Sneakers | In Space

Thankfully, the end of the space shuttle program doesn't mean the end of the road for NASA or even NASA sending humans into space. NASA's gift of the gab has let us believe that there is a robust program of exploration, technology development and scientific research that will last for years to come. If it's to be believed, man walking in space wearing sneakers is increasingly a reality of the not so dim and distant future. The moon boot was surely not conceived as a long term solution for deep space exploration? Conspiracists among you might have already been suspecting a secretive relationship between the 'Innovation Kitchen' at Nike with NASA. After all where on earth did foamposit technology appear from? Was the Nike 'Lunar Flow' really meant for athletes running on earth? These are wild postulations I admit but to speculate of such novelties is somewhat of a strangely rewarding experience. It nevertheless offers a creative platform like no other. At this early stage, these designs prove anything can be explored. 

(More images after the break)

Year Of The Dragon | Customs

Having set the tone last year with their imaginative Year of the Rabbit AF1's, Nike have unsurprisingly treated us to 4 sneakers exposed to a similar customisation project centered around the dragon. Where they have developed and deployed a minimalist yet sophisticated aesthetic for the AF1, the KD IV, Kobe 7 and AJ 12 have set to correct the balance of fun with some progressively outward designs and coulourways. But this is all relatively old news. With 2012 being hyped as the year where customs will make their comeback onto the sneaker scene, it is worth checking out how others have taken inspiration from this years dragon theme. Images after break!

The Drawing Board

It's rare that the occasion ever arrises that we are treated to a glimpse of the design process for a signature sneaker release from Nike. We can, therefore, count ourselves double as lucky to be treated to these preliminary sketches full of such detail, clarity and imagination. The Jordan CP3.V has never been the stand out model of a signature sneaker. The spotlight tends to fall upon the Lebron 9's, KD 4's and even on both the Melo M8's and adiZero Rose 2.5's before the CP3.V's. On a personal note this is about to change. With more information available about the design of the shoe than I could have ever deduced for myself, I can't help but to warm and appreciate the shoe. It is only a shame that this sort of information is not released by Nike for all of their models. Undoubtedly there are some secrets Nike aren't willing to share but it seems a little telling that they are more than comfortable to reveal the inner workings of the CP3.V. Does this mean Nike's best technology is not being reserved for the shoe's of Chris Paul or does this play witness to Nike's favouritism of their sponsored athletes? We may just never know. (More Images after the break!)

Laced

Shoelaces have always allowed for creativity. As I previously touched on in an earlier post, it’s a culture of customization unto itself. Since the mid to late 90's the art of the lace has been increasingly overlooked. With sneakers being produced in industrial quantities and in all manner of shapes, sizes and colours, the lace has become somewhat accustomed to a more functional than decorative role. However, it would seem high time to bring a renewed focus back onto laces in a bout of updated nostalgia.

Reminiscing aside, it's accepted that any shoestring can give additional flavor to the shoe but those that bring out the sneaker as a whole have historically been both wider and fatter. Recreating such a look has its throwback qualities but it's limited in its expression of something new. What we have learnt since the 80's is that the fatter the laces are, the better they are. If issues of size are still of relevance, then it should be expanded to their logical and practical conclusion. From the simple fat lace came the medium fat lace, which quickly evolved into the super fat lace. From this point on there were no further developments. The shoelace was at a dead end and ready to begin its steady decline within sneaker culture. It was unable to be salvaged even by the fancy lacing systems of the 90's. It would seem that there simply wasn't a shoe large enough to accommodate the next size up. But what if the shoe was ditched altogether?  

The Silhouette | Function & Future

Blank Model/Template

The advent of Adidas’s Adipure line-up is a timely reminder that the sneaker silhouette as we know it is subject to drastic and sometimes unrecognisable change. This evolution is and always will be driven by a basic instinct to innovate and incorporate the latest performance based technology in new designs. The 1991 Nike Air (Flight) Huarache is a case in point. By combining an exoskeleton support system with stretchy neoprene, the design gave birth to a whole school of barely-there shoes such as the Nike Air Rift, Nike Air Presto and arguably the Adidas Adipure. What distinguishes the Nike runners from the Adipure is their success at maintaining an appealing silhouette despite the radical changes. Regardless of the technology and fabrics incorporated by Adidas, its exact mimicking of the human foot is aesthetically floored.  Shoe design over the centuries has obsessed over hiding and disguising the shape of the human foot. It is an insufficient attempt by Adidas to veil this new silhouette with a camouflage of new technology and fabrics. The silhouette is so blatantly resembling the foot’s exact anatomy that it will inevitably jar with peoples instinctive aversion towards the  naked foot. What I would like to illustrate is that the silhouette has been increasingly overlooked and sidelined in its importance to the aesthetic qualities of the shoe. Thus, it is time we look past the excess of fancy materials and colourways as the indicators of success.

Taking the above image as a starting point, it's function is as a template, mimicking the shape of a human foot as closely as possible but still retaining qualities of a standardised shoe silhouette. This provides a neutral blank canvass where the material makeup of the shoe is immaterial. Painting the original colourways of selected models with distinguish one shoe from the other. It is also integral that the comparison be made with the original sneaker as below.