Chuck.1 started with the idea of taking something familiar and completely rebuilding it from the ground up. I used a pair of classic Converse as my base and began to deconstruct each section of the shoe. First separating the rubber sole from the fabric, I used a heat gun and acetone to weaken the preexisting glue and be able to pry the two apart. Setting the sole to the side, I then took the fabric and unstitched the thread to give myself a workable pattern for tracing.

From there I used my own fabric, after being traced and cut, to re-sew the upper, making sure to follow the original shape while adding subtle material changes. Once the new upper was stitched together, I wrapped it around a shoe last and used a vacuum seal and glue to attach it securely back to the sole.

To finish things off, I hand-punched and hammered in a fresh set of metal eyelets, and laced them back up. Not only did I appreciate learning the behind the scenes process and design of shoe design to better understand what fully goes into the job, I also was able to include my own personal touch to this project which is now something I can wear everyday in originality.