The Foamposite that started it all

The main shoe of this post is the Nike Air Foamposite One - Royal Blue. I do not know what I can write about these shoes that I have not covered in my previous post on the Pewter Foamposites.

This is the retro release of the shoe that started the Foamposite craze - apparently the one that was in the bag of "stuff" that Anfernee "Penny" Hardaway saw, and wanted to endorse immediately. Therefore, without further ado, here are the images:

This pair was supplied to me by Kickz101. I usually do not buy items locally, unless they are hard to find at a good price on the internet, and this is one of those times.

The story behind this shoe being available locally is as intriguing as the manufacture of the original shoe itself. The story goes, as relayed to me by one of the store staff, was that Nike Australia originally shipped 45 shoes of various sizes to Australia. Footlocker Australia, in particular - their Swanston Street, Melbourne store, ordered the majority of these shoes. This is where the story gets confusing. Either Footlocker did not want the order, or Nike did not want to fulfill the order. That meant that there was an initial release in February 2011 for this shoe at Kickz101, and some of the other shoes went "missing". There was even a possibility that Nike was going to either give them away, or hand them out to athletes in the NBL (Australia's version of the NBA). On the day I purchased them, I had just finished having lunch with KittyKat, and was wandering past the store and decided to pop in for a look. Luckily for me, they had just received it a few hours earlier.

Not a bad pickup, and lunch was good too!

Pewter Foamposites

This post is about a shoe that was originally released around 1997, and has never been re-released back in Australia. They have been making retro copies of the original, but these have yet to be released in Australia - according to one of the local resellers saying "Nike did not think it would sell." The shoe I am talking about is the Nike Air Foamposite One - Pewter.

This is one of the most visually interesting and expensive shoes ever made by Nike. If you look at it in comparison to some other shoes, this would have cost more to produce in raw materials, as well as the associated research and development costs. Initially this shoe was made from the idea that the upper was going to be a poured foam material. Research went in to find a material that could withstand an entire season of wear without deteriorating too much. Then a manufacturer for the shoe needed to be found. Many people at the time said it could not be done - "It was too hard, and it would cost too much, and the technology was not invented". Then Daewoo got involved. Known at the time for cars and air conditioner manufacturing, Daewoo came up with the composition for the upper's materials, as well as the molds for the shoes. Industry insiders rumored the costs for one size of the shoe to be around $200K+. Keep in mind, this is the mid 1990s. Rumor also has it that the original molds were either lost or destroyed.

The shoe was popularized by one of my favourite players - Anfrenee "Penny" Hardaway, as well as other players like Mike Bibby. Legend has it that Nike came to Penny's place with shoes for him to endorse in the 1997 season. He went through all the shoes they had to offer, and was not very interested. They also had a bag off to the side of "stuff". He asked to see what was in the bag. He eyed the blue version of the Foamposite One, and said that was the shoe he wanted to endorse. For a professional athlete, I find it hard to believe that he would endorse a shoe based solely on its appearance. Then again, it's a legend in the Nike lore.

The shoe itself needs to be broken in before the entire range of benefits are felt. Firstly, the break in period can last from around 1 week (based on constant casual wearing everyday) to several weeks (based on game wearing only - or very casual wearing). The main "growing pain" of the shoe is the tightness felt around the small toe area, but this decreases over time as the memory foam materials mold to the user's foot shape. The traction is great, and the cushioning provided by the Zoom Air cell feels comforting and supportive, but not sloppy. One of the main benefits of the shoe is that the upper does not crease. The foamposite material feels very solid, and looks like it will take quite a few knocks. It is very easy to maintain the look, with either a damp cloth, or some shoe cleaner and a clean cloth.

There are three noticeable disadvantages of this shoe. One is breathability. Once again, being compared to the Hyperfuse, this shoe is far from breathable and I find my feet heat up in it a lot. The foamposite material does not breath at all, and any venting is done through the fabric tongue of the shoe. Coupled with the internal sock of the shoe, no real air flow is felt in the shoe. The second disadvantage is side to side stability. I have already rolled my ankle once in this shoe, and this could have been addressed by the addition of an outrigger. Saying that, the injury was only temporary, and I was walking normally within a few minutes. Lastly, the shoe's sole is made from the infamous clear rubber that yellows when worn. While it looks great out of the box, it quickly yellows with constant wear. I'm sure that could have been addressed in the making of the shoe.

The main advantage of this look. As DJ Delz says, "This sneaker breaks necks on instant contact of the eye!" The upper of the shoe looks unique, and I prefer it to the Nike Foamposite Pro - Pearl, becuase it has less Nike swooshes visible on it. It is understated and overstated at the same time. The shoe incorporates the "1 cent" logo which was associated with Penny. This shoe does garner attention, mainly from other sneaker collectors, but also occasional glances from people with no interest in sneakers.

Keep in mind with the images above, the shoe is the colour of pewter. The only reason it appears to be different colours in the images is due to it reflecting the background, or whatever else is near it.

My thanks for shipping me this pair of sneakers goes to the team at crazyforsneaker.com. Their site is still going through maintenance, but crazyforsneaker's ebay shop is up and running. Buy in bulk, and save on shipping. Crazyforsneaker's team is located both in the US and in Hong Kong, so they have access to a wide range of sneakers that are released globally.

As mentioned previously, Nike has not brought this shoe into Australia for some time. I am sure it will have enough of a following to ensure strong sales. The only way for me to get this shoe was to obtain it over the internet. Rumors have it that Nike will be bringing in the Blue Foamposite Ones into Australia. I guess it is just a matter of waiting to see what happens.

All Star Kobe VIs - 3Ds and Sunsets

I have recently spoken about the Nike Zoom Kobe VI - Christmas shoes, and this post is about two different colour variations of that shoe. They were made for the All-Star 2011 Weekend, but not for the actual game itself. If you want a breakdown on the shoe, read the post on the Christmas shoe.

Therefore, without further ado, here are the images for the Nike Zoom Kobe VI All-Star 3D:

I managed to find a pair of 3D glasses to view the shoes through, and I can report that the 3D effect is the reptile dots / scales are "floating" above the surface of the shoe when viewing the shoe from the toe end - that is, the toe (or the word "venomenom") closest to the viewer and the heel furthermost away. Turn the shoe around the other way, and it appears that the reptile scales are under the surface of the shoe.

Here are the images for the Nike Zoom Kobe VI All-Star Sunsets:

The 3Ds came from the team at limitedshoes on Ebay - providing low prices, and combined shipping, while being geographically close to Australia meant a great overall deal. The Sunsets came from Footlocker on Swantson Street, in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.