Philly cats have always been ahead of the game in some way shape or form and in understanding what was cool. Culturally, not many were on what we were on and fashion wise, Philly was fly and pushing boundaries before other cities when it came to sneakers, sweat suits and brands like Ellesse, Le Coq Sportif and Todd 1. Two Philly natives that were always in their own lanes in both art and fashion and knowing whats cool is Steve “Espo” Powers and Ari Forman. Both coming from the Hip Hop / Graffiti worlds, creators of the classic On The Go magazine, established entities in the art world and both have delved into the hole of creating sneakers.
In this featured interview, Steve and Ari discuss some of their history and Steve’s working with Nike and presenting them with doing a see through sneaker which was rejected and then they later copied his idea and made it.