For anyone familiar with the world of streetwear, sneaker craze, or urban culture, the name Jeff Staple (New Jersey, 45 years old) is something of a philosopher’s stone: one of the main culprits when it comes to why Something that started on the streets of New York and Los Angeles, functioning as an identity engine for certain young people in certain neighborhoods, eventually evolved into a global phenomenon, raking in billions of dollars each year, with seemingly no ceiling gives.
“I don’t know if it’s my fault, but it’s an honor to be part of this list,” the designer says via video call. He entered the Olympus of sneaker lovers when he created the Pidgeon 18 years ago, shoes with which Nike paid homage to New York. On February 22, 2005, riots broke out at his Orchard Street store when hundreds of children, desperate to afford a pair, fought with gang members who wanted to steal them. The story ended with a police intervention and a mythical front page the next day in the New York Post, the city’s other major newspaper: Locura por las zappas.
“The fact that we’re still talking about it after so many years and that everyone is still asking me about this topic is a sign of its relevance.” Of course, I had no idea what was going to happen,” says Staple. “It’s like that group that’s supposed to play the same hit over and over again. I don’t mind if you ask her to. The secret of madness? I think it was the right time. It also happened that a journalist from the New York Post lived on the same street, and that’s how she jumped off the street into the mainstream: Without her, things might have remained a street anecdote.
A Staple doll aboard a pair of Nikes in his office.VICTOR LLORENTE; Victor Llorente
Staple has become one of the most sought-after names in the fledgling streetwear industry, limited editions have swept the planet and if you want to snag a Pidgeon these days, you have to have at least €40,000 ready. “Everything has changed, but in a way and despite the disaster that the pandemic has brought, I think those in this business who have survived have come out with new ideas and a fresh perspective. If you had asked me about streetwear and sneakers a few years ago, I would have told you that the golden age is over, but now I’m dying to see what we’re capable of in the future,” he says.
New Balance, The North Face, Timberland, Coca-Cola, Beats by Dre, Puma or Clarks have already passed through the hands of Staple, who has also always claimed the roots of their culture (“In my institute there were 1,600 students and only … ‘) ‘Three were Asians’) and obsession with absorbing everything: ‘New York City graffiti artists have this all-city expression, meaning they’re in every neighborhood, on every subway line, of Staten Island to the Bronx, leave their mark.” I really like this philosophy of being everywhere,” says the American-turned-global label. He celebrates this by releasing a book entitled Jeff Staple, Not Just Sneakers (Rizzoli), which summarizes the good (and bad) moments of a memorable career. “Maybe I’m sounding naïve, but I’m very proud to have come this far,” he concludes.