Zip and Switch: Fini Shoes

Zip and Switch

Dami Adepoju and Fini Shoes

I’m a lover of hi-top sneakers. Supra, Creative Recreation, Puma, and Adidas are my favorites sneakers in that specific order). I love the uniqueness of each brand and the fact that there are soo many options when it comes to how you want a casual shoe to look. Nonetheless, my love for the style comes with a downside. When i was ready to travel, I had to make a decision on how many shoes to take and if i needed a separate bag.

When i saw this sneaker come across my desk, it’s easy to say i was intrigued. The concept is amazing but my concern was the comfort and the quality of the shoe. I wore the sneaker for a week straight and I LOVE IT!!! They are not only comfortable, they are functional. I put one of the attachements in the car with me because i wanted to go from a mid sneakerduring the day to a hi-top that evening. It was seamless.

I sat down with the creator of the Fini Shoe, Dami Adepoju, and spoke to him about his creation and

wanted to know more about where not only his interest in fashion developed but what lead him to making a sneaker that I was able to fall in love with.

SUAVV: How did you get into fashion?

Dami: I grew up in Nigeria, Africa and one of the things my mom taught me growing up was that, people perceive you by appearance. Before you meet someone the first impression is what they keep. It’s very modest. So just going by what my mom taught me, I take my appearance seriously. I always try to look nice. By age of nine, I noticed, that I’ve always followed fashion brands, trends, and trying to see what’s new. It just became a passion of mine and that’s how I first got into studying fashion.

SUAVV: Your mom is very correct on that. First impressions are always remembered. You fell in love with fasion at a very early stage and then decided to turn it into a career.

Dami: It wasn’t something that I could pass on at that point. I thought it was good idea and I wanted to work on it and I just started doing it and you know, and all you can do is take it one day at a time. That’s where I am right now.

SUAVV: I completely understand. So looking at your sneaker, what, what made you think of designing the shoe the way you did? I mean, it’s really creative to have five different shoes in one. What made me think of that?

Dami: Well, what inspired me was traveling. When I graduated from college, I was traveling on a spring trip, to meet up with my friends. I went to school in upstate New York. It’s very cold and snowy winters there. So, I was traveling from very harsh cold weather to tropical weather and the hassle of bringing multiple shoes for different occasions became more of a headache than fun. You have to bring boots, normal shoes, and slippers. In that moment, I thought of one shoe that could transform into another and started at that point. It was the initial phase and then I continued working on actually designing something that can be effective.

get in the open market, worldwide. That’s the number one priority. We want to bring something that allows you to be versatile with your shoe choice. I wanted to make the design to go with any kind of any kind of outfit. If you look at our marketing campaign and our wardrobe photos in our look book, it shows that you can wear the shoe with a suit, casual chinos, or jeans. It just caters to you. It makes it easy to transition your outfit. That’s how the shoe is designed. Listen, we’re a really cool brand and we’re bringing something different and something new to the market.

SUAVV: Which is probably the hardest part of packing for a trip. When you look at your design being more in the creative style, how do you plan to compete with other sneakers, or do you even worry about competing with other sneakers, shoes, or boots?

Dami: My idea is to bring something unique, that makes us stand out from everyone. I think that will be my edge to compete. Right now, I’m trying to