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words // Nick DePaula
rendering // Brian Moughty
4Cent Friday is a weekly design blog on SoleCollector.com written by a member of the 4Cent Design team. Subjects may range from discussing rendering skills to design inspirations, to thoughts and opinions on the state of footwear design as a whole. For more background on 4Cent Design, check our interview here.
In just a short few years, Twitter has proved to be awesome on quite a few occasions, mainly because of the raw access that we get to some of the world's greatest athletes. There was the time Kevin Durant quietly asked if anyone was playing flag football around town -- only to then link up with a nearby greek game at the last minute to get some quarterbacking in. We've seen DWade leak out his new logo, LeBron post his latest PEs live from a concert, and just last week, NBA guard Delonte West even decided to outline everything that would be included in his ideal sneaker.
While of course outlandish on paper -- the shoe "concept" included a Croc-inspired injection foam upper, Red Wings-esque boot laces, vents on the side for jumping to the moon and (why not?) even a free camo Snuggie for some packaging flair -- there was a huge response to the original post, and so, I looked to the guys from 4Cent Design to take a crack at making the DWest shoe a rendering reality for this week's 4Cent Friday post.
4Cent Designer Brian Moughty was up to the task, and he tried to include every last detail that West spelled out on his
@CharleeRedz13 account late Sunday night. "The whole shoe is made out of two molded rubber pieces with an injection foam upper," details Moughty. "There's vents in the side that Delonte requested, as well as the classic yellow Red Wing laces."
The upper takes on a sleek and molded silhouette that naturally comes with the injection process, but there's an added layer of detailing along the midsole of the shoe to help drive the original concept home. "Instead of supplying a camo Snuggie in the box, I put camo on the midsole," Moughty explains. "I chose digital camo since this was all expressed digitally via Twitter."
If that wasn't enough, there's even a signature element to the DWest shoe, with Delonte's very own compass logo along the heel counter. You'll notice the "D" along the "West" point of the compass, with his number 13 at the center of the star. The lettering would appear in a red trailing font, as a nod to his favorite tattoo and his nickname "Redz," a celebration of West's Piscataway Indian heritage.
The general consensus when Delonte first shared his concept was, "Really?" But we figured we'd take advantage of the rare opportunity to get a look inside an athlete's mind and see just where that inspiration might lead.
Look out for more entries every Friday from 4Cent Design, and be sure to check 4CentDesign.com and follow the guys on Twitter and Facebook. If there are any speciifc topics you'd like them to discuss, please leave some suggestions in the comments section.
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