Monday 13 February 2012

Personal iD!

Soooo I know this isn't anything new....but I finally decided to book an appointment with Nike iD and I thought I might as well divulge you in my experience!

I am personally not a huge trainers fan (apart from my beloved Converse X Comme Play that have been in the Thames and back...) however after having a lot of fun at home, expressing some creativity (i.e messing about with colours...) on their website, I decided why not?!
I was going to just buy them straight off the internet, however after reading a couple of articles I found the general consensus was to go into the store itself. So I called up at the beginning of last week to find out a bit more information and they told me I could come in when I like or book an appointment, and it should take about 30/40mins. Great!
I managed to drag myself away from sofa at the weekend to go and check it out. I have to say if you are thinking about doing this, definitely go into the store. It means you have the full experience and some of the colour swatches/schemes are COMPLETELY different to what they look like on your computer screens.
Something I realised from my Nike iD experience is that either I could potentially be a great shoe designer OR a complete and utter disaster at it...This being because I took over 1.5 hours, 3 x the suggested time slot!! Ooooops! I had every style of trainer and every colour/material swatch possible, laid out on the desk in front of me. I sort of blame it on my innate indecisiveness...but also just because there were sooo many options!
Do I go for cord, denim, suede, leather, dunk, air max, high, low, bright and crazy or safe and neutral colours...?!
JUST TOO MUCH!!!

I had SUCH a laugh with the, incredibly friendly and obviously patient, staff. We sat there at the computer and played away with all sorts of options. I thought I had FINALLY decided on the design of my 'Premium High-top Dunk' when I walked past the mirror and saw I had missed a design!! What had caught the corner or my creative eye, was actually a men's shoe. It was a vintage inspired colour palette on the Cortez. The colours were great and if I had been half a size bigger (this specific version not available to women) I would have bought them straight away.
Soooo it was back to the drawing board and we came up with a Cortez shoe that looked as close as possible, but with my own twist. It is an insanely comfortable shoe and definitely suits me more than the others, possessing a slightly more feminine, lighter and sleeker 80's feel. Dark blue suede (resisted the polkadots!), black leather swoosh, light blue lining, logo, laces...and I'm done! Phew!
I think they were glad to get rid of me after the whole designing debacle! The shoe will take around 5 weeks to arrive (a rather long time for a girl to wait for a pair of shoes, I know!) I am already excited though, and they were too! I have to say, looking at my personalised iD card, it really doesn't look like I spent that amount of time designing it! However as they say, it is completely your design, your inspiration and your shoe. Completely 100% unique.
You want, especially for the first time, a shoe that you will wear and be happy with.
(N.B If you are not completely happy you are actually allowed to send them back and start again. A great service, although should not really be available to people like me!!)

Exciting thought to think that someone somewhere is assembling my new pair of shoes and literally stamping my 'R-EBL' logo on it! I know it's no Christian Louboutin extravaganza...but I like them and hopefully they come out well. PLUS maybe it will start, probably to much future annoyance of the staff, a new addiction!!


Nike personalised trainers...Just Do It! (Sorry I had to get it in there somewhere!)

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