Sneakers or trainers? Depends on where you are, according to Complex Networks’ Sneaker Shopping host Joe La Puma.
In an all-new episode of the breakout hit series today, La Puma takes British singer Rita Ora to buy some new footwear at Stadium Goods in New York City.
Ora recounts how she worked at age 16 in the UK where she sold “trainers” at the Size? retail shop. She then tells how she spent her paycheck on Michael Jordans and other pricey kicks. Jordans were always her favorites.
She says: “Every time I got paid in retail I would waste it all on a pair of trainers!”
Ora filmed the episode while visiting New York on a promotional stop for the summer series Boy Band and for her current single Your Song.
La Puma asked if she likes to girl it up in her footwear, but she said she doesn’t. She said: “I love wearing vibrant clothes. When it comes to my sneaks I’m a real tomboy at heart, I like contrasting my outfit with a real like solid trainer…[laughs] sorry! ‘Sneaker’.”
Ora recalls how her stylist told her that the red Jordan XIIIs she wore at the 2013 EMA awards were made to match her outfit — which she later figured out was not true.
She said: “I remember seeing them and being like, ‘Oh my god. What are those?’”
As far as artists getting their own shoes, she lauded Pharrell’s deal with Adidas and said: “I think it’s one of the quickest ways to get through to your fans.”
On her partnership with Adidas, where she designed 15 capsule collections, she said: “I went to Germany and I saw every single Adidas silhouette ever. Rita at the age of 15 would have cried.”
Sneaker Shopping is the #1 sneaker show on YouTube, with artists like Ora, plus Kevin Hart, 50 Cent, A$AP Rocky, Amber Rose, Usher, WWE’s Shane McMahon, Chris Rock, former Seattle Seahawk Marshawn Lynch, DJ Khaled, and New England Patriot’s owner Robert Kraft appearing with La Puma.
The series airs on Complex.com and YouTube.
Sneaker Shopping with Rita Ora airs Monday, August 14, on Complex Networks.