Bespoke

Long Overdue.

http://www.nicekicks.com/black-cab-bespoke-nike-air-force-one-high/Its been quite some time since I last put up a post. Last few months have been real busy. Traveling, working, shooting & of course sneaker hawking. For this past New Year’s, I had gone to England & Paris for vacation. Nike had just opened a new Bespoke Lab at the iconic 1948 in London., so I included that into my agenda. I would also be the first Yank to come to the London lab to do a Bespoke.

I’ve always been very fond of London. I wanted to make a Bespoke that was reflective of England. I thought of a few ideas, but when I thought about using the eye-catching London Black Cab as my inspiration.. I knew that was it.

Here is a quick article that Nice Kicks just did on my Bespoke “Black Cab”

Enjoy.

http://www.nicekicks.com/black-cab-bespoke-nike-air-force-one-high/

bespoke: the gift.

The Gift. This was an exclusive Bespoke made by 21 Mercer in 2011. Only 12 pairs or so were made and 4 were given out via a twitter competition that poised some tricky questions. The shoe has some incredible details and its hard to translate them in pictures. Definitely a shoe that must be seen in person to give you the full effect.

The upper is draped with a dark denim with some nice contrast stitching. Cork backtab with a cork midsole sitting on top of a necessary gum outsole. Even some red pivots on the outsole. Suede swooshes and glove leather for the insole. The liner is constructed of an almost foil material that gives you a feel of wrapping paper. “Merry Christmas” is lasered all over the sock liner. There is a “gift” embroidered on the heal of both shoes and “the gift” again is symbolized on the deubre. The top eyelets have a gold color and it really ropes up the holiday themed shoe.

Safe to say, I am extremely pleased to have these in my collection. A true gift.

paisley age.

Bespoke: Off The Cuff

About 5 weeks back I had met up with a friend at 21 Mercer that was in town to make a Bespoke. My only plans were to go there to chill for a couple hours and see my friends design; so much for that. Not sure who I was kidding because by the time my friend was done with his render, I was already holding materials in my hand planning my next move.

So here is my end product.. a Bespoke fittingly named “Off the Cuff”. Grey canvas upper, sail midsole. Binary bottom eyelets, laces and outsole with infrared pivots. Blue vipera swoosh, backtab & heel strip. Leather deubre with gold tipped aglets. Cork insole and alce draping the liner and secondary swoosh.

Bespoke: Kashmir

So these are my 3rd Bespoke installment, called Kashmir’s. Fully grey cashmere upper, cork midsole, black outsole, estadio pivots on the outsole, swoosh, tongue & heal-tab. Black cashmere liner with a grey velvet footbed.

Bespoke: Libertad De La Segundo

I am not one that typically likes loud or busy patterns. My personal choice is to typically go with earth tones… but when I walked into 21 Mercer and saw the various Liberty Prints, I knew I had to use one of them. This particular shoe pays ode to two of my favorite rap groups.. De La Soul & A Tribe Called Quest. Some folks loved this shoe, while others detailed their disdain. I’ll update later with proper details.

Bespoke: Scotch & Malbec

This was my first bespoke that I made at 21 Mercer in March 2013. I’ve always been into fashion/footwear, but it took me a long time to actually make the move to create something. From the time I walked into the lab, I knew I was hooked. Materials include: brown twisted croc upper, sail midsole, gum outsole, cork swoosh, backtab, tongue, tongue tab & insole. Estadio laces, top eyelets, leather sock liner and leather secondary swoosh. Liberty print dresses the interior as well.