Things are getting spiced up. For part 8 we took a look back at one of the most loved vintage sneaker market places of the late 90’s/early 2000’s in Vintage USA. For Part 9, we take a look back at the greatest sneaker performance website quite possibly of all time in Kicksology.net. Founded in 2000 and run by Ernest Kim aka Professor K and his team J Dawg and T Slim this site featured some of the most in depth performance reviews of both retro’s
and the latest high performance basketball shoes
mixed in with the occasional running shoe that was available on the internet.
Kicksology reviewed sneakers on a variety of criteria with an emphasis on function (since they felt that design was to subjective and there were a bunch of sites judging shoes on design anyway). There was also no brand allegiance and therefore unbiased reviews. Buying advice, price, use, key technologies, pros, cons etc. it was all there.
The sites lure didn’t end with performance reviews however. No, clear crisp photography of your favorite sneakers was a huge focal point of the site
and as years went on the site also evolved to include awesome interviews with some of the best designers in the industry. Guys like:
D’Wayne Edwards
Eric Avar
Ken Link
Jason Petrie
among others.
There was also a brief period where the site offered Kicksology Hoodies (anyone have one of these?)
before finally closing up shop in 2004. While the site would end, Professor K’s impact on the shoe community would only grow. He would move on to a position at Sole Collector and then to Nike (first as a senior global product line manager for running footwear and then on to director of footwear innovation). Sure, its sad knowing that performance basketball sneaker reviews may never reach the height of Kicksolgy and that many of today’s performance reviewers don’t have the knowledge nor the pure passion that the Professor and his staff did, but we are still left with the memories of a site that did it better than most and the Professor continues to shape the shoe community this time, from the inside.