As Reebok delve into subcultures with their feature with Twinsmatic, so many thoughts and questions spring to mind.
How deep will they go with subcultures?
Will they truly acknowledge the subcultures?
For it's is the urban subcultures who generally dictate how cool a brand is. This kudos is like gold dust, once you get it you can't let it slip away. Look at Asics' meteoric rise. Once seen as the running man's shoe, now they are rivalling anyone in terms of coolness. Launches being held in trendy 'underground' stores, collabos with kingpins like Ronnie Fieg and BAIT.
Subcultures are like the sea, they have a mind of their own, they ebb and sway left and right...you have to catch the right wave and ride it.
Reebok's somewhat renaissance is evidence that they have their finger on the pulse - too many recent collabos to mention. However this current project strikes a cord. One can only hope Rewbok truly pay homage to the subcultures that they feed off. It would be so refreshing to see one of these big brands go to the streets. I don't mean contact T4 to speak to an urban act. Go to the streets and speak to the people that make your brand what it is today. Whether it be the hipsters, hip hop heads, funky house crew, graffing artists...from Brixton to Dalston to Seven Sisters, sub sulctures are thriving and need to be acknowledged. These are the unofficial trendsetters, early adopters. These are the people who invent new ways to lace your kicks, roll ups on jeans [a 90's thing now making a global comeback - go look at pictures]. These are the secret [and often not acknowledged] rulers of the trainer world.
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