John Schofield x adidas Tobacco

• MODEL: ADIDAS TOBACCO
• DESIGNED BY: John Schofield
• MADE IN: UNITED KINGDOM
• MADE ON: --/12

John Schofield is back with ink in hand, and this time his professionally custom dyed goods were swiftly copped by Peter Dunne. Seeing as how eatmoreshoes is neither sea nor airsick we hopped on over to the outback for some one on one time with Dunne to get the low down on his newest – and freshest – pair of adida Tobacco’s.

Hey Peter, thanks for having us over. First of all, can you tell us a bit about yourself?

As you know I’m currently living in Melbourne, Australia but originally from Southampton in the UK. I’m forty three years old and work as a bricklayer by trade.

Catching hella more sun these days I suppose. So what’s your connection to trainers?

Growing up in the 80′s the casual movment was sweeping the country and everyone was wearing adidas – be it Sambas, Mambas, or Mega Torsion – so as a young dresser I was drawn to the brand. Out there in the UK we were all into trainers and adidas was the brand of choice that we all wore out and about. All the guys had them, we didn’t consider any other brand only three stripes for us. It’s an iconic brand that has continued to stay relevant over the years.

What do you think made adidas so iconic back then?

adidas was the only brand to be seen in. Bands and sports stars were trotting around in adidas so everyone wanted them. As a kid I’d look in the widow of sports shops, hunting for the pair no one had.

Flash forward to the present day; how’d you hook up with John Schofield?

I crossed paths with John Schofield by joining this secret online adidas forums by the name of ATM (adidas Trainers Marketplace). We both realised we were from the same town and talked all things Southamption, such as the fact that we’d probably been in the same clubs every weekend, and I remembered his face. Actually, I also remembered him as a good guy and was really interested in his restoration and customization hobby.

From there you just jumped in and set ‘em loose on a pair?

After a bit of thought I decided on doing a custom on the Tobacco’s, as they were a great blank canvas for John (as the artisan that he is) to work on. The colourway came about because I accidently put a post on the forum saying ‘Go Hawks’ which is my son Asher’s AFL football team, Hawthorn. One of the lads, James Henderson, suggested to me that I should get a Hawks colourway on the Tobacco’s. After much deliberation John and I came up with a different colourway as brown and yellow aren’t easy colours to work with! I think they’re very Australian because everyone over here is into stronger colours what with the weather and everything. They’re easier to wear than I thought and they look great with cords; no denim bleed on my stripes!

Well it certainly seems quite obvious by now that you really dig this pair!

The shoes blew me away when I opened the box (which I might add was packed very well by errol). The coluorway is so Ausrtaila – with the bright yelllow being the sun we get almost all year round and the orange being the sunburnt soil that is Oz – and it really is a great colourway for over here. I can wear them nearly all year round and they’re bright so people will often look and think they’re nice, which goes back to the casual thing, being one up on the other bloke wearing the better trabs.

[laughs]

John’s work is truly great. The lad loves his work.

No doubt he does Peter. We’re curious if you’re working with John again in the future?

In the future I’m thinking of doing another Tobacco in a different colour, maybe a lilac and purple or something like that. My mate is trying to talk me into custom Sambas but I don’t like her chances.

Cheers Peter, been great to rap about these trainers with you. Enjoy those hand soaked soles on your sunburnt soil!

written by Dylan Cromwell

photography by errol

shoes contributed by Peter Dunne