The sneakers are eye-catching, pitch black accented by crimson on the stripes, soles, and iconic Adidas trefoil logo. Overhead lights catch a subtle paisley design in the black leather, a nod to the ubiquitous bandana sported by the platinum recording artist and YouTuber who designed the footwear with Adidas.<\/p>\n
Joe La Puma \u201905 (CLAS)<\/strong>\u00a0catches the understated but symbolic paisley touch. He and another sneakers enthusiast consider the design\u2019s attention to detail, right down to the celeb\u2019s tagline \u2014 \u201cUnderestimated\u201d \u2014 on the ankle straps. Pretty sick, they agree.<\/p>\n Roll the clock back 20 years, and La Puma could have been having a similar discussion with friends in his UConn dorm room, the South Campus dining hall, or Gampel Pavilion\u2019s student section. Known to friends for his ability to cop some of the latest sneakers on the market, La Puma\u2019s newest pair surely would have generated intense interest among his fellow Huskies.<\/p>\n But this isn\u2019t 2003-era Storrs, not by a long shot, and the black and red Adidas aren\u2019t on La Puma\u2019s feet.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a temperate February evening in the heart of SoHo, and La Puma is in a high-end sportswear store Stadium Goods, with its walls of pristine sneakers of all makes and colors on display around him.<\/p>\n This pair \u2014 the hard-to-find KSI X Adidas Forum Hi model \u2014 was specially flown to New York City, and is now displayed in a glass case in the store\u2019s center aisle.<\/p>\n And it\u2019s KSI himself who\u2019s walking La Puma through his design choices with Adidas while a production crew captures their conversation from cameras at various angles. After seven efficiently orchestrated takes, they\u2019re ready to take down the lights and wrap up the latest taping of \u201cSneaker Shopping,\u201d the Webby-Award winning YouTube show that La Puma originated and hosts for Complex Networks.<\/p>\n It\u2019s garnered more than 1 billion views over 250-plus episodes since it launched in 2014, during which time he\u2019s welcomed Grammy and Oscar winners, Hall of Fame athletes, Vice President Kamala Harris, and sneaker connoisseurs as diverse as Bill Nye the Science Guy and billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban.<\/p>\n Using his UConn education and his Complex connections, La Puma has carved out his own career path to become the network\u2019s senior vice president for content strategy and one of the nation\u2019s \u2014 if not the world\u2019s \u2014 foremost experts on sneaker culture.<\/p>\n Pretty sick, indeed.<\/p>\n A pop culture and sneaker enthusiast since youth, La Puma has made \u201cSneaker Shopping\u201d the must-watch show for established and aspiring sneakerheads. The high-profile personalities who join him come from all walks of life, but share his passion for the industry\u2019s history, creativity, and cultural significance.<\/p>\n