At the Home of adidas Football during Euro 2024, Jakob Werner, aka JW Customs, led an exclusive workshop where attendees could adorn modified adidas Predator, Copa & F50 football boots to taste.
From Boot Spotting to must-have releases, SoccerBible has it’s finger on the pulse of football boot design and innovation. So it was a no-brainer to RSVP “yes” to an intriguing invitation to customise adidas football boots with JW Customs, aka Jakob Werner, during Euro 2024 at the Home of adidas Football in Berlin. There’s lots to learn from the German creative who’s built up a 65.7k strong Instagram following deconstructing shoes and sneakers and modifying them into custom designs, then posting the results. Scroll through his feed to see football-tinged projects ranging from reworked adidas Copa Mundials with a signature vibram sole and lace trim laces, to another session customising pairs of adidas Samba, Gazelle and Spezial.
Werner modified adidas Predator, COPA, and F50 football boots for this exclusive workshop in advance by replacing the original soleplates with a range of lifestyle soles. Landing blurry eyed after a sunrise flight, I arrived to join a fun group of Germany-based creatives curated by Brian Gallo dubbed the Creative Football Collective. On a long rectangular table framed with cooling fans to counter the sweltering heat, each station had a cutting board and eyelet pilers with black or white boots plus a personalised roll with a ruler, scalpel, and permanent marker inside. Trays of enamel pins, trims, laces, pearls, jewels and more sat in the middle ready to be used. After admiring the displays around the room – shelves housing beautiful coffee table books, innovative footwear, and more custom designs using upcycled adidas product created by Rebirth Studio and Haram – everyone dived in. Werner circled the room offering advice, pressing on pearls and jewels, and manning the more industrial machines.
My white and gold F50s warranted a “less is more” design approach to swerve tacky territory. Instead of adding more gold or adorning the surface in any way beyond some jewels on the heel, I chose powder blue laces for contrast. Then I stuck some colourful assorted pins through them – inspired by the embellished sneaker tongues and laces that I’d previously seen on Instagram – and threaded '29' and '91' digit charms through safety pins to attach to the bottom lace so they could dangle down. Others around me coloured in or trimmed the iconic triple stripes, added ankle chains or gold letters, planted lace flowers or threaded beads through the laces. I was really happy with my simple customisation, which is so easy to recreate on other pairs, but I couldn’t actually get them on my feet because the tongue was sewn down on either side inside. Oh well, another football objet d’art for my flat instead.
After a couple of rainbow tooth gems and a break, the group made their way to the pitch where dinner was served opposite the Reichstag. We got through two delicious courses, multiple picante cocktails, and the beginning of singer Mulay’s moving set before the heavens opened. The dramatic thunder storm put a damper on an otherwise dreamy afternoon and evening before we took shelter in a hidden adidas clubhouse.
See how the event unfolded and the final customised boots below.
My work station
A closer look at my F50s mid workshop
Photography Niko Klinkhammer.
Shop adidas football boots at prodirectsport.com/soccer
