In the words of Virgil Abloh when he originally said that street wear was going to die in 2020,”Hey I’m gonna go into my archive.”
My test to use bleach to”unpaint” my old Converse Weapon Mid seems to have been a great success. I’ve worked with bleach on a number of times, but this is my first time using it full strength on a pair of shoes. I had originally tried to bleach my Nike Air Vapormax Flyknit, but those turned out to be way too color fast. I suspect that this is due to the high amount of recycled materials in the Flyknit material. There’s about 4 PET bottles recycled into every Flyknit upper.
But these mids from the Weapon Ray Pack featured uppers made of heathered cotton, a Japanese method of slow-crafting jersey. And cotton? Perfect for bleaching.
After finishing the bleach process, many of the stains of regular use and the yellowing of the midsoles, they stayed. I like it. It’s a look that Virgil has been chasing with his newer designs, except here it’s a little more authentic. Think jeans you ripped Vs jeans bought ripped.
Before my relationship with the swoosh, I would get blessed with product by Converse, a brand I still love and would still love working with. When they sent me these, I really wore the heck out of them. And they can take a beating. The soles are sewn on, similar to the AF-1, so they don’t separate over time unless you tear them. Nike’s tech upgraded with a thin, Lunarlon-like drop-in midsole which made them quite comfortable. But it was the heritage of the shoe that really spoke to me and spoke for me too.
I loved Larry Bird as a kid. His unstoppable 3 and never-say-die attitude is what has made me a lifelong Celtics fan. His shoes? The Weapon.
When it comes to ball, the game has never loved me back. Sure, I have epic shots I’ve taken and made when I was a kid. Plays I’ve made only because I was underestimated. But other then a few seconds of backyard glory, I’m no Larry Bird. At least not on the court. But in my heart, I too willbe playing the game when it’s already breaking my back. Whatever game that may be.
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