Bata x Wilson John Wooden sneaker giveaway contest!

We hope everyone had an awesome Thanksgiving! We're back today with a contest to raffle off one pair of Bata x Wilson mens John Wooden sneakers courtesy of our friends over Bata Heritage. The sneakers are re-issues of the legendary UCLA coach John Wooden basketball shoes 🏀👟 that originally debuted in the 1970s – and were famously worn by Magic Johnson on and off the court. All you have to do to be entered is like this post and follow @bataheritage and our account here on Instagram. To make it fair I found a site that will randomly pick the winning name out of a hat which I will do at 8PM PST on Thursday 11/29. I will announce the winner on Friday. Good luck!

The Deffest vintage sneaker blog on Pinterest

Hey all, quick update. Due to a limitation on our Squarespace theme I had to completely re-work the way the vintage ads page is setup. It used to be a tile gallery similar to the way the home page is setup but I reached a limit on the amount of posts that I could add to it and had to change it to the current format of blog posts which makes it a little harder to browse. To make it easier to find content on the site I added a search page here and also will be adding all of the posts to Pinterest. You can see a gallery view of the vintage ads page on Pinterest here. Each image will take you to the correct blog post for that ad if you click through.

Kinney NBA 1970s vintage sneakers

Vintage 1970s Kinney NBA branded sneakers sporting the upside down swoosh. For more info on these rare and collectible sneaks you can see the other pair we posted here and their old 70s ads here and here. We also posted a photo of the Nike Le Village sneaker from the late 1970s below that inspired these Kinney sneakers at the bottom of this page.

Inspired by the Nike ‘Le Village’….

Vintage Nike Le Village - images credit to Jun.Cooper on Instagram

The most legit vintage Nike waffle sneaker ever

Hey y'all, just wanted to post what may be the most legit vintage Nike waffle sneaker ever. As you can probably imagine when you’re dealing with vintage items you come across some really strange and weird things sometimes. So here’s to presenting the Nike Swampfoot runner! Below was the description posted with this shoe.

One of a kind Vintage Nike LDV running shoe. This was found in the Trinity National Forest in Northern California. Probably been sitting there over 20 years. Moss is slightly brown, but with a little water it will turn green. No Tongue, maybe a squirrel had a nice lunch. 👟🐿️ This was a USA made model. Great addition to the true Nike collector. International shipping $40.

And it turns out that someone bought it like this! 🤣

You can check out the photos below...

UPDATE: January 25, 2019
We spotted this Nike Chia sneaker over on Swoosh262’s Instagram account and are happy to report that it is being properly watered (see below.)

Image credit to Swoosh262 Instagram account

Tokyo & Kyoto vintage sneaker shopping guide

Hey all - just got back from Japan and had an awesome time there. It was a great trip. Both Tokyo and Kyoto have some incredibly well curated vintage clothing and sneaker shops. Below is a quick summary guide in case any of you venture across the pond.

Passover Evisu Tokyo sneaker logo store front

Koenji is the cool historic punk rock neighborhood of Tokyo and it is a gold mine of vintage shops. I saw some dope old 1970’s Skips by Montgomery Ward and some knock off Adidas country vintage sneakers at Grandberry Jam. Salers, right across the street, had some rare Nike waffles and really cool old school Trax by Kmart running shoes as well. 

Vintage Trax, Skips by Montgomery Ward, and Nike sneakers at Grandberry Jam, Koenji, Tokyo.

If you’re poking around the neighborhood you may want to work your way a few blocks over to Top of the Hill Koenji and CA shop which are on the same street. They didn’t have any vintage kicks but they both had a pretty great selection of other american vintage items. Elsewhere in Tokyo I stumbled upon a sign for a closed down Thom McAn shop. Weird.

This Thom McAn was at 35.659840, 139.699131 on Google maps. You can see it if you zoom in on the left had side of the alley.

Another excellent neighborhood for shopping is in the Shimokitazawa neighborhood which has a surplus of vintage shops. Right in the heart of the neighborhood is Soma sneaker store, who may have the most impressive collection on vintage kicks that I’ve seen. Walking into this store is like walking into a waffle sneaker museum. If you’re ever in town I highly recommend you check it out. Some other good vintage stores in this neighborhood include New York Joe Exchange, Flamingo and Haight & Ashbury.

Vintage 1970's Nike Oregon waffle running shoes at Dockery Farm.

Kyoto had fewer vintage shops but there are definitely some finds to be had there. The Three Star Vintage store is huge and the staff was really nice. Dockery Farm had some excellent 1970’s Nike Oregon waffles as well. All in all this is really just scratching the surface. There were a ton of other shops that don't have an online presence but if you're in Japan all of the above are definitely worth checking out.

Nordstrom Norsport retro sneakers from 1979

Today we’ve got some awesome 1979 retro Norsport waffle style sneakers by Nordstrom.

UPDATE: These sneakers were made by Nike. Check out the blog post here for more info.

Image credit to the Nordstrom blog

Hello Japan! こんにちわ にほん！

The Deffest will be traveling to the great land of Japan later this week for research, fun and adventure. If you have recommendations for sneaker spots in Tokyo or Kyoto hit us up on the contact page!

Nike & Onitsuka Tiger clones week

This week we'll be posting some vintage Nike Cortez & Onitsuka Tiger Corsair knock off shoes. SneakerFreaker has a great post on the shared origins of the Cortez and Corsair which is here. Since the Cortez was one of Nike's most popular sneakers it spawned a few imitators, some better than others.

UPDATE: Blog posts are now live here, here and here.

Sneaker Design School

For those who are interested in sneaker design and construction I came across this diagram today which covers the basic design elements...as they were in 1978. I've included the text below and put the list back into order.

View fullsize

ANATOMY OF THE RUNNING SHOE

Heel Counter (A): The inflexible material surrounding the heel area which adds stability to the heel and reduces the pronatory forces entering the heel area during heel contact.

Pull Tab (B): Small tab on heel area which allows the shoe to be pulled on the foot.

Outer Sole (C): The portion of the shoe that makes contact with the ground. It provides protection from the running surface and improves traction. Most common types are the waffle,
ripple, and transverse ridge.

Upper (D): The material covering the upper part of the shoe. Nylon is the preferred material.

Toe Cap (E): The larger foxing that radiates into the toe area, originally designed to prevent scuffing, lifting the upper material away from the top of the foot.

Midsole (F): The portion of the shoe between the outer and inner soles. Its purpose is to provide added cushioning.

Last: The basic mold around which a shoe is fashioned. In most cases it is hand-carved wood, but later-model shoes are constructed around a plastic mold.

Sale: The bottom of the shoe and can be made of different materials of various thicknesses and layers.

Insole: The inner portion of the sole that makes contact with the foot. Materials used in its construction can be either leather. rubber, or preferably, Spenco.

Foxing: The material portion of the shoe giving medial and lateral support to the sides of the shoes.

Shank Support: The small arch pad of very little use. In walking shoes it is a metal piece which runs through the middle of the shoe.

Spike Plate: A plate material placed under the ball of the foot providing a base for the spikes, when applicable.