EXCLUSIVE: Inspired By Greek Tradition, These adidas Were Shaped By Hand
Custom sneakers aren't the rarity they once were but custom sneakers designed in collaboration with a retailer? That's a novel concept.
Based in Thessaloniki, Greece, deviceone has quietly held down the region's sneakerheads with a selection of the world's top brands. As it nears its 15th anniversary in 2024, owner Alex Perros figured it was about time that deviceone secured its own big-time shoe collab, though he wanted to circumvent the trials and tribulations innate to partnering with the sportswear giants.
Enter Gabriel “Mask72” Maskov, a Greek sneaker customizer likely best-known for his "Potato Sack" adidas Forum sneakers, which was covered in Highsnobiety’s own lineup of "2021's Best Custom Sneakers."
Besides their shared heritage, Perros and Maskov are both equally obsessed with the details; conversations about craft and quality evolved into a proposal to create a special Mask72 x deviceone sneaker.
And, thus, the deviceone x Mask72 adidas Forum Low “Fisherman’s Crate” was born. This is not an official adidas, collaboration, of course, but the Forum was selected as the base both because deviceone has carried adidas since its foundation and the shoe jad "the ideal shape and materials for our project," Maskov told Highsnobiety.
"Our tale is inspired by the wooden crates that Greek fishermen carried in the 1940s and '50s. [These shoes] feature handcrafted materials replacing some of the factory-made parts, such as cork fabric compressed in Greece alongside with phat laces, tongue labels, and special wooden boxes for the F&F pairs.
"The work process [encompasses] a distressed, stained upper with rust, dirt and discolored details [and] stitching to [affect] the vintage aesthetic of an old wooden box that has been beaten over time."
"I've been in the sneaker game since the age of ten. Now I’m forty four," Perros continued.
"I've seen tons of collaborations between major and smaller brands. We wanted our project to stand out. We had no boundaries, no restrictions, no do’s or dont’s. We wanted extra fat laces…we produced them! We wanted custom tongue labels…we produced them! We wanted special wooden boxes for our dear friends… we created them! Everything was made with love and passion. Almost three months of really hard work. It was worth it!"
The "Fisherman's Crate" adidas Forum Low launces on deviceone's website and store on September 8 for €250 (about $270) apiece.
Loaded with thoughtful, thematic details, the humble shoes aren't just a showpiece but a shoe indicative of a bigger picture, emblematic of a passionate and undersung sneaker scene in a region not typically associated with shoe culture.
Like the catch of the day, these are worth waking up early for.
