Last month I received a pair of Chucks with a very special meaning behind them. A fellow Dominican creative, Ray Polanco Jr., customized a pair of the classic Converse and dubbed them “Puro Platano.” The sneakers were in celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month and were created as an ode to the Dominican Flag and a staple food, platanos. If you’re not familiar with what a platano is, it’s one of our most popular food items; we smash them to make mangu, we fry them to make tostones, we pretty much do anything and everything to them to enjoy with either Induveca salami, eggs, avocado etc. It’s only right that the “Puro Platano” chucks are an all over green with gold detailing on the eyelets and Converse branding. Red, white and blue details on the sole are the colors of our flag and lastly, my favorite part of the sneakers, is the camo brown design on the inside which represents the variety of skin complexions within our culture.

All that being said, my friend Maria and I, decided to go to the heart of Dominican culture here in NYC to showcase the beauty of the sneakers. We took a stroll in the Heights, took some pictures, talked about how amazing the local avocados looked and ended our day with some sancocho at Casa del Mofongo. Check out the pics below!