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In it for the Kicks - In it for the Kicks |
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Written by Erin Frustaci
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Wednesday, 26 July 2006 |
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Page 5 of 5
 SNEAKERLUST
Play God at NikeID Studio and create your own style
By Mike Weiss
asap
NEW YORK — I don’t like sneakers — I love sneakers. I like carbonation and health insurance. I LOVE sneakers.
You might know people like me, and if so, I feel bad for you. Because we’re a boring bunch, hunched over our laptops, scrolling through poorly edited blogs and impossible-to-decipher Japanese Web sites.
But Nike thinks we’re all special, which is why, six years ago, they launched NikeID.com, a Web site that allows you to play God and make shoes in your own image. And it was good. Then they surprised us and launched NikeID Studios, first in New York, then in select cities around the world. And it was great. The only problem was, you couldn’t get in — it’s invitation only.
What is the NikeID Studio? It’s a boutique/gallery where customers who have gotten referrals from approved referees can build a custom shoe with the help of trained experts. It’s a place where our increasingly limited-edition and custom-made consumer fantasies can run free.
The store has more options than the online edition, as well as premium materials like white patent leather and supple, brown “Buck Hampton” leather. Boy oh boy, did I want to get in.
I tried everything. I went online, I made phone calls, I begged guys at stores to give me a hint. It wasn’t pretty. But finally, through some fancy finagling, I found myself with a 2 p.m. appointment on a blustery afternoon.
I was in. Now what?
 Well, first of all, there’s no way to prepare yourself. Once inside, you’re besieged by sneakers from all angles. Every inch of the space is adorned with Nike flourishes. The sole of an Air Max 1 is abstracted and turned into a wallpaper pattern. An 8-foot-high mirror dominates one wall, its frame a highly detailed carving of iconic Nikes. It’s intense.
The space is stocked with sample shoes in all varieties of materials and colors, which is meant to inspire you. The samples showed minute variations indiscernible to a civilian but obvious to a dedicated geek like me.
These variations proved to be aesthetically, and eventually emotionally complex. What’s the difference between Palomino leather and Buck Hampton leather? Don’t ask, I can assure you that you won’t care. But in the moment, sitting in the Studio, the two leathers seemed so different that I began questioning not only why I was here (in the Studio), but why I was here (trapped on this spinning prison called Earth in this cruel nothing known as space.)
My palms went damp. My foolish life flashed before my eyes. And I realized that, as improbable as it may sound, here at the NikeID Studio, I was staring deeper into the abyss than ever before. Every decision I made was suddenly fraught with a significance that history would need to untangle long after my shoes had been reduced to color-coordinated dust.
Luckily, that’s where Jonathan Tatkon-Coker came in. Jonathan was my affable 22-year-old Design Consultant and temporary emotional buoy. Every appointment at the Studio is a one-on-one experience between the consumer and a consultant who operates a desktop computer.
Jonathan had an incredible command of the software and a gentle way of guiding his customers. “We try to point people away from the horrible stuff,” he demurred.
It was Jonathan’s confidence that made me realize how little I really knew. As much as sneakers meant to me, they meant far more to him. “We’re just happy to get paid to do this,” he explained to me, nodding to another consultant who walked past. “Because we’d be in here making shoes either way.”
When I asked how many pairs of custom Nikes he had made for himself since becoming a full-time employee a year ago, he shrugged, guessing, “I don’t know, between 30 and 40 pairs?” I was jealous. I was humbled. I was, and always had been, a novice, and now that was obvious.
Jonathan has seen it all. Some customers gave him ideas, things he went back and copied on his own time. Others had strange requests. “I had a guy come in here yesterday, he put his headphones on me and had me listen to a Kinks song, then he told me to make a pair of shoes that would look like how the song sounded,” he said. “So I did.” How’d they turn out? “They were cool. Kind of Superman-inspired. Red white and blue.”
I asked John if he liked my finished design, a black, white and brown concoction. He again shrugged politely, stared at the screen and said, “Yeah. It’s good. I’m just happy you’re using all our premium materials. I’d hate it if you came in here and didn’t use any of that.”
Stripped of my subjective powers, I didn’t know what to think about the kicks I had just designed. I exited the store, breathed deeply and immediately began second-guessing myself.
Oh, well. It takes Nike’s distant and unseen factory 4 weeks to spit out the custom shoes. I had a month to obsess over the blunders I undoubtedly made.
In the end, two things were clear: some things are best left to the pros; and I, sadly, am just an amateur.
Mike Weiss is a writer in New York who owns more than 20 pairs of sneakers.
SNEAKERHEADS ON THE WEB
- www.nikeid.com
Anyone can create their own one-of-a-kind kicks here. If you end up liking them, order ’em up and Nike will deliver to your door. You can also sign up to go to an elite Nike ID Studio from the site. But actually getting invited is another story.
- www.pumatalk.com
An online community for Puma lovers worldwide. It features a PumaTalk Forum and a photo blog for users to write about their lifestyle. More areas are under developments at the site, with a September 2006 launch date.
- www.kicksengine.com
A visual aid you can use to search eBay for recent listings on your favorite kicks. The site matches relevant keywords and does the search work for you. You click the images and the eBay results will appear.
- www.flytip.com
This site is billed for “sneakers and interactive media culture.” What that translates into is a hodgepodge of items, with a section devoted to sneaker culture, where you can watch videos, post sneaker photos and link to other sneaker resources.
- www.kicksfinder.com
This is another site devoted to doing the searching for you. Visitors here can click on the shoe image they want to know about, and the site will search eBay auctions and listings for relevant search words.
- www.justforkicksmovie.com
Yes, there’s even a documentary about sneakers, hip hop and the corporate game. You can watch clips, subscribe to the newsletter and order the DVD here.
NEXTnc staff reports
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