Erik Hernandez
The Slyon mid in navy toile and the matching low in white canvas, standing on a field of the same toile print.
Tech drawings of the Slyon mid, side, back, tongue and outsole, with red notes on folded edges and the woven California Tennis label, beside three mids in toile, grey suede and white canvas.
The Slyon low in grey suede and turquoise tie-dye canvas with turquoise laces and a brown sole, side view.
The Slyon mid in navy suede and blue tie-dye canvas with pink laces and eyelets and a K-Swiss shield, side view.
Five Slyons in a row, navy and light blue tie-dye, turquoise tie-dye, brown suede and grey suede, mids and lows.
Two poolside photoshoot images, a woman sitting on a white ottoman in light blue Slyons, and a foot in a tie-dye mid over the water.
Three photoshoot images, a woman in the snow and a woman sitting on a log, both in suede lows, and a close crop of tie-dye mids on a tile floor.
A woman in a leather jacket kneeling on a bar stool in a lodge, wearing black Slyon mids with silver chain stripes, a man seated behind her.

Brief

Design a heritage tennis mid and low for K-Swiss that leaned into the brand’s California tennis roots with print, crest and material story rather than performance features.

Process

The upper keeps the K-Swiss five stripes and folds its edges for a softer, vintage finish, with D-grommets at the top eyelets and a woven California Tennis crest on the tongue. A custom toile of birds, vines and ribbons carries the story across the line, and the colorway range tested the same shape in stripes, tie-dye, suede and leopard before sampling.