Happy Halloween from The Deffest blog

Happy Halloween y’all. 🎃 For those of you who have not seen it yet we highly recommend checking out the campy 1983 horror film ‘Sleepaway Camp.’ This is one of the strangest horror movies from the 80s and has an insane mind-blowing final sequence. (Don’t google it before you watch it because there are tons of spoilers online.) Regarding the movie poster… odd choice of adidas because most of the characters in this movie are rocking old school Nike sneakers.👟🔪

Sleepaway Camp poster image credit: IMDB

Internet Legends: Harput's Sneaker Shop in San Francisco and Oakland

We love old school sneakers and old school hip hop. During our travels across the web we came across these masterpiece commercials for Harput’s up in Oakland and thought y’all would appreciate them.

Here’s another one….

Harput’s was founded by Turk Harput and we’ve included the full history from Robin J. Moody’s Portland Business Journal article ‘Vintage sneaker showcase’ from Jun 26, 2003.

Vintage sneaker showcase
Collectors covet long-ago models from top athletic shoemakers

By Robin J. Moody of The Portland Business Journal
Jun 26, 2003

It all started when Turk Harput was cruising a flea market in Oakland, Calif., in 1978 and spotted 1,000 pairs of discontinued sneakers.

He traded his '74 Volvo for the entire stock and began hawking the shoes--some dating from the '40s--from the back of his VW bus. Most sold for $5 or $10.

Today Harput's, the store that bears his name, is a purveyor of rare and retro sneakers that enjoys a special partnership with Adidas and caters to "sneaker heads" or rare shoe collectors.

It has a thriving web-based business, in addition to a shop in the Fillmore district of San Francisco. Turk Harput's son Gus Harput opened a shop in Portland at 139 N.W. Second Ave. in December 2002. It remains a family-owned business.

Ken Thornby, director of sports heritage for Adidas America, called Harput's one of the company's "trend accounts," that gets dibbs on Adidas' most exclusive product.

"We have had a working relationship with Harput's since the '70s. We share ideas and when there are sneaker shows in town we sometimes go together," Thornby said.

Sales of so-called retro shoes grew 11.4 percent in 2002, according to the trade group Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association. Harput's has made a name for itself selling these clean, old-school styles.

The Harput family has taken the unusual step of putting select shoes into storage. They take them out--sometimes decades later--to sell. This strategy has helped the company find a niche and stay in business in a market dominated by national chains.

"We had to specialize and offer what the chains could not," said Gus Harput. "We cut down our buying of shoes to those that were deemed classic and original and left the athletic performance stuff completely. We pulled this off at first with our extensive supply of 'dead-stock' shoes, put away for years in our San Francisco basement."

At the same time, manufacturers like Adidas began offering more retro models, distributing many lines of exclusive and limited edition product to shoe boutiques. The strategy has helped build a customer base for a whole new market segment--the sneaker collector, according to Gus Harput.

"[Adidas was] right at the beginning of reshaping sneaker tastes and reintroducing the retro products customers wanted," Harput said.

At the Portland shop, a few pairs of true vintage shoes are for sale in addition to dozens of re-released originals from Nike, Adidas, Puma and even New Balance.

A pair of original Adidas Chile '62s is priced at $160, and a pair of 1982 Nike Air Flights costs $200. A pair of Adidas designer Yohji Yamamoto's knee-high, neoprene, fashion-statement boots is priced at $400. A call to Nike was not returned by press time.

Owner Gus Harput has an extensive personal collection of rare shoes--many of which are on display at the Old Town store. One particularly rare Adidas shoe on display, made of ostrich skin, is reputed to be worth $10,000.

Part of the lore of Harput's is its online Harput's Vault, which sells rare and sought-after shoes, typically for $1,000. This week, Adidas Universal Kangaroos, made in West Germany, and the French-made Adidas Tobacco, were among the featured shoes for sale.

"With Adidas, the highly valuable shoes are those manufactured in France, Yugoslavia and West Germany because the company hasn't made sneakers there in 15 years," explained footwear culture consultant and sneaker collector Chris Hall.

Hall added there are a limited number of hard-core sneaker collectors, but more people who will pay high prices for remakes.

"There is a small handful across the world--perhaps 100--who will pay top dollar for vintage sneakers. There are more that would pay $700 for a remake that came out this year," said Hall, who also writes a column on footwear called Kickin' It for Mass Appeal magazine.

A good portion of sneaker heads are Asian males ages 13 to 35, Hall said. Hipsters and baby boomers are also fans, Harput said. Retro shoes are worn by people seeking fashion over function.

"For some it is reminiscing their youth through Adidas trainers they wore as kids, or trainers they wish they'd worn as kids. ... For others it's their devotion to the mighty athletes or teams that donned the three stripes on the winners' podium," Harput said in a recent inter-view with the online publication Propertop.com.

Adidas spokesman Thornby said core consumers for retro shoes are ages 14 to 24. There are also men in their 30s who grew up during the sneaker boom and are nostalgic for the shoes they wore during their youth.

"These are sneaker junkies who spend the money to seek out expensive shoes. They are on top of fashion and art," Thornby said, and some even have photo albums of their collections.

But fickle consumer tastes could mean retro styles go the way of Day-Glo.

"I'm always concerned about changing tastes," Thornby said. "A lot of people thought it would be over by now, but sales are still strong. These are clean, comfortable products people connect with."

Gus Harput predicts sales will hold steady in the coming months, "but I don't see things bullish," he added.

Harput's Portland store is open from noon to 7 p.m. daily.

Four Stripe Legends: Dennis Wilson of the Beach Boys faux adidas SL76

Yesterday we posted an old school adidas SL76 sneaker ad which reminded me that we had a reader of the blog reach out awhile ago looking for sneakers that were like the SL76… except with 4 stripes. They passed along this photo of Dennis Wilson from the Beach Boys and Karen Lamm from 1977 right before Wilson released Pacific Ocean Blue. If you want to check out other 4 stripe celebrity sneaker photos we have also posted about Neil Young and Dale Earnhardt Sr and if you want to see a goldmine of celebrity sneaks you should check out the @trainer.spotting instagram account.

Four Stripe Legends - Dennis Wilson faux adidas SL76
Four Stripe Legends faux adidas SL76. Dennis Wilson of the Beach Boys 1977 photo with Karen Lamm
Adidas SL76 vintage sneaker ad @ The Deffest

Sneakerhead job board: Work for Yeezy at the ranch in Cody

Just putting up a quick post since we have some footwear designers who follow the blog. If anyone is interested there’s a job opening over at adidas for a Design Director role with Yeezy in Cody, WY.

DESIGN DIRECTOR FOOTWEAR - YEEZY CODY

The full job description is below and you can apply over at adidas here:

DESIGN DIRECTOR FOOTWEAR - YEEZY CODY

PURPOSE & OVERALL RELEVANCE FOR THE ORGANIZATION:

Create industry leading advanced design solutions that provide seasonal design direction. Lead and establish team and direction of designs provided by the Senior Design Director. Maintain and nurture the design, material and color direction with the Design team, Development, Marketing and the consumer. Influence wider horizontal design teams developing seasonal Brand initiatives across key categories based on direction given by Senior Design Director.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:

Develop the seasonal Direction of the Design according to market trends as well as overall Design Direction and ensure consistency though products and ranges

Be at a global forefront of design trends and innovation as well as their application

Steer and drive the conceptualization process

Manage a team towards objectives and implement process changes

Steer and coach team members and their creative processes and drive development of direct reports.

Inspire and motivate teams to pursue cutting edge ideas that are innovative and original in the market, by researching functional criteria for product and product concepts and outlining area of innovation

Work closely with category and Future design to drive seamless collaboration.

Ensure the correct execution of Corporate Identity guidelines and against legal restrictions within the category.

Verbally present strategies with clarity and expertise.

Disseminate Design Strategy into design team and x-functional teams

Create professional level presentations of ideas; from loose sketch to detailed renderings to Digital Presentation

Ensure efficient processes and communication between external and internal teams

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND ABILITIES:

Profound knowledge of fashion product and fashion design/industrial product or industrial design

Innovative and collaborative leader and coach

Excellent communication skills

Strong influencing skills

High level of initiative & maturity

Ability to inspire, think creatively and strategically as well as to act tactically

Problem solving attitude & can-do personality

Knowledge and use of Macintosh computer design software/systems (Photoshop, Illustrator)

Fluent in English (spoken and written)

REQUISITE EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE / MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS:

Bachelor degree (B.A.) from four-year college or university in a relevant Design subject or equivalent combination of education and experience

Minimum of 8 years practical experience in a relevant area

Minimum of 3 years of management including team leadership

AT ADIDAS WE HAVE A WINNING CULTURE. BUT TO WIN, PHYSICAL POWER IS NOT ENOUGH. JUST LIKE ATHLETES OUR EMPLOYEES NEED MENTAL STRENGTH IN THEIR GAME. WE FOSTER THE ATHLETE‘S MINDSET THROUGH A SET OF BEHAVIORS THAT WE WANT TO ENABLE AND DEVELOP IN OUR PEOPLE AND THAT ARE AT THE CORE OF OUR UNIQUE COMPANY CULTURE – THE 3CS: CONFIDENCE, COLLABORATION AND CREATIVITY.

CONFIDENCE allows athletes to make quick decisions on the field, to reach higher. For us at adidas confidence means acknowledging that we don’t have all the answers. But we are willing to take risks, we try new things. And if we fail, then this is part of our learning – it helps us improve.

COLLABORATION. Every elite athlete relies on partners: coaches, teammates, and nutritionists. We, too, know that we are stronger together. Winning as one team takes open and candid dialogue, inclusiveness and trust in each other’s abilities and talents.

Being the best sports company in the world takes CREATIVITY. No great athlete succeeds by copying their predecessors’ training plans and strategies. We have to be open to new ideas, explore, gain an edge and stand out. Only then can we succeed.

ADIDAS CELEBRATES DIVERSITY, SUPPORTS INCLUSIVENESS AND ENCOURAGES INDIVIDUAL EXPRESSION IN OUR WORKPLACE. WE DO NOT TOLERATE THE HARASSMENT OR DISCRIMINATION TOWARD ANY OF OUR APPLICANTS OR EMPLOYEES. WE ARE AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER.

A timeline of sneaker brands: 1876 - 1980

Sneaker brand graphic timeline @ The Deffest

Here's a graphic timeline of the founding dates for most of the major sneaker and running shoe brands. A couple of notes on this post.⁣

1. A lot of the brands didn't start out immediately making athletic footwear until much later. In Etonic's case it took them until 1945 to start making golf shoes.⁣

2. The line height levels were only to make enough real estate to fit all of the information since a lot of the dates were clustered closely together.⁣

3. If you’re interested in vintage products for the brands in this list check out our vintage shop over at RewindRunning.com.

Here’s the list from oldest to newest…

​1876
Etonic - In 1876, the man who inspired the Etonic name, Charles A. Eaton, opened his first shoe factory in Brockton, MA. To put in perspective how old this is… Rutherford B. Hayes won the election of 1876 taking over as President of the United States from Ulysses S. Grant.

1882
​Le Coq Sportif - Founded by Émile Camuset in Entzheim, France.

1891
Tretorn - Founded by Johan Dunker in Helsingborg, Sweden.

1894
Bata - Founded by Tomáš Baťa in Zlín.

1898
Saucony - first factory was founded in 1898 at Kutztown, Pennsylvania, on the high banks of the Saucony Creek. The brand was founded by four partners named William Donnoyer, Thomas Levan, Walter Snyder and Benjamin Reider. More Saucony history at Wikipedia.

1905
Gola - founded on 22 May 1905. It used to be known as the Bozeat Boot Company, and was based in the Northamptonshire village of Bozeat, England.

For more info:
There’s a brief history on Gola at their site here.
Gola over at Wikipedia.
Here’s an interview with Gola VP of U.S. Operations Steven Weinreb from 2016 at Sourcing Journal.

1906
New Balance - In 1906, William J. Riley, British emigrant, founded the New Balance Arch Support Company in the Boston area, manufacturing arch supports and other accessories designed to improve shoe fit.

Mizuno - Founded by Rihachi Mizuno in Osaka.

1908
Converse - Marquis Mills Converse opened the Converse Rubber Shoe Company in February 1908 in Malden, MA. For more info there’s a pretty good history at The Idle Man and over at Heddels.

1911
Fila was founded by Giansevero Fila and his brothers in in Biella, Italy. More history at Fila’s website here.

1913
Wilson - Founded as Ashland Manufacturing Company in Chicago, IL​.

1914
Brooks is founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania by John Brooks Goldenberg. Here’s another article at Funding Universe with a Brooks history up until around 1999.

1916
Karhu - founded as Ab Sport Artiklar formed and became Karhu in 1920.

1916
Keds - founded when U.S. Rubber consolidated 30 different shoe brands into one company. Originally named "Peds" it quickly turned into Keds due to trademark issues with the name Peds. More info at Popsugar.

1923
Hummel - Founded as Messmer & Company in Hamburg, Germany​.

1924
Adidas and Puma - formed by Adolf Dassler in his mother's house; he was joined by his elder brother Rudolf in 1924 under the name Dassler Brothers Shoe Factory.

1937
P.F. Flyers - Founded by B.F. Goodrich in Akron, Ohio​.

1948
Adidas and Puma - After some family acrimony the Dassler brothers split in 1948, forming separate brands Adidas and Puma.

Diadora - founded by Marcello Danieli, in Italy. More info at Diadora’s website here.

1949
Onitsuka Tiger - founded by 32-year-old former military officer Kihachiro Onitsuka in Kobe, Japan. Onitsuka Tiger eventually became ASICS in 1977. Here’s a pretty good history over at Barkers too.

Pro-Keds - Founded in 1949 by Keds as their athletic footwear line.. Sneaker Freaker has a great write up on Pro-Keds history here.

1958
Reebok - formed by Joe and Jeff Foster in Bolton, UK as a companion company to J.W. Foster and Sons. Here’s an excellent history over at Grailed. And another history over at RetailDive.

1964
Nike - BRS Blue Ribbon Sports (Nike) founded on January 25, 1964 by Bill Bowerman and Phil Knight, and officially became Nike, Inc. on May 30, 1971.

1966
Vans - March 16, 1966; Van formed as The Van Doren Rubber Company and was founded by Paul Van Doren, Serge D’Elia and Gordy Lee.

K-Swiss - Founded by Art & Ernie Brunner in Los Angeles, CA​.

1972
PONY - founded in NYC by Roberto Muller with financing provided by Horst Dassler, the son of Adolf "Adi" Dassler who founded Adidas. A cliff notes version of PONY’s history is over here at Wikipedia.

1974
Hi-Tec - founded by Frank Van Wezel in Shoeburyness, England. More info at Wikipedia.

1975
Osaga - founded in Eugene, OR by Bill Combs.

Jaclar - founded in 1975 in Stoughton, MA.

1979
Avia - founded in Oregon by Jerry Stubblefield.

KangaROOS - Founded by Bob Gamm in St. Louis, MO.