Where to Find Vintage Patrick Ewing Shoes
Finding a pair of Patrick Ewing's (now) vintage line of shoes can be quite the ordeal. With a grittier, more blue-collar game than Michael Jordan or even fellow big man Charles Barkley, Patrick Ewing was often overshadowed in what was truly a golden era of stars for the National Basketball Association. Despite the fact that Ewing was the toast of the town in New York, Jordan and Barkley were “sexier” marketing tools for companies such as Nike and Hanes. Two decades later, the shadow cast over Ewing’s career by his peers remains blatantly apparent when one searches for his shoe line. Air Jordan shoes and apparel remain as omnipresent as ever, while Ewing has once again been relegated to the sidelines, literally, as an assistant coach for the Orlando Magic. Unlike Barkley, with his pervasive public persona, Ewing is rarely on TV, unless you’ve seen his bizarrely entertaining Snickers commercials (Google Patrick Chewing). Even more obscure than a Patrick Ewing sighting however, is a Ewing shoe sighting. The best place to find vintage Ewing shoes is undoubtedly online, but it might not be as easy as you think.
The company his sneakers were originally made by, Ewing Athletics, does not even have a website. (Don’t get confused by Ewing Sports, which is another company that has nothing to do with the Hall of Famer.) Meanwhile the website for Next Sports Inc., which reportedly bought Ewing Athletics, is so unhelpful that it may as well not exist. Finally, Internet rumors indicating that a Canadian company called United Front bought the rights to Ewing’s shoes in 2007 further confuses the situation, compounding this manufacturing conundrum. The only Canadian company that internet searches generate for that name is a video game company. Clearly then, finding Ewing sneakers through many of the companies associated with “Ewings” can prove mightily frustrating. After doing extensive research into the issue however, we’ve made some headway.
Theshoegame.com has the Ewing Rogue II shoe in stock, which you can pay for through PayPal. Additionally, a handful of independent sellers can be found selling their vintage Ewing kicks on consumer-to-consumer websites such as eBay which also uses PayPal. Thorough searches on such sites hit the jackpot, with rarer types of “Ewings,” such as the 1991 Nike OG Sports Patrick Ewing Concept high-tops, or the 1993 Kross OGs, made by Next.
If you feel it is your lucky day, you might want to try your luck at sneakerpedia.com, a website powered by Foot Locker which launched in May. Here you can virtually link up with people who own rare vintage “Ewings” such as the Ewing 33, and Adidas Ewing shoes such as the Rivalry (high-tops and low-tops), and the conductor. However, keep in mind that many of sneakerpedia’s patrons are “sneakerheads” looking to show off their collections and therefore may not be willing to part ways with their Ewings.
