5 questions for Al Cabino
Tuesday, May 9, 2006 at 6:00AM 
As no agency seems to be picking up the vibe from our sneaker advocate Al Cabino's petition, we want to help him a little in fighting his cause. Yet we also wanted to know a little more about the man behind the sneakers (aka the maker of the first chocolate sneakers known to man). So we asked him the five biggest questions on our mind …
Why do you want Nike to launch these particular shoes?
Everyone dreams of walking in a movie star's shoes. The McFlys are the Holy Grail of movie sneakers. The McFlys were created just for the film, never worn beyond the silver screen. There is a sneaker legend that says that in 2015, Nike will come out with them. But I'm not going to wait 9 years. There are a lot of people who don't want to wait 9 years (note: at the time of writing this post the Al Cabino petition actually was well about 17500 signatures)
Did you expect the media-attention for your project?
Yes, I expected media attention but I never expected to receive hundreds and hundreds of letters from fans around the world every day, from Tokyo to Los Angeles, from Paris to New York, from Madrid to Montreal, I have become an international sneaker celebrity, it is surreal.
Have you had any feedback from Nike on the McFly project?
Right after I started the petition I was contacted by someone at Nike. He said "Al, this is big. You are on the Nike Inc global intranet. Usually the only thing on there is very important stuff for the employees." And I was on there. A few days in, they were already talking about it. Nike is the world's biggest sneaker company. All good things take time, but everyone knows about my international sneaker campaign. When I've collected a respectable number of signatures, I will hand-deliver my petition to Nike's headquarters. I'm trying to organize a special meeting with Phil Knight. We will talk sneakers over some good Japanese tea.
What do you expect to get out of this? Royalties? Glory? A Nike Contract?
I want a pair of the McFlys. A lot of my friends have been saying that Nike should hire me and give me some title like 'special sneaker projects dude' but I don't make those decisions. It would be fun to work with an advertising agency on some future sneaker ads. My Mom thinks I'm creative, what do you think?
Are there any other shoes you want to see released?
I want to work with the Montreal Canadiens hockey club to release some special edition sneakers that would combine my love for the Montreal Canadiens and my love for sneakers, that would be the greatest honor ever… the Canadiens are celebrating their 100th anniversary in 2009.
About Al Cabino
Al Cabino is a twenty-something Capricorn born and raised in Montreal, Canada. He loves rock music and hockey and … sneakers. He loves them so much that he's launched himself into the profession of sneakerographer, in reference to Jacques Cousteau, the great oceanographer. He is also working on a book on sneakers.
campaign, co-creation