Stan Smith Mylo: Made Using Mushrooms

How are you doing today, Melitta?

I'm good, the day after you always feel like you could sleep another 12 hours. I'm so pleased about yesterday, and still in the clouds about how it all turned out.

So, how did this amazing collaboration with Nike come about? 

We were already in touch with Nike, doing our Spring-Summer 25 show in September last year. Nike was supporting us by providing sneakers, and that was when the whole conversation started. We were able to build a show around sports, and Nike coming in just made it feel like we had more ideas. Using a Paralympian as a runner to start the show, and hairstyling in the theme of speed. We had this hair that is like flying so that it was as if you were running. We started to create a world about movement. Then going forward, we were asked by Nike to work on re-envisioning the Vomero Premium, which was then super exciting.

How was it working on a performance sneaker, rather than traditional footwear with your brand?

It was very different than working on your own shoe from scratch, already having a product that is finished, and working for the first time with materials like laces that we would usually not have. It was exciting to reinterpret something that already exists, which we've never done before, as this is our first collaboration. So, it was super exciting to do after-effects on something that is already there, and that was exciting as we had to think about colour and print. Usually, we work in a more sculptural way, where we try on pieces and see things in 3D. So, we wanted to work on different layers of colours and adding the paint over it, which was all hand-painted, so giving that 3D effect was super important.

Where did the inspiration come for the colour? Your brand does a lot of neutrals normally.

I wanted it to feel, sporty, glowing and powerful, very classic Nike. Nike has worked so much in the past with these glowing colours, and that feeling of powerful sports. I didn't want to have colours that are specific fashion colours. So, working with a classic colour was what I wanted to do, and then add our twist to that.

Especially like on the sole with the eyes, what was the inspiration behind that?

We were thinking of what could we print on? And what story we could tell? So, when we started thinking about the whole picture of storytelling, I had this idea of when you are self-conscious and thinking “I'm not a pro yet”. Not long before that, we came up with the tagline, “Run Like No One Is Watching”, as the core essence of the shoe, with the eyes being representative of that tagline.

Could you tell me more about that tagline? What does it mean to you?

What that means is, you don't have to be pro in order to move. Not seeing it from the perspective of, running 5K and then counting your Strava goals, but more as something that can inspire you. Your brain functions completely differently when you run, and there is something about the clarity that you have when you're running that puts you in a different state of mind. I like to approach running more from a feeling perspective, rather than counting steps. “Run Like No One”, obviously is wordplay, from “Dance Like No One Is Watching”, and means run freely. Whichever stage you are at, you can still do it.

It's a great message. You can really see it throughout the immersive experience. Was it mainly your idea or was it in collaboration with Nike? How do you think of the concept? Because it's kind of very surreal.

The idea is purely from the brand. I'm very grateful, Nike allowed us to do something that has not been done much before, and I just had this idea of telling a story about starting to run, or not being sure about how to run, from a very humanizing perspective, an honest realistic view of running. That's something that I just wanted to tell, and I thought telling that with an immersive experience was just the best way.

Would you ever make sportswear or sneakers for your own brand outside of this collaboration with Nike? 

It sounds so far away, seeing the background of what went all into it, and how long it takes to go from first step to the last step. Just doing only our project, even though the shoe was already there, was such a huge project and so many people working on it. It feels like a far-fetched dream. Obviously, it's an amazing way of working. I think it's amazing to have something that you can run with. I do like the collaborative aspect a lot, because I like when something is figured out, and obviously Nike is a brand that is known for running and high performance. I think working with someone that has a specialty in something and then collaborating on the visual aspect and storytelling for it, is something that I like a lot.

You said just you enjoyed working within a pre-existing product, but was it challenging or even enjoyable?  

It was more so joyful, actually, because I didn't need to deal with production. This is more like working on creative directing and coming up with ideas. Obviously, I think it's a very different way working for an independent brand than working with a very big company. I think there's just a lot of different ways of working, and it's difficult as an independent brand but I wouldn't say it's challenging. It's more like it was amazing that we can come up with a colour, and there is a technician that figures it out for us.

Did you have many of different ideas that you developed and didn't go forward with that you would want to do in the future, or was it the singular product that was your only intention?

The product itself was proposed by Nike, so we had that constraint. I had struggles with choosing the colour. There were more samples made that looked amazing, and we had to choose one, so, that was exciting. We had so many ideas that we had to narrow down, which was quite nice to have that restraint, but just thinking about a performance shoe, and a sneaker in general is a very new way of working for me, so, I'm very inspired by it. There is a forthcoming collection to come, so that's very exciting.

So, is there anything from this process that you feel like you could bring back into your main collection?

It is making me really think that how the collection we do is more high-end fashion and dressed up. I think people are so much into the day-to-day life where you don't dress up that much. I think offering things that are more for your daily life is something that I'm very inspired by.

Do you have a final message you would like to say about this collaboration?

What I wanted to say with this way of presenting is that running can be for everyone. Whether you are a beginner or already there, it's really for everyone. Running is a way of being creative, a way of expressing yourself.