GRAVIS BLACKBOX by STAPLE.

Gravis graciously invited us to design this year's Blackbox Collection. It was perfect timing as it would coincide nicely with our 10th Anniversary as well.
The whole set consists of 3 shoes (Lodown, Royale and Dune), a set of luggage (Terminal Case, Metro Backpack and Jetway Rolling Case), a New Era 5950 Cap, and a tee.
When I was designing this set, it was actually in the middle of the summer, and I was reminiscing on what winters in NYC are like. When snow falls in NY, its beautiful on day one. Then as the days progress it slowly turns into this slushy, muddy pile of nastiness. Especially on cobblestone streets which is difficult to plow. This really reminds me of the old New York. So first off I wanted to develop an icon that represented both city and snow. Second, I developed a color palette that drew off this snowfall. The resulting colors are: FRESH POWDER, WET CEMENT, and PARKING LOT. Then we applied these colors to the different shoes and bags we selected.


The iconography we developed that best represents winter in the city.


The Gravis Blackbox Royale in "Fresh Powder". We did this in the lo-top because when the snow just falls, you actually don't need that much protection or traction. Its still fresh and fluffy.


The Gravis Blackbox Lodown in "Wet Cement". Gotta move to the mid, now that shit is getting a little nasty.


The Gravis Blackbox Dune in "Parking Lot". Bring the ruggedness for when snow just turns into a quicksand molasses.
All 3 styles feature premium reinforced leather, super tack rubber compound found on rock climbing shoes on the toe and heels, and fur trim details to match that snorkel or fur coat.


The luggage goes along the same theme. Escalating size and matching patterns.


And of course, to cap it off, the 5950.

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And just to give you guys an idea of how long this sort of design process takes, I blogged on August 5th, 2006 of a meeting I had with Gravis. I couldn't allude to it back then, but this was the first meeting we had to discuss Blackbox. 14 months later and its finally available. Lots of design meetings, sample reviews, and tweaking in between. I think a lot of times, on these blogs, shit comes out and people think you wave a magic wand and it just magically appears. On the other hand, some people post images of 2D computer renderings of designs and then you never actually see the real product. I'll try to show more of the design process in the future, but NDA (non-disclosure agreements) make it a pain in the arse. But I always try and drop as many clues as possible...so just keep on the lookout for what we have coming in 2008.