1995 is a year that holds a special place in the history of FILA thanks to the first signature sneaker of the brand’s most prominent basketball player, Grant Hill. Upon its release, the Grant Hill 1 sold millions of pairs and rose to legendary status thanks to Hill’s Rookie Of The Year performance and front and center placement in Method Man and Mary J. Blige’s All I Need video.
Last night, FILA celebrated the re-release of the FILA ‘95. Sponsors of the four hour event included INK’d Magazine, Blue & Silver Productions, Crown Royal and Suite 36, a gorgeous new lounge/restaurant opening this October by restaurateurs and nightlife impresarios Dave Casey and Philip Quilter. The evening was hosted by none other than legendary DJ, Music Producer, and Sneaker Icon, DJ Clark Kent, who blessed attendees with an infectious mix of classic music from 1995, a set FILA captured and made available to attendees today through Soundcloud.com.
The ‘guest of honor’, backlit in blue in 16 glass cubes that hovered behind the 30 foot long bar, looked as modern today as it did on the feet of Grant Hill 18 years ago this Fall.
Nostalgia wasn’t the only theme of the night. Everywhere you turned, FILA provided an opportunity to take a peek at several brand new initiatives for the HERITAGE line. On the main floor, guests were able to view the Fall 2013 apparel line that included updated fleece and active wear and newly designed velours and accessories that all complement the footwear for this season.
On the 50 plus overhead screens, FILA debuted the next four video spots of their new RISE OF THE INDEPENDENTS video series that launches September 19th on COMPLEX TV and will culminate early December with a seven minute short film about Sneaker Culture in 2013. The spots shared the stories of key sneaker retailers BURN RUBBER, NICE KICKS, WISH ATLANTA, UBIQ, RIME and RENARTS.
In a nod to everyone’s favorite photo subject – themselves – INK’d created a custom photo booth in the back of the party where guests were able to grab their favorite FILA shoe and strike a pose similar to the art that debuts around the nation this week on key billboards, bus kiosks and posters. The images were made available to the guests to share via their favorite social media app of choice tagging #FILA95.
Finally, up and coming DJs Emilio Sparks and DJ Square Biz were on the tables after Clark Kent left the booth to continue the party late night.
The FILA 95 re-releases Thursday, September 19th in the original on court color combination of Navy / White / Red and in Black / Black.