A guide to some of the very best of collectible sneaker designs. It features: over 550 specially taken color photographs; over 180 sneaker designs from eleven leading brands, chosen for the mark they have made on sneaker culture worldwide.
I found a few sneakers that I would like to add to my collection just based on the information provided in this book. Great Illustrations and detailed information about the history of sneakers including Keds, Vans, Nike, Reebok, Adidas, Puma (one of my all time favorite sneaker brands), even Diadora and Fila.
Pretty cool. I've used this one to learn about the history of collectable sneakers and random pop trends. There are diagrams for the various parts of a shoe. Among others, the author profiles Pumas, adidas, Nike, Bathing Ape, Pony, Reebok and Vans...with lots of neat pics.
Okay so basically what surprised me most about this book was how huge sneaker culture is as far as collecting is concerned: and all the books, websites, retail outlets et cetera devoted to sneaker culture. It is amazing that the shoes that you & you're friends wore as teenagers in the '90's are now "Legendary" w/ the Sneaker Culture cannon. Hmmmkay.
This is well-designed book I would say & it can serve as a general (though not exactly exhaustively comprehensive...) reference book. It is published by Thames & Hudson, although it doesn't really come off as a quote/unqoute coffeetableartbook either. Not particulary text-heavy or doggedly historical. You could just causally-thumb through it if you really wanted to. As far as the "scope" goes it really does cover the major, notable, well-known shoes offered through-out the last couple decades for each major brand. There are some notable absences but overall Sneakers: The Complete Collectors' Guide covers-the-bases & ties some of the subcultural connections to various shoes. "The Complete Collectors Guide" aspect is maybe misleading in the sense that it is not exactly an "Encyclopedia" & it was published in 2005, which inthesetimes of INTERNET'd social networking media might seem lightyearsaway but as a "guide" it is a good starting point for sneaker novices or people who don't really collect but want to--
This was the first book I have read on the subject & I would like to read more in-the-future. I cannot really say that I am a collector or a sneakerhead & yet i have a closet-full of sneakers, a few of which that were featured in this book. I checked this book out at the Library but I would like to buy a used copy as a reference-book in the near-future. Totally handy book worth reading.