New Balance Made in Africa 993 Concept Collection
I started a new design series called New Balance Made in Africa, that merges my love for shoe design (starting with New Balance) and many designs/colors from the African culture, starting with my own Nigerian heritage.
Below is the New Balance 993. For this model I wanted to focus more strategically on the use of muted colors to help amplify the Nigerian pattern in the middle and back of the shoe.
For me, green and brown have been colors I have played around with because brown, symbolizing both the color of my people group as well as the rich soil in which Africa has been known for and green for the main color of my Nigerian heritage as well as the tremendous growth and opportunity filled within the continent itself.
Accents of grey can be found throughout the shoe to still nod to the heritage of the brand.
I wanted to pattern to work in conjunction with The "N" so that they became one, to further cement the New Balance Made In Africa branding.
For Version 2, I wanted to create an alternative the wasn’t a total derivative from the green and brown. I leaned heavily into the more golden, earthy tones highlighting the color/vibrance of the nation while keeping the N gray, thus paying homage to the roots of the New Balance brand at the heart of the shoe.
New Balance Made in Africa 550
Below is the New Balance 550, personally not one of my favorite models, but it has been widely accepted and serve something like the 574s in the early 2000s or even the Stan smiths for Adidas. For version 1 I chose to branch out and highlight the "Kente Cloth," which was strategically placed in the "N" and on the front upper of the shoe.
Kente focuses a lot on gold patterning, which comes from the Ashanti's grand displays during royal ceremonies. In order to compliment the patterning, and keep things less busy, I used a muted yellow coupled with a brown to balance all the bright coloring.
For version 2, I took inspiration from the Ghanian national soccer team kit during the 2010 World Cup and utilized specific colors found on their jerseys. The addition of the stitched flag at the back helped to further tie in the heritage with the Kente patterning on the “N".”
Most of the color ways for the 550 are incredibly simple, so I didn't want to stray too far away from that design language but I did want to make the shoe feel more distinctly African, which meant the the use of more colors was necessary.
New Balance Made in Africa Fuelcell RC Elite V2
Below is the RC Elit V2, inspired by the 2010 Ivory Coast national football team kit and one of my favorite players Didier Drogba. With orange as the dominate color I focused on incorporating it throughout the shoe with hits of green and an off-white to complete their flag colors (green, orange, and white).
Also within the shoe is a pictorial Korhogo cloth which was produced by the Senufo people of the Ivory Coast. The cloth depicts figures whom carry deep symbolism—the fish representing life and abundance, birds representing freedom, goats representing male prowess and the hunters representing mystery.
New Balance Made in Africa 990v4 “Deconstruct” Concept
I’ve really been into the idea of DIY deconstruction lately, so I re-imagined what a cutout feeling version of the 990s would look like.
New Balance Made in Africa 650 “Deconstruct” Concept
I’ve really been into the idea of deconstruction lately, so I wanted to see what the 650R could look like with less leather and a more patchwork feel.
I was also inspired by how Virgil Abloh deconstructed the Jordan 1 in his “The Ten” project so a few elements reference what he was able to do.
Static Shock x New Balance "Shock ‘Em" Concept Collab
Inspired by one of my favorite TV shows, Static Shock, I took the primary colors found on Virgil’s superhero outfit and placed the design on the New Balance 725s. I chose the 725s because of their lack of mainstream popularity (compared to the 99x and 550s) and the panels on the shoe looking like lightening bolts.
I chose to make the panelling brown because to Virgil’s (static shock) race. He was the only full on black superhero I had ever seen on TV and I identified so much with him as a result.
Joe Fresh Goods x New Balance "Slow & Steady" Concept Collab
JFG x New Balance's original "No Emotions Are Emotions" 992s debuted during NBA all-star weekend (February 14-16) in 2020.
The original color way touted a red, pink, and burgundy color way to it and now goes for upwards of $2,000 on resale markets.
For this concept piece I wanted to reinterpret the color way for a post-pandemic world, as the above came right before things would shut down in the US for 2 years.
I chose the mantra, "slow & steady," to represent the slow and steady climb we have all been on to get out of the pandemic and the color green to represent the growth alongside the climb.
