Follow the Leader: When Designer Labels Draw from Sportswear Staples

Imitation has long been called the highest form of flattery, but innovation is what keeps things moving. In an era defined by genre blending, idea sharing and constant conversation, it’s hard to distinguish the difference between each proccess. When it comes to kicks, the line between imitation and flattery is perhaps best blurred by the growing popularity of designer brands pulling from sportswear staples.

In recent times, the reverse Robin Hood approach has received its mixed share of cheers and boos, as luxury updates on classic kicks have been celebrated as everything from next level fly to the natural maturation of a sneakerhead. Conversely, they’ve been jeered as pop culture poaching, over-priced hype or just straight up copying.

Clearly others try to get the formula, but do high-end hike ups actually improve on the design or do something new? Paying close attention to historic silos as well as the influence of hip-hop and modern sneaker culture, we explore significant sportswear staples that have become the muses for recent designer drops.

Air Jordans

From a sartorial standpoint, one could argue that the Air Jordan 1 and Air Jordan 4 are the strongest silos in the AJ lineage. While the AJ1 was all but banished from the cool table in the late 2000s, front row endorsement in 2011 by Kanye West of the model’s ’01 Retro saw demand driven up almost a decade later. Well-timed retros only a few years following the Kanye co-sign met the market’s needs, and even left some money on the table.

photo by Dave M. Benett/Getty Images Europe via Zimbio

The Air Jordan signature series has been oft adored and all the same imitated, but most homage offerings have come from discounters and value based retailers. That’s changed in the last few years as high priced appropriations of the AJ line have come from the likes of Saint Laurent and Hender Scheme.

Saint Laurent’s SL 10H has seen celeb endorsement and fashion blog coverage thanks to its similar silo and classic color blocking. Conversely, the line for line styling of the Hender Scheme sneaker feels too close for comfort to many, if not all traditional sneakerheads, though it’s received coverage and attention just the same.

 

adidas Stan Smith

Since adidas brought the Stan Smith out of retirement in late 2013, while repositioning it by dropping it during New York Fashion Week, the shoe has been a style staple and the subject for designer’s drawing inspiration.

Though claiming the Kanye Effect sees a rather worthy case for the tennis classic’s recent winning streak, the truth is that the timeless steeze of the Stan has made the model stay and stick more than it’s came and went. Like anything that’s really good, it’s bound to get replicated, revamped and reappropriated. As of late, the likes of Alexander McQueen and Common Projects have drawn from the stache-sporting signature in both silo, styling and color blocking.

photo via Bodega

In recent years, the Stan Smith has also seen high fashion reworking by request of adidas. Teaming up with Raf Simons, the silo maintained shape and structure, electing collaborative branding and upgraded leather. While their $455 starting price still reads as super steep for the lack of visual variance between that of its inline iteration, one could argue that only ups the interest and value of the standard Stan Smith. That’s huge for adidas as the ultimate goal of any high-priced or low-volume collaboration is to drive demand for its mass produced base model.

Nike Air Force 1

Over the course of the past 15 years, the Air Force 1 has seen an interesting path paved more so by hip-hop than hoops. During the height of the throwback era, the AF1 was the hottest model on the market. Sportswear competitors and contemporaries alike looked to the Air Force 1 for sales, with Reebok releasing an Iverson endorsed off-court model that was eerily similar, while Jordan Brand juiced the model for their foray with Fusions. Just the same, economy based retailers relished in the silo’s success by producing less expensive iterations inspired by the AF1.

In recent years, we’ve seen hip-hop fashion’s golden child A$AP Rocky and the rest of the Mob bring the Air Force 1 Mid back into limelight. While Riccardo Tisci teamed up with Nike in 2014 for a range of runway revamps, more than a few designer labels have taken the Uptowns downtown with their own reworked takes as of late.

Most notably, the likes of Valentino, Hender Scheme and Celine have all launched like models that bring heightened materials and heightened price tags. While it should be noted that Rocky hasn’t rocked any of these designer takes to our knowledge, they have landed on the likes of Tyga and Kevin Hart, with various footwear and fashion outlets covering the kicks.

photo by Theo Wargo/Getty Images via Zimbio

It ain’t hard to tell that hip-hop has had a strong hold on fashion for years now and in 2015, it’s clearly influencing from all angles. The artists at the top of the totem poll now reside in the front row of the runway and the designers dance to their music. On the footwear front, it’s all the more obvious as seen by a wide range of designer sneakers inspired by and perhaps even made with hip-hop’s elite and sneaker culture in mind.

In past years, the traditional Robin Hood approach of stealing silos from sportswear to make cheaper, more economical offerings to sell at say Wal Mart or Payless has been mostly mocked, solidifying the sneaker’s spot as status symbols. This status is backed as we see that on the contrary, carrying over athletic aesthetics to the realm of high fashion via designer revamps has read with much more positive reviews than the frugal equivalents that follow a similar recipe.

Do these high/low revamps read to different reviews because of monetary value of the shoe, or the title/taste associated with those who wear them?

For years, ‘expensive taste’ has been regarded by many as ‘good taste.’ This positioning isn’t limited to fashion but carries over to the art world too, (think Who the #$&% is Jackson Pollack). For functional art like design, it’s a bit harder to call as it all depends on how one defines design:

Is design an artistic expression of individuality or more so a means for solution?

If you fall in the first camp, you probably see a bite as a bite, with a significant level of charm or flip needed to win over in this sense what’s otherwise a copied kick. If you dub design as a vehicle for problem solving, then it’s easy to see the value in a storied silo upgraded in lavish leather or conversely a hyped kick taken down to meet the means of an undeserved market.

If you don’t fall entirely into either of those camps and see fashion as a means of social commentary or opinion, then it’s certainly clear what’s being said:

Hip-hop and sneaker culture have a stronger hold on the ENTIRE fashion spectrum than ever before.

At the end of the day, does high fashion borrowing from hip-hop/sneaker culture elevate the opinion of said spheres or merely make for more of a money chase?

Share your sentiments on designer sneakers drawing from sportswear silos in the comments section below.

Cash backdrop on lead image via Florida Politics