Ciao Italia - Italian sneaker manufacturer contacts

The blog will be on pause for a short time this fall for a trip to Italy. I wanted to see if anyone out there has any solid Italian shoe manufacturer contacts for development of retro runners. If you have contacts that you can share please DM us on Instagram or on the contact page.

Il blog sarà in pausa per un breve periodo questo autunno per un viaggio in Italia. Volevo vedere se qualcuno là fuori ha dei contatti solidi con un produttore di scarpe italiano per lo sviluppo di runner retrò. Se hai contatti da condividere, inviaci un messaggio in DM su Instagram o nella pagina dei contatti.

Super brand vintage sneakers

Hey Y'all - we're looking for a needle in a haystack and figured this is a small community of vintage collectors who might have come across a pair of these. Putting up this post to see if anyone else out there has a pair of 'SUPER' branded vintage running shoes from the late 70's or early 80's. The first photo is a pair that we own and the second is from the excellent @somashimokitazawa website. If you have the black pair or others please DM us. Black sneakers image credit to @somashimokitazawa.

Super sneakers image credit to @somashimokitazawa.

Athletic Interest: Youtube's Greatest Channel covers Nike's Greatest Bootleg

Putting up a quick post to let you know that the excellent YouTube Channel Athletic Interest picked up the wild Nike ‘One Line’ bootleg story and made an awesome video out of if it. For those of you who do now know about Athletic Interest it is a great YouTube channel that covers interesting stories at the intersection of Sports and Business. We have spent hours watching these videos and are huge fans. If you like this channel please make sure to like and subscribe. Special thanks to Fabian for the effort!

The ‘One Line’ sneakers are currently up for sale via auction until April 20th over at Heritage Auctions if you want to buy them.

Internet Legends: Harput's Sneaker Shop in San Francisco and Oakland

We love old school sneakers and old school hip hop. During our travels across the web we came across these masterpiece commercials for Harput’s up in Oakland and thought y’all would appreciate them.

Here’s another one….

Harput’s was founded by Turk Harput and we’ve included the full history from Robin J. Moody’s Portland Business Journal article ‘Vintage sneaker showcase’ from Jun 26, 2003.

Vintage sneaker showcase
Collectors covet long-ago models from top athletic shoemakers

By Robin J. Moody of The Portland Business Journal
Jun 26, 2003

It all started when Turk Harput was cruising a flea market in Oakland, Calif., in 1978 and spotted 1,000 pairs of discontinued sneakers.

He traded his '74 Volvo for the entire stock and began hawking the shoes--some dating from the '40s--from the back of his VW bus. Most sold for $5 or $10.

Today Harput's, the store that bears his name, is a purveyor of rare and retro sneakers that enjoys a special partnership with Adidas and caters to "sneaker heads" or rare shoe collectors.

It has a thriving web-based business, in addition to a shop in the Fillmore district of San Francisco. Turk Harput's son Gus Harput opened a shop in Portland at 139 N.W. Second Ave. in December 2002. It remains a family-owned business.

Ken Thornby, director of sports heritage for Adidas America, called Harput's one of the company's "trend accounts," that gets dibbs on Adidas' most exclusive product.

"We have had a working relationship with Harput's since the '70s. We share ideas and when there are sneaker shows in town we sometimes go together," Thornby said.

Sales of so-called retro shoes grew 11.4 percent in 2002, according to the trade group Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association. Harput's has made a name for itself selling these clean, old-school styles.

The Harput family has taken the unusual step of putting select shoes into storage. They take them out--sometimes decades later--to sell. This strategy has helped the company find a niche and stay in business in a market dominated by national chains.

"We had to specialize and offer what the chains could not," said Gus Harput. "We cut down our buying of shoes to those that were deemed classic and original and left the athletic performance stuff completely. We pulled this off at first with our extensive supply of 'dead-stock' shoes, put away for years in our San Francisco basement."

At the same time, manufacturers like Adidas began offering more retro models, distributing many lines of exclusive and limited edition product to shoe boutiques. The strategy has helped build a customer base for a whole new market segment--the sneaker collector, according to Gus Harput.

"[Adidas was] right at the beginning of reshaping sneaker tastes and reintroducing the retro products customers wanted," Harput said.

At the Portland shop, a few pairs of true vintage shoes are for sale in addition to dozens of re-released originals from Nike, Adidas, Puma and even New Balance.

A pair of original Adidas Chile '62s is priced at $160, and a pair of 1982 Nike Air Flights costs $200. A pair of Adidas designer Yohji Yamamoto's knee-high, neoprene, fashion-statement boots is priced at $400. A call to Nike was not returned by press time.

Owner Gus Harput has an extensive personal collection of rare shoes--many of which are on display at the Old Town store. One particularly rare Adidas shoe on display, made of ostrich skin, is reputed to be worth $10,000.

Part of the lore of Harput's is its online Harput's Vault, which sells rare and sought-after shoes, typically for $1,000. This week, Adidas Universal Kangaroos, made in West Germany, and the French-made Adidas Tobacco, were among the featured shoes for sale.

"With Adidas, the highly valuable shoes are those manufactured in France, Yugoslavia and West Germany because the company hasn't made sneakers there in 15 years," explained footwear culture consultant and sneaker collector Chris Hall.

Hall added there are a limited number of hard-core sneaker collectors, but more people who will pay high prices for remakes.

"There is a small handful across the world--perhaps 100--who will pay top dollar for vintage sneakers. There are more that would pay $700 for a remake that came out this year," said Hall, who also writes a column on footwear called Kickin' It for Mass Appeal magazine.

A good portion of sneaker heads are Asian males ages 13 to 35, Hall said. Hipsters and baby boomers are also fans, Harput said. Retro shoes are worn by people seeking fashion over function.

"For some it is reminiscing their youth through Adidas trainers they wore as kids, or trainers they wish they'd worn as kids. ... For others it's their devotion to the mighty athletes or teams that donned the three stripes on the winners' podium," Harput said in a recent inter-view with the online publication Propertop.com.

Adidas spokesman Thornby said core consumers for retro shoes are ages 14 to 24. There are also men in their 30s who grew up during the sneaker boom and are nostalgic for the shoes they wore during their youth.

"These are sneaker junkies who spend the money to seek out expensive shoes. They are on top of fashion and art," Thornby said, and some even have photo albums of their collections.

But fickle consumer tastes could mean retro styles go the way of Day-Glo.

"I'm always concerned about changing tastes," Thornby said. "A lot of people thought it would be over by now, but sales are still strong. These are clean, comfortable products people connect with."

Gus Harput predicts sales will hold steady in the coming months, "but I don't see things bullish," he added.

Harput's Portland store is open from noon to 7 p.m. daily.

Complex Sneakers: How Nike Bootlegged Its Own Sneakers

MARCH 2022 UPDATE: These Nike ‘One Line’ shoes will be posted for sale by auction with Heritage Auctions between April 7 - April 20, 2022. Please check the Heritage Auctions website at HA.com if you are interested in buying them.

Putting up a quick post to give a shout out to the team over at Complex sneakers for covering the ultra rare Nike ‘One Line’ sneakers. If you have time you should check out the article ‘How Nike Bootlegged Its Own Sneakers’ by Tim Newcomb at the Complex website.

For more on the history of the obscure Nike ‘One Line’ brand you can check out our blog post ‘The Rarest Nike Shoes Ever Don't Even Have A Swoosh.’ These sneakers have an extraordinarily strange history and helped to save Nike from going out of business back in the day.

The rarest vintage Nike sneakers ever?

3/28/2022 UPDATE: These ultra rare Nike sneakers will b going up for sale by auction here at Heritage Auctions. You can read the story of the Nike ‘One Line’ shoes history here.

Please join us tomorrow morning right here at The Deffest blog for a special piece of vintage Nike history.

Four Stripe Legends: Dennis Wilson of the Beach Boys faux adidas SL76

Yesterday we posted an old school adidas SL76 sneaker ad which reminded me that we had a reader of the blog reach out awhile ago looking for sneakers that were like the SL76… except with 4 stripes. They passed along this photo of Dennis Wilson from the Beach Boys and Karen Lamm from 1977 right before Wilson released Pacific Ocean Blue. If you want to check out other 4 stripe celebrity sneaker photos we have also posted about Neil Young and Dale Earnhardt Sr and if you want to see a goldmine of celebrity sneaks you should check out the @trainer.spotting instagram account.

Four Stripe Legends - Dennis Wilson faux adidas SL76
Four Stripe Legends faux adidas SL76. Dennis Wilson of the Beach Boys 1977 photo with Karen Lamm
Adidas SL76 vintage sneaker ad @ The Deffest

Authentic Brands Group Buys Reebok

We were reading today about the sale of Reebok by adidas to fashion conglomerate Authentic Brands Group. Not much to say on this one except that we hope ABG will keep the retro Reebok models alive and authentically bring back the Victory G runner. This also probably means we’ll see the comeback of the Shaq Attaq sneakers.

Reebok+Victory+G+1982+vintage sneaker ad @ The Deffest.jpg

Deffest Approved Throwbacks: Puma Easy Rider II Retro Sneakers

We’re always stoked to see old school 70’s and 80s’s runner models make a comeback and recently spotted these Puma Easy Rider II retro sneakers. Below we have included a back in the day 1981 vintage ad for the Easy Rider and shout out to Puma for bringing these back again. If you’re interested in buying a pair we have posted affiliate links to Puma.com and Nordstrom.com which have a couple of different colorways. You can also click on the sneaker images below to go to those product pages.

Below are the colorways available at Nordstrom.com.

Nike Waffle Trainer 2 retro sneakers

We’re always scanning the new 1970s retro inspired sneaker releases and wanted to put up a quick post on the recently released Nike Waffle 2 Trainers. Nike mastered the details and 70s throwback vibe with these old school runners, including the old style exposed tongue foam and waffle outsole. If you’re interested in picking up a pair they are available over at Farfetch at the affiliate link here. The blue colorway is also available over at Nike.com here.

Four Stripe Legends: Dale Earnhardt Sr.

Awhile back we put up a post on rocker Neil Young wearing 4 stripe sneakers. I saw recently on The Dale Earnhardt Archive twitter account that NASCAR racing legend Dale Earnhardt Sr. also wore some awesome 4 stripe Kinney NBA shoes between 1979 - 1981. Here’s a couple of photos and the ad for the Kinney NBA shoes below.

dale-merged-4-stripes-final.jpg
Kinney-1977-NBA-adidas-SL72-SL76-style-vintage-sneakers-The-Deffest.jpg

There’s another photo from Getty images in 1981 where Dale was wearing the opposite blue and yellow Kinney NBA runners.

The Air Cortez is back (kind of)

Look familiar?

Jordanified Nike Air Cortez

Yeaahhhh we thought so too…

The Deffest Air Jordan inspired Cortez Chicago 23

I was served the 'Nike by You' advertisement above yesterday and noticed that it looks very, very similar to the 'Air Cortez' Jordan Chicago colorway heaters that we made as part of our ‘Jordanified’ April Fools day prank way back in 2019. For the prank we turned every pair of Nike iD sneakers into “Jordans.” We're honored that Nike decided to use it for a promo piece and always stoked to reinvent the classics. Beaverton HQ you should drop us a line on the contact page when you're ready to take it to the next level.️ There's a whole lot more of where that came from.

You can check out a couple of Deffest Nike ID ‘Jordans’ below and the full collection lives out on Pinterest here. If you want to make your own colorways the Nike by You website is here.

Sneakerhead job board: Work for Yeezy at the ranch in Cody

Just putting up a quick post since we have some footwear designers who follow the blog. If anyone is interested there’s a job opening over at adidas for a Design Director role with Yeezy in Cody, WY.

DESIGN DIRECTOR FOOTWEAR - YEEZY CODY

The full job description is below and you can apply over at adidas here:

DESIGN DIRECTOR FOOTWEAR - YEEZY CODY

PURPOSE & OVERALL RELEVANCE FOR THE ORGANIZATION:

Create industry leading advanced design solutions that provide seasonal design direction. Lead and establish team and direction of designs provided by the Senior Design Director. Maintain and nurture the design, material and color direction with the Design team, Development, Marketing and the consumer. Influence wider horizontal design teams developing seasonal Brand initiatives across key categories based on direction given by Senior Design Director.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:

Develop the seasonal Direction of the Design according to market trends as well as overall Design Direction and ensure consistency though products and ranges

Be at a global forefront of design trends and innovation as well as their application

Steer and drive the conceptualization process

Manage a team towards objectives and implement process changes

Steer and coach team members and their creative processes and drive development of direct reports.

Inspire and motivate teams to pursue cutting edge ideas that are innovative and original in the market, by researching functional criteria for product and product concepts and outlining area of innovation

Work closely with category and Future design to drive seamless collaboration.

Ensure the correct execution of Corporate Identity guidelines and against legal restrictions within the category.

Verbally present strategies with clarity and expertise.

Disseminate Design Strategy into design team and x-functional teams

Create professional level presentations of ideas; from loose sketch to detailed renderings to Digital Presentation

Ensure efficient processes and communication between external and internal teams

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND ABILITIES:

Profound knowledge of fashion product and fashion design/industrial product or industrial design

Innovative and collaborative leader and coach

Excellent communication skills

Strong influencing skills

High level of initiative & maturity

Ability to inspire, think creatively and strategically as well as to act tactically

Problem solving attitude & can-do personality

Knowledge and use of Macintosh computer design software/systems (Photoshop, Illustrator)

Fluent in English (spoken and written)

REQUISITE EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE / MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS:

Bachelor degree (B.A.) from four-year college or university in a relevant Design subject or equivalent combination of education and experience

Minimum of 8 years practical experience in a relevant area

Minimum of 3 years of management including team leadership

AT ADIDAS WE HAVE A WINNING CULTURE. BUT TO WIN, PHYSICAL POWER IS NOT ENOUGH. JUST LIKE ATHLETES OUR EMPLOYEES NEED MENTAL STRENGTH IN THEIR GAME. WE FOSTER THE ATHLETE‘S MINDSET THROUGH A SET OF BEHAVIORS THAT WE WANT TO ENABLE AND DEVELOP IN OUR PEOPLE AND THAT ARE AT THE CORE OF OUR UNIQUE COMPANY CULTURE – THE 3CS: CONFIDENCE, COLLABORATION AND CREATIVITY.

CONFIDENCE allows athletes to make quick decisions on the field, to reach higher. For us at adidas confidence means acknowledging that we don’t have all the answers. But we are willing to take risks, we try new things. And if we fail, then this is part of our learning – it helps us improve.

COLLABORATION. Every elite athlete relies on partners: coaches, teammates, and nutritionists. We, too, know that we are stronger together. Winning as one team takes open and candid dialogue, inclusiveness and trust in each other’s abilities and talents.

Being the best sports company in the world takes CREATIVITY. No great athlete succeeds by copying their predecessors’ training plans and strategies. We have to be open to new ideas, explore, gain an edge and stand out. Only then can we succeed.

ADIDAS CELEBRATES DIVERSITY, SUPPORTS INCLUSIVENESS AND ENCOURAGES INDIVIDUAL EXPRESSION IN OUR WORKPLACE. WE DO NOT TOLERATE THE HARASSMENT OR DISCRIMINATION TOWARD ANY OF OUR APPLICANTS OR EMPLOYEES. WE ARE AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER.