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!)