Monday 11 July 2011

What is the true Nike Air Force 2?

???


Nowadays people generally refer to the 1986-87 Air Force's as Air Force 2's or even more commonly, "Barkleys". As the name suggests these were the flavours of Charles Barkely's Illadelph crew, and were the first sneakers that Nike produced in the colours of blue on white with yellow accenting and blue on white with red accenting. Obviously these colourways were the cleanest of the pick even among the later retro releases. As happy and keen as I am to continue referencing to them as "Barklays", they are in fact not the real Air Force 2's and should not be referred to as such. There never being an official release of an Air Force 2 by Nike is what complicates the matter. So it begs asking the question, how then can I challenge this common misconception?  

Thursday 7 July 2011

Flying Kicks + Laces = Typography Round 2


In a previous post entitled the 'Mystery of Flying Kicks', this film's meticulous groundwork suggested a whole variety of explanations as to why our urban landscape is decorated the world over with kicks thrown onto telephone wires etc. Of the many answers suggested I want to simply focus on the topic of commemoration. Paired with my earlier posting of the TYPELACE typeface by Rafael Farias (an illustration of typography's infiltration into the sneaker game) I wish to illustrate the possible complexity of information conveyed in something as simple as the imagery of flying kicks.