story

"I’ve skated in my traditional moccasins and I always bore holes through the bottom so fast because of the grip tape. So this has always been kind of like a long standing dream of being like oh yeah let’s make pretty much like a skate-able…"

"...moccasin kind of thing, you know. It’s definitely skate-able. Hello, I am Di’Orr Greenwood. I am of the Bitter Water People, born for the Coyote Pass People. My maternal grandfather is of the Salt Clan…"

"...My maternal grandfather is of the Salt Clan and my paternal grandfather is of the Irish and Welsh people. Diné Bikeyah (Navajo Nation) is my home. This is who I am as a Diné woman. From the indigenous perspective that I know…"

"...art is every day. You know creating these boards allows me to feel connected to this tree, who gave its life for us to feel what it feels like to find that sense of freedom, that we enjoy on a skateboard…"

"...and understanding what it takes to build something meaningful and bring these skill sets back to my community. Skateboarding culture and my traditional Diné culture you know not…"

"...directly go hand in hand but they are good partners."

"The idea behind one shoe being so colorful is like you know it embodies the spirit and like the beauty of my community; the landscape and the people and our artwork."

"A lot of this design is to pay respect to everything we take for granted. The sunburst down the center of the tongue represents the sun rays we take for granted. The North Star on this toe box here."

"I put my offerings out to that North Star to have a blessed day. Along with this North Star comes the asterisms of the Little and Big Dipper. Like a lot of my wood-burnings I wanted to give that…"

"...texturous feel. To me it means mountainscape, it means the balance of night and day. The green stripe is just life. The turquoise of this shoe, it means the clean air but also…"

"...clean and clear water. This color here represents the earth just like it does on my moccasins. I do remember several stories of when photos used to be taken…"

"on a metal plate and those photos used to get put into the bottom of a moccasin and I always thought that was a beautiful concept. This is Window Rock and Monument Valley. My favorite feature would probably…"

"...be the tag line here, these shoes being manufactured to the exact specification of champion athletes throughout the world, also includes the champion athletes throughout my community. I’m proud of that."

"This shoe is a testament to all that we’ve…"

"...overcome and all that we are facing still to this day. The broken treaties, systemic issues we’re facing when it comes to land rights, fishing rights, water rights. I made it so that way it could be as tough…"

"...as our women, you know as tough as our community. If you skate vert everyday, you need these, you like actually need these. If I didn’t have these, like already a lace would be broken."

"These ridges around the shoe represent the ups and downs in life. I felt empowered to include Diné on the back side of the heel because the word Diné translates…"

"...to the people. And it means all of us, you know we all have our own duties to protect what we love and protect what provides for us. One of the reasonings why I put this representation of a sterling button is because even though there’s…"

"...so much darkness as long as we can hold onto that little bit of light, everything’s going to be alright. And growing up you know there was a story to be told with everything and I didn’t want to deviate from that because I feel like…"

"...a part of what I’m supposed to do in this life is help translate those stories for all those that find beauty in my culture, that find beauty in the landscapes. It’s truly an honor to have created…"

"...something that means something beyond a shoe, to create something that’ll protect your feet. Thank you."

Behind the Design: Nike SB x Di'Orr Greenwood