25 March, 2013

His and H(unt)ers.

I love Hunter Boots. I break them out every time there’s a bit of drizzle, to the extent that it’s become a running joke at work. Yes, I get comments that I look like a farmer or Paddington Bear from colleagues, but when my feet are that warm it’s hard to care. Plus, I usually end up charging through puddles and splashing them later.

Until recently, my Hunters were a bit like a Range Rover – a relic from my life in the country where there are pretty much, occasionally literally depending on fence upkeep, cows in my back garden that didn’t really belong in the city. But in the mid-noughties (have I really just used that phrase?) all that changed – ever since Kate Moss was spotted wearing at Glasto, Hunters have been ‘in’. And with profits up 38% at the end of 2011 they show no signs of going out.

When Hunter got in touch with me offering to send me a pair of boots, I felt like taking a pair would be…a waste – three years after buying them my original green pair are still going strong, and surely no-one needs multiple pairs of coloured wellies…except Kate Middleton, maybe. They were however, gracious enough to send a pair for the little woman in my life. Never one to splash money on premium brand clothes for herself, my girlfriend’s face lit up when I presented her with a special collab between Hunter and the Royal* Horticultural Society. She’s been praying for rain ever since.

*That’s not the only thing royal about Hunters – they hold not one, but two Royal Warrants. That puts them in the company of Balmoral Tartan, Rigby & Peller, Twinings and…err, Strongbow.

20 March, 2013

Not For Sale

A recent encounter with Hunter Boots, and their generosity and flexibility in sending a pair of boots out for someone other than myself (to be covered in a post soon) brought me to a realisation – being able to treat the people I care about is one of my favourite things about blogging. My mum has always loved the Mulberry x LFW totes, and being able to send her them is a great feeling. Similarly, I love being able to help out friends and upcoming brands by sending some traffic their way. It’s for this reason that I’m writing about a couple of things that I’ve been struggling with lately.

Blog Advertising

blog advertising billboard

Before you freak out, I’m not talking about banner advertising on blogs. I’m fine with that, which should be clear because it’s something I do. What I’m referring to is the strange trend of beauty and fashion bloggers selling ad space to other bloggers for tiny sums like £2 per month. Is £2 really going to make THAT much of a difference to your bank account?

I know the Google isn’t a big fan of link swapping, but surely listing some blogs that you actually like on your blog (without charging them the price of a Euromillions ticket…) will result in some of them listing you back – this feels like a much nicer way to feature other bloggers on your page than charging them. To me, charging other up and coming bloggers for space on your own blog just doesn’t feel like it’s particularly in the spirit of sister/brother/whateverhood. But worse than that, it opens the door to other Big Bads*…

*Yup, Buffy reference.

Pay to Play

I think the reason I’m not a fan of charging other bloggers to appear on your blog is that it creates the impression that the blogosphere is for sale. The rise of shysters and scammers targeting bloggers is on the rise – I get emails from SEO ‘guru’s on an almost daily basis, and far too many of them make promises I know they can’t keep. However, I have no doubt that younger and/or more naive bloggers are falling for their tricks.

Unfortunately, even magazines which claim to have the best interests of bloggers at heart are not immune to the lure of bloggers with deep pockets. A friend forwarded me an email she’d received from Company Magazine about a plan to charge bloggers £100 to plug their blog in future issues.

My friend also noted how cleverly this call-out to ‘their fave bloggers’ is tied to the upcoming awards. I’ve never trusted glossy magazine awards because of their voting system – although I’d love to make the claim that the choice of past winners has been influenced by whether or not they’ve previously paid for advertising space, I can’t. The lovely Stephanie (of Faiiint) was kind enough to scan some past advertising campaigns for me – none to date have featured bloggers. However, what about that mysterious voting system? Hundreds of blogs are nominated, then a shortlist is chosen. Voting then reopens to determine a final winner. But what gets you shortlisted? I know people who run hugely popular blogs, but have never made it through to the shortlist stage. Why is that?

I suspect, though can’t prove, that there is an element of favouritism and willingness to play along – I’d be interested to know how many shortlisted bloggers wrote something about the awards of featured them in some other meaningful way. And now paid advertising is involved? Well, I’ll be keeping a very close eye on how Company’s advertorial sections match up with their award shortlists.

Beyond the potential for foul play, I see at least two problems with charging bloggers to appear in print:

1) Appearing in print is lovely. It gives you something to tweet pictures of and proves to your mum that, actually, all that time you waste on Twitter does actually result in some kinda cool stuff. However, it simply doesn’t generate any traffic. Ok, it generates SOME traffic, but a small mention in an article reaches such a tiny percentage of a publication’s readership that expecting much more than 100 visits off the back of it is unrealistic. Do you really want to pay £1 per visit?

2) The scheme is totally backwards. By revamping to appeal to bloggers, Company has done a nice job of making a niche for itself and captivating a readership. They recently put out a ‘superblogger issue’ and one presumes that these bloggers were paid for their involvement for this. On the off chance they weren’t, that’s a heck of a lot of free labour the mag managed to get. If they WERE, the repercussions are just as damning. The message is clear – the magazine values traffic and how well established you are as far more important than the uniqueness of your voice or how compelling what you have to say is. In other words, they are perfectly willing to exploit their ‘fave bloggers’.

I’ve stood by, occasionally even partaking in them out of curiosity, and watched bloggers frantically try to generate enough votes for themselves to win an award from a glossy magazine. The ceremonies are ritzy (plus, y’know, free bar) enough, and the whole thing has seemed fairly harmless to date – the mags get traffic and the winners get a nice badge to put on the side of their blog. However, the idea of paying a magazine to play (and potentially to win) is a very ugly one.

I’m not one to tell people what to do – if bloggers want to sell ad space on their blogs to other bloggers and use the money to buy promotion from Company (it’ll only take them fifty months to earn enough!) instead of relying on their voice and their passion to build a following, that’s up to them. But wouldn’t it be wonderful if we banded together, promoted the blogs we genuinely read, and said ‘actually, we’re not for sale.’

N.B. I know this post will be divisive, and I don’t mean to antagonise anyone for no reason. If you sell ad space on your blog to other bloggers, that’s fine – I know just as well as anyone that you gotta pay the bills. I feel like all of this needed to be said, and I suspect that I burned my bridges with Company – c.f. this post – a long time ago. To any other magazines (/editors, writers etc) reading, I promise I’m not always such a nightmare.

18 March, 2013

Yo, YO!

What role can a few cheap televisions and a motorcycle have in establishing of one of the most successful restaurant chains in the world? A pretty big one, actually – when setting up YO! Sushi with almost no financial backing or investment, Simon Woodroffe was able to negotiate extended payment terms with a supplier based on the fact that he had the support of Honda, Sony and All Nippon Airways. Years later he remarked that, actually, these brands had only provided him with some very limited sponsorship. To the tune of the items mentioned above, in fact.

Despite these humble beginnings, the chain is now sixteen years old and I can’t imagine that any of you haven’t been to one…which makes my task – reviewing the original YO! Sushi restaurant – a difficult one. So what’s the angle, I hear you ask? I was attempting to convert a sushi hater. In many respects, my girlfriend and I are a perfect match – we both love Americana, we both act as if we’re about sixty years old and we’re both total foodies. Except for sushi. Despite my efforts to get her enthused about sushi, she remains completely ambivalent about it. So, my mission was to show her that there’s more to YO! than just some cold fish.

The original Soho YO! is a little different to the average department store incarnation of the chain. While these tend to be open and airy, the original is darker and feels more tucked away – you definitely get more of a sense of Orientalism and ‘otherness’. I can’t think of a better example than this than the fact that you have to wave a fan to attract the attention of servers, rather than just pressing a big red button as in most YO!s.

I rolled out some of my longtime favourites, like Salt and Pepper Squid (‘Ok, I like this one.’) and a Katsu Selection (‘That bit tasted like a Chicken McNugget, but the rest is amazing.’). We also tried a couple of newer dishes like a Beef & Garlic Teriyaki dish that was out this world and Ramen, which is to Miso soup what Sheldon Cooper is to Ryan Gosling. The former did cause some trouble with chopsticks (‘You better not post that picture.’)…

but ultimately resulted in smiles all round.

We came away very content and very full – clearly, people who complain about being hungry ten minutes after eating sushi aren’t doin it rite. Either that, or they’re not dining on the dollar of the almighty YO!bot. Thanks very much to the team for inviting me down – I’m pretty sure we’ve managed to convert the little woman which means we’re now, if anything, TOO compatible. If you haven’t been down to the Soho YO!, I thoroughly recommend it – it is the original, after all, and original is always best.

3 March, 2013

On LFW A/W ’13…

Despite a million Twitter hoaxes (seems like it anyway…) to the contrary, it’s just over two and a half years until the date that Marty McFly arrives in the future. Amidst all the poor grammar infested ‘It’s <insert year here> Where Is My Hoverboard Mattel?!’ Facebook groups and, admittedly interesting, articles about predictions Back to the Future II made that came true, sits the fact that haven’t made half the progress that Hollywood thought we would.

I can’t think of anywhere that this rings more true than the world of fashion. In case you live under a rock, or don’t follow anyone interesting on Twitter (which, let’s face it, is basically the same thing), it was London Fashion Week a couple of weeks ago. And I was nowhere to be found. Ignoring the fact that I’ve spent most of the past two days feeling flu-tastic and doped up on Lemsip, I wasn’t really that psyched for LFW anyway. And I think I’ve finally figured out the reason why.

Almost every comment about LFW…scratch that, almost every comment about mainstream fashion in general contains the word ‘revival’ – everything these days seems to be ‘Gatsby-esque’ or ’60s influenced’ or ‘rave inspired’. With the exception of fringe designers like J.W. Anderson, who recently made headlines with a line of skirts and dresses for men, mainstream fashion is starting to feel stale.

It’s difficult to come up with my reasoning for the above statement, especially given I’m not sure whether I’m the only one feeling it or not. My argument that ‘everything is harking back to something else’ wasn’t even for my friend Sian, who always steers clear of LFW. ‘Well, yes,’ she said, ‘but that’s always been the case. So it can’t just be that.’* So what IS it then?

* I still think the BTTF II sketch above, which talks about ‘having no basis in anyone else’s work’, is quite revealing – it’s different to imagine any contemporary designer saying they’re doing something that’s never been done before and actually believing it.

With practically every show, cupcake, backstage makeup artistry and goodie bag Instagrammed and blogged to death within five minutes of them ending. I often found myself thinking ‘ugh, why are people still talking about that?’ about certain outfits, before realising they’d made their debut only a couple of hours ago. Yes, this may be true of all news in the 21st century, but the desire of bloggers to casually mention that you’re ‘FROW-ing’ on every social media channel they’ve used since the age of five means it’s hitting fashion pretty badly.

Stay fresh, however hard that is. Otherwise, you might get left behind…

22 February, 2013

Strike up the Brand

If the price of a Ralph Lauren shirt falls at Littlewoods but it doesn’t have a Polo player on it, does anybody make a sound?’ – Me. Just now.

Beats by Dr Dre de-branded Selfridges — De-branded Beats by Dr Dre headphones, courtesy of Selfridges

For as long as I can remember, I’ve worn branded clothing. A quick glimpse around my house makes it pretty clear why – from my Dad’s shirt wardrobe (yes, he has a wardrobe just for shirts…) containing 41 Ralph Lauren shirts and counting, to my Mum’s…well, I struggle to think of anything my mother owns that ISN’T covered in some Cath Kidston print or other, it’s pretty clear how I ended up like this. But why…?

A lot of trend whores claim they buy labels because the products are better made. Well, that may be the case sometimes, but I’m pretty sure that a few years ago ALL of us spent a night out listening to a friend complaining about the sleeves of his heather grey All Saints jumper fraying even though he’d only worn it once. Once upon a time I worked in a department store, and they had a whole rail devoted to those faulty jumpers. Equally, there are people who have gone to great lengths to figure out which high end products have high street equivalents that are made in the same factory. The rumour that if you go to ‘the right market’ in China you’ll find knockoffs that are actually better made than genuine products has been kicking around for years.

You might claim that people cling to brands and products because they define their identity. But, if that really is the case, why are such a high percentage of teenagers still fascinated by Abercrombie & Fitch even though you can’t walk down Regent Street for more than 30 seconds without seeing an overweight Persian man wearing one of their polo shirts? And how can Dr Martens simultaneously be the calling card of both crusty punks and pallid bloggers? Even if the latter DO claim to love The Clash…who, let’s be honest, weren’t all that great, and are regarded in many circles as a pre-Cowell manufactured boy band.

Ragged Priest biker jacket pvc — Ragged Priest? Topshop? Your guess is as good as mine! (It’s RP.)

Plenty of writing has been done on branding (like Naomi Klein’s No Logo), but unless you’re an academic you probably don’t have time to read it. Also worth observing that Klein walks a really dangerous line of kinda being a fox but also sometimes looking a bit like my mother. My own stance on the whole thing is that brands permeate modern culture to such a degree that it’s impossible to avoid them or even define them for more than five minutes – Nike is trying to look like Timberland, Reebok is trying to look like Nike, Vans are trying to look like Rockport, and it’s hard to know what anything ‘stands for’ anymore. Topshop, one of the biggest retailers on the planet, has a section devoted to a brand that used to spend its days splattering charity shop denim with bleach but whose stuff is now starting to look more and more like…Topshop’s.

When Selfridges got in touch to tell me about their ‘Quiet Shop’, I was definitely interested. A thousand design students have removed the words from a can of Coca Cola and smugly been like ‘ahh, I bet you still know what this can is! That’s the power of branding!!!’, but (aside from a brief flirtation with the idea of ‘stealth wealth‘ <– Warning: Daily Mail link! If you’re not down with that, just listen to Gucci Gucci by Kreayshawn as the message is pretty much the same) I can’t think of any fashion brands that have ever gone as far as to remove their branding. In fact, in most cases the opposite is true – the Abercrombie moose and Ralph Lauren’s polo horse seem to have been getting bigger and bigger in the past few years, and I’m expecting them to have an apocalyptic battle a la Megashark vs Giant Octopus before long.

But it’s exactly what a number of brands, including Levi’s, Clinique and Heinz are doing for Selfridges’ No Noise campaign. Selfridges aims to encourage customers “to proactively seek out moments of peace and tranquility in a world that bombards us with information and stimulation.” I certainly like the idea of removing the focus from garish packaging and focusing on a product’s quality and function – I admit that I’ve previously found Beats a bit garish and showy, but this toned down cream edition is very sleek. It also sounds a lot better than my previous setup…which, admittedly, alternated between standard iPod earphones and a set of Sennheisers that only played through one ear. But still.

I expect that the campaign will actually be pretty divisive – I wonder what extent the cachet that brands have stems from their logo and, indeed, their very name. Will people be willing to part with their money for something that doesn’t have that? Just as with another brand involved, I think this is one you’ll either love or hate…

19 February, 2013

GANT S/S ’13

If you’re looking for a masterclass on how to win over a whiny blogger, look no further than Gant. A while ago, after frustration got the better of me, I tweeted about an employee refusing to give me a refund for a pair of socks that had gone into holes after I’d worn them twice. Since then, they’ve sent me two replacement pairs (both of which have stayed intact!) and spontaneously invited me down to a bloggers’ breakfast to check out the new collection. WELL, I figured it would be positively rude not to…

You might imagine that for a brand like Gant, things are very much ‘business as usual’ and, to an extent, you’d be right. However, while it remains clear that they aren’t planning to fix something that’s not broken, their latest collection is full of little touches that really demonstrate the brand’s commitment to stay fresh. I spoke with a member of the brand’s marketing department, who told me that social media and blogger outreach are starting to play a much bigger part in the brand’s strategy. While those of us who spend most of our lives online don’t find that too surprising, it’s worth observing that this already puts Gant ahead of a lot of their competition. It’s also worth pointing out that word of mouth has always been a big part of Gant’s business, and this is still true today…except now it’s probably more likely to be in the form of a tweet than a conversation on campus.

With brands like Shore Leave and Farah, two high street contenders that both (to my mind) recall the preppy style of Gant and Ralph Lauren, on the scene it’s clear that Gant don’t intend to rest on their laurels. Take, for example, this unstructured dip dyed blazer…

…from the brand’s collaboration with Michael Bastian (a partnership now in its third year), also Head Designer at Gant Rugger. Speaking of Gant Rugger, I’ve fallen pretty much head over heels for this varsity jacket from their latest offering, which has sheepskin on the sleeves instead of the usual leather -

For once, I think I’ll let the pictures do the talking -

The fact that Gant invited a group of bloggers to their flagship London store says as much about the brand as the fact that this year’s S/S collection draws from coastal cultures all over the world, as opposed to the brand’s humble New Haven beginnings. It’s clear that they have big ambitions (evident from the fact that they now have stores in over 60 countries), far beyond just being ‘that one preppy brand’.

Now, if you need me, I’ll be in heaven (read: by that shirt display).

17 February, 2013

Air Max 2013 Area 72

Do you remember how excited you used to get when you were a little kid and you bought a new pair of shoes? Remember wearing them around the house and trying to convince your mum to let you wear them in bed? I got that feeling back yesterday. I’d seen the Area 72 Air Max 2013 online a while back and thought it was…interesting. It reminded me a lot of the Air Mag from Back to the Future II, which looks (somewhat oxymoronically, since it’s supposed to be from 2015) a little dated and plain in comparison.

As the release date drew closer and closer I tried to figure out whether or not I was going to get a pair, but it wasn’t until the day before that I was overcome by a desire to splash out on them. It was no longer a case of just wanting them, it felt like I needed them. I’m going to get into why I think that was the case in a future blog post, but I’m so happy I took the plunge. I haven’t worn them outside yet, but they’re abnormally comfortable (I’m starting to believe all the spiel on the box about it being made of materials from outer space…) and I feel like a character from Space Jam when I wear them. Which is totally the dream, right?

It’s rare that getting a shoe feels like ‘an experience’, but that’s exactly what Nike have done with the Area 72 collection – from the custom paper wrapping to the glow in the dark soles (gloriously impractical) and all the colourful detailing, it feels like something from another world. Move over Air Jordan IV, I just found my new favourite shoe.

13 February, 2013

Run, Forrest, Run

There are two things in life that I never ‘got’. The first, one I still don’t really get, is pubs. Maybe it’s just a Newcastle thing, but the concept of going out and not getting drunk enough to think it’s acceptable to proclaim the person you met in the toilet your best mate and give homeless people regrettably large sums of money before waking up on your friend’s sofa with sick in your hair is…weird. To this day, whenever someone suggests ‘just going for one or two’ I make a face like I’ve opened a packet of salmon that’s gone off. The second thing I never used to get is running.

Until a couple of years ago, I was like one of those supporting characters in rom-coms who ends up lagging behind a quiet, but actually super fit, mate (probably played by Hugh Grant or, since it’s no longer 1998, maybe Ryan Reynolds) who proceeds to chat up some other curiously in-shape misfit while I fall into an artificial lake in the background because my legs have gone numb. Then, last year, I ran a 10k ‘survival race’ with 10 obstacles in just over an hour. I realised, actually, I was not bad at running; I just used to be really lazy. During this survival race, people literally stood and clapped as I ran past. Clapped! Turns out that applause for putting one foot in front of the other was exactly what my ego needed to realise that running isn’t so bad after all.

But it wasn’t until today that I realised how much impact a decent pair of running shoes can have. I recently managed to pick up the shoes pictured above (the Nike Lunarglide+ 4 if you want to give it its fancy name) for the quietly knocked down price of £66. Since then, they’ve gone back up to £90. This is either due to the fact that I’ve told everyone I know about these shoes (I literally rang my estranged uncle to tell him about them) and Nike whacked the price back up, or they’ve sold out of the epilepsy inducing colourway that I purchased. I usually find myself with a bit of ankle and foot pain after a long run (which I probably should have taken as a warning sign, but I assumed it was just my useless body falling apart prematurely), but after a 5k run in these babies? Nothing. Nada. I could honestly go outside and run another 5k. If you too get sore feet after a long run I can’t recommend these shoes, or something similarly ‘specialised’, enough.

Now I know what you’re thinking. ‘This is all a bit first world problem-y, isn’t it?!’ Well actually, smartass, it’s not. It’s also a huge, and much more serious, third world problem. In fact, 300 million children worldwide don’t have an adequate pair of shoes. Meanwhile, 790,000 pairs of shoes end up in landfills every year. To draw attention to this issue, my friend and fellow fashy blogger Madison Hughes is doing a project called Febshoeary which involves her wearing just one stacked pair of heels for a whole month. To work, to the gym, to go shopping…to do everything. She’s getting a lot of funny looks and, despite what this picture would suggest…

…she’s actually doing pretty well. I encourage you all to donate, offer her support and/or chuck a Compeed blister patch at her if you see her in the street. Good luck, Madz, only 15 days to go.

Finally, to end this shoe mega post, I came across this great video by ESPN to celebrate Michael Jordan’s 50th birthday. It probably comes as no surprise that I’m a big fan of the Jordan brand, and this vid neatly summarises a lot of the reasons why. I present to you, ‘It’s Gotta Be The Shoes’ -

10 February, 2013

In case you haven’t been paying attention to my snarktastic tweets, I am not a fan of the ’50 random facts about me’ tag. This is for two reasons. First, MISNOMER – most of the facts mentioned are about as ‘random’ a choice as picking the best out of the seventy three outfit photos you took earlier that day to post on your blog. George Takei recently posted a great photo on Facebook, noting that most people only share what they consider to be the best of themselves on social media. I’m noticing a lot of people doing the same with this tag. Second, I can only think of one thing about myself that’s remotely interesting – at the age of 13, I took a MENSA test that revealed I have an IQ of 161…technically making me a child genius.

Still, I like the idea of doing something that lets readers know a little more about you. Although #WIMH posts have been around for a while, they rarely go into much depth. The last one I saw was pretty much like ‘This is the blusher in my bag. I use it to make my face red.’ So, I decided to tip the contents of my bag onto my dining table and briefly cover why each item is in there.

Vaseline, hand moisturiser & caffeine eye roll-on:
Although I spend a fair amount of time faffing around in the morning, my beauty regime when I’m on the go is so low maintenance I’m not even sure you can use the word regime to describe it. These are pretty much the only essentials I need.

Hat:
This is my lucky hat. I don’t remember how I got it and I don’t remember what happened to make me think it’s lucky. I like to think I’m better off not questioning either of those things.

Hand sanitiser & moist towelettes:
A few years ago, I was diagnosed as having OCD. While my particular breed of compulsions mostly affects stuff in my head (checking I’ve set alarms and that I’ve emptied my locker at the gym are two biggies) and how I view future events, I do like to make sure my hands are clean whenever I can.

On a few occasions at restaurants, fellow diners have asked where I got my moist towelette from. There is no moment quite as awkward as having to tell someone you brought it from home. On the plus side, ‘moist towelette’ is really fun to say.

Books:
While I enjoyed Don DeLillo’s Underworld, at over 800 pages it’s hardly a book to undertake lightly. I struggle with books that have a lot of characters (probably a sign of Asperger’s or something…), but neither that nor the disjointed plot could take away from the beautiful flowing prose.

On the other end of the spectrum? John Green’s The Fault in our Stars. Once the exclusive property of meek, indoors-y Tumblr kids (I ought to know, I was one), John Green has exploded into the mainstream with his latest effort. While there’s no doubt that it’s very nicely put together, not to mention pretty moving (it may have made me cry on a train, hence Tissues), I can’t help but feel that the teenagers in the book talk more like teenagers who wish they were in a John Green novel than actual teenagers. Still, a wonderful book.

Moleskines:
When I was a boy, the following paragraph came to me in a dream -

‘As we came over the hill, the neon rainbow of the city stung my eyes so much that they watered. The focus of the lurid scene was the white shaft of light emerging from the tip of The Luxor, scanning the skies for silver Spitfires and falling angels. Holy shit, I remember thinking, the searchlights of hell are looking for a back way into Heaven, and I’m about to sell my soul to the devil.’

To this day, it’s probably one of the better things I’ve written, and I didn’t even come up with it myself. Feverish and squinting, I wrote these lines in a Moleskine notebook at 3AM. Since then, you’ll rarely find me without one.

Protein bar:
Because one day, ONE DAY, I’ll pack enough muscle on to stop looking like a stick insect.

Sunglasses:
In case of nuclear explosions.

Alibi:
I got sent a crate of this to blog about it. It does seem to lessen the impact of hangovers which, when you’re not 18 anymore and have chores to do at the weekend, can only be a good thing.

Jack Daniel’s:
You never know when Ke$ha is going to show up with a toothbrush. Also, because sometimes Jack is all that will do.

Filofax:
I sometimes get laughed at for how resistant I am to use online or iPhone calendars. Despite being pretty tech savvy in almost every other aspect of my life, this is the one thing I am unwilling to budge on.

* * *

So, I hope that gave you a bit of insight into what makes me tick. Though I’m not on some huge quest to create a ‘tag’ of my own, I think the above says more about me than the fact that I’m an only child or that I’ve been to 13 U.S states. But what do the contents of your bag say about you?

7 February, 2013

Why is no-one buying the Air Jordan V?

Hello there. Long time no speak. I wish I had a story of adventure and excitement to explain why I haven’t blogged for almost two weeks. Unfortunately, I don’t. I’ve been pretty busy with work but time just seemed to get away from me. Anyway, I’m back now, and I’m sure you all managed just fine without me.

Remember that scene in Jingle All The Way where Arnie is trying to buy a Turboman action figure for his son (who ended up becoming Darth Vader…) on Christmas Eve and all the shop assistants just stand there laughing at him? This is pretty much what I experienced when I tried to buy a pair of Air Jordan IVs a couple of days after their release date. A quick confession: despite the fact that I’m a fashion blogger, I really don’t spend that much on clothes. The reason I do so few OOTD posts is that I only seem to wear about four outfits on a regular basis – you’d all get bored of them very quickly. Then, the one time I was prepared to spend a pretty sizeable sum of money on a pair of shoes, I couldn’t find anywhere that would take my money. But all was not lost – I eventually managed to cop the last pair of Air Jordan IVs at any Foot Locker in London. I know this because the guy who served me told me so, like he wanted to give me a medal or something. Someone in the queue actually congratulated me on my purchase, and I’m pretty sure I heard someone applauding on my way out…

But back to the point at hand. The other day I was shopping and thought I’d see if anywhere had any Air Jordan Vs in stock. Not because I was willing to splash £125 on ANOTHER pair of extravagant trainers (at least not yet anyway…), you understand, just because I was curious. Size? Had them in stock. Niketown? Had a ton of them. Foot Locker? Practically had a wall of them. So what’s the deal? Well, some industry experts (ok, ok it’s just me) think comparatively slow sales of the Air Jordan V might be due to the resurfacing of this picture -

Even though the above picture was featured on the cover of SI way back in 1990, lots of Instagram commenters on Nice Kicks’ repost of the image thought it was much more recent than that. Perhaps that’s because the issue the cover highlights hasn’t gone away – although most of them don’t receive a lot of mainstream news coverage, killings over sneakers (especially Air Jordans) still happen pretty regularly. Is this a clue as to why AJ5s aren’t moving as quickly as a lot of releases? Although there’s no denying that the AJ4 is pretty distinctive, they can look like an old pair of Etnies if you drape your trousers in a particular way. Contrast this with the Air Jordan V and the distinctive red shark teeth on its midsole. However you wear your trousers, there’s no hiding that. Is it possible that people are avoiding this iconic pair of shoes because of fear?

Attitudes towards shoejacking online range from bravado – ‘I’d kill a [expletive] before I let him take my Js’ – to sombre; one Nice Kicks commenter told of an African American man jumping an Asian boy outside of a shoe shop, beating him senseless and taking his sneakers. He highlighted the fact that none of the ten plus people passing by came to his aid. It’s bad enough that we live in a world where people get mugged for mobile phones and wallets, but the fact that some people value a £100 pair of shoes more than somebody’s life is truly sad. Not to mention pretty damn scary.

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