Shop Shout: Purist

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When it comes to serving up freshness in it’s purest form, there is only one retailer in San Jose, California that meets each and every one of your needs.

Purist, the San Jose based boutique in which we are showcasing, is a luxury retailer that carries casual contemporary clothing for men. They have been open for two and a half years now in the downtown San Jose area. Their current location is roughly 1200 square feet and is located in the heart of San Jose. Purist has a store layout that is minimalistic and clean which allows customers to fully focus on all of the great product it carries. Not only do they have brands that come domestically, but also brands that are native to Japan and the UK. The long list of brands include Acronym, Stussy, Stussy Deluxe, UNDFTD, Maiden Noir, Futura Laboratories, iDiom (Burton), Atmos, HUF, Porter, SAG, NSW, Fred Perry, Play Cloths, Medicom, Mighty Healthy, Benny Gold, Nudie Jeans, Red Wing, Nike, Adidas, Puma, New Balance and Converse.

As the result of being a stable in the the streetwear culture, Purist has done collabs with Futura Laboratories, The Hundreds, Recon, FiberOps and many others. They even have a collab with In4mation in the works.

With that being said, next time your in San Jose, be sure to check out Kevin and the rest of the crew at Purist.

Click here for more photos and info.

Purist Boutique

66 South First Street

San Jose, CA 95126

408-920-6603

Name: Kevin Lee

Tell us a little about you and your position at the store: I’m the owner and buyer for Purist.

What makes your store special? The brands we carry aren’t all the same ones that you find at every single streetwear spot. All stores claim that but we try real hard to keep it exclusive. In addition to brands that are carefully curated, we have been known to do some great collaborative items with well-known brands and artists such as David Flores, Alyasha Owerke-Moore, In4mation and Futura.

Shoe that got you hooked: Air Jordan I

Last pair you purchased: Nike Hyperdunk Black Mamba Olympic edition.

Favorite pair you don?t own: OG Air Jordan II White/Grey

Amount of pairs you own: Somewhere around 400

Top 3 of all-time: Sorry, I have to cheat and expand this question. Being in the game so long, I really couldn’t pick just three. But I can say this: give me a lifetime supply of Concord XIs and Slate 95s and I’ll never wear anything else.

Nikes

Air Flight 89

Air Trainer I

Air Max 95 Slate

Jordans

Air Jordan XI Concord

Air Jordan III True Blue

Air Jordan IV White Cement

Others

Reebok Question Ice Blue

Adidas KZK Gore Tex Black/Red

Adidas T Mac I

Which upcoming release are you looking forward to? Air Max 95 Slates

If you weren?t a _____ you would be a ________?

Store owner / Program Manager @ Cisco Sytems. My new job and my old job.

One reason why shoes matter: If you look at streetwear, it grew from the shoe game. Especially from the sports and hip hop side of this culture. I grew up from an era where it really was all about your shoes. You can wear a white tee and jeans with some clean Air Max Is and you’d be good. On the flip side, you can’t rock a dope fit with some busted vans or cheap Nikes.

One reason you love shoes: Nike 1988 – 1989: Air Max Is, Air Trainer I, Air Trainer III, Air Flight 89, Air Jordan III and IV.

That year was magical! Being a kid and seeing these revolutionary shoes was awesome. Going into Footlocker and being surprised at something that was on the racks that you hadn’t seen before? You can’t describe that feeling. None of the newer generations will ever know what that felt like.

One thing that you dislike about the shoe game: Its been ruined by big corporation greed and lack of imagination. Also by resellers and dudes in skinny girl jeans rocking Jordans.

Anything else you want to tell our readers? Thanks for the support we get from customers all over the US. We’ll continue to bring new and fresh items to you. We’ve started up a webshop so you can get your goods even easier shop.puristboutique.com.

Continue to support the independents! In this economy, we all need your support. If you can pick something up at our spot instead of Footlocker then do it. Shouts out to Precie, Marco, Rich, and the Teagle brothers. Lastly thanks to Greg at NiceKicks for the opportunity.

Purist