{"id":6547,"date":"2019-07-18T13:04:34","date_gmt":"2019-07-18T12:04:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/52.30.207.235\/interview-talkin-southern-hospitality-with-sneaker-politics\/"},"modified":"2019-07-18T13:04:34","modified_gmt":"2019-07-18T12:04:34","slug":"interview-talkin-southern-hospitality-with-sneaker-politics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.footdistrict.com\/en\/interview-talkin-southern-hospitality-with-sneaker-politics\/","title":{"rendered":"Interview: Talkin\u2019 Southern Hospitality With Sneaker Politics"},"content":{"rendered":"

Southern hospitality is alive and well in America\u2019s sneaker scene \u2013 if you know where to look! The crew at Sneaker Politics, based in Louisiana, have been doing their state proud since 2006 and serving up some mighty fine collaborations in the process, including our recent Sneaker of the Week recipient<\/a>: the Sneaker Politics x Caf\u00e9 du Monde x Saucony<\/a> Shadow 5000. Curious as to what sparked a sneaker store to pay tribute to one of the Big Easy\u2019s oldest eateries, we caught up with Sneaker Politics founder Derek Curry, along with Blaine McGowan, the brains behind the recent collab, to talk sneakers and sweets.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Sneaker<\/p>\n

Interview W\/ Blaine McGowan from Sneaker Politics<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Matt Williams (M.W.) \u2013 Congratulations on a stellar Saucony!\u00a0 Surely it has to be the first sneaker collaboration with a coffee stand in history. How did it all come about?<\/b><\/p>\n

Blaine McGowan (B.M.) \u2013\u00a0<\/b>The idea came from Lee and I talking about all that New Orleans has to offer. We were running the New Orleans store at the time and would often get asked for suggestions by tourists about what they should and shouldn\u2019t do while they\u2019re in town. That kind of sparked the conversation of \u2018what is something that you absolutely HAVE to do when you’re in New Orleans?\u2019 Visiting Caf\u00e9 du Monde is one of those things. Reaching out to Caf\u00e9 Du Monde and getting them on board with our idea was the icing on the cake.<\/p>\n

M.W. \u2013\u00a0Pun intended? What was the thought process behind the execution of the project?<\/b><\/p>\n

B.M. \u2013 <\/b>Well, we obviously wanted to tell the story using the product. We didn’t cut any corners. From the box design to the clothing collection to the activation on the day of release, we really went all out.<\/p>\n

M.W. \u2013\u00a0You sure do know how to put on one hell of a party down there! So, does this mean you’re entitled to a lifetime of free beignets then?<\/b><\/p>\n

B.M. \u2013\u00a0<\/b>Without giving away too much, I’ll just say that we have made some new friends.<\/p>\n

\"Sneaker<\/p>\n

M.W. \u2013 We\u2019ll take that as a yes! What attracted you guys to the Shadow 5000 silhouette in particular?<\/b><\/p>\n

Derek Curry (D.C.) \u2013 <\/b>The Shadow 5000 has always been my favourite Saucony silhouette. I knew this concept was amazing and we didn’t want to settle for\u00a0any other model.<\/p>\n

M.W. \u2013\u00a0The Shadow 5000 is definitely an all-time great. Politics has well and truly made itself at home in Louisiana. What’s unique about the way you run things down in the South?<\/b><\/p>\n

D.C. \u2013 <\/b>In 1999, I graduated high school and my mum and I flew to\u00a0NYC. I was so excited to visit the stores there and talk to everyone about my love for sneakers. Turns out that every store I went in, I was crushed by dudes that were \u2018too cool\u2019 and didn’t want to speak to me. My mum saw I was upset by this and tried to lift my spirits. She was saying anything she could to make me brush it off.<\/p>\n

That trip stuck with me though and in 2006, I opened my own store. I made sure that we not only obtained the best sneaker accounts that we could get, but that we would also speak to every customer that walks through the doors.\u00a0Every store that we open up has a\u00a0manager\u00a0that worked with me in Lafayette and has learned how to run the store\u00a0with\u00a0the same\u00a0passion that I had in 2006, when we opened. Southern\u00a0Hospitality\u00a0is alive and\u00a0well at Politics!<\/p>\n

M.W. \u2013\u00a0We\u2019ll definitely have to come visit soon! You’re always incorporating elements of Louisiana, especially New Orleans, into your collaborations. Are there any particular themes you are looking to explore for your future collabs?<\/b><\/p>\n

D.C. \u2013\u00a0<\/b>The South is rich with history, unique brands and traditions that the world needs to know about. I don’t want to spoil any of our future projects, but just know that we are working to tell the story of the South to the world.<\/p>\n

M.W. \u2013\u00a0Speaking of the South, you recently expanded into Austin, Texas. What’s next on the cards for Politics?<\/b><\/p>\n

D.C. \u2013\u00a0<\/b>Dallas! We will be open in the Deep Ellum area in August. This will be the biggest market that Politics has taken on and we are very excited about this.<\/p>\n

M.W. \u2013 Good luck with the new store! Finally, to mix things up, what’s been your favourite sneaker of 2019 so far?<\/b><\/p>\n

D.C. \u2013 <\/b>Is this a trick question or a layup? The Politics x Caf\u00e9 du Monde x Saucony Shadow 5000! HANDS DOWN!<\/p>\n

M.W. \u2013 Point taken. It\u2019s definitely one of the highlights of 2019 so far!<\/b><\/p>\n

\n

The Sneaker Politics x Caf\u00e9 du Monde x Saucony Shadow 5000 has sadly come and gone, but stay tuned for some tasty new Saucony<\/a><\/strong> releases in the not-too-distant future!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Southern hospitality is alive and well in America\u2019s sneaker scene \u2013 if you know where to look! The crew at Sneaker Politics, based in Louisiana, have been doing their state<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6548,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"powerkit_post_featured":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-6547","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-comunidad"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.footdistrict.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6547","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.footdistrict.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.footdistrict.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.footdistrict.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.footdistrict.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6547"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.footdistrict.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6547\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.footdistrict.com\/en\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.footdistrict.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6547"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.footdistrict.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6547"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.footdistrict.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6547"},{"taxonomy":"powerkit_post_featured","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.footdistrict.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/powerkit_post_featured?post=6547"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}