GAME WORN
JU WORKING ON PROJECTS
Chicago-born fine artist Julian Victor LaMarr Gaines is no stranger to SNKRS. He was previously profiled for his love of the Swoosh and personal custom work, which caught the attention of sneaker lovers across the globe. Now, Gaines is joining forces with Nike Chicago for a conceptual project entitled Working on Projects. The Game Worn collection takes shape courtesy of iconic ‘80s silhouettes, including the 1982 Nike Sky Force and the 1985 Nike Vortex, and arrives inspired by creatives and the hustle that's innate to the creative process.
Game Worn reimagines each shoe as one that has already been played in or run in, with both styles appearing broken in and comfortable right out the box. In short, the project is all about embracing the grind required to reach a dream and finding the correlation between ambition, sacrifice and effort.
"The Game Worn collection is all about sharing my personal story and using that inspiration to help empower Chicago’s next generation of creatives to dream, explore and to come together," explains Gaines. "I want to open our eyes to the power of sport, art and creativity and really give back to the kids in my community in a powerful way. I’m not only excited for Chicago to embrace this incredibly personal project, but also use this moment to push our city forward.”
Gaines’ goal of empowering the community comes to life with a four-day ‘Working on Projects’ summer camp on Chicago’s South Side, which includes a series of programming in art, writing and more for more than 40 teenage participants. The CHI-only project will culminate with a pop-up experience and launch exclusively in-store at Notre in Chicago on July 21. All profit will go directly back to the community by awarding 500 "Th-oughts Scholarships” to kids across the city where they can connect 1:1 with teachers and mentors who can feed their creative curiosity.
