HIGH HOLY KICKS!

Shana keeps reminding that the High Holidays are right around the corner. And she's right, so there oughta be a shoe that the observant Jew can rock to synagogue on Yom Kippur. Now for the uninformed (all two of you), it's forbidden to wear leather shoes on the fast day so people generally wear ugly-as-sin canvas shoes or flip-flops which is so Bad Form 101. This ain't no beach, son. Although, every once in awhile, you'll have one kid rocking the Vans checkered slip-ons, but aside from that brand, there aren't many flashy non-leather kicks making the rounds these days (and I'm not talking to you, vegan Alkaline Trio sneaks. You're not my kind.)

Therefore, I decided to adapt the all-white canvas Nike SB Mid and appropriate it as my Yom Kippur shoe. Why? Because it's the hottest set in fast day apparel. But lest you think I'm slacking on the Jews Do It front, I added my own lil' touch to the swoosh.
See that pattern in there. Yup, it's canvas too but it's a canvas recreation of a shofar inspired by the pic below.



The shofar is a ram's horn that we blow in synanogue to signify that the fast is over, so it felt appropriate to give the swoosh over to the Judaic instrument. It's sound is fierce and booming, and awe inspiring. Kinda like the shoe above. Dig?

THE KIPPAH KICKS

For all the uninformed out there, Jews tend to wear four types of kippahs (also known as yarmulkahs, or skullcaps). Each Jew wears the kippah of choice in accordance to his philosophical beliefs, or the community that he associates with.
For example, the more religious men tend to wear kippahs made from velvet like this:


Figure 1: The Velvet Kippah

The Modern Orthodox Jew wears a knitted black kippah or a suede one, like these:


Figure 2: Knitted Kippah


Figure 3: Suede Kippah, with textured pattern

Reform Jews or Sephardic tend to wear the silk kippah. This is also the commonly used as the kippah that shuls hand out to guests who come unprepared with one of their own.


Figure 4: The Silk Kippah

The Dunk Hi SB above was based on those four materials. The lighter gray in the back is made from a velvet, the mid-section features a suede with a floral design pattern (some suede kippahs feature imbedded designs) while the front is a crochet black knit. The highlight of this shoe is the silk swoosh--I don't think Nike has ever incorporated silk into its shoe design so this concept would be a first.

Head's up, peeps. These shoes will have you covered.

THE FONT. AWW YEAH.

Just downloaded a font that I'm sure will come in super-handy over the next few weeks. In fact, the next shoe I design may involve this type treatment. Thanks to the good people at Dieter Steffmann for the free hook-up of the Tanach font.

STREIT'S MATZO KICKS

It makes perfect sense that the first shoe I designed for Jews Do It is the Matzah shoe in collaboration with Streit's Matzah factory, the fine Lower East Side purveyours of unleavened bread since 1925. Check out the old school photo of their headquarters below. You know they're ancient because that photo features a pre-historic station wagon.



The design above is intentionally simple (hell, I'm learning Photoshop in the process) so the grey area is made of a Newbuck leather, while the matzah pattern is textured leather. Whatever you do, don't get these sneaks in water or they won't be Kosher for Passover.

THE INSPIRATION

Don't it look like a matzah pattern...? I thought so too. And so this Nike ID exclusive got me thinking, why are there no Jewish-themed kicks?

There's a Thanksgiving shoe. There's a St. Patrick's Day shoe. Hell, there's even a Chinese New Year of the Rat limited edition and a Cinco De Mayo pair! What exactly does it take for us Jews to get some well-deserved respect in the shoe game? Huh?

Well, in a world of sneakers, there was a man who wanted badly for that pair of Semetic kicks. This is his story. This is his blog.