Nivedita Aravind, Karan Dayanidhi Maran, and Divya Dayanidhi Maran | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
From racing tracks, and nightclubs to fashion runways and even museums, sneakers are making a good showing. Noting that the Design Museum (London), the Musée de l’Homme (Paris), and the Brooklyn Museum (New York City) have had shows devoted to these kicks over the years, the late Virgil Abloh (former artistic director of Louis Vuitton) ) The statement that this generation may value sneakers more than Matisse doesn’t seem far-fetched.
And with the trend of customization, sneakers are becoming works of art. Chennai-based K-Kicks is the latest entrant in the custom sneaker scene. The venture was started by a young team of Nivedita Aravind (25), Divya Dayanidhi Maran (22) and Karan Dayanidhi Maran (19). Sneaker lovers themselves, they say they want to “give people the opportunity to be able to use sneakers as a canvas.”
a customized shoe
“You can put your personality on the shoe and it can be customized,” says Karan. K-Kicks offers hundreds of designs to choose from. In addition, customers can also interact with the designers on the team and create their own look. Sports, pop culture, abstract art, sparkles, glitter and Swarovski crystals… the options are varied.
The team emphasizes that their artwork is never a duplicate of an original, but is instead an interpretation of the subject by the artists themselves. “We will work with you to create something that you will be proud to wear, but that will not be copied,” Nivedita says candidly. Even if we do Iron Man on a shoe, it will not be the figure of Iron Man but the elements of it.
Tanzil Ur Rahman, COO, K-Kicks at the launch
K-Kicks has customized 30 pairs so far, and is using Nike’s Air Force 1 shoes as their canvas for now. It’s not just the colour, logo or art, says Karan, people sometimes want subtle details, like the thread on the shoe matching their laces.
Divya, Nivedita and Karan have different tastes and ideas when it comes to how they want their perfect pair of sneakers to look. It probably helped create the design bank. Divya doesn’t want them to be too colourful, but likes them to match her outfit. Nivedita confesses that she is in love with colours; Louder better. “My favorite pair is two different colors,” she says. Karan prefers a minimal, clean look. “I don’t like running too much. The shoe is an extension of my outfit and I like to complement it with the colors of my outfit,” he adds.
K-Kicks now has a team of 50 artists. Different artists specialize in different techniques. For example, some may focus only on color blocking. “All the actors are from South India. We want to provide a platform for artistes who might not otherwise get it.” There are also designers and graphic designers. Digital designers create a mock up of the shoe which is then sent to the customer for approval. After that, the artist builds it on sneakers. As simple as it sounds, it takes a lot of time and involves a lot of steps. It takes two to three weeks to fulfill orders.
During the development stages, quality checks included everything from getting the sneakers to be doused in water, stabbed with knives, and even the family dogs to play with them. “Quality is of paramount importance to us,” says Karan.
Sustainability is also something the team is working on. “We plan to restore people’s old sneakers. Sometimes people don’t want to throw out their old pair as it might have memories attached to it and sometimes they don’t want to spend on a new pair. We can restore these shoes and customize them again,” says Nivedita.
Customization with shoes starts at ₹17,999. “We have also received orders up to ₹30,000. The age group is mainly 18-30, although they created a pastel-heavy pair for a nine-year-old boy.
For details, log on to www.k-kix.com