We took part in the Kicks On sneaker convention held in Subang over the weekend. Here are highlights of the event.
By Kim Hana
On September 22nd, Hoops Station and Think and Thing Creative Core presented Kicks On, a sneaker convention held at Hoops Arena, The Summit USJ. The event had about 60 participating booths run by apparel and sneaker brands, retailers, and resellers.
Kicks On drew an attendance of more than 1,000 people and they ranged from die hard sneakerheads and streetwear loyalists, to youths looking for good deals. They came from all over the region too, including Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines, China and Taiwan.
We were struck by the good selection of homegrown streetwear and the support these local brands get from the Malaysians, who no doubt love their Nike and New Balance, but never fail to throw some Malaysian streetwear into the mix for a dash of local flavor.
Bryan Chin, founder and editor of Masses, said, “One of the reasons why we Malaysians are pretty supportive of our local brands is because they can anticipate trends in the West and produce streetwear based on those trends, but at a local price. That is an advantage they have over the international brands.”
A highlight of the event was when Malaysia’s biggest hip-hop artist, Joe Flizzow, dropped by. Fans went camera-trigger happy and wanted their two seconds with the star. We did too and got to have a quick chat with Joe, who told us he has been busy in the studio working on his first album in Bahasa Malaysia.
To his fans in Singapore he said, “I just want to say that the Singapore hip hop scene and the Singapore fans have been down with us since day one, ever since Too Phat came out. I think the Malaysian scene owes a lot to Singapore as well because I think we grew together as a scene. Hopefully we’ll continue to grow together.”
Joe, who showed up in a pair of Air Force 1 “Invisible Woman”, said his favorite pair of sneakers of all time are the Nike Air Jordan 5. He explained, “I started collecting with the Jordan 5. I bought them from Far East Plaza in Singapore. This was a long time ago, back when you could get Air Forces for 70 bucks.”
All good things have to come to an end. William Yuen, organizer of Kicks On, said, “We’d like to thank everyone who supported us, sponsored the event, and who believed that we’ve got a real sneaker culture in Malaysia.”
Fortunately, Kicks On won’t be gone for long. William said, “We’ll be back again next year either over the summer break or the holiday season!”