By Jacob Gallagher
By now, you've likely heard of the " Satan Shoes," black-and-red
modified Nike Air Max sneakers whose maker, a company called Mschf
claimed they contain a drop of human blood in the sole. Released on
March 29, the demonic-looking shoes were not -- as was commonly
misreported -- an official Nike release. They were bootlegs created
by the rapper Lil Nas X in partnership with Mschf, a
controversy-baiting product design firm in Brooklyn. Within a week,
the unauthorized shoes drew a blizzard of publicity, and Nike
obtained a temporary restraining order against Mschf.
Last Thursday Nike and Mschf settled out of court, with Mschf
agreeing to buy back the sneakers from customers at their original
$1,018 price -- Mschf claimed that 665 of the 666 pairs it produced
had been sold. In a statement following the settlement, Nike
reiterated that it "had nothing to do with the Satan Shoes," and
that "the parties are pleased to put this dispute behind them." In
an emailed statement, the lawyer at Debevoise & Plimpton
representing the design studio, David Bernstein, wrote, "MSCHF
recognized that settlement was the best way to allow it to put this
lawsuit behind it so that it could dedicate its time to new
artistic and expressive projects."
The "Satan Shoes," while particularly sensational, are in fact
just the latest in a number of highly creative, highly unapproved
bootleg sneakers that riff on well-known Nike designs. These shoes
are not your traditional cheapo copies that knock off the exact
look of an existing Nike model. Instead, they take a popular
silhouette like the Air Jordan 1 or the Nike Dunk Low and rejigger
the codes of the shoe, spicing it up as a DJ would remix an
existing song.
This latest bootleg bonanza began in 2019, when Trevor Gorji, a
22-year-old college student at the University of Southern
California, released his "One in the Chamber" sneakers under the
brand name Fugazi. They looked like traditional red-and-white
Jordan 1 high-tops, only the Swoosh was replaced by a revolver and
the perforations on the toe resembled bullet holes. After that came
fellow Californian Warren Lotas's Nike Dunk lookalikes in 2020,
which featured a Swoosh embellished with the face of the fictional
"Friday the 13th" slasher Jason Voorhees. Those shoes were too
close for comfort for Nike, and the Oregon sneaker titan sued Mr.
Lotas. The two companies reached a settlement agreement late last
year and Mr. Lotas has since issued more Dunk riffs, minus the
conspicuous Swoosh. Warren Lotas didn't respond to requests for
comment.
In more recent months there's been a steady trickle of bootlegs
by small sneaker makers. Orée, a New York startup, created the
"Empire City Highs" which look like a pair of leather Jordan 1
shoes with a horizontal Statue of Liberty sitting where the Swoosh
would go. Vandy the Pink, a Virginia and New York-based clothing
customizer, created the "Burger Shoes," with sesame-bun details and
a fry replacing the Swoosh. And Plessume in Charlotte, N.C., has
sold the "Slam High," a black-and-cream Jordan-esque shoe with a
blockier hockey-stick-looking Swoosh. Plessume, Vandy the Pink and
Orée confirmed that Nike hadn't contacted them about their designs
while Mr. Gorji of Fugazi declined to reply whether Nike had
reached out to him about the sneakers. Although it didn't comment
on specific examples or brands, Nike said it "will continue to act
to enforce its rights in its trademarks and designs."
Nike has traditionally not been very litigious with these types
of creative bootleggers and, according to Susan Scafidi, founder
and director of the Fashion Law Institute at Fordham Law School,
most of these niche companies are not likely to face litigation.
She noted that while these sneakers do copy some recognizable
attributes of Nike sneakers they don't replicate trademarked
elements of the Nike brand such as the Swoosh or the slogan "Just
Do It." In the few cases where Nike has taken legal action, such as
with Warren Lotas, the Swoosh has often been present on the
sneakers. Further, she said, most of these labels are not
tarnishing Nike's brand image in a significant, highly public
manner.
Lesser-known labels have been riffing on name-brand designs for
decades. Starting in the mid-1980s, brands like Sang and Pro Joggs
sold Jordan 1 not-quite knockoffs, which were nearly identical to
Nikes except the Swoosh was swapped out for an arrow and a check
mark-like slash, respectively. By the 2000s, with sneaker
collecting becoming more commonplace, more artistic bootlegs began
hitting the market. The most infamous was Ari Saal Forman's "Ari
Menthol 10" from 2006, a provocative sneaker that mashed up Nike's
Air Force One silhouette with the color scheme and logo of Newport
cigarettes. Mr. Forman positioned the shoes as an artistic
statement and only 252 pairs were made. That small run didn't spare
him from receiving a cease and desist from Nike and being sued by
Newport, which sparked a lengthy legal battle. Per the terms of a
settlement Mr. Forman was required to destroy remaining pairs of
his sneakers. As such, the shoes are remarkably rare today and an
original pair of Menthol 10s is currently listed on eBay for
$12,000, more than almost any Nike from that era. In a 2018 Vice
video, Mr. Forman said Nike was "really cool about" the situation
by not taking him to court, but cautioned future bootleggers to not
"play with tobacco in any sort of way."
What's distinct about the past couple of years is just how many
bootleg operators are getting in on the action. This latest boom is
entirely made possible by the internet. Sites like Alibaba and even
simple Google searches can connect a budding sneaker designer with
a capable factory -- most often somewhere in Asia. "Everyone has an
opportunity to do something out of their house. You don't have to
be in the fashion capitals of the world to make something
impressive," said Justice Hanson, 22, who along with his partner
Trevor Anderson-Evans, 25, started Plessume earlier this year. The
duo knows this firsthand, living in Charlotte, N.C., hardly a
fashion hub. Nonetheless, through the internet, they found a
Chinese factory and after a sampling process, were able to produce
and market their "Slam High."
To get their high-quality creations into customers' hands, these
startups have excelled at marketing themselves through social
media. Some sneakers are designed with online virality in mind. Mr.
Gorji, the founder of Fugazi admitted that the details on his shoe
were placed "to spark some sort of conversation" and "essentially
to go viral." His plan worked: The $187 shoes were shared broadly
on social media and sold out upon their release. He's since
reissued them in a white and gray colorway which again sold out and
was worn (much to the surprise of Mr. Gorji) by the rapper
Drake.
A key asset for these brands is the creators themselves. Fans
follow the founders on Instagram and YouTube. Mr. Gorji has over
52,000 followers on his personal Instagram page where he posts
photos of what he's wearing (often, his own shoes) or just pictures
of him and his friends out to eat. Ray Miah of Orée has a YouTube
channel with over 27,000 subscribers where he discusses his
personal style and in October teased his sneakers before their
launch. These personal peeks behind the curtain are very different
from marketing at Nike, a mammoth corporation where trade secrets
and designer names are kept under wraps.
These small-time sneaker-smiths also provide a playfulness that
mainstream brands lack. Sneaker collectors I spoke with noted that
there are only so many times you can see a Jordan 1 in a new
colorway before that silhouette starts to look dull. To be sure,
Nike sells hundreds of millions of sneakers a year, a figure that
dwarfs the few hundred or so pairs released by most bootleggers.
Why not, fans ask, try a different kind of Swoosh, or add a new
form of perforation? For now, bootleggers offer that off-kilter
creativity. "People definitely want something a little bit more
unique," said Kristian Aynedter, 25, a barista living near Lake
Tahoe, Nev., who has long collected Jordans, but recently bought a
pair of the Orée riffs, which he noted tend to turn more heads than
the real ones.
This golden age of sneaker riffs may not last long. All three
labels I spoke with expressed a desire to move beyond sneakers. Mr.
Gorji of Fugazi is already designing Portuguese-made hiking boots
and loafers, Mr. Miah is set to launch a sweater shortly and the
Plessume team is working on apparel as well. All these creators
seemed to have learned the same lesson: To sustain a brand, you
need more than just buzz.
Write to Jacob Gallagher at Jacob.Gallagher@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
April 12, 2021 11:13 ET (15:13 GMT)
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