Back in 2007, Nike released an SB Dunk shoe titled "What The". The "What the Dunks featured a variety of mismatched colors and patterns throughout the shoes and went on to be one of their most popular releases at the time. The last time I checked, I've seen the original "What The" Dunk lows on eBay going for anywhere from $600 to $5,000 or more.
(The original "What The" Dunk Lows)
Then earlier this year (10 years later), Nike released a dunk high version with the same theme behind it but with different design patterns than the originals:
(The 2017 "What The" Dunk Highs)
Over the years I've seen a number of customizers do their take on this theme...usually either taking the same patterns from the originals and putting them on a different shoe model (what's known in the industry as a "color flip" or "color swap") or doing the theme with some type of pop culture reference in place of the Nike patterns. However, other than maybe once, I've never seen any do this idea using original patterns created by the artist. Personally I've never been big on the theme (although I do like the new high top version) but having done a ton of my own original patterns on shoes over the years, I always thought my personal style would translate well with this idea. I've had the idea in my head to do this for a number of years but decided not to do it until now. The thing is that I have so many signature patterns that it was hard to decide which ones to go with (there's no way they would all fit), which is when I decided that I may just have to do my "What The" themes as a series since there were some I wanted to use that I couldn't. I actually had to sit down and make a list of a few of my past shoes where I used my patterns. I got up to a little bit under 50 before I decided to just choose from what I already wrote down or else i'd be all night making that list (lol). Out of that amount I chose 16 patterns (8 for each shoe).
Before I did this, I wanted to pick a shoe that I thought would be a good fit for the idea. I decided on the Air More Uptempo...a shoe I never worked on before but had been thinking of workin on for a few weeks (had a pair I was going to use for a different theme but used them for this instead). The shoe has a lot of panels to work with where I can fit a bunch of patterns on without it coming off looking too crowded. Figured I might as well make my Uptempo debut with a bang.
While working on these, I continuously referenced pics of my old shoes themes that I added to these and even went through my old templates to make sure the colors were exact to the originals. I also did a mock up template for the Uptempos first but ended up changing the placement of certain patterns as well as swapping out 3 chosen patterns for 3 others as I didn't want to have too much of any particular color on each shoe.
After 2 days of working on the shoes, here's the finished product: "What The Ecentrik" Part 1:
It was pretty fun revisiting some old themes and making what's pretty much a collage of my old works..it's the definition of taking something old and making it new.
Here are the shoe themes featured on each shoe (click titles to view the original shoes):
Left Shoe:
Air Jordan 6 "Nightblade"
Air Jordan 1 "Banana Milkshake
Air Jordan 3 "Cherry Cheesecake
Air Force 1 "Web"
"Icicle" Dunk High
"Renaissance Of Madness" Air Force 1
"Unorthodox View" Dunk Low
"Channel 8000" Air Force 1
Right Shoe:
Air Jordan 1 "Nightmare In Green"
"Facial Features" Dunk Low
"Test Anxiety" Air Force 1
"Bacteria" Dunk Mid
"Glacier Exhibit" Air Force 1
"Fruit Salad" Air Max 90
Air Jordan 7 "Bizarre Visions"
"Lava Lamp" Air Force 1
Not sure when part 2 is coming yet but planning to make this a series since I still have a few past themes i'd like to try this idea with (also want to use a different base shoe as well). The plan is to never use the same pattern twice in any of the shoes in the series. Not currently accepting orders for these as of this blog entry but could change my mind on that and will give an update if that ends up being the case.
For all custom inquiries: www.ecentrikart.net/contact
Online Store: www.ecentrik.bigcartel.com
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