United Kingdom

London

Steven Julien 

 dance scene, mixing a cool combination of deep boogie rhythms and cutting house beats. Previously called Funkineven, Julien's 2024 album 

 is an eclectic journey from the throbbing heat of the dance floor to the calm haze of morning. 

London's Black music culture soundtracked the 

 that Steven worked in as a teenager, an experience he pays tribute to in 

. Yet the city's sneaker shops likewise play an important backdrop to music subculture, with trainers integral to London's urban grime aesthetic. 

Steven blends grime, jungle, boogie, and R&B into his sonic palette and has designed shoes with an equal amount of innovative flair, collaborating with the likes of Nike and Patta to launch his bespoke creations. 

Below is his guide to the No.1 stops for sneakers in London.

Og status! They been in the game for a min, I’ve been going there since they had their lil shop on St Annes Court Soho, with the sliding glass doors and shoes in metal cages. Sometimes I pop in the current location to check what’s new!

A more refined selection of shoes, limited or sometimes hard-to-get sneakers, especially collabs, but overall a chill shopping experience and very well curated.

Family Patta, big the crew up. I was honoured to score for their Nike campaign for the “air max 1 waves”. Great shoe, I got all the colours except one, anyway nice lil shop to cop sneakers.

I’ve been going there for timeeeeee! I even paid my lil bro to queue there for a limited shoe—some MTV Raps Puma Clyde’s—think only 200 and odd pairs made! Fatima, who I collab with even worked in there years ago, as well as some other friends. It's good to see it’s still there, I occasionally pop in to see whats up.

Lil cheeky Sports Direct comes in handy now and then! Getta quick fix on some all black or white air max 95s, no frills, straight to the point pit stop when wanting new simple shoes.

Sports Direct Stoke Newington

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