Converse Pro Leather by Midnight Studios

Shane Gonzales has seen quite a bit of LA culture over his early years, the LA-based designer and artistic director of Midnight Studios fashion label seem to have figured it out. After interning at SSUR and finding inspiration in skate videos, his Canyon Lake upbringings, and overall personal history, Shane has established himself as one of the top-tier young creatives from the West Coast. With just six years under his belt, he has now collaborated with Converse for the third time, offering his seemingly endless creativity to the iconic sportswear brand. The sharply stylish mid-20-something feels a deep connection to Los Angeles, and with his constant rise, we linked up with Shane in pre-lockdown times and before Mayor Garcetti’s “safer at home” order to talk about his Converse collaboration, the inspiration behind it, and future struggles of the industry.

SNS : You've been on a long journey with the Converse team and it doesn't look like you're stopping anytime soon. When and how did that relationship start?

SG: Converse was always one of those brands that I’ve dreamt of working with. I was wearing Chuck Taylor's all the time, almost everyday during the time everything happened. The opportunity for a collaboration came about when they asked Eddie Cruz of UNDFTD to reach out and see if I was interested. Of course I was, so I quickly put together my ideas.

You now have 3 silhouettes with them. The first being a Chuck 70, the next a One Star and now a Pro Leather. Walk us through the initial concept and how it's evolved.

To be honest, at first, I didn’t have much time to put together my pitch for the collaboration. I think a week or so. I had so many ideas flowing through my head the day before the first design meeting. I believe I initially chose to go with this idea of a roughed up distressed black suede with yellowed sole and scuff marks throughout. It kind of had this Kurt Cobain feel to it. I remember the day of the first meeting I was pulling out my sketches thinking over the idea on the drive there. None of my ideas felt fresh or new, and I was sure they’ve already done something like that. I knew I was overthinking it, and said to myself why don’t I just flip the shoe inside out and run with that. I sat in the parking lot before I walked in, to google the idea and see if anyone had done this with converse. To my surprise nothing appeared, so that was my pitch.

Who are some of your biggest inspirations and did any of them play a role in the design concept?

At this time I was heavily inspired by many designers doing out of the ordinary takes on classic designs like Martin Margiela, Helmut Lang, Comme Des Garcons, etc. Taking something as traditional as the Chuck Taylor and simply looking at it from the inside-out, was a way of thinking I felt I learned from them.

We love that your collections are often influenced by the ever evolving punk scene of the world. Would you say that Converse has played a big role in that specific style?

Punk and Hardcore is where my love for Chuck Taylor surely began. It's a staple. 

Being a fashion designer during these wild times is obviously tough due to the state of retail and production. What have been some of the biggest challenges and how have you been staying productive?

Right now’s very tough for the fashion industry because we have our vendors and factories who can’t work to stay safe, so no new product is being made. Then you have the retailers who aren’t able to take in any new collections to try and sell thru what they have while the whole world is cutting back on spending. We’ve had to make some cutbacks on releases this year unfortunately, but I’ve been constantly designing and working on new collections so when the world feels safe again we’re ready to go stronger than ever.