Back on February 22nd, 2021 history was made by Vick Almighty and our good friend Karson, a.k.a ElectroKickz. We flew ElectroKickz to Phoenix from his hometown in Florida and these two creative geniuses put their heads together to create something of a once-in-a-lifetime custom. The first self-lacing Yeezy was created with auto-lacing bracket tracks and the mechanism from the Nike Adapt. Since the video has been released on YouTube, it has amassed over 200,000 views and was one of Vick’s favorite projects he has ever worked on. To get a better perspective from the mastermind behind this project, Vick took the time to answer a couple of questions about this memorable custom.
R8: What was your inspiration for the Self-Lacing Yeezy custom?
Vick: “The idea sparked shortly after the Jordan 11 Adapt released on December 30, 2020. From there I only knew of one guy that had high-quality tech work on sneakers. When we put our heads together, we realized that Adidas has never done anything like it, but Nike has.”
R8: What was the hardest part of the custom?
Vick: “This shoe was definitely one of the most intricate customs I have worked on. The hardest part was figuring out how to make it auto-lacing. We had to make sure the shoe had a fat sole so we could incorporate the self-lacing mechanism.”
R8: Why did you choose this sneaker for the custom?
Vick: “The colorway was perfect for the self-lacing brackets. The Yeezy 700 V2 is one of my favorite Yeezy’s they have ever released. I originally wanted to do a Yeezy 700 V3, but there was no place for the lace tracks on the upper, the sole isn’t thick enough for the mechanism, and the tongue wrapped around the whole sneaker which did not work for this custom.”
R8: Do you think you will collaborate with ElectroKickz on another custom?
Vick: “Yeah of course! ElectroKickz is super talented and there are many other customs that we can create. Putting our minds together we really think outside of the box. Outside of the self-lacing Yeezy we did two other projects in only 4 days (Tesla Custom and Air Mag Air Max 90 Custom). If we had more time, I couldn’t imagine what we could have created together!”
R8: Who would you like to collaborate with in the future?
Vick: “I am really trying to get into reconstructing sneakers which means making them from scratch. With that being said, I would like to collaborate with Jake Danklefs (@jwdanklefs). He has to be one of my favorite customizers. He produces very clean, consistent, and impressive work that I really look up to. Another customizer I am itching to work with is Max Hanke (@maxio6). Max has created a custom Jordan 1 from scratch that looks like an actual Jordan 1 1985 release. That is one of the skills I am looking to add to my repertoire in 2021.”
R8: Is this one sneaker that you will keep in your collection considering it is the first-ever self-lacing Yeezy?
Vick: “For sure! This sneaker will not be up for grabs on Reshoevn8r like last year where I gave away 8 of my most valuable customs. I can’t wait for Sneaker Cons to start back up so I can wear them out!”
R8: What is the best Yeezy silhouette in your opinion?
Vick: “Right now I really like the Yeezy 450 that just came out. The 450 is very different and I really like the narrow look of the sneaker. But the Nike Yeezy releases are my favorite Kanye West sneakers of all time. The Solar’s have to be my favorite colorway that Kanye has ever released.”
R8: Throughout your time creating customs, what has been your favorite?
Vick: “My favorite project was probably the cleats I customized for “Beastmode” Marshawn Lynch. Steve and I went out to Oakland and personally delivered them to Marshawn. He was so stoked with the cleats, he considered them art pieces and showcased them in his trophy room, and also gave me one that he signed. In addition, he also gave us tickets to the Rams vs. Raiders game. At the time 3D printing was very new to me and the custom concept went perfectly with the shoe itself. It was overall a perfect custom in my opinion.”
R8: Can you give us a little sneak peek into your next custom?
Vick: “If you have seen the CPFM Dunk that just released in the past couple of months, there is a very shiny part they incorporate into the sneaker that I used on my next custom featuring a Jordan 1 silhouette.”
Now that you know the inside scoop on the first-ever self-lacing Yeezy, go check out our good friend ElectroKickz on Instagram! He does great work and we can’t wait to see what he produces in the future. Check out our YouTube channel where you can find customs and restorations with Vick every Monday and also cleaning tutorials every single Thursday! All of the products that are used in our cleaning videos can be found on our website!
