Thanks to Eric “Shake” James, 414 Day has become synonymous with sneakers.
On Saturday, April 11, the Clicks and Sneex store owner and philanthropist is dropping a new pair of limited-edition shoes celebrating Milwaukee in time for its holiday on April 14. Named “View Finder,” and designed with artist Alexander-John, the Adidas Sambas feature a wraparound map of several Milwaukee neighborhoods with a Cream City color base, midnight blue highlights and red thread.
This is the third straight year James has partnered with Adidas Cornerstone Community to create exclusive 414-inspired kicks, but it’s the first time he’s officially teaming up with Visit Milwaukee and Summerfest. (Hence the iconic smiley face on the laces and inside the sole.) As a result of those forces joining together, a second shoe design will release later this summer, with more details to come.
The new shoe tradition started in 2024 with 414 pairs of cheese-emblazoned Forums, which quickly sold out. Since then, he releases 2,000 pairs for each new design – but that doesn’t make them easy to get. (“People been hitting me up, saying, ‘Bro, just send me an invoice. Take my credit card,” James jokes.) With each release, James ties in community events and educational activities, stemming from his work at his nonprofit Jay Academy, which provides programming for Milwaukee Youth.
The best bet to snag a pair of your own? James says most pairs will be sold at the grand re-opening of Sneex in its new location at 1320 E. Brady St., on Saturday from 11 a.m.-4:14 p.m. Otherwise, out-of-towners and others have a chance to cop the sneakers online ($140).
Milwaukee Magazine spoke to James about how this year’s shoes came to be, what it’s like working with Adidas, and more.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Can you walk us through the design of the “Viewfinder” Sambas? What inspired them?
I’m really excited about the Sambas. It’s my first time ever doing a low-profile shoe like that. The design continues telling the story of Milwaukee and making sure that the city feels represented in the right way. On one shoe, we got the North and the West sides, and on the other shoe we got the South and the East sides. I would love to have put the entire city on there, but the shoe wasn’t big enough.
The Cream City color is the whole basis of everything. We wanted to have it because we’re known for Cream City brick. And then we put the blue on there, and we picked certain neighborhoods, from Sherman Park to Harambee and Riverwest. … That’s why we named it the “View Finder,” to give you the view of Milwaukee.
How did this annual collaboration with Adidas Cornerstone Community begin?
In 2023, I dropped my first shoe with Adidas. It was called “Day One.” Any shoe that I do, I want to make sure that they have a community element and positive reinforcement to kids. That one was about choosing your day one wisely. When I did that shoe, it started off as a small thing. But then all these musicians, all these people from Adidas, and then the local community showed up for me. It was an incredible event, and I was extremely thankful.
From there, I was talking to a guy at Adidas, and he told me he had to get off the phone: “I got this call about this 617 shoe.” I was like, “617 – what is that?” He said that was Boston’s area code. I said, “Wait, Boston’s getting a shoe? Why isn’t Milwaukee getting a shoe?” And he said, “Because you haven’t designed it yet.”
That led to my first 414 Day shoe, which I had to get a sign-off from the Bucks because we used the OG Bucks Cream City colorway. I put brick on the tongue and cheese on the side, and we numbered them up to 414 pairs. That one was extremely successful. The next year, it was all about making sure the people living in Milwaukee, from Milwaukee, have pride in the city. I just feel like we’re cooler than those other cities – New York, LA, all that.
I wanted to tell a new story, so I started [the 2025 414 Day] shoe with the People’s Flag. I put water on the tongue with fish jumping out the water on the tongue – because someone in New York told me there’s no water in Milwaukee. I was like, “What? Son, we’re off the Great Lakes. Is you crazy?” And we had the original Milwaukee flag from 1846. I used the colors off one shoe from the 1846 flag, and then the other shoe was based off the People’s Flag.
That one led me to this year. Last year, I did some stuff with Visit Milwaukee. CEO Peggy Williams-Smith wore the shoes, and she was cool with them, but she said she felt they were too bulky. I was like, really? I guess they were bigger than she was accustomed to. This year, when I was coming up with the story and everything, I thought maybe I should do a Samba because I never did one before. Samba’s super popular right now.
Your 414 Day shoes get a lot of love from sneakerheads, but they strike a chord with people outside of that crowd, too. Why do you think that is?
Sneakers kind of went stagnant for a while, man. I feel like it was because people want real stories. They don’t just want color-up shoes. When you tell real stories, it resonates with the people more. The visuals we used for this drop are all people who are in the community – no actors, no models, none of that. It’s real people. I think that’s what matters to people. Then there’s the community aspect that’s tied into it, too. They know that when they buy one of my shoes, we’re not taking the money and going to Cancun. We’re taking the money and doing a back-to-school event and giving kids backpacks and school supplies. We’re going to give free haircuts.
It’s time to pick your Milwaukee favorites for the year!
How did Visit Milwaukee and Summerfest get closely involved this year?
One of my friends, who lived in Detroit at the time, was at a conference there and saw the Visit Milwaukee people. He said, “Oh, so y’all know Shake?” And they was like, “Nah, who is Shake?” He went to my Instagram and showed him all the things I’ve been doing.
He set up a meeting with them and me, and he was flying into town for it. I met with Leslie Johnson, Peggy and Josh Albrecht from Visit Milwaukee. Josh was super interested because he was a sneaker guy. Peggy was interested in doing something, but at the time it was more so about the community work I’ve been doing through my nonprofit Jay Academy. 414 Day came, and they bought a bunch of shoes and got such a crazy response. They had me come to City Hall, and I spoke at the flag drop. From there, I approached Josh, and I said, “Yo, man. What if we did a shoe?” And he was like, “Yeah, let’s talk about it.”
We put together this pitch plan we was going to present to Josh. When he got there, I didn’t even have to say nothing because he was saying the same things that we was pitching to him. He wanted to have a long-term partnership with the shoes. I had to go back to Adidas because, at the end of the day, they got the final say. They gave me their blessing. I went back to Josh and he was like, “What if we got Summerfest involved?” I said, “Oh, that would be crazy.” This whole entire thing that’s about to happen was a year in the making.
What does that collaboration look like?
Visit Milwaukee’s got volunteers boxing up the shoes. And they’re just using their network to spread the word and get it out here. Every pair that’s purchased this weekend will include a free GA ticket to Summerfest. You put this NFC chip in the shoe next to your phone. It would pull up a website, you would just sign up, and then you would get a digital free ticket. And then we also got a couple other things that we’re going to be announcing soon, some other special perks that you get.
From the initial spark to boxing up the final product, what’s it like to work with Adidas to create these shoes?
It’s beautiful. If you knew the number of people who are behind me – I always want to acknowledge them and get them the proper love they deserve. … Working with Adidas is so easy. They’re always willing – you know, my ideas is crazy, man. I don’t just want to make a blue shoe with a green line. I want to tell dope stories through shoes, and they’re always willing to push the envelope. If it’s something that they can’t do, they say, “We can’t do that, but we can do this.” It’s never just me; it is an incredible team. I’m truly blessed.
Where can people get the shoes when they release?
You can get them at the new Sneex location this Saturday, from 11 a.m. till 4:14 p.m. – gotta have that 414 in there. We’ll have food, a DJ. We’re going to do some flash tattoos inside the store. It’s going to be a good time, man.
We’re doing a lot of stuff with kids leading up to it. Every shoe I do, I see the kids first. I’m gonna be seeing the fifth and sixth grade at Siefort School, and then we’re going to go to Hawthorne Elementary School. We’re going to do a sneaker fair, which is like a design class going to be led by Alexander-John. We’re teaching the kids design and about having pride in their city, what 414 Day looks like to them. Some of them in the past have made designs of the school bus, the corner store, the Bucks, or saying rest in peace to their passed-away relatives. We’re trying to teach the kids to think big. I’m not trying to make them into designers because it ain’t for everybody, but I at least want them to start exploring their options.
