Article#210920: Is There a Such Thing Called “Creative Fakes”?
As a footwear designer I constantly draw my attention to what people wear, whether on streets or on subways, etc. I do have developed a keen eye for recognizing a fake, counterfeit or knock-off footwear even from afar.
However, there are so many weird looking footwear people are wearing in China. The amount of “fake-ness” and “weirdness” in these footwear can also be justified as being “creativity” from a designer’s point of view. I call these footwear “creative fakes” footwear. Here is my definition of what is “creative fake”.
cre・a・tive fake
/krēˈādiv/ /fāk/
is relating to or involving the imagination or original ideas based on someone else’s imagination or original ideas.
I saw this one worn by a lady working in my gym. For a footwear designer these 2 red blue tabs of Adidas NMD are just too iconic to miss. The old Skool mark of VANS is another visual identity.
I named this one Vandidas. The brand signature of VANS and Adidas of this mashup is so strong that the shoe itself is none-existing. I wonder where is the sports webbing tapes idea originated. To mash up features of different brands together is very fun design exercise. The key is not overpowering the concept which is clearly missing in this mashup.
I hide the blue and red underfoot stabilizer tucked underneath midsole instead to give them a smaller form fact.
I keep the Vans Old Skool signature one piece toe vamp.
I apply Vans chevron shape as part of eye stay and part of heel cap from Adidas original NMD silhouette.
This one is just too “creative” to be missed by a footwear designer. The only incomplete of this “creativity” would be the 4 strips in trefoil instead of 3 strips. I took this snapshot of a homeless looking guy wearing this shoe on a subway on China. Not a great story telling of a “creative” logo!
Come on now, you just have give credit to whomever came up “abibas” which doesn’t sound too bad at all. Someone went some distances to make fun of Adidas. My opinion is that abibas definitely has underground street culture vibe to it.
I definitely use this branding proudly so sizing up is a must.
Since it’s four petals instead of three I use four stripes instead of three as well.
To create an interesting silhouette to give the branding an extra focus.
To create a four stripe webbing to bring the branding together.
I snapped this shot on a subway in China. This logo is placed on the medial side of the shoe. On the lateral side is just the 3 strips looking decorative pieces, which is where I think to have a mashup between a swoosh and 3 strips.
This is another Nike swoosh reinterpretation. I think someone can turn this modified swoosh into a bottle opener. Making fun of famous logo is part of the street culture. This one is lousy at best. I would certainly give it more thoughts. Whomever put this shoe together certainly has the three stripe in mind. Even though its subtly hidden underneath swoosh, the stripes are presented.
Silhouette side, I use one of Nike Lunar midsole which incorporated with a visible Adidas three stripes.
To apply clear TPU onto three stripes so that the Nike swoosh are shown through.
What if I was given a design project where in product brief stated there must be fake elements of other brands? How should I approach? There are actually two things to be considered. One is silhouette design, the other is the much difficulty elements of branding. Hypothetically speaking, there are no rules and laws against copy a silhouette of a well known design, such as an iPhone (without the Apple logo) or Nike Air Force 1 (without the Nike swoosh) except a moral one. However, branding and logos are copy right protected.
With above two things in mind, it’s possible to design a creative fake product by adopting a well known silhouette and create a simulated version of a copy right protected well known branding.
There are commercially successful footwear products done in this fashion such as Bathing Ape. The Japanese streetwear brand’s very first footwear silhouette is the most well known Nike Air Force 1 replaced the swoosh with a Bathing Ape’s own star burst symbol.
