From the creative concept to hurdles met during production and more, CLOT Founder and Creative Director, Edison Chen, shares his vision for the anticipated CLOT x NIKE FLUX DUNK with SNKRS for its 'Behind the Design' interview series. Watch the video below or scroll down to read the full interview.

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What kick-started the concept of the Flux Dunk?

A lot of people know us from our silk renditions of Nike sneakers or the Terracotta versions of our Jordans, and this time we came up with something a little different. We call it the Flux Dunk.

For me, the code names was the “Future Classic” and “Space Boy”. The reason why we did this was from something that was very evident in the late 1990s early 2000s, which was “What are those sneakers?” and seeing people from afar and going, “OMG, look at those sneakers!”. So, something that I really wanted to do was to bring that element back to the sneaker world. 

Why the use of lenticular effect?

I always had this fascination with lenticular since I was a child; just seeing the images change seemed like magic to me. So, when we started approaching the shoe design, I thought about a shoe that would change and catch your eye, even if you see someone across the street wearing the shoe. The lenticular became very evident to me as something that I wanted to manipulate to design for the shoe.

Is there an East-meets-West story to it this time?

The original concept was infusing a Yin and Yang concept of black and white. The shoe, at every angle you move, gives you a different hue. It’s predominantly silver right now, but actually, the ends of the spectrum are white and black, and the mixture of those in the middle is what causes this chrome-like effect on the shoe. The concept of Yin-Yang and fluidity, karma and harmony are encapsulated in the shoe. 

Any challenges getting the Dunks exactly the way you’ve envisioned?

The process of making the shoe was probably the hardest that I’ve ever encountered before. First of all, the lenticular panels aren’t for sizes 9.5 and above. They need to be custom-made because of the sheer size of the actual lenticular material. That was the first hurdle that we had to go through. The second hurdle was to create this continuous change that goes with the shoe that doesn’t break as it moves. 

My initial thought was having it be one panel, which is why in the back, you can see there is no cover to show where the materials meet, and this is on purpose to show the craftsmanship of the shoe. This allows us to be able to have the harmonious continuous lenticular change that goes throughout the shoe. The simplicity of the colorway is something that is not really usually used on lenticulars, and the subtleness of this gives it a very contemporary view of what a shoe might look like in the future.

The tagline of the campaign is “Flux That”. How does it translate to you?

‘Flux That’ is basically using the word ‘flux’ as a call to action for people to embrace the future and embrace the harmony of now and the future, of different colors, ideas, and different people coming together, which is why the shoe is actually made for everyone.

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