The facade looks like it is made of giant Legos. A simple archway entrance leads inside.
Up the steel staircase, Japanese animation cells envelop the entire east wall. A heavenly fluorescent glow lights up a DJ bopping his head to the beats of Spank Rock and Timbaland, while scandalously dressed women parade around with pom-poms.
But this latest Hollywood hot spot is just a shoe store.
In the middle of all the hubbub, an awkwardly placed table displays eight sneakers, the centerpiece of the entire setup.
“The store isn’t just about the product, it isn’t just about the shoes,” said Chris Lozano, store manager of Undefeated in Silver Lake.
Sneakers, once a staple in the shoe industry aimed at athletes and casual walkers, are now increasingly being marketed to a more fashionable crowd, and students are reveling in the chance to make a statement with their everyday footwear.
“Everyone and their mother is wearing Converse, I could be like everyone else or go my own way. That’s what I’m trying to do. I still wear Converse and flip-flops and stuff, but every once in a while I like to stunt like my daddy,” said Mindy Bach, a second-year psychology student.
Undefeated, a small boutique on La Brea in Hollywood, down the road from Jet Rag and just above the Denim Bar, serves as a platform for this growing trend, giving in-the-know customers the unique shoe stash they require.
In January, Nike commissioned Undefeated to be one of a few select retailers of its Vintage Dunks, a re-creation of their classic basketball shoe from the late ’80s.
Dunks now cater to both women and men with only slight alterations in the materials used. Since Jan. 5 and lasting until Friday, Dunks will have been the only shoe on sale in the Hollywood Undefeated.
Apollo Blackwood, a second-year international development studies student, scoped out Undefeated last week.
A shoe aficionado, he found the vintage-only push disconcerting at first.
“You have to get used to it,” Blackwood said. “A lot of people think it’s controversial to wear old-looking stuff, but it’s a new look, ironically.
“The tongue of the shoe was made of this weird material; it felt as worn as it looked. It’s different, it’s cool,” he added.
Blackwood appreciated the shoe’s time-oblivious aim and the attempt at providing a retreat for “shoe-heads,” away from the Foot Lockers and Footactions of the world, which seem to be cluttered with sports apparel and socks.
“I liked the atmosphere ““ how they didn’t have anything but shoes ““ and the free food was good, but the dancing girls were a little awkward. It seemed kind of forced,” Blackwood said.
“The setup made me feel like I was in a museum, and I think I broke one of the lockers on the walls,” he added.
These Dunks are the latest entry into the vintage movement, seen already in other areas of the fashion world.
“Everyone wants to live in an era that they couldn’t experience. Wearing shoes like these could be people’s way of doing that,” Bach said.
Last year, Undefeated was selling out of Air Force Ones, another Nike style from the early ’80s. The fashion trends, according to Lozano, come to Los Angeles from New York.
“What they like out here is the weathered look. That’s what’s selling here,” Lozano said. “Originally, (Air Force Ones) were called Uptowns, because they were only sold out of a store in uptown (New York). … If you look at New York culture, it’s always been the mecca for everything,”
Nike is not the only brand of sneakers to have benefitted from exclusivity.
Visvim, a popular Japanese label, as well as different designer projects such as Marc Jacobs’ Vans or John Varvatos’ Converse have all been propelled to the upper echelons of cool by being sold only in select stores. The appeal of a store such as Undefeated comes from the rarity of its inventory and its presentation.
“So many (types of people) come in here. From kids and teens to Hollywood cats, anywhere from 14 to 35 (years old),” Lozano said.
“Just urban people after whatever looks different, whatever no one else has.”
With clientele ranging from teenaged hipsters in Bape sweaters to middle-aged professionals in designer jeans all seeking the same flamboyance that comes with a fresh pair, it appears shoes are something everyone can relate to.
Among the urban hipster crowd, students can be found getting their regular shoe fix and representing themselves as only college students can.
“I try not to spend too much, but come on, everyone has their thing. Shoes are an art form, like painting. I’m only expressing my inner Picasso,” Blackwood said.