My wife really loves playing Overwatch. Her favorite character is D.VA, a South Korean "Meka" pilot.
So with upcoming birthday (I mean, 6+ months in advance), I thought I should try and plan a big surprise and get something created for her, that would be the only one in existence.
A custom designed and made Nike Air Force One. With the goal in mind, all that was left was how to execute it.
Using online freelance sites, I managed to find and hire someone to design the shoe and someone to help with illustrations of D.Va wearing said shoe.
Back in Melbourne, I had an acquaintance that had started their own custom sneaker company. So I engaged him to do the build.
The project took over 8 months to complete, most of that time was for sourcing the right leather and other materials.
It was cutting it close but I managed to get the shoe and design book completed in time for her birthday.
D.Va, who's real name is Hana Song has a plethora of outfits (aka Skins) for players to choose from. Each skin is designed specifically to match D.Va's personality.
So using these in-game skins as inspiration, I chose my wife's favorite skins. I briefed the designer on the concepts, and D.Va's personality, from here concept sketches were created, we decided that Black Cat was the one that would translate the best onto the Nike Air Force 1.
Aside from getting the actual shoes designed and made. I wanted to also document the process so she could see everything from concept to launch.
I found a few illustrators and contracted them to create some illustrations of D.Va.
In each illustration she can be seen wearing the very shoes that would be created in real life.
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After 8 long months of back and forth. Her shoes were finally completed.
As luck would have it, the shoes would be completed at the same time we were planning to go back to my home city of Melbourne, Australia.
So instead of having them mailed. We could go straight to the boutique and pick up her shoes.
The final product is as awesome in real life as it looks in photos. Too bad though, they've never been worn aside for the photo shoot and are just a display piece.
