The Seveninch Paper - No. 1

A B I A N N UA L S N E A K E R A L M A N AC | I S S U E N o . 0 1

THE SEVENINCH PAPER

A N E W B o o ST WHAT MAKES A NEW CLASSIC / N oT Yo U R AV E RAG E R U N N E R U P THE STORY OF CORSAIRWA L K I N G W I T H L oW I M PACT DID PUMA GET IT RIGHT / M A S S E B D R U P A COLLECTOR’S STORY

S E V E N I N C H C H o S E N ADIDAS | ONITSUKA TIGER | NEW BALANCE | NIKE

T H E S E V E N I C H PA P E R N o . 1

WELCOME

THE SEVENINCH PAPER No. 01


T H E S E V E N I C H PA P E R N o . 1

You are holding in your hands the first issue of The Seveninch Paper, a natural offspring of the late 7inch .dk site , which was closed down some time in 2010. The reason for the grueling three-year wait is that we at the Seveninch camp have sought a new way to show our obsessive interest in athletic footwear that still allows for some kind of mental stimulation in the process.

A step on that road is this free biannual newspaper.

We have chosen to let print media be the future of Seveninch . The reason being that we want to give you the opportunity to take some time off, maybe an hour or so, to get truly immersed in the world of sneakers — without being interrupted by e-mails, tweets, or dishwashing duties.

I hope you enjoy this premier edition — and that you’ll pick up the next issue in August .

Joachim7inch

EDITORJoachim Idestrup Friis – [email protected]

CONTRIBUTORSKristoffer GranovMarit Strømmen

Mass EbdrupJoachim Idestrup Friis

COPY EDITORMagnus Jorem

DESIGNIRONFLAG – ironflag.net

FRONT COVERadidas Energy Boost

BACK COVERPrototype of Onitsuka Tiger Corsair

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EDITORIAL NOTE

THE SEVENINCH PAPER THE SEVENINCH PAPER


A D I DA S

BOOST – A CLASSIC?

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Personally, I’m sure it’s a good mix of all three aspects. In newer sneaker history, say the past 5-10 years, marketing has played a more direct role in selling the classics, because the brands have noticed a new worldwide market for retro sneakers — one that has grown to include more then just your average sneakerhead. Yet all of these hyped retro sneakers have had a past life before their resurrection. You can’t sell a sneaker on retro-value if it doesn’t already have a story.

So which present-day sneakers might be the ret-ros of the future?

The new adidas Energy BOOST sneaker may just have what it takes. The shape of the shoe and the overall design of its upper part are a nice

step away from the futuristic silver look that has ruled the design of many of the past decade’s new running shoes. And in my own humble opin-ion, I’m sure the not-too-flashy design will give the shoe an appeal that spreads far beyond the running community.

Energy-capsule explosion

Going into the more technological aspect of things, you have to take a look at the very differ-ent-looking midsole, made of what adidas calls BOOST foam. This innovative material is based on an explosive process developed by BASF (yes, the ones that made the chrome tapes), in which a solid granular material, TPU, is literally blown up and turned into miniature energy capsules, which make up the shoe’s distinctive midsole.

With their unique cell structure, it’s said that the capsules store and unleash energy more ef-ficiently with every stride than seen in any other normal EVA soles on the market. It does this while combining previously contradicting per-formance benefits of soft and responsive cush-ioning. According to some runners who have tried the shoes on for a race, the difference in energy efficiency is noticeable from the very mo-ment they put them on.

Having said all that, I personally think adidas Energy Boost is just a really good pair of sneak-ers, one that I think could become a coveted classic in 10-plus years. The secret, really, is the shoe’s ability to combine the best of both worlds: a good looking silhouette and a rich tech history that will be recounted for a very long time.

What makes a sneaker classic? Is it the look of the shoe, or is the secret ingredient really the technology behind it?

Or is it all just simple but efficient marketing?


B o o ST – A C L A S S I C ?


WALKING WITH LOW IMPACT

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Upon announcing the brand-new PUMA sneaker InCycle Basket, CEO Franz Koch declared an ambitious company mission. It wasn’t one within running or fashion, how-ever, but garbage reduction:

“The PUMA InCycle collection is the first step to helping reduce the amounts of gar-bage that consumer products cause at the end of their lives.”

The thinking is inspired by the Cradle-to-Cradle design principle of holistic renew-ability. Koch grounds his ambition in a no-tion — exceedingly rare within the worlds of fashion and sportswear — that it’s not all about making money and looking good at the same time.

Reduce the impact , increase market shares

Rather, Koch has set out a vision of reducing environmental impact with innovative materi-als and design concepts. At the same time, of course, his company is looking to increase its market share, currently substantially behind the industry’s two big bosses, Nike and adidas.

“We want to contribute to a better world. At the same time, we also want to carve out our com-petitive advantage,” he recently told Reuters.

In doing so, PUMA has done a great deal of re-search on the environmental impact of individ-ual products. One study showed that 100,000 pairs of biodegradable sneakers would fill 12 trucks of waste during production and dispos-al, against 31 trucks’ worth for the same num-ber of normal PUMA suede shoes. And, accord-ing to Parvan Sukhdev, who’s been in charge of the United Nations’ Green Economy Initiative, it’s not just a conniving branding scheme. In praising PUMA as an industry leader on the is-sue, he last year told Reuters that the company has done ”a great job in transparency, meas-urement, and disclosure.”

Mimicking nature’s metabolism

Cradle to Cradle is a principle — perhaps even an ideology — that seeks to mimic nature’s own metabolism in the production process. In nature, biological materials circulate: stuff be-comes other stuff in a completely natural way. The key to eco-friendliness, then, is circulat-

ing the various components of the product in manufacturing processes.

The Cradle-to-Cradle model currently widely used and accepted is one pioneered by Prof. Dr. Michael Braungart and the Environmental Protection Encouragement Agency in Germa-ny. Braungart, who is a chemist, founded the agency in Hamburg in 2002. Along with Wil-liam McDonough, an architect, he published what is now widely accepted as the bible of field: Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things. Braungart’s central idea is that humans can make a positive rather than nega-tive environmental impact by redesigning in-dustrial production; the dissipation of manu-facturing does not necessarily entail waste.

Before conceptualizing a more sustainable fu-ture for humanity, he spent time living in a tree, perhaps to mimic nature himself.

McDonough’s career as an architect, mean-while, has been focused on designing environ-mentally sustainable buildings and transform-ing industrial manufacturing processes. With the mantra ”reduce, reuse, recycle,” the two en-

For the first time in sneaker history, a major label is launching an environmentally conscious bio-friendly shoe. Ironically, it ’s a shoe that doesn’t want to leave a footprint. But according to the brand itself and

world-renowned environmentalists, that’s exactly the point.

P U M A


vironmentalists have been highly influential in conceptualizing the debate on the future of the earth as something that is intimately connected with how we do business. Essentially, it’s about how more bio-conscious design processes can save enormous amounts of resources.

The sneaker itself is part of the InCycle series of products that will hit stores worldwide in 2013. The line consists of 22 different prod-ucts, constituting a complete range of biode-gradable sportswear items. The track jacket, for example, is made of 98% recycled polyes-ter derived from used PET bottles, whereas the conventional PUMA track jacket contains ad-ditional materials, such as elastane. The back-pack is made of polypropylene and will be re-turned to the original manufacturer in China after collection, who will then produce new backpacks from the recycled polypropylene.

Back to the eco-system

Besides the exclusive use of biodegradable materials, including organic fibers without

any toxic chemicals, the preconditions for biodegradability are set out in certain interna-tional standards for composting. These ensure the least possible environmental impact from the outset, in the sourcing and manufacturing process of biodegradable PUMA products.

The upper part of PUMA’s biodegradable life-style sneaker Basket is made of a mix of or-ganic cotton and linen, while the sole is com-posed of the biodegradable plastic APINAT BIO©, a new material innovation that is bio-degradable when disposed of correctly. When collected through PUMA’s Bring Me Back Program, shredded and transported to an in-dustrial composting facility, the materials of the Basket compost into natural humus and reenter the ecosystem. The Bring Me Back Program was designed to recycle and repur-pose clothing to avoid overusing resources.

Non-PUMA clothing can also be recycled through the program. You simply bring your worn shoes to the store and throw them in a specially made container.

“By taking old clothes and re-using, re-cy-cling, or re-purposing them, we mitigate the amount of virgin material that would other-wise be used to make new products,” declares PUMA’s website.

All products in the PUMA InCycle collection are Cradle-to-Cradle Basic certified. It is the first collection of footwear, apparel, and ac-cessories to carry this certification. Accord-ing to PUMA’s own calculations, the new manufacturing process of products such like the InCycle basket and InCycle T-shirt reduce environmental impact by as much as 31 per-cent.

Prof. Dr. Michael Braungart is very happy to see a large player like Puma apply the princi-ples he first formulated himself:

“It’s such a great accomplishment to see PUMA taking the initiative and leading their company towards developing products that generate a beneficial footprint.”

WA L K I N G W I T H L oW I M PACT

“It ’s such a great accomplishment to see PUMA taking the initiative and leading their

company towards developing products that generate a beneficial footprint .”

Prof. Dr. Michael Braungart

S E V E N I N C H C H o S E N

MAKE IT YOURS

A D I DA S BASKET PROFI / A D I DA S NATIONAL TENNIS / A D I DA S NIzzA LO / A D I DA S ADIzERO FEATHER 2A D I DA S ENERGY BOOST / A D I DA S SUPERNOVA SOLUTION 3 | W W W. A d I dA S .c O M


At a time when we’re exposed to more information than at any other point in human history, it can be difficult to find a personal style, or even to take the time ponder what styles we find intriguing. The easy way out being, of course, to just follow a trend . That ’s why we’re constantly being made aware of new partnerships between brands or personalities in the sneaker game, a tact that makes it easier for consumers to “ legitimize” products by tying a story to them, thereby giving shoes an

identity that might fit consumers’ personalities.

Here at Seveninch , we’ve set ourselves the task of creating a recurring section in the paper that exposes only sneakers of true beauty, no less.

How do you like our selection?

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NEW NEON

N E W BA L A N C E RC5000 / N E W BA L A N C E 574 / N E W BA L A N C E 620 / N E W BA L A N C E 890 V3N E W BA L A N C E 1080 V3 / N E W BA L A N C E 577 | W W W. N E W B A L A N c E .c O.U K



NEUTRAL TIGER

o N I TS U KA T I G E R RIO RUNNER / o N I TS U KA T I G E R TOKUTEN / o N I TS U KA T I G E R COURT TEMPO / o N I TS U KA T I G E R GOLDEN SPARKo N I TS U KA T I G E R GOLDEN SPARK / o N I TS U KA T I G E R COLORADO EIGHTY-FIVE | W W W.O N I TS U KAT I G E R .c O M



SHADES OF GREEN

N I K E VORTEx AIR VNTG / N I K E FREE TRAINER / N I K E AIR BASE II VNTG / N I K E FREE HUARACHE LIGHTN I K E KOBE 8 SYSTEM / N I K E LUNARACER 3 | W W W. N I K E .c O M



A C o L L E CTo R ’ S STo RY

When the FILA Grant Hills came out, I stole them. The way that worked was me and the homies used to try on sneakers, and then when the clerk looked away, we walked right out of the store leaving our old ones behind, haha. I really wanted the Air Max 2 CB 94s after seeing them on the cover of The Infa-mous, but was unable to get them until years later when they were retroed. I think the hunt and very limited availability was what made sneaker-collecting exciting for me.

The first pair of sneakers I bought myself was the Neon Air Max 95s. When they came out that summer, I was amped, they looked outlandish to me like spaceships on my feet, but I always wanted those J’s I had seen years

earlier. When I started travelling to N.Y. I fi-nally got my wish, I bought the retro 4s and 5s on Fulton St. BK in ‘99 and ‘00, highly overpriced, but it was definitely worth it to me, nobody my age knew what they were back then and I used to get dissed like “what the fuck are you wearing those 80’s b-ball sneakers for?”

But everybody is a sneakerhead now. I re-member when these cornballs was rocking Dada shoes with spinning rims on the side, fuck out here hahaha. Today it seems like sneakers in general have lost quality, and by that I mean the materials used are cheaper, sneakers are easy to get, nothing is exclusive any more, at least not if you have money to

burn, today kids just buy into the hype, they have no appreciation of the history or loyalty to a certain pair of kicks. I respect dudes who own 10 pairs of the same shoe, that’s real love. Call me a hater all you want, but they never had to hunt for them like I did, I mean I paid for plane tickets to get the sneakers I wanted.

At the end of the day, I love kicks. It’s a dis-ease I don’t want to be cured of. I O.D.’ed on the 5s when they released them again in ‘06, I must have bought like five pairs at least, that’s definitely my favorite sneaker of all time, tho I would like to see Jordan step up the quality and limit the stock.

I started collecting sneakers way before you could get them on the Internet, I remember seeing Jordans on rap album covers and in episodes of Fresh Prince, I knew who MJ was but I was never into b-ball,

I used to ask my moms for J’s but she couldn’t afford them.

I O.D.ED ON 5S IN ’06

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M A S S E B D R U P

o N I TS U KA T I G E R

NOT YOUR AVERAGE RUNNER UP


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The trainer was released for the 1968 Sum-mer Olympics in Mexico and was co-de-signed by Bill Bowerman, legendary Oregon track coach and jogging guru. Bowerman had invested in a small Beaverton-based distri-bution company called Blue Ribbon Sports, which was run by Phil Knight. The two met at the University of Oregon, where Phil Knight studied journalism. Inspired by Bill Bower-man’s quest to improve the shoes for the ath-letes he coached, Phil wrote an essay titled ‘Can Japanese Sports Shoes Do to German Sports Shoes What Japanese Cameras Did to German Cameras?’ And that’s exactly what the dynamic duo set out to prove.

An unexpected inquisition

Blue Ribbon had secured the exclusive rights to Kihachiro Onitsuka’s innovative running shoes, and Tiger trainers turned out to be top sellers. As a Blue Ribbon technical ad-visor, Bowerman built a prototype of a new runner from the best bits of two existing Ti-ger models. The prototype was more than rough, carelessly held together with horse pins, but Onitsuka Tiger, today also known as ASICS (always with capitals, since it is an acronym for Anima Sana In Corpore Sano, ... a sound mind in a sound body), loved the hy-brid creation and decided to put it into pro-

duction. The only thing the shoe needed was a great name. A natural choice was to name it Aztec in honor of the Olympic host city. How-ever, adidas spoiled the ceremony by releas-ing the Azteca Gold. Threatened with legal action, the name was changed at the spur of the moment to Cortez, or as Bowerman put it, “that Spaniard who kicked the shit out of the Aztecs!”

Well, as the Monty Python cast so brilliantly put it, nobody expects the Spanish inquisi-tion. And ironically, the Cortez had exactly that effect on the competition. Loaded with shock-absorbent cushioning along the full length of the footbed, and with an extra splice in the heel for more bounce, the shoe was years ahead of rivalling shoe brands such as adidas and PUMA. Knight and Bowerman, on the other hand, had another surprise up their sleeves. While distributing Onitsuka Ti-ger in the U.S. they had also developed their own line of trainers, Nike, named after the mythological Greek winged goddess of vic-tory. At the same time, they chose a logo that no one really liked, a fat check mark which became known as the “Swoosh.” When the partnership between Blue Ribbon Sports and Onitsuka Tiger broke down, Knight and Bowerman made a Nike-branded Cortez, based on the Onitsuka Tiger Cortez.

According to Julie Strasser, author of the book Swoosh — the Unauthorized story of Nike and the Men who Played There, the Nike Cortez was discovered by Onitsuka Ti-ger by coincidence, when a visiting official stumbled upon some hidden pairs in the storeroom of Blue Ribbon’s L.A. warehouse. This naturally caused some tension between the two companies, but a court decreed that both Onitsuka Tiger and Nike could sell the Cortez model. As Bill Bowerman was the de-signer of the Cortez, they agreed on splitting the rights to the shoe, but not the name. So when Nike released the shoe in 1972, they named it Nike Cortez, and Onitsuka Tiger re-named their version Corsair.

Back on the prowl

To this day, it is the only trainer to become a best-selling model for two different shoe companies, and after a five-year absence, the Corsair has returned in a heritage red, white, and blue colorway. The old flavor is still there, including the saw-tooth toecap and eyelets, the white grain leather upper, the lithe red stripes. It is spot-on retro, the only tweak being a slightly retooled heel — proudly showing its age with ‘1969’ embroi-dered in gold. The old game-changing Tiger is back on the prowl!

A man set out to make Japanese sports shoes do to German sports shoes what Japanese cameras did to German cameras. With pioneer spirit, persistence, a little help from another aficionado, and an unforeseen twist, this trainer became the only shoe model in the world to be the best seller of two different companies.

What am I talking about? I am talking about the jogging shoe of the early 70s.

N oT Yo U R AV E RAG E R U N N E R U P


At the same time, they chose a logo that no one really liked, a fat check mark which became known as the “Swoosh.” When the partnership between Blue Ribbon Sports and Onitsuka Tiger broke down, Knight and Boweman made a Nike branded cortez ,

based on the Onitsuka Tiger cortez .

A B I A N N UA L S N E A K E R A L M A N AC | I S S U E N o . 0 1

THE SEVENINCH PAPER

N oT Yo U R AV E RAG E R U N N E R U P THE STORY OF CORSAIR / A N E W B o o ST WHAT MAKES A NEW CLASSICWA L K I N G W I T H L oW I M PACT DID PUMA GET IT RIGHT / M A S S E B D R U P A COLLECTOR’S STORY

S E V E N I N C H C H o S E N ADIDAS | ONITSUKA TIGER | NEW BALANCE | NIKE

The Seveninch Paper - No. 1

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