Sole Collector x NikeTown Las Vegas Finals Event | Held July 22nd, 2006
words & images_Nick DePaula
After an incredible run of Sole Collector events at NikeTown locations nationwide, which saw the release of several limited edition collaborations that instantly were each highly sought after, the final event proved to be the grandest of them all.
Held at the Las Vegas NikeTown inside of Caesar's Palace, the event not only marked the final event of the series, but also served as the Grand Finals, matching the winning competitors from each previous event against eachother. The result was the single craziest collection of rare and vintage sneakers ever to take place under one roof.
To commemorate the monumental event, Sole Collector and Nike teamed up once again to drop a limited edition model just for the event. This time, the model was the Dunk High, and Retrokid helps walk us through the design story and inspiration behind the instant classic colorway.
Nick DePaula: What do you remember about Vegas and the Dunk High?
Retrokid: Vegas had everyone, all of the finalists from all of the categories, and we just did the biggest and craziest show of them all in Vegas. I actually didn't do that Dunk. Steve worked with Tom Luedecke (Innovator from the Nike Innovation Kitchen) and they wanted to try this new printing technique they had, where they could print graphics on parts of the shoe. Tom Luedecke came up with the "sneakerhead" graphics, so there was the collector graphic and the guy with the boxes, and they printed them on a 3M panel. There was white premium leather on the rest of the upper, and Steve actually came up with the maroonish red midsole, because that was our logo color base at the time. He added the pink outsole to really give it a pop, and that worked real good I thought. Then, there was the fat laces.
NDP: I wasn't crazy about the laces; you kinda had to switch those out.
RK: Yeah, I didn't like the laces at first, but Steve dug those and picked those and they actually did work and turn out really well. The shoes were numbered once again, and we had 400 pairs at the event. They sold out really, really quick, and there was actually also another launch.
NDP: Well, they moved the Mars IV launch to that day.
RK: Right!
NDP: The Mars IV was supposed to be the following Saturday, but they moved them up knowing the event was taking place on the 22nd.
RK: That's right, the Mars IV were there, and the event was just crazy. Everyone came down and it was a really good event, and then there was the grand prize that the twins won. They had some crazy stuff, like the Kobe Forces and laser Zoom Generations and tons of crazy stuff that no one had seen before. Eric [Ahliang] had some cool stuff like the MJ golf shoes, and Alan had some new heat. The customizers were really good, and Mike [The Jester] had some new things like the Back To The Future iridescent Dunks, and everything was really cool.
NDP: If I recall, it was a loooong day. The events started at noon and went til 6, and then they had everyone come back later at night for the actual competition part. We got to hit the Rio buffet!! [laughs]
RK: The Rio World Buffet! The event was great though and it was a great experience.
Images from the event:
