Take it slow: LA trainer brand No One on setting its own pace
'I guess it was the longest most drawn out way of answering the question “What is your brand?” chuckles Mark Gainor, creative director of new LA-based trainer label No One, of creating a hardcover book to mark its launch. The project, titled Diagram of Disorder, features an amalgamation of metaphysical images, from star sprinkled images of deep space, to the Greek mathematician Euclides. ‘We wanted something that captured the spirit of the brand,’ he adds. ‘I’m actually quite sad we put a shoe in there.’
With a double page focused on ‘The Study of Machines’ and the ‘Study of Materials’, Diagram of Disorder captures the spirit of No One, a trainer brand dedicated to the artisanal production of sneakers, using the highest quality materials.
Gainor, who learnt the intricacies of trainer production while visiting factories in China, yearned to produce footwear closer to his LA home. ‘The brand started off as a daydream on a flight to China,’ he says. ‘I was spending all my time in these sample rooms, seeing where designs come to life. I loved what was happening inside them, to be able to learn from those people even with the language barrier was incredible.’
No One’s designs, comprised of the Alpha, a desert boot, and the newly released Bravo, a German Army inspired trainer, are created in its laboratory-style Venice studio. ‘For the Bravo, the entire process takes about two weeks,’ Gainor explains. His team, consisting of more traditional cobblers, including a pattern-cutter with 30 years experience, and younger shoemakers, produce around 18 pairs at a time.
‘We’ve named the styles after the naval alphabet, so that they have an utilitarian and anonymous feel,’ Gainor says. Utility-focused shapes yes, but the techniques and materials used are anything but. Every shoe is hand lasted, a process usually reserved for bespoke shoe makers.
The Bravo is cut from suppled speckled pony hair – ‘I always wanted a pair in that material but I never saw it done properly for men,’ Gainor explains. Its heel accents and leather tongue are crafted using vegetal tanned Vachetta leather from the Tuscan village of Santa Croce sull’Arno. Exquisitely luxurious, the Bravo is also lined with plongé lambskin from the Chanel-owned French tannery Bodin-Joyeux.
‘These are generational companies that really specialise in making one or two articles,’ Gainor explains. ‘It’s interesting to go out and find other obsessive people who only make one thing and know everything about it.’
Wallpaper* Newsletter
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox.
INFORMATION
For more information, visit the No One website
-
Louise Bonnet’s falling figures depict an emotional narrative to be felt rather than told
Louise Bonnet’s solo exhibition 'Reversal of Fortune' at Galerie Max Hetzler in Berlin, nods to historical art references and the fragility of the human condition
By Tianna Williams Published
-
The wait is over: Matthieu Blazy is Chanel’s new creative director
Matthieu Blazy has been appointed as the new artistic director at Chanel, after a critically lauded and commercially successful tenure as creative director of Bottega Veneta
By Jack Moss Published
-
Alaïa’s secret new London café and bookstore is inspired by the art of hosting
Housed on the third floor of Alaïa’s London flagship, the intimate space – inspired by Azzedine Alaïa’s famed hospitality – includes a Violet Cakes bakery and a bookstore by Claire de Rouen
By Jack Moss Published
-
Kohler plunges into the world of wellness with an ice bath for your home
Kohler has teamed up with Remedy Place to design an ice bath for the home, marking the brand’s first move into the wellness space
By Kelsey Mulvey Published
-
Henry Zankov is the knitwear non-conformist making fashion’s favourite sweaters
‘It's about pushing the boundaries of what knitwear can be,’ says Henry Zankov, whose exuberant New York-based label is already beloved by fashion insiders
By Mary Cleary Published
-
New York Fashion Week S/S 2025 highlights: Tory Burch to Michael Kors
Wallpaper* fashion features editor Jack Moss selects the best of New York Fashion Week S/S 2025 in our ongoing round-up, from a reinvention of sportswear at Tory Burch to Michael Kors’ Italian escape
By Jack Moss Last updated
-
What is the future of New York Fashion Week? The city’s independent designers weigh in
As New York Fashion Week begins today, Nicole DeMarco catches up with the city’s rising designers to talk about the positives, pressures and pitfalls of showing at NYFW, and asks: can you still ‘make it’ in New York City?
By Nicole DeMarco Published
-
Gucci filled Tate Modern’s Tanks with thousands of plants for its latest Cruise show
Gucci’s Cruise 2025 show, the first by Sabato De Sarno, saw a ‘tapestry’ of plants fill the Herzog & de Meuron-designed Tanks in London’s Tate Modern as a dramatic backdrop to the show
By Jack Moss Published
-
Inside Sterling Ruby and OTW by Vans’ skatewear-inspired collaboration
American artist Sterling Ruby and OTW by Vans’ footwear collaboration was revealed in Los Angeles, backdropped by a specially constructed skate park created with PLAYLAB, INC
By Tilly Macalister-Smith Published
-
Inside John Lobb’s timelessly elegant New York flagship, a trove for shoe lovers
John Lobb opens its 700 Madison Avenue store, a walnut wood-clad space filled with sophisticated footwear for any occasion or terrain
By Tianna Williams Published
-
Comme Si’s first store in Brooklyn is a design lover’s temple to socks
Sock and loungewear brand Comme Si launches a temporary Brooklyn store, a rich and inviting space created with designers Elias Studio, John Sohn and Yoonjee Kwak
By Pei-Ru Keh Published