly 20 years ago a divided Berlin was reunited after the fall of the Berlin Wall to the joy of people in Berlin and across the world. 20 years later, as we approach the November 9th anniversary of the fall, New Balance and Overkill have come together to create a variety of sneakers to commemorate and honor this moment in time. Currently there is only a teaser shot floating around, but be sure to check back as more information is released on the weeks to come.

Source:NK

"Denim" Sneakers? AKALAZY Nike Air Force 1 Jailbreaker (Series IV) for DJ Clark Kent Delivers

Recently DJ Clark Kent hit up AKALAZY in South East Asia to create these custom made Air Force 1's. Featuring a distressed stained denim upper, with a white midsole and black outsole, these sneakers are perfect for jeans. They REALLY do deliver.. just take a long hard look at these sneaks.





Currently these are exclusive sneakers only for DJ Clark Kent and there's no word on whether this will see the light of day at the marketplace. Here's to hoping that they will.

Anivram Sneaker Art Show, Saturday, August 8th

So we are now about 10 days away from the Anivram Sneaker Art show in Brooklyn. Everything from pieces of art to custom sneakers will be there, along with drinks and refreshments. As the flyer says, its going to be held at 1158 Dean Street between Nostrand and Rogers Avenue.
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I will be there, as well as Sam and a lot of different artists. Support! Its completely free to get in, and its sure to be a blast!

If you have any questions, the contact info is on the flyer.

Interview with Gaby Zwaan, Dutch Artist

Gaby Zwaan is a Dutch painter from the Netherlands who currently lives in Bussum. He surprises people constantly with his unconventional style using various colors of paint, glue, stitches, drawn art and his favorite drink, Diet Cola to step outside the barrier of conventional art. Today I interviewed him via Skype; his complete bio can be found here.

Okay Gaby first question – How long have you been in the game and which came first, sneakers or sneaker art?

I liked sneakers my whole life, when you’re a teenager they are pretty prominent and I’ve been wearing them ever since – and I only started painting two years ago and I made a career painting really fast – so its only been two years since I started painting sneakers. My Sneaker Art is only 1/4th of my painting life though.

What would you enjoy more, drawing new Sneaker Art or buying a new pair of Sneakers?

Well, I guess for the short term I would like it better to buy new sneakers and wear them, but for the long term I like painting sneakers and seeing people enjoy them. If I had to choose I would only paint sneakers.




What’s your favorite medium to use?

Well I paint on cardboard (old bike boxes) and then put them on a canvas …so street meets gallery.... for now that is how I like to do my work.... come and see it the 8th in Brooklyn if you’re interested ;) I also have also got an Arttoy Collaboration coming out in September by the way.

Will do! Can you hint can at what you’re working on?

It will be a 12 piece series.... inspired by the 80's and sneakers... it's going to be really fun... I can’t tell you more yet though.



Okay, I’m definitely looking forward to that! Gaby, were you born, rather, have you always lived in the Netherlands?

I was born in the Netherlands and I have been here the whole time - I lived abroad for a bit though and I lived in Paris and the Bahamas, but mainly my base has been Holland.

What have you done recently and what’s your plan for the upcoming year?

My first thing is to come to Brooklyn to do a sneaker show on August 8, and then after I plan on going to the fashion trade show in Vegas, and I just got back from France where I did a painting for the Livestrong foundation on the final climb on stage 16 for the Tour de France - I had to be there 5 in the morning! It was a real adventure (chuckles) - they really loved it so they put it on their website.



Gaby hard at work...

Dirty art hands!

And the finished product!


Oh wow – that’s impressive, stage 16 in the Tour de France is pretty intense let alone painting on it!

Yeah it was really cool. In the upcoming year I have three other shows planned, one in the United States and 2 in Europe and I’m basically painting all the pictures for that.



I’m sure you were aware of the Stages pack coming out (Nike/Livestrong)/what’s your take on it?

Yes I'm aware of that. I also saw the Stage show pictures – the show was just in Paris. My take on all this is that I think there are too many Livestrong/Nike sneakers coming out.... way too many.

So you would say it's being overdone to an extent?

Yes I think so...I do like the Futura/Dunk that came out (below).... but way too many Livestrong/Nike sneakers are coming out.



Ok I have to ask this question, what’s your favorite sneaker?

My favorite sneakers are anything that’s Nike dunk - my favorite one is the Nike Dunk Hi - I like all black all white, all purple colorways.

So you like solid sneakers?

It’s not only in sneakers – it’s also in my fashion but yeah I’ve started to be less colorful fashion wise but more colorful in my paintings (chuckles)

It’s a tradeoff of sorts then!

Yeah - id rather be screaming on my paintings rather than the things that I’m wearing.

I suppose that makes you seem like a very unassuming guy when people view your artwork - but it adds to the shock effect.

Yeah it does - they think I’m this quiet little guy in a corner and then they see my paintings and go oh wow! - im pretty colorful on the inside though.

In the last two years out of all the paintings you’ve done what’s your favorite piece?

Probably the creative people reading will understand this - but always the last painting is your favorite you know, because when your working on it it’s really fun, and then when it’s done, it’s part of everything else I’ve done. So it’s always the painting I’m working at the moment that’s my favorite.



Who inspires you artistically?

Well, I don’t think there are any people that inspire me, it’s more the….the… city and nature. I like big cities like NY and when I’m there I get inspired by everything I see, buildings and what people wear so it’s not people that inspire me , but more what people did.

Citymove, a piece by Gaby Zwaan

So you just take that all in and absorb it?

Yeah I guess (chuckles), I just take it in like a sponge and absorb it and all of a sudden sometimes I go “OH I saw this there and there” and that inspires me. There’s actually one person I find very inspiring though – the person I think is very inspiring – and I’m actually going to do my next project for him is Tinker Hatfield- He’s from Nike and he’s their head of design there. He did Air Max and the Air Jordan’s and my next project is going to be about him.



I’ve seen a picture of your tattoo on the inside of your arm it looks pretty dope – what does it mean to you?

Well it’s the bottom of my favorite sneaker - the Nike Dunk – So it’s actually the sole of my shoe on the sole of my body. They say that your veins link you to your soul - so I put it where my big vein is on my arm, so it could connect to the soul of my body.

That’s intense - how long have you had it?

I’ve had it for three years - it was a birthday present from my girlfriend.

Is that the only sneaker related tattoo you have or do you have more? (chuckles)

No it’s my only one. (chuckles)

Is there anything else you want to say before we wrap up?

I would like to say to all the people that I would love to meet them, I don’t know if there’s anyone in Brooklyn that likes sneakers but if they do I’d like to invite them to come and drink with me (chuckles). I would like to invite everyone in Brooklyn and NY to have a drink with this Dutch man. (chuckles)

(chuckles) Ok Gaby - thanks a bunch! I hope to see you in NY!

Okay – I’m coming in on the third so I’ll see you soon!

Gaby Zwaan will be attending our Sneaker Art event on the 8th of August. Thanks Gaby!
-Taylor Gimbel

Sneaker Pimps 09' Boston

This year Sneaker Pimps landed at Boston @ The House of Blues, and I traveled four hours just to see if it was any different than Sneaker Pimps in NYC. My gamble payed off - a lot of sneakers that were on display were different, with the exception of a few like these pair of black Tokidoki's.



But who's complaining, its a sneaker art show!

As I stepped in I caught a glimpse of a what looked like a stages box. It turned out to have the Livestrong x Futura Flom's inside, and of course I had to take a shot of that.
"It took four days of hard work for me to get this" she said, "But it was damm well worth it."


The set up was pretty much the same as NYC but smaller - the main floor had the majority of the display kicks, with upper floors serving drinks and trades/vendors as well up there. Somewhere between walking around and scoping out the place my eyes landed on this custom sneak by SKULL-FUCKERS art hermit Miquel Matos.



There's no denying it - the amount of detail put into that one sneaker was mindblowing. Grey upper with a grey/white toned midsole simply covered in art with a pink theme destroyed all the competition.

A sneak from Destroy Rockcity was also there - its an all white Converse sneaker with a fish designed to look like it was swimming against the current, which takes up the whole sneaker.



For you graff heads out there - a pretty sick wildstyle piece was present on a white Nike Air - I think the picture speaks for itself.



Trigz also had a piece up there drawn on a pair of Pepe Jean Sneaks (below)



As with any Sneaker Pimps events - there was the art. There were three main pieces already painted by the time i exited the building, my favorite being this one (below) of a woman in a meditation stance with sneakers attached to her hands.



I snapped a couple pics of people trading upstairs, and the two girls at the custom vendor entitled "Fresh Squeeze" before I left - Thanks Guys!








The whole album slideshow is right underneath - its about a total of 70 pics give or take. Enjoy!

Technical Issues

So we are currently having an issue where although im making new posts - they either arent showing up or the date is wrong. (Aka i posted about the Busy P Livestrong sneakers on Saturday but it says Thursday). Im trying to work quickly to get this resolved so new posts can continue so hold tight!

Look forward to tonight - Sneaker Pimps Boston 09' Photos to go up!

Nike x Lance Armstrong LIVESTRONG™ BUSY P AIR MAX 1

Nike and Lance Armstrong continue their collaboration to fight cancer with the Busy P Air Max 1, part of the anticipated Stages Pack.

Busy P. Pedro aka Pedro Winter took time out of his schedule to help out AF1 with their project to unite 18 different collaborators around the world - all to fight cancer. This sneaker is covered in cartoon conversation from top to bottom, literally with different statements as you can see below.



Aside from that, it has the upper of a normal AF1 black sneaker, but the inside is covered in yellow mesh and the Livestrong logo is on the tongue. There's no denying it though - this sneaker breathes pure fire!



Its set to drop TOMORROW July 26th folks, so if your in Melbourne where its gonna drop go swing by Provider and grab a pair!

Ladies Nike Dunk High - White/Emerald

Attention Ladies!
Just recently Nike released an exclusive version of the Nike Dunk High for ladies. It features a white upper combined with what looks like bright emerald graffiti accents on the heel of the sneaker. Its scheduled to be released as part of the Fall Nike Release pack that's upcoming. I have a strong feeling some men will be rocking this sneaker too.... we shall see.



Credit to Feelsolegood for photos!

Nike x Mighty Crown Present The Dynasty High

Mighty Crown and Nike Sportswear collaborate to re-present a version of the original Nike Dynasty High - a classic basketball sneaker in the 80's - for part of the upcoming 2010 spring collection. Made out of black premium leather and highlighted with red and gold accents, this sneaker is sure to impress at any event.



No release pricing or date is available yet but you can be sure on one thing - these sneakers will be available in what is said to be a "extremely limited quantity". This is definitely something to look forward to in the next couple months if you are a hardcore sneaker head. Keep posted!

Source : Sneaker Obsession

Soul Summit Music Festival 09' @ Fort Greene Park

If you live in NYC and you have come home early from church or you just have nothing to do, consider checking this event out. Every other Sunday, between the 12th of July and the 30th of August. Its from 3pm to 9pm on those days, and usually its packed full of b-boy's/dancers/fashion designers and regular everyday people vib'n to the music.

So if you like House/Groove/Soul music, and you like to dance, groove on down!

Marc Jacobs Fall 2009 Collection - #M2331 Burgundy

Last night, I ran over my friend Eliseo E-Motion's house to chill for a while. He had just come home with a pair of Marc Jacobs #M2331 sneakers from the Fall 2009 set in burgundy. So we sat down and opened the box together.



Luckily i had my digital camera on me so i snapped some photos. The lights however, didn't cooperate with me fully, so some of the pictures have a lot of glare. Anyway, personally I think these sneaks are pretty tuff. Below you can see the packaging and the sneaker which features a leather/suede upper with a strap to provide support in burgundy and red, with a black mid sole.



Rumor has it that only one pair of each size of this sneak is floating around currently in the city. Which in short equals zero haters. If you want a pair you can go to the Marc Jacobs store in the city. That is they still have a pair in your size! They will run you about $440 dollars though. Happy hunting!