Nice Kicks: Where does the release of a shoe you designed rank amongst other accomplishments with your website?

David Fischer: It is definitely great being for once on the other side of the table. We report about the more interesting sneaker releases around the globe every day of the year and it is just a great feeling being able to contribute with a product for once. Our concentration will always remain on the web, but doing something that people can touch, take home and wear out is definitely great and something we want to do on a regular.

High Snobiety x Asics Gel Lyte III

Nice Kicks: Materials seem to be an important thing about all of your work. Tell us about the materials chosen for the High Snobiety shoe.

Ronnie Fieg: Materials are the most important element when it comes to my collaborations. I find it extremely important for people to feel that they’re getting their moneys worth with quality shoes, not logos. I try my hardest to separate my work from the rest with the premium materials I choose to work with since I refuse to create a logo for myself. For the Highsnobiety Gel, we decided to go with a premium patent leather and navy blue pig skin. The pig skin on this shoe is extremely rich with a very nice texture to it. Its the one part of the shoe which makes it really stand out. Using pig skin for the toe box has worked great with the Cultureshoq and Nice Kicks collabs, so I am expecting consumers to take notice and approach this project with the same outlook.

“Our concentration will always remain on the web but doing something that people can touch, take home and wear out is definitely great and something we want to do on a regular.” – David Z

Nice Kicks: Was there anything in mind you wanted to accomplish with the design of this shoe (i.e. a specific look or source of inspiration)?

David Fischer: Not really. Like I mentioned before, for us the most important is that the shoe is easy to wear. Also we want to look at it in 2-5 years and still like the work that we did, so we stuck to subtle colors.

Nice Kicks: The shoe releases on a big retail day, Black Friday, November 27th. Does this add more pressure to the release knowing that consumer’s dollars will be competed for by so many merchants of virtually every industry?

Ronnie Fieg: Black Friday is an interesting day for footwear. People have their money ready to go down their list of Holiday presents but when it comes to limited releases nothing else matters to a true sneaker fan. Last year David Z did extremely well with the Adidas Black Tie release and i expect this year to be even better with Highsnobiety on board for this project.

David Z x Adidas “Black Tie” Superstar

Nice Kicks: In the days of limited and special releases, do you think a shoe has to be a “sell out” to be considered a success?

David Fischer: Obviously we want the shoe to sell out, but we certainly do not care about resell values, etc. We know we produced a solid shoe with Ronnie and we just hope that the customers see that as well. If it now sells on the first day or in the first month does not really change anything for us. We just hope that people are into it and will wear it. It’s a sneaker for the street, not for the cupboard.

Ronnie Fieg: Not at all, it is always an added bonus for the shoe to sell out quickly because it helps the resale value however that’s not what my projects are about. I am here to supply the consumer with a quality product and sometimes it takes time for the shoe to trickle down and become noticed by some of my frequent David Z. customers who are not on the blogs.