Maybe the idea was stupid. Maybe other brands tried and failed because it was never meant to be done. But – I loved footwear. Everything about it from the tech to the stories to the moments that we never forget. So I wanted to at least try. It’s like wearing a little piece of magic. The year was originally 2018 when I turned to my older brother and stated: “I want to make a sneaker that uses water as the cushioning.” Honestly, it didn’t make any sense, because I wasn’t even sure it would work or how to bring such an idea to life. As much as I would like to mention that I had some sort of reason behind wanting this, it was simple: I wanted to create something that was different and unique. Nothing more, nothing less. Sorry if that’s a let down.
Stating that I have zero experience at creating footwear would be an understatement. All I knew is that I would need someone to assist with designing as the first step. The only problem was that I had no clue of how I wanted my first sneaker to look. My first instinct was to find someone on Fiverr to attempt a rough sketch for Project Hydronaut (it wasn’t called this in the beginning, it was actually called Flowing Footwear).
I wasn’t thrilled with the early sketches. I honestly felt like they simply took your average Nike or Adidas and morphed them together. Nonetheless, this was the first sketch of the Hydronaut but I wasn’t proud.
Unfortunately, even with having a drawing, I had no clue of what to do next and with lack of funding, I decided to shut the entire project down.
I’ll be honest, I wanted something quick and easy. Building a silhouette that utilized water in the cushioning would take at least a few years of engineering and I wanted a product within the next few months. I was young, immature and impatient. I wasn’t prepared to take on a project of this caliber. I’m happy that I didn’t because it wouldn’t be what it became in it’s later years.
We had no logo, the most generic name – it didn’t even have a space for the water to be encapsulated. I saw this as a total failure. I didn’t want to push forward with this project for the hell of it – I wanted it to be something special and this was not it. I gave up on the project completely – until..
