A fresh-faced series from MORPRIME Industries™ team of labrats, bringing the world of GUNDAM to life as DIGI-ZINES; computer generated swipeographies for YOUR enjoyment!
This evening’s storyline enlists GUNDAM 0083: The GUNDAM Development Project - breaking down every dial and mechanism ridden suit encompassed within this particular franchise.
Whilst we may look like a team of sneaker-lovers doused in more than your average splashing of nerdery, truth be told the majority of us have been deeply immersed within this year’s sport-orientated June overhaul; UEFA’s Euro competition kicked off, Copa America followed suit and Wimbledon took to centre court. However, silverware aside the sixth month of what feels like an incredibly short year was packed with products clad in that undeniable, underlining medal of valour.
Here it is - MORPRIME Industries™ Picks of the Month, SWIPE, READ, SWIPE!
First up is a self-produced, self-coined ‘Gunfingers Tee’ designed and launched by one of MORPRIME Industries™ design team - @jpegarchie. Description-wise, need we go beyond the tee’s rear graphic?
“When a massive tune is dropped in a rave, you make a gun with your fingers and shoot for the sky”.
Without dabbling in further collaborations radiating close to MORPRIME factory doors, let us break bread between a few bits you may have missed AWAY from @sneakersnstuff 237, @bodega’s 990v3 or even a certain @salehebembury ‘Water be the Guide’ 2002r. Ah, we tried.
Switzerland’s @on_running crew launched their Cloudboom Echo model, a MARATHON shoe that ended up landing on our radar due to amalgamated compounds of carbon Speedboard integration and an upper finished in a 100% recycled polyester mesh. We’re all for competitive recycling, especially occasions whereby it’s THIS aerodynamic!
When we mention streaks of nerdery running thick through our veins, we mean streaks of figurines depicting Conan the Barbarian’s unmistakable aesthetic so accurately. Figure-aficionados, @super7 went above and beyond what meagre humans knew to be possible in accommodating Conan’s adventure from ‘70’s printed publication to ‘21’s technology-ridden planet earth, available alongside an alternating head attachment and weaponry galore.
Oh, and as for @NewBalanceLifestyle orientated history-to-present boosters to quench one’s craving for knowledge? Keep your eyes peeled, we’ve not even scratched the surface…
Nike’s late ‘80s to early ‘90s catalogue is FULL of powerful, epicentre worthy
silhouettes spanning ALL shapes and sizes - this is, and shall always be a prime
example of Swoosh taking industry by the scruff of its neck.
In graphic, you’ll find an integral dose of MORPRIME Industries™ knowledge, however down below we shed light on Tinker’s iconic palette of immeasurable ballast.
Aesthetically, there’s very little that compares to Nike’s crater-ridden concept repeated throughout every inch of Safari-coined textile - in fact, our origin can be found out in New York City. The Big Apple!
Where we’d expect mesh panelling to reside, thick leather slabs make their home portraying Tinker’s ‘purposely non-athletic’ stature; pushing development in the opposite direction to that we’d expected from an otherwise all-athlete prospectus - breaking AWAY from material functionality.
With SAFARI taking the mantle at this pair’s forefront, you’d expect a beating, living creature to usher the wagon into motion. In many respects, you’d be correct! However, factual recollection dictates an article of home-bound LUXURY was Hatfield’s canvas - taking form as a real-ostrich skin clad sofa.
Opium has been facilitating sneaker-addiction since October 2001, five meagre months prior to Mark Parker adding their Parisian retail space to Nike’s extensive array of high profile stockists.
Another three years passed and something immensely special floated to the surface - once inhabiting sneaker-earth’s DARKEST depths, we were given a camo-heavy, aggressively colour-blocked Air Max 180 that spared NO punches. In fact, many herald it as one of the sneaker’s best iterations of all time. 2005’s Premium Priority, or QK pack was one of two halves - a second falling into Soho’s lap.
Taking the title as one of MANY silhouettes to make that hard-pushed journey from Tinker Hatfield’s ‘91 mind into shelf-residing product, the Air Max 180 boasted one hundred and EIGHTY degrees of unadulterated, unchartered AIR.
Back to centre, Opium lathered an upper in sheets of premium leather and home bound 180 neoprene comfort - familiar desert patterns broke the mould in wrapping both heel cup AND tongue, all paired with injections of neon yellow accentuation without forgetting COMET RED here, there and everywhere.
Custom insoles are the glue that has pulled together collaborations for years, perhaps going as far to complete an already palatable concoction - a silver platter above all else. These were coated in repetitive multi-font ‘PARIS’ type.
British-born retailer, size?, is no stranger to high profile, hard hitting collaborations in partnership with each and every brand imaginable. In fact, the iconically hard-wearing Puma Suede was added to their arsenal of 2020 fall-out, fusing the effortlessly powerful ‘60’s basketball shoe with hints of signature in-house detailing.
size? emerged at 2000’s turn of the century - going on to break industry surface as a leading retailer in the UK, Europe as well as freshly conquered Canadian borders.
This silhouette launched in line with their ongoing capacious-style 20th anniversary capsule, an immersive project that tied knot after knot between globally-renowned brands in tandem with up-’n’-coming individuals throughout a very special year of celebration. If we’re talking classics, you don’t have to delve back too far in time to relive some of size?’s most outwards-thinking shopfloor competitors. Last year alone, they were responsible for bringing a new found freshness to Three-Stripes beloved City Series, Swoosh-ridden Air Max 95 and Air Force 1 installations, leading proudly onto our current feature - Puma’s Suede. MORPRIME Industries™ recall these to name merely a few!
Boasting an upper comprised of soft black suede sitting proudly beneath a bold, size?orange Formstrip - this exclusive embodies that recognisable persona we all know and love. Gold co-branding at each sneaker’s heel injects an element of luxury, a small dashing of elegance that consumers learn to expect from collaborations of this magnitude... or SIZE?. Whilst staying true to OG form, this explosive low-top excels in paying homage to Puma Brand’s big cat, big shape mentality.
This afternoon, we’ll bypass formalities orbiting Sergio Lozano’s Air Max 95 silhouette - you know the history by now, you know where inspiration was drawn from and of COURSE you know about its immersive appreciation by those looking for an extra inch or so. However, just how much do you know about its fluctuation in pricing through the ages?
Join us in a time-constrained journey, dabbling amidst bargain hunters and appreciation for historical landmarks - Nike joined forces with our comrades at @Footpatrol_ldn to produce something reminiscent of London’s street culture in its own right.
Now for physical attributes; we’re given an array of tones deriving from beautifully charismatic London streets, documenting an environment adopted by the 95 and those whom adored every last cobblestone riddled walkway, high rise tower-block horizon surrounded by man-hole cover aplenty.
Launch took collectors on a gravitational London tour, touching base with local DJ Scott Garcia and Wavey Garms store owner Rhiannon Barry - FP tapped up their community when giving consumers something inspired by surrounding areas. Beautiful.
Three Stripes launched their reimagined 10,000 in 2019, taking direct cues from ZX grandmaster and original designer Jacques Chassaing - a name you may remember from our UltraBOOST 1.0 ‘DNA Collection’ post with @packershoes.
All in all, Chassaing’s ZX series arrived at the peak of 1984 and has since seen a multitude of features added to what was already an industry-leading runner of its time - modern twists elevated his legacy to the ZX10,000 we see today.
Torsion played an enormous part in progression, quite literally bridging the gap between areas of cushioned heel and forefoot with a TPU arch - allowing them to approach terrains independently from one another.
At MORPRIME Industries™, we were fortunate enough to receive this incredibly limited FRIENDS and FAMILY instalment. Some questions don’t require answers...
It’s 2021, we’re slowly working our way towards normality - SO, why not introduce a newborn concept?
We’re CONSTANTLY evolving our digi-image based on YOUR feedback, hence a beautifully concise injection of archived game-wear and age-old advertisement discovered by means of DEEP web sourced research - all WHILST keeping true to MORPRIME Industries™ unique aesthetic. Believe us, this is something we thoroughly enjoyed integrating!
Without further ado...
Andre Agassi was known for honing his on-court master-craft in equal proportions to ticking each box when it came to timeless selections of signature footwear. For obvious reasons, the Nike Air Challenge II takes centre stage on nine out of 10 occasions.
However, our labrats have a question for you - who remembers the aggressively stanced Air Alarm?
Sporting a distinctive overlay-into-midsole element of colour blocking, Agassi’s AIR ALARM was a sneaker designed to push one trait and one trait only - performance.
In fact, performance was so high up on this model’s statistical curriculum vitae that former-Sonics Point Guard, Gary Payton, dragged them kicking and screaming onto basketball’s hardwood surface - again, where it performed flawlessly.
All of the above resulted in Oregon coining the slogan, ‘Some people take tennis too seriously. We make shoes for them,’. It goes without saying, we believe every word.
In 2000, we imagine the last association Tinker’s brother, Tobie Hatfield, would dream of drilling through his Presto silhouette would be that of techwear’s figurehead, ACRONYM.
At the time of launch, Errolson wasn’t a stranger to zipping his own twist on already notorious Nike product - having designed an array of laterally-altered Air Force 1 palettes without so much as a stumble in the process. Endorsing an element of formidable @erlsn.acr fashion guise, we were given a technically brilliant genetic mutation of those Tees-for-your-Feet that took shot to WTB list summits internationally.
Between 2014 and ‘18, Canada’s Mr Hugh reinvented ALL CONDITIONS GEAR beneath NikeLAB’s somewhat more premium umbrella, swimming in a VERY new direction to that formed over two decades beforehand.
During this timeframe - Hugh and his team embarked upon a separate set of Air Force 1 expeditions 12 months prior to launching that preliminary 2016 Presto capsule. Dates galore!
Here is MORPRIME Industries™ PICKS OF THE MONTH: MAY.
Breaking down our first of four extracted lines, we’ll revisit the UltraBOOST 1.0 ‘DNA Collection’ - 2020 was ALL about @adidasoriginals taking a leaf from their own history books, revisiting that string of iconically high-profiled ZX numerical instalments found scattered between wardrobes-cum-car foot-wells globally since Jacques Chassaing’s ZX500 and 800 appeared 1984.
This was a mass of fresh faced UltraBOOST DNA 1.0, draped in colourways inherited on a grand scale to increase Three Stripe’s TORSION-based running stronghold. We were given revamped, reimagined versions of ZX6000, 8000 (Germany’s first ZX to feature TORSION) and 9000 palettes.
Next up, Teddy Santis’ ALD launched their second batch of p550 Basketball Oxfords - a model pulled from 1989’s catalogue of outstanding product. Instead of the core palettes seen toward’s 2020’s close, we were blessed with yellow enveloped green concoctions in tandem with red-cum-navy and respective apparel capsules.
British retailer @sizeofficial has been caught teasing a 550 in their own image - keep your eyes peeled!
We’ll drag ourselves away from footwear for May’s penultimate PICK, immersing those pesky labrats in ANOTHER classically tasteful @baitme collaboration - finding solace in a Galaxy Far, Far Away to present puff-print detailing, USA-made blanks AND comic book inspired illustrations on a single plate. If you didn’t have your blaster at hand until now, be sure to head online or into one of many local flagships. BAIT hit the target with this collection and not for the first time, to paraphrase a certain Obi-Wan Kenobi - ‘in OUR experience, there is no such thing as luck’.
Lastly, let’s keep this brief. When life gives you lemons? They end up in PICKS OF THE MONTH: MAY. Simple!
Disclaimer: not all lemons end up in May’s POTM - just the WMNS Nike Dunk Low ‘Lemon’ seen in slide number five. Please don’t be sour!
Where does MORPRIME Industries™ start in finding a route through that Nike Air Huarache varicose system, leading to its title as the powerhouse we see today? Three decades of Tinker-ing pushed in tandem with re-writing global sportswear AND fashion trends wasn’t what we would label a simple task. Tinker Hatfield joined Swoosh in 1981, diving into footwear’s design pool four years later where an immersive love for architecture would birth more than his fair share of REVOLUTIONARY sneakers.
As 1991 peaked, Hatfield’s brainchild hit shelves with $110 and $100 GS price-tags in tow - however, hurdles and land mines made his journey to the top all that more treacherous.
Preliminary orders failed to top 50 units, which ushered product manager Tom Hartge - who shared Tinker’s vision - to fake an order surmounting 5000, 9.5 ounce sneakers JUST in time to shift every pair at New York’s Marathon across a three day period. From here, Nike saw orders EXPLODE beyond half a million units.
It wasn’t just sporting activities whereby the Huarache became synonymous - in fact, we consider the abundance of historical leaps that Nike’s design team took on board when kitting out their soon be classic ‘91 silhouette.
Tinker integrated ‘flexi-sole ridges’ into the Huarache’s tooling thus giving Eric Avar reign to conclude the later Flight’s outsole, opening doors for an uncontrollable spawning of hybrids formed beneath the model’s polymerised chloroprene umbrella - utilising details from both models.
Andre Agassi is often overlooked for his contributions to the sneaker’s success, donning that signature Air Tech Challenge II on foot. Two of Hatfield’s silhouettes were united for a concoction of ‘89 performance and ‘91’s technological advances - birthing the Air Tech Challenge Huarache and contending in a way the Huarache wasn’t known for. In true Agassi fashion, he claimed his first Grand Slam at Wimbledon with this visible-air-bootie on court. Talk about heritage?
In true MORPRIME Industries™ fashion, we’re carrying forward a theme that resonates amidst our beloved sneaker-verse - this time, focussing on ANOTHER @stevensmith silhouette. What’s on our mind? As you’ve already seen above, an incredibly streamlined New Balance has floated to the surface.
Seeing consumer toes for the first time in ‘89, Smith’s hot-stepping 1500 took NB’s mantel as one of, if not the greatest shelf-born product of all time. In fact, his influence didn’t stop there with both 574 AND 997 being extracted from his plethora of signature concoctions - donning over three decades spearheading sleek panel arrangements, moulded ENCAP midsoles and infinite expertly curated ‘N’-broidered colour-combinations.
Have you ever wondered where your Boston brand, MADE IN ENGLAND sneakers derive from? Back in 2017, a rather special iteration of Steven Smith’s 1500 was born as tribute to 35 years sporting MIUK certification. After venturing into British territory, NB pitched-tent in Workington, West Cumbria only to up-sticks and relocate to FLIMBY soon after; a Mecca for footwear fetishisers and aficionados globally.
Boasting OVER 500,000 pairs per YEAR is statistically shaming when considering our limited lab-rat workrate, that’s surpassing half a MILLION premium, shape-perfect sets of pavement-ready units without hesitation. You can understand Boston’s haste in celebrating 35 incredible years!
Behind each sneaker is a story, in similar fashion to intricately crafted tri (and a half)-decade commemorative labels sitting proudly beneath each securely-set tongue.
ARCHIVAL PRODUCT, something MORPRIME Industries™️ tends to explore with inch-perfect precision. Where will Saturday evening take our lab-rats?
In order to harness this pair’s industry magnitude at full throttle, we need to delve into the mind of its rightful father - a name known throughout planet earth’s SNEAKERDOM for many, MANY incredible silhouettes.
Steven Smith - we’ll let this marinade for a moment as your mind recalls numerous paths traipsing between landmark models aplenty. In his own right, @stevensmith deserves a string of immersive posts drawing out every detail reserved for royalty. Without this man at the wheel, we wouldn’t have Boston’s NB1500 or 997 amongst others, bundles of Instapump Fury goodness closely followed by Swoosh-bound Air Streak Spectrum Plus and Cage ZOOM Spiridon - oh, let’s not forget YEEZY’s 700 BOOST.
We’ve merely scratched the surface here, so, when do we poke at SMITH’s bag of tricks in more depth?
MOBILE SUIT REPORT is an on going series in which MORPRIME Industries™️ highlight the franchise of GUNDAM’s iconic - you guessed it - Mobile Suits!
We tapped into our GUNDAM experts’ brains allowing exploration across the lore, stats and equipment of each suit as a point of interest to our followers. All in all, covering a plethora of basics for those who may be new to the franchise - taking great steps forward with facts and pointers for even the well-versed aficionado.
This highly calibrated MSZ-006 ZETA GUNDAM is next to grace MORPRIME Industries™️ page...
MORPRIME Industries™️ team took a journey back in time to touch base with the history of adidas’ ZX line, briefly dabbling in that pre-torsion era going onto step through technological innovation’s infinitely growing window of opportunity.
We joined forces with @packer to celebrate the launch of adidas Originals’ Ultra BOOST 1.0 DNA - a nod to heritage through modern eyes, immortalising landmark moments in sneaker history by means of cross-silhouette palette immersion.
Take a swipe with us, and about learn everything our labrats had to offer!
Welcome to another installation of Prime Cuts, a series whereby MORPRIME Industries™ break down a selection of anything from sneakers to games and models - giving you guys a crumb of insight into the loaf-ly (HA!) stuff we think about each day.
Long-gone are the Dassler Brother Shoe Factory days, Rudolf’s beloved brand is known for their bright and vibrant runners, whilst holding down a market with INDUSTRY STAPLES as you’ll learn in a moment’s time.
Puma’s RS (Running System) range was initially launched back in the 1980s, offering (then) FUTURISTIC styling combined with premium levels of comfort at an affordable price. However, over the last 30-or-so years, primitive silhouettes were re-jigged and stripped back to the essentials; focussing on lick and poise. The RS-0 does exactly what it says on the tin, drawing modern styling into legacy-lines.
Puma’s Mirage OG was nothing short of a lightweight, traditional runner with your classic ‘90’s flare that we all loved. This pair is most commonly seen playing host to a plush SUEDE and NYLON mesh upper, dashed sparingly with neon accents throughout.
Now, for the definition of BIG-HITTER - Puma’s SUEDE model. If you don’t know, you need to know. Soon after birth, the court sneaker became popular within NYC’s B-Boy circles, craved for its hefty rubber outsole and flexible upper. Thick laces too, let’s not be forgetting those!
As far as low-profile runners go, the Puma Inhale is certainly one of a vibrant option. Originally launched back in 2000, loud tooling and CELL technology made the Inhale incredibly difficult to ignore, especially in the Summer Melon and High Risk Red colourway pictured above.
Lastly, Puma’s Prevail OG leaned heavily on Trinomic developments, a trifecta said to follow three ‘running shoe laws’ - CUSHIONED impact, flexible, fast REBOUND and traction STABILITY. Puma stuck by that ‘89 trio when re-releasing the Prevail in 2016, giving their loyal fanbase a close representation to the original.
We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again, Nike’s extensive archive of trail, performance and sportswear extracted from their late ‘90’s stockpile of footwear mastercraft is at some points unrivalled by every possible competitor spanning across this relentlessly competitive industry.
In particular, the Air Zoom Spiridon is a MORPRIME Industries™ favourite not only for its precise engineering, but due to the sheer amount of innovative technology that Nike hardwired into its revolutionary DNA.
Royal heritage was on Nike’s design card from its outset, with ‘Spiridon’ deriving from SPIRIDON LOUIS who’s otherwise known as the first Olympic Marathon winner in Summer 1896; this pair housed a fresh-faced concept too, CAGED ZOOM.
In theory, encapsulating a rubber ZOOM pod within one’s sole is almost too simple, yet executed in a manner that allows the Spiridon’s wearer to feel nothing less than optimum levels of comfort.
Design-wise, @christiantresser was the brains behind this lightweight runner and as it transpires 1997 was rather productive on his end - adding a little number known as the Air Max 97 to his already impressive annual roster.
If there’s something SWOOSH does well, it’s revamping OG silhouettes to cater for new and emerging markets - one of these models is the Footscape which has seen an extended library of iterations bearing minor, yet effective, changes.
This is our TRIBUTE to a truly beautiful article of technical brilliance, the Nike Air Footscape (NO Flyknit, NO woven upper, NO Motion sole) - nothing but original goodness.
Back in 1996, TOREN ORZECK was one of the minds behind this sneaker’s asymmetrical lacing parallel with another ORZECK blueprint - Nike AIR STASIS. BOTH were publicised beneath a slogan directly asking consumers to ‘Trust your feet, not your eyes’ - needless to say this isn’t a conventional ploy, but it worked.
There was, however, very little doubt in the theory behind his shoe’s success when reflecting on Nike MOC and FOAMPOSITE technology, both of which reside comfortably within this designer’s portfolio.
‘FOOTFORM’ ideologies adapt to the wearer’s anatomical foot shape, almost acting on an orthopaedic level of comfort. Intricate lacing is designed to relieve stress from the dorsal area, an human centre packed with veins and key points of fleshy interest; quite literally cuddling your sole as you walk.
Swoosh QUICKSTRIKE product of old was nothing short of whimsical, each launch acting as an instalment lifted deftly from history books-cum-sketches of teenage sneaker-magination.
Without losing sight of the ZOOM-ridden boot at this iteration’s innermost geological core, we experienced a ‘BISON’ brown waterproof leather upper sat upon doses of Trail Frame support, iced proudly with red spools of boot-rope lace.
Though we cannot, and will not deem the use of D-ring lacing grommets, an elaborate wrap-around tongue system and medial zip to be REVOLUTIONARY - we can earmark OREGON’s nod towards hiking silhouettes as an early nudge in the direction modern trends would take.
12 months prior, this model was available in two nappy-suede, FRAGMENT co-branded colourways, launched alongside three versions of the equally mid-cut Nike Air Magma Zip.
MOBILE SUIT REPORT is an on going series in which MORPRIME Industries™️ highlight the franchise of GUNDAM’s iconic - you guessed it - Mobile Suits!
We tapped into our GUNDAM experts’ brains allowing exploration across the lore, stats and equipment of each suit as a point of interest to our followers. All in all, covering a plethora of basics for those who may be new to the franchise - taking great steps forward with facts and pointers for even the well-versed aficionado.
The humble RX-78GPO1 “Zephyranthes” is next to grace MORPRIME Industries™️ page...
