Sometimes the shoe that ships is the third draft, and the story of the two that did not make it is half the fun. This Foamposite is one of those.
The version everyone got was actually the third option. The first one featured a white Foamposite base, a blue eyestay, and a black tongue, and the honest read at the time was that it was way too hot for a 25 pair release. There was a real reason it could not go forward, too. Part of the deal for the whole Penny Pack was that the Nike team promised not to recreate any of the colorways down the line, and they could not quite guarantee they would leave that first white Foam version alone. When a colorway is good enough that nobody can promise not to bring it back, you have to let it go.
Plan B started by flipping the iconic blue and black placement on Penny’s most beloved model, a reversal of the Dark Neon Royal pair he wore through the 1997 Playoffs. Then came some experimenting that did not pan out, a sample with an unmolded Foamposite overlay along both the eyestay and the heel collar that just did not come out great. So the final move was more traditional, a nubuck along the eyestay and a matte black finish on top of the Foam. Restraint, basically, on a model that the rest of the world was busy covering in gloss and graphics.
That restraint is exactly why it holds up. As wild as Foams have gotten over the years, with new gloss executions and even loud all over prints, this pair stays quietly confident. Matte where everything else went shiny. It still turns just as many heads, just without trying as hard.
It is a good lesson tucked into a shoe. The version that survives is not always the loudest one you drew first. Sometimes the constraint, the promise not to step on a future release, is what pushes you toward the better, calmer answer.Array
Do you ride for the subtle Foams or the loud ones, and where does this matte black one land for you?Array
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Photos by Nick DePaula
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