The Italian brand FILA, named after the two brothers who founded it in 1911, became famous in the 1970s thanks to its muse, the tennis player Bjorn Borg. Its popularity exploded during the 90’s when it was adopted by basketball players such as Grant Hill or rappers such as 2pac and Biggie. This brand, anchored in street culture, now wishes to pay tribute to the late member of the band JUNIOR M.A.F.I.A, the homie of PUFF DADDY : NOTORIOUS BIG aka CHRISTOPHER « BIGGIE SMALLS » WALLACE.
This collaboration marking the recent 25th anniversary of Biggie’s first solo album « Ready to die » includes six items : two pairs of shoes, t-shirts and visors.
Concerning the sneakers, the managers of the estate of the late rapper from Brooklyn wanted to express themselves on FILA tennis 88, a flagship model of the end of the last century.
We discover a white leather pair with blue accents and another in beige suede with black and red leather inserts.
They consist of a leather or suede base with perforations on the toebox.
The heel is covered with bright blue and turquoise blue leather inserts in one case and black and red leather in the other, stretching finely to the side panels.
At the back of the heel, we find the word Fila and the name of the album released in September 1994 « Ready to Die ».
On the side of the shoe, above the coloured stripes, is the Fila logo in the same colour.
On the classic tongue of the same colour as the upper, the Fila branding is located and in the usual frame of the brand, appears the number 25 overhanging the crown usually attributed to one of the proclaimed gods of rap, Notorious Big.
To finalize the aesthetics of the pair, the laces are Matching with the majority colour of the shoe.
The blue insole of the leather pair has the white inscription « notorious ». While the red insole of the suede pair has a print with the design of the cover of the album which celebrated its 25th anniversary a few months ago and to which Fila pays special tribute.
To finish unifying the design, the whole is based on a structured sole in the same colour as the upper.
The BIGGIE x FILA collection will be released exclusively on May 19 on the Fila brand website, before arriving at the usual shops on May 21, the day celebrating the birthday of the late rapper who would have turned 48 this year.
The price of the sneakers would be 90€ for each colorway and the t-shirts and visors would cost 25€ each.
A generous gesture of the Italian brand is worth noting : Fila announced that for every pair sold, an extra pair would be donated free of charge to the children of the charitable foundation created by Biggie’s mother after his death to accompany, help and educate young people in distress, called the « Christopher Wallace Memorial ».
