The H-Town Sneaker Summit recently held their Seventh Annual Winter Event at Houston’s premier sports and entertainment complex, The Toyota Center, also known as the home of the Houston Rockets NBA Franchise. The event played host to the usual plethora of displays from boutiques, brands, and collectors alike. The Summit also boasted many special guest appearances including The Cool Kids, Killa Kyleon, DJ Rapid Ric, cARTer, and Dom Kennedy. The Legendary Ambassador of the South, Bun B of UGK also made a triumphant return to the Summit nearly giving away every pair of sneakers on his personal display before shutting it down with a surprise performance. Other notable appearances included the NFL Rushing Leader Arian Foster of the Houston Texans, as well as the All Time NBA Blocked Shots Leader, and Houston Rockets Legend, Hakeem Olajuwon who was also the main inspiration behind our special tee made exclusively for the Summit a few seasons ago. For those that were unable to attend the event we have re-released a limited amount of these classic event tees to commemorate this monumental occasion exclusively on our online store. To see more pictures from the event click here.

Happy Chinese New Year from Akomplice! I hope everyone is wearing something red today for good luck. It is the year of the Rabbit and for those who were born in 1915, 1927, 1939, 1951, 1963, 1975, 1987, 1999, which are the years of Rabbit, please try to wear something red all year so you will have luck around you for the whole year! May the new year bring everyone happiness, wealth, and longevity. In commemoration of the Chinese New Year, check out the AK “Chinese America” Liberty t-shirt. The print has red in it to keep the luck flowing throughout 2011. Get your good luck charm here.

So I went to the Botanical Gardens an hour from where I was staying in Cartagena.  It was amazingly beautiful, and super low key. There was a family at the spot that showed me mad love, rum shots, games, etc.  There is a creek and stream that fill the swimming pool that is super fresh and refreshing.  The “Patrick Liberty Akomplice Travel Guide” gives this spot two thumbs up. Recommendation- Bring cute girls, good friends, a bottle of rum, water, lunch, swimsuits, and a deck of cards and you’re set for the day. To see more pics of this beautiful garden click here.

Akomplice recently constructed our first full in-store buildout, at Backside, Burbank California. The buildout was custom designed by Mike Smalls, and put together by the Backside and Akomplice crew. The cool thing about the buildout is that in a way it’s like a mini Akomplice shop within Backside, hosting the newest AK collections and the past favorites. Choosing Backside was easy, we’ve been working with Backside since 2006 and have grown fond of what they do and who they are. If you’re ever in the LA area make sure to check the buildout and Backside, located right in the heart of the LA valley. Backside has streetwear lines including: The Hundreds, Huf, 10 Deep, Akomplice, Mishka, and Obey, to name a few. In addition to clothing Backside also hand selects what they consider the best new and classic music, available on both cd and vinyl. The Empire Records of the real world, Backside has been in business for 14 years and ain’t goin’ nowhere. We’re proud of the new partnership and hope you get a chance to see it. If you visit Backside in the next month, say the phrase: Mike’s better at Busta Move than Eric. By saying this you’ll be rewarded with a free flask. Check more photos right… here!