Image via Complex Original
On a weekly basis, the average sneaker consumer is inundated with new collaborations. Boutiques, musicians, luxury brands—the rules to who is given the keys to put their own spin on a sneaker truly don’t exist in 2022.
One of the veterans in the space is Boston’s Bodega, a sneaker store that has churned out plenty of projects with what seems like every major footwear brand since opening up shop behind the secret vending machine door back in 2006. In just the past two years alone, it has worked with Nike on a Dunk High that managed to set itself apart from the endless sea of Dunks we see nowadays, helped Saucony bring back retro runners like the Grid Azura 2000 in fresh new ways that help give the silhouette some extra cultural relevance, and even helped its Bostonian neighbor New Balance debut the 997S. The release was so well-received that they ended up dropping two additional colorways of the same model throughout 2020.
And you can’t forget about older releases like its three-pack of Nike Footscape Wovens from 2011, or 2013’s “Hyprcat” New Balance 577 that took cues from Super Nintendo games like Star Fox.
These shoes are celebrated and bolstered Bodega’s status in the industry, but there isn’t always as bright of a light shined on the people helping bring these projects to life. Currently, that’s lead product designer Drew White, who started with the company as a marketing intern back in 2012.
“I feel like part of our duty, like a DJ with music, is to go out on a limb sometimes and break a record or be the first one to take that step. It might not hit right at that moment, but it’ll influence other people to like to do it and do it better,” says White. “If you can’t do a New Balance 990 at a high level, I don’t know. That shoe has a built-in audience. I definitely like getting a little more funky with our model selection and going a little outside of what people expect or might be used to.”
Beyond the shoe itself, Bodega excels at providing an additional layer of storytelling for each of its releases. Marketing director Matthew Zaremba, who has been with the company for the past six years, helps execute these campaigns that have included Larry June posing in front of a black Acura NSX to promote blue and yellow suede pairs of the New Balance 574 Legacy or Shaun Crawford creating new artwork in his New York City studio to help unveil the “Full Bleed” Salomon X-Mission 4. In total, Bodega’s collaboration team is relatively small, less than 12 people.
“We’re always answering: ‘If this shoe was a person, what’s its personality?’ I think it’s important to always have a vision of the personality of a product. You don’t want to just be something flat,” says Zaremba. “Some people don’t believe that a story can sell a product. Other people are very much affected by a story. I think the most important thing you can do is deliver both of those things to the audience to create a quality project.”
We sat down with White and Zaremba below to hear about the inspiration behind some of the designs and campaigns for a handful of Bodega’s biggest sneaker projects spanning the last decade. They’ve each shared some of their thoughts below.
Nike Air Footscape Woven Chukka
Release Date: May 28, 2011
DW: “That was the five-year anniversary for Bodega. I started like six months before that release at Bodega as an intern. I remember when I first saw the shoe I was like, ‘Damn. These are different.’ It was like an acquired taste. They’re like a moccasin almost. They’re mad comfortable. There are a lot of people around me that still swear by Footscapes.
That was a huge moment. Only being five years in and getting a collab with Nike is crazy. There were three shoes in the pack, but one of them was a Footscape Woven Chukka, which was the most memorable one in my opinion. It had the tan and brown upper. That was the debut of the Footscape Chukka model. Looking back at it to see how many Chukkas were created after that, it was kind of crazy.
The Chukka also helped inform our approach with the Dunk. I wanted the Dunk to be able to hold a candle next to the Chukka or age in the same way where over time you can’t really place the period where that might have released. It just sits kind of on its own.”
MZ: “It was just a dope period in Bodega’s history. I can’t say anything internally because I wasn’t there yet, but from the outside, I still see those Chukkas out in the wild. I think that they look better than ever now.”
New Balance 577 ‘Hyprcat’
Release Date: Sept. 21, 2013
DW: “Star Fox inspired the color palette, but then it was also the graphic design on the label and the foot bed. It was geometric. It kind of looked like the little flying things from Star Fox. But the shoe was called the ‘HyprCat,’ so it was kind of like creating our own little character or icon. I know we showed the shoe next to Star Fox, but the intent was mostly just the nostalgia of connecting it to something that we all had positive memories with. But that shoe was designed by Marvin and Randy, the original designers. It was the first New Balance on paper. Technically, there was supposed to be a New Balance that came out the year before that, but it got canceled. It was the 581 in 2012. It almost looked like a 574, but it had a neoprene bootie, almost like a Huarache. And you couldn’t get your foot into it because the material wasn’t stretchy enough. So we ended up having to cancel it.
The 577 was an interesting model at the time. What I liked about ours was that it was funky. At that time, everyone was on that menswear, made in US leather goods, raw denim wave. They had the New Balances that were earth tones. So, I felt like the time when it hit, it was just super flavorful and funky. I was a big fan of those.”
Reebok 'Shanghai' Pack
Release Date: Dec. 6, 2018
DW: “It was the first release under my design direction for footwear. That was huge for a lot of reasons. The Aztrek and the Daytona were the main models.Those are designed by Christian Tresser. He did some of the most iconic Air Maxes back in the day, a bunch of soccer shit, but he had this period where he was going back and forth from Nike to Reebok. That’s why you look at the Daytona and you’re like, ‘Oh damn, that looks like an Air Max 97.’ I thought that was always dope about that era of Reebok. They really were holding a torch next to Nike. So, to be able to do those models was fire.
For the design approach, I was literally just looking up images of Shanghai and there was all this crazy architecture in their downtown area. A lot of the photos you would see when you looked it up were at sunset. So, it was these crazy reflections. That’s where the color palette was drawn from. The sunset gradient on the Daytona felt like some like Air Max Pluses. And then that with the 3M reflective was kind of reminiscent of the architecture and the buildings. But I feel like the more important aspect of that project was the ability for Bodega to bring 20 people to Shanghai and do a full build out. We stayed out there for like a week plus, got to experience the culture out there, and got to mix it up with people. Just creating that world around the shoes, it was like we picked up a section of our neighborhood and dropped it in Shanghai. It was crazy. People were so receptive to it. That was another feel good moment wrapped around a sneaker.”
New Balance 997S
Release Date: September 2019-September 2020
DW: “It was planned to be a one-off and then the traction it got made us like, ‘Oh shit. We could drop more.’ It was organic. It wasn’t part of some bigger plan to do three and do it over a year and a half. Once we did the first one, we had data to support that we could do it again and maybe again after that if we had the right designs. And we felt like we did. We just underestimated it. The other two releases were previous samples in the process of landing at the first one.
I feel like it’s one that got away from a lot of people. We hadn’t worked with New Balance for six or seven years. It was also on the early side of the New Balance really catching on. [The 997S] was disruptive. It was a new model, but it looked retro.”
PJ Tucker wearing the Bodega x New Balance 997S 'No Bad Days' during New York Fashion Week Spring.Summer 2020. Image via Getty/Daniel Zuchnik
MZ: “I think that the first one was a learning lesson. I think that was the first shoe that crashed the site. It taught us how the industry had shifted, how demand can affect things like your website, and bots, and trying to be more proactive about fighting that and give the average consumer an opportunity to have these things.
Sometimes we’ll just hit people who are fans of the brand with free sneakers, pre-release, just because they ride so hard for them. It’s amazing how important the advocacy of a brand is in a natural way. You don’t have to try to sell people on things if they are interested in it. You’re a human and you just talk to them. You can get people pretty excited if you’re accessible and willing to show how you design. That ties back to the way we do storytelling and editorials. How did PJ Tucker come out of a tunnel with those? During the rollout phase, he just fucked with them. [Laughs.]”
Saucony Grid Azura 2000 'Ever Ready'
Release Date: April 8, 2020
DW: “That’s an example of one where we were able to select something from the archive. Saucony’s our longest standing collaborative relationship. I think this was like the 45th collab or something like that. We just have a great relationship. I came across that model and was just really like, ‘Yo, this model is sick.’ I had never seen it before. I forget where I even came across it. I hoard images. My desktop looks crazy. That was one of ‘em and I was just like, ‘What do you know about this model?’ We went in there just asking about it. They weren’t feeling that strongly about it at the time. We reassured them. We were the first ones that reintroduced the OG and then we were the first ones to do a collab on it.”
MZ: “Part of the storyline was that it was a shoe that was discovered in the archives in the basement of Saucony or something. I personally feel like it’s a pretty interesting shoe design-wise. It looked experimental.”
Nike Dunk High 'Legend'
Release Date: Dec. 20, 2020
DW: “The tortoise jewel Swoosh was a thing that [Nike] was excited about. I feel like the jewel Swoosh marked such an era in Nike, mostly Air Forces and stuff. It just has that level of nostalgia and making it tortoise gives it this more luxurious feeling. It’s not something [Nike had] done before. Those are the little details that excite me that I don’t know if everyone catches or are even significant in the grand scheme.
We knew [the Dunks] were about to come out in every colorway imaginable. So, it was kind of like, ‘How could we do something to change the mold?’ We know people are going to do fire colors on the Dunk, but we wanted to do something that is tough to place what era it came from. What this shoe represented in my head was almost like an early prototype of the Dunk. It was like the Dunk before the Dunk. It was bespoke, handmade, like a moccasin almost. That’s where the Western cowboy boots stuff comes in as well.”
MZ: “I think the design was so radical for what it was. It was very much a product story. And then we just went nuts on the narrative story components to celebrate. I try to see everything as an outside person. There’s definitely things that we do that I’ve been critical of. I think that’s important. You have to be a little self critical to challenge yourself and raise that bar a little bit.”
It definitely had a Sandlot nostalgia vibe to it. That was a keyword that Drew said to me and Austin in meetings. It’s not a stretch from a design perspective. It’s definitely got elements of a baseball mitt. But more than that, it was the idea of being young and being exposed to things by the older people in your neighborhood, or the folklore of your neighborhood and how that shapes you.”
New Balance 990v3 'Anniversary'
Release Date: June 16, 2021
DW: “That was supposed to be like the peak 15-year project. That one was sort of symbolic for a bunch of reasons. I feel like I’m probably a little more sentimental about the shoes and the story, but it was the opportunity to do a Made in USA collab. That was the first time we were able to do a Made in USA model.
We were super excited to work on that and I feel like that one came together in a similar fashion to the Dunk. Whenever we get these classic models, let’s really try to do something. I feel like we have a tendency to get funky all the time. We definitely do funky colorways, but when we get these classic models from these brands it’s kind of like, ‘All right, let’s chill out for a second and try to do something that has this air of timelessness to it.’ We’re not going to look back at it and be like, ‘Oh, this fucking wild shit.’
This is one of the shoes where you could literally see someone that’s our age or younger wearing it all the way up to like, my aunt has these. I bought these for my older uncle. He’s like 72 now. And it doesn’t look out of place at all. Part of it has to do with the model, but then I think it’s also the way we approached it. I just would always see New Balances that older family members would have or in thrift stores and they get this yellow tint to ‘em. It creates olives and yellows on the suede as they get beat up. So, that was kind of like where the thought process started on the design for the shoe. It wasn’t going super left from what New Balance is known for and the look they’ve made iconic, but it also was definitely unique enough where I feel like it stands on its own.”
Hoka One One Kaha Low GTX
Release Date: March 25, 2022
DW: “This is like putting people on to a new brand. But in terms of the design, it’s Gore-Tex. So, how could we make an ill crossover? It’s our version of a shoe for the great outdoors. How do we make something that could be adaptable in some way? In my head it was through the laces. You could really change the entire look of this shoe. We kept it mostly neutral on the body to make it feel more like outdoors gear and channel that vintage ACG, Patagonia, LL Bean sort of color palette. The laces are the thing that could change the direction of how the shoe’s perceived or what energy it’s channeling. There were different points of influence like the commuter L train out here in between Boston and Rhode Island. And just autumn in general, like the change of season, was a big inspiration.
MZ: “Something we talk about a lot is functionality. Boston and the New England area, all of our cities are surrounded by such a diverse landscape. You could be in the city and then out of the city on a trail in like 20, 30 minutes. You could be in the mountains in like an hour. I think that definitely informs a lot. It informs how we see the product being utilized. We have four seasons. It’s not sunny all the time. Hoka makes sense to us because we actually wear stuff like that because of the terrain, the rain, the sleet, or whatever. It’s all encompassing.”
New Balance 574 Legacy 'International Classic'
Release Date: July 15, 2022
DW: “We were amped to bring [the 574] back. A lot of people’s experience with [the 574] was the whole two for $89.99 deal at the mall back in the day. When I was in middle school and high school, I just remember always being able to hit that deal. You could always get away with wearing New Balances with a plain T-shirt that matched and no one would say anything. It was very affordable and accessible. The 990 was one of the first $100 shoes. It was like a flex. You had to have some money to have those. Whereas the 574 represents the opposite almost. A bunch of people can afford to wear a product that is still great quality.
The whole international aspect was just how it caught on differently in different areas, the hotbed being like the Baltimore, DC, Philly area. It’s different in different places. I guess that’s how Larry June came into it too, just thinking of an international classic. I definitely think he’s someone who was underappreciated early in his career, but now he’s getting a lot of attention. It’s like this slow maturation and appreciation that’s happening, similar to the 574 as a model.”
Bodega's campaign for its New Balance 574 Legacy 'International Classic' collaboration starring Larry June.Image via Bodega
MZ: “When you have them in hand, they seem so much better. The 574 Legacy is one of the few shoes that a brand has brought back and it’s actually like a better shape. It’s more comfortable. It is an improvement on the OG, which I thought was an exciting part of it. I think we were the first to work on the 574 Legacy.
It’s fun to see how shoes, or any trend, manifest in different regions. I think that was fun to think about with the 574. What did it do in like the upper East Coast versus Asia? At what time did it hit and for what reasons? What does it mean to be an international brand, an internationally known product? Self reflecting on Bodega, it started in Boston, it’s in LA, but it’s global through online.”
Salomon X- Mission 4 'Full Bleed'
Release Date: July 29, 2022
DW: “Some brands that we have a good ongoing relationship with, we have more flexibility and leverage to be like, ‘Hey, we see ourselves going down this lane.’ Other brands will just say, ‘Hey, we’re focusing on this model. We’d really like for you guys to be a part of this moment.’ I feel like a lot of brands are putting us in the space where they want us to debut models for them because they’ve just seen it work for us in the past. But at the same time, I still want to be able to work on the classics. We don’t want to just work on the new stuff because that could also be a slippery slope. It’s cool to have the curve ball every now and then, but when you’re throwing all curves, it’s almost expected.
With Salomon, this originally was just going to be an exclusive colorway. It wasn’t going to be a full on project, but we felt so strongly about the opportunity that we really pushed the conversation into becoming a full collaboration. [Salomon] proposed this model because it was more on their lifestyle side. They were trying to do more things in the lifestyle realm and they felt like we were the correct people to bring it to life. One thing that I love that Salomon does is prints and gradients on their shoes. All the designs we proposed initially were either like mixes of these tie dye prints or these sharp gradients across the shoe.”
MZ: “We utilized our friend Shaun Crawford for that campaign. That was really based on this idea of looking at it almost like a bleach painting or tie-dye. Shaun’s known for ink and graffiti. It was a perfect match to try to tell that story. That’s kind of where the name “Full Bleed” came from. It was a reference to print. Full bleed is when you cover a whole entire surface of print stock with an image, but also is the bleeding of ink through paper if you have a really wet pen or something. It’s also a reference to us and the mentality at the time, which goes back to “No Days Off” and trying to go all out on things. We’re going to try to cover every base and give everything. It’s like a three-part metaphor.”
New Balance 9060 'Age of Discovery'
Release Date: Dec. 10, 2022
MZ: “I always fool around with this idea of burying things and re-digging them up like a year later as an art project, photographing them, and making modern artifacts. That was kind of the idea behind these. What if someone was running across a field and trips and looks back to see what they tripped on and pulled out is this 9060 that looked like an ancient artifact. That’s really where the name ‘Age of Discovery’ came from. There’s a time period in society that was called the Age of Discovery, but that’s not actually what it’s named after. If anything, this is about the Renaissance. And it’s really anchored by this painting that our friend George Thompson did for us.
And then we dropped the editorial with Aminé. He’s kind of like this modern renaissance person. He’s part of the New Balance family. This is someone that’s producing, performing, doing creative things. He has a very strong creative vision and is very independent. His projects are really owned by him. This is somebody that embodies a lot of the ethos of what New Balance is about. And we have this storyline of this modern renaissance. Multi-hyphenate is like the new renaissance man, right? So, we came up with these vignettes like music, culinary arts, just a play on what the modern renaissance person could look like.”