My favorite color is...

Today will be all be about shoes. And I will show all of you good people my most recent purchase. A shoe that quickly jumped to the tippity top of my sneaker hill. But first...a bit of history first.


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For those of you not in the know. This be the flag of the Netherlands. This is where I'm from. Yes, I am a (sometimes) proud American: born and raised. But, both sides of my family are like 100% percent Dutch. Shit, the first memories I have are from when I lived in Orange City, Iowa. Named after the Royal House of Orange. This is all to say I got some roots in the land of Holland and I gots love for the orange! Best. Color. Ever. In addition to having the best national color they have the best World Cup uniforms, not to mention progressive laws, nice people, etc.

Now, you are probably asking what all of this has to do with my new sneakers. Wait for it....we will get there, don't you worry. In the summer of 2005 there was a lot of hype about some new Air Max 1's that were being released from Amsterdam. There were samples released and taken back and changed and lots of nonsense. What came out of all of that mess were the best Air Max 1's ever. They are almost impossible to find now, and I do NOT have a pair. Most likely I never will. But, I can still love them. Here are some pics.


Amazing colorway....no? The sole kills me. It was the first shoe I ever saw with the speckled paint. Check out the heel. Amsterdam stand up!


And finally just peep the insole.


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This shoe was very limited. But, of course there was one released that was even more limited. It had the signature of the artist who did the image on the insole. From what I have read, there were 24 of these made. And there were even some done in the original colorway.



Again with the sick heel print. "Amsterdam is King"


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As I said before...I got nothing but love for the orange. But in this case, I think the orange colorway takes second place. It doesn't happen very often, but sometimes orange can be beat.

This shoe has come to be known as the Air Max 1 Amsterdam. So when I heard a few months ago that there was going to be another shoe dropping from the same people in Amsterdam I got excited. Details were hard to come by at first, but of course they came in due time. This was the first teaser shot.


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As you can see, they are from Patta. The hottest sneaker shop in Amsterdam from all accounts. Someday....I will have to stop in and say "hi". Back to the shoe. They were to be released in late December. This was kinda upsetting as I was going to be in New Zealand. Things did not look good. Then I started seeing full shots of the shoe online. It was not love at first sight. But, when I was in NZ, I saw it in the flesh...and I was completely won over. It is amazingly full of detail. I love it. I bought it and have no regrets at all, even though they were not cheap. Here is some shoe porn for you:


Notice the details. The suede and the lasered leaf pattern. Not to mention the perforated leather toe box. oh...did you want to see a shot from the back???


How nice is that orange?


They came with the nice lace holder. "M 90" = Air Max 90. The best Air Max ever....if you ask me. More shots, more shots.


They are named Homegrowns. They are in honor of the independent hip-hop scene in Holland. A CD featuring Dutch rappers was released with the shoe in some stores. Sadly, I did not get one. I would love to hear what going on over there music wise. Ok, ok...let's get into the shoe.


Cork insoles. Very comfortable and super interesting. They pulled out all the stops. (A phrase that comes from playing the organ...click HERE if you don't believe me.)


It came with 3 sets of laces. As you can see, I am digging the orange right now. Very soon I might get down with the white. I will probably stay away from the green for a while. I need something to breakup all that green....as nice as it is. Plus...the old Nike Air hang tag. I haven't seen that lovely thing in forever. It stirred up some long dead memories of shopping with my mom in Footlocker. I collected those tags. I wonder where they all ended up??? No matter, at least now I have one. As for the shoe, there were only 750 pairs made. That makes it pretty exclusive....which is kinda nice. As I looking around today...at all my usual haunts in Shinjuku and Ueno, I only saw that one shop had them. But I know most people that get them will probably save them and not wear them. Me...I'm a shoe wearer, not a collector. To each his own. One last note. Nike being Nike, there had to be a more limited version of the same shoe. (Hyperstrike as compared to the Quickstrike: 24 shoes released vs. 750.) Take a look.


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It might sound like sour grapes, cause I will most likely never even SEE these, but I like the green base more than the orange. Truth be told....even to me, that sounds like sour grapes. Who knows...I might find them one day. Life is in the search.

ps. If you couldn't figure it out...my favorite color is orange.