POLLS: Do You Like Luxury Prints on Sneakers?

Despite occupying different parts of the fashion spectrum, the world of street and high fashion have enjoyed a rather fruitful symbiotic relationship. With one often influencing the other, there are many everyday instances involving the intersection of both worlds. Fashion houses have often had the ability to truly influence and ingrain their brand aesthetic through patterns that have become essential parts of the house’s DNA. The team at Concepts recently put together their own luxury print-infused Reebok Pump Fury pictured above, to which they suggested ”… the perfect way to create brand recognition without having the actual name in print and consumers recognize that. If the pattern is associated with a hot brand, it becomes sought-after in itself.”

While much of the creative industry has hinged on selective reappropriation, there’s forever debate on the creativity behind this. The various derivatives of Versace’s own pattern, inspired from historic baroque patterns have been hacked and reused numerous times, but as it works its way down the fashion ladder and onto sneakers from massive sportswear companies, is the relationship something with validity and legs? According to Concepts, “It’s hard to say but I wouldn’t expect consumers to completely buy into something that is desperate to appear as something it’s clearly not” meaning authenticity — a core value that virtually every single streetwear brand will attest to — is the key to success. And Concepts’ own usage? The pattern they used was meant to be a “jovial and appreciative nod to those prints.” Growing up in the ’90s, alongside a shoe originally available in the ’90s made sense.

But the final word lies with you. Do you feel that the contrasting worlds of high fashion prints and patterns deserve a spot on footwear, or is this trend another one that we’ll look back on with disappointment?