SoleSpace Lab Annex
308 12 St, Oakland
October 12. 2025
Sneaker head? Nah. Kombucha curmudgeon? That’s more like it.
Drawn like a fruit fly to, well, kombucha, I buzzed my way to SoleSpace Lab’s Annex location on 13th Street for the second edition of a custom sneaker extravaganza. Part of Oakland Style Week, the event space’s spare whiteness was packed with more sneaks than many stores and boasted a healthy hosting of admirers to boot.
Khola, in process and completed.
Attendees were greeted with a mobile-style window display of brightly hued soccer shoes by Dania Cabello. Directly inside, Julian of Khola was set up at a heavy duty machine dutifully stitching away at the brand’s signature modular sole piece.
Featuring lauded pros and art students alike, the exhibit offered a wide array of approaches to the already unusual medium of upcycled and custom kicks. Sustainability should have no place in disrupting personal style—if anything, that push to think more creatively can, and has, brought about some hella fun innovations in the field of footwear.
CCA Student works.
The students’ design processes and sketches, displayed above their finished, fancified pieces of footwear, provided further insight into a complicated and highly personalized and specialized endeavor, and while the craftsmanship was clearly leagues away from their professional counterparts, the creativity and clear joy of innovation was apparent in each pair.
Several standout displays included a (much) larger than life crayon box tableau topped with primary-colored swooped sneakers by local C’est La Vic (Vicky Vuong) and Chicago’s Canary Kid (Oscar Rodriguez). The Kid’s kicks featured cheeky sharpeners and crayons attached, while Vic’s boasted ultra-mini functional backpacks perched atop the laces. All cleanly finished and eye-popping, it was easy to picture them worn by adults and children alike.
Trio of shoes by Keia Kodama also stood out among their peers. One pair was set inside an enormous replica of an iconic bamboo hoop, their signature swooshes fashioned of the same faux-gold bamboo joints, their bodies delicately covered in black braids. The other two, set atop a small shelf and rotating on a small table below, respectively, were encrusted with pearls and jewels, delicate lace, flowers, and soft pink silk in sharp contrast with the utility of their base forms.
Ghost Boy Design (Eli Dailey) took the mashup to new heights, questioning authenticity and creativity and value with uber-hacked slip-ons and super-stacked soles.
And finally, Olivia Cueva’s Bio Jordans, the big draw for a ferment freak like me. The scoby (symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast—the “mother” culture of kombucha brewing and a shockingly tough and versatile material, bio waste at its finest) shoes, a secondary iteration after a 2023 version utilizing gelatin, were expertly crafted of 98% biodegradable materials, their form mimicking the uscommercial sneakers impeccably. I’ve done my own grow-and-sew experiments with the naturally gelatinous pellicle, and have long marveled at folks testing the commercial waters for its strengths and possibilities. Can we weatherproof or are we doomed to sticky feet in inclement weather (or just as a by-product of sweaty feet)? I recognize that this pair as art, but do hope to see some more functionally practical takes at future shoes.
