Designer Doni Nahmias Introduces First Sneaker Inspired by His Favorite Shoes He Wore Growing Up in California
California-based designer Doni Nahmias introduced his first footwear style as part of his eponymous label’s spring/summer 2023 collection.
Unveiled today at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris during the city’s men’s fashion week, the sneaker, dubbed the “Five-O,” merges two of Nahmias’ favorite shoes to create a low top basketball silhouette featuring a higher platform and an air bubble detail on the sole.
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“I grew up wearing only two different types of shoes, the Chuck Taylor and the Nike Air Max,” Nahmias told FN on a call before the show. “So basically, I merged my two favorite sneakers into one and added a few of my own details to create this style.”
Courtesy of Nahmias
At the show, Nahmias showed a total of five colorways of the new Five-O sneaker – black, orange, blue, black tie-dye, and green tie-dye. “We created the tie-dye canvas in our studio in Los Angeles then sent it to Italy for production for our show,” Nahmias added.
He also admits that while he showed many colors, he plans to launch the shoe in a limited way with only the black colorway initially. “I posted a sneak peek of the shoes on my Instagram a few days ago and some of the buyers at our key retail partners DM’ed me and said they wanted to carry them,” Nahmias said. “But, for this rollout we are going to pick one key door per city to sell the shoes in-store only across 10 locations. Then we will also roll them out on our website.”
Asked whether he plans to grow his footwear offering, Nahmias told FN that he is already starting on another silhouette that he will unveil later this year. And he is open to creating more styles down the road, but for now, he plans to stick with what he knows – sneakers.
“As of now, I plan on sticking just with sneakers because It’s what I grew up with and what I know,” he admitted. “And I try to not really design outside of my roots of what I know, and my brand’s DNA. But I’m sure as the brand grows and we need to expand categories, we’ll start diving into different avenues.”
Courtesy of Nahmias
As for the rest of his spring/summer 2023 collection, Nahmias was inspired by his youth growing up near the scenic Butterfly Beach, a real place in Montecito, Calif. Nahmias said the collection highlights the voice of Californian youth, aiming to champion “normal clothes” with an elevated luxury aesthetic infused within. He added that the inspiration for the collection is derived directly from his own teenage life, a personalized reflection of his time surfing and spending the day hanging out on the beach.
The clothing collection includes merino wool cardigans in pastel shades, custom water-colored silk shirts with hemp motifs, and knit mesh jerseys. Butterflies take on a literal meaning in the collection with original graphics that fashion the butterflies into the Nahmias logo – seen across silk shirts and pants.
This collection also introduces a special partnership with Bacardí rum for the brand’s legacy Music Liberates Music campaign, a four-piece merch collaboration comprised of a T-shirt, cap, jacket, and hoodie. Each piece in the capsule collection includes a QR-code embedded design leading to a playlist of global emerging music talent, each mentored by Grammy Award-winning producer Boi-1da. All profits will be donated to the up-and-coming artists as part of the campaign.
Launch Gallery: Nahmias Spring 2023 Collection at Paris Fashion Week Men's
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