Individual Sole

Swiss graphic artist and current Brooklyn resident Grotesk has partnered with Upper Playground to produce an exclusive Barack Obama print. In the last decade Grotesk has developed a passion for folk art, street photography, hand-painted signs, vintage sport graphics, old school hip-hop music and urban anthropology.  Grotesk’s Barack Obama poster is part of an ongoing series from Upper Playground of artist collaborations in support of Barack Obama’s presidential campaign.

Beginning on Thursday, August 14th , the pop up space will be transformed into a tribute to film legends Al Pacino and Robert De Niro as part of their upcoming feature film from Overture Films titled Righteous Kill. SA Studios Global, the creative agency of Oriol and Cartoon, was selected to create the film’s iconic poster, in addition to managing the street marketing for the movie. The pop up space will become the exclusive promotional headquarters for Righteous Kill and feature a tribute to the film’s stars. Highlights of the space include a customized movie poster wall of all of De Niro and Pacino’s films and plasma screens throughout the room showcasing Oriol and Cartoon’s favorite scenes from Pacino and De Niro’s film repertoire.

In celebration of the film, SA Studios Global has also collaborated with Upper Playground to create limited edition Righteous Kill apparel that will be distributed to key influencers in a variety of markets.

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Here are the latest New Era fitteds from Upper Playground and Fifty24SF.  The SF Bridges New Era depicts “The bridges of San Francisco County”, a novel and New Era by Sam Flores, and a soon to be movie starring Too $hort and Clint Eastwood.  The next one is Tricheco New Era is done in traditional Italian colors for those looking to rep for the Italianos.  The last one is the Vatican New Era, placing a beautiful Italian Fresco in an all over imagery that has never been done on a New Era before. You can find all three at UP stores and online here.

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This Thursday, August 7th, marks the release of the Sam Flores x Adidas Originals sneaker for Upper Playground. This is the final installment of the four-part series and the first hi-top sneaker in the collection. Other artists involved in the project include Herbert Baglione, David Choe, and Aesop Rock.

Fifteen years after first arriving on the West Coast from New Mexico, Sam Flores, an art school evacuee and self-taught illustrator, has established his place in the modern art movement as a master of fine art and product design. His fine artwork carries a voice and vision that is instantly identifiable. Flores’ artistic quality is unpretentious and provocative, and demands consideration without categorization.

When asked about his vision for his adidas hi-top sneaker, Flores commented: “I simply wanted to make a colorful bright shoe that would go well with the warm weather. I made it blue, grey and pink so it can work for both genders. Plus it’s something you can wear to Miami and stay up for three days and still look fresh!”

There are only 500 pairs of the Sam Flores sneaker available worldwide. Each pair retails for $150 and sizes range from men’s size 4 to 13.5. To get your hands on the Sam Flores adidas hi-top, visit upperplayground.com or head to a UP retail store. The sneaker will go on sale online at 8 am PT on
Thursday, August 7, 2008.

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This Thursday, July 31st, marks the release of the new Aesop Rock adidas Originals sneaker from Upper Playground. The Stan Smith shoe is the third release in the four-part series that also includes designs from fine artists - Herbert Baglione, David Choe, and Sam Flores. Aesop Rock is an American hip-hop artist from New York that is known for his storytelling style of rap. He has collaborated with established entities
such as Nike and painter Jeremy Fish on various projects, and he is excited to introduce his first sneaker design with Upper Playground.

Aesop Rock explains the design concept behind his Stan Smith sneaker: “The faded green and gold colors have a strange eerie-meets-regal vibe that I liked when designing the art for last year’s None Shall Pass album. I wanted to continue that color scheme, and keep it pretty simple. I didn’t want anything too intrusive. Basically I just wanted something that I’d rock, and my mother might even wear them.”

There are only 500 pairs available of this sneaker worldwide. Sizes range from men’s size 4 to 13.5. To get your hands on the Aesop Rock adidas Originals sneaker, visit Upperplayground.com or head to an Upper Playground retail store. The sneaker will go on sale online at 8 am PT on Thursday, July 31st.

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As a follow-up to the Herbert Baglione release last week, on Thursday, July 24th Upper Playground will release the new David Choe adidas Originals sneaker. The Stan Smith shoe is the second release in the four-part series that also includes designs from Aesop Rock and Sam Flores.  There are only 500 pairs of the Choe sneaker available worldwide.  Sizes range from men’s size 4 to 13.5. To pick up your fresh pair of David Choe Stan Smith sneakers, visit www.upperplayground or head to a UP retail store.  The sneaker will go on sale online at 8 am PT on Thursday, July 24, 2008.

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