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. With Bread & Sneakers
I love the Wonder Bread logo. (See?) So I guess I’m slightly impressed that somebody at Pro Keds also recognizes its graphic beauty. And I would love to know the deal-making back story on this particular “collabo” (as the kids say). Who paid whom, and how much? The entity that makes Wonder Bread (and Twinkies, as it happens) is in bad shape these days, and has been operating under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection for more than a year. These items, according to Josh Spear, are “part of the company’s newest campaign … a series of food-based sneakers that are pretty tasty looking.” He points to this HypeBeast post on the Oreo-like Pro-Keds Milk & Cookies.
I don’t really see the point of “food-based sneakers” in general, but the Wonder hookup seems particularly odd: What does Pro-Keds, not exactly a vibrant brand, despite the fact that Damon Dash is now running the show, see in an association with Wonder? Is it ironic? Or does Wonder Bread speak to the sneakerhead in some way that I don’t understand? (As a contrast, the recent New Era/Gabriel Urist collaboration addressed recently in Consumed is an example of a collaboration that seems less forced.) Maybe they liked the same thing I did: the excellent logo. Too bad, in that case, that the actual shoes are so hideous.
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Reader Comments
…also, Alife recently released their Wonder Bread styled polka dot crew neck.
I forgot about that! (Here’s the image from Freshness). Maybe Wonder has more street cred than I thought.
I’ve wondered in the past if Wonder influenced the “dots” version of the alife logo, which I don’t think they really use any more.
Thanks for that, Michael…
I think that food based sneakers arent actually the point. if that makes any sense. as you said the sneaks are ugly, but then look at something like bathing ape sneakers, those are fugly, but somehow manage to draw a line out the store on a regular basis. prokeds probably liked wonderbread logo and colors and bam, you have another limited edition piece of crap.
Isn’t the sneaker game all about colorways now? And Wonderbread has a classic colorway which Pro-keds grabbed. But they also need a hook, something to distinguish them from the million other colorways out there, and you know maybe get them blogged… The Bape comparision is spot on I think, those things look like they are ready to fly off the limited edition shelves. Tailor made for the hip hop meets ecstasy culture of right now.
I think that in addition to colorways, the sneakerheads like things that make some kind of sense (to them). Bape has a lot more going on with its brand than just the colors. I’ll be pretty surprised if these do well. I agree about the Wonder colors, that was kind of my original thing here, that I love that logo. On the other hand, my own aesthetic judgment hardly matters, I’m not in the demo, but I don’t see these having any relevance to people who are in the demo — and who have many, many other and more relevant choices available with a very similar aesthetic. Of course, I’ve been wrong before … lots of times.. For example, I didn’t think anybody would comment on this post!
i just think its funny how all these sneaker co’s are adopting this sneaker design. kind of looks like a air force one. to me they look like skate shoes. real simple, etc. i’ve never seen a pro ked that looks like this. i’m used to seeing the converse style. let’s all jump on the bandwagon and copy a copy of a copy. like the bape shoe is an exact copy of an airforce 1 with a star. people are getting more and more gullible. just call it limited and it’s over…
It might have been interesting to do something with the Wonder color/logos on a slip-on. Somebody once told me Keds had slip-ons before Vans did. I think the “copy of a copy of a copy” pont is right, and is the reason that I doubt these will generate much heat.
I just cop these today! And they are dope for the summer! they look good in person. first pair of keds I bought since dam dash had keds. I like these. I was considering a pair of bapes, so i save myself a few hundred dollars.
I wear a size 7 and finding those polka dot bapes were hard , so I settled for these and I am happy. Plus, I wish a sneakerhead would clown me about these. Keds have been around for a minute. Back in the day the only thing that moved in the hood were Converse, keds, adidas, puma. We did not start wearing nike until mike/spike/tinker breathed life into the brand.
And wonder bread has street cred, That’s the bread you better get when mom sent you to the store/ bodega, even if there was some cheaper bread , and you had foodstamps ((( Cause it is some good a** bread))
Every hustler and money chaser wants bread$$ and lots of it.
Growing up in the hood, If mom came home with some wonder bread. WOW! The sandwich just taste better and you knew it was all about the bread. Peace!
Ohhhhh Damon.
Well, the ripoff game is no secret at ProKeds, that’s for sure. “Make me an Air Force 1, make me an Adidas Samba, make me a tktkt…..” was the order from the top.
It began with the Oreo ProKeds and the Milk ProKeds and now the Wonderbread. There are fruit-inspired kix in the works. They’ll be scented. I’m not kidding.
To be honest, Dam destroyed the nostalgia of the shoe transforming it into a played out wanna-be-hype shoe line riding trends instead of sticking to what having a pair Pro-Keds used to be about: respecting the history or Hip Hop and/or the sneaker culture.
As an aside: Pro-Keds started out really making shoes in the early 1900’s so before someone comments something about Nike and/or Adi they should take that inception date into account.