Brand Partnerships
November 26, 2024
Main Image - Design by Clotilde Pedron
Aminé wrapped up September with the announcement of his second collaboration with New Balance, which sold out within 48 hours of its November release. This has started a streak for the Portland born rapper who released his first partnership with the brand last year with the New Balance 610 collaboration entitled, ‘The Mooz’. This year’s drop constituted of a colorful orange and blue shoe in the pattern of a New Balance 740. The choice of color pays homage to Aminé’s highschool, Benson Tech, and its KBS Radio program that he credits as the start of his musical journey. Beyond the simple collaboration is a $25,000 donation from Aminé to help fund the program graduates’ university fees. BTEE740 by Aminé goes further than a pair of sneakers and reveals an important part of his route to getting where he is today. Aminé’s partnership with New Balance is just one of the many chapters of hip hop’s deep rooted connection with sneaker culture – a legacy born in New York that continues to impact our connection with the genre today.
Hip-hop and sneakers seem to have always gone hand in hand, one might even say that sneakers themselves have transcended their original function, becoming symbols of an entire culture. Yet, one could trace back its beginnings to 1986.
In The Tanning of America, renowned record executive Steve Soute recounts the beginning of the ‘journey of tanning’ with the release of hip hop trio Run-DMC’s “My Adidas”:
“According to lore, Russell had glanced at Joey’s sneakers one day and had thrown the suggestion out to the group, saying something like, “You should make a record about all the places where your sneakers have been.” The concept, as I understand it, was to tell a story about their shoes as a metaphor for how far they’d traveled already, coming basically from nowhere along a path that was leading onto the largest, grandest stages of the world.”
Business of Fashion also describes the drop of ‘My Adidas’ as the birth of hip hop sneaker culture. In an episode of Will Smith’s Class of ‘88 podcast, Darryl McDaniels shares that a driving factor in the song’s creation was a want to change the stereotypical image that accompanied sneaker-wearers. In his neighborhood, he recounts, kids and their sneakers were stigmatized with the term ‘felon shoes’, pushing the generalization of delinquency. What was omitted was the fact that these kids worked hard in order to purchase their pairs. Run-DMC sought to override this reputation using what they knew best: music. The trio became the first non-athletic entity to receive endorsement from a footwear company.
While sneaker culture kicked off on the streets, today they also act as a status symbol. Though many sneakers are reasonably priced at launch, limited releases drive up resale prices, often doubling or more. With limited stock, consumers often see the price of a sneaker at least double on reseller websites. Some collaborations have even broken records: in 2021, Kanye West’s once worn ‘Nike Air Yeezys’ were sold for 1.8 million dollars at an auction, making them the most expensive pair of sneakers ever sold.
The difference between Run-DMC’s Adidas and current celebrity-sneaker collaborations is the fact that the Adidas Superstars had been out for already 16 years. What Run-DMC offered was reinvention – even today Adidas Superstars stay quite accessible to the general public. As we see more and more collaborations with highly praised celebrities that are restrained to small quantities, one might wonder if a touch of the culture is lost, or perhaps transformed, in the scaling process.
Nevertheless, music-infused collaborations open the door to a new way for artists to connect with their fans. It allows for an alternative style of story-telling, as well as the possibility of fans repping their favorite entertainer and creating a sense of community and signals. Take Tyler, the Creator’s GOLF le FLEUR* long time collaboration with Converse – their reasoning for the most recent Darryl Chuck 70 drop in September is stated on the @lefleur instagram:
“The chuck taylor is a classic everyday shoe we love but felt there weren’t enough colors that matched our color palette. so we decided to do 10 le FLEUR* colorways of the classic chuck taylor with an off white sole, thick laces that complement wider silhouettes, and our signature darryl to make it our own.”
It’s truly an “if you know, you know” moment; discrete yet it would provoke a nod in the street or even serve as a conversation starter to a total stranger. Tyler has crafted such an image and branding for himself that even a simple color palette could be associated with him.
Being deliberate with one's personal fashion is both an opportunity to wear a piece of culture that they resonate with and a means of capturing an endorsing an artist. Sneakers continue to not only represent certain artistic visions but bridge the gap between tradition and modernity, keeping the flame of cultural narratives burning.
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