Erik Hernandez
Twelve pencil side views of a slim, low-profile tennis sneaker in a grid, testing where the band, toe cap and shield sit, with a photo of the eggplant sample in place of one sketch.
Tech pack for the City Tennis, with side, top, heel and toe line drawings and red measurements, the band shown in blue.
Outsole blueprint with cross sections, a bottom view of the tread with a tennis-ball curve, sidewall views in yellow and an orange and blue texture map.
The City Tennis in black leather with a black suede band, a debossed shield, a lime lining and a grey sole, side view.
Looking down at a pair of eggplant and lilac City Tennis sneakers worn on a grey wooden deck.
A woman in a grey sweater dress sitting on a terrace chair in black City Tennis sneakers, and a close crop of a woman in black tights wearing the lilac pair on a sofa.

Brief

Create a women’s tennis sneaker for everyday city wear: slimmer and lower to the ground than the K-Swiss court styles, but still clearly K-Swiss.

Process

Sketches moved a single band and the shield around a sleek, low-volume upper until the band settled across the midfoot as the main graphic, replacing the five stripes. The outsole drew on a tennis-ball curve, worked through in the blueprint’s cross sections and texture map, and the shoe was sampled in black and eggplant leather with a suede band.