I Miss The Old Streetwear
I Miss The Old Streetwear
Zanerobes, Nike Flyknits, Janoskis, Karmaloop, and a bunch more in this nostalgic filled trip.
Talking about new releases is always exciting, but I’ve been having a way better time looking back into the past while unlocking some hilarious nostalgia-filled fashion memories. A recent conversation between a few clothing-obsessed individuals on the current state of fashion has helped me understand where the culture is currently at—people are tired! Too many new collections, not a lot of substance, and the trends that are coming and going in a blink of an eye have left us exhausted.
I’ll be honest, going back and rediscovering garments from past seasons has been way more exciting than the new stuff that has been dropping lately—not to say the new stuff is bad, there are still plenty of brands that are killing it and are dropping new heat, but in general, the vibe has shifted. Going through my archive has reminded me of pieces that held a special meaning to me when I was a teen, and I figured that it would be fun to revisit those garments in today’s newsletter.
This all started out because I recently indulge in a music video classic—I rewatched Fetti by Playboi Carti x Da$H x Maxo Kream—and was instantly reminded of Carti wearing the Supreme shadow plaid rugby from FW14. Initially, this piece didn’t even have that much hype, but all of that changed overnight after the release of the Fetti music video. With the skyrocketing resell prices and the limited availability of this piece being resold in general made this rugby pretty much unattainable.
This rugby is almost a decade old but still slaps today, that’s what I call a classic.
After rinsing the Fetti music video for the 6th time, I began daydreaming about other iconic celebrity-influenced Supreme pieces. One of the most iconic examples is Supreme’s Thunderbird Jersey from FW10 which was worn by Frank Ocean during his Saturday Night Live performance in 2012. I think this was one of the first, if not the first, true community grail that I had experienced. Everyone wanted it, and thanks to the Frank effect, this piece became a must-have for every Supreme collector overnight. The forums were flooded with WTB threads and before you knew it the jersey was running for $700+ on the secondary market.
The thing about nostalgia is sometimes you don’t even need to go that deep to be reminded of the good times. Still wild to think that Palace x Ralph Lauren happened 5 years ago because it feels like just yesterday we saw that Polo Bear skating on that sweater. That entire collab had nothing but heat, but the standout for me has to be that Palace Polo Bear sweater. I never even bothered to try to buy it, and now I kind of regret it, but from what I saw it was gone within seconds anyway—you can still get your hands on it today, but getting it under $1000 isn’t going to happen. Which makes my chances of acquiring it one day, slim to none. Note: Ok, so I decided to not edit out my original assumption on the resell price of this piece. After checking the real resell price I learned that it was north of $4,000—yes that’s with a comma. CRAZY!
Moving on to shoes, because I can spend all day talking about clothes from the past. Nike SB has its fair share of important models that we can spend all day talking about, but I want to shine light on a model that gets that nostalgic engine up and running for me—I’m talking about the Nike SB Janoski. One of the most important Nike SB styles to come out ended up overtaking teenagers’ wallets in the mid-2010s. I remember being obsessed myself, and even though it wasn’t my favorite skate shoe, it was still a style I needed to have.
At the time, Nike SB had only given a signature shoe to one skater—Paul Rodriguez. Stefan Janoski was second in line for another SB signature shoe, but the back and forth between him and Nike made the collaborative process much harder than it should have been—Stefan was in a constant battle with the Nike designers. While Nike was looking to continue their focus on the bulky shape for their skate shoe catalog, Stefan wanted to do the opposite. After a while, Nike conceded, and then we got the SB Janoski.
The all-black with the white swoosh will always be a classic version, but another favorite of mine was the digi-floral series that was released around 2013. The last Janoski SB release was around May of last year, and while we don’t have the classic colorways readily available the way they used to be, the shoe still holds its importance today. Maybe it’s time to snag a pair of the classic Janoskis, for nostalgia's sake.
Since we are on the topic of Nike and the 2010s then we have to talk about the Flyknit era, and how it played an important part in solidifying one of the cringiest timelines in streetwear history. Fashion needs cringe just as much as cringe needs fashion, and while different generations will experience this moment in different ways, it’s important to remember that every generation experiences its own fashion cringe era.
Now, this next shoe isn’t cringe, in fact, they are still fire today and are one of my favorite styles to come out of Nike. Being a teenager in the 2010s means that you should be very familiar with the Flyknit catalog. Iconic styles like the Racer, Trainer, Lunar, and Chukka, just to name a few, ended up becoming a staple in many people’s wardrobes—Let us not forget when Kanye was on Nike rocking the Trainers all the time. Simpler times.
So many great colorways and models helped boost this shoe, and there was no better time to be Flyknit obsessed. It wasn’t all fun and games though, because it came at a cultural price. Don’t know what I’m referring to? Oh, you don’t remember pin rolling your jeans with the Flyknit trainers? What about the Zanerobe’s you got from Karmaloop to match the fit? The shoe was great, but the pants renaissance it brought to the masses was not.
It was so bad, I mean looking back at it now, how did we think it was ok to wear joggers in the first place? Ok, I’m also not saying that every single person was wearing the joggers/pin roll + Flyknit combo, but there was a short moment where that was a look for many. Mind you this was happening during the LRG, 10.Deep, OBEY, HUF weed socks days, which are arguably one of the most questionable timelines in streetwear history. Yet, looking back at it now it was a much simpler time that was way more accepting of cringe. Maybe because everyone was going through it, but either way, I’m kind of missing that moment in time.
A lot of us went through this phase, whether it was the full combo—as shown above— or just one of the 4 items, but a lot of us had lived through it in some way or another. This cringe era ultimately led us to where we are today, but looking back at it now, I can’t ever wrap my head around the jogger phase and how it became as massive as it did.
It may have taken on new forms but cringe within fashion is still very much alive today—shout out TikTok for this never-ending stream of content. In general, I believe that people are dressing better, and TikTok has played a key role in this. Many people didn’t care about fashion the way they do now, and the rise of “Fit Check” videos has made those people think about their outfits way more because they are being judged on a larger scale. And sure, there will always be people dressing in a cringe way, I just think that the abundance of resources has helped people achieve some sort of style comfortability at a much faster rate than when we were teenagers trying to dress well.
Still, TikTok’s cringe levels are some of the worst I’ve ever seen. I don’t need to go on an explanation because at this point everyone should know what I’m talking about. If you don’t, just go on and download TikTok and look up one of the many fashion-related hashtags. Good luck.
Over the several days of going through the depths of the internet to remember some of the most interesting moments in streetwear culture, I remembered the infamous “I Think About You Sometimes” hat by Gianni Mora. Affiliated with the Ass Pizza & Luka Sabbat crew, this hat took the internet by storm. The hat was hyped for a bit, reselling for over $500 in some cases, which is crazy to think about, but then after all that, it seemed as though Gianni Mora disappeared for good.
It was a very important streetwear moment that will only get recognized by a very niche group of people who lived through it. Just like anything though, there is a niche moment happening for a select group of people right now, and in a few years, someone else will be on their nostalgic path trying to remember the good times.
Going through the archives to reminisce about the good, the bad and the ugly, will always be a good time, and obviously, there is way more to cover throughout that specific period that I won’t be able to get to today, but it was a lot of fun to go through a slice of teenage fashion life in the mid-2010s!
Long love Karmaloop
Feeling nostalgic😓