Corporate, a sneaker and clothing boutique entrenched in the heart of sneakerhead culture, caters to the needs of local and traveling shoe enthusiasts and collectors. Looking for an unconventional way to highlight the highly anticipated re-release of the Johnny Kilroy Jordan IX shoe, Corporate turned to Powerhouse’s poster shop. At Powerhouse, we concepted, designed and crafted a series of limited edition, hand-pulled screen prints celebrating the story behind the sneaker.
Too often, the high-demand kicks that diehard shoe enthusiasts struggle to get their hands on are kept in the safety of their boxes and stored far from view. As a reminder of the satisfaction the consumer felt when first laying hands on the shoes, we at Powerhouse wanted to create something that would live outside the closet. The resulting Jordan IX prints offer sneaker collectors a unique opportunity to commemorate each purchase experience and display it for their friends and family to see.
Each print pulls inspiration not only from the colors and character of each shoe, but visually depicts the story associated with each. At Powerhouse, we used the screen printing process of printing one layer at a time, to hide visual clues relating to each piece the shoe’s folklore within the design: dates and scores of games, the Johnny Kilroy characters, teams and Michael Jordan’s rookie baseball card.
Within 4 hours of the poster release, Jordan Brand reached out to congratulate us on commemorating the event in an innovative way. Jordan Brand credited us with prompting them to begin thinking about how they could elevate the experience around future special releases. The remaining prints were released with the other 5 shoes in the Kilroy pack. The print series and promotion helped strengthen Corporate’s retail relationship with Jordan and enhanced their consumer’s experience of getting their hands on a choice pair of kicks.