Sneakersnstuff är väldigt glada och stolta över att få presentera vårt senaste samarbete med New Balance.
Det är femte gången vi jobbar tillsammans och till denna runda har vi bjudit in vår gamle vän Aaron LaCrate och hans märke Milkcrate Athletics..

Modellen vi valt att jobba med är New Balance 577, en ikonisk löparsko från 1989 som vi jobbat med flera gånger tidigare. 577 har aldrig gjort oss besviken och är känd för sin sköna passform och höga kvalitet. Handgjorda i England av riktiga skomakare i en av världens finaste skofabriker, New Balance Flimby factory, en fabrik som har kultstatus i sneakerkretsar.

Words by Gary Warnett.

This one runs a little deeper than the usual runner colourway — Stockholm meets Baltimore over a mutual respect for New Balance via the brand's unassuming-looking Flimby factory. The New Balance 577 has always evaded any sub-cultural monogamy, with scope for mass appeal. Introduced in 1989, the shark-like silhouette of the ENCAP-aided 577 indicated that it was a serious shoe, with many runners of the time still swearing by the shoe's comfort and support. While the price of four digit pieces left athletes breathless, the 577 wasn't cheap either. Shoe connoisseurs globally flocked to the model over time, collaborators reworked it, and even Israel's army put a special order in. Consider the 577 the Flimby factory's heritage jewel— the last great traditional-looking runner from New Balance before the reign of the tech. Sneakersnstuff are no strangers to this silhouette, but the "Athletics" in Milkcrate Athletics hints at footwear fanaticism too and the end result is a duo of 577 makeups made as a dual-team effort that offer a New Balance of greyed-out and multicolour in suedes and pigskins.

Stockholm's Sneakersnstuff first opened in 1999, just before a boutique boom, and Aaron LaCrate's Milkcrate Athletics line was a 1996 creation that outfitted the post boom-bap backpackers and beyond, with the gear worn by Eminem, the RZA and more at a transitional pre-millennial time for hip-hop. To be preoccupied with sneakers means a global worldview, with specific loyalties to Herzo, Beaverton, Boston and Flimby's output, and for those with a Yankophile streak, a frequently stamped passport from NYC visits. Along the way, we amass associates at the same rate we stack boxes. Aaron's a nomad too and despite those close ties to his B-More home city, he's travelled everywhere, spending time in London to foster a new wave and hitting up the rest of Europe too. Just when the media thought they had the measure of his sound as a local bass scene to pigeonhole, he evolved again. One guy into sneakers meets some other guys who are really into sneakers...it's an inevitability that defies locale. Once they start talking, it's a wrap, because rap and shoe talk builds some strong relationships. Everybody's got a story to tell.

Cliché question to start, but this is an unexpected colab — how did this come about? Stockholm and Baltimore is an interesting connection...

Erik: Besides the history we share together as brands, it basically comes down to just wanting to do good things with good people. I love the idea of being able to wake up one day and saying, "we should do this" and then get to do it without any major company rules tripping you on the way. Sneakersnstuff has done our fair share of NBs over the years and this time we felt that we wanted to add something more...unexpected.

Aaron: Milkcrate is originally most known for being a early day streetwear brand. However I was born and bred in Baltimore and grew up there 'til about 18, when I moved to NY to attend Syracuse University. I also spent a semester in London in 1996, which was very formative year for the Milkcrate brand. It's funny that since I blew up Baltimore music and culture on a worldwide level, that's what most people associate Milkcrate with. Yes, I am Mr Baltimore, but I'm also Mr. Streetwear and Milkcrate has always enjoyed much international and European fame. The short of it is that SNS has been supporting and distro'ing Milkcrate since 2003 for Sweden, and we're all good pals and have done a few Milkcrate DJ tours and parties in Sweden, and we hang in NYC quite often.

Was Milkcrate part of the early SNS stock back in 1999? You seemed to open for business at a point when I was pretty preoccupied with the brand.

Peter: Milkcrate Athletics has been a major part of the Stockholm streetwear scene since the late '90's. As Aaron says, we started working with Milkcrate in 2003. The only reason why we didn't pick up Milkcrate earlier was the fact that a couple of friends of ours, Jonas and Thomas, ran a streetwear store here in Stockholm called Boutique Sportif and they carried Milkcrate. Stockholm is only that big so, good guys as we are, we didn't want to step on their toes. Boutique Sportif is long gone but Thomas is now working as a head buyer for us so it's all good.

Erik: Not back in '99, but Aaron used to holler at us at the trade shows in the US. He was represented in Stockholm by the local competition at the time so we felt that there was enough other brands to work with, without having to steal a brand from other local stores doing their thing. So, it all boiled down to Aaron asking Jonas and Thomas of the legendary Boutique Sportif if it was cool for Sneakersnstuff to carry it as well.

Peter, what other stores were around before, or at the same time as, Boutique Sportif in Stockholm? Was it just "real" sports shops prior to that?

Peter: There was just real sport shops and skate shops.

SNS's relationship with NB goes back to the mid '00's, right? Do you think collaborating has become easier? Back then it seemed like a very, very new thing that needed plenty of persuasion — now it's an established business model.

Peter: Officially, New Balance and Sneakersnstuff go back to 2003 I believe. Unofficially, we did sell a few grey zone imported NBs back in 1999. But our relationship with NB go way back. I started working in this business in the spring of 1989 and I've been a huge fan of New Balance ever since. For us it's still a very big thing when a major brand like New Balance contact us saying they like us and they want to partner up with us. We feel very honoured every time that happens. 10 years ago we had to bring maps of Europe and Sweden to explain to people where we come from. It's different today.

Erik: When we started out in '99 some magazine asked us about the top 5 sneakers. And they also wanted to know the big no-no. Can't remember what we had down for the top 5, but I know we said New Balance was the big no-no. That ended up with a pic of a classic 576 with a red cross on it. That was how "all over the place" NBs were at that time. But when the market had shifted a bit, we looked to New Balance for those classic runners. New Balance was the second brand to bless us with a collaboration — PUMA was first — so we have always had a good relationship with NB.

Aaron, what led you to start Milkcrate?

Aaron: I grew up a skate, street, art, graf, creatively obsessed kid. We had the first skateboard shop in the basement of our Baltimore row home. I was selling mixtapes and also hand drawing and airbrushing t-shirts all around age 9 or 10. The who's who of Baltimore street fame kids were all shopping there including a young Bucky Lasek. My basement became a factory where I was starting to produce the early blueprint of what Milkcrate would become, so this is all my life story and very much my DNA.

I was also DJing a lot of loft parties in Baltimore for all the street, club, and graf heads and used to sell "COOL AARON" mixtapes and t-shirts and actually was doing quite well for a young kid — that all evolved into Milkcrate, but Baltimore was a small scene so all the cool shit was kind of a hybrid. Most skate kids were up on sneakers and also listening to punk rock and hip-hop. For instance, we all skated in Air Max 90s, Jordan I's and Patrick Ewings. So for an early age you understood that it was about blending genres to create your own unique style — a little skate, some Polo or Not From Concentrate tee with workwear or army surplus. Also, because Baltimore was a tough city and if you're skating in the hood you'd better look the part so you got props and not beat down.

The notion of "streetwear" beyond some usual suspects seemed pretty new in the late '90's — when I saw the brands in the basement at Macy's recently I realised how far things have moved on. For all that it did to unite music and fashion, do you think it was a little underrated?

Aaron: Since urbanwear died, there's been a void in the market, and there is a new generation who are much more open to mixing things up again —what I consider to be real hip hop fashion. That to me is what I've been waiting for, Milkcrate has always been a bit ahead of the curve and our goal has never been to be in the basement of Macys. Its always been about how can we be the streetwear equivalent of the best of all things underground — that excitement of having something that no one else does.

A lot of brands that dropped before the blog-explosion of '05/'06 don't seem to get their recognition.

Aaron: I was enjoying a great ride of internet success as a producer and DJ when the blog explosion of 2005 rolled around. At that point it was 9 years of lots of dedication to streetwear, so we as a brand were charting new territory and showing and proving that Milkcrate is the only street fashion brand to actually break ground in pop culture on a musical level, and us being the proclaimed originator of music/DJ inspired fashion was something that had to be proven. Milkcrate is a bigger idea than just streetwear or how do we make cool shit as cheaply as possible in China. We're ignorantly independent and always on some next shit. We refused to make anything in China — we don't like the easy road.

The New World Order and Illson tees are still classic to me — I never saw a lot of TNF homages before that, but I've seen a ton since. Did you ever get any legal warnings from the brands you were parodying?

Aaron: Thanks Gary, I appreciate that. They both are so different and iconic for very different reasons. The fact that they were both in the first collection of Milkcrate say so much about where my head was as a designer from day one — especially NWO, as who in streetwear was referencing the NWO in '97? Crazy vision. Once again, the blending of genres and ideas without losing the fun. Very much the sampling music philosophy for streetwear or me applying my music production thought process to graphic design.

I really associate Milkcrate with years spent staring at sites like Digital Gravel — retail's changed a lot, but all of you have weathered the storm...Milkcrate's a couple of years older than SNS — did you start in in 1996/7?

Aaron: We started in 1996 but got recognized in 1997. I really feel brand new at the moment — the past 15 years have been the warm up session. I have been actually waiting for the real NWO to go hard in this game — that's what NWO was really about. Just wait 'til the NWO you muthafuckers! Milkcrate has really accomplished some unprecedented things in culture as a totally 100% indie brand, in both music and fashion through our original ideas, but our collabos especially speak volumes of the respect Milkcrate carries. So now thats established, we sit uniquely in our own lane. Milkcrate has done official collabos with Jay-Z, Vans, Lucien Pellat-Finet, Ed Banger, Lily Allen, Jim Jones, Mobb Deep, Mark Bodé, John Waters, Rakim, The Wire, HBO, colette and so many others.

Things move so fast now though — do you feel like veterans?

Erik: We have seen a few brand managers come and go, yes. Sometimes it feels like everything is moving very fast and sometimes you can't wait for a trend to blow over. And yes, I feel older, and something of a veteran. In a way, it was more fun before internet killed the thrill. On the other hand, we have been able to use the internet to make Sneakersnstuff known all over the world. As with most stores, we ship worldwide and we have regular traffic and orders coming in from over 75 countries.

What got you into sneakers? Both cities have very deep rooted footwear associations, Stockholm always seems more running led and Baltimore is a rugged shoe city...

Aaron: Hip-hop of course. The fact that Beastie Boys and PE were wearing adidas Ewings was huge. We skated in them because of the crazy ankle support. Both the colourways were just ill— royal and orange, with the grey and webbing. That shoe fucked my head up. It represented design, quality, comfort, and style. Baltimore is a dope city, so sneakers are very important. We're the home of the AF1. I'm sure you know the story I broke a few years back about how Baltimore carried the weight of AF1 productions or Nike was gonna cancel the shoe.

That was the Cinderella Shoes, Charley Rudo Sports and Downtown Locker Room campaign to bring it back, right? So without those three, there'd be no AF1.

Aaron: From what I understand, Baltimore, specifically Charlie Rudo, was buying custom colourways of AF1s way back in the early '80's to support the production run of AF1s, so you could get quite a cool variety of colourways. It wasn't like, all white with whatever — they had lots of the all orange with white swoosh and sole etc. So my point is always to say Charlie Rudo and Baltimore are the first places worldwide to offer limited sneakers and AF1s. I'm not sure they brought it back, more that they kept it going prior to it catching on in NYC and Philly.

Peter: I have to say hip-hop as well. Run DMC, Beastie Boys, LL Cool J, PE and Mantronix — to name just a few — had a great impact on me growing up as teenager in the mid and late 1980's.

Erik: Basketball sucked me into sneakers. Growing up in that Jordan era when Nike just killed it with all the iconic commercials and ads. I miss the days when people wanted the latest style available — not the latest colourway of a retro. At the same time, there are some true classics out there that deserve to be around forever. Like the NB 577.

Aaron, what spots did you buy sneakers from growing up?

Aaron: I always shopped at Charlie Rudos and Shoe City is where I first saw the clear plastic wrapped sneakers as a kid. All in all Charlie Rudo was an incredibly dope chain store. There was another spot I got quite a lot of dope kicks at called Sneaky Feet. It was an outlet type of place which had loads of Jordan Is when they first dropped.

Have you seen a lot of mom and pop spots close lately?

Aaron: There was never too many mom and pop sneaker spots — all local chain stores.

Is there anything like SNS in Baltimore?

Aaron: Definitely not anything like SNS in Baltimore. Those guys are one of a kind!

Aaron, how is New Balance perceived back home? I always associate Baltimore with Foams and Goadomes for some reason, which is probably pretty short sighted of me...

Aaron: adidas Top 10 and Concords are beloved Baltimore shoes. Air Max, ACGs...really anything quality, comfort, simple, basics, because that appealed to the drug dealers, 'cos they set the trends. Especially greys that go with every outfit — easily matched. But as far as running shoes go, NB's are super, super loved and embraced in every hood in Baltimore. For years its been a Baltimore and DC favourite — especially the 993 and 574, but also the 2000 and 1500s. You can't walk 2 minutes without seeing NBs on everyone.

How much does travel widen your scope? You've all got pretty decorated passports...

Aaron: One thing that has been amazing about Milkcrate is that it's taken me all over the world so many times — always on some creative or collaborative mission. Travel is huge. I've made some great friends. A lot of Milkcrate started when I lived in London in 1996 — way early in the streetwear or even hip-hop culture games, and I was traveling to Italy, Paris and Amsterdam, selling mix tapes and t-shirts. I made some early friends and fans that would grow to be the world's next pop stars, A&Rs, label bosses etc. and at one point we were just kids connecting over the love of underground life. For a good many years pre-internet there was a very strong syndicate where you could show up in a country unannounced and not knowing anyone and you could stop by the record shop and with a little luck get the insider's tour of the city and have a great time.

Peter: A lot. During the 1990's, Erik and I used to go sneaker and record hunting in the US. After a few trips we realized that we can do this sneaker store thing just as good as any store in New York — probably better. We had the experience and we knew what time it was. We still get inspired on our trips but we don't buy as many sneakers. Or records for that matter.

Erik: At one point I had to change my passport. The US stamps were on too many pages, so border control started to look more and more suspiciously at me. I like to travel for many reasons. First of all you'll, get a glimpse of what is going on in the city you are visiting. And it is also sometimes good to get out of your own world for a bit. Gives you perspective and some room to think. I think I have had most of my good ideas on the road.

Will there be any music to accompany these? Aaron, I heard your work with my friends in Piff Gang from London, so are you working with any Stockholm heads on a musical level?

Aaron: We are still discussing a few options for the roll out. There's a possible track that will drop toward the end of the project. Yes, I was one of the first to co-sign Piff Gang on an international level and they are up and running. 'Milk Gang' is the tune man! I have not worked with any Stockholm head yet...but that's a good idea! Maybe we do a tune with a Stockholm MC, Baltimore MC, London MC and NYC MC...could be slick.

Have team SNS visited Baltimore yet?

Aaron: The dudes have been invited and we were supposed to go there this past month but they got busy in NYC and we couldn't make it.

Erik: I have actually been to Baltimore once for the Tribe re-union concert. But it was more of and in and out thing, so perhaps it's not right to say I actually went to Baltimore.

Erik, even from the flying visit to Baltimore, how much did it differ from Stockholm? I mean, Stockholm has a dark side. I read about some pretty vicious biker gang activity there...

Erik: I think it's a tough comparison to make. I am sure there are dark sides to both Stockholm and Baltimore. As with London I guess. But we drove in to the concert venue, and left right after the concert. So to say I felt the spirit of Baltimore would be a bit rich. If any comparison is to be made I would say I got the feeling of Baltimore to be a suburban area of workers if you know what I mean? Sort of what Södertalje is to Stockholm, and I'm sure London has that same area?

London's definitely got plenty of working class areas. Aaron, what's 'The Wire' done for the tourist industry out there?

Aaron: I think 'The Wire' has been great for Baltimore as far as relevance and pop culture. However, I don't think the show itself is motivating anyone to rush to Baltimore. Tourism there is pretty good as is and they are working really hard to fix the city. So much has changed for the better — I think for the worse. I like the old Baltimore — working class, blue collar, rough, tough and honest. Still a great city though — It's funny that even with the Baltimore club music trendy explosion, that did nothing for tourism. You'd like young kids worldwide would be moving there to be a part of the "real" movement, but nope. All things look prettier with your web glasses on I suppose.

Aaron, we know team SNS are no strangers to the collaboration, but I've not seen much in the way of footwear from you, but that Bespoke from last year was bananas, with that Carhartt and AF1 "Linen" feel...did the reception to that have you wanting to do more?

Aaron: Thanks Gary, so glad you liked the Bespokes! I am always down for the right collabo. But my first collabo shoe was the Vans x Lucien Pellat-Finet x Milkcrate that dropped in 2006. For us, that was a massive accomplishment, once again blending the genres — skate, street, luxury. So that really got my first taste and such a quality and dope design with the Milkcrate logos and LaCrate tag on the back. Just to be on an official collabo with Vans and LPF was mind blowing — very few brands can work with LPF. He only collaborated with like, Murakami and us. So I don't rush things. There have been other opportunities to collaborate on shoes, but they were not interesting, so we passed on them. But NB and SNS and Milkcrate, that's big in the game. It really is the right balance of dope. Everyone is dope in their own right, but different, so it's the NEW BALANCE.

Do you think the key to a good collaboration is a bit of self indulgence — making what you would want to wear, and do you think that's applicable to retail, clothing and music too?

Aaron: Creatively, I don't chase trends. I don't really even pay attention to what anyone is doing. I'm on my own shit always. I have forged my own road and identity — we're very independent like that. I have a damn good idea of what makes things original and dope, and that's the Milkcrate recipe. It's what's been done and what has not been done, and always what excited and inspires me as a designer, because that should be contagious to the consumer.

Do you have a particular New Balance cultural reference point? I always liked U-God in the 1300s in the early Wu press shots and Mike Tyson in the grey 996s...

Aaron: I think the Tribe verse sums it up for me. (Note: Phife's "I sport New Balance sneakers to avoid a narrow path" line on 'Buggin' Out')

Technically, this is Stockholm and Baltimore by way of Flimby in the UK, which makes it even more eccentric — what makes the Made in England shoes important to you?

Aaron: For Milkcrate, London and England has played a huge role in the identity of the brand DNA. As i said, day one Milkcrate was me living on Ladbroke Grove repping Milkcrate in '96, to me later selling mixtapes and tees at Supra and then having Blur, Gorillaz, and Damon Albarn supporting and wearing Milkcrate, as well as Chemical Brothers and so many other iconic DJs and producers, and having a huge wave of popularity in the early 2000's, to me producing and DJing, touring with Lily Allen, producing Dizzee Rascal and remixing Gorillaz, and having these pop stars still wearing Milkcrate and now us creating music together is huge. London is a big part of my creative story, so a Made in England NB is quite fitting in 2012 for Milkcrate. Not sure if any other indie or major fashion brands have really accomplished that level of trill.

Why did you pick the 577? Has it become an SNS tradition?

Erik: There are some other nice NBs to choose from, but 577 is our number 1. And for this project where we wanted to spice up something that we had done a few times, it was the logical choice.

Peter: 577 is our favourite NB, hands down. Such a lovely and comfortable runner. I've got wide feet so they fit me like a glove. I remember working in a sporting goods store selling the OG navy/greys in 1989. Actually I still get some old customers that bought them from me in 1989 that keep on coming back for more every single year. I'm talking serious runners that have a problem with all the high tech stuff.

Aaron, were you a 577 fan prior to the project?

Aaron: Yes, I definitely have a few of the early SNS collabs, so was good to get down with this project.

What was the thinking behind the colours? There's an opposing aesthetic to them — I've seen the Milkcrate colours in some Milkcrate gear before, but the SNS shoe is very sober indeed...

Erik: I'm not sure that it's one Milkcrate and one Sneakersnstuff. We wanted to do something that would represent us both. The colourful one is kind of obvious in Milkcrate colours, but Aaron has done plenty of nice black and white things as well. In the end, I think it comes down to doing one shoe for those that wants to be seen, and one shoe for the more neutral guy.

Aaron: Well those are my trademark Aaron LaCrate/Milkcrate colours. It all started with my crazy LaCrate bird hat, which has become quite famous. Milkcrate is known for its fearless stance on colour — neons and pastels. Once again, flipping colours is part of the fun. That's from a graf perspective though. It's all about having the colours or colour combo that no one else has.

For the SNS shoe were you trying to give it some traditional Euro-runner bleakness that seemed to define classic New Balance?

Aaron: So since we went so wild and left on the neon Milkcrate shoe, we said "How far right can we go to create a NEW BALANCE?" and we decided that a total grey scale version of the same layout would be dope, because there's such a classic grey scale association with NBs that we had to represent for.

How was the sample process handled? Did you all trade ideas? Can the distance thing proved difficult? I don't care how good a camera is, it's hard to convey shades of nubuck and suede sometimes...

Aaron: Well, we started all wanting to flip the classic Milkcrate colourways via a NB, so I did the initial design and we discussed certain details, such as mesh vs perf white leather, etc. And I wanted a 3M reflective tongue and we just sort of talked about what has never been done and combined forces to come up with a very impactful shoe. Then represent for everyone else, we sort of hit the grey scale key and simplified the tones, but kept the feel. The hardest part was getting the colours right as far as the pigskins, in the bright tones, SNS are pros at the details so I left that up to them. It wasn't too hard since we're all pros and collaborated in many levels on a regular basis. I know we were all excited about this and we knew what we wanted to generally from the start, so it was about tweaking to get it perfect.

Erik: The sampling part is hard. Working with the NB factory in Flimby is great, but sometimes you ask for blue and get green. And in this case, as NB UK hardly work with anybody outside of Europe, except for Japan, most of the approval was done at our office and Aaron gave feedback after looking at pictures. Aaron knows us and we know him, so most of the times when we wanted to change something he also had the same idea.

Aaron, I was struck by how wild but organised the colours are on your shoe — I always think the key to a sneaker makeup is symmetry and balance...are you a fan of wild colours on a sneaker?

Aaron: I am a fan of a wild shoe, but it has to be perfect. I don't like all wild shoes. It has to be something classic flipped properly and thoughtfully, and I think we achieved this. However, I also have just as many grey shoes and I was just as excited to have an option to balance things out. I'll probably wear one of each, just to be fair.

Things have become very muted over the last few years...

Aaron: Yes, I really believe you can only be so original with a palette of grey, black, white and red. Milkcrate is all about fun and doing what you want, so I really feel like we nailed these, because you no matter how you feel, you can rock either, but for spring/summer, the wild colours are gonna be a must.

Did you scrap any ideas at sample stage? I always liked the NB process where they have 'X' amount of a suede or pigskin and once it's gone, it's gone...but it can make a collaboration more of a challenge...

Erik: This project has been in the works a long time. I think the initial plan was to release them spring '11. But as you said, sometimes your request comes back with that, "Sorry, we are fresh out of yellow." And yes, it makes things more challenging but at the same time that is what makes it charming. This time around, NB came back with info before making a sample. So there haven't been many sample rounds, but some details had to change.

Aaron: There were a few minor colour related things we could nail. Some colours could only be so bright via pigskin. I actually enjoy some limitations in design because I can tend to be very extreme sometimes.

Have you noticed a boom in popularity with New Balance lately? I get contacted a lot by gully New Yorkers who are partial to Polo and want some UK or US made NBs...it seemed to be a very Euro collector thing for much of the '00's.

Aaron: I think NBs are kind of a new-found love for NYC, but for Baltimore and DC, it's a 20 year old street tradition. Similar to the way Foams have spread recently, it seems like it's all accessible now and everyone has the same taste, so kids are fiending.

How long has this whole process taken? I have a low attention span and I get bored in the time between sampling and release, so I want it as fast as possible, but if it's being made in Europe, you need to wait your turn, right?

Aaron: Geez, around 2 years or so. I think this project is more about celebrating SNS and Milkcrate's friendship and collaborating for fun. It's the evolution of our love affair! They want to cash in on the Aaron LaCrate cache...just kidding!

Peter: What Aaron said. It's all about us trying to get a piece of the LaCrate pie. No seriously — to quote the late and great Heavy D, we've got nuttin' but love for you, Aaron. Aaron was the first person to contact us when did all those collaborations for our 10th anniversary. That's over 3 years ago and somehow we've always wanted work with Aaron and his brand Milkcrate Athletics on a shoe. We've seen Aaron rocking the crap out of a few of our earlier NB collabs so we figured, let's do a New Balance project together. New Balance understood us and as you know, Gary, Flimby projects like this take time. Good things come to those who wait.

Erik: Yes, they are backed up in Flimby...I think we started to work on this late 2009.

Pricing is an issue in 2012...does that give you headaches when it comes to launching product, or is a new generation more savvy to the benefits of well—made footwear as a wiser investment for repeat wear?

Erik: I think the price issue is bigger in some local markets than other...what's up UK? But in the end, I think people will always be willing to pay a bit extra for good quality.

Aaron: I don't think about price so much — especially with this level of handmade quality. Kids are paying more for some mass-produced China-made shoes. It seems that there is no recession when it comes to sneakers in the USA. I hope they riot for these.

What are your plans for retail? Will they be available in Baltimore as well as SNS?

Aaron: I think they are in quite a few top tier shops worldwide. SNS guys, please elaborate.

Erik: Not actually sure about Baltimore, but they will be available globally. It is pretty much the usual suspects in there. Sneakersnstuff will launch them in Stockholm 1 week before the rest of the world. Aaron is coming over for the party on the 24th. Perhaps it is also time for you to come by?

Peter:
Sweden: Sneakersnstuff
France: colette
Scotland: Hanon
England: End Clothing
England: Footpatrol
Germany: Solebox
Italy: Slam Jam
Spain: 24 KILATES
Switzerland: Titolo
Russia: Fott
Australia: New Balance Experience Store
China: UNIK (Dalian)
Hong Kong S-eleven
Korea: KASINA
Singapore: Leftfoot/Limited Edt
South Africa: Shelflife / NB PPF store Canal Walk
Taiwan: PAHNTACI/ INVINCIBLE
Japan: Styles, XLARGE
USA: Burn Rubber
USA: Undefeated
USA: Reed Space
USA: West
USA: Ubiq
USA: Shoe Gallery