A Closer Look at Represent’s Latest Sneaker

Founded in 2011, Represent has endeavoured to lead the way in creating luxury British garments that disrupt the line between high-end fashion and streetwear. Created during the infancy of streetwear, the brand has seen an incredible transformation throughout its 12-year tenure.

Founded by brothers George and Mike Heaton who began by applying their prints onto blank t-shirts, tackling gorilla marketing, to launching their first full collection in 2013 during the height of the Hood By Air and PYREX era. Initially working out of their parent's backyard, the duo were able to ideate and produce a range of garments that allowed the brand to flourish.

Moving into 2015, Represent released their ‘Storm’ collection, debuting an entirely new approach featuring minimal branding, with an increased focus on materials and shapes. From 2016-18, Represent was put onto the mainstage in New York and Paris Fashion Week, further opening more doors and allowing them to expand and develop their style. 

Fast forward to 2020-21, Represent had returned to their original release calender outside of the Fashion Week schedule, dropping limited collections ensuring fans were left wanting more. During the same period, Represent’s online presence and brand matured further into what it is today providing clean colourways on well-made, thought-out, projects.

Despite being known as a fashion brand first, footwear has always been at the heart of the luxury label; starting with the ‘Alpha Sneaker Boot’ in 2015, and evolving into the ‘Alpha Low’ in 2017 each featuring smooth suede on a chunky gum midsole. Over the years, Represent has showcased a myriad of silhouettes, leading up to their latest model: ‘The Bully’. 

 

When discussing their presence in the sneaker industry, George Heaton, co-founder of the brand said: “Represent is really setting its own tone & DNA within the footwear market. Coming from a fashion/clothing side, we understand it’s going to be a very long journey to be known as a sneaker-first brand, and we are embracing the ability to spend as much time learning, developing and researching whilst we create new silhouettes that we can carry through and iterate as the years go by. This isn’t a quick process, and we want to contain a fantastic product through longevity and quality”.

The new silhouette aims to strengthen the brand’s footwear offering whilst evoking a blended vision of aggression, complexity and beauty. Featuring a ballistic nylon mesh upper, with luxury leather and suede overlays, complete with complex stitching and a final initial logo worked into the heel of the shoe. A padded collar and chunky lacing system tie into the skating theme.

“The 90s/00s skate/nu-metal nostalgia has been building for a few years now and the Bully is something I had sketched up a few years ago”, Represent tell us, “our thought process directed us to a more elevated skate sneaker silhouette to continue the route set out by Apex and Reptor. Initiating that our consumer is ready for the more conceptual side of things from us as a brand. The development process has been very exciting technically, as it has started to open up different avenues for us in learning about different techniques and processes that we wish to carry through to future footwear products”.

The retro skate-inspired sneaker is set to drop in two colourways, ‘Mustang’ and ‘Buttercream’ each of which continue the paired back design language expressed within the mainstream collections.

When discussing the decision to shift focus to a skate-inspired shoe, George explained: “Myself and Mike grew up wearing Etnies, DCs, and Adios. So the nostalgia of the 90’s skate scene really flowed through our creative conceptions and having the base I’d already put into sketches in the previous years, we built on this with direction from the brothers, and details of Represent’s aesthetics to create the Bully”.

Arguably a veteran in the streetwear scene at this stage, Represent continues to develop its brand and showcase fresh facets that are yet to be uncovered. “Expect some beautiful silhouettes being introduced throughout the 2023 seasons, as well as an introduction to a training sneaker with 247, which may come through collaboration”, George hints.

The Bully will be available on the Represent website from 8 pm GMT on 08/02/2023. Sign up to Represent Prestige for early access.

For updates on the latest releases, keep it Kick Game.