There are a bunch of fan groups all over the web for various footwear brands. Most notably though, NikeTalk, one of the worlds largest -if not the THEE worlds largest congregation of fans of all things Nike (and of course now much much more) has been one of the most important resources in the industry for all things sneaker culture for the past 19 years. They however, have never officially been acknowledged by Nike by way of a shoe collab. Same deal for Reebok and Retrobok or New Balance and ThoseNB’s -to all of their defense though no brand has really officially acknowledged a fan page/site by way of a collaboration-.
Ewing Athletics is changing all that. No stranger to being first -Ewing was the first player to have his own brand- Patrick Ewing along with David Goldberg -the man that a long with Patrick relaunched the brand back in 2012 -is embarking into uncharted territory as far as the sneaker world goes.
For quite possibly the first time ever a sneaker company -this one being Ewing Athletics- is giving a fan club/page Ewing Squad 33 – created by Albert Lebron and boasting over 7000 members and growing- their own special Ewing 33 Hi release.
Says Goldberg:
“We wanted to recognize and show our appreciation for the Ewing Squad who are a group of loyal hardcore fans who have supported us since day 1. As an independent company competing in a world of corporate behemoths, we take pride in being connected on a true grassroots level to our fans. “
Goldberg continues to say:
” I have met many of them in person at events over the years and we felt like this was just the right thing to do”
Ewing Athletics gave Albert the choice of any model to collaborate on and unsurprisingly he went with the 33 Hi. Says Lebron about his choice and color selection:
“I had to go with the Ewing 33 hi, the most iconic Ewing in the collection. I wanted to pay homage to my favorite color way of the OG Knicks color way. To me, it just feels like this is a pair that Patrick Ewing would’ve rocked at the garden.”
Photo’s via Carlos Monet
Check out the teaser below and stay tuned for an official release date.