SOLE COLLECTOR: Sneakers

words - Nick

photography - Sole Supreme

After being such a great sport the past few days and enduring constant jokes, chores and errands, we thought Mike deserved a gift. (Though I hear the girls at an undisclosed club in Philly on Friday took good care of him.) So, we went over to his place and woke him up after another typical morning of shooting some shoes. It was 2pm.

Courtesy UNDR CRWN, Mike is presented with his ‘First Team’ shirt. You made it kid!

After an entire week of “work,” Zac and I decided to relax a bit for the afternoon, and head to Soho to check some spots with the guidance of Puneet.

The train from Puneet’s house is roughly 45 minutes to Soho. Ughhh.

It’s the usual scene — sneaker nerds trying too hard (us?) and of course the jerks behind the counter at Supreme. I love that. LA is another story, but if I ever go to Supreme NY and they treat me nicely I’ll be entirely disappointed and walk right out. I demand arrogance and as little interaction and eye contact as possible.

Portland Mikey asked me to grab this hat for him, but in black. What a waste of money.

You’re soooooo cool ’cause your hat can cuss for you.

Checked out Stussy, which is always great with a nice and friendly staff, and of course Bape, Nort and the others. Zac — I’m stealing the watch you got by the end of this trip. It’s a guarantee.

Overall the Soho scene is pretty materialistic by nature, but always fun because there’s not quite the same level of stores in my current town of Portland. However, it took me awhile to take this all in.

Yep. That’s a Von Dutch store. In 2008. That still sells exclusively Von Dutch and somehow manages to pay the exorbitant Soho rent. Who’s buying their stuff you wonder? You’d have to think the question mark storefront patterning is nicely interpretive.

From there we were hit by a crazy rain storm, got drenched from head to toe while wearing shorts, and headed back to P’s for an AMAZING home-cooked meal.

His mom put in WORK.

Salmon and chicken was perfection. After finishing dinner at 11pm, it was time to finish up where we left off in the morning and photograph the rest of Puneet’s ridiculous collection.

Zac is the man with the camera when Steve decides to mail it in, and is shooting a bird’s eye shot of some decent stuff here. I’m still getting used to helping out with holding the spotlights and other accessories when needed. Obviously this isn’t the glamorous part of the trip.

Wrapped up the shoot and a nice low-key day around 1am and headed towards Philly to crash at some awful hotel. Thanks again for the Soho guidance and the awesome dinner Puneet!