sneakers
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Source: WREG / WREG
The high-stakes sneaker robberies doesn’t seem to be slowing up as authorities continue to announce new busts on damn near a monthly basis.
This time around, police in Memphis (where Nike’s warehouse is based) busted nine people in connection with the robbery of a boxcar, where looters made off with $50,000 worth of Nike sneakers earlier this month. According to WKRN News 2, a “concerned citizen” tipped off police to what they said seemed like a gang of stolen Nike sneakers being stashed at a Frayser home in the 1400 block of Todds Creek Cove.
When police began surveilling the house in question, they observed a few men loading boxes of Nike sneakers into a Dodge Durango that was parked in front of the property. That was all the evidence they needed to move forward with the bust and put the cuffs on the nine-person operation.
WKRN News 2 reports:
Approximately 35 cases of Nike shoes were found inside the Dodge Durango, three boxes were found inside a Dodge Grand Caravan, and 30 cases were discovered inside the house, based on the reports.
Police confirmed the Nike shoes were stolen overnight from the CSX rail yard located in the 1400 block of North Holmes Street. The total value of the shoes was determined to be approximately $50,000.
Nine individuals were arrested but as of now, only the following five have been identified:
Tracy Fleming (46)
Rah’heem Tuggle (25)
Darren Stewart (28)
Troy Gaines (31)
Tray’Vion Smith (25)
Though police didn’t say which sneakers were amongst the stolen property (inquiring sneaker minds always wanna know), with the March lineup that Nike and Jordan Brand have coming up, it was more than likely a bunch of bricks that made those boxes that much heavier to carry. Just sayin’.
The five men identified were hit with burglary of a vehicle and theft of property worth $10,000 to $60,000 for their transgression.
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Source: @fatjoe / Instagram
Fat Joe took to Instagram to cop pleas for securing a pair of Donald Trump’s Insurrection-worthy sneakers. Needless to say, the social media sneaker community was not pleased, and they let him know.
It goes without saying that Fat Joe is one of sneaker culture’s most prominent members, and had a hand in boosting its popularity when he famously licked a pair of soles back in 2004 on an episode of MTV Cribs. With this in mind, Joe Crack took to IG to explain that he is in no way a Trump supporter, but he felt obligated to cop a pair of January 6’s because he’s a “collector.”
“If you collect art, do you really know what Basquiat was into?” said Joe. “Do you know what Andy Warhol was into? Any of these artists that you was into? You love the art, so you get it. I guess they separate art from the person.”
Okay. The Bronx rapper’s rationale didn’t improve as he went on, respectfully.
He added, “Now, me as a sneaker collector, I had to get my hand on the Trumps. But listen, I have thousands and thousands and thousands of pairs of sneakers. When everybody flipped on Kanye, I went and bought the two most exclusive Kanyes ever.”
Again, okay.
And just for good measure, he said, “Once again, I’m not a Trumper. I dislike Trump. I’m not voting for him, not now, not never, but I’m a sneaker collector into the art.” Joe also made sure to mention that he didn’t pay for the kicks, so there’s that.
This is where we gotta mention that there’s a difference between art and kitsch. A constant criticism is that Trump is the same guy who was tossing paper towels at Puerto Ricans like it a game after a who hurricane wrecked much of the island.
Peep reactions to Fat Joe copping Trump’s Scammer 1’s in the gallery.
5. Where is the lie?
8. They called it…
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Source: LAPD / LAPD
Sneaker heists and robberies have become more and more common over the last few years, but with authorities taking down these sneaker theft rings, thieves may want to rethink their strategies as police are becoming wiser to the game.
Source: LAPD / LAPD
Earlier this year, the LAPD busted up a sneaker theft operation that led to them recovering $5 million worth of stolen Nikes and Jordans at a stash house in LA. According to the Los Angeles Times, the people involved in the theft ring paid off people at UPS and even Nike to help them secure millions of dollars worth of stolen merchandise by having them print up fake shipping labels that would “deliberately misdirect or redirect” tons of sneakers across numerous spots in Los Angeles. And that was just the beginning.
Per the Los Angeles Times:
In the theft ring, detectives say, members would “intercept” packages with swapped labels, snatching them up somewhere along the supply chain of docks, highways and warehouses. Sometimes they would hijack packages by swapping addresses with the shipping companies after they had left Nike’s warehouse, according to Sternin’s affidavit.
Sternin said officials from Nike, which had been investigating the thefts internally, contacted the LAPD. Several emails seeking comment from Nike went unreturned.
A Memphis police sergeant working with that department’s cargo theft task force told Sternin that he had been working the case since last June, when he first became aware of “numerous unidentified co-conspirators” working at Nike’s Memphis location.
The ring has also recruited UPS employees in Tennessee and California “and possibly elsewhere within UPS and Nike supply chain network,” according to Sternin.
And we thought FedEx was doing us dirty by “losing” our sneaker shipments in the system. UPS and Nike were also out here in on a whole other kind of scheme SMH.
Ultimately, the investigation led back to one Roy Lee Harvey of Memphis. After obtaining a search warrant, authorities went through his email, iCloud data and cellphone records and found he had more than 1000 exchanges with Nike employees in Memphis, Tn., over a six-month period. Harvey was arrested Jan. 27.
While this may dissuade others from going down the same route that Harvey and his co-conspirators did, don’t think there aren’t others thinking of other ways to cash in on the sneaker market. It’s a billion dollar business with enough hypebeasts to fill a continent.
It’s only a matter of time before another sneaker bust leads to millions of dollars worth of stolen grails as this will only serve as a lesson of how to better prep for the next jux. Hopefully whatever grails you win don’t end up getting “misdirected” to another address.
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Source: Chip Somodevilla / Getty
There are racists, then there are FOX News elite-level racists. Case in point, Raymond Arroyo is getting dragged for saying that Black people will inevitably support Trump because of their love of…wait for it, sneakers.
As you might have heard, Donald Trump attended Sneaker Con in Philadelphia to announce that he was selling his superbly terrible signature sneakers. Besides getting clowned for his audacity and blatant grifting online, (the struggle January 6’s won’t even ship for months) he was also loudly booed at the event.
Nevertheless, on The Big Weekend Show on FOX News, resident doofus Raymond Arroyo—don’t let the name fool you—saw this as a political win for Cheeto because he seems to think Black voters are all about kicks when it comes to choosing their Presidents.
“This is connecting with Black America because they love sneakers,” Arroyo said. “This a big deal, certainly in the inner city. So when you have Trump roll out his sneaker line, they’re like, ‘wait a minute, this is cool.’ He’s reaching them on a level that defies and is above politics. The culture always trumps politics. And Trump understands culture like no politician I’ve ever seen.”
Spoiler, no it’s not (connecting with Black America). Stereoptyes much, Arroyo? Wait til he finds out Blacks don’t only live in the “inner city.”
Never mind that Trump has historically been a racist, sexist, bigot and any other disagreeable adjective you can think of to go along with facing multiple indictments across various courts of law. Also, he’s on the hook for sexual assault, too. But yeah, his sneakers, though.
So for Black people that may be considering, this is what Team Trump thinks of you.
It goes without saying that social media is going in on the latest FOX News fail, and we compiled some of the better reactions in the gallery.
1. Plies knows the jig when he saes it.
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Source: The Washington Post / Getty
What does Donald Trump, who just got fined for a cool $355M by the state of New York, have to do with sneaker culture? We’ll wait…
Despite the answer being “absolutely nothing,” the former President of the United States—and who allegedly tried to spark an insurrection after he lost the elction—took to his bandooloo social media app, Truth Social, to announce he would be attending Sneaker Con in Philadelphia on Saturday, February 17.
No it was not a photoshop as Sneaker Con offered up a cryptic statement that said nothing about Cheeto actually attending the event. Just some malarky about sneaker culture being all-inclusive. “Sneaker Con’s mission is to support and promote sneaker culture through our worldwide live events and digital platforms.” read the statement. ”We are thankful and appreciative of the sneaker community, and recognize individuals who generate awareness and authentic sneaker related engagement towards our community.”
We’ll go out on the limb and say sneakerheads aren’t generally with the hate, racism, sexism and all-around tomfoolery Citizen Trump promotes, though. However, the sneaker detective are on the case, noting that reportedly a Sneaker Con co-founder, Alan Vinogradov, has donated to the Trump campaign. Jig is up.
As word got around sneaker culture that Trump would tarnish Sneaker Con with his presence, people were not too happy, letting everyone, including the organizers know. Good look digging out of this hole. Case in point, The Daily Beast reports that Sneaker Con had to turn off their comments.
As if folk taking L’s on that Air Jordan Bred 4’s drop on Saturday wasn’t bad enough. Peep some of the more animated reactions in the gallery.
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Source: Eric BOUVET / Getty
With the success that John McEnroe’s “Mac Attack” silhouette experienced in 2023 (mostly thanks to Travis Scott), Nike is looking to retro another 90’s tennis star’s sneaker and truth be told, we’re not mad.
According to Sneaker News, sneaker legend Andre Agassi’s Nike Air Tech Challenge II is set to release sometime in 2024 and the man himself posted a picture rocking a pair of the upcoming retro. Rocking the kicks alongside his wifey, fellow tennis legend Steffi Graf, the sneaker community was excited to see that the OG sneakers would once again see the streets in 2024.
Per Sneakernews:
The Air Tech Challenge II, designed by Tinker Hatfield, is considered to be one of the greatest Nike footwear designs in history. It also helped popularize the blazing hot red shade on Swoosh footwear, adding an element of personality in a sport that once had strict on-court rules regarding attire.
Currently, a release is expected this Fall 2024 season with an MSRP of $150. It last released in 2016, so this re-issue should be met with open arms.
We personally prefer the Nike Air Tech Challenge 4 which was a bit more stylish and less bulky than the II’s, but these are pretty dope. If Travis Scott gets his hands on these and blesses them with the reverse swoosh, watch out! Heads will go crazy for those.
Check out pics of the Andre Agassi Nike Air Tech II’s below and let us know if you’ll be copping a pair when these drop sometime later this year.
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Source: SNKRS / NIke
Once again authorities have recovered millions of dollars worth of stolen Nike sneakers as the war on sneaker thieves seems to be heating up out on these streets, and we’re not even mad at it.
According to KTLA, 37-year-old Roy Lee Harvey Jr. was taken into custody in Los Angeles County after he was accused of being a part of a massive organized retail theft ring that specialized in receiving, redistributing and reselling top shelf sneaker silhouettes on the secondary market.
KTLA reports:
The LAPD says it executed two search warrants, one in Hollywood and one in Hawthorne. Police say the suspect was delivering stolen goods to a warehouse in Hawthorne.
Detectives teamed with Nike’s Global Security Director and other supply chain investigators to find the stolen goods. When they gained access to the warehouse in Hawthorne, they found thousands of pairs of stolen Nike shoes, clothing, accessories, and unique prototypes.
We’re not gonna lie, that man had some heat! From the scarce Air Jordan 8 “Kobe”‘s to the yellow “Lobster” SB Dunks, he was sitting on a damn sneaker gold mine. Now that they have these sneakers in their possession, will they be sold at auction? If they are what’s their authentication process? Sneaker heads want answers!
Don’t be surprised if the man goes Tekashi 6ix9ine and gives up the goods on his partners when it’s all said and done.
Check out the news reports on the bust below and let us know your thoughts on the situation in the comments section.
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After partnering up with shoe company Skechers, rapper Snoop Dogg released a new addition to the Snoop Dogg x Skechers collection — which first launched in August 2023.
Retailing for $160 at skechers.com, the Snoop Dogg: SKX Resagrip, Boss Treatment sneakers are made with a lace-up mesh upper and a hotmelt overlay for stability. In addition, the shoes have enhanced indoor traction and “Hyper Burst” midsole cushioning for responsiveness and comfort.
Meanwhile, the Skechers come in sizes ranging from 4.5 to 14. They were designed for playing basketball, but can be wore casually too. They come in two stylish colorways — orange (pictured below) and white — while the sneakers have Snoop Dogg’s “S” logo on each side.
Courtesy of Skechers
Snoop Dogg: SKX Resagrip – Boss Treatment
Want more? Check out other sneakers in the Snoop Dogg x Skechers collection, below:
Skechers
Snoop One – OG: Premium Leather Slip-ins
The women’s Premium Leather Slip-ins Snoop One, OG is an easy fit slip-on sneaker with air cooled memory foam and cushy heels for comfort and support, while it’s designed with a premium leather upper and a metallic-trimmed midsole. The shoes come in various sizes for women and comes in three colors, including black (pictured above), blush pink and white.
Skechers
Snoop One – Boss Life Canvas
The Skechers Slip-ins: Snoop One, Boss Life Canvas sneakers are unisex slip-on sneakers. They are made with a monochromatic canvas upper with stretch laces, while Skechers’ Air-Cooled Memory Foam line the insole for comfort and support. They come in five colors, such as white and black (pictured above), rose, olive, blue and black.
Skechers
Snoop One – Double G: Premium Leather Slip-ins
Designed with an allover paisley print for style, the Premium Leather Slip-ins Snoop One Double G sneakers are slip-on with a flexible traction outsole and the show company’s Air-Cooled Memory Foam as their cushioned insole for comfort and support. The sneakers come in unisex sizes and also come in two colors, navy and gold (pictured above), as well as black and white.
Skechers
Snoop Dogg: Uno – Dr. Bombay
The Skechers Snoop Dogg: Uno Dr. Bombay sneakers features the rapper’s NFT character Dr. Bombay on its side, while the shoe has Skecher’s “Skech-Air” visible airbag midsole with leopard print detail on the inside. The sneakers come in unisex sizes and come in two colors, white (pictured above) and black.
Want more deals? For more product recommendations, check out our roundups of the best Xbox deals, studio headphones and Nintendo Switch accessories.
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Source: @NYPDTips / NYPD Crime Stoppers
Things in the streets of New York have been going from bad to worse over the past few years, but kids getting jumped for the sneakers on their feet (consistently) is a practice that hasn’t been seen for decades.
According to New York Daily News, that’s exactly what happened to a 13-year-old boy who was assaulted by a group of teenagers for his sneakers Friday (Jan. 12), in Brooklyn and made off with his footwear. Using a belt to beat him into submission, two boys and a girl pounced on the unsuspecting teen near 17th Street and Fourth Avenue in South Slope around 3:15 p.m.
Once they got what they wanted, they fled the scene but not before cameras around the vicinity captured their images.
The New York Daily News reports:
After grabbing the footwear, the muggers ran to the Prospect Ave. station and jumped on a Manhattan-bound R train, cops said.
The victim declined medical attention.
The NYPD on Tuesday released surveillance images of the three suspects and asked the public’s help identifying them and tracking them down.
The girl, who has red braided hair, was wearing a pink hoodie, black pants and black sneakers. The two boys were wearing blue-and-black jackets and dark-colored pants.
We hate to be those people, but as sneakerheads we have to know which pair of sneakers exactly were taken. Were they some exclusive Air Jordans? Travis Scott’s? Off-White Nikes? We can’t really tell from the picture. It’s wrong and foul regardless, but we hope these kids aren’t risking jail time for a pair of everyday Air Max’s, Skechers or something.
What do y’all think of this? Let us know in the comments section below.
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Source: WWD / Getty
A few years ago, Spike Lee donned an ultra-exclusive pair of gold Air Jordan 3s custom made by the Jumpman brand for his big night at the 2019 Oscar Awards, and apparently someone chucked them to a donation bin.
Artnet is reporting that one of the holiest of sneaker grails found their way into a donation bin at an Oregon homeless charity earlier this year, via an anonymous donor, and will now be put on the auction block for a King Kong sized grip. Who could’ve done this? How did these end up getting donated? Are they fake? While the first two questions remain to be answered, the third already has been.
Per Artnet:
In a blog post, the Portland Rescue Mission explained how a volunteer found the shoes while sorting through donations which drop down through a chute. “Obviously they must be fakes, we thought, because why would the real thing end up in our donation bins?” said Erin Holcomb, the director of the program.
Holcomb explained that they took the shoes to a “high end sneaker resale shop” to get its opinion on their authenticity, and that the owner “offered to buy them from me on the spot for $10,000 or to consign them in his store for a potentially larger return.” Holcomb did further research and found that another pair had been auctioned by Sotheby’s in 2021 and sold for $47,880.
Y’all know when an authenticator offers you that kind of money, they’re 100% official tissue. Knowing that they could fetch much more for the Portland Rescue Mission, Holcomb organized with Sotheby’s auction house to have the sneakers included in their Dec. 18 auctions, which featured “some of the most sought-after collectibles and sneakers in existence.”
Not only did the sneakers sell for a whopping $50,800 (after expecting to fetch between $15,000 – $20,000), but Sotheby’s was kind enough to wave their fee so that 100% of the money could go to the Portland Rescue Mission.
You gotta love it.
While we may never know who dropped off these grails in the donation bid, in the end, it turned out to be quite the Christmas gift for an important organization.
More from Artnet:
No one knows who donated the shoes. Tinker [Hatfield] has said that he is “thrilled the shoes ended up here. It’s a happy ending to a really great project.”