My friend Max once wore his Air Max 95 ‘Chilis’ into work. They hadn’t been worn for a while, so unfortunately like a lot of older Nike shoes, they began to crumble. Scraping away the left foot’s midsole into the bin, he looked at them with a sense of loss. He was about to throw them away till I asked, “Can I have them if you’re just going to chuck them?” to which he replied, “Yeah sound”. A standard reply in the halls of shoe retail.

I had them tucked away in my cupboard in a JD string bag, hoping I could do a sole swap when I had the time. I took them back home a few months later, tinkering with them in the shed. I managed to get some more of the midsole off, but the shoe still looked worse-for-wear. They took a place next to my Air Max 2003s which I had bought off Depop back in 2016. They too had suffered the same fate as they started falling apart when I was at the gym. There they sat, two Nike shoes out of action. Hunched over on the benches, awaiting the day where the Coach would call them back into play. I hadn’t had much experience with shoe restoration, having partly reglued the soles of a pair of Jordan 14’s and a pair of Ice Cream Boardflip 2’s that I de-soled and took down to the local cobbler. I could manage the removal part of process, yet needed to improve my fixing portion. Quite metaphorical if I do say so myself, luckily this short piece is about shoes and not a tell-all though.  

I was scrolling my IG feed when I had seen Nike Server doing an event at the Vibram London Academy. It sounded perfect, an opportunity to bring back to life two previously retired Nikes. The sustainability hashtags were about to go off. It was a three-day event running from the Thursday till the Saturday and having the time to kill, I went up on the first day.

Arriving at Waterloo, I then grabbed the tube to Old Street. It wasn’t a part of London I was familiar with having never spent a night dancing my socks off at XOYO, so thank goodness for 21^st century tech. I arrived at the shop where it seemed relatively busy. I whipped out the shoes and began discussing with Mr Nike Server himself which midsoles would work best with which shoe. I opted with going for the larger yellow midsole for the Chilis, thinking the contrasting yellow and red would work well. Then for the 2003s, I went for a slightly less in-your-face cup soles in order to cover up the glue markings. Having not realised that the shoes would be fixed and ready to go the same day, I handed the shoes over to the team behind the counter. It cost £45 a pair which I thought was reasonably and would eventually go onto find out was a solid price compared to the usual £70 for a midsole repair. You can’t put a price on sustainability though, right?

“Should be about 6 weeks mate”, the London-sounding Vibram cobbler announced as the payment went through. I walked out the shop, two shoes down but eager to see what the result would be. It wouldn’t be till around 7 weeks later that I would find out. Having followed the Vibram London Academy on IG I did get a glimpse at my pair of Air Max 2003’s as it had been uploaded with a selection of other shoes. A few days later I received a text saying:

I headed up the Wednesday, feeling like I was about to be reunited with an old flame. Sad? Possibly but being into creps isn’t always glitz and glamour, more time it’s just a bunch of people who are enthusiastic about a piece of cloth glued to rubber. If you really want to boil it down to its essence, but where’s the romance in that. I thought of it more as two pieces of iconic design, hidden in the shadows awaiting the day to once again rest between foot and concrete, roaming the streets of this diverse, beautiful world.

As I made it back to Old Street Tube station, my phone remained in pocket as I was now more familiar with the area. It was humidly-hot that day, the London streets bright and colourful with an array of sun dresses coupled with shades. Seeing the yellow Vibram store logo up ahead, I was merely few steps away from finally seeing the shoes in person. As I stepped in, the team seemed to be in better spirits this time. Perhaps it was the combination of the blue skies and the fact they weren’t swamped with youths bringing in their beaten-up trainers. They received a total of 94 pairs from that event if I remember correctly. That’s a lot of new hybrid Vibram’s walking about the pavements and a whole lot more shoes rescued from landfill. That works out to about 30 odd pairs each day during the event, that’s no small feat.

Whilst they looked for my two pairs, I took a browse at their Five Finger selection. I’d been looking at getting a pair of minimal footwear since hearing about the barefoot running movement a year before. What better time to try a pair on than in the London store itself. I tried a selection on making sure that they fit correctly. Putting on the V-train 2.0s after the more minimal indoor/gym iteration, I knew this one would last a whole lot longer due to the heavier tread pattern and more rugged upper. This would also leave the door open for any possible future trail runs. They were a long step away from my Salomon Speedcross 4’s, but would be a great way of building up foot and ankle strength.

Having now worn them for a week at the gym, I can truly say these have been one of, if not my best gym shoe to date. No longer do I have to walk around in my socks or some overly cushioned trainers. Ground-feel is what everyone should be after when weight training at the gym and these certainly provide enough of that. As someone who’s into creps, it also veers round the issue of having to wear your gym shoes on the journey to, as the five fingers are easily packable. If only I had known this a few years ago, it would have saved me spending half of my retail life walking around in my Pegasus 38 Gore-Tex editions. A great shoe however, one that deserved some rest from my average 13K steps a day.

Overall, the event and the shoes were a success. I ended up with two unique Nike trainers and a pair of minimal footwear shoes. Collecting the shoes also gave me a reason to travel on the Elizabeth line which was great experience in and of itself. If you know me, I’m all about good experiences. Would I recommend the re-soling process to a friend, most definitely!