story

"When do you have the opportunity to work along people from your same community, and creating from Latinos to Latinos? I think that was the biggest thing. Hi, I'm Rachel. I'm from Brazil, and I'm a Graphic Designer."

"I'm Angela, from Mexico, and I'm a Footwear Color Material Designer. I'm Daniela, I'm from Colombia and I'm a Footwear Material Designer. For this collection, we started discussing more of our similarities as culture more than our differences, and I think that was the most powerful thing..."

"...to create product that represents us as a Latino familia. The topic of this collection was honoring your rhythm. So we started looking into what does rhythm mean in different countries..."

"...and that's how we started landing on the topic of carnivals and celebrations. We had this really great moment where we were seeing a bird's eye view of one of the carnivals and we're like, "Oh, what if we could represent that in a shoe in an abstract way?"

"So the midsole is wrapped in leather, bringing that nod into that drum that usually has Vachetta leather. Then we have the feathers from traditional costumes that is represented through the swoosh."

"We have embroidery that really connects to our traditional garments. For the Peg, the challenge was how do we bring that rhythm to a performance shoe. So for this one, we wanted to highlight those embroidery techniques that..."

"...comes from the skirts of all the dancing. So that's when we applied these highlights on the eyestay areas and also here on the U-throat. We saw a common thread between all of the cultures using this really beautiful Bugambilia pink."

"It's not seen as a gender-specific color in Latin America. It's more just a universal, beautiful color that you see on buildings and on clothes as well. And then we wanted to ground this..."

"...colorful palette in something that is very reminiscent in the clay, the ground, the texture of the streets. And that's why you see how both of them have that connection on the midsole, and how they have these tile execution outsole with all the different colors."

"I think Latino culture feels so much like a chaotic harmony, and that was what we were trying to express with the graphics on it too. You can invert the letters, you can play around with the letters."

"It's almost like a puzzle where things can change their location and application, but they still work in harmony. Once we move to America, there is kind of that pressure to try to adequate yourself to the culture here."

"And I think here we're basically just trying to say the opposite. It's cool to honor your roots and who you are and the way that you talk, your accent, your music. By being true to yourself, you're being true to your community, and you're really..."

"...bringing together your culture when you just decide to represent that. I think that's what we wanted to reflect as part of the collection. I must say I'm very proud to be sitting here in Portland, Oregon with..."

"...two other girls from Latin America that moved here, immigrated here, and are able to share this with the world. I'm Rachel.
Angela."

"And I'm Daniela. And this was Behind the Design for the Pegasus 40 and the Air Max 1 Familia."

Behind the Design: Air Max 1 & Air Zoom Pegasus 40 x Familia