Nike Zoom Air Delta Force

Nike Air Zoom Delta Force concept. A massively underrated silhouette, brought to life with inspiration taken from London's Hackney Wick area.
This place opened my eyes to London, the London away from the Leicester Squares, Buckingham Palace etc. What I like most about the area is that it’s true to its roots, sure there’s been changes from it’s east end working class background but Hackney Wick has old (the foundations) alongside the new (illustrated in the cream & grey contrast upper)..

In Hackney Wick you are ‘spoilt for choice’. Filled with bars, restaurants and shops. Spoilt for choice is a tagline that features in both insoles. For the stitching, I have used an orange colouring for the overground, the line connecting HW with the rest of London. Using a grey hue (suede) represents the industrial foundations of the area whilst the cream (leather) stands for the new, right alongside each other. Think warehouse conversions, industrial into commercial and residential.

We’ve used suede, leather, rubber and a recycled plastic. The recycled plastic (keen to explore other materials) features on the eyestay loops (x 3, each side). Suede covers the majority of the upper and leather toward the heel and on the toebox, also serving in the quarter with dimples. Anyone in London will tell you of the canals filling up with a green carpet of algae, the canal is a massive part of HW, it runs straight through the middle. I was really keen to feature the algae in the shoe and I thought the insoles to be perfect, a subtle design feature.

For some lacing options, I have taken inspiration from the Wickers (Nike connection), a local charity for kids in the area aged 8 - 18. I wanted something to feature that meant a lot to this community. I have continued the yellow colourway on the lacing, padding/lining & collar of the shoe. Also the Wickers pattern can be found the tips of the second lacing option provided with the shoe. Other lace options will be the Hackney Wick Hollywood sign tips.

The inner slides out from the classic outer shell boxing. The outer uses the new colouring from the shoe, the Nike logo’s are embossed and glossy. For the inner, the canal boat infront of a warehouse connected by cables to a rustic building conversion in a busy vibrant area. I’ve also dropped a little algae into the shot.