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We're going on record now to say LA Gear was never cool. Which is not to say the label didn't move a lot of merch, but still, for those who actually remember the '80s, it was a fleeting fashion moment, and then the shoe company really went in the wrong direction by trying to be truly athletic (no one wanted to actually play basketball in those things.) LA Gear has been trying to make a resurgence for some years; it made a mistake again by trying to launch with a bunch of Puma-esque shoes. Now, it's going for full-on irony and nostalgia, embracing its '80s roots, as evidenced by the new LA Gear website. Check it out for the advertisements and commercials of yore—it is sooooooooooooo '80s. And we can just imagine a bunch of teens and twenty-somethings running around in American Apparel leotards and clompy LA Gear high tops—which is to say that this reinvention of its old self will probably work.
· New L.A. Gear Website Launched [Highsnobiety]