For part 6 we looked back at the legendary Charlies Sneaker Page, for part 7 we go international. With Internet sneaker culture much smaller in the late 90’s it was far more common to stumble upon some really good international websites. A lot of American sites had links going back to international sites (and vice versa) and that allowed for the average shoe head to broaden his footwear knowledge. In many instances you’d find dope vintage heat mixed in with shoes you didn’t have access to in the United States and learn that a lot of shoe heads (no matter the country) were very much alike. Enter Hatakes ACG World.
Founded in 1997 by a then 23 year old Takashi Hatakeyama, Hatakes ACG world was heavily focused on well, Nike ACG.
The great thing though was that traces of Takashi’s lifestyle was sprinkled throughout the site and non ACG sneakers showed up as well. BMX, snowboarding, mountain biking, hiking, walking and yes shopping were all listed as his hobbies,
and other Nike’s as well as a few shoes from other brands showed up on occasion.
While I don’t know what Takashi’s up to these days there’s no doubt he’s left his imprint in sneaker culture being about that ACG life and inspiring a whole new generation of shoe heads around the world to put those sneakers to good use.
