Designed by Beastie Boy Adam Horovitz, the Keep x Ad-Rock Ramos is a new take on our classic midtop. Inspired to make a sneaker that kept his feet toasty, the Keep x Ad-Rock Ramos features a water-resistant, nylon cordura body and is lined with synthetic shearling. The ankle features a channel quilted, silicon coated nylon accent, stuffed with synthetic down. The D-ring and bungee lace structure makes for easy slipping on and off, and both black and magenta laces are included. To finish, each pair features embroidery of Adam’s name, split between left and the right shoes. Net proceeds of the shoe will benefit Planned Parenthood. As always, all of our shoes are cruelty-free and consciously produced in factories audited by international, third parties who monitor ethical working conditions. “I collaborated with Keep because I support small business. I support
Source: THE RAMOS Ad-Rock
I’ve finished the first draft of my new book and the coincidental effort I’ve been making to post an article about smaller footwear companies has actually become research for the book. Let me explain, I have over 750 sneaker videos on my YouTube channel. When the COVID-19 virus hit, I lost my primary stream of revenue as a reseller. I’ve been building the website, but it has been to establish my depth of knowledge about the sneaker industry. I needed to increase the traffic to the site and I knew moving the videos from YT to the site would improve search and generate revenue from affiliate ads. The problem is most of the videos are of Nike and Jordan Brand shoes. Moving the video would take my site from being a source of info for business discussions to being more like the bigger websites. The site would look like an ad for Nike. I decided to share smaller companies everyday after I added videos. This would create info about a new brand and I could share that to LinkedIn and social sites.
What has happened is the discovery of some very cool sneakers and the people behind the brands. This just so happened to sync with chapters of the book. The book is attempting to show that there are some opportunities remaining in the sneaker industry.
I’m leading a post on the Keep Company with a sneaker from one of my favorite emcees AdRock of Beastie Boys fame. I chose this because I’m honestly blown away by my recent discovery of Keep. The company has been around since 2006!!!! I had no idea. When I found the company today I was going to build my discussion around Keep’s creation of footwear for chefs and tie it to the book where I explained that one of the areas that remain in the sneaker industry is improving upon what is already here. The creation of more sustainable products that cater to an industry is an opportunity.
When I dove in a bit deeper into Keep Company I realized the brand had a mission that moved beyond catering to a specific field. I also found that the brand has been collabing with a number of incredible artists to support ventures from women’s shelters to the ACLU as this shoe below made with the band Real Estate.
The most important thing I discovered was that the Co-Founder and CEO of Keep Company is Una Kim. The only other sneaker company I’ve discovered that is helmed by a woman CEO is COMUNITYmade, another LA based sneaker company. Una is also a person of color which is why the exclamation point is in the title. I know it’s important to focus on the business and the brand, but what I’ve discovered while writing the book, and what I’ve always known is that the story behind the business is just as vital as the product. While we initially come to sneakers because of the looks, with so many kicks being made today something else has to bring us in. It can’t just be that the shoes are dope. The people behind the product have to be dope.
If you haven’t heard of the company, take a moment to use the links throughout this post to visit the site.
This post is a catalyst for conversation. It is not a paid ad. I write these type of posts because I know how difficult it is to gain coverage on bigger websites and for small brands every little bit helps.