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Footnotes: A fresh drop of sneaker news

This week features rainbow motifs, lawsuits, and mysterious meetings with Drake

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Weekly updates


The sneaker game is constantly changing and evolving. New colourways, new designs, collaborations, and campaigns are being announced almost daily. To make it easier for you, we’ve started Footnotes—a recap of the week’s sneaker highlights and lowlights.

This week has been a big week for footwear, with sneaker giants like Nike, Converse, and Adidas releasing collections in celebration of June’s LGBTQI Pride Month. High-end fashion houses like Margiela and Gucci have also been making news for their new releases, and the internet has been abuzz with speculation of another collaboration between Nike and Drake after Champagne Papi himself posted photos on Instagram working with the CEO of the company.

  • Words: Ikumi Cooray

01. LGBT Pride Month collections

LGBTQI Pride month has just kicked off, and with it comes a series of well-timed sneaker releases by Nike, Converse, Adidas, and even Gucci.

Nike launched its BE TRUE collection in 2012, and has been reinvigorating the collection every year to celebrate Pride month. The collections aims to encourage people, athletes and the general public alike, to be true to themselves and show solidarity with the LGBTQI community. The 2017 BE TRUE collection pairs the iconic 1978 rainbow Pride flag with Nike’s recognisable sneaker models like the Flyknit Racer and VaporMax. The full collections, which also includes a range of apparel and accessories, will be available on June 5 via Nike.com

Converse is also set to release its second annual Pride collection on June 2. The rainbow Pride flag is seamlessly incorporated into the design of Converse’s staple Chuck Taylor All Stars through patches, a pride-themed foot bed and rainbow laces. The 2017 Converse Pride Collection goes hand in hand with its “Yes to All” initiative, with a portion of the proceeds from the 2017 collection going to Minus 18, Australia’s largest youth-led organisation and support network for younger people in the LGBTQI community. The collection will be available through Converse’s website, retail stores and at selected General Pants Co. stores.

For the third year in a row, Adidas is also participating in the pride month movement with the release of the Ultra Boost 3.0, Superstar, EQT Support ADV, and Crazy Explosive Low models redesigned with a rainbow twist set to debut on June 1.

Finally, if your taste is a bit more high-end but you still want to support the LGBTQI community through your choice of footwear, Gucci has released a leather low-top sneaker with rainbow platform, available for a cool $950USD.

02. Art Basel are suing Adidas

Organisers of the Art Basel festival, an international art fair taking place annually in Hong Kong, Switzerland and the USA, are suing Adidas for the design and distribution of their limited edition EQT Support ADV sneakers embellished with the Art Basel logo.

Art Basel took Adidas to court over the sneakers, which it claims “deliberately misrepresents an association, show partnership, sponsorship or other affiliation” between Art Basel and Adidas. Art Basel is seeking retribution from Adidas for its infringement, and although there are limited details of what kind of “irreparable and indivisible injury and harm” Art Basel has experienced from the incident. The court case certainly reinforces the importance of trademarks, and the lengths companies will go through to protect their brand identity.

03. Drake flaunts his meeting with the directors of Nike and Jordan Brand

In a series of black and white photos posted on Instagram this week, Drake shared his meetings with Nike CEO Mark Parker, Vice President for design Tinker Hatfield, as well as the heads of the Jordan brand. Aside from the fact that Mark Parker let Drake hold a Jimi Hendrix guitar, all other details of the meeting remain a mystery. A photo of Drake and Tinkerfield hunched over an iPad and sketchbook seems to insinuate that this was serious business, and the interactions with Jordan Brand add some exciting clues to the rumoured Drake X Jordan Trunner LX OVO collaboration.

04. Maison Margiela’s “Leave A Message” wants you to scribble on your sneakers

The French fashion house has released a new version of its Replica sneakers, packaged with a branded marker pen that invites the wearer to doodle and draw on their shoes. The Replica sneaker, traditionally made of leather and/or suede, has been given a material makeover of polyester, polyethylene, and an elastane upper to create a crinkled paper-like look. Dubbed the 22 Replica Low, the customisable sneaker presents a DIY approach to Margiela’s scribbled-style aesthetic, previously seen on the Penned Graffiti Low Top and original Margiela German Army Trainers.

05. Kanye West shows off Yeezy Season 6 sneakers

Long-time Kanye friend and collaborator Ibn Jasper took to Instagram this week to give a sneak peek at Yeezy’s latest footwear creation.

It looks like Yeezy is moving away from the cozy fit of his infamous Yeezy Boost silhouette and in to something a bit harsher. The new piece seems to be a mix of references from the ’90s, skate shoes, and luxury designers like Rick Owens and Raf Simons.

There’s no release info yet but Yeezy’s next collection is set to debut at NYFW in September so best to keep an eye on that.