That was when we stumbled upon this trainer shop in El Born called, I think, Black is Beauty. While I was browsing the limited edition kicks including the Adidas Porter and latest Consortium Micropacer, Samy, who runs the store, clocked my Visvim jacket.
It turned out the shop is part of a group of stores owned by a chap named Ricky, who also runs a store stocking Japanese street labels called Chikahitsu.
Chikahitsu is in the middle of a move from it present basement location to a street-level store a couple of doors down the street. So the place was in a bit of a transitional phase.
But Samy wanted us to see it, all the same. So she shut up for the evening and took us to meet Ricky, who gave us a private viewing of Chikahitsu. It was an Aladdin's cave of Japanese labels, Visvim boxes stacked waist high, Original Fake, Undercover, W)Taps, Neighborhood. I was like a kid in a candy store.
It was a miracle that I left with only these Visvim Shaman Folk. THE most comfortable creations ever to grace my feet, and getting more comfortable by the day, thanks to the cork footbed that moulds to the foot and the elk suede moccassin upper. These were an instant sell out when they were released a few seasons ago and have gone down in trainer legend. You're lucky to even get to see a pair these days, let alone buy them.
Actually I left with a different pair, in a peanut colour, and after a sleepless night during which I convinced myself I'd got the wrong colour, returned to Samy the next day to exchange them for the black.
A word of warning to anyone buying these online. I am usually a US 9.5 / 10 in Visvim but these are an 11. They come up that small.
You can find the online store of Limited Editions, another brick in Ricky's empire, here.
Maybe a bit too radical for me, but I see the vision. I think.
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