Designer Miranda Woods Crafts New Balance 990v5 Out of Snapbacks for Joe Freshgoods
Via: Miranda Woods
Customisation is one of the key parts of core sneakerhead culture, and freelance sneaker designer Miranda Woods has tipped her hat to the artform, crafting an epic out of upcycled snapbacks for !
The sneakers, which have been dubbed ‘Washington 12 Streeters’, honour the all-black pro basketball team that was made up of Howard University students and alumni. They are the stuff of legend and were one of America’s earliest teams that had a lineup entirely made up of African American players. The team was started by Edwin B. Henderson, who learnt basketball at Harvard University and became the first to introduce the game to the African American community on a widespread basis during his time teaching at Washington DC’s segregated public schools. Henderson signed up his former students to a team which became known as the ’12 Streeters’.
Woods has said this NB990v5 is a piece of a larger project dubbed ‘Thank U’ and incorporates snapbacks throughout the entire shoe while keeping its original structure. Our favourite part of the shoe is the large ‘Washington’ script across the medial and heel pull tab.
Gifting this pair to Joe Freshgoods, Woods said, ‘Joe is easily the most genuine, immensely talented, and thoughtful person in our industry that I’ve gotten to meet. Every time we connect he remembers little details from a previous conversation and wants to know what I’m up to. I’ve learned so much about storytelling both the hometown & Black experience through art-driven product by studying him and how he creates. So when he came to DC for the “Aged Well” 992 pop-up at Somewhere I wanted to give him a physical representation of how his work & creative process has influenced everything I’ve been creating - both in sneakers and art.’