Sneaker customization pushed to the absolute max!

Not your average shoe-customization project, Moscow-based Ilyas Darakchiev managed to completely uplift a pair of Adidas TR7 sneakers by redesigning its outsole to look positively monstrous. Titled the ‘Beton’ project, Ilyas sought out to customize his pair of sneakers differently. While people paint shoes, switch materials, swap parts like shoelaces, Ilyas’s project was more additive, if you will. Using modelling clay and its associated tools, Ilyas added volume to the sneaker outsole, giving it a thick, eye-catching, aggressive avatar, complete with shark-teeth-inspired details at the very base.

While the modelling clay essentially was meant for a strictly aesthetic proof-of-concept, I’d imagine outsole customization, to the extent that Ilyas pushed it, should be quite possible with the correct set of tools. A resin mold, a rig to securely hold the shoe, and some high-quality polyurethane and boom! Your footwear inherits a completely different persona!

Designer: Ilyas Darakchiev

Sarang Sheth

Sarang is the co-editor in chief of Yanko Design. He is a former industrial designer at a Bangalore-based multidisciplinary design studio, working in areas including appliances, FMCG, packaging, technology, luxury, etc. Sarang has written about design and technology for over a decade and has been a jury member on international design awards. He occasionally works on tech concepts featured on Forbes, The Verge, Hypebeast, Digital Trends, SlashGear, Tom's Guide, LetsGoDigital, and Unbox Therapy. Sarang graduated from MIT Institute of Design, Pune.

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