words // Nick DePaula
SneakerCon has enjoyed quite a few stops in New York in recent years, and while most collectors can hold down the event just fine, things are just a little different when a guy displaying his shoes also helped to create some of them.
Such was the case on Saturday afternoon with Kyle Yamaguchi's display table, as he jetted from Portland to JFK with a duffle bag full of rare and never-before-seen samples that he accumulated during the five years he worked at Nike.
Whether it was both variations of the Foamposite Lite made for Nate Robinson at the 2009 Dunk Contest, several rare LeBron player exclusives or even a custom Kobe IV made just for his own wedding. Yamaguchi made sure to put together quite a table.
He first started out at Nike over five years ago as a Promo Product Line Manager tasked to create limited edition sneakers for Nike's new House Of Hoops and on-court PEs for each and every Nike Basketball athlete in the NBA. Yamaguchi has since left the brand to focus full-time on his two eyewear companies, the two-year-old 141 Eyewear and his soon-launching LOOK/SEE Goods, which takes inspiration from the sneakers we enjoy chatting about on the daily here.
With the right half of the table dominated by all of the exclusives, he showcased samples of his upcoming L/S 1 Collection along the left hand side, like the "2015" inspired frame, along with the first of its kind all 3M reflective frames. The first season of the debut LOOK/SEE models will drop at the end of July.
For more on Kyle's ridiculous collection, check out Issue 40 of Sole Collector Magazine in the coming weeks, along with our July iPad Issue.
