Julian X
What’s the ratio of retro to vintage sneak-
ers in your collection?
My collection probably consists of 50% reis-
sues from the last 20 years. Most are from
around 1998 to the present day. Back around
2003-2006, that’s when I was really buying a
lot of reissues. The other 50% is vintage, and
of that 50%, probably 90% is made in Europe.
You’re looking at French, West German, Yugo-
slavian, some Austrian, and one or two oth-
ers. The rest of it, mostly canvas models, were
made in the Republic of Korea, or Taiwan.
So, it’s about a 50/50 split, but I primarily
focus on the French tennis models. That’s my
favorite genre. When I do collect the other
European vintage models, a lot of the times
its because it’s a shoe that resonated with me
somehow, when I was a kid. Either I knew
someone with those shoes, or it was a shoe
that I wanted and never got. Or it’s a shoe that
I used to own, or it’s a family member of a
shoe I used to own. That kind of thing. Typi-
cally, there’s a connection with most things I
buy, unless it’s too good of a deal and I’ll just
buy it anyway. But most of the time, there’s a
story behind the acquisition.
People collect different facets of the company.
There’s a famous series called the City Series,
where you have the adidas London, the adidas
Stockholm, and the adidas Brussels. All the
famous cities in Europe. adidas released a ton
of those shoes in the 1970s, mostly suede, and
there are people who will just collect the City
Series, or primarily collect some of the early
1970s suede models like the Tobacco, Cali-
fornia, Florida, and Saratoga. Then you have
people who collect the Japanese models. Back
in the 1970s and 1980s, when adidas used to
license out their brand to some of the Japa-
nese companies, they were pretty much free to
do colorways that adidas in Europe wouldn’t
90 | Classic Kicks | classickicks.com | Volume 2
dream of. Some of the Japanese colors were
really bright for the time. Purples and yellows,
and bright blues, and reds. So, there’s some
people that will primarily collect Made in Japan
models from the seventies and eighties. Most
collectors probably have one or two favor-
ite genres that they focus on, and then some
stragglers on either side that they pick up here
and there, just for whatever reason. So, mine is
either a connection with the shoe, or because
of the era I grew up in with the tennis. That
type of thing. More of a personal attachment
to it, rather than just buying whatever.
Decades ago, when adidas didn’t have full
control over their production across the world,
they would license out to Argentina, or Japan,
and they were pretty much free to come up
with their own special colors based on molds
that existed. That’s why some of those models
are very desirable. Some of the Japanese mod-
els go for anywhere from $300-$600 a pair,
if not more. Even though the silhouette may
exist in an Austrian or West German version,
the colors certainly don’t. A lot of the Japa-
nese models were based on West German and
Yugoslavian designs, but the Japanese would
fancy the colors up.
I’ll be looking and find something I forgot
about. Sometimes I’ll be looking for something
and find something else. So, you’ll never know
what you’ll run into. There’s nothing I really
want these days. I’m more than happy with
what I have. Obviously, there’s always room
for more, but I think as you get a little bit older
and your collection matures a little bit, you def-
initely become more picky with what’s going
to make it into the collection. There are some
models I want, but they come up so rarely that
I’ve resigned myself to the fact that unless
someone contacts me, I’ll probably never own
them. Then, if the opportunity does come up,
it’s going to be an expensive one. But there’s