Nottingham Street Style

Last week, we trawled the streets and shops of Nottingham looking for the fashion-savvy to photograph their style and find out their opinions on Kickers:

Sadie

"I want some red patent ones"

Fred

"their nostalgia makes me smile"

Daniel
"Bring them back!"

Ruth, Kitsch
Would you wear Kickers? Yes, I borrow my mums!

Darren, All Saints

Kickers are: school shoes, difficult to wear, girls could pull them off with leggings

Emil, Bench

Kickers are: school shoes

Favourite shoes: trainers, especially Converse, Vans and Nike 6.0's

Craig
Kickers are: school shoes, expensive as the rest of the high street has caught up and can offer similar styles at cheaper prices

Miranda, All Saints
Kickers are: school shoes, would be difficult to pull off

Patrick, American Apparel
Favourite brands: America, Vans & skater brands

Would you wear Kickers? No

Jack, COW
Would you wear Kickers? Yes

Elsa

So, the general opinion of the fashionistas of Nottingham is that Kickers are school shoes, and difficult to wear.

Will we, and most importantly, our opinion former, be able change their minds? Watch this space...

Jordon xxx

HACIENDA does Kickers 88.08

2008 saw the launch of Kickers 'Sounds of Style' range, which was inspired by key dates in the brands forty year history.

FAC51 HACIENDA one of the world's most popular nightclubs until it closed in 1997 launched a pair of kick-hi boots in 2008 to celebrate the 1980's; the club had a strict no trainer policy and Kickers quickly became the unofficial uniform for anyone that attended. The club was owned by factory records and new order frequently had live sets from acts such as Oasis, Happy Mondays and Blur to name a few.

The boots are covered with the 88/08 logo to represent the years of the collaboration and the opening of the Manchester hotspot, with original Kickers contrasting stitching and red tabs the boots represent the retro brand in many ways. While the collaboration wasn't as fashion worthy as Henry Holland it bought back memories to the original acid hous ravers.

Charlie xx

After hitting the streets to find the three people we believe have the ability to KICK start the Kickers trend, we have our three opinion formers. FRED, SADIE AND MARTIN.

The next step is to learn what they think is HOT OR NOT! and get to know them inside out. This will alow us to create a mood board for each of them to determine who will live and breather Kick-hi boots for the next two months. The chosen opinion former will be given a pair of Kick-hi boots in the colour of their choice and will have to track what happends when they wear them.

How will they style them? Where will they wear them?

and more importantly

ARE THEY MAKING kICKERS COOL?

Fancy Footwork

Anyone who claims Kickers aren't cool definitely haven't seen this! Check out this film by Ketchup London in collaboration with Montreal based electrofunk duo Chromeo and their track 'Fancy Footwork.'

Kickers have long been associated with the music industry, and the catchy tune was used on the dancefloor in the Kickers Fancy Footwork trailer at summer music festivals.

Jordon xxx

Henry Holland/Daisy Lowe <3

Would YOU drop your knickers for a pair of KICEKRS? Yes please Mr Holland...

Kickers went gone from the original cool kids school shoe to gracing the pages of Vogue in 2007 thanks to Mr Henry Holland. His ACID bright shoes and 'drop your knickers for a pair of kicekrs' tag line got the world of fashion talking.

House of Holland represented their wacky trademarked style perfectly when they recreated the classic kick-hi boot. Are they cool? I dont know but they certainly got Kickers  the publicity they very much needed. While the brand is not what it once was their collaborations are finally getting them noticed.

Two years one we're embarking on our own plan to relaunch Kickers, will do as well as Henry ... You'll see on the street

Charlie, Hannah x

July 2007: Henry Holland produced a t-shirt range for Kickers Kick Hi's debut, modelled by loverly Daisy Lowe. Follow the link for the article! Hannah x

triple stitching is BACK

Kickers are officially back on the street, the retro kick-hi boot that patented Kickers throughout the last 40 years is THE new shoe. Designed by Jacques Chevallereau and made to be worn with denim, the boots rapidly established the Kickers brand.

For our first project in our second year  we have to find three extremely stylish people who in our judgement are opinion formers, its their job to get Kick-hi boots their street-cred back. Kickers DNA is extremely distinguished; a chunky sole, the rivets, triple stitching, red/green tabs and the classic fleurette tag being placed religiously on each pair.

In the 90's Kickers were found on the music scene, especially in Manchester with the likes of Noel Gallagher and Jarvis Cocker regularly seen sporting a pair of Kick-hi's; this got taken over in the 'noughties' by the U.K garage scene. Members of So Solid crew were also big fans of the shoe.

Kickers has tried to restablish itself as a stylish brand in recent years without much success, our aim is put Kickrers firmly back on the fashion map and we will tell our story via this blog as we DO IT!

Charlie Johnson