They're Not Fake, They're Better
These shoes aren’t real.
They’re not NFTs or AI-generated. They’re actual shoes. They look like Nikes but, for the most part, they weren’t made by Nike. They’re the work of Hvnd Studio, a small team of Korean cobblers who work in a legally-dubious cottage industry, recreating the original, 1985 Jordan 1 with top-quality leather and classic techniques. They’re fakes. They’re beautiful. And they cost $1,250.
Out now in The Spectator: my piece on high-end fake Jordans, the craftsmen that make them, the fakes market generally, and the perceived declining quality of Nikes. Read it now!
For any freelance writer slightly earlier in their journey than me, or just working alone - as we all do - I think it’s worth sharing that this piece wasn’t an easy journey to publication. I think it’s a great piece, and a story I was passionate about telling, but was pitched first over 6 months ago, was by several publications before by approved, then killed, and now finally ending up at The Spectator, in trimmed form (the original piece was 3,700 words long).
This isn’t to provoke pity, demonize the publications who turned it down, or crap on the piece, but just to pull the curtain back that, if you feel you can’t get a piece published, and you believe it’s good, just keep pushing forward.
Update: somehow I posted this originally with broken links. These have now been fixed.