I’m absolutely loving Nike’s latest push back into their heritage with their vintage lines. This Tennis Classic is 95 Euros, available at Star Cow. Via Hypebeast

Streetwear is so hype right now. Thanks to sites like High Snobiety, Honeyee — and jeez, even this one — wild graphics and even wilder collabs have become as venerated as the celebrities that like to be spotted in them.

But what's brand to do when bold prints and bright colors, once considered so daring and original, start weaving their way into the mainstream? If you're Daniel Pierre and Kareem Blair, creators of respected streetwear line Lemar and Dauley, that question has one answer: Stay the hell ahead of everyone else.

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I’m having a hard time separating my feelings about the upcoming Nike vintage running shoes themselves from the marketing campaign that surrounds them. For starters, it seems risky to go on record criticizing the fine men and women at the Swoosh given their stellar track record. The interwebs seem to have responded positively to the new campaign, so I feel obligated to expound a bit on my reaction aside from just offering a cliched meh. Making matters worse for potential critics of the new line, Nike brought in Junya Watanabe, one of the hottest designers among snearkerphiles. The results… well, the results are what you might expect — new sneakers that look like old running shoes. Or, more accurately, running shoes you would never actually wear running. Now, don’t get me wrong — I’m not some crazy half-wit that expects people to only wear sneakers while playing tennis nor am I stumping for a return of the blucher (although I hear it’s a good shoe for yachting). So, what are we left with…? We have a tongue-in-cheek marketing campaign cleverly designed around late-70s era fashion and fitness, headlined by Nike’s website promoting (and selling, starting on July 21) the new line of shoes. The site mixes parody with back story via a fictional issue of “Oregon Runner” magazine, and includes a number of ridiculous articles on this new fad called “jogging” (or is it “yogging”? it might be a soft “j”). I can’t help but feel like it’s all a bit forced. Are feathered mullets funny? I guess. Do they want to make me buy shoes, most of which look pretty ugly to me? Not really. Check it out for yourselves; I would be interested to hear what people think about both the shoes and the campaign.

Pete Maravich, Nate Tiny Archibald and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar wore Pro-Keds. In the days before Nike and Michael Jordan cornered the basketball shoe market and athletes were still allowed to have a personality, Pro-Keds were some of the most stylish athletic shoes on the market. When the shoe market changed in the Eighties and Nineties, Pro-Keds lost their spot on the court, but, like their classic shoe brethren the Converse Chuck Taylor All-Stars, Keds have recently been revived by a craving for all things vintage in the hip-hop community (as well as a certain nutritionally-deprived star of The O.C.).

Since 2005, when Damon Dash, head of Rocawear and urban entrepreneur extraordinaire, took charge of the Pro-Keds brand, the shoes have been designed and marketed more towards people who want to look good in their sneaks than to those who want to increase their hang time and draw heavily from both pop and everyday culture. Most recently, Dash has reoriented the brand towards the vintage styles that put it on the map in the first place. If the technicolor shoes pictured above aren’t your style (check out this video of Dash showing off the box that comes with the Skittles shoe. Yep, even the box looks tasty), then you can stick to the more refined look of these classic Royal low tops. Visit the Pro-Keds website to see all their latest, and try not to drool all over your keyboard.

–Dan Steckenberg

Now, I am sure most of you are thinking the same thing, did MC Hammer have a garage sale or something? But, don’t jump to conclusions just yet. When Darren Romanelli was just a college student he would go to thrift stores and buy vintage pieces, take them apart and put them back together. After doing this on his own for a couple months, the LA hipsters and hipsterettes started to notice Mr. Romanelli’s (sorry Dr.) creations and soon a clientele of LA’s hottest boutiques were on board. Once an underground demand started to build for Romanelli’s one-of-a-kind hand made pieces, Nike decided they were going to give him a shot at working with the scraps on the cutting room floor. Ten collections later neither are looking back and Romanelli’s client list is getting longer and his clothing is getting even better. Now before you whip out your cell phone in search of these street-wear masterpieces be warned that the jackets cost around $1500 and the hoodies $600!

The gold glimmer of a vintage Nike track shoe caught my eye as I passed by the front window of Amsterdam's premier sneaker boutique Seventy Five. Unfortunately, they weren't open, but the time I spent with my face pressed against the window admiring the collection of vintage, one-off, and foreign sneakers was worth it. A rainbow of colored Nikes, Adidas, and Asics litter the shop, but it is the monochromatic Rucanor F24 that is the real prize. Distributed to only 3 shops in the Netherlands, of which Seventy Five is the only in Amsterdam, the rare F24 makes a nice addition to any sneaker connoisseurs collection. Look for the Rucanor Kansas canvas high-top sneaker and Rucanor Netcourt badminton sneaker early next year at where else, but Seventy Five!