Why Chris Gibbs’ Football Cleat Idea Is His Favorite Union Nike Collab Yet – MNCR | Online Trainer and Exclusive Sneaker Shop

You never know where Chris Gibbs is digging to find inspiration for his next shoe collab idea. For the notorious Air Jordan 1, which basically pioneered the DIY/thrift/resourceful aesthetic in sneakers and streetwear, he found a muse in the “chopped and screwed” style of Houston rap music. For the Dunk Low, he recalled his early days of catching flights to Europe to cop exclusive sneakers and bringing them to the Union shelves.

“I’m huge on narrative”, Chris admits. The real challenge is building a viable shoe around the narrative, but Union seems to have perfected their own unique formula. Collaborations need identity, whether it be something as simple as a signature color palette or as profound as a palpable riskiness. Union’s formula is to have both, and the outcome of the Field General is a testament to their commitment to being as authentic as possible.

Ahead of their next collaborative drop with Nike, we spoke with Chris Gibbs, owner of Union, to discuss the Field General design, why it’s so meaningful to him, and why he can’t wait to do more colorways. Read ahead for the full interview (edited for clarity).

The Union LA x Nike Field General will release on unionlosangeles.com on June 27th in the “Guava Ice” and “Ivory” colorways.

Chris Gibbs in the Union LA x Nike Field General

“The Union Field General actually covers like a five-year span of the shoe.”

Chris Gibbs on covering larger ground with the design

Sneaker News: Before we get into the shoes, Union recently posted the video campaign for the project. Can you walk us through it?

Chris Gibbs: Basically we’ve been trying to pay homage to football cleats, but didn’t want it to be a football story. Obviously we’re not going to ignore the fact that it’s a football cleat, but rather, embrace a secular take on it.

How we did that in the video, we leaned into the culture around the sport of football vs. what’s within. The musicians featured in the video are all on college marching bands which is obviously a major part of football culture. The trumpet player is from Grambling State University, the field major is from FAMU. So not only is it touching on football, it’s also leaning into HBCUs. We didn’t want to be exactly on the nose; this is a culture story, a community story, a melting pot of culture where sport meets art.

Union LA presents the “Union U” Capsule

“Hot take – the most successful shoes have been the most hated.”

Chris on the initial mixed responses

So how this this project happen?

A few years ago — maybe three years — I put together a design and presented it to Nike. I played football in 1988 and my youngest son plays High School football now. It just brought together a cool emotion, but I thought Nike would give me a weird response, like why would I want to do a football cleat?

They told me “you’re third in line, buddy” because it turns out that Travis Scott and Virgil Abloh had also pitched the Field General for a collaboration. Maybe two years after that, they came back to me and asked if i was still interested in the idea.

I think it’s fair to say that the Union Field General looks nothing like what the consumer is seeing in the Field Generals that are on store shelves now.

As far as design, 10 outta 10 times, we’re going be doing something new. We’re always trying to push the envelope and always trying to be unique. The Union Field General actually covers like a five-year span of the shoe. We took bits and pieces of every design and expanded our reference points with the Nike Field Shark which is another football cleat/shoe. The Dunk is also my favorite shoe of all-time. With almost every project I work on, I ask myself – How can I make it look like a Dunk? I don’t know if that’s good or bad (laughs), but that’s where i’m at.

In this case, there’s always a much bigger degree of difficulty when it comes to fucking with the sole. It takes a lot of money and resources to develop the bottoms, so usually everything is about the upper and the sole stays the same. But Nike gave us the opportunity to fuck around with the sole. It’s completely custom, and even has our own brand on it. Truly honored to be able to do that.

Union’s original pitch deck for the Field General Provided by Chris Gibbs
Union’s original pitch deck for the Field General Provided by Chris Gibbs
Union’s original pitch deck for the Field General Provided by Chris Gibbs
Union’s original pitch deck for the Field General Provided by Chris Gibbs
Union’s original pitch deck for the Field General Provided by Chris Gibbs
Union’s original pitch deck for the Field General Provided by Chris Gibbs

“They told me “you’re third in line, buddy” because Travis and Virgil had also pitched the Field General…”

Chris on Nike’s response to his Field General pitch

Sneaker collaborations don’t seem to have the impact as they once did, but Union has never had trouble in regards to getting a public response, even when it’s the most polarizing.

Hot take – the most successful shoes have been the most hated. I don’t sit down and try to make a shoe that people hate obviously, because we’ve gotten a lot of love on this to be honest. But I think it’s my favorite Nike shoe we’ve done for sure because it’s the one we got to do the most with. We got to fuck with the sole!

If you look back at our Air Jordan 4 and other collabs we did with Nike/Jordan, we got to mess with the upper, but the soles always stayed the same. Actually when we sent in our first design, we didn’t even design a new sole because we just assumed it would stay as is. It was Nike that actually came back and pushed us to do something new with the bottoms.

These Field Generals are also the closest to what i’d like to wear every day because I like low-profile toes like the Dunk. So I definitely want to run it back, do different colors. This shoe is special because it’s really unlike anything on the market. If the consumer does have the fatigue with collaborations, these are something completely new; the source material (the Field General) may be old, but these are completely new.

The reworked sole on the Union LA x Nike Field General
The reworked sole on the Union LA x Nike Field General AJ1 provided by Image NY
The reworked sole on the Union LA x Nike Field General AJ1 provided by Image NY

So let’s talk football. Any memories from your playing days?

In football, you learn life lessons. You get to learn how to lose, how to fall and get back up. You also learn how to win, and see how putting time and energy into something leads to sowing and reaping the benefits. When I was 14 I had an asshole of a football coach who was a super-tough disciplinarian. I played wide receiver, but the coach NEVER threw the ball.

I eventually transferred and played for a team where they passed a LOT, and they were so impressed with how good I was at the intangibles. That’s the whole inspiration — putting in the work when nobody is watching. That goes back to the video we shot; we didn’t show the musicians performing…we wanted to film them practicing in empty gyms and auditoriums to show what it means to hone the craft.

So how that all relates, is that the average person doesn’t really have an idea how much work gets put into these collaborations. We start a year out; people take for granted the amount of time and energy it takes. From narrative to applying it to design, then taking that design and selling it — it’s a lot of work, and it’s hyper-specific. Collaborating with companies at the scale of Nike is very difficult, but that’s why they’re the best.

Union LA x Nike Field General “Guava Ice” and “Ivory”

Speaking on collabs in general, we’re seeing Nike making efforts to bring back some older classics like the Air Max 1 by Huf. Any thoughts on bringing back the Air Force 180?

Full transparency, there hasn’t been any conversation. That Air Force 180 references a specific time, and we respect that we made it a classic. We’re interested in making new things, and humbled and honored to have that opportunity, but if I woke up tomorrow, re-making that Air Force 180 would be close to the bottom of the list. I’m into a different aesthetic and sensibility now; i’ve already pitched more of the Field General and even another Dunk idea.

But bringing back old releases is great for re-educating the younger generation. GenX and millenials have a full pantheon of shoes that we put our money towards, but the new generation doesn’t really know about it anymore.

Union x Nike Air Force 180 Released in 2005

“That’s the whole inspiration — putting in the work when nobody is watching.”

Chris on how playing sports influenced his work ethic

So what is that relationship like with Nike? Do they come to you? Do you go them?

It’s all of the above. For the AJ1, they initially came to me to do apparel, but we added the shoes as a capsule collection. We went at Jordan aggressively to the Air Jordan 4, and the same with the Dunk. What I have to do, is spend a lot of time on a deck and SELL them on the idea. I’m always having to sell the narrative and the design, and Nike has to be sold on the idea. Then there are the times Nike will come to me, like with the Cortez.

Any instances where you and Nike didn’t necessarily see eye to eye on things?

Kinda, sorta. The Air Jordan 2 collaboration we ended up launching was much later than they requested. They wanted it after the Air Jordan 1, but we really pushed for the Air Jordan 4 and wanted to work our way to that.

Final thoughts?

I’m just really excited for these. The Field General is really my favorite Nike we’ve done. My youngest son plays High School football in Los Angeles. We’ve been going on recruitment trips. Everything is coming together, and I can’t wait for everyone to see all the marketing and i’m just excited for the launch.