The Apollo Theater in Harlem was the venue of choice for the World Premiere of the AF1 documentary. Lot’s of industry names were in the building: Bobbito Garcia, DJ Clark Kent, and Datwon Thomas just to name a few. Read the rest of this entry »
As part of this summer’s inaugural World Basketball Festival in NYC, Jay-Z has teamed up with Nike to design 5 pairs of “All Black Everything” Air Force 1’s to represent each of the 5 countries participating in the event - USA, China, France, Brazil, & Puerto Rico. Nike has donated the custom pairs for auction to benefit the Shawn Carter Scholarshop Foundation. Jay-Z owns a pair of each design, but now you can bid to be the only other person in the world to have these super limited Air Force 1’s. Bid Here!
The sport of basketball & it’s relationships with Nike, Converse, & Jordan brands are brilliantly mapped at The Ball Room pop-up capsule, located on Frederick Douglass Blvd in Harlem, NY. 100 years of basketball innovation are celebrated through memorabilia, unique product, and interactive digital experiences which are placed in exhibits and displays throughout the 1250 square foot space. Check out some highlights of The Ball Room after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »
On a recent trip to New York City, I stopped by Nike Sportswear’s (NSW) 21 Mercer store for a 2-hour appointment to customize my very own Air Force 1 sneakers. The process is officially called NikeiD Bespoke that is an innovative design experience offering customers the opportunity to work one-on-one with Nike design consultants to customize over 31 aspects of the Air Force 1.
I had previously created other pairs of sneakers via the NikeiD program on the web and have always felt rather unimpressed with the finished products because I lacked a design inspiration from the get-go. I knew that this Bespoke experience was going to be more in depth and rewarding, so I needed a rock-solid concept.
I walked into the appointment knowing that I wanted to stick to the “Love & War” concept that fellow graphic designer Georgios Saliaris and I had previously created for our clothing line, We Are The Process (we call it “Process” for short). If you’ve seen the Love & War graphic tee that was part of the collection, perhaps you will see resemblance between that graphic and this pair of kicks. For those who haven’t seen the graphic, it involved criss-crossing graphics of a rose and dagger, which played on the idea of opposites. It is iconic and it utilized a Black/Red/Grey color palette.
With the concept understood, I knew I’d be able to make the design decisions that would result in a great looking pair of kicks that I would want to wear often.
See the rest of NikeiD Bespoke experience and my final sneaker photos after the jump.
photo from NiceKicks.com
This Fall, plan on some limited runs of the Nike Huarache Trainer 2010 in special colorways such as this “Superheroes” pack, to be released this Fall. Inspired by perennial NFL Pro-Bowler, Larry Fitzgerald and the superheroes that he portrays during a particular play in a game.
More after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »
As a continuation of our coverage on Nike SPARQ Training (where I skinned my knee in May), we spent a few days last week covering the SPARQ Rating National Championship in Beaverton, Oregon on Nike’s campus. This national competition placed high school football players with top SPARQ ratings against each other.
Tim Tebow, Denver Broncos quarterback, was there to host the event and to crown the nation’s “Top Football Player”. See more after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »
To celebrate the release of their new video game, NCAA Football 11, EA Sports teamed up with Nike to create this very special release of the Trainer 1.2 for gamers and Gator fans everywhere. No word on a release date yet, but the game itself drops on July 13th. I’d expect the release of the kicks to coincide with that release date.
My favorite design detail is the faux-gator material used on the forefoot strap. We saw Tim Tebow rocking these yesterday at a the Sparq Training National Championship with green laces, so it’s safe to assume the pair will come boxed with alternate colored laces.
More angles after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »
If you happen to be vacationing in the Hamptons right now, then tomorrow is your lucky day. Nike will release a special edition for all your uppity parties on July 10th, as a tribute to one of the East Coast’s most famous vacation spots. Available only at Blue and Cream.
More pics after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »
Here’s another look into the Bespoke Air Force 1 session I had at 21 Mercer last month. That’s black waterproof denim I’m holding. It was great to have so many deluxe materials at my fingertips. It made the design process very intense, yet it was also very liberating to know my custom pair will be one of a kind.
If things go according to schedule, it’ll only be a few more weeks until the bad-boys show up!
We recently customized a pair of Vans Chukkas for an art show that took place this past week in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The show, called The 1 of 1 project, was put together by former 3Sixteen associate (and fantasy football disaster), Chris Watchorn.
The 1 of 1 Project had two goals in mind. The first was to bring together artists who work in a range of mediums and industries including graphic design, fashion design and illustration. It was an opportunity to bring together some of Winnipeg’s up and coming artists with a blend of established North American talents. The 30 partaking artists span North America including New York, New Jersey, Los Angeles, Orlando, Portland and Atlanta.
The second goal was to use the donated talents to create unique art pieces that could be auctioned to raise funds for local charity. All proceeds from the event will go towards The Children’s Hospital Foundation of Winnipeg.
We kept our inspiration bold and simple, along the lines of our Tribe Logo tee featured here. Check out more pics after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »
A natural progression from the Hyperdunk family, the Hyperfuse utilizes a new technology to strengthen the breathable qualities of mesh. The upper of the shoe is all one piece and it’s construction consists of 1)A structural base layer 2)Mesh 3)Protective coating. Apparently this technique of creating the upper allows for more flexibility in design and colorways. So expect some wild things from the Hyperfuse in the coming months. The shoe is super lightweight, but more importantly, the look a-m-a-z-i-n-g with jeans on! I seriously cannot wait to score a pair of the yellows!
Check out more colorways after the jump Read the rest of this entry »
Following a recent trend in hybrid releases, Nike introduces the Air Force Foamposite; blending a classic basketball icon (the AF1) with arguably the greatest sneaker of the 90’s (Penny Hardaway’s Foamposite). Check out an alternate angle after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »
Today I visited Nike Sportswear’s 21 Mercer location in New York for a 1-on-1 session to create a custom pair of Air Force 1’s via their Bespoke program. Here’s a small teaser of what went down. More to come later…
Listen closely and realize how amazing this sounds: ATL’s own, Andre 3000, covering the Beatles in a way only Swoosh could produce. Wow!
photo by Joe Martinez
I met Jerry Rice last weekend and learned about his legendary training sessions. Read more over at StandardATL.com.
Leaving The Zoo recording studio, we were bussed-off the Laney College where the Oakland Nike Football Combine was taking place. We were about to get our butt’s handed to us as we were about to get very familiar with Nike SPARQ training.
Read the rest of this entry »
After waking up in San Fran last Saturday, the Nike Media Group (including myself & Joe Martinez), boarded a bus to Oakland’s The Zoo recording studio for a footwear briefing. The briefing was structured to cover Nike’s 2010 releases in the athletic training department which would expose the design decisions and technological advances that went into the creation of the Trainer SC 2010 (which I would later test drive), Edge TR, Trainer 1.2, Huarache TR, and finally Free TR (Joe spent the weekend in these).
Read the rest of this entry »
photo by Joe Martinez
I spent the weekend in San Francisco getting an up-close introduction to Nike SPARQ training. Needless to say, it kicked my butt! More details coming as soon as I get back to the A.
Nike Basketball has partnered with Aston Martin to introduce the Nike Kobe Bryant (Aston Martin Edition) footwear pack at STAPLES Center. It started with the viral web video of Kobe Bryant jumping over an Aston Martin DB9, and was fueled by consumer demand that resulted in this high magnitude collaboration between Nike Basketball and the luxury sports car manufacturer.
Aston Martin-inspired colorways of the Zoom Kobe V and Nike Hyperdunk DB9 were available for sale to a select number of Kobe fans. Paying astute attention to detail, the lining in the Hyperdunk DB9’s were cut made from the same leather from the interior of the Aston Martin DB9. That puts it over-the-top for me! Read the rest of this entry »
