Amber Finlay | March 2, 2023
The Amsterdam Retail Edition
On sneakers, ceramics, and black pants.
Recommended Products
A pair of sunglasses from Oscar Magnuson, which Amber purchased during her visit to The Next Door shop in Paris.
The ‘22-’23 season fourth kit for Paris Saint-Germain, customized for Amber's son, from the PSG flagship store.
Amber Finlay (AF) leads product marketing on the SNKRS app at Nike. She previously contributed the Seoul Retail Edition, Good Place Edition, Sonic Parenting Edition, and the Lightning Edition.
Amber here. As a follow-up to the Seoul Retail edition, I’m delivering a much shorter dispatch from a recent trip to Amsterdam and Paris with a few notable shops I was able to visit. Outside of shopping, I spotted no Goth pastries, but I did get to eat some great street herring and, of course, poffertjes.
Amsterdam
A smallish shop that gave me Goodhood vibes (always welcome), Afura has a nice edit of brands like Amomento and Stine Goya, as well as ceramics and accessories. Ella Emhoff would shop here.
This shop has a few locations in Amsterdam; I visited the women’s shop on Oude Spiegelstraat and then their dedicated BLACK Commes Des Garçons space, a few doors down from Patta on Zeedijk. As a CDG collector, I was obliged to buy (more) black pants. I heard from my colleagues that the men’s shop was amazing as well—all around, they have a really good edit of Lemaire, CDG, Craig Green, Junya Watanabe, and Dries Van Noten. (I‘m always disappointed that I haven’t made it to the Dries flagship in Antwerp, despite doing repeated train drive-bys as I did on this trip. Someday.)
Want to run a WITI classified? Want to reach 20,000 brilliant readers? WITI classifieds start at $250, and you can purchase one through this form. If you buy this week, we’ll throw an extra week in for free on any ad. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to drop us a line.
The Mandate is a newsletter on topics men don't like to talk about. Written by Olympic Medalist & NYT/Men's Health contributor, Jason Rogers. Subscribe for free
The OG sneaker culture/streetwear retailer in Amsterdam—can’t miss it. The story of Patta’s founders, Edson & Gee, is pretty inspiring, and Patta’s collabs and house line extend far beyond Amsterdam via pop-ups in sneaker shops around the world.
I walked by this place, then turned right back around and walked into it because I absolutely love Delft tiles. I didn’t buy any, but I'll be back as soon as I have a backsplash to tile. I compensated with some Delft fingernails.
Paris
I was only in Paris for about 36 hours, but I managed to pack a lot in.
Beautiful shop with a wide-ranging edit of lines that sort of sit on the streetwear/outdoor spectrum, with some art and ceramics (!), as well as the most beautiful yoga studio I have ever seen on their top floor. I got some Oscar Magnuson sunglasses and was thankfully pulled out by my companions before I could spend any more money here.
Opium is a Paris OG sneaker shop that opened in 2001 specializing in basketball, with an entire side of the shop dedicated to Jordans. The timeline mural depicting the shop's journey is heartwarming and captures the best of sneaker culture.
Wherever you fall on the Kith barometer, their new Paris flagship is incredibly beautiful and worth seeing. This is Kith’s first multi-brand location-they carry lines like Balmain and Raf Simons alongside Stone Island and other streetwear brands, as well as a shocking amount of fine jewelry and accessories. In addition, they brought Sadelle’s in as a permanent restaurant within the space (I’ve never been to Sadelle’s in Soho, but I was told the menu is pretty much the same). It was pretty funny to see people eating bagels & schmear in Paris.
Paris Saint-Germain Team Flagship Store
A bit of a wild card at the end here. I got the ‘22-’23 PSG fourth kit customized for my son at the PSG flagship store. He won’t take it off, so I’d call that a successful gift? (They also have a store in NY).
Happy shopping! (AF)
Quick Links:
Spots I didn’t get to this trip 🙁
The Broken Arm: The Broken Arm is one of my favorite spots in Paris, with a rotating edit leaning toward the avant-goth and installations that feature their collaboration projects.
Petit Pan: This one’s for the children - beautiful fabrics, quilts and pajamas, as well as delicate fabric & bamboo mobiles and lanterns that I’ve ambitiously dragged through the airport in the past.
Tom Greyhound: Another very beautiful concept store!
—
Thanks for reading,
Noah (NRB) & Colin (CJN) & Amber (AF)
—
Why is this interesting? is a daily email from Noah Brier & Colin Nagy (and friends!) about interesting things. If you’ve enjoyed this edition, please consider forwarding it to a friend. If you’re reading it for the first time, consider subscribing.