BUFFALO SOURCE is the new collaborative brand project launched in May 2023 by Buffalo that will partner with boundary-pushing creatives from the worlds of fashion, music, art and literature to reimagine its iconic CLASSIC silhouette for an uncertain and radically changing world.

We are confident that AI + WEB3.0 have a part to play in the future of footwear, albeit within the control of the designers, as opposed to being a replacement. The tech is able to help generate new ideas and speed up the creative process in order to bring them to life - two use cases designed to make things easier, instead of more complicated. Digital tools can help brands to have a wider reach of ideas that sometimes you can borrow and apply to footwear design.

We strongly believe that BUFFALO SOURCE is a powerful tool in the hands of any of us who intends to push creative boundaries forward. A virtual dimension where fashion tastemakers and underground icons will evolve ideas for the future will create material and virtual symbols for a new age, as we all are evolving and moving towards a new direction. BUFFALO SOURCE will be an incubator for bold newness, designing for evolving identities and giving shape to a gender-fluid utopia.

IT ALL STARTED IN THE ‘90s

The pumping sound of the base moves through bodies at never-ending raves. The feeling of belonging outside of society’s norms. Total ecstasy. The total dissolution of mind and body. This moment, this very moment is the source for all beings which carries you into the future.

The chunky sneaker synonymous with the Spice Girls is rediscovering its subversive roots.

Worn most famously by the Spice Girls in the optimistic mid-90s, it’s no wonder that the platform shoe is having a renaissance, also in the new digital age. At that time, while the Spice Girls made them mainstream, Buffalo London’s signature “Hightower” shoe came of age during the 90s rave and techno explosion in Frankfurt, Germany. Few footwear brands boast the same cultural legacy as Buffalo. Feeling its first taste of widespread popularity in the ‘90s, the footwear label—known for its comically chunky, platform sneakers—is synonymous with a self-fashioning that is relentlessly anti-fashion and anti-establishment. The brand’s resurgence in popularity today is marked by its recent foray into the US market, and worn by celebrities including Gigi Hadid and Billie Eilish.

The headquarters of the parent company Buffalo Boots GmbH, founded in 1979, is still located there, in the town of Hochheim am Main. The brand probably wasn’t prepared, though, for the demand that ensued when stylists for the Spice Girls popped into Buffalo London's store in Oxford Circus and spotted the towering platform boot. At that time, you couldn’t get Buffalos any more. It didn’t matter which size or which colour — it would be sold out.

MADE BY THE MISFITS FOR THE MISFITS

BUFFALO SOURCE will serve as a breeding ground for radical innovation, creating products that cater to shifting identities and helping to construct a utopia where gender doesn’t exist. The brand will work with industry insiders and underground celebrities to design emblems for the future.

Whether they already made it into the inside or whether they are still on the outside looking in - they are united by that embodied feeling of being the outlaw. The one that is not enough. The ones that cannot function in society, so they have to build their own.

““We created BUFFALO SOURCE as a space for global misfits that fight back,” says the Buffalo team. “It’s a home to everyone that believes in radical change. With its strong roots in 90s rave- and subculture, Buffalo has long been a brand for bold outsiders and non-conformists. With BUFFALO SOURCE we are directly tapping into this rich DNA and are opening it up to a new generation of boundary-pushing creatives.””

REWORKING ICONS

The pumping sound of the base moves through bodies at never-ending raves. The feeling of belonging outside of society’s norms. Total ecstasy. The total dissolution of mind and body. This moment, this very moment is the source for all beings which carries you into the future. By modifying and recontextualizing the classic DNA that is rooted in 90s club culture, techno and fashion futurism, SOURCE will create material and virtual symbols that capture a new age. SOURCE will partner with radical creatives from the world of fashion, music, art and literature to reimagine its iconic silhouettes for a new, ever-changing and highly unstable future. This is just the beginning.

BUFFALO has always been at the forefront of re-birth and now of digital transformation. BUFFALO SOURCE’s digital tools will be integral to the brand’s strategy shortly as it is moving to capitalize on the excitement around new technologies that are very relevant to the brand’s cultural cutting-edge.

Is BUFFALO SOURCE a new term used to describe the new breed of platform-based virtual worlds, which users explore and interact with as avatars of themselves? Of course, there have always been virtual spaces where users can play games, chat and socialize, or work. What makes a BUFFALO SOURCE platform different is that we can do any or all of those things, plus a whole lot more, within one persistent environment and set of rules.

We think BUFFALO is showing a new way when it comes to brands demonstrating that a “sell the lifestyle” ethos can work just as effectively in the digital world as it does in the real world. In this way, it has successfully transplanted its ability to cultivate an aspirational mindset into the virtual domain. This means it serves as a great demonstration of a brand that has aligned digital transformation with its existing identity and ideals.

“Together we create the future. SOURCE makes space for those that aim to create new identities. ”

The first items will launch in May at select premium stores and on the Buffalo website: https://www.buffalo-boots.com/source
Collaboration partners will be announced shortly.

BUFFALO SOURCE

@buffaloshoes

words MIRA WANDERLUST

@mirawanderlust