Why does Nike make shoes more and more “ugly”?
Mom wants to hit someone when she sees it, and grandma wants to get a needle when she sees it. This is about ripped jeans. A kind of fashion that the elders can't understand, the trousers are not mended when they are torn, and they have to be worn out to show off. In terms of face, this is the economic situation that is too poor to buy new clothes. In terms of health, this is an important reason for the old cold legs after years of not paying attention to keeping warm in the knees.
Now there are more fashions that the elders can't understand, dirty shoes, and dirty shoes that are too dirty to bear.
Nike also pushes "garbage shoes"
In "Descendants of the Sun", the dirty shoes worn by the hero are a fashion. Even if the audience who watched the show didn’t like this kind of dirty shoes, they wouldn’t hate them too much. After all, these shoes are limited in dirt. At most, it’s like you played a basketball game in them and left a lot of shoe prints in the confrontation. trace.
▲ "Descendants of the Sun"
But the current dirty shoes may have reached a new level of "dirty".
In the mall, Balenciaga's limited edition of 100 pairs of dirty shoes is definitely the dirtiest shoe you can find, not one of them. At least from the outside, it looks like someone would dislike it when it is recycled, because it is too broken.
The original flat textile upper was full of rough edges, the laces looked like they were about to break, the plastic ring was severely aged and had cracks and scratches, and the upper was full of many damages that I didn't know how to make. In other words, this is a free shoe that most people would turn down.
Of course, Balenciaga is not really selling such dirty shoes, it is just an advertising method to show you how dirty the shoes can be. This is a creative ad shot by photographer Leopold Duchemin. It shows the state of your shoes after 100 years of wearing them. I want you to know that these Paris sneakers are "destined to be worn forever."
The pair of shoes that are normally sold in shopping malls look no different from ordinary dirty shoes. The white, red and black three-color raw edge treatment creates a sense of damage, and there are some scratches on the tongue and heel, which are specially made. traces of wear and tear.
But these shoes are not cheap. People who are willing to spend money on this pair of "broken shoes" probably don't need to be frugal to wear them for 100 years. Priced between $496 (about 3,000 RMB) and $625 (about 4,400 RMB), the Paris sneakers cater not to fans of durability, but to fans of style.
Of course, if you think the dirty shoes sold are too ordinary, you can also buy the badly damaged "imitation century-old sneakers" in the Balenciaga advertisement. It is definitely impossible to wear it, but the price of limited edition sneakers of 1800 US dollars (nearly 12700 RMB) may also have the value of social business cards and exhibition functions.
If Balenciaga is just a little out of line in the advertisement, and the shoes it sells are still very common, Nike's latest ISPA sneakers are really "ugly" and look like they were picked up from the trash.
This is not an ad, the shoe really is this ugly look.
Like ordinary dirty shoes, ISPA Mindbody also has a sense of distress, but the degree of distress is too high. It’s like soaking in a pond full of green algae for half a month and being picked up to dry in the sun. Even the patterns of the uppers are not consistent, just like irregular sewage splashed on the uppers, leaving permanent stains. stains.
It's not even worn, you'd suspect the shoes are old. It's like it's made from materials found in a dump and combined with rope. It is a bit exaggerated to describe it as dirty shoes. A more accurate term should be "garbage shoes".
What's more, it is said that it is like the shoes of climbers buried under the glacier in the last century, and now Nike has dug them out.
Why does Nike ISPA make "ugly shoes"
This is a new shoe from Nike's ISPA collection, and it's quite different from what we've seen in sneakers.
But for ISPA, it's qualified.
What are ISPAs? It’s picking up junk, improvisation, an exploration of adaptation, and a brand’s rethinking of sneakers. In Nike's words, "ISPA is a set of design principles, the culmination of experimental expression in all of Nike's designs. The final product exhibits an optimistic design force that meets needs that the wearer will not reveal to the outside world."
ISPA is actually Nike's exploration project, in which designers will strive to subvert the existing production process. But the most important thing is still SCAVENGE, which means search for and collect (anything usable) from discarded waste, simply put, it is turning waste into treasure.
Just like looking for delicacies from leftovers, fish heads and offal, which are unacceptable to most people, can also become delicacies in the hands of a knowledgeable chef. Designers with a keen sense of smell can find the most suitable materials for sneakers from the endless garbage.
Darryl Matthew, Nike's senior design director, said: "During the development of NIKE ISPA, we challenged not only the production-end technology, but also the subversion of the brand's existing process."
ISPA was once regarded as an experimental project by the outside world, and it is also one of Nike's goals to raise the ceiling of the industry with innovation.
In this case, design ability, sustainable environmental friendliness and forward-looking are more important, and it is more important to obtain raw materials from those materials that have not been used to make shoes, and whether users can accept it can be relied on. Darryl Matthews, director of innovative design for fuel shoes, said:
We never intended to target consumers directly. We believe that targeting the consumer at the beginning of the process prevents us from going beyond the intended look. We therefore started with a series of questions and developed the approach within a philosophical framework.
So you can see that ISPA has a perforated outsole and split toe design, and now there is a pair of "junk shoes" that look like garbage.
But this is not to say that Nike blindly pursues cutting-edge, ignoring issues such as the durability and comfort of sneakers. Take this pair of ISPA Mindbody called "garbage shoes" as an example. It does not use glue or cement, which may make users worry about its durability, but in fact, the welding method makes the shoe itself very strong. The integrated Flyknit shoes The surface also makes it easier to be recycled, which is a bit detachable.
Consumers may not be able to accept it, but this shoe is really ugly, at least it looks too dirty and old.
Shoes are ugly, this could be a new way of thinking about the environment
But being ugly may also be a purpose of ISPA Mindbody.
There is no doubt that the sneaker brands around the world have basically not left behind the sustainable proposition.
Adidas and Allbirds have collaborated to develop the most environmentally friendly shoes in the world. The carbon footprint produced is only 2.94 catties, which is 1/4 of the average of other sports shoes. Recycled materials such as sugar cane raw materials and recycled rubber make it very green.
Adidas launched the UltraBOOST Uncaged Parley sneakers in 2016. The knitted upper is made of 95% ocean plastic and 5% recycled polyester fibers. In 2017, more than 1 million pairs of similar junk shoes were sold.
The Vision Racer ReWorked jointly launched by New Balance and Jaden Smith is made of recycled and mixed recycled resource Spinnex fiber and EVA recycled material.
The oatmeal beige platform shoes launched by PUMA use the classic Oslo City design, which is also made of waste materials, but it uses waste materials such as cotton, leather and recycled plastic bottles that are common in the garment manufacturing process.
Nike ISPA Link also aimed at the theme of "disassembly" and launched shoes that can be assembled in 8 minutes without a drop of glue. The three modules of shoelaces, uppers and soles can be disassembled for later recycling.
All the brands are making environmentally friendly shoes, but the appearance of these shoes is not significantly different from those made by traditional craftsmanship. The brand has worked hard on the inside, reprocessing waste materials and presenting them in a new way.
And this time the Mindbody material has actually been processed layer by layer, but the team still chooses to display it in a more original way—maybe many people would say ugly and rubbish. It intuitively makes you feel that the material of this pair of shoes is made of discarded materials. It does not need to be reported, but an environmental protection story can be told only through the shape of the shoe itself.
So far, garbage shoes are not only shoes made of waste materials, but also shoes that look like garbage.
But being ugly is also good. Nike is not willful enough to completely violate the needs of all users to make ugly shoes. Junk shoes also have inherent audiences.
If dirty shoes are casual fashion, junk shoes are fashion that shows attitude.
Just like the logos of many brands represent expensive and quality, junk shoes represent the audience's acceptance of environmental protection, which is a way of communication. Wearing similar shoes directly represents that the wearer cares about environmental protection, accepts the concept behind this pair of shoes, and walking on the street in these shoes is an expression of a certain attitude.
It's just that the effect of this expression also depends on the brand's publicity.
Carolyn Mair, author of the book "Fashion Psychology", said that fashion is a way of communication. If people don't know the price of shoes, then shoes can't help communication.
If you love Balenciaga and have seen these grungy sneakers, you know that wearing them is a status symbol. But the problem with fashion is that you have to be informed to get your message across.
The same goes for Nike's junk shoes, as long as enough people know about them, ugly shoes are a form of communication. This is also a new idea of environmental protection that brands can boldly explore.
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