For our latest Footpatrol Meets, we enlisted the help of professional photographer and proud N7 resident, Mark Whitfield. Mark has been a friend of ours at Footpatrol for as long as we can remember and has become known for his Nike Air Force 1 collection.
With over 150 to his name, in amongst this vast collection sits a number of bespoke which were created using Nike’s Bespoke programme in New York. Being a professional photographer, Mark has gone to town to create some detailed shots of these special one of ones and given a brief description for each edition.
If you were creating your own bespoke AF1, what would yours look like? Head on back to the Instagram post and let us know in the comments! We look forward to seeing what you’d choose.
Pair 1: English Gent
The ‘English Gent’ pair uses a waterproof wool. Chutney laces x stitching and pivot points, perforated glove leather interior and brown croc on the swoosh, heel and tongue tab. These took over 6 months to make as it was the first time ever that nike were asked to have a gum midsole on an ice outsole. These are the two softest runners and are really difficult to connect.
I was told that after my pair was completed, Nike made a rule that ice and gum were no longer an option together.
Pair 2: Luxury
Black and brown croc with X stitching, 3M heel tab and strip with orange pivot points, orange top eyelets and finished with cork insoles.
Pair 3: Harris Tweed
I bought this tweed from the isle of lewis in the outer hebrides and flew to NYC with it in hand and had it made into the pair you see below. I again used an ice outsole and carried across the orange pivot points with N7 embroidery on heel tab.
Pair 4: Beauty and the Beast
Some sort of scaley alien type material which i can’t recall the name of was teamed with a liberty print. The usual ice outsoles and orange N7 stitching with cork insoles and orange eyelets.
Pair 5: Darth Vader’s Slippers
Charcoal cashmere is met with one grey cashmere swoosh, leather deubres and cork insoles both with N7 lasered into them. N7 on heel and tongue tabs in orange with pivot points in red on the left shoe and green on the right. This pair also used a Pendleton wool lining which was actually called Pendleton N7. So an all cashmere shoes with a wool lining, oh and not forgetting a leather midsole.
When i made pair 5, I said that i wanted to have something on them which had never been done before, in fact i did three things which until that time had never been done on the bespoke programme.
1. leather deubres.
2. one odd swoosh.
3. pivot points in different colours on each shoe.
The different pivot points were in memory of my grandad who was a sailor, red for port and green to represent starboard. Obviously these things have been repeated and bettered since, but i was the first for those three options.
Pair 6: Digi Camo
I made them the same day i made the harris tweed pair, they are entirely made from a maharam digi camo fabric. in a way a boring pair but i just love that material. same deal as the harris tweed with black mid. ice out. orange n7 on heel. orange pivot points. cork insoles.
