A streetwear collab and sneaker legend, Jeff Staple is known the world over for his work with brands, including Nike, The Fader, and Hypebeast. This monograph documents the past twenty-five years of Staple’s most iconic work.

In 1997, Jeff Staple walked into a boutique in New York City wearing a shirt he printed in his silk-screen class at Parsons School of Design. What started as a small, handmade T-shirt line grew organically and began to garner a serious following in New York. In the process of building this burgeoning brand, Staple was asked by Nike in 2005 to create a special commemorative sneaker that would represent New York. The Staple Pigeon Dunk SB was conceived and led to much fanfare upon its release. It exposed Staple — as well as sneaker culture — to a mass audience. In Staple’s words, to understand is to see and to see is to have clarity of mind. That clarity has helped develop his iconic Pigeon logo (and brand) into a global force that has graced the heels of almost every major footwear brand imaginable. 

This book offers readers a history lesson in his enormous contributions to streetwear and the sneaker industry while also uncovering design context to a series of Staple’s most crucial projects. A beautiful visual reference, this book invites the reader to travel down an intricate maze of streetwear history told through an insider’s point of view. Archival sketches, drawings, magazine covers, and contributions by Hiroshi Fujiwara and Futura make this an indispensable volume for lovers of streetwear and design.

About the Authors:

Jeff Staple is an American fashion and graphic designer and the founder of New York visual communications agency Staple Design. Hiroshi Fujiwara is a Japanese musician, producer, and designer. Futura is a street artist born and raised in New York. He regularly collaborates with brands from Nike to Supreme. He lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.

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Пролистать книгу Jeff Staple: Not Just Sneakers

Shoe design is pushing the boundaries of what is possible in both the real and virtual worlds through state-of-the-art technologies, ground-breaking materials, and new and innovative ways of thinking about what a shoe can be.

New modes of making and innovations in materials are inspiring shoe designers to challenge what shoes can look and feel like. This book explores today’s most futuristic footwear designs, from the use of new technologies such as 3-D printing and smart technology to the invention of sustainable materials, including “leather” made from mushrooms and soles made from reclaimed ocean plastics. It also examines footwear design in the virtual world where adherence to things like comfort and gravity are no longer part of the equation. The importance of sneakers in games such as Grand Theft Auto and Fortnite are explored as is the new enthusiasm for collectable non-fungible token (NFT) sneakers that are being acquired for tens of thousands of dollars for a single pair.

In-depth interviews with of-the-moment designers, including Iris van Herpen, the team at RTFKT, Steven Smith, Eric Avar, Alexander Taylor, and more, all conducted by the author, dive deep into the creative process, influences, and the future of shoe design. The introduction offers an overview of great footwear innovations from the past that have kept us a step ahead.

About the Author:

Elizabeth Semmelhack is an acclaimed shoe historian and director and senior curator of the Bata Shoe Museum. 

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Пролистать книгу Future Now: Virtual Sneakers to Cutting-Edge Kicks

A riotous, 720-page celebration of sneakers and sporting legends, as told through the medium of vintage print advertising

More than a decade in the making, Soled Out is the definitive – and only – collection of sneaker advertisements from the footwear industry’s golden age. Lovingly written and compiled by Simon ‘Woody’ Wood, founder of the legendary Sneaker Freaker magazine, this colossal volume combines nearly 900 vintage images with a punchy narrative full of insider stories and historical revelations.

Featuring superstar athletes and cultural icons such as Andre Agassi, Paula Abdul, Bo Jackson, Bugs Bunny, Michael Jordan, MC Hammer, and Shaquille O’Neal, every page is laced with classic sneaker models, unforgettable graphics, and outrageous trash talk. Sit back and enjoy the spectacular scenery ahead as Soled Out powers through a 720-page marathon celebration of the rubber, leather, and mesh we wear on our feet.

About the author:

Sneaker Freaker was established in 2002 by Simon ‘Woody’ Wood as the first and only international footwear magazine. With a monthly audience reach of 10 million, it documents every collaboration, custom design, limited edition, and retro reissue in exacting detail. Based in Melbourne, Woody is recognized worldwide for his encyclopedic knowledge, inimitable writing style, and steadfast role as an authentic ambassador for all things sneakers.

In 1985, Nike released Michael Jordan’s first sneaker, the Air Jordan 1, and sneaker culture was born. Now thousands of people wait in line at Supreme, and companies throw millions of dollars at LeBron James to keep him in their marketing plans. The trend that saw steady growth for decades with the emergence of sports, hip-hop, and sportswear advertising has exploded into a phenomenon. And no one has watched that phenomenon more closely than Complex.

Sneaker of the Year explores the past 35 years of sneaker culture with the expertise, authority, and passion that only Complex can offer. With vibrant photographs and illustrations throughout, as well as input from some of the sneaker world’s most important voices, this compilation is a must-have for hypebeasts and sneakerheads everywhere.

About the Author: 

Complex is a New York-based media platform that reports on trends in style, pop culture, music, and sports, with a focus on streetwear, sneaker culture, hip-hop, and graphic art. It was founded by Marc Ecko in 2002.

Three-Stripe Thrills. The history of the adidas shoe, from its earliest beginnings until today

The adidas story is one of groundbreaking designs, epic moments, and conceiving the all-around sports shoe, worn by the likes of Lionel Messi, Run DMC, and Madonna. A mecca for sneaker fans, this book presents adidas’s history through 357 pairs of shoes, including one-of-a-kind originals, vintage models, never-before-seen prototypes, and designs from Stella McCartney, Yohji Yamamoto, Parley for the Oceans, and more.

It all started in their mother’s laundry room in the quiet German town of Herzogenaurach. There, Adolf Dassler — known to everyone as “Adi” — and his brother Rudolf made their first pair of sports shoes. Hundreds of groundbreaking designs, epic moments, and star-studded collabs later, this book presents the first visual review of the adidas shoe through more than 357 models including never-before-seen prototypes and one-of-a-kind originals.

To further develop and tailor his products to athletes’ specific needs, Dassler asked them to return their worn footwear when no longer needed, with all the shoes eventually ending up in his attic (to this day, many athletes return their shoes to adidas, often as a thank you after winning a title or breaking a world record). This collection now makes up the adidas Historical Archive, one of the largest, if not the largest archive of any sports goods manufacturer in the world—which photographers Christian Habermeier and Sebastian Jäger have been visually documenting in extreme detail for years.

Shot using the highest reproduction techniques, these images reveal the fine details as much as the stains, the tears, the repair tape, the grass smudges, the faded autographs. It’s all here, unmanipulated and captured in extremely high resolution — and with it comes to light the personal stories of each individual wearer. We encounter the shoes worn by West Germany’s football team during its “miraculous” 1954 World Cup win and those worn by Kathrine Switzer when she ran the Boston Marathon in 1967, before women were officially allowed to compete; custom models for stars from Madonna to Lionel Messi; collabs with the likes of Kanye West, Pharrell Williams, Raf Simons, Stella McCartney, Parley for the Oceans or Yohji Yamamoto; as well as the brand’s trailblazing techniques and materials, like its pioneering use of plastic waste that is intercepted from beaches and coastal communities.

Accompanied by a foreword by designer Jacques Chassaing and expert texts, each picture tells us the why and the how, but also conveys the driving force behind adidas. What we discover goes beyond mere design; in the end, these are just shoes, worn out by their users who have loved them—but they are also first-hand witnesses of our sports, design, and culture history, from adidas’s beginnings in 1919 until today.

Concept and photography by

Christian Habermeier has been working as a photographer and designer since 1989. He studied taught communication design and has taught photography and digital illustration from 2000 to 2006. His own projects span from Cuba, Kenya, Nepal, India, Switzerland, to Hong Kong.

Sebastian Jäger studied design at the Georg-Simon-Ohm University of Applied Sciences in Nuremberg, focusing on moving images and photography, where he met former lecturer Christian Habermeier in 2005. Their joint company studio waldeck photographers serves customers from industry and the cultural sector. Since 2011, they have been creating a visual record of the holdings of the historical adidas archive.

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This book comprehensively showcases sneakers through time from early Air Jordans, the original Air Force 1, and Adidas Superstars to iconic contemporary designs by pop culture figures like Kanye West and cool fashion designers like Yohji Yamamoto and Martin Margiela — a visual history of the world’s most coveted and popular footwear, from early Keds and Converse All-Stars to the latest fashion and design icons. 

Every sneaker has a story to tell, and this encyclopedic book features 1,000 full-colour images of the sneakers that have most influenced global sneaker culture with examples to engage sneaker aficionados of all stripes. Trainers, tennis shoes, kicks — whatever you call them, the sneaker has risen to global popularity with a huge international audience clamouring for the rarest, the latest, or the reissued classics. 

Every angle is covered — throwbacks and new shoes alike — with legendary sneakers, groundbreaking designs, and technical advancements, as well as the athletes and celebrities who made the shoe famous. Included are the Adidas Jabbar, the Puma Clyde, the Nike Air Force 1, the Reebok Question, the Nike Zoom Kobe IV, and many others from acknowledged classics, along with less remembered styles worthy of recognition, such as the Royal Master Pro-Keds or the Sk8 High Vans, and one-of-a-kind limited releases like the 1971 Kareem-Abdul-Jabbar Adidas. 

1000 Sneakers features detailed reference sections for collectors, histories of leading brands and designers, and anecdotes from the worlds of sports, fashion, hip-hop, and popular culture, making this book the perfect gift for sports, design, and street fashion enthusiasts alike.

About the Author

Mathieu Le Maux has been the sports editor of French GQ since 2011 and is an avid sneaker collector, owning more than 300 pairs.

A comprehensive infallibly informed reference guide for the sneaker novice and connoisseur

Sneaker culture is no longer the preserve of the hardcore sneaker freak: it is a full-blown mainstream phenomenon. Walk into any shoe shop today and you'll be faced with a dizzying array of new designs, 'old skool' favourites, limited-edition models and 'rare' shoes, all in a myriad of colourways. The sneaker has moved out from the sports arena and exploded into popular culture, a fashion staple that transcends race and class yet defines who you are in today's urban tribes.

This encyclopaedic profusely illustrated guide displays over 180 sneakers chosen for the impact they have made on sneaker culture worldwide. Eleven leading brands – from Adidas to Vans – are discussed in detail with full histories, while a further selection – from well-loved or long-lost classics to new designs – will excite both the novice collector and the committed sneaker freak.

Packed with over 550 specially commissioned photographs, and featuring an indispensable directory of collectors’ shops, resources and websites, as well as practical tips on how to build and care for your collection, this is the definitive guide to the very best and most collectable sneaker designs.

Sneakers is written, photographed and designed by Unorthodox Styles, the team behind the leading sneaker website.

About the Author:

Unorthodox Styles are a London-based creative consultancy, specializing in graphic design, web design and photography. They are the producers of crookedtongues.com, the leading online sneaker resource.

The ultimate guide to over 300 of the very latest, ultra-collectible sneaker designs, presented through specially commissioned photography

This sequel to the classic Sneakers: The Complete Collectors’ Guide is a global survey and reference guide to the very best and most collectible limited-edition sneaker designs released over the last decade

Sneakers: The Complete Collectors' Guide was a phenomenal success and a key influence in the transformation of sneaker collecting from an underground subculture into a mainstream, multi-billion dollar business. Following publication of that book, sneaker brands began reissuing classic designs and creating shoes that would spur the second wave of collecting: limited editions and collaborations between the brands, invited artists, designers, musicians and cultural icons.

This sequel showcases the very best of this new sneaker culture, featuring more than 300 designs arranged by brand. Each sneaker is accompanied by informative text and a ‘data’ box listing Edition, Pack, Year Released, Original Purpose, Technology and Extras.

Essential for both the hardcore sneaker freak and the first time collector, this book will also attract and seduce fashion and design aficionados.

About the Author:

The creative consultancy U-Dox are creators of the leading online sneaker resource crookedtongues.com.

Contents List:

Introduction • Adidas • Asics • Converse • New Balance • Nike • Air Jordan • Puma • Reebok • Vans • And Not Forgetting

The definitive book on the creations, career, and legacy of one of the world’s greatest sneaker designers.

Often called the father of modern running and basketball sneakers, Jacques Chassaing has shaped and influenced sports and street fashion like few designers ever will. For the first time, Chassaing reveals the story behind the forty-year career of a pioneering designer who has continually pushed boundaries and led the creation of many of the world’s most beloved sneakers.

Chassaing thrills and provokes readers with his life experiences, taking them on a journey of continual evolution and revolution. We learn about those who have inspired him and meet those he has inspired. We discover what drove his design philosophy and the process behind some of the greatest sneakers and sports technology ever created: the Forum, Rivalry, Lendl, Edberg, ZX series, Predator, EQT line, Torsion, and his Porsche Design collabs, to name but a few. And we see how Chassaing’s designs have impacted modern culture and won a place on the feet and in the hearts of millions of people.

This book features stories about and contributions from athletes, celebrities, and designers who have worked with and been influenced by Chassaing and his work, including Michael Jordan, Stefan Edberg, Patrick Ewing, Run DMC, Gary Aspden, Paul Gaudio, and many more.

Art directed by Peter Moore, designer of the Nike Air Jordan 1 and creator of the adidas Originals line, From Soul to Sole is a story, a statement, an experience, and a celebration of a life and career that is still impacting how we think about sneakers and street fashion design today.

About the Author:

Jacques Chassaing is one of the most respected and admired sports shoe designers in the world.

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Пролистать книгу From Soul to Sole: The Adidas Sneakers of Jacques Chassaing

At Nike, the desire to be the best is a journey, not a destination – better is always temporary.

Phaidon commemorates the company's influence with Nike: Better is Temporary, a landmark publication that charts Nike's transformation from rebellious upstart to global phenomenon.

This immersive visual survey offers an unprecedented, behind-the-scenes exploration into Nike's ethos-driven design formula, placing industry-defining innovations and globally recognized products alongside previously unpublished designs, prototypes, insider stories, and more.

Beginning with "Breaking2," an introduction detailing Nike's 2017 attempt to facilitate a sub-two-hour marathon, the book lays out in five thematic chapters Nike's focus on performance, brand expression, collaboration, inclusive design, and sustainability.

The book's extraordinary design also nods to its contents. The striking cover features overlapping silkscreened layers of Nike's proprietary Volt yellow and Hyperpunch pink colors overlaying an image of world-champion marathoner Eliud Kipchoge printed in a half-tone dot pattern. The book's spine, visible through the clear jacket, showcases a series of colored tabs that extend from its interior pages and which are referenced in the book's bonus chapter, "Crafting Color."

Combining 500 color illustrations with stories, insights, knowledge, passion, and history shared by Nike's remarkable team, Nike: Better is Temporary will serve as a manual of innovation and inspiration for generations to come.

About the author:

Sam Grawe is a writer, editor, creative director, and brand consultant based in the San Francisco Bay Area. He was previously global brand director for Herman Miller, where he lead integrated brand marketing and communications across a variety of platforms and media. Prior to this, he served as editor-in-chief of Dwell magazine.

A celebration of the great sneaker collaborations that have reimagined the shoe, elevating this most practical of footwear into the realm of wearable art.

The ubiquitous sneaker is the canvas upon which so many defiers of convention -- artists, musicians, athletes, and celebrities -- have sought to make their mark and through the sneaker contribute to a unique identity and attitude among sneakerheads everywhere. Collected here are the best sneaker collaborations with the biggest makers -- Adidas, Converse, Nike, Puma, Reebok -- featuring nearly one hundred famous, infamous, and lesser-known partnerships.

Museum-quality studio photographs of each sneaker are accompanied by visuals collected from the archives of sneaker makers, as well as ephemera such as design sketches and drawings illustrating the creative process. Author Elizabeth Semmelhack has conducted interviews with many collaborators, including an extensive Q&A with Chris Hill, design manager of Reebok, who has worked with Pyer Moss, Cam'ron, and many others.

In her introduction, Semmelhack explores the history of collaborations, starting at the beginning with Jack Purcell, whose sneakers remain virtually unchanged today. More than eighty sneaker collaborations are featured, including Virgil Abloh (ten styles!), KAWS, Pharrell Williams, Bobbito Garcia, Damien Hirst, Jeremy Scott, Eminem, Supreme, Chanel, Missoni, Rihanna, Missy Elliott, Dr. Woo, and Fear of God.

About the Authors:

Shoe historian Elizabeth Semmelhack was the curator and author of Out of the Box: The Rise of Sneaker Culture. She is senior curator of the Bata Shoe Museum in Toronto.
Jacques Slade is an avid sneaker collector, blogger on Kustoo.com, and host of the YouTube show This Week in Sneaks.

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Пролистать книгу Sneakers x Culture: Collab

A groundbreaking traveling exhibition, Out of the Box showcases sneakers, from the mid-nineteenth century to sports performance breakthroughs, to present-day cultural icons. Drawn from the collection of the Bata Shoe Museum and significant private collectors, museums, and archives — including adidas AG, Converse Archives, Kosow Sneaker Museum, Nike Archives, Northampton Museums and Art Gallery, and Reebok Archives — this selection is richly contextualized with interviews and essays by design innovators, sneaker collectors, and cultural historians, creating a backdrop of the technical innovation, fashion trends, social history, and marketing campaigns that shaped the form over the past two centuries. 

Out of the Box includes sneakers ranging from an 1860 spiked running shoe, a pair of 1936 track shoes, Air Jordans I–XX3, the original Air Force 1, and early Adidas Superstars to contemporary sneakers by prominent figures including Damien Hirst, Jeremy Scott, Jeff Staple, and Kanye West. The book also highlights sneakers and prototype drawings that span the career of Nike sneaker design legend Tinker Hatfield, making this the definitive illustrated history of sneaker culture.

About the Authors:

Acclaimed shoe historian Elizabeth Semmelhack is senior curator at the Bata Shoe Museum, Toronto. Bobbito Garcia is the leading authority on sneaker culture. Ada Hopkins is a conservator at the Bata Shoe Museum. Dee Wells is the creator of Obsessive Sneaker Disorder. Tinker Hatfield is a Nike designer. Eric Avar is Nike’s creative director. Cey Adams was the founding creative director of Def Jam Records. Darryl McDaniels is a member of the hip-hop group Run-D.M.C. Walt Frazier is a former professional basketball player. Adam Horovitz is a member of the hip-hop group the Beastie Boys. Christian Louboutin is a footwear designer.

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Пролистать книгу Out of the Box: The Rise of Sneaker Culture

The first book on Nike's iconic DUNK SB, a mid-rise basketball court staple that has in the last two decades become a colorful (and often irreverent) icon of skate and streetwear.

Created in 2002, the Nike Dunk was adopted from the court by skateboarders and sneakerheads to become an icon of the streets. An early catalyst to evolving sneaker culture as we know it today, the Nike Dunk has enjoyed a storied legacy of reinvention through numerous iterations and creative collaborations proving to be an integral part of a culture obsessed with sneakers. To celebrate this legacy, Nike SB: The Dunk Book is the first book to present the historical archive of one of the most important shoes ever created. Worn by an ever-growing list of elite riders at competitions all over the world, Nike Dunks are prized as much for their funky, one-of-a-kind designs as well as their high performance.

Nike SB: The Dunk Book is filled with stunning images that tell the visual story of Nike SB's most iconic styles. Including Danny Supas, Staple Pigeon Dunks, De La Soul Highs, Paris Dunks, U.N.K.L.Es, and Supreme Dunk SBs, this volume flaunts the signature color-ways and craftsmanship that Nike SBs are known for.

Through enlightening anecdotes by the likes of Futura and Paul Rodriguez, readers get intimate accounts of how their favorite sneakers came to be. Also featured are archival images of Nike SB's most recognizable skaters rocking the iconic sneakers, including Eric Koston, Richard Mulder, Grant Taylor, Omar Salazar, Reese Forbes, Brian Anderson, Theotis Beasley, and Daniel Shimizu.

The Sneaker as (Hyper)Object. Nike and Virgil Abloh reinvigorate 10 icons of sneaker history

In 2016, sportswear manufacturer Nike and fashion designer Virgil Abloh joined forces to create a sneaker collection celebrating 10 of the Oregon-based company’s most iconic shoes. With their project The Ten — which reimagines icons like Air Jordan 1, Air Max 90, Air Force 1, and Air Presto, among others — they reinvigorated sneaker culture.

Virgil Abloh’s new designs offer deep insights into engineering ingenuity and burst with cultural cachet. Drawing on the genius of the original shoe using lettering, ironic labels, collage, and sculpting techniques, Abloh plays with language and sculptural elements to construct new meaning. Inspired by the wit of Dadaism, architectural theory, and avant-garde happenings, he analyzes what makes each shoe iconic and deconstructs it into an artistic assemblage, making each shoe into a piece of industrial design, a readymade sculpture, and a wearable all at once.

Icons traces Abloh’s investigative, creative process through documentation of the prototypes, original text messages from Abloh to Nike designers, and treasures from the Nike archives. We find Swooshes sliced away from Air Jordans and reapplied with tape or thread, Abloh’s typical text fragments in quotation marks on Air Force 1, and All Stars cut into pieces. We take a look behind the scenes and witness Abloh’s DIY approach, which gives each model in the Off-White^TM c/o Nike collection its own unique touch.

The book documents Abloh’s cooperative way of working and reaffirms the power of print. For its design Nike and Abloh partnered with the acclaimed London-based design studio Zak Group. Together they conceived a two-part compendium, equal parts catalog and conceptual toolbox. The first part of the book presents a visual culture of sneakers while a lexicon in the second part defines the key people, places, objects, ideas, materials, and scenes from which the project grew. Texts by Nike’s Nicholas Schonberger, writer Troy Patterson, curator and historian Glenn Adamson, and Virgil Abloh himself frame the collaborative work within fashion and design history. A foreword by Hiroshi Fujiwara places the project within the historical continuum of Nike collaborators.

The author:

Born in Rockford, Illinois, Virgil Abloh is a multi-hyphenate creative that often rejects classification on creativity. He operates in the realms of Art, Design, and Culture in conjunction with advocacy, mentoring, and philanthropy in the spaces he occupies. After earning a degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, he completed a master’s degree in Architecture at the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT), Chicago. At IIT, while studying a Bauhaus design curriculum devised by Mies van der Rohe, Abloh began to craft the principles of his broader art practice. The Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago presented a major traveling survey of Abloh’s work in summer 2019 — one of the highest attended exhibitions in the museum’s history. Currently, Abloh is the Chief Creative Director and founder of Off-White™️ and Men’s Artistic Director at Louis Vuitton, amongst other endeavors.

Every Sneaker Story Worth Telling! A 15-year anthology of cult magazine Sneaker Freaker

The first and only publication of its kind, Sneaker Freaker has been at the forefront of the global sneaker scene for nearly two decades. With over 650 redesigned pages, fresh photography, insane historical detail, and otaku-level minutiae, this monster anthology combines the magazine’s finest and content created exclusively for TASCHEN into one seriously epic celebration of sneakers.

Back in 2002, Simon “Woody” Wood was dreaming up schemes to get free sneakers. Two weeks later, he was the proud owner of Sneaker Freaker and his life was never the same.

From its early roots as a punk-style fanzine to today’s super-slick print and online operations, the fiercely independent publication has documented every collab, custom, limited edition, retro reissue, Quickstrike, Hyperstrike, and Tier Zero sneaker released over the last 15 years.

Woody’s original premise that Sneaker Freaker would be “funny and serious, meaningful and pointless at the same time” has certainly been vindicated in The Ultimate Sneaker Book. With more than 650 pages jam-packed with insider knowledge and his own irreverent observations, the insane historical detail and otaku-level minutiae is beyond obsessive.

Traversing 100 years of history, each chapter paints a rollicking picture of the sneaker industry’s evolution. Air Max, Air Force, Adi Dassler, Converse, Kanye, Dapper Dan, Dee Brown, Michael Jordan, and Yeezy — along with obscure treasures like Troop, Airwalk, and Vision Street Wear — are all exhaustively documented.

This is a definitive source of knowledge. This is… The Ultimate Sneaker Book!

About the Author:

Simon “Woody” Wood is the founder and editor of Sneaker Freaker magazine. In little more than a decade, the Australian created a unique global brand at the fore of the sneaker industry, publishing in over 50 countries. Sneaker Freaker are headquartered in Melbourne, Australia.