Australia’s most recognisable shoe and symbol of eshay and criminal culture has been banned from numerous pubs and restaurants across the country.
Sean McDowell’s unique design for the Nike TN, which debuted in 1998, was inspired by Florida’s palm trees and a desire to mimic the shoreline in a shoe.
In Australia, the TN’s “took off” when it became the prefered footwear of petty vandals and serious criminals.
Shoes were shoplifted, brawls broke out on train stations, and one child was even bitten after refusing to hand over his shoes in a prominent Sydney retail complex.
TNs and Air Maxs were outlawed in pubs across the country, with customers being turned away and told the shoes were only worn by “drug dealers, gang members, and undesirables.”
In prison, TNs were treated as currency, with convicts bartering the shoe for favours and even contraband.
According to Vice, a freshly incarcerated man was threatened with being sliced open if he didn’t hand up his TNs.