2/3 So…once again, the branding. Having grown up in the mountains of Northern California and having spent a great deal of time with my aunt & uncle and my cousins, I saw NO shortage of Grateful Dead branding. I come from a family of hippies. My dad introduced me to Jimi Hendrix at a VERY young age. My uncle has a tattoo of the Grateful Dead bear on his ankle. My cousins – huge SF Giants fans – all own at least one piece of SF Giants x Grateful Dead gear. And my aunt and my mom and everyone in between love bright colors and tie dye. ⁣⁣
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At the show, I spent a great deal of time just admiring the branding and the style. It’s so bananas and unique and so…distinct. We’ve seen plenty of Nikes – Dunks in particular – that use music as a springboard of inspiration. We all know of the @travisscott dunks…and…my god if that sh*t isn’t hyped to death…but what about the @dinosaurjr s and the @wearedelasoul and the @mfdoom and the @u2 and the @gunsnroses ? What about the @hyperstoic branding? Did you also know that the @unkleofficial dunk is actually based on a music group? That one actually shocked me…⁣⁣
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So there are countless musicians and music groups out there that have played an important role in sneaker culture (shoutout to @sankofaw – listen to ‘Deadstock’ if you haven’t yet), but why haven’t we seen anything from those with the best branding – the Grateful Dead ? ⁣⁣

BTW – if you’re interested in some Grateful Dead fan art – that pic in the top left – that’s my aunt’s painting of Jerry Garcia. ⁣