New Balance 997 SOA Inspired Custom Air Max 1 Sneaker

I had another look at custom Air Max 1 colourways and I finally have a design that I’m happy with, so much so that I’ve already asked for and signed off on a leather quote.

This pair of custom Nike Air Max 1’s will be based on the incredible New Balance 997 SOA colourway. With the deep royal blue donor pair I purchased a while back I was kind of ‘limited’ to the colour palette I could use. The midsole has a deep blue air bubble so whatever went above it would have to work with this.

Source: Nike

Although I ran an Instagram poll on which custom Air Max 1 colourway to attempt first, I was never fully satisfied with the choice of colourways I came up with. Even when one of the colourways came out on top, I wasn’t really fully invested.

It was around this time that I took another look at Pinterest. I came across the New Balance 997 SOA Made in USA and thought, oh that could definitely work. Originally released in 2020, this colourway has a range of pastel tones along with a deep navy heel, and like the Nike Air Max 1, a number of materials and textures are used for the upper.

Source: Asphaltgold

I downloaded a couple of images, opened up Adobe Illustrator and started matching spot colours as closely as possible to the leathers and colours available in my A&A Crack & Sons swatch books.

SOMY New Balance 997 SOA Inspired Custom Air Max 1 Sneaker Details

I’m really happy with the end result. The colours and textures of the various sample leathers work really nicely with each other. The quote for the leather has been requested, and I’m just waiting for the order to be processed. Cannot wait.

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