Premiering today, a new documentary follows London-based designers Helen Kirkum and Alex Nash, and Shun Hirose of Japanese boutique Recouture, as they reimagine adidas’ Campus 80
Premiering today on AnOthermag.com, a new documentary follows three designers as they reimagine one of adidas’ most recognisable sneakers, the Campus 80. The short film, shot over just ten days, follows each as they create a shoe from start to finish: from initial sketches in their respective studios to creating prototypes at adidas HQ in Germany, before flying to Vietnam to see their creations made in one of the brand’s factories.
It marks the latest chapter of adidas’ MakerLab, a creative platform for innovation which previously saw designers Priya Ahluwalia, Paolina Russo and Nicholas Daley show their own creations earlier this year in a special presentation in Paris. With the aim to give emerging designers a global stage, each was given use of adidas’ MakerLab – previously only available to those who worked within the company – and its endless resources, to reimagine the SC Premiere sneaker. The show itself was watched on by a raft of names, including Jonah Hill, Karlie Kloss and David Beckham, who as an ambassador for the British Fashion Council had initially shortlisted the three designers.
This time, three new designers, each from a footwear background: London-based Helen Kirkum, a footwear designer known for her irreverant mash-ups of recycled sneakers, Alex Nash aka Nashmoney, also from London, who creates innovative customised sneakers (“Destroy and Rebuild” reads his slogan), and Japanese shoemaker Shun Hirose, whose store Recouture swaps the soles of shoes and trainers to create one-off (and much-Instagrammed) styles. Each has used the Campus 80 – first created in the 1970s as ‘Tournament’ and renamed ‘Campus’ in the 1980s – as a basis, though the results are expectedly eclectic.
This edition of MakerLab – which will launch at an event in New York on October 15th – will also see each of Markers’ creations available through StockX. It marks the very first time that MakerLab designs are available on the open market, in editions of 333 pairs for each silhouette.
Watch the full film below.