We Created Bespoke Nike Air Force 1s From Sherrin Footballs!
To celebrate 2016's AFL Grand Final between the Sydney Swans and the Western Bulldogs, we teamed up with local shoe artisans to create two pairs of . The game was one of the most emotional and dramatic in living memory. The Bulldogs are based in the Western Suburbs of Melbourne, a traditional working class area. In 1954, the club won its only premiership, so it had been a long time between drinks for the Doggies. If their young team could pull off a win, it would rank as one of the great romantic ‘underdog’ moments in local sporting history.
‘Aussie Rules’ is one of the most obscure and anarchic team games in world sport. The rules are inexplicable to outsiders, and since there is no offside, players are free to roam the field in random 360-degree strategies. The undoubted highlight of any game is a ‘speccie’, where a player launches themselves into the air on the back of an opposition player’s head. Players wear zero padding and the potential for violence and huge collisions is always present. It’s a unique Antipodean game for endurance athletes, who do battle through high-intensity half-marathons in each game.
Titled ‘Melbourne Rules’, this project was a creative collaboration between Sneaker Freaker and , a custom footwear workshop also based in Melbourne. I'd dreamed of making a pair of from Sherrin footballs for several years, but no one in Melbourne had the expertise to pull them off until BespokeIND opened their doors.