1985
I am 13 years old I am on a ground of
basketball in Boston I play against a
player who is older and who carries
at the foot the very first pair of air
jordan he dares me to beat him
to win his pair unfortunately
despite all my efforts I lose the
match because he was much stronger than
me
before leaving he said to me and max you
had no chance to fight
my sneakers are part of my
personality they are the extension
two months even at 3 to find your pair
that day I realized that he did not
was not enough to have nice sneakers
on the feet but that it was especially necessary
embody like many things in
life from the top of my 13 years I had
found my quest
just a precision when I speak to you
sneaker I not talking about this one
okay I’m talking to you rather
of that and that you know you have
already associated the words culture and
sneakers
when we talk about culture we think about
arts to the letters in the theater how
imagine that in you speaking sneaker I
continue to talk to you about culture
do you know that there are more than 200
definition of the word culture
as much to tell you that finally everyone has
hers
about me I built my culture
exciting for me and sneakers
defining their anchor with the
contemporary society well beyond
sport this is not a shoe of
sport this is a 1968 games culture
mexico olympics
that year the gold medalists and
of bronze are two black athletes
american tommie smith and john carlos
but to everyone’s surprise at the moment
to receive their medals
they stand on the podium in
socks head down
the fist lifted when and from black their
sneakers of suede pumas are laid on
the podium next to the by refusing I
say well by refusing to introduce yourself
with his feet he sends a strong message
to the whole world their will remember
the condition of black slaves who
was walking off this gesture against the
racism and the exclusion they are
victims in the United States will make scandal
they will be banned from the Olympics
is banned for life from any
competition
this is how the sweden puma becomes
almost revolutionary symbol am I
talking to you about sports or 10.3
of belonging society of individuals
two peoples I am from
Afro-Caribbean I also lived
in the United States this anecdote
history therefore has a resonance all
particular in me you know us
all have experienced the origins
sensitivities and centers
different interests
so I’m asking you what are the
yours
is there a chance that it is connected to
the story of a repeat sneakers with
me this is not a shoe of
sport this is a
thanks today the sneakers are
everywhere they left the grounds
of sport to invade our two stories
many people only see them
as consumer products from
mass and not as a cultural vector or
identity then the question can be
to pose
are we undergoing this fashion phenomenon
in the audience
who has children under 7 years old you
recognize them my daughters are fans
your children I’m sure have the same
at home is possible to escape
sneakers cars snow queen and others
basketball blinking
yes it’s true of poor quality
Made in Asia they have
an ultra limited life time quickly
buy quickly consumed I recognize it
it is very difficult to resist
merchandising brands that from their
younger age cap their future
consumers and for parents who
have teens the question stickers is a
very sensitive subject
the cute sneakers cars queen of
snow will give way to others
idols that his pharrell williams or
rihanna who have outright their own
collection in homes like adidas
or puma
so I’m sure you have
spent whole afternoons with
your teenager found the right color of a
star conversion or a pair of stan
smith I know I think I understood
all his peers are not identical
you have to find the color that the
friends did not stop crucial then
so your teen asserts himself he knows what
that he wants
although sometimes his motives
may seem obscure or futile
think again
despite the social pressure the
fashion phenomena and an apparent
standardization
it is question for him of denial
self-constructing one’s identity
of belonging a group is at the same
demarcation time through a
pair of sneakers
he builds his own culture
paradoxically these young consumers
do not know much about
the story of his peers
1917 I did say 1917 birth of the
drive single star with more than 800
million pairs sold to date
one hundred years after its creation
do you know how many pairs are sold
every second three pairs ditto for the
stan smith you believe her American and
ben though it was designed in
France in Strasbourg in 1964 supervised
by the French tennis player robert
haillet she also went to pleslin
robert haillet for many
years before being baptized in
1978 to be called that stan smith
had judged much more salesman than the
name franchouillard robert elsewhere
recovered by the street the stan smith is going
become an emblematic pair of
hip hop movement
when I tell you that this is not a
sports shoe and that this is a
culture and why not a cons
culture
you’ll notice it’s often
personalities of the movements to
countercurrent breaking with codes
of their time that is blowing the
change the sneakers does not escape
this verdict
because if she got out of
pushed sport pose in the street is
mainly thanks to hip hop one of
guam subversive these artists who say
three graffiti dancer rappers sports
a radically different look sneaker
at the foot of 1986 marks a break
the rap group american ron m6 gold a
piece called my adidas that puts in
before the adidas superstar brand
adidas despite herself finds herself
propelled in street symbol
culture
what you need to know is when
3rd group concerts if the audience
those things to brandish his peers
adidas
yes it’s curious the sneakers at this
moment there becomes the standard of all
a generation breaking with his
time
the youth will gradually adopt
the rap codes of hip hop and
streetwear
you will have understood in the 80s
I was a teenager and like thousands of
young people I did not escape the
rule
that’s very important to know
let’s say that rap has popularized and
urbanize the wearing of sneakers
I’m sure for many of
you since the 2000s on Friday
at work it’s friday res knickers at
foot and for others it’s even
five hours at the foot all the time for
we are far from explaining what we
today calls the phenomenon
stickers because if hip hop to
popularize culture sneakers michael
jordan made it a myth
you may know amateurs
enthusiasts who are ready to
to wait 10 hours or even ten days for
buy the latest model to be
honest with you I was part of
this community 1990 I’m in
holiday in san francisco during the
out of the jordan 5
the atmosphere is tense the atmosphere is
electric
all enthusiasts want their father
however the number of copies
available for sale is very
limited to certain areas
shops overflows bursts I
managed to have a pair in a small
shop
but when leaving the shop
the seller forbids me to hide my
pair in a neutral and opaque bag of
afraid that I get geared and he had
reason
I could not wear my pair
more than a week the time that the
things calm down
believe me on word
people for a pair of sneakers
even more
the craze was such that the very
serious american sports magazine
sports illustrated
two titles is about this
jordan 5 youzhny heart on you life your
sneakers or your life that has me so much
marked that when I finally got the
to wear she became my pair that
who made the connection between the boy
13 years old that I was who were
marveled at the joy that carried the
jordan one is the man I was
become who is now 45 years old
proudly wear it’s jordan 5 like
the extension of myself to me well
look we all have a story with a
pair of sneakers in minutes
I told you about political facts
of sports history and education
I would have liked to talk about design of
technology cinema there is not a
only one of these areas that is not marked
of the footprint of the sneakers and for no
not finish all as sheep in
basketball
please one more last
times this is not a shoe of
sport this to tulle thank you
”
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