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| LA Gear was all the rage in '89. |
LA Gear -- Late '80s Fashion & Footwear Icon
Yesterday, a chick I attended high school with posted clips on Facebook from our video yearbook. The first thing that struck me, other than the horrendous Long Island accents so thick it was almost difficult to comprehend anyone, were the awful fashions. I'm sorry, but other than Esprit, Benetton and maybe Limited and The Gap, styles from 1988-1990 were just hideous. One of the biggest culprits, I mean contributors to such wretched fashions? LA Gear.
LA Gear, obviously a brand out of Los Angeles, California were so incredibly popular at one point, they were one of the top three selling brands -- behind Reebok and Nike. In 1986, LA Gear focused on high-top sneaker styles for women -- I guess, other than Reebok, not many sneaker or footwear companies were really doing that. I was more of a Chuck Taylor Converse All Star high-top girl, so you can imagine my disapproval of the white high-top look.
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| Girls loved LA Gear in the late 1980s. |
Anyway, between 1986-1989, LA Gear really were all the rage in America. The shirts, the sneakers -- at one point the company raked in $224 million in sales! The brand continued to flourish into the '90s, but by about 1994 they began to fade out. LA Gear filed for bankruptcy in 1998. LA Gear relaunched in 2008, and is slightly cashing in on their nostalgic, retro '80s factor. Check out their website for fun '80s style revival gear.
View a retro LA Gear TV commercial here:
View a retro LA Gear TV commercial here:
10 comments:
I had silver LA Gears. :)
I had mint green high-top LA Gears in 1987. I wore them with my pegged Jordache acid-washed jeans. Aw yeah! Wonder where the sneaks went; I have my 25th HS reunion next week and could sure use them. Guess I'll settle on my acid-wash Jordache jacket instead!
I remember LA Gear.
My kids wore LA Gear too.
I remember LA Gear, but can't remember if I actually bought any of it. Did have lots of Reebok.
I had the Michael Jackson LA Gear Sneakers. I know, I've always been a poser. ;)
OMG, the ghosts of bad fashion past! I totally had those, with the light blue laces.
Yeah. I wore that crap.
Still have my LA Gear sneaks from the 89-90 school year. They were my first expensive sneaks and I babied them - they never saw mud. They had rhinestones 3 pairs of laces - I used 2, the mesh ones and the black glittery ones. Wore them with my ripped jeans with lace inserts. My best friend and I had the same sneaks and jeans and both wore them the first day of freshman year.
I was the LA Gear apparel rep 1988 to 1991 in the Carolinas and Virginas. They had incredibly hot fashion jeanswear and junior tops plus mens sneakers and jeanswear also. All the department stores and fashion chain stores carried their products. Sneakers, jeanswear, tops. Now those guys are the owners of Skechers footwear.They are still making a fortune, even more so now.
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