Over the weekend, the Nike “EKINs” from Los Angeles and San Francisco held a special sneaker Show and Tell event in Culver City. The event allowed sneaker aficionados from LA and the Bay to show off select items in their collections and treat us to the story behind each particular shoe. One after another, sneaker collectors stood in front of a crowd of their peers and told stories of how they worked, hustled, negotiated, or just got plain lucky and came up on their most prized footwear. Despite the stigma often associated with sneaker collectors, the stories were often genuine and endearing. From an Air Jordan 3 birthday gift from a younger sister, to holding up a pair of Air Jordan 7s that were worn by a deceased friend when he died, everyone in the room was touched by the stories they shared.
In today’s internet age, we often lose touch with the stories behind the brands we have grown to love. Though today when we think of Nike and all that the company represents it often includes mega sports stars, the start of the company was based on a need by one athlete, Steve Prefontaine, the now-deceased runner whose crusaded for better equipment inspired Bowerman, Nike’s CoFounder, and Knight to start what would become the Nike empire. This brings us to the highlight of the night.
If you’ve followed Kicks On Fire, you have heard of Shoezeum aka Jordan Geller. As a surprise to us all, Jordan Geller made a special appearance at the event and presented what is one of the most iconic pieces of footwear I have ever seen. In 1975 Knight and Bowerman created a track shoe for “Pre” to wear in the Olympics. Tragically, Steve Prefontaine died in a car accident in 1975, but Phil and Bowerman still completed and sold the track shoe they developed for him. Last night, because of Jordan Geller, we were able to see a pair of those shoes. Not only did we see the shoes, we also saw the track spikes and wrench that belonged to the shoes.
To wrap up the night, the EKINs held an informal discussion on the State of Nike and where the sneaker community felt things could be improved. A few topics were discussed, but a main stalwart in the talks revolved around the quality of the releases. Many of the attendees felt that the product wasn’t as durable as it used to be. Other main points included the rehashing of designs and the old favorite of hybrids. Fortunately, that is why the EKINs are there, and they promised to push those concerns up the corporate ladder for us.
All in all, it was a nice event that brought out some of the latest and greatest in sneaker gear, as well as some OG models from the 90s. From what I understand, this is not the last time and they should be putting another event together in the next couple of months. Until then, enjoy some of the sneaker heat from the event.
