Food & Fashion Combine (Weirdly) at Stubb's

OK, so I didn't go to SXSW this year. But I did come across one of the oddest sneaker collaborations that I've seen (and when you work with streetwear brands, you see a lot): the Supra X Spin Magazine X Stubb's BBQ "Stubb's Skytop SXSW Edition."

[courtesy of highsnobiety]

They're saying,

“The Skytop takes its name from the one of the best places to eat and see live music when you are in Austin, and takes its looks from their world famous sauce. To coincide with this release, we have created a special edition to only be sold at Stubb’s Bar-B-Q this Friday in Austin, Texas.

This special edition includes a pair of Stubb’s Skytops, an apron, a bottle of Stubb’s sauce, all inside a hand made wooden box. This box, as well as the apron are both branded with a 2009 SXSW seal. There will be ONLY 50 boxes for sale this Friday from 10am-11am. Each box is also hand numbered.”

What's cool about this is that I was just listening to a spot on NPR about the original Stubb and what an awesome guy he was. He would host all kinds of now-super-famous musicians (Johnny Cash, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Willie Nelson, Muddy Waters) to jam at his little BBQ restaurant in Lubbock, TX, and he'd stay up all night cooking turkey dinners and have everyone over to his house. He had no business sense at all, and was constantly running out of money, but he was so beloved & his place was such a community hub that people would always get together to help him out. Now he's gone and his BBQ place has moved to Austin, where it's a landmark music venue as well. Pretty cool. [Thanks, NPR.] So that's cool because I love coincidences and running across 2 unrelated Stubb's items in several days pretty much counts as a coincidence.

What's WEIRD about this is that....well, it's a sneaker based on barbecue sauce. I'm not sure who this is aimed at. Hipsters? Austin dudes? Would anyone not from Austin get these? Or would only tourists get 'em because people from Austin wouldn't fall for that gimmick from a local standby? Point is, when I look at my feet, I don't want to think "pork."