Who Made Dad Sneakers Cool?
Designer Spotlight: Aimé Leon Dore
Courtesy of Aime Leon Dore
With one of the coolest stores in Mulberry Street in Manhattan, Teddy Santis captures the 80s nostalgia and basketball culture in his modern urban preppy streetwear apparel.
Founded just a few years ago, Aimé Leon Dore has become a fans favorite and has garnered cult status. Born and raised in the Bronx, Santis grew up surrounded by hip-hop and basketball during the 80s and 90s. His upbringing allowed him to have an eye and appreciation for the urban scene, one that later became the foundation for his creative identity.
Courtesy of Aime Leon Dore
Impressively, his brand has been one of the latest to become part of the LVMH conglomerate as they have taken a minority stake in his brand. This is huge, an investment that will allow Aimé Leon Dore to open its doors to an international market.
Aimé Leon Dore is heavily inspired by the youth culture form 30 years ago, one that favored brands like Nike and Ralph Lauren as their everyday attire. Santis noticed this set to build a brand that offered refined streetwear and elevated basics, not an easy task as one wouldn’t associate streetwear with sophistication.
Courtesy of Aime Leon Dore
The sportswear, Ivy League youth aesthetic of the brand is perfectly captured in its Mulberry Street Soho store. The flagship store is one you can't miss if you are walk-in by, not just for its long line in-store but for its eye-catching white exterior. Not your typical streetwear store as next door is its Mediterranean style-like own coffee shop. Inside you’ll find big rugs, leather couches, brass railings and TVs showing basketball games from the 90s. A streetwear take on Ralph Lauren aimed for a client that appreciates design, quality and silent luxury.
Courtesy of Vogue
Part of Aimé Leon Dore’s success can be attributed to its multiple collaborations. Notably their 2019 partnership with sneaker giant New Balance. Since then, Santis has brought dad trainers to their popularity peak when he redesigned New Balance’s 505 sneaker. This collaboration showed his true and deep love for basketball and New York as he dug out a sneaker that hadn’t quite been recognized and made it the most coveted shoe of the year. He elevated the design and modernized the silhouette. Keeping things ALD he chose collegiate colors, preppy cream styles with dark red, forest green, navy and grey accents.
Courtesy of Aime Leon Dore
Aimé Leon Dore made street style fashion sophisticated and with its impressive portfolio of collaborations under his sleeve, we can only expect great things to come.
