RESPECT. Interview: Ewing Athletics President Talks Growth, Sneaker Culture, Bun B Collaboration & Much More

Image Credit: Ewing Athletics

Ewing Athletics President, David Goldberg has brought Ewing Athletics back to the forefront and the company has been in full command and will forever hold a special place in sneaker culture. The signature sneaker created and bought into play by the legendary, Patrick Ewing has made a huge comeback and we are here to talk to the man behind the resurgence of the company. New York City and sneakerheads have gave the shoe much praise and recently Ewing teamed up with legendary Houston rapper, Bun B. This is just one of the many collaborations by the company that has made noise.

We got a chance to chop it up with David Goldberg and talk about the growth of the company since he first became the president, the significance of the shoe for sneaker culture, upcoming models from Ewing and their collaboration with Mikey Likes It Ice Cream and much more.

Get into the interview below.

RESPECT.:Tell everyone who you are?

David Goldberg: My name is Dave I grew up in NY as a kid in the late 80s and early 90s and was a huge Knicks and Patrick fan. I wore the Ewing shoes as a kid and as I grew older and started to hunt down rare shoes in the late 90s/early 2000s on ebay I started to collect the old Ewings. When the opportunity came about to bring the brand back I left my job and jumped head first into the shoe business with no real experience other than working at a shoe store as a teenager.

How has Ewing Athletics grown since 1989, when the brand first started?

David Goldberg: The original brand existed from about 1989/90 to 1995/96 before Patrick closed it due to issues with his former partners. The brand was dormant for years, but grew a cult like following online as the retro sneaker boom hit as it was the only brand from it’s era never to return. In 2010 I was able to meet Patrick and his agents and we were able to get the deal done and bring the shoes back in 2012.

What do you feel like the Ewing Model has done for Sneaker Culture?

David Goldberg: Our brand is very important to sneaker culture as Patrick was the first player to ever have his own brand in 1990, well before any other player. As the Sneaker business and culture grew, other players got their own brand but Patrick was first. The brand has always been independent without a huge corporate machine behind it like most sneaker brands and that has always played a role in our identity as well as well as showing that you don’t always need a giant company behind you. Similar to the music industry we feel its important to the culture to have small independent brands in the market competing with the larger ones.

Image Credit: Ewing Athletics

What do you think Sneaker culture is lacking at this moment?

David Goldberg: The culture and market is always changing so I can’t say it lacks something because its always evolving and changing. It’s certainly much different now than in the 90s or even 5 years ago. Obviously technology has changed everything drastically recently as the majority of customers are influenced by social media and are then able to purchase product immediately from their phone.

Will we see any more upcoming models from Ewing on the way, other than the 33 HI?

David Goldberg: We have released 8 or 9 models over the past 5 years besides the 33 HI and they will all continue to be in production and there are many more to come as well.

How did the collaborations with 2 Chainz and Bun B come about?

David Goldberg: Most of the collaborations with artists came about organically. 2 Chainz has been wearing the brand on his own for years and our sales director Greg Keller wound up sitting next to him on a flight and next thing you know we were doing a shoe with him. The Bun B project came about through a mutual friend Premium Pete who has a food social media network with Bun called You Gotta Eat This. We have a Rick Ross collabo shoe coming out on 12/13 that came about the same way, just linking up through a mutual friend. For us these projects aren’t decided in some corporate marketing board room, they’re based on our relationships. We put out a Cormega collabo shoe a few months that just came about because he has a great following and I have been a big fan for many years and it was a major success and again, it was all based on our relationship.

Image Credit: Ewing Athletics (Bun B Collaboration)

Image Credit: Ewing Athletics (2 Chainz Collaboration)

I seen that you guys collaborated with Mikey Likes It Ice Cream, how cool was it to create a shoe for the company?

David Goldberg: That was one of my favorite projects we have done. Mikey is a great guy and a friend of mine and we had a bunch of mutual acquaintances and just linked up. His designer Will came up with a great design and we put it out to coincide with the grand opening of their 2nd location in Harlem. The response was phenomenal, they sold a bunch in the stores and it was one of our top sellers of the year online. Most shoe companies wouldn’t have done a collaboration with a small Ice Cream shop in NYC but for us we felt it was a good fit and it was a major success for all parties.

Image Credit: Ewing Athletics ( Mikey Likes It Ice Cream Collaboration)

Do you have a favorite Hip-Hop album at the moment?

David Goldberg: I’m more of a mid 90s NYC era hip hop listener so I don’t listen to a ton of new stuff, but this week I have been listening to the new Fab and Jadakiss album.

Any last words for Ewing Athletic fans?

David Goldberg: I’d like to thank everyone for their support since our relaunch in 2012. We have now been back for a longer time period than the original run had in the 1990s so that’s definitely a blessing and we appreciate it. We definitely have many more things in store for everyone so stay tuned…