Inside the Nike Lab — Where True Custom Sneakers are Born

I did something quite unique while in Miami for Art Basel. I created my own pair of Nike sneakers. No, I didn’t engineer something from scratch but rather took a generic white pair that I then customized to become Air Fongs.

When I was growing up in the 1970s and ’80s, no one wanted unique custom made items. At least where I was from — the homogenized South. Everyone wanted mass produced Guess jeans and K-Swiss sneakers so that we could fit in, and not stand out.

I did rebel and go through a punk rock phase. Many of my friends that I’ve known since high school say I did it more out of fashion and not for the music. Yes, even though I have a Black Flag T-shirt I would be hard pressed to remember any specific lyrics from Henry Rollins.

My Art Basel partner-in-crime, Meredith Harper (hopefully you’ve read of our 2018 adventures thus far through my Art Basel series), happened upon the massive Nike store on Lincoln Road Mall after lunch one afternoon with her Denver clients. She texted me that I had to make my way over to her ASAP since they had a “lab” set-up for creating your own sneaks.

I humored her and tore myself away from my late afternoon cocktail. I knew that I had to adhere to a budget for the Miami trip and that some customized Nike’s weren’t likely in the dollar sum I was prepared to spend. I thought, perhaps a pair of $200 sneakers and then another $100 for some graffiti-like scrawl painted on the side – FONGER? $300 was not in the cards.

Upon arriving and doing a quick survey of the beautifully designed space (not your average athletic store) I became entranced with a totem pole meets graffiti art installation in the center of the store. I was intrigued. This wasn’t your average athletic store. When I inquired after making my way to the front of the line, “no” was the answer to my $300 question, the total cost was $90 – for the sneakers and customization.

Given my love of sneakers (take a peek at my PaperCity feature on the trend) and constant need to add to my footwear repertoire I pulled out my credit card.

Customization Fever

I want to back-up a moment here to talk about the customization/personalization trend of the past five years. Yes, I know monogramming has always been a thing, especially amongst those who live in WASPlandia. Perish the thought of any of my preppy friends chasing me out of Dallas (or rather Highland Park) with tennis rackets instead of pitchforks for not keeping monogramming on a style pedestal.

In some cases, personalization is quite green. And by green I mean eco-friendly. Many fashionistas are bringing old handbags and breathing new life into them by having something painted on the sides. That’s become especially popular for Louis Vuitton and Gucci classics that are perhaps a decade old and their skins have seen better days.

Alas, with a flower painted on the side (reminiscent of artist Takashi Murakami’s collaboration well over a decade ago) the worn-out leather suddenly becomes young and fresh. I’ve also read that one of my favorite actresses of all time, Candice Bergen has a side hustle painting Hermès bags.

Some fancier folks though want only “new” and have customization done straight through the luxury label. In the case of the hallowed line, Valextra, you can create the shape, dimensions, hardware, color… all of it and have a new creation that you won’t find sitting next to yours when your dining companion joins you at your favorite ladies-who-lunch (and go-to-get noticed) spot.

The afternoon of my appointment, I decided I needed a glass of champagne to get the creative juice flowing. Upon entering the lab with Meredith I was more than pleasantly surprised to see that only one other person had the same time slot as the two of us. We got lots of personal attention from the effusive and creative team. (I need to give a shout out to Kaleb Brown, Eric Neitzel and Katie Zazakis.)

First off, none of them were over the age of 25. Most likely they might not have even been old enough to drink (thank God I didn’t bring a flask of wine with me and offer them a sip).

I had gotten my sneakers dyed blue and they looked great. It wasn’t a complete turning of the white shoe to blue, but almost like a tie-dye effect. My helper, Marco Brun, said perhaps the next step would be deciding if I wanted a new “swoosh,” the iconic Nike logo emblazoned on the sides of their shoes. I chose a darker, blue python. I’ve always fancied exotic skin loafers and thought why not go with an embellishment for my sneaks?

The setup truly was that of a “lab.” White, sterile looking tables, were jammed with massive jars filled with various laces in myriad colors. Bowls similarly were brimming with rainbow-hued leather accouterments to create decorations such as multi-layered flower-like corsages. I had a monogram engraved on the metal bit at the bottom of the laces with my signature: FAG. (Hopefully, you all know my real name is Franklin Gregory Andrews.)

All in all, the entire process was an extremely enjoyable hour and a fruitful distraction from Art Basel Miami.

If you find a Nike lab somewhere in your travels, definitely take advantage of the experience to create a one-of-a-kind pair of sneakers to add to your shoe arsenal.