nike bespoke service

at the 21 mercer street branch, nike offer a very special service.

it's the only place in the world where you can design your own bespoke 

nike af1's. you have a two hour appointment with nike's consultant and

the shoes you can design are absolutely off the scale. it's like sneaker heaven.

here's the bespoke room which is at the back of the 21 mercer street store

nice leather sofas and decent coffee table books

the lockers have a krink style drip on them 

along the shelves are lots of id's and on the right is the table where you

discuss your ideas ( or lack of )

on the back wall are a selection of the coloured threads which you can have the stitching in.

some laces, a variety of soles. and a few tools

check out all the threads

sweet !

the laces are special bespoke laces and come with gold tips !

they have a few examples of previously made bespokes so that you get an impression

of what is possible. look at these bad boys...

they are constructed from two shades of red 3m material. i like the cross

stitching on these. they have a clear midsole with a hi-vis yellow sole.

by the way, the grey af1's in the background are covered in loopwheeler fleece !

the heel tab and tongue tab are in a zebra skin material

hmmm...

look at these lads...

i do like the croc material but i'm not sure about the pink. not in n7.

iz started to draw out an outline of an af1 in freehand while we

discussed which materials i wanted to use...

you can see which materials i selected in the centre here...

croc skin, a dark blue wool and also cork... yes, real cork !

as iz sketched away i took a few photos.

behind him are reams of different leathers and infront of him are little swatches

of some of the materials which i rejected.

here iz is showing me how the materials will look alongside my chosen sole

i chose a gum sole and about this time i started to have doubts about using cork.

i liked the gum sole though and also fancied the idea of using a luxury leather

to line the inside of the shoe with.

when i'd settled on everything, iz began to render the shoe on his mac

you know full well why i took this shot don't you ?

of course...

it was round about this time that i had a big change of mind about what 

i was having made up for me. it was all well and good looking at swatches

but seeing how they came together on screen... well, it was time for plan-b.

it took no time at all for plan-b to appear on screen. it looked great to me...

and iz cracked on while i took a few more shots and we chatted about foxes !

now don't get me wrong. there's not a pixel-related issue with the mac

i just didn't want to show my bespokes off until they arrive here in n7 in a few weeks.

a massive thank-you to iz. 

he knows what works and what doesn't work. he let me have my say, then advised

me rather than let me make a big mistake. he's a patient and talented bloke.

he knows his kicks, he works closely with the mayor, and he likes foxes !

top man iz.