We sat down with Johnny Trottier, also known as JohnnysKicks to introduce this artist, designer, and now official remx creator. His collection with remx is coming soon, but keep reading for some of the conversation highlights and watch the full interview below.
remx: Thank you so much Johnny. It’s such a pleasure to have you. Really excited to get to know you a little bit more. You’ve come on as a remx creator with us, so super stoked to kind of introduce you to our community.
Johnny: Yeah, thank you for having me.
remx: Yeah, of course. Can you share with us a little bit more about how you got into sneaker customization? Did you already have a fashion background before or were you just interested in sneaker culture? Where did it all go again?
Johnny: Yeah, so I’ve been into sneakers probably my entire life. Ever since I was a baby. My mom started me off really early. Oh my God. But I really started actually collecting shoes, which is crazy around middle school right around the 2000s. Alan Iverson really got me excited about shoes. I was always a fan of Michael Jordan. I always said he was the one who brought all of us kinda into basketball. But Alan Iverson made it cool for me. He brought the style and everything like that, and I always loved his shoes with Reebok. And the Iverson 4 in particular was the thing that kind of got me into sneakers and collecting. I had every single color. And my mom would be basically saying, come the commissary with me and I’ll get you the latest pair of whatever’s out there.
That’s what got me hooked into the collecting aspect of it. And then gradually over time, I was always an artist and I went to school for graphic design and I was always drawing my sketchbooks and always drawing shoes and customizing shoes and always remaking them to the point where it was like I would get one white shoe and then throughout the year that shoe would change three or four times as it was broken down cause I just keep customizing it or drawing on it or doing something for the year.
Social media came around, Instagram came around, and then I was basically able to take my design aspects, my graphic design background, and then I love sneakers and photography and just kinda melded ’em all together.
remx: Wow.
Johnny: And it kind of got monotonous in a way where everyone was basically posting the exact same shoes. So a shoe would release, everyone would get that shoe and then they would post that same exact shoe. And what I started doing is I was basically taking the best shots on Instagram, my friends that were doing all these off feeds. And then I was taking that specific release and I was doing a concept change on it. So I was going into Photoshop or Illustrator and changing the Pantones on the shoe and I was just changing them to be a different shoe. And then everybody was saying, is that a sample? Is that sample of a sample? Is that coming out? Where did you get it? Cause the way I was designing is I was taking these shots and I was editing them to make it look like it was actually gonna come out. It was like you couldn’t distinguish between if it was a concept or a real shoe.
remx: That’s so cool.
Johnny: I was doing this for years. And I was doing it predominantly on Yeezys and Adidas models. And I was working with the 40 technologies and the Yeezy colorways. And I really kind of grew an audience on Instagram for doing concepts in Adidas. I think it was 2017 or 2018, I had a very unique opportunity to go out to Los Angeles to work with The Shoe Switch. Everyone knows he is the godfather of custom sneakers and independent making. And so it was really an eye opening experience, seeing the entire backend of sneakers making from design aspect all the way through sourcing to making the shoe developing, working with clients, working with businesses working with different design iterations, pretty much the entire thing. It was just amazing seeing the team and the way it worked. And I was fascinated in that. And then he pretty much taught me everything I needed to know to basically take it into my own hands in a way. And the way I did it was I started designing sneakers and then with the relationships I built with all the customizer in the world that just happened to be my friends from over the years, from supporting each other through social and DMs. Yeah. I basically just said, I’m gonna start handing these concept designs to all of these customizer that can actually make my ideas a reality.
And it trickled pretty fast. So it was at the beginning of the pandemic really where I just started handing out concept after concept after concepts started was sending the base pairs to the customs and then just saying whenever it’s done, finish it and then we can release it as a collaboration together. I think I had about 15 shoes being made at the exact same time when I first started. I was really motivated and everyone was more than willing to actually make them. And guys were even reaching out to me saying, I remember you designed this concept. I can make that perfectly. Do you wanna have it made and we can release it together. And it was just a handful. I think I have 22 makers and from I think May to May, 2020 to now, I’ve done roughly about 200 releases with 22 different makers globally.
remx:Wow. That’s insane.
Johnny:And so it’s just been a whirlwind situation. And then now moving in from just being a designer to having my designs being made by independent Bakers to now working into web three and working in 3D design and working with what web three and blockchain has to offer as far as ownership and digital creation and all this other stuff with sneakers and using futuristic technologies to develop our own shoes.
remx: I had no idea that you weren’t creating the sneakers yourself, so that’s even crazier to know that you were designing them and then having creators create them for you and just building those networks. That’s crazy.
Johnny: I always had the ideas and I always could design, but I could never actually have it made. And then with me, I’ve always had a standard of luxury in a way. I really appreciated luxury and storytelling. So I always said I wanted to be the Nike SB mixed with Chanel, where Nike, SB is the best storyteller in the packaging and the way that they tell the story with the shoe, but then having the quality of Chanel. And so it’s with that I was basically sourcing out the best makers in the world to do it. And these guys have been working on this for years and they had just perfected it. And then the people I worked with, I only gave projects to people that actually wanted to do it and was a site to do it right. I’m never gonna say, you’re a maker and you can make this, but do you want to? And then that’s where the collaboration comes in, which makes just one amazing product at the end of the day. For
remx: Sure. And I think it’s interesting cuz you fell into the Web3 space and it’s super collaborative. So I feel like you were almost ahead of your time in the sense of collaboration because a lot of people were not collaborating as much in the early days. I feel like everybody was little Islands. And then when the NFT space popped up, I feel like it definitely opened a lot of doors I think because of the pandemic and things like that everybody was having to work together.
But you have been in NFT space, you recently became a verified remix creator, you’ve been super active in the artifact creator community for quite some time now as a physical artist. So I guess you’ve been designing and creating custom sneakers. But how did you end up here in Web3?
Johnny: It’s so funny cause it was a perfect marriage of everything I’ve always loved. Web3 was creators and creatives that were digital artists and artists in general, that this whole platform was kind of based off of to begin with, to onboard people. And so I was a digital artist, never really knowing how to sell my digital art. And so I started having to make physicals. This was the first time where I could actually have a community of people buy something that could actually actually own something. And I could actually be able to reward them for the first time, almost like a membership, but just supporting my art in a digital form where I no longer had to deal with shipping logistics. I didn’t have to deal with all of these different barriers that you deal with in traditional business.
I’ve been a collector of things my entire life. And so for that it was the perfect transition. I have to give a lot of credit to Ations. So he’s a friend and he’s a guide that’s just kind of been an educator in the space and he’s a collector of things as well. And so I really paid attention to how we described it, how it was gonna be used and the future of collecting. And I really truly believe with Web3 and NFTs, it’s the future of how we’re gonna view collecting with ownership and having so many different use cases. For one thing, it’s not just like you’re buying a product and then this is the end cycle for it and then you just keep doing the same thing over and over. So the mixture of that and then just my art background in general, it was just a perfect marriage.
remx: Do you think that you’ll do any phygital stuff? Are you doing that right now? Are you guys gonna do body tracking all of that stuff? What is the future of that?
Johnny: Yeah, so this is actually my first collaboration. Between The Remade of myself and I’ll show you the samples actually, the dark nights.
remx: Those are so dope.
Johnny: So this has been a shoe that’s been in the work since 2017 through The Remade. He’s a partner of mine in a lot of the real world shoes that I’ve done. He was a guy that I was a huge fan of, actually. He was one of the first independent customs in the world. He started his company back in 2015. And I just have, the first custom I ever bought was from him. I reached out, I was like, I’m a fan. And I was like, I really, I wanna support you. And his work was incredible. I got it. Once I actually started turning my concepts into reality, he was one of the first people I asked if he was willing to do it. And since then we released I think 10 different projects. We’ve worked with the nba, we’ve worked with so many different projects and now together we are collaborating on the future of footwear, which is going to be the RVOs, which is only recyclable liquid resin printed. And it’ll be printed on demand. So we won’t have any held stock. We’re gonna basically do what we did in the traditional world where we make a sample this and then basically you order it in your size, the factory will get your size, we’ll print it out within the next couple of days and have it delivered to you within three weeks.
remx: Wow, that’s incredible. It’s breaking down. I mean, one of the biggest problems is mass production. That has been the biggest thing being on the fashion side of the world is everybody who’s in it knows how much of a problem it is. So it’s creating solutions for those issues. And the fact that you said that that’s like all recyclable too is really amazing as well.
Johnny: To go into it, just into your earlier question too. Yes. We will be actually putting codes on these soon to actually be able to track into the blockchain and they, we have created a redeem protocol. And basically what it is is that you’ll be able to actually min this as an NFT and then you’ll be able to redeem it in your size. And then you’ll actually get a token once you’ve redeemed it to represent this shoe. Not only that, when you get this shoe, you’ll get 3D files for this shoe which will be able to be attached to any single avatar in the future. So you can actually bring it into these 3D softwares. It’ll be linked to clones already. We’re built out different platforms, not only for fitness apps, but for AR fashion and clothing.
Almost like a Nike ID in a sense, where you can pretty much go in, you can just pick the articles of clothing, you can change all of the different colors for every single part of the clothing to make it customized. And the shoes will be linked to every single avatar that you’ll be able to actually bring into video games into future. So this one shoe is gonna represent so many different use cases from functionality in the real world, but also access to real life events in the real world to digital spaces to unlocked access to future releases. Not only that, when you get the 3D files you can design on them. And this is, this is a huge initiative for us to create a creator’s economy. Just like I think it’s so important for many people to do. So when you get the 3D files, you’ll actually be able to design your own version on top. And then eventually our plan is that we’ll take future designs from the creators that actually ended up getting the 3D files and actually be able to make them and then be able to release them and have them share on the profits of the release.
remx: Wow, a Creator economy, that’s what we’re doing here in remx. I mean it couldn’t be more aligned. That’s incredible. I mean it really is, it’s super important to be able to do that for all of the artists cuz it’s like people like yourself. You’re building the space for more creators like yourself. Those are so dope. I can’t wait. When do they come out? When is the release? Do you have a date yet?
Johnny: Christma 2022s. So we’re working diligently around the clock, but like I said, since 2017 it’s been in development. So it’s been a long road. But back off of me and The Remade’s independent projects that we release that sold out we were able to take it from actual thought to final completion stage. And the people that’ll actually be able to get first dibs on these are the community members that hold their NFTs, they’ll be token get first access to the first release and they’ll be token get into every single release that we ever do. So I think that’s so cool about our community supported us, they saw our vision, they believed in us, and now we get to give back and we continue to write the script together.
remx: Heck yeah. That’s incredible. Absolutely incredible. It seems like the like NFT space definitely was made for you for one and definitely has just married everything. It’s really beautiful to hear the story and background behind it. So where do you pull most of your inspiration from?
Johnny: I’m very, very fortunate in the way that I get to work with creators all day, every day. My entire circle is just independent creators. And so with that and being part of these different communities, being part of Artifact and Remix and all these different projects, there’s independent creators creating every single day. And for me it almost pushes me and motivates me in the way that I was a 2D artist for 10 years doing only Adobe. And just this year I picked up 3D. Because Artifact told me to learn it. Cause there was a specific reason in why they are telling us to learn it. The future is gonna be very heavily revolving around 3D and animation and all this stuff. And they’re gonna be one of the most sought after careers in the future. And so to see just the evolution, how quick you can learn this 3D software if you’re really taking upon, and then seeing the different opportunities that are coming and being able to implement it within our own projects, our own companies, and seeing how every company’s gonna be moving this way, we’re just kinda ahead of the curve in a little bit.
And so yeah it’s exciting to see what the future’s gonna hold.
remx: Yeah, no, I mean I think that it’s, it being inspired by and connected to a lot of different creators like the NFT space for myself and for I think a lot of other people has created a lot of inspiration in the sense because there’s it for the first time I feel like creators were actually coming together in one big space. A lot of times it seems like you kind of had that little community because of the sneaker community. So you had that for what seems like a little bit longer than what a lot of other people. But pulling inspiration from others is always a plus. Most definitely. And having them there to kind of drive you and push you would you say that most of these sneakers that you’re making are being created because of designs that you’ve just come up with? Or are they now, is it more client based? What is that kind of background? Because I know a lot of artists and creators have to create based off of clients, but if you get the beauty of just creating whatever you want and people are buying it, that’s incredible.
Johnny: Yeah, I’m really fortunate. So I’ve, since day one, every shoe that I’ve ever released has been something that I’ve wanted to add to my collection. So it’s literally, I sit at my computer with a blank silhouette every single day. So I’ve designed a new shoe every day for eight plus years. I literally wake and I’ve done it and I’ve held myself accountable for eight plus years to basically design a new shoe every single day. And I still do it now. I do it multiple times a day or I’ll do a design at least three, four times a day. But it’s, I’m doing so many other things, but sneakers in general, I do ’em every day for myself. And with that it’s like I just find the maker to make it a reality. And I’m just very fortunate in the way that the public takes a liking tool out of the stuff that I do.
Johnny: And then the business side obviously have clients, I have corporations, I have celebrities, I have one of one asks. I love doing those as well. So it’s like this balancing act between, yeah, I can do exactly what you guys wanna do, I’ll give you some tech packs. So I’ll design a few different options and then we can go from there. But that’s not really the joy that is like, okay, it’s cool to create moments with these brands and it’s cool, but this why I love the collaboration. I love working with artists that have ideas instead of saying, here’s our brand, just do what you do. I love that too. But I also love working with creatives where it’s like we’re just constantly bouncing ideas off each other. But for the most part, every shoe that I’ve ever seen on my Instagram, cause I don’t post any of my, most of all that client stuff, it’s more just everything on my Instagram stuff that I’ve just wanted to add in my collection. I have the samples made in my size so I can wear, test them, make sure they’re perfect, make sure every stitch is aligned. And then if it’s not, we have to return it, make sure it’s remade, make sure it’s perfect before we release it. And then yeah, I’m just lucky cause I have an amazing collection from the best makers in the world. And then, we get to release ’em and everyone else gets to join in.
remx: It’s so crazy cause it’s you by creating every single day you have created that lifestyle for yourself. I think that that’s the most important thing. When are you gonna create your Beeple collection of the 365 day whatever, but I wanna see all eight years.
Johnny: It’s yeah, I’m gonna need some algorithmic help on that one. I need to talk to my brother. I’m getting all that store data and get into something like that. But it’s yeah, it’s just exciting. I just get to do what I love every single day. So I’m very fortunate. It’s cool to be able to, again, with remix, being able to hop into a project for the future and seeing a completely different aesthetic, seeing a different canvas to work on and being able to work on that gradually and help push that in the project into the future and then really help onboard the rest and show people what you can really do. It’s super exciting.
remx: It really is. It’s really cool. And it’s amazing having you as a creator with us because it gives, you’re opening the door for 2D artists to work in 3D at a easier level. Cuz what you were just saying, you just learned 3D, but you’re now creating 3D renders and stuff using our avatar and all of the cool things that you’ve been putting out already. I’m like, I can’t wait to see what the future holds really. If our last little question here is, if someone was interested in getting started in customizing sneakers or wanting to build a similar lifestyle, I guess what is the number one recommended tip that you have for them? Or do you have any resources and things like that? I know the internet is a big place, lots of people can get stuff online, but it’s always good to get that information from someone like yourself who’s done it already.
Johnny: Networking. That’s like the number one thing I can say is shoot your shot every single time. DM people relentlessly. For me, every single relationship I have ever had has come from a DM, has come from somebody reaching out or me reaching out to them saying, I really mess with what you’re doing and I just wanna align with you in some way. This is what I can do with equal equity. I think this is another thing, right? Equal equity share and making sure this is what I’m bringing to, this is what we’re bringing and then let’s do something. But honestly, networking is the most important thing in the world. And another app, honestly, LinkedIn, don’t sleep on LinkedIn. It is one of the best apps I’ve ever used for networking corporations getting CEOs, CMOs, COOs, these, that’s an app that’s super slept on, but, and then Twitter DM people, find the people that you wanna learn from sneakerhead. If you have a question, DM me about sneakers, whatever. And then find the best sneaker people in the space and just DM them, DM them, DM them, DM them, and just keep asking questions and most people will get back to you.
remx: Don’t sleep on LinkedIn, it’s really funny. People definitely sleep on it and feel like it’s not like that. It’s only for business. But I’m like, sometimes that’s the best route. And you can learn from people through that too. I really appreciate your time. It’s been absolutely incredible getting to know you, speak with you more, learn more about your background everything across the board, your story is incredible. That’s pretty awesome to see how you’ve built your business across the board.
Johnny: You don’t have to do everything yourself. You don’t have to do everything yourself. Just please remember that. If you need help, trust me. There’s plenty of people that any weakness that you have is their absolute strength. And so with that, just align a team of people that you don’t have to rely on yourself. Trust me, there’s plenty of people out there to help and that wanna help.
remx: Yeah, no, that is probably some of the best advice that you just gave, really. That is hands down. Thank you so much. We’re super excited to have you as a remx creator. Can’t wait to see all the things that you drop in the future and super stoked about that collab that you have. So we’ll keep an eye out and obviously we’ll be posting about it too. So thank you so much.
Stay up to date on with Johnny’s Kicks on his website: https://johnnyskicks.com/
View the Johnny x NFT Collection,on OpenSea available here.
Or follow along on his journey on Twitter and Instagram.
remx makes it easy for anyone to design their own digital fashion collections. Check it out at remx.xyz
