What made you decide to chose the Moccasin stitch?

When I started working at Size? I was wearing a pair of Snipe, and they were moccasin shoes. For me at the time, my theory was that I needed to sharpen up my style and look a bit more dapper, and then I’d appeal more to women than girls. So I was well into my moccasins, and then I fucked them up and I couldn’t re-buy them!

It wasn’t about bringing the moccasin to sneakers, it was about bringing the moccasin to the Air Force 1 initially, because with the Air Force 1 you can see how it’s built and it’s such an old school shoe – it’s got really basic construction. Today everything is seemed or glued, and you can’t really see the mechanics of it, but with the Air Force 1 you can see how it’s constructed and you can deconstruct it and put it back together and make something look manufactured. It was just the idea of it – I thought it was a marketable product for Nike in a sense. The Air Force 1 alone is bigger than some brands.

Is it important to you to have that strong theme in each of your customs?

Yeah, I think it’s good; companies do it for a reason! People want to buy into something or understand something, and it’s always nice to tell a story. Sometimes I might come up with a theme before I make the shoe and target the theme, or sometimes I’ll make the shoe and then slowly come up with one. I think it’s integral – all my shoes end up having a story.

Do you spend a lot of time sourcing specific materials, leathers or bits & bobs?

My first shoe is the most basic custom that I’ve done, and every custom I do I like to think that I’ve kind of elevated in my style, learned something new or tried a different technique. In that time I’ve built up so much shit in my house! I’ve got cut up shoes, I’ve got fabrics, I’ve got so much stuff and a backlog of ideas.