Signature Touch: A Look Into the Nike Zoom Stefan Janoski SB | Hypebeast

I think all the padding came from all the stunts, kids just getting crazy, which I don’t think is really necessary in a modern skate shoe. I really just wanted a platform that I could skate and wear casually, essentially shoes I could wear everyday. I didn’t want a shoe that when I was done skating I would put away and have to change into my “chilling” pair. I wanted a shoe that when your done skating, you can hop out of the car and go eat dinner and not have to be like “Fuck!.”

[Laughs]

I can’t even imagine how rigorous the process must have been. What was the initial concept you wanted to start with?

I wanted to strip everything down to the least amount of materials we could use in a shoe. Create kind of like a Converse All-Star, but for skating. A classic, timeless design.

Did you look for any specific technical features?

I actually looked for the less technical features because I think for skating what you really need is just get down to the minimal basics. Just because what you’re really doing is manipulating the skateboard with your feet and for me, at least, I need my feet as close to the board as possible.

I needed to be as close to barefoot as I could be. What I always looked for in shoes was for them to just give me that feeling of what my feet are doing instead of what my shoe is doing. I didn’t want to think to myself, “Alright this shoe is big, I have to do tricks differently and incorporate the shoe into them.”

Its been a longtime coming, this design for Nike. When did you feel like it was the right time to create your own signature shoe, if the opportunity presented itself?

It was a cool time because I had already rode for Nike for years, but was kind of past the point where I was like “I have to get a pro shoe.” If I was gonna have a shoe, I was gonna make it my way. Nike would bring me their ideas and I would be like “Nah, its my shoe”. I kind of complained a lot, bitched and moaned. A long while went by until I said “Yes, you got it!”. At this time, I was just going to be real honest and not let something come out with my name on it that I didn’t like. If I hadn’t had a signature shoe yet, I was not gonna have one now, unless I got it the way I really wanted it. I said “If I don’t like it, then fuck it, I’ll never have a shoe”.

Well its definitely an awesome shoe. How happy are you with the final outcome?

I’m so happy that it’s overwhelming!