Crazy All Black Bapesta Restoration

History

In this restoration Vick got his hands on a pair of all Black Bapesta sneakers. These shoes are from the iconic Japanese streetwear brand A Bathing Ape also known as Bape. Bape was created in 1993 by famous fashion designer and record producer Nigo. After releasing his new streetwear brand it became an instant hit with the youth of Japan and his business began to skyrocket. Then with the release of the Bapesta in 2002, Bape solidified themselves within the streetwear market and is still one of the most sought after streetwear brands to this day. Vick has a huge task ahead of him with this restoration. He is going to have to do a complete sole swap on these with either a Jordan 1 or dunk low because of the cracking down the middle of these iconic streetwear shoes. We will see what he does to bring these all black sneakers back to life.

The Start

To start removing the sole from the upper Vick uses a pick to start to separate the midsole from the uppers so he can then go in with an exacto knife and cut out the sole completely. After cutting out the sole Vick is now using the exacto knife to cut off all of the excess glue. That way when he puts these back together the glue keeps its hold for years to come. The next step is to use a dremel to roughen up the material where the uppers connect to the soles which will also help the glue adhere to the material on the uppers.

Bapesta x Air Force 1?

Turns out Vick didn’t use a Dunk low sole or a Jordan 1 sole, instead he picked up a pair of air force 1’s and is going to be using those to replace them. He starts off by removing all of the excess glue from the inside of the air force 1 sole using a dremel along with acetone and cotton balls. Now to actually put these two together Vick heads outside to spray an adhesion promoter to the inside of the sole’s before putting on the glue. Then he starts layering on Barge super stick to the inside of the sole as well as the bottom of the midsole. He then puts these two together starting with the toe and moving down the heel while heating up the glue to make sure that it keeps its hold. Now to finish connecting the uppers to the bottoms of these Bapesta’s Vick uses some white thread to sew the two together and just like that the soles have been completely replaced and these Bapesta’s are looking fresh.

Cleaning

Before starting the restoration on the uppers these Bapestas need a deep clean using Reshoevn8r’s cleaning products. Vick inserts the Reshoevn8r shoe trees to help reform the toe box and gets to scrubbing using the soft bristle brush and cleaning solution. After going over the uppers twice with the soft brush and letting them dry overnight the uppers are already looking way better thanks to Reshoevn8r’s cleaning capabilities.

Finishing Touches

To Finish this restoration the only thing that’s left is to redye the all black uppers. First thing Vick does is tape off all of the white parts of the shoe to make sure no black paint gets on the white details. Then he uses an airbrush to spray black paint onto the uppers and then uses a Reshoevn8r suede brush to brush the paint into the suede and repeats this process until the shoe looks brand new. To make sure these layers of paint are locked in and don’t spread to the white spots of the shoe Vick sprays Reshoevn8r water and stain repellent on the uppers. For the other materials on the uppers Vick uses a paint brush to put on a new layer of paint, for the finishing touches on this restoration.

Video Link

Vick did an amazing job on these one of a kind Bathing ape Bapestas and if you want to check out this restoration for yourself hit the video Link below!