New Balance ‘We Are One’

Matt LeBretton, the company’s vice president of communications for New Balance, told The Wall Street Journal last week that “we feel things are going to move in the right direction” under Donald J. Trump. Mr. LeBretton’s comments were made in the context of Mr. Trump’s opposition to the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade deal that New Balance says will hurt its production of shoes in the United States while rewarding competitors that make more of their products overseas. This of course resulted in a huge backlash against the company, where customers burned their shoes, returned them or boycotted the brand.

I used the backlash from the public as an opportunity to  produce work for New Balance, portraying them as an equal, diverse and accepting brand. I did this through a series of pieces produced through the use of collage and graffiti. The visual language of graffiti was extremely important in this project, as it will appeal to the more urban and younger generation from a range of ethnic backgrounds. Additionally the use of collage and ripped materials and images acted as a visual metaphor for challenging and breaking the stereotypes surrounding people of different ethnicities and cultures. 

All work featured is creative exploration. The work shown is not published.