Author: Jake Archer
London is always full of things going on. There is never a weekend or weekday for that matter where there wouldn’t be something for you to see or get involved in and last week saw some of our friends at Footpatrol host their own pop up. It’s great seeing the wider community doing great things so when Nike Server, Server Shop, Pastdown Store and inside tag hosted a 2 day pop up filled with hidden gems, we couldn’t not take the opportunity to pop down, say hello and at least try to leave empty handed… Safe to say, we definitely left with a bag or two!
Take a look below at their recent pop up in Shoreditch and trust us when we say, check out all of their Instagrams above because if you’re looking for a hidden gem, chances are, they may have it!
In line with the upcoming House of St Barnabas Summer Festival, we caught up with one of the DJ’s who will be supplying some sweet, summer tunes, Fabienne.
I guess you could still say ‘relatively new’ to the world of DJing, Fabienne has always been the one to provide the music. From creating playlists for friends at uni to now taking on DJing as full time, Fabienne hasn’t slowed down. Hot within the world of fashion, Fabienne has provided the music for the past five seasons of Stella McCartney’s fashion shows and after parties and now, she’s bringing her vibrant mix to The House of St Barnabas.
To get you ready for the Summer Festival, Fabienne was on hold to provide Frequent Players with their latest guest mix so make sure to check it out below!
Footpatrol: Hey Fabienne! I just want to start the interview by asking how are you ?
Fabienne: Hiya, I’m good thanks, just boiling! It is one of the hottest days of the year, but I love the sunshine so I am not complaining.
FP: For people who don’t know who you are and what you do, could you tell us a little bit about yourself?
Fabienne: I’m Fabienne, I’m a international DJ spinning in London, NYC and Europe, I just came back from Mykonos which was fun! Summer is pretty hectic for a DJ!
FP: When did you first realise that you had a love for music?
Fabienne: Music has always been played in my house. My dad’s side of the family are all musicians, my uncle is in a band, my cousin’s are singers, one of them was even a backing singer for Kanye West so music is really in the family. At uni I used to make mixtapes for people and the CD’s would absolutely get rinsed. At uni we would go clubbing and the DJ’s would be like “What songs do you want to play Fabs?” When do you ever get a DJ that asks you what you want to play, usually they hate requests! (I know I do lol). I would be like why don’t you play this with that etc etc. call me a control freak, but it was great and the crowd loved the tunes I‘d suggest. I chose to study fashion at Uni but always knew that music and fashion would collide. Thankfully, with my career they have.
Early on in my fashion career I was doing a lot of styling and the PR companies would be like ‘Oh you’re a DJ aren’t you?’ and at that point I was young, fresh out of uni and I hadn’t really DJ’ed out of my room; but I was extra confident and I was like ‘yeah I can do this!’, so after loads of practice I then started playing lots out of the house – clubnights, fashion parties, making mixes online and sending them to different venues, going around to different bars and putting myself out there basically. Word of mouth just kind of spread and then I was DJing in a nightclub and I got picked up by Stella McCartney’s music director. I then toured Europe with them, all from being spotted at a dive bar in Shoreditch. It just shows if you put yourself out there with good intentions you never know what could happen. Getting back to your question, I can’t live without music. If I have a day without listening to music, I feel like something is wrong. Music drives my soul – let’s just say that !
FP: What was it like coming out of uni of DJing for Stella McCartney and doing so many big gigs at a young age?
Fabienne: Well I was about 28 so had a few years on me after Uni and at the time I was already working in fashion, so I was used to working with big brands and going to a lot of fashion shows via that line of work. It was an incredibly fun experience and I just enjoyed every moment and still do with the exciting gigs I get. In life it’s about taking in that present moment rather than always seeking the next.
FP: What similarities do you think the fashion world has with the music industry?
Fabienne: I think they are both creative outlets for people to express themselves. People make clothes inspired by music and vice versa.
FP: How do you think music has influenced your fashion choices?
Fabienne: Well, I’m stuck in the 90’s, lol. I heard once that musically whatever genre of music you listened to between 14 and 16 is the one you will get stuck in for life. And I can’t disagree tbh. Musically & fashion wise I’m stuck in the early noughties so which is great because it has now fully come back around. I love that kind of era. It is all bright colours and animal prints that’s totally my style.
FP: So you are also a presenter, you have hosted for brands such as Nivea, YSL and music showcases for Malibu; how did this opportunity come about?
Fabienne: Again like with the dj’ing it’s about putting yourself out there. I think also these days you have to create your own opportunities so at the time I was putting presenting videos up online and I guess they came through that. The Malibu event was like a pool party where we had to get people out of their shell and participate in different games. I’ll talk to a chair if it moves so I had a great time.
FP: You also have your own ‘Let’s Talk’ live interviews that you host on Instagram, what was the motivation behind this?
Fabienne: I like to showcase different ideas with my presenting whether it showcasing a different career from the norm with ‘Let’s Talk’, or like with my ‘Fabs’ Future Sounds’ IGTV Series, upcoming artists for people to listen to. Let’s Talk was about showcasing different career paths for women in industries where we are generally underrepresented. It was about inspiring others. The series was something that I started during lockdown to showcase female businesses and the female hustle because that’s how it started with me and music i.e. I did have a day job and then the side hustle became the main hustle I guess. I want to keep going and do more of these type of series’, I’d love it to get picked up by a brand to get their support with it too!
FP: Do you think that there is more women representation in the music/DJ industry now?
Fabienne: Definitely now, but I think I see it because I am a woman in music. I think the general public might not see it, you still get people saying ‘Oh wow female DJ’ at events. There is a lot more support network as well for women in music but there can always be more.
FP: Are there any music and fashion influences that you take inspiration from?
Fabienne: Ofcourse! Music wise I’m inspired by old and new from Prince to Kaytranada, I love how he fuses old school Hip-Hop with electronic beats. There’s a load of producers now taking the Bailé sound and creating remixes or edits of old 90’s and 00’s tunes, which I LOVE! Producers such as Jarreau Vandal, Boston Chery, Hyalyte, Kensaye, Jaymie Silk, it’s such a vibe. People just love that stuff, they love that nostalgic feeling brought into a modern way which is what I do in my fashion. I love colour and clever details in fashion, like an incredible dress with pockets or like this silk shirt but in tonnes of colour. I’m inspired by fearless females who aren’t afraid to express themselves, such Grace Jones, Kate Bush, Rihanna and Madonna. I like to think I channel them whenever I head to my wardrobe. 😀
FP: What advice would you give to young people that are trying to make it in the music industry?
Fabienne: Just do you ! Do not be distracted by whatever is on social media, do not worry about what other people are doing, concentrate on you and just keep going. If you got the idea in your head to do it you need to at least experiment with it. Life is about self expression.
FP: To finish off we would like to thank you so much for the interview. Is there anything you would like to share with the Footpatrol friends and family? That could be anything from getting people excited about something, a message of positivity, whatever you like.
Fabienne: Just do you and don’t be afraid to stand out from the crowd!
As an authentic sneaker community here at Footpatrol, storytelling is at the heart of what we do. Passing down the narrative from one successive generation to another, we are always looking for ways to showcase the voices, talent and background of what makes our sneaker space so special. Whether this is from the history of the brand , through to the design process to where the sneakers end up – in the hands of the community, we’re all here for our love of sneakers.
Introducing Nike stories, our new Nike platform based within our Footpatrol Launches App where we will be feeding all things Nike content and keeping you – the community in touch with the product and the story it tells. We have dug deep into the archives pulling our favourite memories, retelling some of our most compelling stories that we are so excited to share with you.
Each week we will be updating this platform delivering some of the freshest stories to date. From our recap on lively talks, campaigns, interviews and many more, we are always looking to inspire sneaker enthusiasts all across the world as well as capturing the imagination of like minded individuals.
For those who already have the app download, head on over to the app to see more otherwise, click here to download the Footpatrol Launches App.
Some of you may remember last year when some of the Footpatrol team and friends took on the ASICS London 10km. Last years race saw the return of public events are the pandemic and provided a great day with high energy to get the runners in the feel good spirit, ready to take on the 10km.
This year, we were set a challenge from the team at ASICS to head out on this years 10km and beat our times from last year… We couldn’t not accept!
With help from their latest running masterpiece, the Metaspeed, Jake and Bradley from Footpatrol teamed up again with Henry, Kristine and Jamie from Your Friendly Runners to take on the challenge. ASICS once again provided an amazing day experience with live music, entertainment and a lively energy that helped push you through to the finish line.
Who’s joining us next year to take on the challenge again?
For our third and final instalment of the adidas NMD S1, we look towards someone who has been no stranger to the Footpatrol bubble. With adidas exploring the past, present and future of the NMD franchise, we decided to add our own spin to this by documenting ‘sound’. We kicked off this NMD S1 campaign by looking at the past, someone who has been cemented within music culture for generations, Dego before looking towards the future of sound with Ludo. Now, we turn our attention to the present with thanks to SelassieTBC!
Co-founder of London based label Pattern Sounds and part of Brownswood‘s Future Bubblers platform to which we’ve worked with before, we sat down with Selassie to learn more about him, his ventures and the music scene whilst of course, checking out once again, the adidas NMD S1 which we are excited to see where this exploration goes!
Footpatrol: Hey Selassie before we get into everything, how are you?
Selassie: I’m good thanks man. Very busy and kinda hot with this global warming ting happening but you know, keeping things moving.
FP: For people who don’t know who you are and what you do, could you tell us a little bit about yourself and what you do?
Selassie: I’m a DJ, Project Manager, A&R, Label Manager, Event Producer and someone who probably does too much LOL. Day to day I run a talent discovery and mentor project called Future Bubblers, run out of Brownswood Music. I’m also an A&R Manager at Brownswood.
FP: How did everything begin for you?
Selassie: In terms of my love of music, there wasn’t a particular start date or milestone moment, its just always been part of my life. I guess Limewire helped haha. Since I can remember i’ve always collected music, kinda like when I used to collect Pokemon cards, I just never grew out of collecting music. I guess professionally, when I started at Brownswood 6ish years ago. But before then i’d been doing a bunch of music related stuff throughout my youth, events, making music, first try at a label, bunch of stuff.
FP: From our perspective, you are a very influential person within the music scene being a co-founder of Record label and music platform Pattern Sounds, a DJ Nike, how did these opportunities come about?
Selassie: With Pattern Sounds, that came about pretty naturally. When I still lived at my mums, my yard was the spot everyone used to come to to chill. So all my guys would just pull up, we’d be chilling, making music, listening to music, DJing, doing what young bucks do. Was always quite music oriented. So we essentially tried to capture that essence of when the mandem were at my yard, cause we had so many musical friends and friends of friends. We tried a few different ventures before Pattern Sounds, we tried more of a music platform, then it naturally developed into a label.
FP: You also host your own monthly DJ set Selassie TBC on NTS radio, what is it like when you found out your show was going to be locked in as a regular broadcast?
Selassie: Yeahhhh, that was a good feeling I can’t lie, felt like i’d made a positive step in the right direction. It was a bit tekky though cause i’d just got an offer from another station too, so they thought i’d parred them off, but in reality NTS were interested before. But I was just happy to get back into regularly doing a show and having a musical outlet to showcase all the music I came across.
FP: The Future Bubblers platform that you are involved in discovers the latest talent in music. Why is this so important to you?
Selassie: I’ve always been a music digger, so I’ve always found and uncovered artists who I’ve felt deserved to be heard by a larger audience. Even from playground times I used to come in with a piece of paper with tracks to share with my friends. Because of music politics combined with artists just not knowing how to navigate the music world or how to promote themselves, i’ve always been passionate about giving a platform to those who I feel are great or have great potential, because there are so many artists who deserve more. Which is the reason why we started Pattern Sounds and the reason why Future Bubblers as a project aligns so well with my values.
FP: What is the best advice would you give to young people trying to make it in the music industry?
Selassie: Be honest and work on your craft. Be honest in the sense that you should create music which is honest to you – a true artistic reflection of yourself. Theres no easier way to get a one way ticket to mediocrity than just following trends. You can always hear authenticity in music. And just work on your craft. Good music travels – so get to the point where you’re at a sweet spot where you’re making music of a certain quality, so you can push on from there. Get some stuff on the internet too – if its on the internet you never know whos listening. I’ve come across artist and played artists whos profiles sly look fake lol cause they’re so bare, but there was music there that I was into so I played it.
Also, if you don’t ask you don’t get. Very rarely do things just magically happen. A lot of artists who are “breakthrough” artists have been putting in work for years without anyone seeing.
FP: We would firstly like to thank you so much for spending some time with us! To finish things off, is there anything you would like to share with the Footpatrol friends and family? That could be anything from getting people excited about something, a message of positivity, whatever you like.
Selassie: Yeah man i’m just a big believer if you don’t know who you are then you don’t know where you’re going. Its very easy to say “work out who you are”, its a process and sometimes people don’t work that shit out till they’re old and grey. But get on the journey and find out what truly makes you tick, i think navigating the world with a solid foundation is far better then tryna bulldoze through on a madness. We’re always gonna be winging it don’t get it twisted, but at least have those wings attached to your back. Or your feet, on a Hermes ting.
Also Future Bubblers 6.0 album out in November! Exclusive – you heard it here first.
At Footpatrol, we’ve been dealing with the very latest and great in footwear for the past 20 years and we love nothing more than getting our hands on the latest offering from the brands we stock and putting them to the test.
To welcome The North Face to the Footpatrol brand offering, we wanted to invite some of you along for one of these tests. Heading out to Epping Forest, a took a handful of you, the community with us to check out their latest product within their ‘VECTIV‘ trail running range.
Meeting up with Mark Parry at our starting point, Mark took us all through the different variants of ‘VECTIV’. Here he explained the benefits of each silhouette and which ones may be better suited to an individuals running needs whether that’s speed or comfort. After, we of course headed out into the forest for a friendly 10km run to see what it was all about!
Take a closer look at the day below and make sure to keep your eyes peeled for The North Face coming soon to Footpatrol…!
We’ve all come to know and love the Air Force 1, a silhouette that the majority of us have owned at some point throughout our years. Now celebrating its 40th anniversary, Nike look back at the history of the AF1 and some of it stand out memories.
The ‘Colour of the Month’ Air Force 1 is an anniversary edition that looks at two distinct moments in its history. The first? Well that goes back to 1984 when the Air Force 1 may have not become the giant it became. Potentially saving it from extinction, shops in Baltimore couldn’t get hold of product fast enough due to the demand they were facing. This led to shop keepers asking, begging for custom colour ways to sell within their store and you could say, that was that for the Air Force 1. It went on to become an icon off the court and took the fashion and street culture by storm.
The second is that crisp white upper. Though its had an abundance of collaborations and in-line specials, the all white Air Force 1 is something that will forever go down in sneaker history.
So that’s that, we come back to 2022 with this special anniversary edition that celebrates all things Air Force 1! Take a closer look at this latest iteration below which is now available to shop in-store and online here!
Just in time for those summer months…
The YEEZY SLIDE features an injected EVA FOAM for lightweight durability, whilst the soft top layer in the footbed offers immediate step in comfort. The outsole utilises strategically mapped grooves for optimal comfort and traction.
PLEASE TAKE TIME TO READ THE BELOW!
The London in-store draw is now CLOSED!
All online draws are now housed over on the Footpatrol Launches App, CLICK HERE to download!
To enter, you’re required to sign up via the above forms, these WON’T be available in-store to sign up on.
In-store winners will be contacted via email informing them of their win. Within this email, winners will be given a set of dates in which they must collect their win from our London store. To collect, you will need to provide the winning email and a valid photographic government ID matching the winners name. NO ONE can collect on the winners behalf. Failure to provide this, or failure to collect within the given dates will mean failure to purchase your win.
To sign up to the Online raffle, you will need to download the Footpatrol Launches app and complete a pre-authorisation payment of the retail price of the product plus shipping costs. This will be held until raffle completion. Those successful will have their raffle win posted out to the address entered during sign up. Those unsuccessful will see a return of their funds, this can take up to 5 working days from when the winners have been drawn. The raffle is limited to one entry per household! Multiple entries will be cancelled!
The Air Jordan 1 needs no introduction. The relationship between Jordan and Travis Scott needs no introduction so lets get into it with their latest creation, the Air Jordan 1 Low ‘Reverse Mocha’.
We all know that for a lot of you, the Travis Scott x Air Jordan 1 High ‘Mocha’ was a must have, a grail well now Travis Scott and Jordan Brand return once again with this recipe using different ingredients.
First off the bat, the duo have this time opted for a Air Jordan 1 Low silhouette, something we’ve become similar with from this partnership and always shines a light on the simplicity and easy-to-wear nature of the low. They’ve also opted for a reversed colourway with the Mocha and white hues changing places and featuring across their opposite panels to that of the High creating a super clean iteration that’s going to be a perfect addition for your summer get ups.
PLEASE TAKE TIME TO READ THE BELOW!
The ONLINE draw is now CLOSED!
To enter, you’re required to sign up via the above forms, these WON’T be available in-store to sign up on.
To sign up to the Online raffle, you will need to download the Footpatrol Launches app and complete a pre-authorisation payment of the retail price of the product plus shipping costs. This will be held until raffle completion. Those successful will have their raffle win posted out to the address entered during sign up. Those unsuccessful will see a return of their funds, this can take up to 5 working days from when the winners have been drawn. The raffle is limited to one entry per household! Multiple entries will be cancelled!
Footpatrol meets the outdoors with yet another coveted collaboration for our 20th anniversary. Introducing our latest partnering with Mizuno on the renowned Wave Rider 10 silhouette. With this project inspiration from mother Earth – honing in on the weathering process of rocks and minerals.
Weathering is a fundamental process on Earth and many things surround us like water, ice, salt, acids and plants are all agents of weathering, therefore our iteration of the Wave Rider 10 is the perfect way for us to showcase the natural processes of the world.
Focussing on the geographical element of erosion, the Footpatrol Wave Rider 10 ‘Rust’ is readied in a mixed material construction, long nap-hairy suede embellishes the toe box and lateral ankle collar. An airy closed mesh heel further adds depth and texture paired with washed suede overlays all subdued in Driftwood Brown, Berry Conserve and Green Milieu – reminiscent of the colours seen through the varying stages of erosion.
Runbird insignias sit in its original place on the lateral sidewall alongside a rust-inspired jewel detail on the heel graphic complete with respective Mizuno & Footpatrol brand logos. Packed with Wave Technology, a thermoplastic plate insert that provides a unique combination of cushioning, stability and energy return in every step for maximum comfort. Speckled midsole detailing and a durable rubber outsole that sits underneath completes this look with multidirectional tread – perfect for those off-terrain adventures. Each pair comes with tri-colour hiking cord laces and is housed in a special edition, custom designed Mizuno & Footpatrol shoe box (available exclusively at Footpatrol).
The Footpatrol x Mizuno Wave Rider 10 ‘Rust’ is now available in-store and online here, priced at £135.
