Since the late 1960s, the so-called “activists” have been all talk and no results. Their failure to have an impact on society is especially notable in the consumer realm, where Nike has discovered that your typical socially-conscious vegan will gladly buy Dunks straight off the sweatshop assembly line. Just make that they’re limited edition Dunks signed by the same street artist who designed his favorite wheatpastes and refers to the brand as “Nyke.”

Al Cabino, on the other hand, is an activist who gets things done. He is unabashedly fond of the Nike brand. The twentysomething Canadian “sneaker activist” has been crowned the herald of a new, pragmatic activism, less idealist and more effectual than the old sign-waving, foot-stomping activism. Rather than ask Nike to be Good, Cabino asks only that they be Cool by granting his humble request to reissue the long-tongued, auto-buckling ultrahigh tops that Marty McFly wore in Back to the Future II’s vision of the year 2015. Cabino’s petition (see and sign it here ) asks that they be issued to the public nine years early, in 2006, a project he calls “Operation McFly.” So far, the project has attracted 3,813 signatures, a great deal of press (The Washington Post suspected Cabino was a covert Nike shill. They were wrong.), and a premature bit of snipe from yours truly, the Vulture, who called Cabino’s operation, “one of the greatest wastes of human time and creativity imaginable, second only to the time Cabino made a pair of Nikes from chocolate, and then wrote about them on his blog.” We meant it at the time, but now that we’ve learned what a nice guy Cabino is, and his deep sincerity about this project, we’d like to take it back.

The intrepid Cabino brushed off our cruel sacrilege of the sneaker culture he holds dear like so much journalistic dirt off his shoulder. He charmed us, sending along kind notes and even consenting to a telephone interview, which you’ll find below. As you’ll see, Cabino foresees a future where consumers are not hostile protesters or passive robots but active collaborators in the design process. Al, the next time you find yourself in Philly, the cheesesteaks are on us.

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Vulture: Your petition to Nike has won you quite a bit of media attention. Do you ever worry that all this hype might pump your celebrity up to the point where your message gets obscured?

Al Cabino: It’s true—people want to interview me, ask me questions, pit me against traditional activists. Really, though, I’m just a regular guy. I’m not doing this to get on Entertainment Tonight or be a presenter at the Oscars. I’m not doing it because I own a sneaker store or factory, or because I own stock in Nike. This is a pure petition. People can say anything they want to say, but they can’t stick nothing on me. I’m just a sneakerographer, and the core people in the sneaker world know it. That’s the only reason this works, because there’s a genuine, authentic guy behind it. I am media shy. I am mysterious. I’m not into the media circus thing. I’m not doing this to get on Celebrity Jeopardy. This is for real.

V: Why did you get into sneakers?

AC: I love sneakers but I’m not one-dimensional, I love activism, movies, media, pizza. Love doesn’t happen overnight. It takes time to develop. My childhood sneaker memories have a lot to do with rocking brand new kicks and doing the dance moves from Thriller or trying to do the Moonwalk. Sneakers are fun.

V: What is sneaker activism, and where do you see it fitting with older, more traditional forms of activism?

AC: Sneaker activism is applying activism to sneaker culture. There’s old-style activism with people like Naomi Klein. This is new-style activism.

V: How so?

AC: The traditional activists are saying yes, Cabino is an activist, but they try to make nuances because they’re uncomfortable with me. But they can’t beat Oxford. They can’t beat Merriam Webster. If you look in the dictionary, you’ll see I’m an activist. This all started with a simple question: Can sneaker activism work? I won’t know the answer until I go to Nike, to Beaverton.

V: What does Nike think about your petition?

AC: I gave the Nike people an update on my project. I let them know that I’m here doing the petition, and that once I get a respectable number I’m visiting them at their headquarters. Right after I started the petition I was contacted by someone at Nike. He said “Al, this is big. You are on the Nike Inc. global intranet. Usually the only thing on there is very important stuff for the employees.” And I was on there. A few days in they were already talking about it.

V: Why, out of all the sneakers out there, did you choose the Marty McFly Nike from Back to the Future II for your revival campaign?

AC: The McFlys are the Holy Grail of movie sneakers. The McFlys were created just for the film, with a vision of what sneakers might look like in 2015. They were never worn beyond the silver screen. I’ve always been fascinated by them.

V: Before the petition, I heard you made a chocolate sneaker. Why did you dip a pair of sneakers in chocolate?

AC: A lot of people were like “wow.” They loved this gesture, but they didn’t understand that it was a reference to the original Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. If you watch the film, you’ll see Gene Wilder throw a pair of Pumas into a vat of molten chocolate. Mr. Salt asks “What’s that for?” Then Wonka answers, “Gives it a little kick.”

V: What other brands or products do you find inspiring?

AC: The Nintendo Revolution. I’m a longtime Nintendo fan, and the joystick design is very intriguing. If Nintendo is reading the interview and wants to send me a Nintendo Revolution, please, go ahead.

V: What do you make of your critics, some of whom are saying that activism and consumer culture are antithetical?

AC: Really, I’m asking some of the same questions that they’re asking. Can this really work? Can this really happen? Some people have trouble understanding this story because it isn’t a David versus Goliath story. It’s an and. There’s no story of David and Goliath, no stories about them playing tennis or skiing together. We as humans believe in the versus story, and a lot of people are more comfortable with versus because it’s something they understand. But there are also people who believe in the evolution of the story. The media likes to frame what I’m doing as a demand, but if you read the petition, it says request. There’s a nuance there that they miss.

V: What’s next for Al Cabino?

AC: I’m not [celebrated environmentalist] David Suzuki. I’m not Faith Popcorn. I’m a regular guy. What they don’t understand is that it’s all about the project, not about me getting the spotlight.

V: Are you a Michael J. Fox fan?

AC: Yes, here in Canada, Michael J. Fox is like royalty. He’s this young Canadian guy who made it really big in Hollywood. He’s an international superstar. We don’t really have any royals here, and in the New World celebrity culture tends to replace the culture of royalty.

V: Has Montreal, your home, had an impact on your work?

AC: Vice magazine was born in Montreal. So was Dov Charney and Naomi Klein. We’re this whole generation of people who are born of brutal honesty. I love that.

You can find out more about Al Cabino at http://operationmcfly.blogspot.com.