What's The 511

A while ago, we got an invite from the good folks at Shelflife to attend a low-key preview of The 511 Skateboarding Collection at the Baseline store in Cape Town. Just a little aside about theblagg's relationship with Baseline: Dude was in Cape Town a year ago and almost lost his mind because he finally found (and bought on the spot) the tan Janoskis over at Baseline store on Long Street so the store has a special spot in his heart. Ncaaaw.

Ok, what was I busy telling you again?

So yeah, for those who aren't aware, Nike SB and Levi's came together to collaborate on the 511 collection which is inspired by and geared towards lovers of skateboarding. The Levi's 511 skinny denim makes a comeback here and actually feels really light to the touch and features Nike's Dri-Fit moisture management system. Great for skaters but I reckon anyone could rock the slim-fit just because they don't feel like they wear you down. But I digress.

I'm not a fan of the trucker skateboarding denim jackets that are a part of the collection but if the Levi's x Nike Omar Salazar sneakers were a dude, they could totally get it. The Nike Dunk Low Pros round out the package and retail prices in America seem to be high as usual but when I asked the folks at Baseline about their prices they said they weren't sure because prices hadn't been set yet. This collection is a very limited release in South Africa so you might want to pay Baseline a quick visit. Don't forget your wallet.

What We Want For Winter

Yeah, we know, we're already in the thick of winter but that doesn't make these MISHKA crewneck sweaters less phly. Cape Town's Shelflife store recently stocked them and it seems we weren't quick enough to the draw because there are only large and XL sizes left. They'll set you back R1100 - we'll pause here so you can catch your breathe - but look, if you've got the money, these sweaters are great buys. Oooh, and guess what? Apparently, Shelflife will start stocking The Hundreds this month. Bobby's brand might even be available in store as early as this week. Don't ever say we don't tell you stuff. We wonder if Shelflife will stock these:
 

Fetish Or Feat?

A while ago, Dr ZVLV of Shelflife put The Ordinary Girl onto this thing called Shriiimping. Yes, with 3 i's. To cut a long story short, it's graffiti on women's naked/near naked bodies. Now I would consider myself a lot of things, conservative is not one of them. But put simply: I just don't get it. It's actually baffling to me that there are girls who allow men to do this to their bodies. But that may just be me. Some would just call it art while others may say it is littered with messages of misogyny. I'm interested to know what you think.



Oh, and how the designing half of Shelflife and I got to that point is because of their collaboration with Puma (a first in the country) which launched WORLDWIDE on 8/8/11. Even Colette in Paris had the limited Puma x Shelflife stock. After chatting Dr ZVLV up, I wrote a really long (and what I thought was a dope) article on these Metrorail-inspired Puma Suedes which were dubbed the Train Runner as well as the ladies version of the joints, which go under the Laces and Ladies moniker. But the J-O shelved it because it mentioned a brand name more than once. And by now, you've all seen the pictures all over the 'nets so I won't bother.

If you missed the launch party you can still check out what went down HERE.



Now as you can see, the logo of the L&L's is a silhouette of a woman - we dig that. But some of the detailing on the sneakers (which come in mids and lows) and in the ladies range is inspired by Shriiimping. It's not as in your face on the kicks, but as a movement, Shriiimping refuses to be ignored. Are you paying attention yet?

The Train Runner

It may be The Stoned Lui's bornday but August 8 will also be the birth of a new era. As Shelflife teased before, we finally have a smallanyana look at what 8/8/11 will be all about. The Cape Town sneaker and graffitti culture store has collaborated with Puma on a brand spanking new sneaker. So far this is what we know: the colourway is grey and yellow, grey and yellow, grey and yellow. And that's not because they were a few shades shy of mimicking a rap song. It's because those are the colours of South Africa's train system, the Metrorail.



We also know that the sneakers are called the Train Runners. And we know that you can win tickets to the launch party happening on, you guessed it, 8/8/11. So click HERE for info on those. In the meantime, Shelflife is still teasing folks by releasing a few snaps of the actual kicks just to give you a sense of what they'll look and feel like. Peep:





What do you think? You like?

Save The Date

Jordan III at Shelflife

Wipe the drool off your keyboard, go ahead, we'll wait

Clap for Shelflife, go ahead, clap for them.

Why?

Because they were the first in the country to have the Retro Jordan III in the clean white and classic cement grey colourway! And you know how theblagg feels about this brand and this particular gem. So you know we had to hit up the kick-loving clique at Shelflife to place our order, right? Yes, not being in Cape Town when they dropped hurt our hearts, but that's nothing slipping a foot in a fresh pair of Js won't fix. Don't be jelly blaggers and blaggettes, we're paying for ours, we're not Hypebeast yet. Ha!

We thought we were excited about these babies but we have nothing on Nick Herbet. We spoke to the Shelflife label and store co-founder/owner about kicks, the culture and coming up with the cash. Peep:

In their signature mugshot/police line-up style, here is Shelflife'sNick Herbert meanmugging the camera

theblagg: What does it mean for you and for Shelflife to stock the retro Jordan III?
Nick: Last week Thursday was a very special occasion for Shelflife. We got the Jordan 3 classic cement colourway! Roughly [around the time] when Shelflife opened, the Jordan 3 Fire Red's had just come out. But, unfortunately, at that time we didn’t have a Nike account. So I managed to scoop a pair from somewhere. They are my favorite pair in my collection. I’ve always worn them with pride and taken very good care of them in fear they wouldn’t come into the country again, but THEY ARE HERE!!! All the sizes [we have at Shelflife] are pretty much booked out and there aren’t many left, so get at me QUICK if you are interested. Later in the year stay tuned for the Jordan3 True Blues... yes you heard it here first!! That’s going to create major hype!

theblagg: When you are an independent store/label, how hard or easy is it to retain your creative identity in your partnerships with sportswear giants? Especially when your partner is the likes of Puma, whom you've collaborated with in the past?
Nick: Puma understand our market very well and understand our label and store, so it wasn’t hard for them to understand the concept, to be honest we would never put our name on something we felt didn’t best represent our store for anyone.

theblagg: What other brands would Shelflife like to collaborate with?
Nick: The list goes on and on, and I don’t want to mention any names in case it jinxes us (laughs) but we are hoping this will open many more doors!

theblagg's other favourite Jordan III colourway - yes you can have two favourites

theblagg: You're obviously a force to be reckoned with in the sneaker game but it can't have been easy for an independent store starting out. What would you say were some of the growing pains that Shelflife had to experience to get to this point?
Nick:It definitely wasn’t easy. It was a major struggle. We are very happy to be where we are but it certainly wasn’t easy! One of the major problems when starting was getting brands to believe in us, and to even stock us! We were not credit worthy with anyone so no one would open accounts with us, so we started off with minimal stock and slowly built up our store. Promoting and growing the business with no budget was also very difficult. We’ve become masters in guerilla advertising and cutting costs along these lines!

theblagg: Do you think launch parties for internationally designed sneakers are relevant in places other than Cape Town?
Nick: Generally we launch sneakers around the same time the sneakers are launched worldwide, which makes it feel like you are a part of something very big. It’s always great seeing launches in New York that you are launching in Cape Town

theblagg: What would you say you would like Shelflife's legacy to be?
Nick: I’ve always wanted to build up our scene, our street scene and graffiti scene. I don’t want people to see us ever as sell outs, artists to us always come first, and we want to be remembered for this!
Stay tuned to Shelflife on www.shelflife.co.za we appreciate all the support out there especially to the peeps in other parts of the country that can’t even reach the store but still order online and support us!

Classic Material

By now you've heard that Shelflife presents the Puma Suede Launch on 15 October. Peep www.suedelaunch.co.za for deets. It's not open to errrbody (all together now: awwwwwww) but we'll let you know how it all went down.

Reebok Pump

Now Reebok is not a brand that theblagg talks about. I mean we only own one pair of Reeboks between the two of us (Grey&white on red S dots. FIRE!), which got jacked when some guys decide to loot Dude's place like it was a white owned store during the LA riots.

He is not bitter though...JUST RETURN HIS ELEMENT JACKET DAMMIT! ITS KINDA COLD RIGHT NOW!!

Ahem. yes. Reebok.

Reebok launched its Reebok Pump 20th Anniversary collection in the three continents which matter when it comes to fashion ie. North America, Europe and Asia. Instead of releasing the same colorways of the iconic Reebok pump in all three continents, Reebok chose to collaborate with respected retailers of urban lifestyle in the different continents. We could bore you with a list of these lucky retailers but we figured...nah. We would rather show you our favourite two in each continent.

North America

UNDEFEATED



HUF



Asia

Atmos Tokyo



Kasina



Europe

Patta



Hanon



It's dope that this allowed retailers to extend their reps into collaborators as well. I wonder who would be in line if they did the same in Africa. Hmmm. Munks? Shelflife? Ritual? Ummm Ama Kip Kip??? Who would you recommend?