Behind The Design, The Hybrid Sneaker
The sneaker and fashion world often seem far away from each other, while admittedly the latest # trend blurred the lines, and collaborations with the likes of John Elliott or Fear of God, Kim Jones or Jeremy Scott have fueled the hype engines. From continually hitting the F5 button on your favorite sneaker shop homepage to hanging out in front of a store for several nights, the sneaker world was dominated by internet forums & eBay auctions while the fashion world took its inspiration from Paris or Milan. But with the sneaker world truly taking off, and menswear enthusiasts embracing the idea of mixing and matching their exclusive (and quite expensive) brands with the latest unique sneaker, the footwear industry turns to their own derelict places just to find what seemed so close. What might have seemed impossible 15 years ago is now a go-to footwear style in our current premium lifestyle sneaker world, the hybrid sneaker.
With the current movement of mixing technologies and traditional silhouettes, which avowedly occasionally seem out of sync considering the adventurous aesthetics, we take a look at some of the iconic models and history behind the concept, while only scratching the surface of a phenomenon.
Long before the current mix-and-match approach by the brands was thriving, the original idea behind hybrid-ing a shoe was much more straightforward, the shortage of components. Back in the days, many many moons ago, brands like New Balance or Nike produced a certain number of midsoles, if those were gone, they needed to improvise, which resulted in never-before-seen silhouettes, which bring their own powerful aesthetic with them. Even the OG of all OGs, the Converse sneaker was available in two different versions, with a molded rubber sole or crepe sole. Many years later, born for practicability reasons, French tennis player Robert Haillet played with a silhouette, which later became the Stan Smith sneaker, but with a thick gum sole.
While we give a lot of credit to the current trend in hybrid sneakers based on the amount of “Frankensteins” we are lately seeing, the wave has been around for some time. And while hybrids haven’t always been appreciated, they acknowledge a breakdown of norms, looking like kicks from sci-fi movies and therefore reach their full potential currently, peaking in the release of the Nike Air Max 97/1 by Sean Wotherspoon and Skepta's Nike Air Max BW/97. Today, “b-grades” become cool and if you dig deep, they become real sneaker grails.
“It happens repeatedly in fashion that something is invented and you say it was the right place at the right time. The Puma shoe was an answer to the question of how casual that moment actually was.”
Sneaker collaborations might seem like a modern trend, but co-signs from some of the world’s most progressive thinkers is a time-honored tradition, and with Puma's partnership with Jil Sander in 1998 upscale fashion was blended with sneaker-design, and the result was perhaps the first fashion-infused hybrid sneaker. The clean and minimalist design of Jil Sander became a byword for taste and refinement, and with this collaboration pulling from numerous works of the deep Puma archive, the Puma KING infiltrated popular culture outside of the ring, pitch, and tracks.
“At the time I was very interested in the new sneaker culture, but I wasn’t happy with the materials.” ”These were boxing shoes that we shaped out of very soft glove leather into a form that represented luxury. You can’t imagine the response. In Tokyo people waited in front of the stores at three in the morning.”- Jil Sander
With fashion and sportswear hybrids peaking in around 2012 when Nike collaborated with Cole Haan, remixing timeless design and futuristic innovation, slowly but surely a new wave of tech meets archive was introduced.
The endlessly versatile assortment of Nike hybrids wasn’t an overnight quick fix in a Beaverton-based thinktank, nor because they thought fusing a leather dress shoe upper of a newly acquired footwear company with an innovative Nike technology midsole. Similar to other brands the Swoosh turned the lack of material into an opportunity, which resulted in the first ever original Nike Air Max 87 having a slightly different midsole and outsole than we know it now (at least the first production range). In fact other obscure silhouettes continuously appeared in the Nike catalogue like an Air Force 1 with Air Max 97 midsole in '98, a kids version of the 97s with Air Max 95 midsole, obviously the Air Max Deluxe with a 97 midsole in 2000 or the ‘92/’93-ish retro of the Air Max 87 (aka Air Max 1) with just a few thousand produced pairs of Air Max 1/90 including GS sizes, just to mention a few.
Images via Complex, Nike & Youtube channel AIRMAXSYNDICATE
In a fast sneaker economy, catering to many audiences is vital. Besides producing sought-after retro silhouettes and collaborations with the likes of Virgil Abloh for cultural tastemakers, Jordan Brand unknowingly influence an audience away from the hype, without a flagship but for a fair price-point with their hybrid Jordan line. Admittedly, older cats that grew up watching MJ and his original sneakers tend to buy the retros, a line where we occasionally also saw sole swaps, like for example the fairly simultaneously released Air Jordan 3 and Nike Air Revolution in 1988. However, for a younger generation, arcane aesthetics act as a visual marker that conjures rebellion with their notions of tastefulness. With an archive deep as Lake Baikal, Jordan Brand pulls from every decade to create silhouettes like the Sons of Mars and Spizike with a clear visual idea, paying homage to the classics. Born of the same impulse but with less reference but distinctive design features are current Jordan Hybrids like the Jordan Future, Black Cat or the Don C cosigned Legacy 312, where you admittedly don’t have to look hard to find the sparks of OG Jordan history.
A few days ago, adidas Originals debuted its hybrid Never Made collection (see introduction image), highlighting their rich archive by sole swapping original foam soles with pioneering modern midsoles, underlining the importance but also recognizing the influence the hybrid sneaker has to their own brand’s history, which stems from cost-saving exercises. The performance roots of another hybrid-ish series paying homage to the ‘70s-‘90s football and terrace movement is the adidas Spezial collection by Gary Aspden, remix elements of multiple archive shoes, like the ZX 280 but with modern midsoles, inspired by the days when one midsole was used for several different upper sizes – a great example here is the adidas Spezial Lacombe, an updated version of the adidas Newcombe.
Images via@NYCF95 & vintageadidasandpuma
Fusing iconic silhouettes and their distinguished characteristics from both classics and modern technology, New Balance plays on another level. Alike many other brands, the original idea of mixing different silhouettes was location and economic-based, but moves beyond that, where miss-matching uppers and midsoles collided, and twinned elements that center around a New Balance vintage sneaker were subtle and became a part of the narrative. A particular treat is this tessellated New Balance 200 made in Korea with a generic foam midsole or the New Balance 696 with striking resemblance to other Gym shoes. With a strong history in aesthetically managing scarceness, New Balance recognize their roots with several Hybrid drops over the last years, such as the “Hybrid” pack including 770 uppers and 990 V3 midsoles or the “Caviar & Vodka” pack.
Images via only-sneakers
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