This summer I had the pleasure and the honour to travel to Onitsuka Tiger’s hometown of Kobe and interview five of the men responsible for the founding of the brand and its early growth. From the birth of some of our most iconic products to the design of the logo script, I got to hear so many first hand stories about where Onitsuka Tiger comes from, which will hopefully play a big part in where we’re going.

Please take some time to view the first episode of the series we worked on in Kobe, “Roots,” which explores the connection between Onitsuka Tiger and Kobe.

Thanks also go out to Ian Lynam, the team at AQ, Toshiki Senuoe and the ASICS team at Headquarters for helping this come together.

I’ll upload real images once I get back to Amsterdam and can upload the photos and video from my camera

Capping off an incredible homecoming weekend, I was lucky enough to attend the second stop of the Watch the Throne tour at the Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, North Carolina. Even with the high ticket prices, pretty much everyone I talked to this past week was buzzing about the concert, by bringing together two of music’s living legends on one stage, “The Throne” had created a “be there” moment; either you were talking about what you hoped to see, or what you expected to miss out on.

I wasn’t overwhelmed by Watch the Throne the album, I think it will come to represent a significant change in how hip-hop music is produced, recorded and arranged in years to come, however at times I–like many others–was alienated by the number of luxury rap references and toasts to opulence. That said, I was excited to see how two of rap’s best performers, could bring their deep catalogues and enormous production budgets into a single show.

After an almost 2 and a half hour wait, almost an hour of which was spent in line at “Chick Fry Fry” who employed the time-honoured “keep-them-waiting-for drinks-long-enough-to-convince-them-they-could-actually-use-some-chicken-tenders” business model of concert concessions, the titans finally arrived to the album’s doddering leitmotif, before launching into “H.A.M.” whose blaring strings and powerful drums were in fact hard as a motherfucker.

The first few songs of the set were flawless, as the duo fired off a selection of Watch the Throne’s more energetic cuts, with “Who Gon Stop Me” being the definite highlight. Backed up by an impressive stage set-up that featured video montages of nature films, lasers and smoke machines, the concept looked like it would deliver on the album’s attempt to bring together “high” and “low” art in a way that felt vital despite the obvious calculation.

As the night wore on, Kanye and Jay began to take turns performing mini-sets of their hits, and that’s when the cracks started to appear. As an album, Watch the Throne felt like a Kanye West album laden with Jay-Z features, as a tour–at least in partisan Greensboro–Jay-Z felt like the headliner, with Kanye acting as a sometimes unwelcome guest to the festivities. The generational gap became apparent every time one exited the stage to let the other perform. When Jay took the time to reach deep into his bag of hits, the entire enraptured stadium dutifully raised their diamonds and followed every cue he sent in the audience’s direction. On the other hand, Kanye’s solo sets were hit and miss, and many of his attempts to draw the audience in failed to connect with the masses.

This was most evident when Kanye ascended an LED-lit pillar in the centre of the crowd to perform “Runaway” and “Heartless.” Bathed in red lights wearing a red motorcycle jacket, black leather jeans, black and pink Nike Yeezy 2’s and a grunge-style plaid shirt tied around his waist, an autotuned West crooned and ranted while advising concert goers to appreciate their loved ones in what in sincere displays of emotion that just didn’t resonate beyond his glowing totem pole.

In concert, Kanye seems to relive the moment that each song was conceived as he performs them, and in the right setting, that type of catharsis can be transcendent and powerful, but he is rendered impotent when the audience refuses to join him. Many in the crowd last night were clearly there to see Jay-Z and West’s more emotional moments at times felt like intermissions from Hova’s hit parade, which was a shame.

If the crowd came to party, Jay was more than happy to oblige them as he strung together, hit after hit, and never appeared to be having less than a ball. Hip-Hop’s first truly timeless figure delivered on every front, lyrical street tales (“Where I’m From,” “You Don’t Know”) radio hits (“Big Pimpin’,” “H to the Izzo,”) hits that shouldn’t be hits (“Public Service Announcement,”) and late career highlights (“On to the Next One,” and the surprisingly well-received “Empire State of Mind.”) The ageless God MC was pitch-perfect all night and by the time he returned to close the show with The Black Album’s “Encore,” the breathless crowd chanted his name even when he graciously tried to start a “Kanye” chant. Whether this trend continues as the tour moves forward remains to be seen, but at least on this night, the kilt-clad “Little Brother” deferred to “Big Brother.”

Family and Friends by Yoske Nishiumi from Onitsuka Tiger on Vimeo.

A wrap-up of our Family and Friends exhibit in Berlin last week, Koi Klub Founder/Curator/Onitsuka Tiger Collaborator Yoske Nishiumi talks us through the concept, how it came together and of course, having fun. Very inspiring.

The ASICS Europe team spent the week in Berlin for Fashion Week, where we not only appeared at the Bright and Bread and Butter Trade shows, but also gave a preview of our upcoming collaborations and high end collections at our now BiAnnual Family and Friends event. It was an incredible time, no shortage of meetings, but definitely no shortage of free alcohol. Thanks to Jack for the photos

Home Until January 4th

This Friday, ASICS will be celebrating the release of a collaborative project with Amsterdam-based DJ Agency Robin Banks. The Can’t Run Like This EP features 14 tracks on two “sides” one side contains 7 tracks that sample Biggie’s “Gimme Da Loot” while the other 7 tracks sample Kris Kross’ “Jump.”

Sound Mind, Sound Body:
Stimulate The Brain With Music You Love,
To Make The Body Achieve Greater Things.
Mind and Body In Sync, At Their Best – Music As Stimulation.
Love, Music and Running. Get It…

Info on the event below:

Robin Banks 1 Year Anniversary & EP Release Party
Jimmy Woo
Korte Leidsedwarsstraat 18
1017 JW Amsterdam
Friday, the 10th of December 2010
23.00 – 04.00 CET

Family and Friends Recap from Onitsuka Tiger on Vimeo.

Video of the event, and some looks at the upcoming collabs.

A couple of weeks back, I talked about an event Onitsuka Tiger was having to celbrate the release of our collaboration with SEVENTYFIVE at their store on Haarlemerdijk. The event was great, I think everyone that attended got all of the mileage possible out of the Bacardi sponsorship so shout out to them for keeping everyone very social. Of course after the show is the after party and Bitterzoet played host to some of Amsterdam’s dopest DJ’s including the hometown hero, Flexican. Special thanks to Chris Noorda of SEVENTYFIVE who not only let me walk away with a pair, but also bought me a drink at the afterparty, pretty much the definition of a Stand Up Guy. More photos below

Final post about Berlin trip last week, these are better–much better–photos of all of our collaboration partners’ installations at the Family and Friends exhibit. Props to Yoske for curating it as well as all of our partners for dedicating time to doing interviews about our projects which will find their way onto the interwebs soon enough.

All the different stores and brands brought their own style and flair to their exhibits, which said as much about their brand as it did the products that we created together. Slam Jam took their Gel Lyte III to the “Fifth Dimension” with a colourful, otherworldly space that featured a conceptual video on the importance of choice and free will (really.)
Surface to Air brought an air of mystique to their space by obscuring their collab sneakers in smoke and low light. Considering their piece is so far outside of the norm when it comes to sneaker collaborations, it only made sense for them to step around the format and showcase the concept by hiding the shoe.
Koi Klub brought in the collision of East and West and modern and traditional in a space that featured a striking upholstered skateboard.
Reality Studio’s two pairs of Fabre Lights were showcased in a space that spoke to the inspiration that Svenja took from fabrics and textures Native to the Americas, Africa and Asia. The organic feel of the Reality Studio pieces was strengthened by a wall to wall carpet of moss.
24 Kilates celebrated the feast of San Fermin by recreating a Spanish Bar complete with Catholic idols, hanging chorizos, traditional botas and most noticeably a real bull’s head. To add to the authenticity, in true Spanish fashion, store founders Pol and Ricardo more or less trashed the miniature bar, and left it trashed for the next day’s visitors to take in.
Sneaker Freaker’s Gel Lyte III was inspired by Ozploitation sex-comedy Alvin Purple, and their space reflected the cinematic inspiration with a 3D poster, complete with Gel Lyte II inspired 3D glasses and a video loop of a documentary on the Ozploitation genre on loop.
As Amsterdam’s first true sneaker boutique, SEVENTYFIVE are known as pioneers in Europe for being one of the first stores to present sneakers as true fashion pieces. This was reflected in their installation, that suspended their Lay-Up 72′s over a Greek column with a simple gold plaque, treating the sneaker as a piece of art so clean it didn’t even touch the pedestal.
Known for deconstructing day-to-day items and re-building them in an imperfect, but minimal form, Spanish-born German designer Tilmann Lauterbach filled his installation at Family and Friends with torn fabrics and burnt sneakers. Hidden behind a wall of cardboard, the visitors had to peer through the cracks of the barrier to get a look at the two Mexico MidRunners he designed for Onitsuka tiger.
More on the creation of Family and Friends here

Professional Photos this time, thanks to everyone that came through, as you can see a good time was had by all, partially fueled by the 24Kilates bota bag and the Germany-Spain World Cup Semi Final