Earlier this year I was digging on the internet for youth culture content for Dance Policy, something I’m often doing while bored at work. I came across a clip from programme entitled The Clothes Show, with an episode focusing on Bristol street fashion.

Being a Gen Z myself, I had never heard of this show nor the presentor Caryn Franklin. In the clip Franklin is interviewing a youth in the 1990s who had just purchased a pair of red FILA Trailblazers and agreed to unbox them on camera. Whilst the teenager in the video seemed oddly stoic about the unboxing, the hype surrounding these shoes in the dance community was huge. I had seen the trainers before, but I didn’t know the impact this one pair of shoes had made on fashion scene of dance music.

There are snippets on the internet about the impact of the Trailblazers on dance music, but nothing definitive, nor written in a very engaging way. So once I posted the clip on Instagram and Tik Tok I got in contact with Rich Evans, who reposted the clip, and happened to be involved in the relaunch of the FILA Trailblazers. Rich Evans is a creative director with twenty years of experience in development lifestyle and fashion oriented brands, specialising in youth culture. If anyone was an authority on the relationship between trailblazers and youth culture, it would be him. We had a short chat about his involvement and love for these trainers in the 90s!

What is your personal relationship with the FILA Trailblazer, in terms of youth culture, back in the 90s?

So, as a kid my parents were very traditional. I was stick thin and I ended up in a pretty rough school with bullies and scumbags. My personal outlet from the tight parameters of my family and trouble at school was rave, although, too young to go. One day on the way to school my dad accidently slipped from his Elton John tapes to the radio which was playing Prodigy ‘out of space’. This literally opened a door in my brain to another dimension. From then I started getting the bus to town visiting record shops (T2 in southampton) mainly. Collecting flyers, buying tape packs, jackets, videos and anything else to do with rave other than actually going. 

My mum and dad kept me in strict uniform but at the same time, in 1993 when all my mates were wearing trainers, I managed to get my hands on a pair of black trailblazers which to any parent or teacher looked like shoes. I’d seen Shaun Ryder wearing them and I had aso seen Keith Flint from the prodigy in them too. They also looked pretty chunky and at least made my feet and legs look I could kick down doors! Not sure where it came from but we also used to stuff socks under the tounge for extra toughness. I had a paper round and my trailblazers were perfect for that too. Water proof (ish) hard as nails for the long distance I had to walk / ride and if i saw any girls or mates they looked fresh. On my paper round id listen to rave tapes back to back and imagine the days id finally get to a rave. . this would eventually become the inspiration for re-launching the shoe 20 years later.

What was your involvement in the relaunch of the trailblazer in 2018?

Following a career in styling I set up a fashion PR agency in brixton and we were resupporting FILA (uk) with all aspects of brand development from social media managemt, creative campaigns, events, collabs. Since 2015 the sports heritage thing had exploded. We had already relaunched champion and FILA UK wanted a piece of the action.

After several successful campaigns I was looking around the FILA HQ in Watford at a new collection and right at the back was a dusty pair of red trail blazers?? I was buzzing… they instantly took me back to the days of my rave-y paper round runs. Apparently they had done a relaunch with Patrol in 2012 which id not heard of? I looked it up and the launch was a pretty sad gathering of about 10 lads with beards & tote bags and hadn’t really made much of an impact.

These type of sneaker store collabs are often done with minimal thought or creativity becase its so simple for both parties to just make and then sell. The need for PR and marketing isnt a priority as they both have big comminuites. Anyway, I pitched an idea of bringing it back properly with much more authenticity and connection to sub culture and they liked the idea. I also felt with trends in fashion and dance music, the time was right. I did two campaigns for the Trailblazer. The original one was based on my dreamy/stoner days of my paper round this was produced by LAW magazine and based on the success of the relaunch they wanted me to do another which was based on me finally being old enough to travel to raves and the feeling this gave me…(All wearing trailblazers obviously)

Do you believe the return of ‘dance music’ (I.E re-entering the mainstream space around 2016/2017 onwards) was the inspiration for the return of the trailblazer?

During this time everything 90’s was being chewed up and spat out by every brand (and still is). iIndie bands like JAWS and the Twang were doing the Stone Roses, Blur type stuff and rave culture was in the spotlight again with wavey garms highlighting the fashion and style. I realised at this point (being about 38) that id done all this before??! Had curtains, done lots of drugs, worn moschino, lacoste, ralph and bucket hats. So, having been on the OG rave wave and still being knee deep in fashion, I could almost predict what was next. 

What did FILA want to achieve with this relaunch, money grab or a genuine belief they can reinvent the shoe to work in modern fashion?

The way most big global brands work, especially ones that are split up into seperate UK, GERMAN, FRENCH licences is that clever, business types work in house and to keep their brand relevant they outsource the cool-ness. This can be a game of pin the tail on the donkey as millions of people think they know ‘fashion’ but dont and in house types know no different to be honest. The best brands will employ an amazing creative director but this rarely happens.

Brands are of course businesses and ultimately money motivated. If a brand is still owned by the original founder/s the passion remains but once brands get bought by businessmen/women everything consumer facing is smoke and mirrors and its only people like me and my team that buzz of the heritage. 

Following the campaigns, the trailblazes sold out and FILA continued to sell and drop different colourways of the trainers. Evans went onto to do the same idea with F13, and even got to work with leyroy from the Prodigy who wore them in ‘Everybody in the same place’ Thank you for talking to my Rich, fascinating history!

You can follow Rich Evans here