2008 - BEST OF THE BEST SNEAKERS

My favourite sneaker release for 2008 is the Pro Mama, a sneaker that I had the honour and pleasure of designing for adidas. I wanted to create a pair of shoes that would convey the Mama message, yet be universal enough that women around the world would want to wear them.

I knew that by designing a performance shoe, I was essentially designing a ‘future retro’ so I wanted to create something timeless that would not only work now, but 20 years from now. When I had to decide on a model, it was really a no-brainer for me. I mostly wear high tops and since I was designing a performance shoe, I went with a basketball model, the Pro Model S, because unlike most of the newer models, it had a shell-toe reminiscent of adidas shoes that I grew up in. Designing a performance shoe was a bit more challenging because of adidas’ vigorous performance requirements. Some of my initial concepts didn’t pass, but, like all projects, design restrictions forced me to adapt.
The end result is a classic black and white colour palette. I’m not really into crazy coloured sneakers (I save the colours for my stilettos) and much of the Mama branding is built around black and white. The outer features a black leather stitched heart pattern with splashes of black reflective and patent. The insole featured the Mama signature lace pattern with our motto, ‘Always A Lady’ printed on it. My favourite detail was the Mama lacelock, which was produced to look like the original Mama Nameplate. The ‘icing on the kick’ was dubbing it the Pro Mama rather than its namesake, the Pro Model.