Brendow
Adidas NMD City Sock
How much does Brendow Sena like streetwear? A lot! In fact, he likes it so much that he basically turned his own room into a store, with sneakers on the shelves, racks of clothes and an entire wall covered in Bape’s camo.
His love for sneaker began with Cristiano’s golden Nike Mercurial, that his mom worked so hard for. Now his love is with Adidas and it’s NMDs.
This was a special interview for us! It happened during our first trip to BH. Danilo the photographer, and our friend Larissa took us to places to photograph and to eat while walked around town. We already want to go back and interview more people. BH is awesome!
“I like skateboarding, hanging with my friends and my peers, I really like being with my friends, go out to talk. It’s really good to be out with your friends.”
When did you start working with streetwear?
brendowI’ve been working with it for 4 years now. I started working in a store at the mall, surf stores, I learned a lot, I even did a course on Brands and stuff, and I started to know more and get more interested in this stuff.
When did your passion about sneaker begin?
brendowWhen I worked at SURFS I began to learn about these other brands from abroad, like Supreme, Bape, and a bunch of other ones. Within all that, I got really interested in why these brands were so big. At the same time, I was starting to like fashion, and I started to understand why the brands were so expansive. So I started doing my hustle so I could have that kind of stuff, and I was able to get some of those things, it was very fulfilling.
With what brand do you most identify with?
brendowAdidas…Adidas is the brands that I identify myself the most, and because it’s the most accessible to me, it has the best cost to benefit. It’s the brand that’s present in my everyday life. But another brand that I really admire is Bape. To me what Nigo has done with the brand is quite different, you don’t see any other brand like that out there, you dig? No one is copying it. Is quite unique in the market. and the fact that Adidas and Bape teamed up to do a collaboration, just grew my interest in the brand, fashion just got bigger.
You like the brand so much that you covered the walls of your room with Bape wallpaper, right?
brendowTheir stores always have a wall covered in Bape camo. And I really wanted to have a walk like that, so I did it in my own room. I asked a designer to help me and he developed the art, and I covered my wall with Bape, it was a pain in the ass. And actually, my room looks like a streetwear store (laughs). all my clothes all right laid out in racks, I got my shirt rack, my pants rack.
“Until the XR1’s dropped and there was no way I was not going to have that sneaker. So I decided to do something crazy: when I got my paycheck, I took my bills in one hand and a picture of the sneaker on my phone on the other. And I would look at the bills then look at the picture on my phone. I didn’t want to bring home other people’s sneakers to clean anymore, I wanted my own joints, right? But what about the bills? Let’s buy some sneakers right?! I paid R$800 grand on them and it was the happiest day of my life.”
What was the first sneaker you saw and it was like “love at first sight”?
brendowMy history with sneakers began with soccer boots. I always played a lot of soccer since I was a kid, and I really wanted the Cristiano Ronaldo golden Mercurial. And you know, our financial situation at home has always been very low, even so, my mom did whatever it took to get me those boots. And I got them! I was in love, amazed and accomplished, I had Cristiano Ronaldo’s boots! And I bragged about them to everyone, I’m so happy (laughs). I did everything with them, you know? When I went out with my friends I would be wearing my soccer boots, they were my world. Until one day I got bored and didn’t want to use them anymore, he didn’t go with my style anymore. So that’s when I went looking for some more Street shoes like Vans – I did a lot of Vans training, I learned a lot about the brand – so I began to really admire these types of brands and this type of silhouette, low cut with not that much technology. My passion for Adidas sneakers really got strong when the NMDs arrived. I thought they were really innovative not only in the shape of the shoe but in comfort as well – just look at this sneaker, it has like this styrofoam outsole with a piece of rubber, a Lego block, and a sock-like upper, you feel me? And it’s hella comfortable. That’s when I realized I needed to have one of these shoes. I was into them so bad, I needed to meet the guy who made these shoes, he killed it so bad, y’all don’t even know. I would look at pictures of the shoe, admiring it. So one day, A friend of mine that worked at Surfer’s bought one. I went crazy, I would ask him to wear them when you went to the shop just so I could see them live, I wanted to put them on, I needed to have more contact with that sneaker, but I didn’t have the money bro! They cost R$700 at the time that was very expensive for me, I didn’t have that kind of money to spare. So I went up to my friend one day and I asked him straight up “do you want me to clean them up for you? No joke.” So he wouldn’t give me his sneakers so I could watch them, and I love doing that, I would take real good care of them. Until the XR1’s dropped and there was no way I was not going to have that sneaker. So I decided to do something crazy: when I got my paycheck, I took my bills in one hand and a picture of the sneaker on my phone on the other. And I would look at the bills then look at the picture on my phone. I didn’t want to bring home other people’s sneakers to clean anymore, I wanted my own joints, right? But what about the bills? Let’s buy some sneakers right?! I paid R$800 grand on them and it was the happiest day of my life. So when I got home, I was so happy, my moms asked me “who’s sneakers are those? And I answered, “these are mine”. And she said, “and how much did you pay for these sneakers?”. “Let’s just say I don’t have my salary anymore”. She closed the door and said “you’re crazy”(laughs). And those sneakers lasted a long time, I felt so accomplished. After them, I started to buy more stuff but they were my babies. I kept buying and buying stuff until I started my own resell business. And for you to get some new stuff you gotta let go of some old stuff, so that’s why decided to sell my XR1 so I could buy a new one and go on with my life.
Do you have any specific story with them?
BrendowI’m always late for everything. There was this one I was late for work, and I left my girlfriend’s house running to get to work, I ran by a pile of garbage and I stabbed bag tomato sauce. I stepped on it with my right foot and my left foot got covered in tomato sauce. I cursed the 10th generation of everyone alive right there on the spot, my sneakers were orange! And even though I was late I went back to my girlfriend’s house to clean my sneakers. I got to work an extra hour later just because I went back to clean the shoes, I was desperate!
I take really good care of my sneakers because first, I’m the one paying for them right? I work my ass off, and those things ain’t cheap, send investment so why wouldn’t I take good care of them? am I supposed to just let them wear off? Taking care of them is worth it, it’s your money. And also if you want to sell them one day it’s important that they are well-preserved, it’s worth it.
Adidas NMD City Sock
Bought: 2018
Owner: Brendow Sena
Photos by: Danilo Silva
