Supply Store in Darlinghurst, Sydney teamed up with Nike Australia to present an immersive pop-up exhibition for the just released Nike Inc. c/o Virgil Abloh™ “TEN ICONS RECONSTRUCTED” aka “ THE TEN “
The Ten represents Virgil Abloh‘s examination of Nike’s past, present and future through the lens of sport and culture.
The exhibition was open to the Public and ran from the 9th November until the 18th Nov.
As part of its Ten Icons Reconstructed collaboration with Virgil Abloh, Nike together with Supply Store opened an Off Campus pop-up at dedece in Darlinghurst, Sydney to introduce Australian sneaker lovers to their latest silhouettes.
Nike describes the Off Campus location as “a cultural destination and learning environment for the advancement of sport, design and innovation”.
The Pop-Up space is in an area surrounded by local neighbourhood cafés and residential buildings.Located on a discrete street, just 150 metres from Supply’s Retail store, the impressive Atrium space at 253 Liverpool Street is neatly tucked between dedece and the Liverpool Street Art Gallery
Off-White founder Virgil Abloh re-imagined ten famous Nike silhouettes with humour, custom made elements, and his personal ethos to create beautiful redesigned versions of the original classic Nike shoes
Applying his design ethos to ten silhouettes from the Nike family, Virgil uncovers their stories and reconstructs the essence of each icon with a new expression — from the unmatched heritage of the Air Jordan 1 to the relentless innovation of the Zoom Vaporfly.
Dedece’s stunning architecturally elevated retail and brand space brought the story of the Nike x Virgil Abloh Off-White project to life with stunning effect
The installation layout was matched into the different tiered levels of the building, with each level showcasing the shoes via a number of design installations collaboratively devised by Supply and Nike.
The ground level showed the Virgil Abloh “ Top Ten” along the wall
Throughout the building there are various digital, physical and interactive experiences, which told the story behind the ‘The Ten.
The space contained elements of identity and the influences that have shaped Supply over the years, mixed with the aesthetics involved with the process of reconstruction which was the underlying concept of the collaboration
The 1st tiered level highlighted the influences and cross over between Australian music and Street Culture
The Space was completely outfitted with Virgil Abloh, Nike and Supply co-branding alongside vintage TV sets and other nostalgic devices that were used as props.
The Tv screens were playing old music video clips from Australian bands which connected with the poster reproductions from famous mid 1970 – 90s Australian band gigs
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The next level up focussed on early T shirt designs commissioned by Supply Store
Melbourne creative agency Space Between were responsible for some of the Nike creative elements displayed within the Pop-UP space
It also featured a symbolic shattered glass back board where a pair of the Top Ten shoes hung by their shoelaces off the hoop
A pair of Tom Dixon Wingback chairs were used for media interviews with Virgil Abloh when he visited
The top level was also used as a workshop space that recreated of “THE TEN” work space found in Virgil’s Off-White Milan offices.
a Tom Dixon mass table was used to recreate the Milan studio workshop of Virgil Abloh
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Tom Dixon black offcut stool s were made available for visitors to the exhibition to sit and watch the video interviews of Virgil Abloh playing on screens on the wall
The top level was immersed in videos of Interviews of Virgil Abloh as well as background information about the project
The shelving system, fixed to one side wall ran almost across all the tiered levels for almost the entire length of the space, was effectively utilised to highlight the importance of each of the Top Ten selections giving individual shoe background stories
“The Ten” silhouettes were modestly encased in glass displays placed along the shelving system
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Raffle Winners
Supply Store ran an online Raffle for the chance to get the right to buy these very limited edition shoes
The raffle was oversubscribed by a multiplier of some x 200 entries for each shoe available ie 200,000 applied for 1,000 shoes
Raffle Entry popularity =
Most Air Jordan 1
2nd Nike Air Presto
3rd Nike Air Vapormax FK
Entries closed on Nov 4th at 6pm AEST and wnners were notified directly by Supply soon after
And shortly afterwards the Secondary Resellers marketplace was lit.
Raffle winners could then purchase their shoes in person on the release day or the day after.
Winning raffle ticket winners were able to collect their Virgil Abloh designed Nike “ Top Ten” reconstructed shoes on their scheduled release dates as follows
9th to 10th Nov Air Jordan 1 ( $270 ) & Nike Blazer Mid ( $200 )
11th to 12th Nov Nike Air Max 90 ( $230 ) & Nike Air Presto ( $ 230 )
14th Nov Hyperdunk 2017 FK ( $ 280 )
16th to 17th Nov Nike Zoom Fly ( $250 ) & Nike Air Vapormax FK ( $ 350 )
18th Nov Nike Air Max 97 OG ( $ 270 ) & Nike Air Force 1 Low ( $250 )
Early 2018 Chuck Taylor release ( $ still to be determined )
*Chuck Taylor is set to release in early 2018.
On-line Raffle Winners who came to the Pop-Up store, were asked to queue at the end of the line to allow the efficient flow of people in and out of the space.
Winners must only pick up the launch product and pay in-store within the given time frame. :
They needed to provide a government issued photo ID. (e.g passport or driver’s license) with the name on the ID matching their raffle entry details.
Family members, friends or anyone else could not purchase and/or pick up on their behalf.
Winners could not cannot sell, transfer or assign their entry to anyone else.
Winners cannot return, exchange or size swap on the day of pick up.
Failure to fully comply with these rules resulted in the winner forfeiting their entry.
About Virgil Abloh
As the creative director of Milan-based fashion label OFF-WHITE and a consultant to Kanye West, Virgil Abloh has undoubtedly risen to as one of the more prominent designers in the industry in recent time.
Abloh’s parents are from Ghana.
He was raised in Rockford, Illinois.
He received his Masters of Architecture at the Illinois Institute of Technology and his undergraduate in Civil Engineering at the University of Wisconsin–Madison
Abloh was the art director for the 2011 Jay-Z / Kanye West album Watch the Throne for which he was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Recording Package.
Virgil Abloh founded the streetwear label Pyrex Vision in Chicago before shutting it down after just a year.
He also worked alongside other DJs to produce pieces for street wear brand Been Trill.
He then launched the Milan-based fashion label Off-White in 2014 offering high-end men’s and women’s collections
About Supply Store
Supply is a select clothing retail store offering both local and imported brands from around the world.
The original Supply Store opened in November 2002 on Brisbane St in Darlinghurst, Sydney. Launching with Silas, goodenough, Gimme V, Head Porter, P.A.M., TONITE, visvim and others.
Having outgrown the original space, Supply relocated to its current Darlinghurst location on Burton St in 2005.
Working with established international brands on limited tier product or supporting independent brands coming up, we continue to work hard to offer a set of brands and products unique to and for our market.
About Space Between
Space Between steer between inception and execution, carrying the raw from infancy to absolute, creating stories we believe in to bridge the space between.
Space Between comprises designers, photographers, writers, artists and creative directors.
They work with brands and people on projects spanning graphic design, photography, art direction, digital, environmental, and all that lies between.
They are a growing studio based in South Melbourne, and work on projects all over the world.
