Lux AF1 Revamp
The Baroque Brown Nike Air Force 1 Premium was released in 2004 with a full-grain oil-tanned leather upper and supple leather lining. This specific pair has always been one of my all time because of the elevated materials and the atypical colorway on an Air Force 1. Unfortunately, 18 years after its initial construction the foam disintegrated, and the pair was no longer wearable for extended periods of time. Inspired by work done by Goods & Services, a sneaker customization and cobbling shop in LA, I reworked this pair to have a welt, EVA midsole, and Vibram mini-ripple outsole.
Skills learned: Cup sole deconstruction, EVA midsole shaping, welt application, outsole application, & footwear material sourcing
Final Product
The Process
Deconstruction
With wear, it was apparent that the foam had been destroyed and plumes of dust formed with every step I took in these. The shoes are roughly 18 years old so only the sidewall stitching was keeping the cup sole attached to the upper. Once the stitching was carefully removed with a seam ripper, the disintegrated EVA midsole and air unit were revealed. The air unit was surprisingly not brittle but had developed a few cracks where the air ultimately escaped. I had originally planned to replace the midsole using components from a donor pair of Air Force 1's. However, I decided to challenge myself instead by creating a bespoke midsole and outsole combination. From previous tote bag projects, I had various 4-5oz leather straps in a natural veg tan and a brown oil-tanned leather from Crazy Horse. The brown strap matched the upper quite well and just looked more lux than the veg tan strap.
Midsole Construction
A 3/4" high density EVA sheet was cut out to the rough dimensions of the shoe and cemented on using Renia Colle De Cologne. I don't have the proper cobbling tools, I used my round/head knife to trim off the excess foam. I added a purely decorative stitch on the welt to really play into the contrast stitching seen thorughout the upper. Due to the slight heel to toe drop I had to shave down the midsole from roughly the ball of the foot to the front of the shoe. This proved to be an incredibly difficult undertaking using the head knife and sand paper and no belt sander, hence the jagged surface you can see in the above images (peep the watch strap I made with the same leather used for the welt). Then I cemented on the welt around the shoes ensuring that it lined up perfectly with the preexisting glue line and looked as close to the original AF1 as possible.
Outsole Construction
I went to one of my favorite stores, Saderma Leather & Shoe Findings, to source the proper outsoles for this project. I knew that a low profile rubber outsole would be perfect to preserve the AF1's classic shape. I went with the Vibram 342 mini-ripple outsole in a gray color that matched the upper's contrast stitching very well. I also quickly realized I was an idiot for taking on this project without a belt sander, and after a quick search I found this small belt sander at Harbor Freight for only $67 that would be perfect for my use case. The foam and welt were sanded down to create a flat surface for the outsole, and a leather roughing tool and acetone were used to prep the cementing surfaces. Lastly after cementing the outsole to the shoe, a skiving knife was used to trip off excess rubber and the belt sander was carefully used to get the outsole as close as possible to the welt. You can see that I did nick the welt a couple of times in this process. Overall very pleased with how this project turned out, and will continue improving those cobbling skills.