Nice Kicks Exclusive: 1 on 1 Interview with Bobbito Garcia
| Kool Bob Love, DJ Cucumberslice, Boggie Bob, Bag of Tricks; Bobbito has about as identities as professions, but when it comes to sneaker culture he is THE original, THE connoisseur, and THE expert.
Just yesterday we gave you a preview of the upcoming Bobbito x Nike Air Force Ones releasing this spring. The “Bobbito Pack” will include three shoes - one releasing each month from April to June. We scored the golden opportunity to sit down and have a one on one with Bobbito interview about sneakers and the culture, then and now. Full interview is posted after the jump. |
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Matt - Nice Kicks: Many refer to you as a reformed sneakerhead. How would you say that you have grown and dealt with sneakers now?
Bobbito Garcia: The first line of my book “Where’d You Get Those? New York City’s Sneaker Culture: 1960 - 1987″ printed in 2003 by Testify Books, which is started writing back in 2000, is “I am a reformed sneaker addict.”
I wrote an article back in 1990 which was published in 1991 in the Source Magazine was the first sneaker culture piece in all of media. It was called ‘confessions of a sneaker addict’ that’s how I got my worldwide fame for being a sneakerhead, ball player, blah blah blah through that article and I just felt like being addicted in the 90s was a lot different than being addicted in 2003. The game, the scope, everything had become a lot larger.
Sure, I am up to wearing shoes that are comfortable that no one else has. You can’t shake that out, but I am not the kid anymore that can tell you every single release happening in Brazil, Japan, Korea, or all the SBs. I was that dude for the era that I wrote about. That’s my area of expertise I don’t have that level of expertise anymore and nor do I want to have it anymore either. I kinda felt like, not that I retired, but that I really proved a point in a time when it wasn’t so well known to be a sneakerhead.
Now I feel like I can wear some Chuck Taylors to the store now and I don’t have to prove anything to anybody. You wanna know if my status is legendary, go read my book you’ll see pictures all through it with ill sneakers and you will still see me today with ill sneakers.
Matt: You said that things have changed from 1990 to 2003. One of the first things that comes to mind for me is that the internet wasn’t even around in 1990. How do you think the Internet has changed the sneaker game?
Bobbito: Huge, huge, huge. In 1990 when my crew was hunting for sneakers we basically had to get dirty and go into stores and into stock rooms. We would go into different neighborhoods for shops. This was dating back into the 80s. That is an old mindset.
Now with the internet people can just stay home and hunt for sneakers which is great for people in cities and countries that don’t have the ability to go into different areas to get sneakers. It also helped raise the price of sneakers because more people could hunt for them. Its just a different time frame.
Matt: One thing that I had remembered that you mentioned was about sneaker hunting. that you and your boys would find stuff that you weren’t even looking for and prices that were ridiculous.
Bobbito: The prices were RIDICULOUS! Value of a deadstock shoe was nothing – it was DEAD. The retailer was just wanting to make space in his storage for new stock.
Matt: When was it that you started to see things change in value for a deadstock shoe?
Bobbito: It first started in Japan. We need to give credit where credit is due. People from Japan were coming to the States and were buying up sneakers that were old deadstock for $10 or $15 bringing them back, and then selling them for 300% more because they valued the deadstock sneakers.
When I had my store Bobbito’s Footwork from 1996-2000 I used to have a lot of deadstock sneakers and I didn’t know they were reselling them out there for $300, but I didn’t want to price them out for my of range for my customers here in NYC. I had some people come in and buy 20 pairs of sneakers at one shot. And I was like ‘ok great, I can go pay my rent today’.
It really went out of control when the internet started with eBay and all of the websites. Now you have a great store called Flight Club. I think they are all great ideas. But as more people yearn for deadstock and the surprise limited shoes its obvious that the price of the limited sneakers will go up. Its just basic economics.
Matt: Just yesterday we posted up the Air Force Ones that you and Nike worked on together and I know that there are some others coming. What can you tell us about the upcoming ones? Do they have a piece of your life wrapped up into them?
Bobbito: Absolutely. All 3 in that pack have the basketball and the 12” vinyl logos with the hands logo on them and they all have the “LOVE” logo on the heel. The other two are totally different colors and fabrics. No one can make a shoe that pleases everybody, except maybe the “White on Whites” but I wanted to create something that appealed to as many people as possible.
I wanted to make a shoe that dudes who grew up when I was growing up could appreciate them and that’s why they have a white midsole and white laces. But, I also wanted to do something that a new kid who’s younger and who didn’t grow up wearing the sneaker as a basketball shoe but instead as casual lifestyle shoe could also wear them. That’s why I did the little “freak” color combination. I know people have used wheat before but what I wanted to do was to combine wheat with two other colors that no one has ever combined so it can be a unique sneaker that would be attractive to old heads, young heads, baskeball players, hip hop kids, sneakerheads.
All three sneakers as a pack represent who I am. You know I am super satisfied with how the kicks came out and I am super super happy that mother fuckers are feeling them. Really means a lot to me.
Matt: To be honest, the Old 6/New 6 people were half/half on them. Some hated them, some loved them, but I am telling you that as soon as we posted those up on our site the responses were unanimous. People are loving the way they look and what they represent.
Bobbito: When you see them in real life, the cactus really pops off the shoe. So in the pictures the cactus looks pretty green, but it really pops so I think people are going to be really happy when they see them and wear them. And you know like I said I am super super happy to hear people are loving them.
Here’s the deal. I am 40 years old. I’m quasi retired, not fully retired. I’m a reformed sneakerhead addict so like I don’t see every single release that is out there. Like I don’t listen to ipods, I don’t have a cell phone. You know so sometimes I feel a little out of touch. With the whole new wave of “technological kids”, the fact that I can get a good response from teenagers for these is like ‘cool, I haven’t lost it.’ My eye for sneakers is still relevant. So that feels really good.
Matt: In the book, whered you get those, the book ends at 1987. Why was 1987 the end? Did you feel the game changed then? Did the sneakers change? Were you writing a new chapter in your life then?
Bobbito: 1987 was the turnaround year. It was when the whole sneaker industry and culture went “PACHOW!” Jordans had the commercial, Run DMC had made “My Adidas”, you know like all of a sudden it wasn’t some secret society of motherfuckers that were loving ill sneakers, painting them, cleaning them and customizing them and accessorizing them, all of that was underground before 87. After then, you have got casual people wearing sneakers to work underneath their suits. It just exploded.
Alot of people know what happened after 1987 because a lot of people followed Air Jordans very closely since day 1 so what I wanted to do was uncover the time period before that. It was almost like the dark ages of sneaker culture. How all this shit started.
The main thing with the book was I wanted everyone to know “the how” was African American and Latino kids in NY started this whole global sneaker phenomenon and everyone needs to recognize that. Whether it was playground basketball, hip hop, or regular street culture, it started here. Of course Baltimore, Philly, and Virginia had stakes in it, but NY was the real progenerate of it all.
You know the mecca for playground basketball is NY, the mecca for hip hop is NY. The mecca for sneaker culture, NY. You cant argue that. You just can’t argue that. So that’s what I wanted to do and I felt like I proved that in the book and made it for everyone to read.
Matt: Bobbito, big thanks for doing the interview with us. We’ll be looking out for those new joints soon.
Bobbito: No doubt, peace.
Look, I can’t stress it enough. If you think of yourself as a sneakerhead or you are really, really into shoes, you MUST read Bobbito’s book. In fact, its only $21 on Amazon, grab that book and read it. It will open your eyes more than Nice Kicks ever can and I mean it. You will have so much more respect for kicks and the culture after reading it. I read this book cover to cover in one sitting, all 264 pages, and I have it on my desk at all times for when I need to look up info on a pair of kicks from “back in the day”.
Also, for more on Bobbito Garcia, check out Bobbito’s myspace page, Bobbito’s YouTube page which has some CRAZY vids, and be sure to pick up his magazine, Bounce, which dedicated to his other obsession, basketball.
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