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Adidas, the HUGE name in sports clothing and footwear now sponsor not ony RUN DMC but Conan Stevens too (though I don't get millions in cash and I haven't written a hit song about my shoes either). As you may notice there has been a recent addition to the layout of my website, up there on the top right, just below the search box is a new "Sponsored By" section to acknowledge those who believe in me and are helping me achieve....
For me clothes shopping has aways been a nightmare, shoe shopping even worse. Here is a quick sample of what it is like for me usually when I go shopping: Sales Assisant: "Hi, can I help you?"
Conan: "What shoes do you have in stock in size 14 or 14 1/2 UK?"
Sales Assisant: "What shoes do you like?"
Conan: "What shoes do you actually have in size 14 or 14 1/2 UK or 49EU sizing?"
Sales Assisant: *looks blank*
Conan: "You will have 2 or 3 pairs of shoes if I am lucky, if not I'll take whatever you have in those sizes"
Sales Assisant: "OK" *goes out to the storeroom and returns after 10 minutes*
Sales Assisant: "We have these" *shows me a pair of ugly shoes that fit*
Conan: "I'll take them"
That pretty much sums up my clothes shopping experience too. Until my Manager organised a sponsorship with Adidas for me. For the first time in many, many years I went to an Adidas shop. They have expanded somewhat since my basketball/listening to RUN DMC days. They now have several lines of styles and a huge selection. The biggest surprise for me was the Mi Adidas branding custom made shoes - yep shoes made to order. In the Adidas store they can measure your feet exactly and then you can order a custom pair of shoes to fit you perfectly. Adidas in Thailand has some 14UK sizes made as one off display shoes so my Manager has asked that all 14UK display shoes be sent in for me. Awesome, I have more shoes than my girlfriend now (as I horde shoes when I coud find them). Faced with so many choices in shoes for the first time in my life I just went with "as plain as you have" for now as I have no clothing to match fluorescent green shoes. Perfect, almost a lifetime of shoe frustration is now solved, at least for casual wear. For several years in Australia the only shoes I could get were army issue GP boots and Doc Martens which look like shiny army boots. Next I tried on the largest shirt available 3XL Asian sizing (apparenty Asian and Western sizes differ). It is a tight fit, skin tight across the top and a tight fit around my now shrunken six pack waistline. I don't mind the tight fit as the material is of very high quality and has a good stretch and breathability to it but what impresses me the most is the 3XL is just a bigger size and does not mean a tent with a big gut, like almost all off the shelf clothes available. I have seriously bought shirts before and immediately taken them to the tailor with instructions to "take 1 foot out of the waistline" only to get the shirt back and it still be baggy around the waist. Why is it that Western sizes assume that everyone who is big is also obese? So thankyou to Adidas I now have clothes and shoes that actually fit. For those of you who see me working out in Thailand in my old worn "hard core" style gym clothes you will soon be seeing them all replaced with stylish new Adidas wear and you can stop wondering how a movie star could be so incompetant at dressing himself. Oh yes, Adidas in Thailand also carry Diesel jeans which are supposedly so long that every pair needs to be cut to fit your length and they are included in the sponsorship... nice... :)
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