Tony Hawk Goes Sneaker Shopping With Complex

what's up everybody its Joe from complex we're in New York City at Stadium Goods with the legendary Tony Hawk these are basketball shoes and we finally had like a shoe of our own with Airwalk gonna do some sneaker shopping today to see what he's feeling what he's not and then hopefully he's gonna buy some sneakers yes please let's go [Music] Tony I want to start with the movie the search for animal Qin was said back then that someone connected to Jordan dropped off a bunch of pears for you guys to wear and they were super cheap the originals now that go for a lot of money do you remember that movie and wearing these yeah I don't know how we came upon them but it was like hey these Nikes and I pretty sure I wore these and the white the Chicago area Chicago but over the course of that video I ended up getting a semi sponsorship with Vans okay so in the infamous photo of all four of us doing hand plants you're in vans gate huh I got vans yeah and you know I had no idea this is gonna be iconic right but for us it was finally used free shoes like we were still skate rats and hoping to get free gear and so the fact that Nike was stepping up and giving us high tops yeah was cool but we didn't think it was gonna be such a big moment in time what did a good skate shoe back then and do you still think it holds up yeah for skating for sure cuz for our type of skating especially you wanted the ankle support and we all skate vert Sweeney slide and the toe caps were really resilient so there were like exactly what we needed at that time one thing Bones Brigade friend of yours Lance Mountain got his own Nike collapse yeah that's the Jordan one what's it like you know this was years past but what's it like to see the crossover of someone that you skated with came up with getting his own collab I love it well I love that there's that that type of respect for Lance and and what he has given to the skateboard industry and community and he gets recognized by a company like Nike for being a legend yeah cuz you know like nightless and have the best track record for competition or whatnot but but he truly brought fun to the sport and for Tabb Nike supporting him and to letting him do stuff like this it's like it's great all around I think that it just shows that they really have their heart in right place definitely we talked across over your game Tony skate jam it's a long line of video games now in your catalogue and I remember a couple years you had Tyler the Creator and you actually put the vans that he wore and the attention to detail how important is it for you to incorporate those details into the game very much so I want to keep it authentic so like my character in Tony Hawk's gay gym is wearing my luck I produce my resurgence into the high tops and what started at Jordans but basically went to Eric prototype that that really is the inspiration for what the demo Lakai proto's are and really that's where people identify us most and that's that time space of the air walk days because era was truly a skate shoe Nike was it was very cool they gave squishy shoes but these are basketball shoes yeah and we finally had like a shoe of our own with air walk and so that's what I'm trying to pay homage to with my luck eyes and of course I want to include them in the game because it is what I wear when I skate absolutely I'm not skating and wearing Riley's shoes Tony we touched on vans a little bit back there but what do you think it is the staying power of these and you know you coming up and skating in them and now decades later people still wearing them with jeans still a very hot commodity in terms of the sneaker culture well I believe that was the original skate shoe when when I was young like I want advance herds off the wall fans off right and then I finally got a pair of low tops which that's all they made back then and I needed ankle support or ankle protection yeah so they sold a supplement ankle guard actually would strap on and then it would go above the low top like it was so ridiculous before high tops for I thought wow so I would wear those with my low tops and eventually finally they made high tops but it is you know it's an iconic design it was original and so obviously it's the one head staying power Airwalk I remember your Lakai signature shoe the proto is a homage to air walk and we talked about it over there but I remember like coming up middle school in high school all the cool kids were wearing it like people may not realize how cool they were back then it was a movement you know and it represented skateboarding and so we were really proud I mean I was I created the trick air walk they named it after my trick you know so I felt like a deep connection there and one of my good friends was the shoe designer and he had free rein to do whatever he wanted and he got a little crazy sometimes but those were fun days it was the 87 you know he's got a little crazy that he rhymes was there ever skate shoe that didn't perform well for you I'd never had a chance to try so many shoes that i was gonna say oh this one doesn't work definitely some models of air walks were more for lifestyle not for skating and we you know it's Virts caves we burn through the toes and the lace is so fast that like some shoes just aren't meant for that I think the only shoe that I ever sort of regretted not getting to skate I wore Pumas for a while because who Mike sent me some shoes and said we want to talk about a sponsorship and I really got used to them and so I was riding them for probably a good three or four months Wow and then I said yeah we should do this and they said wow I know I did oh was it like the Puma suede like the Lowepro yeah black and red okay one thing I want to talk about in the 90s when skaters were getting sponsored and you know the checks weren't as big as they are now people were getting their sponsored shoes going to skate parks and selling them to skaters were you ever around that is that how did that happen what for sure it happened I mean I didn't go that far with my shoe endorsement but we definitely had issues with team riders on bird house okay getting and getting decks and then going to sell them elsewhere and it was like come on you guys we're trying to stay in business yes I support you for the most part the people that were doing that didn't last long on their sponsors okay I know if you personally they got kicked off all right and it was like I remember one guy they told me this a pal actually this guy kept getting kept getting gear selling and giving it away and then he came to get some more and the finally the guy said look this is what Tony Hawk got last month right this is what you got last month that you're out [Music] Tony I want to talk about your Hawk line that was in Kohl's very affordable line once you had all the accolades was it important for you to develop a line that was affordable yeah well that's why that's how we started Hawk clothing it was my siblings and I and we all had little ones and we just couldn't find cool clothes for them yeah that was the catalyst for starting the brand and eventually it made its way to calls and then when we finally got a shoe line going from there it was exactly that it was affordable skate type of shoes but you know and then eventually DC and Vance figured out that market works yeah and push this up yeah I hear you I want to talk you went to the Blessed supreme premiere what do you think about a brand like that that is rooted in skate culture and now is ruling the street we're seeing well I just love that a validated skating you know across the board and in its core it's not like someone's trying to package skating into some other thing and sell it to a bigger audience they're rooted in skating they support skaters and so I fully back it you know I mean that the resale thing is crazy and yes it's all ridiculous and and you know it's excessive but at its core it promotes good skating and that's what I love about we talked about everything now is the easy part if the browser shell see what you're gonna take home yeah I would love to get some stuff from my my focus group my kids let's do it I think these are for miles then it does black ones I had ain't over here yeah so my son Spence there's more lucky I think black on black black on black six shoe maybe these if you got it for our little surfer bro got you okay I got one more pair for our buddy Morgan so five total suits whole is twenty five fifty six and thirty nine cents okay thank you Wow thank you all right [Music] so the icon Tony Hawk came through bought some sneakers thanks so much for taking the time thanks for showing me around make sure you get the Tony Hawk skate jam available on Google Play and the App Store right now you [Music]

Channel: Complex

Views: 4,182,054

Rating: 4.9340611 out of 5

Keywords: sneakerhead, complex, complex originals, sneakers, news, entertainment, current affairs, young man, culture, complex tv, complex media, sneaker shopping complex, sneaker shopping season 8, sneaker shopping tony hawk, tony hawk sneakers, sneaker shopping skater, complex sneaker shopping skateboard, tony hawk complex, joe la puma, joe la puma complex, skating in air jordan 1, tony hawk vans, tony hawk joe la puma, sneaker shopping vans, lakai tony hawk proto, nike airwalk

Id: 8WAmtgepucM

Length: 8min 59sec (539 seconds)

Published: Mon Jan 14 2019