To celebrate JD’s latest hook up with footwear and customisation brand, Matt B Customs, we spoke with him to discuss his favourite one-off creations. Breaking the boundaries of bespoke designs, this exciting partnership kicked off with a one-of-one duffle bag made up of deconstructed JD trainers, handcrafted at Matt’s Manchester-based studio to create something entirely unique and exclusive, yet authentic to JD. Discover more about their link up via JD.
Can you walk us through your design process for customising? What initial steps do you take when starting a new project?
Depends on the project, as we work in a range of mediums, from hand painting to cut and sew, so the process depends on the shoe and the brief. We’ll always start by digitally mocking it up to get an idea of scale, colours and how to create it.
If you had to choose just one, what’s your favourite shoe to customise?
If I had to choose just one, it would have to be the Nike Air Force 1, just because it’s a completely plain canvas with an all leather upper, and it’s treated us very well over the years, being something that’s been on everyone’s feet for so long.
Can you tell us about one of your favourite projects so far and what made it particularly special or memorable?
The first would be Longitude Festival in Dublin with JD, we sat with the musicians in the artist village and designed it with them and created each pair to give to them before they performed, with multiple artists then wearing them on stage during their performance! This was by far my favourite activation to date. But my favourite campaign, would have to be our ‘Don’t Look Up’ project with Netflix, in which we applied a 4.5 billion year old meteorite to a pair of sneakers which were then auctioned at Sotherbys.
When selecting materials for customising shoes, what are your go-to choices, and how do they affect the overall aesthetics and durability of the shoe?
We look for what’s not being done by the brands, so taking influence from other trends outside of footwear and bringing them onto recognisable silhouettes, to create product that you can’t find on the high street or anywhere else. Everything that we do, needs to be 100% wearable and durable. Angelus paint is the only leather acrylic paint we will use, as it’s flexible, waterproof and super durable. That being said, whenever we’re reconstructing sneakers with new materials, we re-stitch the shoe the way it was put together so there’s never a question around durability.
Are there any specific influences that shape your work?
The main place we look to would be trend setting content creators to see what they’re wearing on socials and create the perfect sneakers to go with their outfits. But generally, we look to streetwear, the music industry and high street fashion.
How important is client input in your customisation process, and can you share an example of a project where client collaboration led to a particularly unique outcome?
Client input is what gets us out of our comfort zone, and it’s only ever been positive. Take for instance when Honda approached us to create a custom Honda Motorbike for Wheels & Waves Festival, we’d never worked with any of the mediums before, but being given a canvas like a Motorbike allowed us to put our stamp on something we never thought would’ve been possible.
Where do you see the future of customisation heading, and how do you plan to innovate your offerings to stay ahead of the curve?
Before now, customisation has only ever been ‘if you know you know’ or finding creators via socials or online. But bigger brands are now identifying that customers want more personalised items, there’s a huge market to bring customisation into retail all over the world to amplify customers shopping experience. I think the customisation scene is still at an early stage of its development, and it won’t be long until you see creators who have come up from handcrafted 1 of 1s to mass market drops with top brands and we’re excited to be part of that.
How did the link up with JD come about, and what are you creating with this collaboration?
We’ve been working with JD for a while now, nearly five years, so this partnership was natural progression, but also allows us to strengthen the relationship to create bigger ideas and even more impact.
Talk us through the unique duffle bag you made with deconstructed JD trainers.
We took four used Nike silhouettes, the Air Max 95, Air Max 90, Air Force 1 & P-6000, deconstructed each shoe into individual panels and reconstructed them in a way which allows you to see what the bag was made out of while recreating the iconic JD duffle bag. The base of the bag was created using a midsole from an Air Force 1, so when you look into the bag you see the in-sole, just as you would a shoe. The lace loops from the Air Max 90 and the P-6000 were used to thread the rope around the bag, turning it into a drawstring. The logos were hand painted on top of a flattened Air Force 1 with the rest of the bag pieced together using different panels from each silhouette.
What advice would you give to aspiring sneaker designers or customisers looking to make their mark in the industry, especially in a saturated market?
How social media algorithms are set up now, you don’t have to have a huge following to be found, so focus on the things you can control like your TikTok and Instagram content as a way to get your work out there. When you’re first starting out you can be very reactive, so try and identify quick turnaround trends and aim to be the first person to do something.
What’s next for MattB Customs? Are there any upcoming projects or directions you’re particularly excited about?
Next year is going to be our biggest and the evolution of MBC will be more present than ever, there’s a lot of things we’re excited about, and we’ll be able to share them soon!
