{"id":1050481,"date":"2022-04-01T13:18:00","date_gmt":"2022-04-01T18:18:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.snkrsday.com\/?p=1050481"},"modified":"2022-08-02T11:58:51","modified_gmt":"2022-08-02T16:58:51","slug":"my5-hype-hockey-sneakers-signatures-with-jeff-staple","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.snkrsday.com\/my5-hype-hockey-sneakers-signatures-with-jeff-staple\/","title":{"rendered":"My5: Hype & Hockey & Sneakers & Signatures with Jeff Staple"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Try this. Close your eyes, think of an industry and photoshop Jeff Staple’s<\/strong> “Pigeon” logo in that mental picture. Why? Because that’s how it seems the aforementioned creator chooses his scattered, yet selective array of collaborative projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fresh off of not his first, but second, hockey-themed collab (this time with the New York Rangers<\/strong>), the streetwear senator Staple pressed pause on his regular-scheduled activities (a beachfront evening stroll) for a virtual sit-down with Snkrs Day to talk about ice, reminisce on his impact on sneaker culture, the ones that got away, his slept-on projects, his proudest endeavors and what’s to come from Jeff Staple’s aptly-named Staple brand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Check out this week’s installment of My5<\/strong>, featuring Jeff Staple, and keep it locked to Snkrs Day for more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What sparked your affinity for sneakers and the culture?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"jeff-staple-jordan\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Jeff Staple:<\/strong> The shoe that really did it for me was the Air Jordan 3<\/strong>. That was probably the first shoe that I bought, and the design language really came through in that shoe. You look at that shoe and you’re like, this doesn’t look like a Dunk<\/strong> or an Air Force 1<\/strong> or a Chuck Taylor<\/strong>. It really changed the design language to be something else, and it started to make me wonder who’s behind this who created this thing, and it happened to be a guy named Tinker Hatfield, right? So you go down this rabbit hole of why did he make it like this, and why was it inspired by aircraft fighters and jets and stuff, and that was the first time where I really remember taking care of my shoes like even the Air Jordan 1s & 2s<\/strong>, I wore them to play ball, but the 3s, I found myself just naturally cleaning the outsole after I wore them and then taking a toothbrush to them and then if the paint chipped on the back heel I would replace the paint and I was like \u201cwhy am I doing this to this shoe?\u201d It really became a work of art for me, so I think that\u2019s the difference. To me it was the Air Jordan 3 that was pre-sneakers-as-a-performance-performance-object and then post-sneakers-as-an-art-object.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The worst thing to me that can happen is if you walk into a room and you\u2019re rocking the same kicks, same colorway as somebody else. I will literally walk out of that room and go home.<\/p>\u2014 Jeff Staple<\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

What are your go-to travel kicks?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jeff Staple:<\/strong> So, I try to travel and pack really light. I never check in bags. So, right now on this one week jaunt, I\u2019ve got three pairs of shoes with me. It\u2019s funny because it depends on when you ask me and who I’m meeting with, right? This week, I happen to be meeting with what I would call sneaker illuminati, but when you meet with sneakerheads, I\u2019m still old school and I still want to make necks snap. You got to. The worst thing to me that can happen is if you walk into a room and you’re rocking the same kicks, same colorway as somebody else. I will literally walk out of that room and go home. We gotta regroup. We got to readjust. I f-cked up, I messed up. So you know I always try to bring some obscurity when I’m in meetings like this. So actually this week, I packed three pairs of shoes with me. I packed a pair of Staple x All Birds that I just did, that’s always a great conversation piece because people are like \u201cwhoa! You f-ck with All Birds?!\u201d Then talk about the environment and it’s a great icebreaker. Second, I’m trying to get my health game on, so I brought a pair of my actual running shoes that I would run outside in, and a lot of people don’t know this, but my go-to running shoe of choice is Brooks. The third shoe that I brought with me, because where I am is sort of in LA by the beach, is a pair of upcoming Staple x Crocs. The idea of a limited-edition hype sneaker now is actually not that interesting if you’re in a room full of people and everyone has on some limited-edition hype shoe and you’re one of them. You’re kind of like sheep. It\u2019s almost like, in that room, you might be more interesting if you just wore a pair of Chuck Taylors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n