Yes, yes, I know. Enough is enough already. But Jeff Staple added another layer to this thing. He came to Lotas’ defense and said, specifically, that there was a difference between what he was doing with his replica dunks and straight-up fakes created to dupe you.
He also pointed out the (very valid) fact that the Bape Sta is a clear, overt bootleg Air Force 1 that people also took time to warm up to. Now, it’s a cult classic.
So I want your thoughts. Does Staple have a point or are Lotas’ bootleg Dunks crossing the line? How different is this from Bape Sta or Ari Saal Forman’s Menthol 10? Let the fam know!
I'm not going to lie -- I'm in no way an expert, but it feels like Warren Lotas's designs are an aggressive, deliberate dig at Nike, whereas the Bape Stas were a bootleg without being a "fuck-you, which seems to be Lotas's M.O. Jeff Staples co-signing Lotas there is a big bridging of the gaps too, considering how much good standing Staples seemingly is in with Nike.
Yeah, this shoe definitely FELT like an attack from the jump. That seems to be the biggest difference to me — there always seemed to be malice that came from this. Like Lotas was always trying to prove a point and not pay homage. So with that, yeah, I can see why Nike is taking it here lol.
I think, especially with the pigeon dunks, they crossed a line because they were clearly ripoffs, even if they're not designed to dupe or fraud people into thinking they're pigeon dunks in the same way a fake or forgery would. I think it's probably ok to use the basic silhouette, but as long as you're slapping something extremely similar to Nike's logo on it then.....I feel like that's just a bit too much for me. I'm all for creators taking designs and doing different things with them! But I think you gotta be doing something a bit more different than what he did personally
All that matters for Nike is, the non sneaker head walks into a store sees these shoes and assumes they are Nike and buys them based on that. Its an open and shut case, it causes confusion. I Have shown pictures of his Dunks to people and everyone assumed they were made by Nike. Anyone remember Thomas Jefferson Johnson from the movie
The Distinguished Gentleman? He won off name recognition alone, Staple is doing the same thing.
Honestly, I think you could make the same argument for Bape. For a LONG ass time I thought the Bape Sta was just another version of the AF1. It took me getting clowned at school to realize that wasn't the case lmao.
I think Adrian said is best, Lotas' sneakers seem like a deliberate dig at Nike and the fact that consumers cannot get ahold of the product. Bape Stas have original colors and unique branding that make the AF1 silhouette their own. If Lotas came out with original colorways and branding I'm not sure we'd still be having this convo.
really feel like if this dude didn’t add a swoosh tail to his jason mask this might’ve been avoided. i’m not rooting for a billion dollar business but c’mon dude what did you expect ?
I'm not going to lie -- I'm in no way an expert, but it feels like Warren Lotas's designs are an aggressive, deliberate dig at Nike, whereas the Bape Stas were a bootleg without being a "fuck-you, which seems to be Lotas's M.O. Jeff Staples co-signing Lotas there is a big bridging of the gaps too, considering how much good standing Staples seemingly is in with Nike.
Yeah, this shoe definitely FELT like an attack from the jump. That seems to be the biggest difference to me — there always seemed to be malice that came from this. Like Lotas was always trying to prove a point and not pay homage. So with that, yeah, I can see why Nike is taking it here lol.
I think, especially with the pigeon dunks, they crossed a line because they were clearly ripoffs, even if they're not designed to dupe or fraud people into thinking they're pigeon dunks in the same way a fake or forgery would. I think it's probably ok to use the basic silhouette, but as long as you're slapping something extremely similar to Nike's logo on it then.....I feel like that's just a bit too much for me. I'm all for creators taking designs and doing different things with them! But I think you gotta be doing something a bit more different than what he did personally
Spot on as always, George. At least in my view.
All that matters for Nike is, the non sneaker head walks into a store sees these shoes and assumes they are Nike and buys them based on that. Its an open and shut case, it causes confusion. I Have shown pictures of his Dunks to people and everyone assumed they were made by Nike. Anyone remember Thomas Jefferson Johnson from the movie
The Distinguished Gentleman? He won off name recognition alone, Staple is doing the same thing.
Honestly, I think you could make the same argument for Bape. For a LONG ass time I thought the Bape Sta was just another version of the AF1. It took me getting clowned at school to realize that wasn't the case lmao.
I think Adrian said is best, Lotas' sneakers seem like a deliberate dig at Nike and the fact that consumers cannot get ahold of the product. Bape Stas have original colors and unique branding that make the AF1 silhouette their own. If Lotas came out with original colorways and branding I'm not sure we'd still be having this convo.
That's a great point on the colorway aspect of this. What he made was blatant replicas. There was nothing different about it.
really feel like if this dude didn’t add a swoosh tail to his jason mask this might’ve been avoided. i’m not rooting for a billion dollar business but c’mon dude what did you expect ?
Right lmao. Like, he's making it hard to root for him here.
Lmao I dont think you can win a argument with the counter argument stating " Yea well, He did it too!"