Fat Joe Releases Budget-Conscious Sneaker Line

Article written by: Asmara Wreksono
Posted on: September 29, 2009

Feeling a bit budget constrained? Well have no fear, because a lot of celebrities out there are busy developing solutions to keep us regular folks looking good in these hard times. One of those celebs is veteran Bronx emcee, Fat Joe, who is joining forces with retail giants K-Mart and Sears to launch an affordable sneaker line.

In an interview with theshoegame.com, Joe expressed his intentions:

“You know I own thousands of pairs of sneakers and I’m a huge collector. But I wanted my sneaker to be something the kids could actually afford. Due to these hard economic times, a lot of kids cannot afford $200 sneakers. So kids can buy them themselves. They don’t even have to worry about their mom or pops buying them for $34.99.”

The project is a brainstorm child of the rapper himself and NBA Knicks star, Al Harrington, who also pays a great deal of attention to the economic recession. Coming up with price tags that are so low for a fashion sneaker line must have been done with a reason and Joe has a good one.

“It’s unbelievable that you can pay $34.00 for this quality of a dope style sneaker. So when I sit down and see what the materials cost, I would have paid $150 for these. I’ve paid $10,000 for a pair of sneakers. But it really only took them $30 to make the sneaker.”

The huge profits raked in by sneaker companies inspired Fat Joe to give back to the community by providing an affordable sneaker line for young adults.

The line is called Protégé “They Sick” and is available now in K-Mart and Sears. Fat Joe will drop the Protégé Blackout sneaker on Black Friday and here’s a peek of the upcoming kick:

Fat Joe’s 9th studio album “Jealous Ones Still Envy 2 (J.O.S.E. 2) is gonna drop on October 6th, 2009 and will be featuring appearances from Lil Wayne, Ron Browz, Akon, T-Pain, Lil Kim, Fabolous and Raekwon.