BACK IN TIME WITH PARISIAN OG'S
_en_only Every time I return to Paris, I do my sneaker store circle visiting the most important spots around the city. There are a few of them which are really good and always nice to visit but lately one of them has become my favorite. I'm talking about one of the very OGs in the Parisian sneaker game and community - Opium Paris. It's not only a sneaker store with two doors close to each other near the city center but a movement of people who have loved and lived the streetwear and sneaker culture for almost 20 years now.
For some time, this store was a bit low profile for me until one day we visited it together with Johanna, Tonton and a few of our local homies. We were introduced to the co-founders, Mounir and Yace, and they welcomed us and narrated a chunk of the history. There were some great times and some tough times for the team but they managed to keep their heads up and today we can, together with them, celebrate yet another amazing collaboration with a very strong local heritage from all possible points of view.
I mean the Le Coq Sportif x Opium Paris 'Fait En France' (which translates to 'Made in France') project which was created to pay homage to the already mentioned OGs and the beginning of the Opium story. So, as you probably noticed, the first connection is the collaboration partner, which is a national heritage brand called Le Coq Sportif, and it continues with the local French production of the pair. The design might look a bit chaotic at first sight but everything on the pair makes its own perfect sense. For example, the flashy pink and purple colors and nylon materials resemble the 90s era when the store started and the concrete texture on the heel part points towards the stone sculpture called L’écoute which can be found not far from the store. It was a meeting point for the writers back in the day when meeting for some quality city bombing. And that's another hint pointing towards the lateral branding change with the Opium insignia of a star in the typical street-writer style. One more detail which I really appreciate is on the bottom of the shoe and it is the yellow-ish color paying tribute to the first collaboration between Opium and Nike on a pair of Air Max 180 from 2005. It's also very important to mention that this is a true collectors' release as it's individually numbered from 1 to 450. It will probably be a challenge to get your hands on a pair if you don't have it yet at this point :)
So that was the gray-white-pink-purple pair but what about the other brown one?! Well, my friends, that one is strictly for display only and it's even more impossible to get than the grey one. It is indeed the Family and Friends colorway which was produced in an extremely limited quantity of 50 pieces worldwide and it was only gifted to the closest F&F. The name of the colorway is 'Poulet Braisé' (translated to Braised Chicken) and the story is for me kind of unknown at this point. But when I meet with the guys the next time, it will be my first question to find that out :) Anyway, both me and Johanna are extremely grateful to be blessed with both pairs from this amazing release and be a part of their story.
Finally, for those of you who got interested in this story, don't hesitate and try to look at Footshop for Opium x Le Coq Sportif R1000 'Fait En France' or any other kicks from this brand as a sweet alternative for the everyday well-known rotation of the "popular brands" of most of us.
P.S. Check out our 1000sneakers Instagram account for more awesome pics of both shoes.
//text and pics Kovkou //model and kicks Johanna
