Travel, music and underground culture are your biggest influences. What inspired you the most for your next collection?
Last season, as the pandemic raged on, escapism emerged as a theme for our Summer 2021 collection. Expressed more as sweet nostalgia and the desire of freedom/traveling.
This season, for Fall 2021, escapism had a harder edge, more subversive in a way and surely more proactive. Rave and clubbing culture was the main influence, which we've been missing so much within this year and a half.
We digged back creating a parallel between the past and the present. Looked into the 'roaring 20's', the infamous acid raves of the ’90s and also the illegal raves rule breakers that have been happening during this pandemic.
Considering your influences, we could say that your sneakers are the perfect partner for any raver. Right?
For sure, partners in Crime! Sneakers that never let you down but always push you forward, with that euphoric adrenaline rush that you feel when certain music is listened intensely.
Regardless of our slightly bias opinion, generally when you go to raves the first thing you should care about is being comfortable in the right pair of shoes that won't stop you from standing up all night and dance.
With Crime we focus a lot on quality but also on comfort of our products, investing every season in new technologies and premium Italian materials that do make a difference.
What is the ultimate goal for Crime London? You’ve said you want to become something that’s beyond just a sneakers brand.
Blending culture into design. Creativity into spaces. We find exciting creating outside our core products, we just wish we had more time to do this. It all comes down to branding and the brand's purpose in a way. Give a Crime interpretation of anything you can think of, even beyond fashion. For example our showroom in Milan, we had the opportunity to express our identity through architecture and interior design by creating from scrap a loft with a live/work zone. We developed a Crime lounge bar and custom gadgets of objects we like and express the brand's lifestyle, such as a dj booth, motocross bike, boxing bag, surf and skate board, basketball net, etc.
We love to explore new territories and we believe that this can create stronger emotional connections with consumers and audiences.
What’s Crime London soundtrack? Tell me a genre and a song.
Our taste in music doesn't really cut down to a genre, it depends more on whether a song has a good flow or not. We like every kind of music that has a vibe and we change genre depending on our mood from old school house, 90's hip hop, latino reggaeton, instrumental classics...
Techno is definitely one of our favourites because its "radical", not everybody can understand it easily. Between London and Italy there is a deep culture of techno, so we started going out to techno clubs and warehouse parties since we were young. It was like an escape from reality, we just love the feeling that when you listen to it nothing else matters.
So on this note this is the track ID: House Music (Message Mix) - Eddie Amador
One of your few physical stores is in Ibiza, Spain. Why did you decide to open it there?
In June 2014 we opened the first Crime monobrand store, in the idyllic young and cool island of Ibiza. The island perfectly reflects the mood of the brand. Located in the old town the shop was a new cathedral to the gritty underground vibe of the streets of London transported into the hedonistic international party capital of the world. State of the art design was symbiotically combined with the groovy hippie Ibiza roots which created the most exciting store opening of that season.
It was our way to blur the lines between sneakers and underground culture. We are happy we caught the wave in advance, before many other fashion brands, which turned this concept now mainstream.
Anyways, Ibiza is much more than just partying, it's pure magic! It can be so inspiring and relaxing in so many different ways if you avoid the caos. There was a phase where we used to spend a lot of time also off season, during the winter, nye, etc.
When was your first time in Ibiza?
Early 90’s when we were couple years old. This happens when you have really young parents, still have some great memories and film pictures from those summers!
You are friends with many DJs that wear your sneakers, how do you connect with these people?
Music connects people!
Ibiza is the Mecca of the music scene of the world, it provides the backdrop of seasonal collaborations with our store and the island’s world renowned clubs and artists. Ricardo Villalobos, Seth Troxler, Blondish, Bedouin, Luciano, Loco Dice and more. We love these guys! They keep us running.
Are you going to spend your summer in Ibiza? What are your plans?
Yes, we are based in Ibiza in and out from May to October. We spend a lot of time in Porto Cervo with family and friends too. Island hopping in the Mediterranean during summer is our favourite thing!