Part of our Slip-On Roundup; more soon…

I found these preppy canvas numbers by an intervention of, shall we say, fate? I’ll let you decide:

I was visiting a friend in the Printers Row section of Chicago. While smoking menthol cigarettes outside, we got to talking with a fellow selling Streetwise magazines on the sidewalk. A fashion maven who spends a good deal of time shopping at thrift stores and bargain shops. Pointing to the hat on his head, he said, “Looks good, huh?”

I nodded. It did. A blue wicker beanie with horizontal white stripes. It fit his head like skin. (Read on …)

I met a musician once named Ahab Rex who worked with athletic shoes. I can‘t remember in what capacity exactly he worked with footwear, but I do clearly remember one bit of our conversation: he explained to me the reasoning behind hip-hop stars wearing gleaming white shoes.

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I like Adidas Sambas. They are very nearly the most comfortable shoes in the world for walking around and probably for kicking soccer balls on Astroturf, but I’ve long wondered what the long tongue was for. (Read on …)

For a while it seemed like skateboard fashion-no matter how progressive-was possessed by an unshakeable silliness. When ravers and rollerbladers appropriated the fat pants style, skateboarding was primed for an era of clean simple attire. Pants could be worn without a belt, t-shirts had dropped from XXXL to L and floor-grazing wallet chains had all but disappeared. Then came props.

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When I sent my e-plea for free footwear to Duffs, they sent me not one but TWO pair of shoes. I kept the green Gamblers for myself and gave the Sevilles to one our operatives, Clip Clop.

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My first stab at getting free footwear was a direct hit. I sent a rather gushy email to Dekline, a young skate-shoe company which is part of the Tum Yeto empire, and they agreed to trade a pair of shoes for some press. (Read on …)