OK, die ersten vier Würfe zwar nicht, aber alles der Reihe nach…
Mit @chrishimself84 war ich schon um 14:30 am snipes Store und so langsam waren auch schon da die besten Plätze vorm Laden vergeben. Ich musste dann noch was essen gehen und direkt danach haben wir uns auch schon zum Presseeingang begeben. Das erste Highlight war schon direkt, dass wir sogar ein eigenes Schild hatten – neben den ganzen traditionellen Medien wie der Rundschau, dem hr oder auch der BASKET, mit dessen Mitarbeiter Timo wir uns einen Tisch geteilt haben. Der ganze Store war übrigens umgebaut und mit der aktuellen Hyperfuse Collection von NIKE bestückt worden.
Pünktlich um 16:00 ging es dann auch mit der Pressekonferenz los, in der ein gut gelaunter Nowitzki (@swish41) der Presse Rede und Antwort stand. Auch schon früher, bevor er einen Vertrag hatte, sei NIKE seine Lieblingsmarke gewese (“NIKE for life!”). Auf die Frage, ob er kurz etwas auf einer von einem Medienvertreter mitgebrachten Gitarre spielen wollte, gab es ein kurzes “Na, gib mal her!” Und auch bei den vielen Fans in Deutschland hat er sich dafür bedankt, dass sie sich für seine Spiele die Nächte um die Ohren geschlagen haben, um sich am nächsten Tag durch die Arbeit, Uni oder Schule zu quälen.
Weiter ging es danach am Wurfautomaten, wo er mit zwei Fans über 3.000€ für die Dirk Nowitzki Stiftung erspielte. Im Anschluss hat Dirk seine Handabdrück in der Wall of Fame des Stores verewigt, wozu er aber die Treppe hoch musste, was von den draußen wartenden Fans mit leutem Raunen quittiert wurde. Nowitzkis Reaktion: Freundlich lächeln, winken & “Tschüß” rufen. :D
Als er damit fertig war und sich die Hände gewaschen hatte, ging es dann natürlich noch nach draußen zu den wartenden Fans (beste Reaktion: “”Alder, tschüüüch…!!! Der ist ja echt so riesig, Alder!!”), aus denen auch zwei gegen Nowitzki werfen durften. Einer davon war der kleine Emil, den Nowitzki auf seine Schultern packte und der so auch einige Treffer erzielen konnte.
Nowitzki selbst vergab die ersten vier Versuche, netzte danach aber wie gewohnt sicher ein, bevor er auf seine sympathise Art und Weise sehr geduldig über 30 Minuten lang Autogramme schrieb. Dabei hat er laut Johannes, der in der Menge stand und diesen Artikel für Crossover geschrieben hat, auch Pluspunkte durch seinen Small Talk mit den Fans gesammelt. (Von ihm hab ich auch obiges Bild geklaut, aber alles RUN FFM Family!!)
Alles, was nicht niet- und nagelfest war, wurde ihm unter die Nase gehalten. Darunter sogar eine Ralph Lauren Sporttasche (LOL!!!), aber auch ein LeBron Schuh (ARE YOU FREAKING SERIOUS????), wie im Bild zu sehen.
Das Ganze gibt es jetzt noch knackig verpackt in bewegten Bildern in Chris’ VLOG zu sehen, bis dann aber allerdings alle Batterien aufgebraucht waren.
Mehr Bilder gibt es auch bei unseren Flickr-Accounts (Chris/Andi). Vielen Dank an dieser Stelle nochmals an Jana von snipes, die bewiesen hat, dass sie auch ein Herz für Blogs hat :)
Und hier noch ein paar der Autogramme…
Insgesamt war es wirklich eine sehr coole Veranstaltung und ein Erlebnis Nowitzki in unserer Stadt zu haben. In Frankfurt, wo sonst!!!
So I was really stoked to see this little series by NIKE Sportswear Sweden, in which he meets up with Jonas Jerebko, the first Swedish player in the NBA. Making it to the NBA alone is incredible, but imagine to the first one of your country, it must be over the top!
In the 1st episode Adam flies to Kinna, Jonas’ hometown, is shown around by Jonas’ dad & checks out some pictures of the career of Sweden’s first NBA player to see how he slowly grew up into an NBA player.
Now, in Episode 2 Adam made his way to Detroit, where Jonas is playing with the Pistons. They are talking about the adjustment Jonas had to made, his first season, his injury, performing in front of audiences & crazy schedules.
In the 3rd episode Adam meets up with Juan Atkins, who was one of the people to help lay the foundations in the 1980s for Detroit Techno as it is known today. They are sharing their experiences on what good record feels like, but also discussing how the music business has changed the way you have to get yourself out there as an artist in this day & age with the digital revolution taking over.
In Episode 4 Adam & Jonas meet up in Stockholm to talk about their begginings, their struggles and also their goals.
The highligh of this series was the American Made event, that was basically a basketball tournament with an ensuing party. Dope!!!
But… was this really the footage of the 3 point contest?!??? And their Destroyer Jackets are fucking überdope!!! I couldn’t stop staring at those…!
It would also defintely be nice to see this kind of cool & interesting stuff happen in Germany, too.
As a little bonus you might like this video of Adam performing “They Wanna Know” in front of the last pieces of the Berlin Wall.
So I arrived in Berlin after having no sleep the night before, because we had to celebrate our first win of the season, and went with Simon, who now lives in Berlin, diiiiiirectly on the Touristenverarsche-Tour and to the Kurt Krömer Benefizgala in the evening.
On Monday, we made our way downtown again, but this time to check out some stores.
We got off at Alexanderplatz and there were some cool streetart pieces.
First stop was the WOOD WOOD store.
As you can see, you can get lots of different styles & items in there, while wood is also a large part of the store.
I really liked that scarf :)
WOOD WOOD, Rochstraße 4, 10178 Berlin, Germany – woodwood.de open Mon – Sat 12:00-20:00
Down the street, we spotted the BBB Headquaters right next to the adidas Originals store. I’m actually also thinking about going to the next BBB in January. We’ll see…
We also went into the store…
… and I immediately got me a new hoodie. :)
NOOOT!!! I didn’t buy it, but Jeremy Scott is really going all out…! Do you like the look…??
Then, I was finally able to go to SOTO after I got me their SOpreme shirt earlier this year. By the way, you can really tell, when you are getting closer to the store. :)
That’s the front. Unfortunately, it was already dark.
The atmosphere in the store was cool and very laid-back, so you can feel really comfortable there.
SOTO, Torstraße 72, 10119 Berlin, Germany – blog.sotostore.com
open Mon – Fri 12:00-20:00 & Sat 11:00-20:00
Right next door is No.74. The carry exclusive adidas items, but unfortunately I was not allowed to take any pics.
No.74, Torstraße 74, 10119 Berlin, Germany – www.no74-berlin.com open Mon – Sat 12:00-20:00
After that it was time to eat and we found something dope on Torstraße: Shawarma, Hummus & Haloumi…!
Two corners away you’ll find the Firmament store in their new location. They got really exclusive stuff by OriginaFake, Head Porter Plus, Acronym, Visvim and so on.
In the entrance area they are showcasing the new Nike x Undercover Gyakusou International Running Association collection.
You can also get some Japanese magazines there, while I got myself a new Stüssy beanie. And no, they don’t make ‘Gas-/Wasserinstallationen’, if some krayzie person on the street should tell you that LOL.
Simon also found this book called ‘Take Ivy’ that contains photographs of men and their clothes shot on the Ivy campuses. It was originally published in Japan in 1965 and started the “Ivy Style” fashion among students in Tokyo. And as Simon told me not much has changed on the campuses fashionwise in all those years. And if somebody should know about that, it’s him, but I won’t drop the H-bomb now. :)
Firmament, Linienstrasse 40, 10119 Berlin, Germany – www.am-firmament.com open Mon – Sat 12:00-20:00
Last visit was at the Civilist store.
They also carry a wide range of different brands and I also found a shirt by Australian brand PAM that I had to get.
Civilist, Brunnenstraße 13, 10119 Berlin, Germany – www.civilistberlin.com open Mon – Sat 12:00-20:00
If you happen to be in Berlin, I can only advice you to check out these stores, also because in that area you’ll find some cool other things while you are walking around.
Anywayz, I’m still here for a while, so more love from Berlin soon, when I show you what we are doing today.
Did you notice how Chrishimself’s posts all contained some cool art recently (proof here, here, here and here) and mine are all about material things (proof here and this very post)? But who would argue that sneakers aren’t art themselves, right?? Right??? So, here we go again, because I promised you more gear to be featured.
It’s already been a while now, since I stopped by AZITA and got me these NIKE Air Maxim 1 Torch+ ND to rock this summer, but summer’s still M.I.A.
Also have a look at their new store design. I think that definitely counts as art without any doubt!
On my way out, I was also handed a copy of the latest Sneakers Magazine, that contains a sneaker store guide for New York City (including our favortie NYC sneaker boutique atmos) besides many other interesting articles.
A pic like the last one also never hurts and that way I can be sure to have squeezed as much art into this post as I possibly could. ;-)
If you’d like to the visit the nice people from Azita, which you should, here’s all information needed: AZITA Store, Münzgasse 10, Frankfurt, Germany – www.azitastore.com
OK, after CuDi and MJ, what else is there today, you ask??? Well, the Air Yeezys and me, we go back long time. But today I finally can hold my own pair in my hands.
But there is a bittersweet taste to it. And I’ll tell you why I finally gave in.
In the afternoon of May 1st I got ready to drive all the way to Cologne for the release of the black/pink Air Yeezys (covered here), but as I arrived, there were already 60 people on the list for 40 pairs of shoes, to say nothing of the chance to get a pair in my size. After a short tour through the Cologne nightlife (I had to do at least something there, right?), I made my way back to Frankfurt, not even thinking about going to Hamburg a few weeks after for the next release of the tan colorway.
The matter was closed, but as we were in Tokyo on our recent trip and checked out all the stores, we came by the UNDFTD store. It was closed, but the renewal opening was only days later, when we still were in town. On a sign they displayed all the sneakers, they were releasing that day, including the Air Jordan 60+, the AJF 4, Air Jordan 7 DMP pack, the New Balance White Pigeon, some adidas shoes and – to our very surprise – the Nike Air Yeezys, picturing all three colorways. Worrrrrrrrrrrrd??!???
Chris couldn’t make it to the store on that Saturday, because he had an interview scheduled. I wanted to go there as early as possible – that would mean: take the first Metro train. The night before we missed the last one and had to walk some meters to our hostel and got there maybe around 1:30am. Because of the heat and the snoring of another guest, I had to pull an all-nighter and then decided to get a shower around 4:15am before leaving the hostel.
I made it to the second train at 5:15am, but after a while we got overground, which was, as I said it into the camera, “fucking wrong”! But after one hour and fifteen minutes I finally made it to my destination. At 6:30am, there were two people there, a nice couple, so I was third in line. They were really friendly as we got to talk a little bit. The guy was trying to get a pair of the New Balance White Pigeons, we copped a few days before. To have a feeling for the next three and a half hours of my life, click the play button on that video.
The next person in line came maybe at 8:00am, but until 10:00am quite a lot people (around 100) showed up for the opening. Then, a staff guy grabbed a bag, shook it and presented it to the couple that was in front of me and they each picked a piece of paper out of it. Then he came to me and the next guy in line. I didn’t understand a word, but by now, I pretty much knew, what was going on. A raffle. I drew #77.
That meant, that I should come back at 11:50am. I couldn’t believe, what just happened. I was standing on the side, as the store manager asked me what number I got. I showed him. He shrugged. I asked, how many pair of Yeezys they have, but he couldn’t tell. He revealed though that they only have the tan colorway and in size 12 and even 13, so a little bit of hope remained.
As I had nothing better to do I stayed there, sat down on a small wall and watched as the first people got into the store. One of the guys in line, that immediately caught my eye when he first came to the scene, because he looked like having my size, asked me in English what size I have. I said “12″. He, too. Ouch! He asked, what shoe I was looking for. I didn’t wanna share my target, so I said, whatever I can get. I asked him what shoe he is looking for. He said – actually looking down on me with a killing glance in his eyes – “Yeezys”!
Everybody stepped out of the store carrying a bag with Nike Sportswear boxes, specifically the Air Yeezys. Soon, I was instructed to get back in line, still not understanding any words. Right in front of me was the guy who was behind me on the first line, right behind me was the guy that was originally in front of me. He who was looking for the White Pigeons.
Of course, they didn’t have any Yeezys left when it was my turn, so I stayed inside the store – still not believing all of this – until this nice guy came in after me and checked everything out. He seemed very pleased about the new store and I think he would be ready to die for the store, as he knew every staff member in there and was wearing UNDFTD gear from head to toe. Literally.
If he wouldn’t have gotten the White Pigeons in his size, I would have offered him my size 10s for the regular retail price. But how I understood it, he had. Still there are two things I didn’t understand about this whole thing. He and his girlfriend were there at 6:00am, well knowing that they had a raffle going on anyway. So maybe they were just dead serious about it. But I don’t think the slightly better chance of getting the #1 spot can be compared to waking up so early and waiting there for four hours with also the chance of getting the very last spot. Of course, there came tons of guys, that I could tell won’t be wearing any of these shoes, instead they just tried to make quick money. Show up 10 minutes before the raffle. If you draw a small number, you have the chance to double your investment in just a few minutes. If not, so what. I really doubt that system.
The second thing is, that a few days before we went to Mita Sneakers and it was so easy to get those White Pigeons (video). We were there 30 minutes before store opening, while the first guy in line was there one hour before the opening, so I really, really don’t understand how they were out there since 6:00am.
There was also a reseller in Tokyo, that had the Yeezys in size 13 and I told Chris before the release, I won’t be leaving this city without the Yeezys. But they still were a size too big for me, even though a pic of me in front of the store wearing the Yeezys and holding up both middle fingers would have been so dope, but still not worth the requested price, as the shoes aren’t really my size.
So, after all these hours, wasted time of my live, the pollution from my ride to Cologne, eventually missing out a good party in Tokyo, because I finally needed some sleep – as Chris told me about it the next day, it sounded really good to me at least -, I decided to end this ongoing saga and at the end of the day everybody seems relatively happy. I made me some kind of happy now, I made a reseller certainly happy, the White Pigeon guy was happy as nobody else all the time anywayz and the UNDFTD guys were happy that day, too, I think.
