BACKGROUND
The AKN1 footwear brand is a brand so dear to me as it is an opportunity for me to unapologetically express my creativity in the most genuine way. It gives me the platform to share my thoughts, stories, and that of many inspiring and beautiful Africans around the world. I have heard many of those stories, many of which had never been told. Africans are bold, creative, outstanding, industrious, and stylish. AKN1 is the brand that would give them that platform to freely express themselves.
CHALLENGE
Nigerian shoemakers and sneaker designers make shoes using existing design patterns creating nothing new. They mostly use African patterned fabrics (Ankara, Kente, Ofi etc) to Africanize existing footwear design patterns. After pursuing a dream career since 2005 to design for Nike and adidas that have not happened yet, I decided to design and work on my own footwear brand. During the heat of the pandemic (2020), I put the learnings I gathered in shoemaking and sneaker design to use. I went on several trips to Mushin (a shoemaking resource market in Lagos, Nigeria) to source for local materials and after several weeks of real work, failing and resilience, I eventually finished this beautifully crafted handmade footwear (prototype).
CONSUMER PERSONA
It is no longer news that these days, Africans are proud to express their culture while they fit in anywhere.
Below is a picture (not real person) of who my target audience is.
CONCEPT & MOODBOARD
In 2017, I became more aware of the importance of a mood board when designing even though I have been using it to design and develop brand identities and advertising campaigns.
Mood boards for footwear helps me see vividly within the context of a theme; the materials to use and the colourway for the footwear. In 2020, I pursued a certificate in Sneakers Essentials Yellowbrick.co / Fashion Institute of Technology and one of my assignments was to design a mood board. I am always inspired by my city, the people, their sense of belongings, their creativity and I intend to push our stories with every craft, piece of work and opportunity I get to express my creativity. So, I themed this Lagos, my city.
With Akanni written as AKN1 (a footwear brand designed by Lexain in collaboration with Xaine Ingenius), I want to tell authentic stories, express ingenious African creativity starting from the Yoruba clan and intend to put it on the feet of every African.
SKETCHES
Every design must start from a sketch and it is better you have as many sketches as possible. Each sketch is supposed to tell a story or express your thoughts at least. Each strokes, each line, each curve is supposed to objectively show function and form. The aim here is to design a super lightweight and comfortable shoe that is aesthetically appealing.
NAMING
I thought of a name and the Oriki (Panegyric) name my late Mom used to call me popped up. "Akanni" which means "The First" (amongst other meanings). The name reminds me so much of my Mom. With Akanni written as AKN1 (a footwear brand designed by Lexain in collaboration with Xaine Ingenius), I am telling authentic stories, express ingenious African creativity starting from the Yoruba clan where I come from and intend to put it on the feet of every African.
BRANDING (RETAIL)
To design a mood board that captures what the ideal retail store for the brand would be like. The store would be a modern one that sells bespoke footwear, customized urban wear, and accessories and I want to use the store to tell authentic African stories in a modern way. I intend to install a Volkswagen iD Buzz within the store to replace the old Volkswagen Transporter called Danfo (which is very synonymous with Lagos and reminds me so much of the past). The store would be built with containers so as to be able to use its outer walls as a canvas for all kinds of art that would change for each season. The furniture is going to be modern and African, with a modern lighting system, and African arts on the walls.
The first AKN1 retail store would be located at Opebi Road, Ikeja (the capital of Lagos in Nigeria). It is a very busy road with great traffic and high footfall. I believe the floor plan is self-explanatory. Some of the furniture and display racks would form the AKN1 logo. I am just excited about this even though it is still a plan.
I saw the Sneaker Con videos and I can't wait to participate in one. If AKN1 is going to be at any event, the booth as shown below is an idea of how the brand's presence would be established from a branding POV.
ADVERTISING
To unveil a brand new product, teasing the audience about what is to come is an approach that works if done well.
I discovered that in shoemaking, the last comes first. Since AKN1 is the First, then it will be nice to tease like below.
In sneaker design as I learnt in FIT-NY, you will have to do an unveiling and unboxing video.
I hope you enjoy.
THE UNBOXING
This video was my unboxing concept. It was shot with a Samsung S10, edited on the phone with the Inshot app and it doesn't look bad for an amateur. Anyway, I became a certified Sneaker designer and shoemaker with this project, hoping to become a professional sometime in the future.
I appreciate the efforts of any team involved in any design process when I started this project, learning all I could from Sneaker Essentials by Yellowbrick.co and Fashion Institute of Technology. The training opened me up to the process involved in designing and manufacturing what we wear. If only you know, you would take good care of your genuine sneakers better.
Below are three more AKN1 sneakers design concepts I submitted during my training.
The first is a running shoe with an adire patterned upper preferably a breathable knit with an embroidered leather heel counter that extends to the quarter panel. The midsole is 3D printed extending to the flex point where it is infused with EVA (Don't know if that is even possible but hey, everything is possible until we try a prototype)
The second is a lifestyle concept which I designed from a tennis court sneaker structure. It would be leather with the adire colour effect. It would have an EVA midsole with a rubber outsole.
The third is a basketball shoe concept I designed for the fun of it. We play basketball but not as much as we play football, run, and hustle.
Which is your favourite AKN1 Concept?
MORE CONCEPTS
I see these type of sneakers on young people's feet these days especially the Alte tribe so I tried my hands on a few concepts. The first 3 are my concepts for adidas. The top left is inspired by my Oriki, the top right and bottom left are inspired by YZY while the bottom right is inspired by my son's love for Spiderman!.
More than 23 years ago, the dream was to design sneakers for Nike and adidas. My first set of designs were rejected by these same sports giants (I actually received a letter from Nike HQ and several emails from Adidas' legal department more than 18yrs ago). I submitted multiple entries to win a spot at Pensole Academy to train professionally as a sneaker designer but it never happened. Then I learned shoemaking locally and my mindset changed forever. I began to look within to appreciate my people, my upbringing, my culture, my environment and I began to see reasons to keep sketching and designing footwear that tell our stories.
AKN1 will compete with nike, air jordan, adidas and yzy.
Keep following this story as they come to life one footwear at a time.
