Earlier this week, Reebok hosted a two-day pop up shop in New York City, in celebration of the "Overbranded" InstaPump Fury- the shoe that Future has been rocking throughout the Summer Sixteen Tour.
The event was highlighted by a full lineage of InstaPump Fury collabs, live InstaPump sketch drawings by illustrator Steph Morris, and other Freebandz merchandise featured during the tour.
We also had the opportunity to speak with Reebok's Vice President, Todd Krinsky, who explained what it's like to work with Future, why he's such a good fit for Reebok moving forward, and when we can expect to see a Future x Reebok signature shoe.
The "Overbranded" Reebok InstaPump Fury is available now at Footaction and Reebok.com for $165. Check out images from the Reebok Fury pop-up shop in the gallery above, and read our Q+A with Todd Krinsky below.
HNHH: When did Reebok start targeting Future as a potential brand ambassador?
TK: "It was like over a year ago that we started thinking about it. We were really looking for someone that was pushing the boundaries from a fashion perspective, as well as being an established music artist. He's really one of those guys that's creating his own lane, he's definitely known for that now. Because we were going to be pushing some really "out there" styles we wanted someone who could fit that."
HNHH: Why was Future such an obvious choice for the Reebok brand?
TK: "We've always tried to collaborate with artists that are really kind of trailblazing their own space. We don't really sign a lot of artists that are safe, you know? We've got Kendrick Lamar who is always going to be attacking societal issues and is going to stay true to who he is, and now we've got a guy like Future who is obviously pushing the boundaries of fashion. We feel like we've got guys who are really true to this idea that we have of being authentic and he [Future] is one of those guys for sure."
HNHH: What do you think it is about the InstaPump Fury that makes it a perfect collaborative sneaker for Future?
TK: "It's like the yin and the yang for us. Like Kendrick is that all day everyday guy, that really loves the core Classics it's what he grew up in Compton wearing so it's great. It's organic."
"With Future it's the same thing, this Fury right here is super popular in Asia right now, it's like one of the most iconic shoes in Japan. If you walk the streets of like Seoul or Tokyo you see one out of every four people is wearing Furys, so it's really just a cult thing there. But he's got that fashion forward sense and he gravitated right for that shoe when we met. So we knew he was going to really be cool to represent that different space for us and he was the one that really went to that shoe and said, 'Yo this is what I want to wear.'"
"It was cool because it's a shoe that we were pushing anyways, it's a shoe that's one of our biggest products around the world and we wanted to bring it back in the U.S. and he's the perfect guy to launch it here."
HNHH: Any plans for a Future signature shoe?
TK: "Yeah, so we have this product here [the "Overbranded" InstaPump Fury] and then we have another thing that we're doing together in the Spring. But on the tour this Summer we started collaborating on a new idea together, so we just got our first prototype. In the future there will definitely be a Future collab."
HNHH: Where does Future rank among all of the athletes and celebrities you've worked with?
TK: "The two things that come to mind with Future is he's like a trailblazer, he's really pushing the boundaries of what it is to be a style hip-hop icon, like that's what he's doing right now. So it's really cool to work with him. He's got a very strong fashion sense, he knows what he likes so when we put product in front of him he's like, 'Yo, I'd do this' or 'I'd change this.'"
"The other thing is he's a tremendous partner. This whole Freebandz x Reebok thing this Summer was his idea. I was like, do you really think we could effect the tour? And he was like c'mon let's do it. And within three or four weeks we had a full Freebandz range that we were selling on tour. Then he calls one day and he's like I wanna do the tour bus Reebok x Freebandz, and then we did that within a few days. He's just so creative, a trailblazer and he's super good to work with. He's really into it."
HNHH: Lastly, off topic, have you ever worked with Conor McGregor and what was that like?
TK: "The day I met him, because I have worked with a lot of athletes in the past, he was asking me about Iverson, asking me about a lot of these cats like Thierry Henry, because he was really interested. This was like two years ago when he was just getting going. But he honestly doesn't go into any of these press conferences like 'I'm gonna do this, or I'm gonna say this' that's not the way he is. He's the real deal. It's all off the cuff man, I've seen very few people like that. He really believes he's the greatest, he believes he's got a moment. He knows there's a window for these guys and he's going to literally consume every minute of every fans mind until it's over."
