Skip to main content
Story

Second year BA (Hons) Textiles: Embroidery student Lisa Keane collaborates with Nike

152692
designer lisa keane in reflective outfit she designed
designer lisa keane in reflective outfit she designed
Credits: Creative lead: Lisa Keane Creative Assistant & BTS Editor: Phoebe Asker Photographer: Ashley Verse Creative MUA: Saffran Keane Project consultant: Chad McLean Assistants: Connor Jordan, Keanu Legal Miller Model: Karim Richardson BTS Photographer: Saffran Keane
Written by
LC
Published date
25 March 2019

Second year BA (Hons) Textiles: Embroidery student Lisa Keane kicked off 2019 with a Nike collaboration that saw her create two bespoke outfits as part of a campaign to launch a new shoe. The outfits formed part of the marketing campaign, as well as an installation in Sneakersnstuff in Shoreditch – also showing Nike’s recognition of community stores. We caught up with Lisa to find out about the collaboration, how it came about and what she created.

Lisa Keane X Nike AM720

How it came about…

I sit on a trend and insights panel at Nike and they ask us things like what we listen to, what we wear, what’s trendy. One of the guys there saw my bag and really liked it and asked me where I got it from, and I told him I made it, which he thought was cool. Then I met him again at a party in December and he said he saw my Instagram and thought it was cool. He said they were launching a sneaker in the new year and asked if I would be interested in working on it in some way, and I said yes but I didn't think much of it.

Then what happened…

In the new year, I got a call from the guy at Nike who told me when they were dropping the Nike AirMax 720 and he said they wanted me to make two custom outfits to be part of the launch campaign, intertwined with SneakersnStuff where I work in Shoreditch.

How it came to life...

I was given full creative control and a budget for everything - photographer, studio, materials – everything. But I had only two weeks to do everything - plan, design, make, cast models, find a studio and all these other different aspects. I learnt a lot from it - I had to hire equipment, deal with agents, with photographers and all these other things too so it was a big growing experience.

A bit about the looks created...

They wanted the looks to be a reflection of the shoe and my interpretation of it. They sent me the trainers so I could feel them and get a vibe of what I thought. First, I played a lot off the colours in general, thinking about what colours I wanted to use. But then I wanted to use materials that reflect colour instead, so I worked a lot with latex layering on PVC so it had a liquid effect when photographed. I worked a lot with tech fabrics - I wanted it to be quite sporty but still futuristic so I used coated fabrics, a bit of jersey, the make model wore a versatile vest so you could move each piece to however you want to wear it.

What next with Nike?

It would be really amazing to do something else with Nike when I have more time. Having done this it helped me realise what I want to do in the future.