SOLE COLLECTOR: Sneakers

words_Nick DePaula

photography_Steve Mullholand

After presentations from each of the finalists lasting over twenty minutes each, the five-person judging panel of esteemed Nike designers and executives deliberated for nearly thirty minutes before concluding that both Ben Adams-Keane and Juan Carlos Pozo each deserved to be named winners of the first annual Future Sole Design Competition. A nation-wide competition intended to seek out the country’s finest young footwear design talent, Future Sole was conceptualized some eighteen months ago and brought to fruition by both Ginny Hopkirk, Nike Design Studio Director, and D’Wayne Edwards, Jordan Brand Design Director. Future Sole was launched earlier this year as a grassroots initiative with a tiny budget intended to provide a platform for aspiring footwear designers from the ages of 15-19 to improve upon their talents and ambitions.

High School students who considered themselves potential designers were encouraged to enter online through postings on various news blogs and social media sites like MySpace, and by the submission deadline, Future Sole had amassed over 47,000 hits and 150 artist submissions. From there, a team of Nike designers thinned the field down to twelve, with Ben Adams-Keane, from Arlington, Massachusetts, and Juan Carlos Pozo, resident of Ocala, Florida, chosen as the two Finalists. The ten runner-up designers along with Ben and Juan have been individually paired up with Nike and Jordan Brand designers to help create a dialogue of advice and guidance between the student and mentor.

As the two finalists were assigned to design an original sneaker from the Force and Flight silos in just a three week window, they both were challenged to take on different approaches and inspirations. Juan, a soccer player, was chosen to tackle a Flight shoe aimed at basketball’s most speedy players under the guidance of Marc Dolce, Urban Indie Design Director. Ben, who plays point guard for his High School and AAU hoops teams, was challenged to create a shoe rooted in the history of Force for today’s more agile big man, with the help of Jordan Brand Designer Justin Taylor.

Juan’s Air Flight Comanche took inspiration from the Comanche helicopter and also featured references from the Jordan VI as well as a sleekly molded Foamposite upper, while Ben took unassuming inspiration from the Finch bird in creating a shoe rooted in stability and cushioning for the game’s most active power forwards and centers. “I really took care of all of the inspiration thought process right at the beginning,” explains Adams-Keane. “Right when I got the assignment I knew that I wanted to adapt the shoe to a new type of big guy like KG and Amare. I actually was learning about evolution at the time in science class, so that was the first thing that came to mind and I thought it worked.” You’ll notice the Finch bird’s direct influence on several design cues along the upper of the Force Adapt, as the beak of the bird inspired the heel counter for stabliity, and the bird’s food of choice, seeds, inspired the perforation pattern along the toe and heel, providing breathablity. The shoe also takes on a more fluid and agile appearance than Force shoes of the past, while still offering cushioning via LunarLite Foam. As an ode to the inaugural Force, Ben purposely kept the original tongue tag from the Nike Air Force 1 as a way to connect the past and present.

Juan looked at previous shoes in the lineage of the Flight line around the early 1990’s, drawing inspiration from RUN TMC sparkplug Tim Hardaway as well as the Jordan VI. “The Jordan VI was the biggest inspiration at the heel, and the older Flight shoes to me looked really bulky, which didn’t seem too light to me. I also looked at the Foamposite which was really the one I looked at a lot and that was the one that inspired the upper.” In going with a Foam-based upper, Juan also pulled styling inspiration from the Buggati Veyron, and it’s not hard to see the influence of the Nike Mercurial Vapor IV soccer cleat, which features a heavy carbon fiber usage as well as a similar Swoosh placement. “I like to see the shoe on my own feet,” Carlos Pozo said when asked why he positioned the Swoosh atop the upper.

As co-winners, both Ben and Juan will receive a professional designer’s dream package of software, equipment and tools to help better their design capabilities. Along with an 80 GB iPod Classic and a $100 iTunes giftcard, they’ll receive a MacBook Pro 15, Adobe CR3 design programs for their new computer, as well as a 9×12 Wacom Graphic Tablet to enhance and touch up the finer details of their latest renderings. While all of these prizes seemed awesome to both Ben and Juan, their eyes lit up when a personalized letter from Tinker Hatfield was read aloud, that included a promise to soon meet with the two Finalists to talk sneakers and discuss their future goals.

Be on the lookout for Issue 24’s Focus:Artist section, as both Ben Adams-Keane and Juan Carlos Pozo will be featured. A few pictures from the day’s event can be found below.

Ben calmly chose to present first, as he introduced his Air Force Adapt to the judging panel.

Juan presented his Air Flight Comanche to the crowd soon after.

In an awesome surprise for the two finalists, Nike presented each young designer with actual Z-Corp 3-D models of their renderings, bringing their designs to life for the judges to further disect. Ben and Juan were later presented with a Z-Corp pair as a keepsake.

I’d also like to extend a big thanks to D’Wayne Edwards and Ginny Hopkirk for helping to arrange such an awesome event with an even greater goal of helping to improve the knowledge base and foundation of two promising young designers. Don’t forget the names, as both Juan and Ben are surely headed for great success in the future.