Soles to satisfy the soul.
With sleek sneaker boutiques such as Limited Edt and The Social Foot sprouting up in town, Singapore's sneaker community is set to grow faster than ever in 2018.The numbers speak for themselves: after a record-breaking 4,000 attendees last year, Sole Superior is back for a 5th consecutive year, once again bringing all local and regional sneakerheads together for this day-long event.
"Attendees this year can expect our trademark curation of vendors - blending global brands with local retailers, alongside independent labels, artists, community groups and individual collectors. As always, only the rarest, freshest, priciest sneaker and streetwear heat to be found in a single venue- from the highly coveted to the absolute holy grails." -Sole Superior Press Release
Now let's take a look at the branding of Sole Superior.
No Strings Attached
Streetwear and sneaker labels may produce questionable fashion pieces from time to time, but there is no denying that when it comes to product marketing and branding, nothing else comes close to its game in the fashion industry.
Sole Superior's branding takes event branding to a new level - from cheeky takes on tradition to references in pop culture, it is seen as uniquely edgy. But before we go any further, let's just take a moment to appreciate how catchy and fitting the name of the event is.
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| The Sole Superior Logo by The Strangely Good |
Warriors, come out to play-ayyy
Every year, Soul Superior has a different visual identity to give each edition of the event its own personality. To give you a sense of how high quality the aesthetics are for each identity, here's last year's, designed by TUCKS.
This year's brand identity, designed by Chiang Yu Xiang, pays homage to the 1979 cult classic film The Warriors. Time to come out and play-ayyy.
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| Sole Superior 2017 Logo |
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| Sole Superior 2017 Poster |
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| Sole Superior Afterparty Poster. Ash looks chill |
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| Now all we need is a real life photo to match a movie-still |
This year's marketing materials are mostly in black and white, with red accents, to achieve consistency with The Warrior's overall aesthetics.
Superior-ize Me
The vendors' love for Sole Superior is clearly visible with special collections made specifically for the event. It's not just the local, indie ones - international brands incorporate the Sole Superior logo and identity in their products as well, which is a pretty awesome way of saying 'thanks for organising this'.
As a brand observer, I love it when collaborations happen. The design possibilites are endless, and while some may turn out to be fashion disasters (I'm looking at you, Supreme X Louis Vuitton), Sole Superior's collaborations are looking fantastic.
Here are some of my favourite collab pieces:
This limited edition pair of sneakers features the Sole Superior logo and this year's wordmark on a tag. Only 50 pairs are available.
To celebrate 5 years of Sole Superior, XLARGE's collab tee features all the previous identities of the event, including this year's The Warriors tribute. Truly iconic!
The timeless Sole Superior logo meets this year's colour palette of black, white and red. Anyone thinking of using these socks as Christmas stockings?
I won't even be surprised if Sole Superior actually established its own brand by the 10th edition of the event. The fantastic name helps, and crazier things have happened before. But for now, we'll have to make do with these collaborations and occasional merch, such as this money gun.
Here are some of my favourite collab pieces:
Novesta X Sole Superior
This limited edition pair of sneakers features the Sole Superior logo and this year's wordmark on a tag. Only 50 pairs are available.
XLARGE X Sole Superior
Freshly Pressed Socks X Sole Superior
I won't even be surprised if Sole Superior actually established its own brand by the 10th edition of the event. The fantastic name helps, and crazier things have happened before. But for now, we'll have to make do with these collaborations and occasional merch, such as this money gun.
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| Time to get that shmoney |
Make sneaker history
Whether you are a sneakerhead or someone who is interested in getting to know more about the streetwear/sneaker culture, head down to Zouk at Clarke Quay this Saturday afternoon (25th November) to be part of this one-of-a-kind event in Singapore. Walk-in tickets are available from $20. Who knows - you just might fall in love with a local brand, meet future best friends or even win something big in the lucky draw.
It's amazing how 2 people in a small community, united in their passion for owning pairs of nice kicks, could not only organise 4 editions of a day-long large scale convention, but also gain world-wide attention from international media outlets. This is proof that in Singapore, passion made this possible.
All eyes in the fashion world will be on Sole Superior this Saturday. Singapore, are you ready to make sneaker history for the fifth time?
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