This year sees another round of the ‘ellesse’ Fab Five project – inviting 5 of the world’s most current cultural stores to rework an archive piece of ellesse footwear.
With Special being a hub in the Milanese skate scene, and Italy’s core provider of basketball sneakers the obvious shoe of choice was The Assist. Originally released as a basket- ball shoe the style was later adopted by the west coast skate scene, and made famous by 80’s skateboarding pro Natas Kaupas in the cult classic ‘Streets On Fire.’ The shoe has a strong stamp in the hearts of skateboarders around the globe. Special pay tribute to the style and looseness of this era, and decide to bring back the original navy, white and red Assist colourway that adorned the pages of Transworld skate magazine at the time. Some cheeky Italian flair is added to the original, throwing some patent and ostrich leather into the mix. The long awaited navy, red and white colourway is reborn.
The shoe is due to be revealed in the next few days… we giddy! These boys got steeze. True Italian Style.
