Many things happen in a decade. Alex Ferguson retired from Man U; China ended their One Child Policy; the Notre Dame Cathedral caught on fire; uh, remember Covid anyone? A lot can happen in 10 years but we're glad to see Jon Fong and Dexter Tan still organising their sneaker cons.
Called Sole Superior, this was the original sneaker con that met the needs of local sneakerheads. The passion project between Fong and Tan started appropriately enough when they were in the queue for a sneaker release and, this year, for its 10th anniversary, the duo celebrates their milestone with a sneaker con worthy of the occasion.
For one, Sole Superior breaks tradition by holding its con in Singapore's lore-ridden neighbourhood, Yishun. Specifically at the grounds of HomeTeamNS Khatib. The clubhouse's Grand Ballroom is a sprawling 1,014 square metre space that will house a menagerie of vendors and exclusives that fans can look forward to.
Exclusive SUPER10R 2023 Merchandise: Illustrator, Alex Lim will put his mark (design) on limited-edition Hydro Flask bottles and exclusive event tees (only 50 pieces up for grabs).
Sole Superior x Saint Barkley Collab: Do you like your suede kicks with scented tongues and possessing that peachy bravado? We got you covered. We posted about these Singapore-Indonesia sneakers but it bears repeating that will be available to 100 pairs out of the 500 made and will retail at SGD66.
Superior Kids’ Area and T-shirt Design Competition: Are you the sort to utter that your kid can do better than the abstract work by artists? Why not, have them design a t-shirt. Do it, you mouthy coward, I'll wait. Or if you're the nice parent, who believe that art is subjective and just want to let kids be, have your little ones embrace their inner artist with a t-shirt design competition. The top three designs will see production and sales in 2024.
Community Marketplace/ Indie Vendors: A plethora of fineries will be available. Punish those naughty peddlers with your money!
Celebrating one's 10th year isn't just a recognition of survival; it's an event. One that is supported by a thriving community of streetwear enthusiasts. Step once more into the breach. Return to a world where style, culture and community collide in the most superior fashion imaginable.
Sole Superior will be held this Saturday, 25 November at HomeTeamNS Khatib (2 Yishun Walk, Singapore 767944). The event will run from noon to 8pm. Tickets are now available.
Some guys can rattle off every relevant stat about their favourite team or player. Other guys, like Chad Kramer, who recently took the reins as CEO of Del Toro, the footwear brand known for Italian-made velvet slippers and suede and leather loafers? Well, not exactly.
“I’ve always been a huge menswear and fashion nerd. Like, obsessed with this industry,” he tells me over Zoom. He’s in Chicago, I’m in Brooklyn, and we’re chatting about his affinity for menswear’s digital heavy hitters. “They’re like athletes to me,” he continues. “Even my friends back in Chicago are like, ‘You know more about menswear designers or influencers than you do about the current Chicago Bulls team.’ That’s how big of a dork I am.”
Kramer joined Del Toro in November of 2022, but his move into the fashion industry has been a long time coming. He started out working in finance at J.P. Morgan, first in Chicago and then in New York. “I loved it for the first few years,” he says, “but then I realised that I still do have this fashion itch.” To scratch it, He enrolled in Parsons School of Design's one-year fashion entrepreneurship program to relieve that itch.
“I lied to my coworkers and told them that I was going to business school at night,” he laughs. “I’d wait for them to leave, go into the bathroom and put on what I thought was cool, lower-Manhattan gear, then look out of the bathroom like, ‘All right, is the coast clear?’ and run out of 270 Park Avenue, get on the subway, and go down to Parsons.”
Just after he finished up the program, life brought him back to Chicago, and eventually out of the finance and into tech. He took a job at Meta, working mostly with McDonald’s, but kept the fashion flame burning by connecting with some of his menswear “athletes” and helping them out with stuff like Instagram verification. Then, everything came together because of a jumper and a fateful dinner party—not to mention the increasingly permeable wall between the worlds of fashion and technology.
“I went to dinner with a bunch of other parents of young kids wearing an Aimé Leon Dore crocheted vest,” Kramer says. “It was pretty bold, but I was like, ‘I can pull this off in the suburbs of Chicago!’ One of the guys there, a friend of mine, said, ‘I don’t what the hell you’re wearing, but a buddy of mine just bought this shoe company called Del Toro. Have you heard of them?’”
Kramer was incredulous. Del Toro was founded in 2005 by Matthew Chevallard and built up something of a cult following during the #menswear era, when items like the brand’s signature velvet loafers were littering Tumblr feeds alongside super-slim Italian tailoring and extremely high-and-tight haircuts. That era passed, and Del Toro was sold in 2018 to a group of investors (Carmelo Anthony among them). Those investors’ plans fizzled and it was sold again in 2020. By the spring of 2022, Kramer was convinced the company was kaput.
After being disabused of that notion, he asked if he could meet the new owner, just to hear his story. “Forty-eight hours later, my buddy sends me a text that says, ‘Don’t kill me, but they need a new CEO, and I sold them on your background,’” Kramer explains. “I was like, ‘What?!’”
Cue the whirlwind of interviews and presentations. Then the hire. Kramer started as CEO in the midst of the holiday season—“the most fun and chaotic thing I’ve ever done”—and after weathering the storm, started the project of “bringing people back to Del Toro” in earnest.
That necessitates a three-pronged strategy for Kramer. On the one hand, there are those velvet slippers, which continue to be a brand favourite. “There’s no denying it: the black velvet slipper is our hero item,” Kramer says. “When I’m in Chicago or visiting friends in New York or in the suburbs up here, there are people coming up to me saying, ‘I wore Del Toro tuxedo slippers to my wedding.’ That’s so cool.”
“Nobody owns the men’s wedding shoe space,” he continues. “No one really says, ‘Those are the go-to wedding shoes.’ That’s who we want to become.”
Del Toro is also targeting the sports industry when it comes to occasion-specific attire. or at least the world of "country-club sports. “What is the shoe that you wear to the golf course, and the shoe that you slip on as soon as you get off the course?” Kramer asks. He’s hoping it’ll be something like the Centesimo, made of unlined goat suede, or the flagship Milano loafer in calf leather.
Making things official, Del Toro is the footwear supplier for the U.S. Team at this year’s Ryder Cup in Rome. “That is us breaking through to golf,” Kramer says. “We are putting our foot forward and waving our hands and saying, ‘We are here. Hey, golf guys, pay attention.’”
The last piece of the jigsaw is persuading males who prefer Vans Slip-Ons and Birkenstock Bostons that there is another way to go about things. Loafers are "knockaround shoes," according to Kramer, so men shouldn't worry too much about them. Just shuffle them on with whatever and walk out the door.
“That’s how people are getting dressed today,” he says. “They’re staying comfortable, but they’re also leaving the house again, so they want to get dressed. And it’s such a layup to put on a pair of loafers. We’re not just a shoe to wear with your business casual when you go to the office. We’re also a shoe to wear hungover when you go to the bodega on a Saturday morning.”
“We could really encompass every aspect of daily life,” Kramers says. “It’s a huge challenge, but it’s one that gets me really excited.”
Originally published on Esquire US
How long does it take for a collaboration to manifest? Six months? A year? If you're like Sole Superior and Saint Barkley, the road to the end product can take up to four years. But it's worth the wait as the union borne out of mutual admiration for each other yields these limited-edition kicks.
Limited to 500 pairs, this collaboration caused quite a kerfuffle back in 2022. A sample pair was first introduced at Sole Superior last November and then at the Jakarta Sneaker Day in February 2023. It was during the latter when the samples were absconded from its display case.
But when life gives you lemons, you turn it into a marketing opportunity—Saint Barkley and Sole Superior offered a reward to anyone who turn in the stolen samples. In an IG post, Saint Barkley and Sole Superior extoll the sneaker thief for their "terrific taste" and chided their "terrible ethics". The samples were never recovered.
But what is it about the Sole Superior x Saint Barkley sneakers that made it so seductive that theft was its only recourse?
Well, taking inspiration from the 'Scratch N Sniff' stickers of the 1980s, the shoes sport bubblegum-scented tongues. These releases that contraband scent when your foot comes in contact with it. The upper is a peach /suede with light-reflective stitching. Adorned with Saint Barkley's signature volt green sole, the white vulcanised rubber midsole looks striking from the contrast. ensuring your sneakers and surroundings smell as fresh as they look. To top it all off, the sneakers come in a special clear window shoebox. Each purchase of the shoes will also get you three exclusive Saint Barkley x Sole Superior air fresheners.
Not only do you have a sneaker release, there's also the limited apparel capsule collection. A t-shirt, cap, and coach jacket—these items complement your new kicks. These are available in limited quantities as well.
Saint Barkley x Sole Superior limited kicks retails for SGD66. The collection drops today at Saint Barkley's physical store in Indonesia or if you're not based over there, you can purchase them online.
