Val. Kristopher x Nike
"Art of Snkrs"
During my time working in Val. Kristopher Limited, doing the "Art of Snkrs" collaboration with Nike which was Nike's way of commemorating and showcasing one of their most iconic shoes of all time, the Air Force 1's. They wanted to collaborate with smaller up and coming creatives within the fashion industry to showcase in inventive ways what the Air Force 1's mean to them individually.
The Val. Kristopher brand was one of the creatives picked for the project and we gladly got on with the project.
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Since the brand owner had the idea of creating 3 silhouettes utilising the base design of the Air Force 1, I was tasked to make 1 of those silhouettes and then contribute to the 3rd one utilising my and Val's ideas to develop the middle shoe.
We started the project with sketches, keeping the logistics of the design in mind and thinking about how we would make them. The challenge was to create a way that enhanced or changed the already iconic silhouette of the Air Force 1 which was no easy task given that most collaborations with Nike involving the Air Force 1 usually tend to fall on deaf ears and or are hated by the sneaker collecting community.
My goal was to keep the designsimple--highlighting the brand'sessence while adding subtleembellishments and breaking upsome of the original silhouette'slines. I wanted a versatile shoethat wasn't over-designed,something I could wear with anyoutfit and that resonated withcurrent fashion trends.
Now, because the brand signature was to make contemporary fashion designs, the base design for our specific redesign for the Air Force 1 was a double sole/platform version of the normal AF1s, so we did need to add additional aspects to it for the design to stand out.
Since I was already used to customising sneakers at this point, I wanted to use the same principles I used to create my designs back then in this project.
My design thought was to make the shoe look futuristic, I wanted to add aspects that make the shoe look like it was the next evolution of what an Air Force 1 could be.
Using the calico fabric as the main texture on the shoe was a homage to how we used to develop designs within Val. Kristopher through adding calico panels onto clothing and denim. The versatility and the messiness of the fabric once frayed, was my way of making the design still contemporary at the end of the day. This design aspect was heavily inspired by the designer shoes available at the time especially some of the Raf Simmons high tops designs that were popular the year prior.
I then got rid of the shoe laces and opted for a built-in elastic band to hold the shoe tongue in place but still added a strip of calico onto the shoe as a strap to keep the shoe stable when walking in them. This laceless design was my way of homage to how sneakerheads would usually wear their Nike Jordan 4s as a way of showing style.
It's very easy to overdesign the shoe from the get-go with all of the crazy designs that were emerging from top brands in the fashion industry at the time but I think that if you want to create new enthusiasm for an already classic silhouette, I think simple and approachable are the best ways to go when it comes to redesigning.
Our project had three main goals: to create something simple, something bold, and something balanced. I was in charge of developing the simpler concept which led to the design of this particular AF1 with my task being to make a simple redesign and then participate in the "middle shoe" later down the line.
I was used to creating designs that were constrained to the brand image, but doing this as a way of just having fun with a design and refining it throughout gave me more space to mess around with the compositions and alter it in any way I deemed fit.
Even though it's not available on the Nike website anymore, I was glad to be able to be part of the "art of snkrs" project that they did with other small companies/artists on social media. This was a great exercise for what we would later do with sneakers down the line in my time as a part of the Val.Kristopher team.