Hey All - I'm stoked to be attending both the 2018 Agenda streetwear show and MAGIC FN platform footwear sourcing conference in Las Vegas for the next few days. Like Elvis we’re TCB⚡
More vintage sneaker posts when I'm back!
Tokyo & Kyoto vintage sneaker shopping guide
Hey all - just got back from Japan and had an awesome time there. It was a great trip. Both Tokyo and Kyoto have some incredibly well curated vintage clothing and sneaker shops. Below is a quick summary guide in case any of you venture across the pond.
Passover Evisu Tokyo sneaker logo store front
Koenji is the cool historic punk rock neighborhood of Tokyo and it is a gold mine of vintage shops. I saw some dope old 1970’s Skips by Montgomery Ward and some knock off Adidas country vintage sneakers at Grandberry Jam. Salers, right across the street, had some rare Nike waffles and really cool old school Trax by Kmart running shoes as well.
Vintage Trax, Skips by Montgomery Ward, and Nike sneakers at Grandberry Jam, Koenji, Tokyo.
If you’re poking around the neighborhood you may want to work your way a few blocks over to Top of the Hill Koenji and CA shop which are on the same street. They didn’t have any vintage kicks but they both had a pretty great selection of other american vintage items. Elsewhere in Tokyo I stumbled upon a sign for a closed down Thom McAn shop. Weird.
This Thom McAn was at 35.659840, 139.699131 on Google maps. You can see it if you zoom in on the left had side of the alley.
Another excellent neighborhood for shopping is in the Shimokitazawa neighborhood which has a surplus of vintage shops. Right in the heart of the neighborhood is Soma sneaker store, who may have the most impressive collection on vintage kicks that I’ve seen. Walking into this store is like walking into a waffle sneaker museum. If you’re ever in town I highly recommend you check it out. Some other good vintage stores in this neighborhood include New York Joe Exchange, Flamingo and Haight & Ashbury.
Vintage 1970's Nike Oregon waffle running shoes at Dockery Farm.
Kyoto had fewer vintage shops but there are definitely some finds to be had there. The Three Star Vintage store is huge and the staff was really nice. Dockery Farm had some excellent 1970’s Nike Oregon waffles as well. All in all this is really just scratching the surface. There were a ton of other shops that don't have an online presence but if you're in Japan all of the above are definitely worth checking out.
Hello Japan! こんにちわ にほん！
The Deffest will be traveling to the great land of Japan later this week for research, fun and adventure. If you have recommendations for sneaker spots in Tokyo or Kyoto hit us up on the contact page!
