I was looking at Hypebest this morning and noticed that this style of hiking boot seems to be the new cool guy look. I’m sure that Red Wing will also be heavy again this fall and winter, but as you’ll see here, there are a lot of versions of this “mountaineering” boot floating around right now. These are supposed to be a classic, functional style though, not a hipster fashion statement. Actually, wait. They are fashionable for a road trip to see your buddy at UNH when you get back second semester or to wear to the Phish New Years run in 1993 with a pair of corduroys and a Patagonia fleece.

Anyway. They’re still cool. Just get a real pair.

The other day a guy was asking me about these old Adidas sweatshirts. I’ve seen some around the city and online, but they’re typically over-priced and the fits aren’t so flattering. You can find the old ones on eBay or Fruition, but they could use an upgrade.

Click to see more of these designs.

Catalog scans of the 1988 Nike Basketball Catalog thanks to vintageunion.com (via vintageheatt).

We first saw this Vans “Off The Wall” ad at their showroom sometime in early 2007. My first thought was, “what is that hi-top in the middle there?”.

It looked like a cross between the Sk8 Hi and the Nike Blazer, but wasn’t currently in the catalog. It did exist in a modified form as the Alva in the skate line, but this particular style: Midschool ‘77, wasn’t being produced. I called the powers that be at Vans and asked if we could re-issue that model as a Classic Kicks collab.

The idea of bringing a sneaker back from the dead was very appealing and the whole “Off The Wall” collection just screamed Vans California heritage to me. Vans flew me out to Cali and we began the process. In the meeting, we agreed to re-introduce the model in two colors: red and blue. Since most Vans sneakers are on the same waffle sole, it makes it easier to bring a sneaker back, since no new molds are needed for the last. While we were in this meeting, we decided to step it up and also release four colors of the Era from the same line. Six sneakers total in this collaboration. Pretty ambitious, but I knew these would be a success.

Fast forward to summer 2008. We first dropped the four Era’s and then the Midschool’s a month later. These sneakers sold out instantly at Classic Kicks and we also dropped a few pairs in Patta and Colette. The set also made it into the All Gone book from 2008 with a great review.

We have a mini-collection of Vans ads from 1977 after the break. Check them out.

I don’t mean to get too nostalgic, but i’m surprised we haven’t seen more re-issues of the old school Swatches. G-shock is going nuts, Freestyle Sharks are back and Timex is getting in there with the bright rubber watches too. I saw some Swatch re-issues and the Cassette Playa’s, but none of them stack up to the OG’s.

The one pictured above was my object of desire in the Summer of either ‘90 or ‘91. I first saw it in either the Macy’s or Fortunoff Summer catalog. The Swatch Bora Bora. The two things I knew about Bora Bora at that time were this watch and the 1987 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue with Elle MacPherson on the cover…….

Anyway, my Dad drove me around all of New Jersey for two weekends and this watch was sold out everywhere. I never got it, but made sure to pick one up off eBay a few years ago. It’s too small for me to wear, but Jen likes it. Perfect for Summer. These are classics.

Scuba

Classics

The Swatch Guard was some classic stuff too.

Olympics

Nautical Flags are always cool

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This is too Nostaligic

These are some ads from Adidas’ tennis heyday in the late 70’s to mid 80’s. Ivan Lendl and Stephan Edberg were the two famous players who each had their own line with the brand when I was growing up. The apparel was tight country club style and the tennis sneakers are also timeless classics. It’s a shame Adidas doesn’t really tap into their sports heritage these days. There’s so much there.

Check out more pics that I gathered from 80’s tennis.com.

1979-1989

The U.S. Open is back in New York, so we’ll take a look at some classic tennis style.

Here we have some pics of Borg, Vilas, McEnroe, Connors, Ashe and Agassi winning tournaments in Ellesse, Sergio Tacchini, Fila, Adidas and Nike.

This stuff sometimes still exists in retro form, but it’s not the same.

I could care less about artist collabs, tier zero, hybrids, distribution, and all that other bullshit. I’ve been a Nike fan since I was eight years old based on sport, technology, performance, and classic marketing. Thats why I originally got into this business. That was the beauty of Nike in it’s Golden Age (1985-1991)…..The true performance models were also dope as shit and it was up to us to interpret these styles for fashion as well as function.

Here’s a collection of some Vintage Nike ads on my hard drive, spanning 1983-1991.

Tennis…..

1990 Tennis Catalog Pics

Basketball….

Cross Training…

Runners……

Catalog Pics….