Gucci’s Pre-Fall 2017 Collection

Gucci began as a fashion brand made to be known for it’s luxury and elegance. This company was founded in 1921, or 97 years ago, by a man named Guccio Gucci. As this father took most of the credit, the brand was actually built up with the help of his sons. There were three of them in total. By 2008, this brand grew so widespread that it had made a total of 4.6 billion US dollars by the year of 2008. Along with being the largest Italian brand at this time, Gucci opened a total of 278 stores worldwide according to their statistics in 2009. Think of this number compared to the slim 76 stores Gucci only had during the year 1997. With their never ending success, as of 2013, this company’s trend kept growing and was worth 12.1 billion US dollars.

Gucci became so popular and trendy even after all of these years because of their design. Every year they are releasing new and unique styles that have never been seen before. Clearly, the typical person would not wear clothes with these exotic colors and patterns because of the retail price. It is indeed a luxury brand and it always has been. Specializing in fashion, specifically Gucci sold watches, purses, ties, bags, jewelry, etc. Their clothing lines were one of a kind because of the colorful fabrics such as pigskin, calf, ranging to many other animals. Their bags and purses consisted of top of the line leather. Sometimes there would be floral prints or a butterfly pattern made for silk only. Gucci’s styles have changed throughout the years according to the latest trends, but generally, they have stayed their luxurious, unique selves since the start of it all.

Currently as of 2017, there are many rumors as of what will be included in this year’s future up coming Fall 2017 Collection. It has been predicted that there will be bombers with colorful floral prints, tigers, dragons, other animals, and even including space themed backgrounds. This new and different design would be embroidered into the bombers which are an in-trend style. Many embroidering can also be seen on shoes. Designer Alessandro Michele, Gucci’s creative director, says that he envisions this new collection to have a fairy tale like vibe to the clothing. He also states that there will be a long coat with dragons embroidered on both sides of the back. All of these exotic street wear will make you stand out from everyone else because of it’s popping colors and designs. However, since this is a high end luxury brand, Gucci clothing is always expected to sell for expensive and sell out quickly.

The Realization of Over Priced Sneakers

I never truly realized how expensive sneakers could really be. Growing up, exclusive sneakers were not really exposed to our family, especially being just an average income family. Most of the time me, including peers at school brought casual shoes. This included shoes like Vans or Converse. Most of the time, these type of things would only cost maybe ranging around 50-70 dollars. The most expensive shoes I ever saw were maybe at Foot Locker where the athletic shoes there maybe went up to 200 dollars. For the most part, in the past at a younger age, shoes did not seem to be very expensive or a big deal at a young age.

However, as I grow up and the friends around me did also, we began to get into social media. We expanded our knowledge about sneakers and started to learned more and more about it. The first I remember hearing about an exclusive, high priced shoe was Kanye West’s Yeezy many years ago. Due to the low supply and high demand, these shoes sold out quickly. There was reselling online for up to 2,000 dollars. My thinking changed recently, a new shoe was released which brought a lot of attention. Lonzo Ball, an upcoming NBA star has released a shoe called the ZO2. This basketball sneaker is priced at 495 dollars but will probably resale for much more. The limited edition ZO2 WET is selling for 995 dollars.

After growing up and being exposed to all of these social media trends, I then began to realized how expensive shoes could truly be. From all of these shoes and many more, there was an endless list of sneakers that were priced beyond an average income family. Of course, these shoes were not commonly seen among peers and around school. However, if there was that one kid with expensive shoes, everyone noticed it. As time passed, I began to learn of many people who collected shoes. They valued their shoes like children and kept them very clean and spotless. Everyday they would clean their shoes.

After realizing the world of sneakers beyond my past knowledge, I now tried investing
my time and money to find some expensive, quality sneakers. This could be anything
from Jordans to Adidas. Hopefully someday I will have a sneaker collection of my own to show off to my peers. I would love to have a shelf displaying all of these sneakers in the future, but I would have to keep every single shoe clean. Maybe I will not collect thousands of dollars worth of shoes like those big time collectors with walk in closets and fancy lights. This would be something small to do on the side, probably saving a couple hundred dollars now and then to add to my new, small collection.

Forever 21 Plagiarizes… Again

Recently, during the month of April, Forever 21 has gotten many fans angered by their design in clothing. The store, which is disliked for ruining their clothing with cliche quotes, released new t-shirts and sweatshirts in their stores this month. Again, these items have their typical words on the front and back of their clothing. What is different about this that is getting fans and consumers angry? Forever 21 has stolen Kanye West’s clothing by using the same font and mimicking his style. Kanye West’s well known The Life of Pablo album was performed this past year, selling clothing merchandise also. This clothing line had a unique font which was called Planet Kosmos. Back in November 2016, Kanye West and Raf Simons both co-signed this font allowing them to use it on clothing together.

After the release of Kanye West’s most recent album, he has been performing it live in 2016 from August to December on various dates. At these venues, he also sold many different clothing which was specific and unique to the album itself. This included a variety of long sleeves, hoodies, sweatshirts and t-shirts. The authentic clothing itself sold on Kanye’s website for very expensive at around 75 dollars for just a t-shirt. On the front or back of the shirts had phrases such as “I feel like Pablo” or “I love you like Kanye loves Kanye.” It was well known for the different font that was not seen on any other clothing. Well, until now it is seen on cheap Forever 21 shirts that ripped off Kanye West.

This is not the first time that Forever 21 has stolen other people’s ideas, or plagiarized, on their own clothing. This has been repeated many times in the past, and Forever 21 has been called out on social media. For example, in February Forever 21 stole Thrasher’s famous flaming logo. Thrasher is another clothing line directed towards skateboarders. Instead of the flame saying “Thrasher” like it originated, Forever 21 slapped this font on the back of a wind breaker saying “Happiness” instead. This angered the Thrasher company, as they called them out for this on Instagram. This did not recently start happening, as Forever 21 has been doing this for years. In September of 2015, Forever 21 stole drawings from an artist in Oregon, Sam Larson. Many of his small designs have been shared with fans on Instagram, but they started appearing on the clothing of Forever 21 without his approval. Over the years, this company has done this to multiple other artists, which is frustrating to most.

Kaws X Air Jordan 4

Brian Donnelly, or better known as KAWS, is an artist who started in New York. KAWS became known through his style designing clothing. He displays his art work through galleries including other paintings and sculptures. Born in 1974 in New Jersey, Brian studied a degree in the arts and worked for Disney after college. He contributed in well known animations such as 101 Dalmatians. Beginning as a street artist, KAWS later moved to New York and advertised his works on billboards and such. His career as an artist began to gain more popularity, allowing him to help redesign MTV’s statue for their music awards in 2013.

The brand Air Jordan started on November 17, 1984 when Nike was still a newer company and was not the grand, name brand we know today. To gain popularity, Nike decided to look to Michael Jordan. After some time of convincing, Michael would later agree to sign a 5 year contract. In 1987, things were not looking good for Nike. After their release of the Air Jordan I, it was a huge success, but the Air Jordan II was not doing so well. Losing their two designers, Nike looked to Tinker Hatfield who would make Nike brand again from designing the Air Jordan III with Michael. Many years later in 1997, due to the strong popularity of Air Jordan shoes, the Jordan Brand became more independent as sub brand of Nike, still growing and being known for their quality, athletic shoes.

With background information of artist KAWS and Jordan Brand, on March 31, 2017 these two collaborated to make a new sneaker. The Spring 2017 shoe would include the Air Jordan 4 that would have a light grey colored upper made of suede. This sneaker is unique because of the glow in the dark sole with signature KAWS stitching inspired art. Instead of the Jumpman logo on the heel, this shoe has KAW’s “XX” company logo on it. Not surprisingly, this shoe was very difficult to buy on the day of release. It’s retail price was $350 but it sold out very quickly. Due to the high demand, this limited sneaker is being resold on websites such as Ebay for up to $2,000.

Where would a normal person find a shoe to buy like this? A high end, exclusive shoe like the KAWS X Air Jordan 4 is very difficult to find. Obviously, this show is, and most likely always will be, available on Ebay, but at very high prices. On the other hand, you can still find this shoe in other websites or stores. Examples are Foot Patrol, END Clothing, Sole Fly, BSTN, or Patta. All of these websites are doing online raffles to give away a pair of these shoes. Although it might be a low probability of winning, it is still worth a shot for a shoe like this. Sivasdescalzo is doing a raffle on Instagram, and in-store raffles include SNS London, Titolo, and Trophy Room.

 

Nike Releases Acronym Inspired Presto Shoes

Acronym is a well known German clothing company, but they are unique because they have found success with no marketing or advertising. This newer company was started in 1994 by Errolson Hugh, and since then they have been releasing quality, functional clothing. Their first products, however, released in 2002 as a collection called Dubb Kit-1. This was a small collection only including a couple of items. A year later, their 2003 collection would attract more attention with even more clothing products. According to Errolson Hugh he says, “There’s no marketing budget that you’re paying for. It’s all going into the gear.” With this founder’s ideas, Acronym continues to release many in style clothing at an affordable price. Their styles and ideas are influencing others, such as their jacket that was released in 2006. Years later in 2014, Gucci revealed their new jacket which was very similar to Acronym.

Now with some background information about the Acronym company itself, they have also released shoes, such as the collaboration Nike. Previously, Nike Air had a shoe called Prestos, but Acronym decided to put their own style to it and changed it into one of their own. With function and design in mind, the founder Errolson Hugh redesigned the Acronym X NikeLab Presto with a unique twist. After being very secretive with the release, NikeLab announced the release date to be September 15th, 2016. This mid top shoe with new zippers and straps is different and designed by the founder of Acronym himself. These shoes did not last long and sold out very quickly. It was released in Germany previously, and would later make its way to the states within weeks. Along with many different colorways, this light weight shoe would sell for about 200 dollars.

After the release of Acronym’s collaboration with NikeLab on their presto shoes, many months later, Nike decided to take matters into their own hands. The collaboration released in September, but now in March Nike is soon to be releasing a new Acronym inspired shoe. Instead of having a shoe with Acronym embedded in it, Nike designed their own shoe that is similar to the one above, but it is now completely Nike. Released on Saturday March 18th, many consumers were anticipating this shoe, but specifically those who could not get their hands on the Acronym X NikeLab Presto in September. There were two rumored colorways that were predicted to be making their way to different online websites. Alike to Errolson Hugh’s designs, the sides of the shoe are almost identical. This inspired look alike would have zippers on the ankles, the upper made of mesh, and pull tabs. Having been released last weekend, if you are considering to buy this shoe, chances are it has been completely sold out.

Lacoste X Supreme 2017

Lacoste, a well known French branded company, is rumored to soon be collaborating with Supreme. Both brands refused to make any comments on the subject, but there have been leaked clothing images and other clues hinting towards this release. After learning about the surprising collaboration with Louis Vuitton, fans found this recent news to be unexpected also. The announcement of Supreme X Louis Vuitton last month was official, so if there was a Supreme X Lacoste, it would be after this new, luxury one. The founder of Supreme, or James Jebbia was seen during New York Fashion Week at Lacoste’s Fall 2017 show on February 11th. Noting all the other companies Lacoste has paired up with, a new Supreme and Lacoste clothing line is actually very realistic.

The history of Supreme dates all the way back to 1994 in Manhattan, New York. The first ever opened store was on Lafayette Street, and it was founded by James Jebbia. Back then, their clothing and styles were mainly directed towards skate boarders. After many years, in 2004, Supreme grew and expanded to it’s second location in Los Angeles, California. After this, they began expanding outside of the country in places such as Paris, Tokyo, and London. Throughout all of Supreme history, they have been known to collaborate with many other commercial branded companies. This includes Nike, Vans, North Face, Air Jordans, and many more. On January 18th, 2017, there was recently a fashion show where Louis Vuitton and Supreme officially announced that they would be collaborating next. In public, many celebrities have been seen wearing their clothing like Tyler the Creator, Frank Ocean, Kanye West, and Kid Cudi. Could Lacoste and Supreme be their next new collaboration after Louis Vuitton?

In 1933, René Lacoste founded his company in France, which sold high end clothing, shoes, and watches. He was also known as a very talented tennis player back then. The clothing brand is most well known for their classic polo shirts. With their green crocodile logo, this company grew quickly and soon they sold 300,000 products a year. In 1952, they expanded to the United States, and René handed over his company to his son, Bernard. In 2006, Bernard passed away and his younger brother was president. They still remained to sell their quality clothing which somewhat evolved over the years. Their polo shirts have been the same style to keep that clean, sleek look. The main change that fans spoke about happened in 2002. Lacoste redesigned their logo for the first time since the company was begun. However, the logo still kept the same theme of the green crocodile. In 2013, Lacoste celebrated their 80th year anniversary.

Now, during 2017, Lacoste and Supreme has unexpectedly been rumored to be collaborating with their clothing. With Supreme’s modern day street wear combining to Lacoste’s high end, classics, this could be one of the besting looking collaborations Supreme has done in a while. Although there is a Louis Vuitton collab, both of the companies styles do not quite go together. Louis Vuitton is too expensive to be seen collaborating with Supreme so it is said to not look natural. On the other hand, Lacoste with Supreme has some true potential to do very well in stores. This rumor has been hyped to get fans ready and excited for what is to come in the future. Recently, there has been a leaked photo of what looks to be an exclusive Supreme hat and embroidered check shirt. But there is something odd about this photo; there is a Lacoste logo on the side of the hat. This hints of the type of clothing to be expected in this collection. With Louis Vuitton this Spring Summer 2017, Lacoste X Supreme will most likely be released during Fall Winter 2017.

 

Gucci Inspired “Flower Bomb” Embroidery

I never realized how shoe embroidery could be used on exclusive sneakers. Before, shoe embroidery was, for the most part, only known for being on brands such as Gucci. This brand has been embroidering their shoes for a long time and it just got old. On Gucci’s online website, they sell many different types of shoes but mainly stick to their classic embroidered high tops. At this time, before the trend came to be, shoe embroidering was mostly directed towards the female crowd. It was a style that was not usually seen on men daily, but more casually worn by women. The reputation that shoe embroidery received before was that it was disliked and hated. Many people saw these patches as having a loud print, or too flashy and bright. Overall, the trend of putting embroidered patches on shoes came out of the nowhere, and it was unexpected because of how this style was hated and the small group of people it was directed towards.

However, although shoe embroidery was never seen in style, someone people took a chance and decided to embroider exclusive sneakers such as Nike and Yeezys. A new shoe that has recently blown up is of the Nike Air Force One which is covered in a flower print. This new, unique shoe has received quite a bit of attention. It is even said to be rivaling other higher end sneakers that have been around for a long time. It’s amazing how a new styles can change so quickly and take the spotlight over others. Another sneaker that is almost as popular, or if not just as popular as the Nike Air Force One flower print is the new Yeezy Boost Flower Bomb. Not only was this shoe in general got enough attention as it is, it took on the new embroidering trend for even more attraction! The combination of the black and red colorways allow the flowers on the shoe to pop and grab attention. Before, embroidered patches were disliked for their loud print, but the designer of this shoe gave it a new look that was loved by customers. Other than these high end professional companies hopping on this, people are embroidering themselves. Popular Instagram account, @FRECustoms has posted pictures of many different designs and styles of shoe embroidering. This account recently became popular due to the trend.

After shoe embroidering was put on men’s sneakers, and now it wasn’t just known for being on women’s shoes I came to realize that this shoe embroidering looked very nice and unique. It is cool because embroidering shoes really expanded and has moved to many different shoes. It has not only been done on exclusives, like how it began, but many people do it themselves on their own casual daily shoe. What really shows now fast this trend grew is the number of celebrities today wearing this style. Many big singers such as Rihanna, The Weeknd, Trey Songz, or even Tyler the Creator has been seen wearing shoes
with embroidered patches on them. The list is endless, but endless major role models have influenced younger people to follow this style, and it keeps spreading. Because many people want embroidered shoes, companies have been doing this more often. Before, embroidering companies were around but not many were often doing shoes. They mostly did other clothing items. But now, due to the popular demand for in style shoes, these custom companies are using their skills of embroidering to apply it to footwear.

While seeing how embroidered shoes have grown as a trend and how popular it has become among people such as celebrities, or even just people walking casually around school, I have decided for myself to buy my own embroidered shoes. Also, I have also gotten interested in learning how to embroider for the future. I find that one of the most important factors to embroidering shoes yourself is making sure the colors flow.

Collection of Patches Inventorchris 2011(c)  (CC BY-NC 2.0)

Complementary colors are very important to the way a shoe looks. If the colors don’t look natural, the whole shoe itself will not look good. Also, along with different colors, I have found myself looking into different types of patches. The embroidered shoe trend blew up with the red and pink flowers that it has been known for. Many celebrities mostly wear floral print on their own shoes. Another good idea, along with color combinations, is maybe looking into different designs. These designs can mostly be of anything. You could put your own hobbies, sports, shapes, patterns, or just anything like in the picture above. Personally, I have found shoe embroidering to be very easy. As it might sound difficult at first, there are many simple tutorials online which follow step by steps. Also, many videos on YouTube show how to do it. To find a variety of embroidering styles, I like to use Pinterest. I find that this is the best website for patch ideas and complementing colors.

Jordan Brand’s 20th Year Anniversary in China

The very well known Jordan Brand, specializing in sneakers with trendy styles and colorways, has recently had their 20th year anniversary. To celebrate this, the company decided to open a store selling only Jordan branded items. This store, located in Asia or Chengdu, China specifically, had their grand opening. To top it off, they decided to launch a limited edition of the first Jordan Brand sneaker ever sold in China. This shoe is the Jordan XII. The new retail store is known to be the largest Jordan only store in all of China. Aside from the start of this new shop, on the Jordan website, there has been released the Chinese New Years Sneaker Pack. These selected styles of shoes will be sold online and throughout China itself. The shoes in this collection range from the Air Jordan XII Retro CNY, to the the Air Jordan XXXI CNY. Along with shoes, it also includes other apparel. If you would like to look into this limited edition Chinese New Years Pack, click here. While the main retail store in Chengdu, China gets all of the hype, there is actually a second store which was opened for Jordan’s 20th year anniversary also. This other shop is located in Taipei, Taiwan, which is also the capital. This store is special because like the largest Jordan only store in China, this is the largest Jordan only store in Taiwan.

Ultra Boost 3.0 Releases

Tomorrow on December 6th, 2016, Adidas is going to drop eleven new colorways for the Ultra Boosts. These varieties of colors will range from red, blue, black, white, and many others. Six of the new colors will be mainly directed towards men, while the other five will be meant for the women. Adidas adds that these new colors will be inspired by the different seasons of the year. What is the difference between the 2.0 Ultra Boosts and the 3.0? The main changes are the new structure with improved breathablility. It is said by Ultra Boost fans that this newly, released 3.0 shoe barely changed from the 2.0 version, so it is not worth the buy. Although this is the word on the street, with a limited supply, this shoe will still sell out very quickly in stores and online. It is going to be sold on adidas.com starting at 180 dollars. If you currently have the Ultra Boost 2.o in good condition, the new 3.0 will not be a major change speaking functionality wise. Though, if you are just looking to show off the fact that you got your hands on these to all your friends, it will definitely attract attention. Click here to view pictures of these hot shoes and different colors.

Supreme X North Face 2016 Winter/Fall Collection

After doing a collaboration with the band Slayer, Supreme has recently released their new clothing collection. This time, they are partnering up with clothing by North Face. As of this year 2016, North Face has been around for 50 years now. They mainly specialize in clothes for the extreme outdoors. The company is directed towards athletes from skiing, snowboarding, climbing, and many more. With North Face along with Supreme together, their 2016 collection will be not only very functional, such as waterproof windbreakers or duffel bags made from nylon, but it will also be very stylish with modern colorways and in-trend looks. There will be backpacks, fanny packs, pants, and a variety of jackets ranging from light to heavy duty. If you want to be prepared for this winter’s extreme weathers in the poles, or even just rainy days in the city, I highly recommend you investing your money in North Face’s clothes. Not only will it be reliable and durable, but it will be fashionable street wear with Supreme’s style to it. The collection announced today, 11/14/16 on Supreme’s website. Click here to see all 39 released pictures.