REMIXING THE 13
AIR JORDAN XIII
Based in Downtown Los Angeles, the Shoe Surgeon (Dominic Chambrone) has built a reputation - and highly successful business- re-crafting sneakers using premium and unexpected materials.
Yesterday, Chambrone took 12 friends of Jordan Brand through a class to rebuild the Air Jordan 13 ‘Bred’ in anticipation of the shoe’s release on Saturday, 8.19.
The Shoe Surgeon used a black Italian suede python, perforated suede, Japanese fabric, which is one of the highest end lining materials, and some tools. The first AJXIII he built was a Low, and this is the first high top, in the ‘Bred’ colorway.
“Everything from the design, to the padding, to the binding and how the eyelets are laced is unique,” he says of the AJXIII unique, architectural design.
“One of my favorite parts of the AJXIII is the hologram. I feel like this is one of the first soles that had a suede cover. I think that was very unique for the time, as well.”
“This was probably one of the most difficult shoes I’ve done just because of all the detail already on the shoe - from the suede sole that could so easily be messed up, to the hologram, to the reflective fabric and the eyelets,” says the Shoe Surgeon.
“There are shortcuts I can take on other shoes to make things slightly different, or change a detail that no one would normally see, but for the AJXIII, the goal was to create it as closely as possible to the original. Most Jordans are very complex due to the design. I don’t think they take any shortcuts to make production easier. The focus was definitely on the design and how the shoe looks and functions rather than how inexpensive the production could be.”
