Rejected Branding Series: Sideways Skate Shoes

This is #2 of the Rejected Branding Series. (TL;DR: This comes from an older concept or sketch that a client didn’t use, so I’m breathing new life into it as a side-project.)

I don’t need to regurgitate a ton of statistics to let you know that transgender kids are suffering. More than we ever thought. According to The Trevor Project, “transgender youth reported significantly increased rates of depression, suicidality, and victimization compared to their cisgender peers. Notably, in the past year, one in three transgender youth reported attempting suicide, almost one-third reported being a victim of sexual violence, and more than half reported a two-week period of depression.”

Go with me, back in time, to when your body first began to change. Maybe you grew really tall over the summer and debuted embarrassing stretch marks that next school year. Or other people started shaving before you were allowed to. Imagine, at that time, you were also in the wrong body. And you weren’t allowed to act, dress, or behave outside your assigned sex’s gender construct — aka in the way that made you feel like you.

I think we, as designers of every medium, can ease the strain on all kids by breaking the gender boundaries that have fortified this ages-old construct that trap, burden, and endanger so many. Not all kids feel uncomfortable inside a traditional gender role, but enough do that a solution should be made available to everyone. And when that solution values creativity, independence and individuality over generalization and assumption, everyone wins — not just those who need it to survive.

Almost all kids need the same basics to get through their adolescence — clothes, toys, school supplies, and your basic food-water-shelter combo. (On that note, kids with disabilities deserve better from us designers, too. I’ll tackle that in another blog post soon.) And kids aren’t always able to express themselves the way they feel is truly right for them because choices in these arenas are, for marketing purposes mostly, gendered. Go to your local store and you’ll find that about 90% of the back-to-school section’s inventory could be rather easily sorted into “boy stuff” and “girl stuff.” But there are far more kids in between those labels than there are good reasons to keep sorting everyone into pink or blue columns.

So I decided to create (for this blog, for now) a gender-less kids’ skate shoe company. This isn’t a radical idea, but it is an important one. Sideways Skate Shoes are proudly expressive, and all about individuality. I chose a skate style shoe not only for the association with skateboarding and street sports as a leading gender-defying culture, but because the shape, fit, and style are inherently based in creativity and behavior, rather than aesthetic and gender. To amplify this, these skate shoes are available in a wide variety of patterns and color schemes to fit anyone’s aesthetic and defy anyone’s attempts to classify them (and thus the wearer) as inherently one gender or another. They’re just…fun. And loud. And celebratory. And silly. And strong. And cool. And carefree.

And that’s what a kid should be focused on being. Not trying to fit inside someone else’s outdated box.

So I present Sideways. Skate shoes for everybody.

Current patterns in order, below:

This Shoe is Bananas
Who doesn’t love a banana print? It’s fun, it’s silly, and these bright colors will put a smile on anyone’s face.

Maxxed Out
We can’t truly encapsulate the smell of a brand new Trapper Keeper or a fresh hamburger from the Max, but the feels these shoes give off are a close second.

Sweet is Cool
Nice is the new cool, and sweetness is always in fashion. These are dedicated to my best friend, Elizabeth. She makes me feel like sprinkles. And we should all feel that way sometimes.

All Splat
These are designed for me. Well, 10-year-old me. I was addicted to all things Nickelodeon as a kid and dreamed of being an All That cast member. I would have settled for getting slimed. Perhaps one day.

YinYay
I also had a huge yin yang and smiley face phase, and 10-year-old me would have mowed every yard in the county if it meant I could have these shoes. My Looney Tunes Converse were pretty sick, though.

Duh-Nuh
These are for my sister. It’s always Shark Week in her world. Science kids, prepare to look super fly.

What’s your preferred pattern? Don’t see anything you’d wear? Let me know what you like — or what a 10-year-old you would like — and we’ll add your custom creation to the collection.