Susana Maria Shiruba
New Balance M574M Graffiti Pack
Shiruba got her interest in sneaker culture because of a college project she did ten years ago, same time she bought this New Balance. She told us a little bit about her passion for street culture, design and pastel colors – this being one of the reasons she bought this M574M.
“My name is Susana but people usually call me Shiruba. I majored in Fashion but ended up going towards art/graphic design, because I never liked creating products, I rather compose an idea and sell it through as a whole – not only selling the product. I always liked the “backstage”, since I worked in fashion I liked the production part of it, shootings, the entire programming that that happens so before, and that all started to inspire me in many aspects of my life.
Since I graduated in Fashion, it was easy for me to start liking sneakers. I’ve always been interested in street culture in general, and it was with this one right here that I began to call tenis shoes, sneakers.”
Shiruba, what’s your relationship with sneakers in general?
shirubaSneakers are the perfect size for you to do a thousand different experiments, put together a bunch of different little pieces of things that inspire you, that you like, textures and colors that you can wear. To me my feet are the most important part of my entire body, they support me throughout the day, I walk a lot, I really enjoy walking around, and if I have to pick between walking or using public transportation, I’d choose walking every time. Sneakers are basically some I can wear every day, I think they’re a combo of practicality. If I were to be a product I would be a sneaker. I consider myself a practical person and I like creative things, I like colors, happy things. So when I look at a sneaker I see myself in them and when I put them on they become a part of me.
When did you start linking sneakers?
shirubaThe turning point was when I bought this 574 in the beginning of 2009 – they dropped in the beginning of 2008. I needed a sneaker to wear to college because look, I live near the Sumaré subway and I went all the way to the east side, it was about 1h30 to 2h. I didn’t have any actual shoes, there was the definition that girls had to wear flats and boys, sneakers, not to mention I didn’t have any money because let’s be real there are no cheap sneakers in this game, only less expensive sneakers am I right? (laughs).
I remember one day I was walking around the mall and they were on sale. They have everything I like, a mixture of a bunch of material that I really like, and the colorway is dope, I really like pastel tones it’s something that always draws my attention. After I bought them I began to understand and analyze the sneaker because it’s full of details and just like that I found myself wondering why the models, their names, I began to research more about the brands. Back in college I had to pick a theme for a project and I chose to do it about sneakers – that was when I learned everything. After I had the knowledge, I began to buy more sneakers and there’s no turning back from that. Sometimes you exchange them for something or you give them away, but you always replace them and usually with more than one.
It was with this M574M that I started really using the word sneaker; from then on I became fascinated with the culture reading Highsnobiety, I began to learn about the guys that already talked about this stuff back then – this being almost 10 years ago. Anyway, I also understood what was Jeff Staple’s Reed space, I looked up all those guys on the internet and focused on understanding all the parts of the sneaker, because I started with the technical part: first I understood the whole structure of the sneaker, how it’s composed, so I could then understand why it turned into such a big thing, this also made me like the construction of its image more than the product itself.
Do you have a specific story with them?
shirubaWith this sneaker I’ve been through a lot in the last 10 years, good things and lots of bad things, like the year I bought it, was the year I lost my father, so it’s already two things that really marked me. But besides that, I do not remember anything specific. Like, no one believes me when I say these sneakers are 10 years old except for these ridiculous soles that I need to fix. He draws a lot of attention, so I’m the queen of the bus (laughs), the kids look at the sneakers and say, “Dad, I want her sneakers!”
New Balance M574M Graffiti Pack
Owner: Shiruba
Bought: 2009
Photos by: Kickstory
