California soul

It was every sneakerhead’s wet dream. From plaid and gingham to gun metal and copper, each pair of box-fresh kicks — there were tons of them — was a mere arm’s length away. I found it tremendously difficult to calm my pulsating urban mind while wiping the drool off my face; that new-shoe smell, I tell you, helped little. I was doomed. For that I blame Creative Recreation.

Tracing its roots to sun-dappled Orange County, California, the eight-year-old brand has come to address a particular need: co-founders Robert Nand and Rich Cofinco saw a chasm between unsightly athletic sneakers and stuffy dress shoes. Carving its own niche in a seemingly saturated market, the resulting crossbreed is purpose-built for 21^st century life, footwear for pounding the streets, for inciting serious envy among poker buddies, for moonwalking.

Unlike giant athletic brands that have come to rely on their breadwinner heritage styles to prop up profits, the fledgling lifestyle label makes new shoes; that is, Creative Recreation is all about the now. The company is laser-focused on runway trends, which explains the existence, for example, of a strong futuristic industrial vibe on the Solano, which has hidden zippers on both sides of the collar as well as an added pull tab for easier access. These are future

Damn, Africa: For Fall 2010, with strong ties to charities in the continent, including a donation of over 10,000 pairs of shoes to local villages, Creative Recreation set out to explore the wonders of Kenya.

classics.

Fashion aside, travel also forms a huge part of Creative Recreation’s DNA. Over the past few seasons, their kicks have crisscrossed the globe, starring in ad campaigns shot in Paris and Cairo. For Fall 2010, Creative Recreation went on a Kenyan style safari and came home with images that complemented the camouflage patterns, rich leathers, and muted earth tones of the current collection. To go the distance in this age of Photoshop fakery is commendable and only means that the Creative Recreation team is serious in keeping a certain sense of status alive.

Since 2002, CR’s growth has been steady and organic. Instead of hiring celebrity spokesmodels to become the face of the brand, they let the product speak for itself in less obvious ways: paparazzi pics. Mark Salling, Chace Crawford, Vanessa Hudgens, and Taylor Lautner have all been snapped, at one point, in Creative Recs. The shoes, of course, are still highly bloggable even without the Young Hollywood endorsement: Creative Recreation features regularly in sites such as Selectism and High Snobiety, already a feat on its own.

Now that Creative Recreation is officially in the Philippines, what can sneaker fiends look forward to? “The local fashion scene is hungry for something beyond the traditional sneaker brands,” shares Charles Yu, managing director of Creative Recreation Philippines. “In today’s footwear market, there are only two options: a dress shoe to be worn with a suit, or an athletic one that doesn’t fit the functions of the modern individual’s lifestyle. What

Wildcats in the house: Zac Efron with the blue Cesario

Creative Recreation provides is a whole new dimension to the casual sneaker, an original approach to designing shoes.”

And get this: With prices hovering between P2,500 and P4,500, one need not spend too much to look more evolved, more with the times.     

As I woke from my sneaker-induced reverie — all too soon, I might add — I couldn’t help but take notice of a song that inadvertently became that afternoon’s soundtrack. It was California Soul by Marlena Shaw, a ’60s soul classic that was recently resurrected as a Diplo/Mad Decent remix. (“Like a sound you hear that lingers in your ear but you can’t forget from sundown to sunset,” Shaw purred.) The jam is now firmly lodged in my head, conjuring mental snapshots of rolling waves, swaying palms, ribbons of highways and, er, In-N-Out Burger. Now, with my brand-new pair of Creative Recreation Cesarios, at least I can siphon off a part of that spirit and strap it on my feet.

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Creative Recreation is available at Complex in Eastwood, Shoe Salon, and select boutiques.

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