Editor’s note: This drop was swiped from Grand Master’s blog.
Saturday morning, after spending the prior night on-campus, I woke up early and headed into the city for the second installment of the Sneaker Fiends Unite NYC Tour.
10:55 MTA commuter to Grand Central = 12:20 ETA.
This time, MC GANJI aka my b-girl homey Soyoon rolled along to take her first trip through and around the gritty city a/k/a The Rotten Apple. No better way to do it than with an OG New Yorker.
Linking up with Dallas and fellow New Haven resident Encyclopedia Black in Grand Cent, we headed uptown to Harlem, then over to Fordham Road, BX, where homeboy Nattiez had parked the whip and was awaiting our arrival.
Form like Voltron (except not those wack Voltron Reeboks… truth be told, we were clowning on Reebok all day. Sorry, rbk).
e^b.
Soyoon a/k/a GANJI b/k/a Zoey.
Dallas and Nattiez, indigenous NYers.
After trekking all day and staying light on the copping, we headed uptown to Harlem’s Vault, where Dallas had a connect.
The store was still decked out from the previous week’s winter ACG launch party. Real talk, Nike is pushing this ACG line hard in the urban markets this quarter: from Dr. Jays to Vault, nearly every location we rolled through had ACG gear and kicks on blast, specially those ACG boots.
Batman Bapesta FS-001’s on display.
Art of the Vault.
After much deliberation, Soyoon copped her first ever pair of Nikes – a premium looking little pair of Women’s Dunk Lows. With perforated toebox material and solid color blocking, I am saying that these were a good call on her part.
Vault – where Harlem stays laced.
GANJI also copped a tee and some other miscellaneous materials from Vault, leaving her moving weight in the hood like a dump truck.
After Vault, we headed down to the L.E.S. to hit up Richie’s on Delancey and also my SoHo regular come-
ups, Staple Design’s The Reed Space (Chinese-run and-owned baby!!).
After Reed Space, we dropped by 169 Bowery, site of Reebok’s new pop-up shop in support of their relaunch of the Reebok Pump. Despite our crew’s general distaste for Reebok, we thought we would give them a chance to shine and win back our affections.
Colorful and 80s-inspired interior design aside, the kicks were a generally lackluster lot. Nice try, Reebok; maybe next time. But you only get so many next times.
We finished up the tour at NoLiTa sneaker boutique Premium Laces, where Dallas got footage interviewing the manager and we got a chance to see some super-exclusive kicks in person.
KAWS 1 World AF-1. (friends and family only… $3000.)
Despite their seemingly boundless selection, the prices at Premium Laces were, fittingly, premium, and so we all took a pass on that one.
Premium Laces, though, was only a block and a half away from one of my other key SoHo retailers, the US Uniqlo flagship store; bidding farewell to the rest of our retinue, Soyoon and I headed there, where I copped a down jacket and flannel on the low, in preparation for the upcoming winter months.
Dinner on the train back. After a quick hour and a half nap, we were back in New Haven, leaving only a quick trek back to campus through a severe – if sudden – downpour, and the shuttle back to my door.
signing out,
-[SFU]GM.
