Mike Leavitt makes counterfeit kicks. Each one is a loving copy of one of the most iconic brands in the business. He’s got Air Jordans and Adidas and Chucks and Vans. But unlike most replicas, he actually charges more for the copy than what you’d shell out for the original. Oh, and don’t even think about wearing them in the rain. These styling sneakers are made out of cardboard.
Leavitt’s so-called Hip Hopjects were created to celebrate contemporary street culture. “I’m trying to document modern cultural icons,” says Leavitt. “What are the most common objects that will be left for alien robot archeologists to unearth when we’re long gone?”
Leavitt says that he spends a lot of time considering this question, making notes about things he likes and thinking about what might have a lasting influence. "My hands are fast," says Leavitt. "But my mind works a lot faster than my hands."
When he landed on his cardboard sneaker concept, it kicked off a painstaking process of research, trial, and error to reverse-engineer the shoes. Fortunately, cardboard is great for that kind of on-the-fly construction. “Since the material is literally garbage—sorry, ‘recycling’—I can experiment at will with no risk of waste or added expense.” It was also the right choice aesthetically. “Cardboard and fabric mimic each other in many ways,” says Leavitt. “You don’t think about it because of cardboard’s ever-flat everyday context.”
Leavitt’s final designs look eerily similar to their parents. They’re even fully wearable. Because he works from photos and memory, relying on a mixture of creative tab-ing, stapling and ply layering, it’s hard to say whether the internal structure of the shoe is as close. “Someday it’d be really interesting to see my templates next to the actual templates,” he says, “I probably arrive at many of the same design solutions to technical issues.”
Like the objects that they celebrate, Leavitt’s lightweight replicas sit on the border between culture and commerce. His first pair made their public debut in 2006 at an art show of Leavitt’s featuring 1980s art action figures. The shoe sold out immediately. “I gauge the potency of a new idea based in its economic viability,” he says. It’s probably not that far off from how Nike executives think about the latest Air Jordan design.
Today you can buy either Leavitt’s own footwork or a template to construct your own. Be warned however: “Curving and bending the toe is a bitch,” he says. “I’d switch to canvas and leather tomorrow if I didn’t want to lose my ironic play with the concept.”
Shoe images courtesy of Mike Leavitt. You can find more of them on his website.
