The Dassler interviews-Trevor Duffles-adidas customiser
The second in a series of interviews with extremely interesting folk who are doing some brilliant things with adidas.
The Dassler Interviews-Trevor Duffles-adidas Customiser.
Designer and customizer extraordinaire Trevor Duffles has been leading the way for adidas Basketball recently, with his fresh takes on some of the most popular models of the moment going viral online and gaining attention across the globe. Trevor works for adidas basketball as a colour and material designer, but the brand then on occasion commissions him for his artistic flair for some of their top athletes like basketball superstar, Anthony Edwards and women’s basketball legend, Candace Parker, to name a few. It is a truly crazy concept but it is working wonders for both Trevor and The Brand With Three Stripes, and we asked Trevor to sit down and talk through his work.
Firstly, thank you for taking the time to join us here at The Dassler; it's massively appreciated. To start with yourself would be good, Trevor.
Where are you from, and when did you realize footwear design was what you wanted to do?
“I’m born and raised in Washington DC, and I started customising shoes at 12 years old. I have always loved doing this, and growing up in DC, sneaker culture is big there. Throughout my college years, I built up my name as a customiser and began receiving a lot of attention during the early stages of Instagram. When I graduated, I focused solely on custom sneakers for a year, and it was difficult at that time to scale the business and make it more sustainable. So, I stepped back, reevaluated, and decided to approach the goal differently. I started practicing footwear design while working as a server in the restaurant industry, and finally was accepted to a month long Pensole course in Portland after three attempts applying to their intensive program. After that, I knew that this was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. A year later, I moved to Portland full-time, and then about six months later, I was offered a contract role working at Jordan Brand on the PE team.”
Did you do any customising while at JB?
“Not really. It was just official products I worked on while I was on the PE Team, concentrating on NBA, WNBA, NFL, and MLB JB athletes, though I did work on some performance inline products like the Jordan Westbrook One Take.”
What was the first pair you physically worked on, and what techniques did you originally use?
“When I was 12, it was probably a pair of British Knights, and I used a sharpie, and a ballpoint pen, you know, just drawing on them. There was no real technique, but when I did it, I thought it looked cool. Then I remember going to a sneaker boutique in Maryland, no longer there, called Social Study. I loved the store, this was about 2006/2007, and they had some great shoes for sale there. I got cool with the people there, and one day they had three pairs customized, painted, and done properly on display. I knew that I could do the same, and then adidas launched an adicolor pair, a limited release with a bunch of paint pens that was launched alongside a competition, and even though I never submitted anything, that pack really got me into customizing sneakers.”
You work at adidas now right; so how did it feel for them to commission you? Which pair was the first commissioned by adidas?
“Yeah, I started at adidas in 2021 as an assistant designer, and now I am a designer. It felt, and still feels amazing. It is very full circle for me. Not only working for adidas but also being commissioned on top of my actual job by them, was just an amazing moment. Super blessed. I was in contact with the factory about how I wanted a sneaker to look, and they weren’t getting it quite right, so I decided to do it myself. I brought it into a product meeting, and that is how some higher level people at adidas found out about my customising talents. The first pair I was commissioned for, was for Candace Parker when she became president of adidas Basketball, which accompanied a range of apparel that was made just for her. That started it off; with a pair of Crazy IIInfinity, and then I did some Pro Models for her as well. I have also been commissioned to create multiple pairs for Anthony Edwards, including a gold leaf pair when he won Olympic Gold and a pair he signed, which now resides in the archive at Herzogenaurach. I was also commissioned to do pairs for Kahleah Copper and Chelsea Gray when they won Olympic Gold, which they received in custom boxes.”
How have the techniques you used developed over time, and have you found materials or supplies that have then allowed for a new process or method to be explored?
“When I first started, it was just the paint markers, but then I found Angelus early on and graduated to using their products when I would have been a freshman in High School. I taught myself how to do everything; there was no YouTube back then. Trial and error has led me to how I go about things. It all depends on what sneaker it is, to which techniques I’ll use. So if the base shoe is made from mesh, you want to use fabric softener mixed in with your paint to keep that soft feel. If you're working on synthetics, it is all about the prep work, like using a good adhesion promoter to create a good bond for the paint to stick. I actually use the adhesion promoter they use to paint cars. Whatever the shoe, prep, and finish are everything, if you want a painted finish, then apply thin coats, as thin as possible, until you get where you want to be to avoid cracking. The little details matter.”
Lots of your work goes viral on social media; how rewarding is it to see how the wider world responds to your work and ideas?
“When I resumed customising, I had no expectations of my work getting seen so much, but it just turned out to be the right timing. I pitched the idea to my leadership team thinking it would be good for the brand if someone showed the process of customising adidas basketball shoes. People could see it and hopefully it would stir up even more conversation by getting more eyes and recognition organically - not just through expensive marketing campaigns. It just came to be that it would be me, and the response online is something I never envisioned. The first pair that really took off, a pair of Crazy IIInfinity in a purple eggplant finish, i noticed like a week after posting had just 10,000 views, and then I saw a week later it was 25,000, and then later on it was 40,000 and today is somewhere around 500,000, I was just in shock. So, I kept making more and more and now some of these videos have over 2 million views. It has taken off in ways I could never have imagined.”
Where do you look for inspiration when thinking of a new concept?
“I find inspiration everywhere. I love Art, I love History, I love architecture, I love the designs you find every day in nature. Inspiration can come from anywhere, and sometimes I feel like I'm just in the flow. I'll try something and see how it looks, and sometimes it works out. If you look over my Instagram page (tduffles202) you'll see a broad range of styles, graphics, and executions. I have done pairs from Chinese Porcelain finished Fear Of God 1s to other pairs with lots of automotive inspiration, that have color-flooding, pearlized finishes, and gradient looks that come from vinyl wraps. I find inspiration anywhere.”
Thanks for talking with The Dassler Trevor-we’ll have another in the ‘interviews’ series soon.