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CREPE CITY 8 ROUND UP
This Saturday saw the 8th instalment of the CREPE CITY sneaker festival, held this time at the Old Truman Brewery in Brick lane. After the huge success (and even bigger queues) of Crepe City 7 expectations were running high, and the Crepe City team had worked hard to make sure they served up something tasty with a bigger venue, more sellers, more shoes, and extra giveaways and promotions. Did it live up to the hype?
The early signs were promising – sellers had been setting up since Friday evening and there were plenty of hardcore shoe fiends queuing from around 8am to be amongst the first through the doors, so right from the off there was a decent vibe and plenty of good stuff to be seen both on feet and sales tables, and the crowds and anticipation levels steadily built up until the doors opened.
Once inside the basement of the brewery, buyers were treated to two large well-lit halls, pretty much packed to the rafters with everything from the latest limited releases to the rarest vintage deadstock. There were also plenty of options for those looking to complement that latest pickup, with a deep selection of clothing, accessories and artwork – and even a tattooist to supply some ink if you were feeling brave!
Once again, the shoe vendors included well-established independent stores and reliable resellers, and the mix of goods ranged from the expected to the eclectic – WELLGOSH brought out a heavy selection of the latest Jordan releases, Strictly Sneakers again impressed with their crazy stock of Nike vintage, Just for Kicks put out a brilliant selection of limited Asics and New Balance, whilst once again Big Feet Small Kicks held it down for the ladies. Soleunit made noise with their dope wooden Air Max keyrings and pendants, and as usual there was also a good mix of private collectors looking to offload some spares and make some trades – big shout to the CT boys for holding down the back of the hall!
No surprise it was again Nike that dominated the day, with Huarache mania in full effect, and the usual suspects in the forms of Air Maxes and Jordans draining wallets all day, but the Crepe Team in association with Kish and SOLEHEAVEN ensured that some other brands got the spotlight in their ‘best of the day’ competition – the top ten featured some killer Asics and Etonics, and top honours went to a pair of OG ’93 Ewings!
By late afternoon the crowds had thinned out, plenty of Red Stripe had been consumed, and it was pretty clear that the day had been another success. The move from a Sunday to a Saturday didn’t seem to hurt the event, and the bigger venue was a definite win – with the brewery’s basement allowing nearly double the floor space of previous events, the layout was much improved and allowed people to circulate and browse without having to climb over each other, and it hopefully helped with the queues too (although we were enjoying ourselves inside too much to actually go out and check!)
Crepe City 7 was a tough act to follow, but more hard work from the team has ensured that number 8 was even bigger and better – hats off to them for growing the event into the UK’s premier sneaker event without sacrificing quality for quantity – can’t wait to see what happens at CREPE CITY 9!
Round up and images by @slangwerks :: Video by Broken Antenna
