The OG Ultra-Thick Harajuku Sneaker Quietly Bulges Back
Northwave's Espresso sneaker is not a mainstream shoe but it deserves to be. Embedded into '90s streetwear culture by stylish Ura-Hara kids, the Espresso is too good to be a one-hit wonder.
And thus, as the self-described "big boy" sneaker quietly infiltrates Japan, I figured it's about time to revisit the OG Japanese streetwear chunkster.
Much has already been written about the Northwave Espresso's legacy so I'll skip to the salient bits: When snowboarding company Northwave released the Espresso sneaker in the early '90s, it likely didn't expect that the beefy shoe would become a sleeper hit overseas.
A favorite among Japanese streetwear folks as influential as fragment design founder Hiroshi Fujiwara, who even wrote a column about the sneaker in contemporary youth culture bible Cool Trans, the Northwave Espresso was embraced by the hip Tokyo-ites lensed by outlets like FRUiTS.
Eventually, the Northwave Espresso became one of Japan's surprise sneaker success stories, up there with oddities like Nike's Air Rift and Reebok's InstaPump Fury. The Espresso had a much shorter shelf life, however, what with its niche maker and even more niche appeal.
Fortunately for us distant admirers, omnipresent streetwear impresarios at Slam Jam revived the Northwave Espresso only a few years ago. A small selection of core sneaker silhouettes remain available to purchase on the new Northwave website.
And, not that Northwave is coming back or anything, but it's making some moves. Influential Tokyo sneaker retailer BILLYS is pushing a couple exclusive Espresso colorways, bringing the OG Harajuku stomper back where it all began.
With its pioneering, huge midsole and skate shoe-ish canvas upper, the Espresso is owed at least some love for the fat-shoe wave still extant in today's footwear biz. There's at least a little bit of Espresso energy in luxury silhouettes like the Marni Bigfoot and popular dad shoe styles from the likes of HOKA.
The Espresso has even inspired fast-fashion knock-offs, perhaps the ultimate symbol of the big-boy shoe's extant influence.
