Today was a long day. Now don’t ask me why I wake up at 5am on a Saturday morning. On the regular. But yeah, got me a good run this am, cleaned my kicks with some Jason Markk PSS, and posted a couple of features for the site. And that was just the morning. By the afternoon, we had a corporate league (and won) and dropped by Greenbelt 5 for this: the exclusive Vans Vault drop at Greyone Social.

Greyone holds the exclusive account for Vans Vault here in the Philippines and they dropped a couple of great pairs for us to feast on. The pairs- 2 Del Barco Lo LXs, 2 Chukka Del Barco LXs, a Sk8 Hi, and the Native American Binding LX. The Del Barcos are all the rage these days but the Vault editions come in great colors. The High tops- the NAB and the Sk8 Hi are also great, but I’m trying to stay away from them for now. But what really caught my attention  are the Chukka Del Barco LXs. Just look at them- from the colors, to the accents, to the contrasting side lacing-the shoe just looks great.

There are other pairs available on the Vans Vault line over at Greyone, but I suggest you guys drop by to see the rest. Oh, did I tell you that they’re hella affordable? We were all a bit surprised to find out that the prices weren’t as high as we were expecting them to be. On top of the collection, Vans treated everyone to great grub, booze and some goodies on the side. Kudos to Vans and Greyone Social for bringing the goodness to the Phils. Vans Vault. Check it.

Solar Sports with Wendell talkin’ Vans Vault

King Crux & Mr. Wendell

Chukka Del Barco LX

Del Barco Lo LX

Native American Binding LX

Sk8 Hi LXHalf Cab in Black. ‘Nuff Said.

Just reminding you guys what’s going down this Saturday over at Greyone Social. There’s an exclusive Vans Vault drop at the store. Come by around 4-8pm this Saturday (July 17). See you guys there!

This time around, the same cw is now much lighter with Lunarlite midsoles as well as Torch on the upper.  This is one of the few hybrids that looks and feels right. The Lunar Air 180 retails for 5,495 php over at Hideout (which is a lot cheaper than how much they were going for over at SG the last time I checked). I’m surprised they’re cheaper than the Maxim. Cop it? Your call.

I hope everyone’s still checkin’ the site out. I’m way behind in my posts and hopefully by the weekend I’ll get everything set.  With a renewed respect for Vans, I checked out the Vans Vault piece over at Greyone Social. This piece is from the Vault Fall/Winter 09 collection, with Vans Vault paying tribute to iconic artist/poster designer Rick Griffin. Done in an Old Skool silhouette, the shoe posseses Griffin’s psychadellic style that can be traced back in trippy 60s. The shoe also comes with a special box that looks just as cool as the shoe itself.

For those who dig Vans Vault, you can definitely get your stuff from Greyone Social. Tune in for more Vans Vault items.

Last Friday (February 26), Hideout dropped a load off to end the busiest February known to man. Well, Feb’s always been known as a drop month, especially with the All-Star Weekend happening but in terms of the sneaker industry here in the Philippines, this has been a crazy month. This will be a two-part series as I got a little photo crazy with the releases. With this release, you should have noticed the trend I mentioned a while back being more visible. Almost all the brands are going back to simple colorways, slowly leaving the crazy candy colors to, well, candies. You’ll see more of these black/white pieces throughout the year, which I don’t mind. 2010 is all about keeping things clean and making your pair as dynamic as possible.

First up is the Dunk Hi AC. AC stands for autoclave, which is the process on how you make these soles. In simpler terms, the Dunk now carries a vulc sole. As mentioned before, the vulc sole is back with the vengeance and now on the Dunk. This Dunk in particular is part of a six country pack for the World Cup. This piece is for Brazil. Nike hooked up with Brazilian street artist Nunca to design portions of the collection (hoodie linings, logos, etc.). Expect more World Cup pieces in the coming months. I’ve graduated from Dunks but this got me thinking. Technically, it’s not your conventioal Dunk anymore, with the upper being canvas and the sole being vulcanized. The colors are simple and would definitely look great with everything. What do you guys think? Is this pushing it? The Dunk AC retails for 4,995 Php.

Next up is the Air Macropus Lite. Now, here’s a shoe for those who want to wear the swoosh without looking like a frat boy in their 30s. The shoe definitely looks like the Clark Wallabee, a lifestyle shoe that has been around for the longest time. This shoe is great, with premium leathers and the creamy white sole giving a great contrast. The green tongue tag and the minty green eyelet is a great accent to bring everything together. The shoe is part of the 3GX series, along with the Blazer (below) and the Zoom Tennis Classic. The shoe is quite comfortable with the Zoom heel in effect. What I don’t like about it is that it’s a bit bulky. This may fit big dudes like me but they’re still a bit bulky for my taste. Regardless, this shoe is pretty nice and would be a great alternative to your trainers. The Macropus Lite goes for 6,295 Php.

The last shoe of this post is the Blazer Mid ND ’09, also part of the 3GX series. What did I tell you? Nike’s really keeping it low key for 2010 and you should too! With this skinnier version of the Blazer, I say go for it. It’s always a better alternative than Chucks. The Blazer retails for 3,795 Php (not bad, right?). I say cop it.

For those reading my blog for the first time, Hideout is located at Greenbelt 5, near the Greenbelt 1 parking lot.

I must say, we are getting the goods most boutiques are getting. That’s actually a good thing. At least we don’t have to travel to get our kicks. With stores like Crate, Hideout, and the like, we now have access to exclusives and great collabos that never saw the light of day a couple of years back.

This collab is between Nike and Japanese female fashion brand X-Girl. Everybody loves to disco and this shoe definitely fits the bill. Done with patent leather and sequins, they will definitely sparkle all night. It’s like having a disco ball for your feet! But only cooler, ofcourse. Drop by Hideout over at Greenbelt 5 to check the shop up close. These just dropped last Saturday btw.

Hopefully, this is the last of my delayed posts. These AF1s came out the same time as the DJ AM Dunks over at Hideout. Wrong move. Only the true heads took notice and realized how special these kicks were. Well, they’re not as special as the initial Futura collabs yet, but they will be. Hideout released both the high and low tops of this Futura Be True collab. Two things make this shoe worth copping- the perforation and the clear outsoles.

The size of the perforation from the heel to the front have a gradient effect- there are more perfs by the heel than the middle panel, then much less by the toe box . Like the DJ Premier AF1s,  have a design the can be seen through the icy soles. The words “Be” and “True” are written Futura style on each shoe. The tongue tag also carries the classic Future logo.

Both pairs use premium leather and it being black and grey, they are good to go with anything.  The high tops have a velcro strap to complete the classic look. If you’re familiar with Futura’s contribution to the sneaker scene, these kicks are worth having. Hop on by Hideout for these kicks.

Got your attention, right? Well, OT’s referring to Kobe, Japan. The shoe actually came out around Jan 17, where in 15 years prior, Kobe experienced an unprecedented earthquake. O.Tiger commemorates that earthquake as a memorabilia of the disaster as well as the effort of Kobe’s restoration. The shoe is the Layup 72 Phoenix, and this is a special edition pair to commemorate the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake. For those who aren’t familiar, Onitsuka Tiger’s main office is located in Kobe. The shoe features an embroidered phoenix, a mythical bird, to symbolize their prayers for Kobe’s restoration and future development.

Only 150 pairs are available at select stores throughout the world. To help in restoring Kobe, the proceeds will be donated to “the Foundation of the Great Hanshin Awaji Earthquake. The shoe’s silhouette is pretty simple, like Chuck Taylor simple. But if that’s your route, I’d go for this. At least you’ll only be 1 of 150 that’ll carry this shoe.  The shoe’s available at the OT Store at Greenbelt 5.

Crooks and Castles x Greyone Social x Greyone Arsenal. Need I say more? The Tee’s dropping tomorrow. Well, in a couple of hours. It’s a nice tee and it’s fresh! Drop by Greyone Social to cop it.

A couple more local releases from Nike. I tells ya, January’s been a busy month. Actually, Nike and the rest of the shoe companies release A LOT of shoes per month. I usually take notice of the ones I like. Thus, the photos. The Lunar Racer, The Dunk Hi (womens, of course) and the Zoom Speed are all great. They should be available at all Nike retailers nationwide.