Design Context Blog: Possible ideas for the trainer redesign & inspiration

Possible ideas for the trainer redesign & inspiration

Deriving from my essay I mentioned in my proposal I wanted to re-design a trainer, the re-design will be part of a collaboration between the company who makes the trainer and another company like a music artist or other clothing brand. The other idea would be to release a trainer based on a theme, like a summer release redesign for a certain trainer, or a trainer influenced by a sport.

I will gather some examples of past collaborations expanding on the part in the essay were I mentioned about collaborations between fashion labels and music artists, artists, celebrities etc.

From essay

"Obey derived from a graffiti campaign created by Shepard Fairy to promote the popularity of wrestler Andre the Giant. I learnt this in a lecture within the context of practice program.

Rapper Pharel: HESS (2009) quotes “In 2003, he created a partnership with reebok in wich he started two new fashion lines: “Icecream,a collection off men and womans footwear, and Billinaire Boys Club, a mens clothing collection” (HESS. 2009. Pg 514)

Rihanna and her endorsements off Supreme.

Kanye Wests endorsements with Nike that have now transferred too Adidas.

Jay Z and Crooks & Castles clothing.

Tyler the creator and Odd future clothing.

Little Wayne and The Hundreds clothing company.

Drake and his endorsements with North face and now Nike Air Jordan’s. This particular endorsement is a revised and recycled version off biggie smalls endorsing Dunks. I come to this conclusion due to Dunks been created for use in Basketball and him been a huge icon of that time. The same applies to drake and Air Jordan’s which are again produced for basketball."

I need to find a fashion label to choose a trainer from there range to redesign, I will research a few examples to help me decide on were to start. Looking into there history and what they were originally made for, I mentioned in my essay how fashion labels created items for the sporting sector so finding out the past heritage and uses for these brands will help me inspire a broader range of ideas.

Adidas Originals

http://www.size.co.uk/page/adidas-originals/

Adidas was started in 1920 by Adi and Rudolf Dassler. Adi and Rudi started 'Dassler Brothers Sports Shoe Factory' were 25 people produced 100 pairs of shoes each day. In 1958, the brothers parted, Rudolf founded Puma whole Adi founded addidas. Adi Registered the famous 3-stripes as his companies trademark and the name adidas. The 3-Stripes were originally developed as a way to stabilize the mid foot, but soon became synonyms with the adidas brand

Ascis

http://www.asics.co.uk/history

ASICS is at the forefront of the world performance sports market as undisputedly the leading running shoe brand for enthusiasts and professional athletes alike. Whether at professional sporting events, the Olympics or an everyday run around a park, ASICS is the runner’s choice, providing comfort, support and a superior ride. The recent 10-year anniversaries of its two leading, award-winning shoes, the GEL-NIMBUS and GEL-KAYANO, demonstrate the longevity and affection by which the brand is held in the eyes of sportspeople across the globe.

Beyond the running arena, ASICS has made further strides in development. The revolutionary ASICS Rugby and Football range incorporates injury prevention technologies, a first in these sports. ASICS is unmatched for technical superiority and rigorous quality. These standards have put the company in good stead since 1949 and will remain hallmarks of the brand as it innovates and develops well into the 21st century.

Vans

http://sneakers.about.com/od/brands/p/Vans.htm

Vans is a sneaker manufacturer based in Southern California. The brand primarily makes skateboarding shoes and other types of sneakers catering towards the extreme sports youth set.

New Balance

http://www.newbalance.co.uk/About-New-Balance/about-new-balance,en_GB,pg.html

New Balance began as a Boston-based arch support company in the early 1900's, developed into a specialized shoe manufacturer in the 1970's, and has grown to become a leading global athletic products company. Today New Balance is a family of brands including New Balance, Dunham, PF Flyers, Aravon, Warrior and Brine.

Since the days of selling arch supports to police officers and waiters, New Balance has been a brand concerned with meeting the needs of the everyday athlete. Part of producing superior footwear and athletic apparel is manufacturing it to fit all widths and sizes, because a better fit produces better performance.

To ensure the best fitting, best performing shoes and apparel, we focus on improving our technology and production methods. A big part of that is maintaining five manufacturing facilities in the United States and one in United Kingdom. We have also remained committed to a core set of values that include integrity, teamwork and total customer satisfaction

Nike

http://nikeinc.com/pages/about-nike-inc

Nike, originally known as Blue Ribbon Sports (BRS), was founded by University of Oregon track athlete Philip Knight and his coachBill Bowerman in January 1964. The company initially operated as a distributor for Japanese shoe maker Onitsuka Tiger (nowASICS), making most sales at track meets out of Knight's automobile

Collaboration inspiration

To influence my redesign and expand on the collaborations I touched on in my essay I will include a variety of examples. This solidifies my statements given in my essay mentioning the solid relationships between hip-hop and fashion. It will help influence my trainer redesign in the later development stages.

From essay

"There were many cultural elements that were considered when designing these said fashion and graphic design examples. Ranging from footwear and their links with sports that it is used in to promote the item to how music has influenced designers off art & design and fashion alike. Nike-justdoit.weebly’s mentions that (2011) “The two main drivers of this huge culture include basketball and hip hop.” (Nike-justdoit.weebly’s, 2011) This statement provides sufficient support on my opinion on how hip-hop and urban/street culture influenced fashion an design alike."

Hip hop based collaborations.

http://www.capitalxtra.com/xplore/lists/hip-hop-trainer-collaborations/

Love the boldness and the simplicity, more concentrating on the use of materials and the shape of the trainer rather than use of color elements within the design.

I like the pastel tones used with a hint of color giving the simple scheme an eye catching element.

Mixing bold statements with pure luxury construction techniques with the use of high end materials and the combination of a very high end fashion label creating a very high in demand trainer release with a ridiculous price tag.

Simple use of color with a pattern element for a visual appeal. Don't like the actual construction of the trainer though.

Going against the grain here with sneaker designs with lots of illustrative elements rather than plain and simple use of color. Not too over the top n terms of illustrations though so still quite subtle with a 4 color block color scheme.

Simplicity with an ornate element giving off a very decorative feel, not very wearable though more of a display piece.

Awfull. Multicolored, vibrant, lout. Expressing this music artists whole attitude.

Simple and clean, purity. No real links with sporting heritage but due to his fame the collaboration became the best selling line in reebok history.

Skateboarding influences within the construction, with urban influences through the use of very dull and pastel colors.

Fresh and clean aesthetics representing its "classic heritage" that goes back to simple materials and simple design.

More abstract and unique collaborations

These examples are more unique and out of the box collaborations showing how versatile and diverse collaboration attempts can be which gives me a broad range of possible outcomes I could produce.

http://www.complex.com/sneakers/2011/10/the-top-50-sneaker-collaborations-of-all-time#4

Nike X Kidrobot

Nike teamed up with Kidrobot, a toy manufacturer producing funky bold statement vinyl Japanese toys. The use of bold contrasting colors emulates the toys aesthetics.

Nike X Wood-Wood

Reebok x Chanel

Reebok teaming with chanel shows that sports wear can become a high end line of fashion too with the Chanel collaboration.

Nike x Footpatrol

A footwear store strengthened there heritage of the store for been stockiest of limited run trainers by creating there own line of trainers with Nike.

Nike X Patta "Homegrown"

http://sneakernews.com/category/collaboration/page/9/

Adidas stan smith X Artpack

This bold and vibrant pack showed that a sporting brand can have artistic influences, the bold contrasting colors here have a very loud aesthetic inspired by graffiti. Graffiti having links with the urban street scene wich I touched on in my essay.

Asics X Bait

END X Saucony "Burger"
END clothing, a stockiest of high quality clothing and limited edition release have released a very unique spin off of trainers inspired by modern gourmet eating. The rise of high end burger joints inspired this release, they took the classic colors from a burger and transferred it into there trainer design, simple but the concept is very effective.

Select X Asics

Possible Ideas

A collaboration between a line of trainers and Pharelle the rappers clothing like BBC (Billionaire boys club)

A collaboration between a line of trainers and Jay Z to promote his latest album release Magna Carter Holy Grail, inspired by Dizzie Rascals tongue in cheek trainer release with Nike that I touched on in my essay.

A line of trainers released based on the theme of precious metals like gold, silver, platinum.

A trainer release based on an artistic movement like the De Stijl movement, this touches back on the elements in the essay were I talked about collaborations of designers and fashion labels to help create unique and creative responses for fashion design.

With the world cup coming up an initial thought would be to create a trainer redesign for a few countries. This keeps with the link between trainers having the strongest links with sports and with the world cup the music industry has alot of involvement with artists creating anthems for the world cup. These examples of world cup anthems strengthens points I made in the essay mentioning how the music industry, fashion labels and sporting labels can all team together.

Nike is also the official sponsor for the world cup, with design agency "I love dust" been in charge of some image making. This demonstrates more examples of design studios working with sports brands as I touched on in my essay.