Just off of Kastanienallee, the main drag in Berlin's up-and-coming Prenzlauer Berg neighborhood, lies new, sterile-looking streetwear-concept-store-gallery-combo. If that sounds a little familiar in these days of over-designed, museum-styled boutiques, know that Le Gang has one important difference—complete approval from the discerning, capricious, and fervent international cult of sneakerheads.Shoe gazers from Berlin and sneaker freaks from abroad alike have been grabbing up the store's graphic hoodies and clever T-shirts from Sixpack France, Finland's CTRL, Zoo York, and British lines Supreme Being and Addict. Kid Robot figurines, art books, and limited edition Nike trainers line the walls of the all-white space. Owned by Michael Müller and Gökhan Mike Guclal, Le Gang, with its cartoon-like artwork covering the walls and the eclectic, international mix of products, is of the same caliber as better streetwear shops in the States (i.e., San Francisco's Huf and L.A.'s The Hundreds). Luckily for E.U. passport holders, they no longer have to fly through 10 time zones to find a sneaker haven like this.
Le Gang, Pappelallee 85, 10437 Berlin, (+49) 030 4404 7631, www.legang.de.