Deadstock find, first printing hardcover edition now out of print.

It seems like this book has been in the making forever. It's been at least 6 or 7 years since we first started hearing the rumors that Bobbito was working on a book about sneakers. At the time, nobody had done anything like that, there were no "specialty" sneaker spots downtown and ebay hadn't even come into realization yet. Every once in a while, you'd hear another something about it (grumbling about the UK sneaker book, etc), but weather it was actually going to happen always seemed up in the air. And now here, in the thick of sneaker mania and reissue fever, comes Bob's book, landing like a brick on an expectant culture that has grown since his idea started. And it's oh so official. 265 pages covering the years of 1960 to 1987, with a particular focus on basketball shoes and an incredible attention to detail. Brands, colorways, editions, boxes, advertisements, history, customization, legends and personal stories- each shoe from each year is broken down with incredible accuracy by the people who were there to see and wear them. This crack team is made up of about 20 sneaker nuts including old school court legends like Pee Wee Kirkland and Joe "The Hammer" Hammond, connoisseurs and fiends like MC Serch, Kurious, Pete Nice, Jorge Pabon aka Fabel, Schott Free, Dante Ross and others. It's everything you'd want it to be- informative, entertaining, funny, designed by Brent Rollins, the whole bit. Couldn't be more recommended.

reviewed by mgmnt