Trojan Records x Benji Blunt x SOS x eatmoreshoes Customs Kicks for Charity Auction

Sneakers are known to be part of various cultural worlds – fashion, skating, street wear, collectors’ circles, music and arts industries – but above and beyond all, no truly aware trainer lover can look past the truth that shoes are definitely a materialistic luxury. No matter how lush a new release might be or immaculately deadstock a vintage pair could be discovered, the sneaker world must admit that it’s one about privilege, even amongst the thick, passionate soles its treads upon.

With this truth in mind, the up and coming UK-based customizer Benji Blunt has decided to join forces with eatmoreshoes in order to put a new program into place encouragingly dubbed “Custom Kicks for Charity”. The idea behind the movement is quite simple: eatmoreshoes provides blank, leather canvases, a sneaker artisan splashes them with designs inspired by their favorite sponsor, and the finished result is auctioned off with one hundred percent of the proceeds going straight to a charity cause.

On the 26th of February Benji Blunt and eatmoreshoes will proudly unveil their first Custom Kicks for Charity (CK4C) auction on eBay. Inspired by his love for Reggae music, Benji chose Trojan Records as a starting point for his design, and the record label has gladly agreed to officially sponsor the project. On the receiving end of the ordeal, SOS Children’s Village – a charity that was created to help abandoned and orphaned children in Jamaica – has accepted the gift of the final bidders offer on the shoes as a donation to their cause.

In order to get an intimate view on this exciting endeavor, eatmoreshoes piled all the involved parties into a single interview session to see how something like this can possibly come together.

Benji, I guess it all begins with you, how’d this whole thing start?

Benji Blunt: Trojan Records is a label I have bought from over the years as a DJ. I love how they champion early Reggae and Ska. I am really fond of the their brand image, their logo and type is striking. I like how it has evolved and become more sophisticated. It really is iconic.

Sounds like true passion on your part Benji. And Trojan, how would you describe what you do?

Trojan Records: Since our creation in 1968, we’ve led the way in presenting the very best in classic Jamaican sounds, from the Rocksteady and early Reggae sounds that dominated in the years of our launch, up to the modern styles of Dancehall and Jungle. We’ve always taken pride in the quality of our releases, which have highlighted the cream of Jamaican talent, with the likes of Bob Marley & The Wailers, Dennis Brown, John Holt, Ken Boothe, Toots & The Maytals, and The Inner Circle all included on our illustrious roster. The output of the leading producers who have been instrumental in the developing sound of Jamaican music has also received due attention, with the works of such legendary figures as Arthur ‘Duke’ Reid, Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry, Clement ‘Coxsone’ Dodd and Leslie Kong all featuring prominently on our releases.

You’re definitely bringing serious heat to wax worldwide. Back to Benji, what led you to create this shoe in their honor?

BB: Sometimes I like to follow a brief. I imagined a shoe – like a 35th – that could represent something… something that I as a Superstar fan would buy into. This was a perfect marriage for me, combining a great music label with a great shoe.

And how did Trojan Records get involved?

BB: I think I posted some DIY pics on their Facebook fan page. It was quite a while ago. I got some nice comments and enquiries from other Trojan fans about whether the shoes were for sale and that sort of thing. I’m a little hazy on the order of events but I think Jason Lawless (Lawless-Street.com) contacted me after I posted the pics on FB and told me he had posted them on his blog and got a lot of hits. He said there had also been some mention of them on the FB news blog on the Trojan website. Certainly I would have never known that Trojan fans were checking them out if Jason hadn’t told me.

Jason, for those readers out there that aren’t familiar with you and your blog, can you tell us a bit about yourself?

Jason Lawless: I’m just a Reggae fan from Los Angeles. I also happen to run a label called Moondust Records dedicated to the sounds made famous by Trojan and Pama Records from bands such as The Impalers, Soulsteppers, Delirians, Revivers, and more. I even released two 7 inches from the godfather of Ska Laurel Aitken. I manage a couple of bands and promote shows plus run a few websites that post news and interesting things related to the music.

With you in L.A. and Benji all the way across the pond in the UK, how’d you find out about his shoes and get connected with him?

JL: I happened to see a post on Facebook about the shoes he created. I forget who I was connected to but it popped up in my timeline so I clicked on the pictures. I shared the images and figured I’d connect with the guy who had made ‘em.

Can you give us some background on your website and why you decided to feature Benji’s work?

JL: I’ve been running my site since 2008, posting news and shows from around the world about Ska and Reggae. Fans in the states don’t have too many choices to find information really. There are only a few websites that even mention the music. I try to cover as much information about the the bigger name artists from the UK and Jamaica as well as the top US bands that play. So when I saw the shoes I thought it was just a perfect fun thing to post about. Figured the fans of my site would enjoy the shoes. The colors and painting looked perfect.

How do you both feel about the reaction to the shoes by music fans?

JL: It’s funny. I’ve been running the site for four years and it’s the most viewed post I’ve made since launching it. I posted about the shoes and then I visited the official Trojan Records forum and made a post there about the shoes. I also shared it via my social channels (Facebook and Twitter) and people loved ‘em! They started sharing the post and making comments. Members of the Trojan forum even wanted a pair.

BB: Yeah, I agree, I think the Trojan fans that have seen them have like them. I think there’s been a small yet steady flow of interest in them. Nothing huge. I’m still in my formative years! I think fans of Trojan stumble across them and some get in touch and let me know they are a fan of the shoes. I’m hopeful they’ll appeal to a lot more Trojan fans now that the auction info is publicized. I’m sure lots of Trojan fans don’t even know they exist. Facebook is a lottery, you never know what people will share and things are often discovered long after their creation. I’m hoping the publicity works and the auction attracts bids so we can raise some money for SOS.

Naturally Benji. So why SOS? Who are they and what do they do?

BB: I wanted to go with a charity that worked in Jamaica, the source of most of the talent that has been represented on the Trojan label over the years. I was keen that the charity had a focus on the needs of children as I come from a background of working with children and young people, and have a young family myself. SOS do great work helping orphaned children in Jamaica and around the world.

SOS, how would you describe what you do in Jamaica?

SOS: Officially we’re called SOS Children’s Village, and we’re the world’s largest orphan and abandoned children’s charity. Our vision is “a loving home for every child” and we think our approach is the best for children and child sponsors alike. Child sponsors and donors worldwide provide a new family and home for more than 78,000 children in 518 unique Children’s Villages in 125 countries. Our supporters also help a million children and their families through our programmes in the surrounding communities.

We’re proud to be helping support this auction and potentially providing more resources to fuel your cause. It’s fantastic that Benji has pushed this project so far… in fact, Benji, can you tell us how you first came up with the thought to have a charity auction?

BB: When I painted the shoes, friends asked who they were for? I said me! Some people asked if they were for sale and I always said no, they’re mine. But I could never bring myself to wear them and dirty them, they just sit in their adidas Originals box or on the CD shelf. I couldn’t really put a price on them, so if I’m not happy selling them I should give them away. Somebody will get a kick out of them and it feels right. I figured if I could get Trojan on board and some slick images from you guys at eatmoreshoes then an auction might be successful… we’ll just have to wait and see.

Beyond this first installment in the eatmoreshoes Custom Kicks for Charity (CK4C) program what else – if anything – is next on the roster?

JL: Well seems like Benji’s got a gift so maybe I can talk him into doing a special edition for my label too! I’ll keep promoting the music every way I can including the upcoming Echoes of Kingston tour featuring the legendary Jamaican foundation artist The Skatalites as well as a new release from The Slackers’ sax-man David Hillyard’s Rocksteady 7 featuring Jamaican legend Larry McDonald. Thank you so much for reaching out to me and I hope Benji gets the chance to show his creative side for more interesting projects like this.

BB: I can’t wait to see how this goes, if we raise a decent sum then that’s great. If not then we’ll have to see about making sure that the next time we auction for charity we do better! I’m well up for it.

We are too Benji! Thank you all for taking the time to join us in this joint effort to doing something creative, inspired by passion and talent, and hopefully draw enough folks’ attention to provide support for a major, positive cause.

The auction for these Benji Blunt x adidas Superstar 80s “Trojan” ended on March 4th, 2010.

written by Dylan Cromwell