The GF-01 ‘Off-White Pebbled Leather’ is a special silhouette consisting of intriguing materials and details. Its upper is wrapped in an off-white pebbled leather, harnessing both quality and durability. It doesn’t stop there as it’s enriched with our ‘g’ logo and heel tab, both given compelling iridescent finishes. The upper is then sealed with the addition of our signature black-and-white laces. To round out the shoe, we meticulously developed our very own outsole that’s plastered with a pattern of our JG logo. The insole sees the same treatment with an original JG pattern. Extra Set Of white flat laces.
Source: GF-01 By John Geiger “Off White Pebbled Leather”
Buscemi, Lotas, Geiger, ABathing Ape, the list goes on and on when looking at designs influenced by Nike and Jordan Brand’s classic silhouettes. The question becomes, is it influence or biting? In old school Hip-Hop, where sneaker culture was born, biting was wack. When Pro-Wings made a replica version of the Air Jordan 1, you would get killed for rocking those. To make this more relevant, when FUBU launched the elephant print sneaker, that was flame material. Those FUBU, Shaq and Pro Wing models were a different thing though, weren’t they? They used cheap materials and quality was the last thing being attempted.
It becomes immediately apparent looking at the GF-01 that John Geiger is appropriating the Air Force 1. He’s doing so in a more elevated package than BAPE even attempted. Personally, I was never a fan of BAPEs and I thought it was a knock-off and to be honest they did this intentionally. It’s a similar concept to the brand Bandulu. I ask the question, “Inspiration or Knock-Off” not to condemn the GF-01, which is clearly a luxury model with style cues from the AF-1, but to raise the discussion around whether this is biting?
If you look closely at the GF toebox, you can see that a different last was used. The toe counter is longer and less blunt. The pebbled leather is a nice touch, but the effort in design only extends to materials chosen. In Hip-Hop this is the definition of biting isn’t it? Not exactly. An emcee who chooses to copy the style and flow of another emcee is biting. In the Golden Era, this was problematic. Kool Moe Dee and LL Cool J had an incredible battle over biting. Somewhere around the Fresh Prince copying Rakim’s flow and creating Summertime, things changed. The Fresh Prince was celebrated. With a successful television show and an acting career taking off, sounding like Rakim wasn’t a bad thing. At the same time Das EFX, Fu Schnickens and Lords of the Underground all had sounds that played around with the doubling of words and speed, but that wasn’t biting. It was a style that was kind of spawned by Naughty by Nature who succeeded the most. Where it crossed the line was when Ice Cube outright stole Cypress Hill’s sound and songs with Wicked. This is moving away from sneakers isn’t it?
What John Geiger has decided to do here is pay homage. His elevation of the AF-1 silo with premium materials isn’t demeaning or blatant copying. It’s an attempt at admiring the timeless model. In Hip-Hop terms, it’s every group rapping today copying the triplet flow by the Migos. Everyone realizes that they are using a flow created by a different group, they are just putting their own spin on it…
Right?
I mean every brand has a classic tennis shoe that looks the same. Every brand has a running shoe that looks the same. There are only so many shapes that can be placed on sneakers and the major brands have used them all. This makes it difficult to birth something new. All any brand can attempt is to do it better and make it their own. Use the source link at the head of this post to visit the JG site. Don’t bother trying to grab a pair of these though, they’re sold out, which could be a play on words; if you want it to be.