By now most of you have heard about Nike+–the collaboration between innovation powerhouses Nike and Apple. To me, this is what collabs should be about. Party A brings something dope to the table. Party B brings a totally different dope thing to the table. The result is something so simple and true, but yet could not have happened without the 2 entities involved. That’s a collab. So I will spare you the sales pitch of Nike+…you can read their website yourself.
What most don’t know is that Nike invited a small group of maybe 25 or so people from literally all over the world to partake in the launch that featured Steve Jobs, Mark Parker Nike CEO, and Lance Armstrong. Nike calls these people Global Influencers. I know the term, “Global Influencer” sounds very intimidating and official, but the funny thing is that this group of G.I.’s couldn’t be more regular than your average Joe. A lot of people ask, “How did you get to this level?” or “What did you do to make this happen?”…I think I speak for almost everyone when I reply, “Not much.” Don’t get me wrong, we all work our asses off. But we work for ourselves and our own passions. We don’t “work” to strive to become “Global Influencers”. We work hard enough that many other people take notice. We’re all lucky in that respect. Anyway, it is extremely rare that a collection of people like this gather under one roof. Props to Nike for pulling this off. There are probably only a handful of companies in the world that could have put this together. Nike and Apple are 2 of them. See, if Reebok were smart, they would have bombed the Gansevoort Hotel and it pretty much would have brought the entire sneaker/fashion/culture world to its knees.
The day started off with breakfast at Gansevoort. Very early….
Already started to feel like High School Reunion. Seeing old faces and people you never have time to catch up with. Sace from Bridgerunners, Julien (Nike FR), Acyde (Crooked Tongues/Nike UK), Stash, Yu-Ming (Freshness), Hiroshi, Shaun Stussy (let me repeat: SHAUN FUCKING STUSSY. Literally the messiah of this game. He came. Conquered. And bounced. I bow in complete respect.), Eddie (Undft), Kevin (CLOT), Jesse (Nike HQ)…
…Futura rocking the new ‘do…Iverson style. When going to an event like this, your choice of footwear is critical. You want to come with some heat, but not be obtuse at the same time. For example, Hiroshi came with the Croc Skin AF1. (1 of 20). Fine…play on player. You also don’t want to wear something that will likely be worn by someone else. Out of the entire crew, that only happened to one person. ME. I wore the Foot Patrol black and white AM 90s. As did Angel from Nike HK. Booooo! At least she’s cute and rocked the black laces to differentiate a little. But you can’t really put one over the guy who MAKES the shit. Peep Jesse’s Air Footscape Woven with a Air Max 360 bottom! How many more styles can you cram into one shoe?! Hot though….Hot.
From there it was off to the event itself which was held inside Chelsea Piers.
We were all waiting for the big annoucement… Fraser (Nike), Shaun Stussy, Kevin, Angel (take them AM90s off), HF, Jesse, Darla (Nike), James Jebbia (Supreme), James Bond (Undefeated), DJ Milo….what was to come?
Nike+…pretty amazing shit. First just an amazing treat to see and hear Steve Jobs talk. Two real geniuses on stage. The first shoe to come equipped with Nike+ is the Moire. A great shoe. So comfy. Even more comfortable than Nike Free. Isn’t that just like Nike? Make the most comfortable shoe in the world with Free. Then before the competitors can even catch up to Free, they are already on something even better! Nike+ is so cool, it might actually get me to start running. And I hate running. But Nike+ adds a tracking feature as well as a competitive aspect that I felt running always lacked. Its pretty amazing stuff with some ridiculous potential ideas. The treadmill market is in jeopardy.
Right after the introduction, we got to touch and try the stuff first hand. And then they even built a mobile Nike ID Studio featuring only Moire’s! No holds barred today folks!
Steve Jobs, Paula Radcliffe (championship marathon runner), Lance and Mark Parker on hand to show us the goods. Bobbito gettin’ his ID on…
After that, we were all invited to the 255 Studio to make some World Cup products of our choice. I chose the AF1 Low. Joli convinced me (she is very convincing) to come out of my traditional shell and go with some Rave Pink/Celery/Gum Sole joints. These better be good Joli…I ain’t trying to come off like some 12 year Bape head.
Team Colette (Paris) in the house, Spike Lee and Woody from Sneaker Freaker in ID Mode. Joli schooling Kevin Poon on how to do colors properly, George helping Kevin and Angel out, and Paul M (Stussy) and James (Undft) doing their kicks with Sam.
The night was not over yet! Nike then took us all out to get some dinner at The Spotted Pig. A very hip Irish Pub themed restaurant co-owned by none other than Jay-Z. I highly recommend the chesseburger and fries. Best I have had in a while. Highlight of the night was seeing Shaun Stussy handwrite some shit. Dude’s handwriting IS the Stussy logo. I know this makes complete sense, but seeing him actually do it is surreal. You’re so used to seeing that shit embroidered or printed on tees…to see it coming out of a pen tip live is bananas.
And to wrap us this crazy day, me, Hiroshi, Mark Parker (Nike Inc. Pres) and Charlie Denson (Nike Brand Pres) did a little “one drink” wind down at the rooftop bar at Gansevoort. Ugh, Mark showed me some shit that I wish i could post…but i am sworn to secrecy. Here’s a clue: Watch out in November. Hiroshi made a funny joke..”If we kill these 2 now, Nike will be OURS!” Hahahahaha. On some 24/Jack Bauer type shit.
On the following day, I hosted a little dinner gathering at apizz. Much less spectacular, but much more chill. It’s always cool to be able to just hang with the people you work with. Makes life much more pleasureable…
