Stepping off the retail grid, this Melbourne trainer ‘gallery’ merges online shopping with the traditional try-on facilities of a bricks-and-mortar store. ‘We wanted to create a multibrand with a new luxury movement at its core,’ says creative director Chris Kyvetos. To shop, Sneakerboy customers first register online for a special ID. In store, there are no tills or products to take home. All purchases must be made through an iPhone or the in-house iPads, fixed to custom spun-steel chairs.
The showroom carries a full-size range of each style (there are more than 1,500), while orders are shipped direct to customers from a Hong Kong warehouse. The design by local firm March Studio begins with a large circular steel portal at the entrance, which directs visitors to the ‘viewing chamber’, where, inspired by the same retro futurism of an Underground station, illuminated glass shelves display each style. In the live-wire server room, scrolling LED tickers credit each shoe’s designer, and when customers scan purchases with the Sneakerboy app, the pricing and sizing options pop up, along with responsive comments like ‘sold out’.
ADDRESS
Sneakerboy
Shop 21, 265-279 Little Bourke Street
Melbourne, Victoria 3000
Australia
-
Seven designers rethinking wood at London Design FestivalAt this year’s London Design Festival, wood proves itself anything but static. We highlight seven designers shaping, colouring, and engineering it in surprising ways
-
Inside Kazakhstan’s brutalist Tselinny cinema – now a hub for contemporary cultureTselinny Center of Contemporary Culture, a modernist landmark redesigned for its new purpose by Asif Khan, gears up for its grand opening in Kazakhstan
-
Oliver Spencer’s orbiting installation offers a meditative shopping experience during London Design FestivalAt Oliver Spencer’s Shoreditch store, a sensory light installation by Studio Rhythmics offers a calming moment during LDF
-
AlphaTauri’s Salzburg HQ is a science fiction fantasyBrowse in-store, buy online: the future-focused mentality of AlphaTauri
-
Water inspires Holzweiler’s Snøhetta-designed Oslo flagshipHolzweiler Platz, the new retail destination of fashion brand Holzweiler in Oslo, is designed by architects Snøhetta as a naturalistic space that unites fashion, art and food
-
Manu Atelier's first boutique nods to Le Corbusier in IstanbulThe cult Istanbul-based label introduces bold, sculptural expressionism into this first bricks and mortar store
-
Louis Vuitton's Ginza Namiki flagship evokes a rippling pillar of waterJapanese architect Jun Aoki creates a water-like facade for Louis Vuitton's Ginza Namiki Tokyo flagship
-
Alternative retail websites for fashionable festive giftingLook to luxury etailers Rêve En Vert, APOC Store and Doda the Store, Aspect and Zero-Living for feel-good gifting options that support emerging creatives and artists, and have a sustainability-focused mindset
-
Aspesi’s upcycled shirt is a winter wardrobe stapleThe Italian brand's Shirt-Jacket 13 silhouette is well padded with eco-credentials
-
David Chipperfield designs Furla's new flagship in Milan's historic Piazza DuomoGio Ponti, Vico Magistretti and Achille Castiglione inspire the brand's newest Milan boutique
-
Morocco-based Marrakshi Life combines traditional techniques with a New York aestheticClothing brand Marrakshi Life champions a unisex, hand-tailored line
