The third installation in the Nike SB pop-up store in the basement of London’s Slam City Skates opened last week. European Vacations exhibits photos taken by Dom Marley as he accompanied the Nike SB team on various excursions around Europe. The photos below come nowhere near to doing the show justice so, if you’re in London, it’s worth a visit.
Pics of the launch party, which attracted a pretty large crowd, can be viewed on the new events page on Slam City’s website.
While on the topic of Slam City, carrying on the guys’ love of collaborations and pop-up shops, they have got together with Supra/Krew to open a store in Kingly Court, off Carnaby Street in London from December 4th – 24th. Slam’s Twitter promises ‘plenty of bargains’.
Tim Weissberg
As previously reported, over the next six months, the basement of London’s Slam City Skates is playing host to a Nike SB pop-up store. The store marks the third time the shop and skateboard company have collaborated on a project. In an exclusive interview, Jacob Sawyer – Jake of Jake’s Alley – talks about the strong relationship between Slam City and Nike SB.
When did you start stocking Nike SB?
We began stocking SB when the first shoes dropped. This would have been in March 2002. The first drop were all dunk lows, including the Futura shoe, which was a favourite here. Shortly after this the Angus, FC, Delta Force and URL followed.
Did you have any initial reservations about Nike’s (official) entry into the skateboarding market?
Everyone had their doubts initially as many companies had at this point dipped in and out of skateboarding. Having met with the crew behind this part of the business it was obvious early on, before we had even received any shoes, that they intended to do things properly.
Is there a noticeable difference between the people who buy Nike SBs from you and people who buy other products?
Skateboarding as a hobby attracts people from all backgrounds and walks of life. Our function here as a shop is to try and cater to everyone. When ordering we are always conscious of our customers having different tastes and interests, the board wall is testament to that. Nike are also aware of this. The diversity of the team and product has meant that many customers who would not have bought Nike in the past have re-considered. The Blazer has helped with this. We have many customers who are interested primarily in the SB range who don’t necessarily skate but then we have many customers who don’t skate shopping for shoes and clothing. People like Robert Downey Jr.
How did the Dunk Low collaboration come about? Were you trying to make a shoe that would appeal to skateboarders, as opposed to collectors?
We had worked closely together from the outset and were a good account. Working on a shoe together seemed like an obvious progression. Plus passing up partnering our store name and the shoe style to create the “Slam Dunk” would have been insanity. The collaboration came about at a time when around sixty percent of the
shoes we sold at a release would either be re-sold or iced. We all knew how good the shoes were to skate in, so this was painful at times when the one pair in your size left the store to sit in another cupboard gathering dust. Our manager at the time was keen that skateboarding be encouraged in the shoe and wanted it to be as good
for skateboarding as possible with the materials at hand. This is how the re-inforced toe area came about. The hidden Swoosh came about as the result of one of only a handful of board meetings I have sat in on during my tenure here. It was round a big table and everything.
Would you ever want to co-produce a shoe again?
The Slam Dunk was really well received. Since it came out it seems to have become one of the most talked-about releases. It would be great to have the opportunity to do something like that again.
Was there always a plan for regular work with Nike SB, like the NikeTown pop-up shop and the current three-stage project?
From the beginning Nike were open to working with us and we have worked closely with them. Helping out with riders, the Nothing But The Truth premiere etc. Everything that has happened since then came about at a time when we were looking to make better use of the basement. Nike wanted a way to better showcase the brand in our nations capital and the pop-up store was the obvious answer.
Slam City Skates
Nike SB pop-up store blog
Jake’s Alley
Vote for the Slam Dunk, last year’s silver medalist, in the NSB128 2009 final 8
Tim Weissberg
