 I'm holding a three thousand dollar leaning that's right this is almost a three thousand dollar leaning yo what's going on everybody welcome to a international episode of life of a sneakerhead we are in Shanghai China right now and as you guys know China is known for manufacturing a lot of the world sneakers you know the real ones and the fake ones but in today's video we are going around the city to some of the newest shops and some of the craziest shops with our friend Jay aka Shanghai Soul who is a local sneaker head and we're gonna talk about how Shanghai is actually one of the most competitive sneaker cities in the entire world for real shoes all right guys this is a Shanghai exclusive hard and three this is Shanghai exclusive Nike shirt let's go okay you guys we are in People Square this is like pretty much the center of the city and we are going to be going to the Shanghai Nike innovation store they only have two in the world boom boom boom we're inside the Nike store this is the house of innovation can you what are they trying to do here this is only in the second location in the entire world there's one in New York yep one in New York one in here and basically what they want to stress is they allow people to customize their shoes not just in the Nike ID way but previously I did a pair of Jordan ones of over here they allowed you to hydro dip you could deconstruct the the Nike swoosh on them you could do all sorts of crazy stuff with it the famous thing that went viral was when Jeff Staple came and did a hydro dip 720 right yep and it's what is high with the pigeon color it's when you put a print over water and then you dip the shoe so if you were to water you just dip the shoe in and then you like that's like a film on top of it like wraps around the shoe oh it's a small long time long bow down on a haul guys oh this is a Shanghai chow man man this feel like this one I feel like people are gonna think that you work at a restaurant though with the shirt okay this is cool all right so on the basement floor right now normally this is where they do all their creative stuff and as you can see right now they're doing like a photo shoot and have camera 360 degree cameras man you got no hops this looks like the future this is a Nike fair and I am a fan of the Jordan 33 this is a pretty cool looking shoe this is based off the Jordan 3 really dope shoe it has a cool traction pattern but they're slippage here for me I've narrow foot I don't like how it kind of pulls on my foot but the shoe is dope I love the white color one thing I know about the performance shoes in China is that usually the forefoot is a little bit wider and then the rubber outsole is made out of the XDR rubber because it's made for playing outdoors a lot more because people in China they play outdoors so this is stuff that you won't find in the States we have the friends color Kyrie friends this is a street a street brand street couture bandaloo is a new colorways pretty dope right here yo I gotta say you guys this is my favorite GR AF1 to come out in years and just they got the shape of it right if you guys know uptowns and downtowns they look a little different but in fact when we go back to the States I'm gonna get okay two shoes that look very similar are the BB adapts and then the these are the mamba focus yep so this is the kind of like what your takedown Kobe model you know it's more affordable very small zoom unit right here but looks pretty good obviously this is like the version that's like three times no yo the flying it for so Nelson Nelson Nelson you're gonna love these the four when it's leather or suede is a very bulky shoe so the flying it could be the way to go in terms of ventilation you know what's really interesting about these is the zoom air is sold into the sock liner yeah versus the midsole yeah it's right below your foot so you really feel that pop but you still have the video if you do not gonna lie I love my heart and threes but they're not good for jumping this is the first KD in a while that I actually like got the clot 98 clot as you guys know is the first Chinese streetwear brand out of Hong Kong I think this is a cool shoot all right so right now we got a lot of the samples that they made in the customization spot right behind this wall you can actually peek in and you can see people putting sandals together putting shoes together we're in China where they manufacture a lot of shoes and they sell it out all right and then we're a Nike we're obviously everything's legit and then in the back of the Nike store we actually have people pretty much making shoes legitimately they're customizing it right now man you set up an appointment over at the front desk you book a time whenever it is convenient you come in you get an hour and a half an hour they teach you some things that you can do some basics if you want it they can help you if you need it otherwise you're on your own back there so then this is the Jordan one I created this start off like this it's me working on all your that picture looks tight put them together okay so I detach the sole turn it into a 3m at the laces change the tongue tag and then I design color did myself okay so we are looking at the customizable lace tip options that they have here they say Shanghai on the lace tips this is really cool this is like another level of customization these haven't dropped yet had not dropped it pretty tight this is interesting looking from the sole and everything no this definitely reminds this got I mean pretty much fresh Prince of L.A. I don't think I've ever seen anything like this guys I'm gonna press the button stretch stretching the flywire so not have this machine in America well people are crazy some kids gonna get hurt yo J where are we at right now because all I'm we're on tongue-run Lou right so right now we are in the heart of the city this is just a very expat friendly street where this store right here dough has been here for a couple of years now and this is one of my favorite stores in Shanghai let's go check out one of the stores it's like the forefront of Chinese streetwear right now so you're one of the owners here at dope yes one of the owners when did you guys start dope 2014 has it been since 2014 like the progression is bigger and bigger every year we're not really trying to expand the business that quick we have a trademark which which is SH SH stands for Shanghai and it's more like a dollar sign so this is more like a message to the teenagers say hey don't be gold digging don't look for like fast money so sometimes the high quality products and lifestyle not necessary to be very fancy or rich or expensive so we did this and to show some of the air max we like in the past years if you attach some of the modern things into that respect the heritage and history and then look for the future yeah because it's not like you have to pick one or the other why we are an energy store you said energy store energy yeah just like like you Christ set the tone for the energy and not trying to make like trouble is we're trying to leave isn't that kind of go back to what you were saying right when we walked in where you said you guys had a slow growth strategy deliberately this is something makes us really different and then consumers are not stupid they can see that they will be like oh you guys are doing things seriously and then you always think about us you you always coach us just like you said you came here and I expand some of the design you feel like you get some knowledge this is our daily job and try to coach and try to influence the younger generation real like I might it might just even just to see Chinese people do it let's keep them open where we at so right now we're on Xinglu Road and you want Travis Scott you want Sakai's they're all down and is it I gotta ask are they selling real stuff I want to say yes because I feel like because there's so many sneaker stores out here which are shading each other yeah what's this spot right here so right here no school you don't like the name because you're a teacher so that's right stay in school so these prices right now on these man cactus jack flea markets vapor maxes they're going for about a thousand for our sizes but it's because it's a women's shoe you like them I like them and I like I like the upper I like this little you know detached Nike sign I thought that's detached Nike sign that was connected by what is it like flywire yeah this was this was super creative what do you think about these this is like one of the hottest shoes right now yeah I mean like so what's crazy is that these came out right after the Sakai's it's got that same you know kind of like that waffle feel to the bottom for people that struck out on the Sakai right right what do we think about these binossi slides but with the a little fanny pack on a little fanny pack on you know this is creative I've actually never seen these before man all right so here's the thing you could keep some money in there but you also might lose your slip so I think you got to watch out because these fly off you know I'm saying people keeping something else other than money in here this street is actually pretty dope man this reminds me of like Sherwin in Hong Kong super hipster district yeah to be like you got you got Sasquatch jumping on all right Jay we are outside of only one of five Nike labs in the entire world this store has been here for like five six years and this was the only sneaker store on the street but I think for that reason they dominated I mean when there was like a like a super limited release people be lining up sleeping camping out down this street when LeBron James came last year he stopped by the store he released the John Elliott's here but on the second floor it's there kind of like creative space and where they do exhibits and stuff but normally it's just the first floor that's open Nike lab a staple of shingla loop so we are right across the street from Nike lab and we're here at this new sub store yo when did this pop up a month ago okay I remember when there was only the Nike lab in this J01 what do you guys make of these different fear of gods so these two were the ones that did the best in China I heard it's kind of weird to wear cuz this opening is so big right how does it stay in your foot it only stays in your foot right here yeah oh back and then yeah they got a tab here what do you guys think of these air raids I thought it's like it looks very wearable in a way but in a way like just a fact you'd have to strap them up every time I had the OG air raise man so this doesn't do it for me man first of all I feel like globally number one shoe especially in China I think when Yeezy said that he wanted everybody in the world to wear Yeezy's to have a pair he actually just met everybody in China and everybody in China like that's one everyone in the states was like Yeezy's are dead dude they're coming back full fledged like these are fired I thought I thought about getting these my buddy got a pair of the reflective ones and it looks like this but when you take a flash the entire shoe lights up so it's like 3m sort of it's 3m sewed in if you really want a man just get him I can't do it I can't do it here I actually really love the green one everyone likes the green the green Sakai is amazing in the states they're going for about 350 400 I would say in Shanghai right now they're going for like 400 to 500 yo David sometimes when I see a fresh pair of weather spoons I forget how they look when they're fresh because ours our pair is so beat up look amazing when they're fresh alright Jay David thoughts on these Sakai blazers um a lot of people did not like these look like one two three four five five here's kind of like a castle right where the things are all mixed up I didn't really like these Lakers to Chicago's when I saw them in the picture but actually seeing them in person and feeling it it looks it feels pretty premium you sell are probably around 350 300 right now these are tight guys stop store alright okay you know what I love about Shanghai and especially on the street that's modernizing so quickly like is that you still see some elements of just like the way things were done 80 years ago 90 years ago 60 70 years ago obviously people cutting watermelon on the street just enjoying themselves this is really dope okay we made it to another store looks pretty dope all cheers a lot of sneakers in here man it's like they're all saran wrap they're trying to you know it's gonna be a little pricey though that's for sure it's gonna be pricey alright we've got some special kicks these are the soul 97s yep Justin what do you think man so great I like the other ones these are Shanghai I feel like undoubtedly you know no bias these are actually way better I would rock I would rock both of these but man we actually have them Shanghai 97s they mean so much I just want to use them as an art piece okay so when we're talking about kind of fusing Chinese culture you know with Western brands we have the clot 13 so I gotta say this is a pretty interesting shoe so it's a men's shoe this is just like a GS size right now right and that's so you got the clot label right there and then this is supposed to represent the terracotta warriors that's the that's their armor as they're plating because they're stone-colored right I think some people like have accused clot in the past of just like throwing sort of like Chinesey things on things and I think that some of that criticism has been warranted but a lot of it isn't and I think that this is actually pretty cool is that the way way yeah yo is it the way of wades bro these shoes are not cheap and they don't feel cheap the his shoe the way of weight series is actually really high quality it's a good shoe so I just asked about the price 2,800 USD I'm holding a three thousand dollar leaning that's right this is almost a three thousand dollar leaning before yeah yeah oh man they got dude who would have known way of ways were so hype yeah obviously you gotta talk about the Travis Scott's but then I actually really like these turbo green these are fire I gotta say these are absolutely fire they did a good job of the yeah and then so this is exactly the same look at that it looks faded yeah yeah it looks worn down the only issue is I don't like how they labeled it it's like I felt like that fake fake off white well they were trying yeah let me tell you guys this you guys and I know people are gonna be like yo fumble you guys don't even keep up with the game like you used to I was in line in 2000 almost getting robbed as a kid buying Jordan ones in the within 2000 okay so like this is something that's interesting to China and like in Asia not so much in the States so right here these are the game Royals right and a lot of people love these because they look like these right and these are the fragments and these go for right now they're probably three thousand dollars a lot of people were customizing them to make them look like oh in Chinese they have a nickname so they call baby fragments they call a small San Dian which is these are right so it's like that's the kind of stuff that people in the States don't don't realize it's like you come up with nicknames for the shoes all right on to the next store okay we are finishing it off here at Seoul Yau I think this place is special because it's it's unlike any of the other sneaker stores on this street because they have stuff from maybe like four or five years ago this floor-to-ceiling sneakers so it reminds me of like a mini-flight club obviously not as hardcore right can we first look at all the winners here they're all kids these kids was probably here for hours man or they're so good at video games they're probably good at this all right all right I got to decide on which shoe I want I actually really want go for the easy I'm gonna go for the black easy oh my god I'm so I was so off I was not even close man man my heart's beat don't hit up yet trust me the bottom has to go hey David David David I think we really like this store and I know why you like this store because you play a lot of ball yep and they actually have a lot of actual actually good performance back to us even at 18 here oh my god I already point by that everything look at it like they got some classics up there man they have all the Jordan's yep 28 man they guys you know just walk up here we're quick oh man the roses trees are ease what what's the story behind these it's just a collab with the European company called woodwood yeah and it's just yeah it's just no laces this is one of the original collapse real ultra boost yo you guys thank you so much for watching that international Shanghai episode of life of a sneakerhead I definitely took a lot away I mean for me to have gone you know did a study abroad 12 years ago in Shanghai and to see where it's at now is mind-blowing back then it was almost hard to find real shoes yeah almost everything was a replica nowadays they got you know the one of five Nike labs one of two house of innovations it's like they almost moved from the back of the line to the front of the line you said you haven't been out here in 12 years I've been out here for eight years now and in the eight years I've been here everything's changed it's crazy like how fast it changes in Shanghai throughout this sneaker crawl we saw all types of things and and there's literally something for everybody like the old sneakerheads who are more traditional their sneaker shops for them and then obviously just for the hype these kids their sneaker shops for them and I just think that you have a range of everything and that's what I was really happy to see I mean think about it all the world's goods were made in China for a number of years it's like it was bound to happen because they were making everything here right just just like you said the consumerism here is out of control it's just going up and up and up and you know it's it's just a matter of time before people in the outside world people in the States people in Europe realize that man China and Shanghai is super competitive and it shouldn't be a place that's only known for replicas and fakes anymore alright Jay thank you so much for taking us on that Shanghai sneaker crawl we know that there are some things that we did not get to cover but we had a limited amount of time mind blown hey man appreciate it you guys gotta come back come back follow Jay on Shanghai Soul on Instagram hey and until next time everybody we're in Shanghai we out