During his visit to Japan this week, Apple CEO Tim Cook was spotted sporting a unique pair of custom Nike Vomero Plus sneakers created exclusively for him by Sashiko Gals, a collective of 15 women artisans from Otsuchi Town in Iwate Prefecture. Cook wore the custom footwear during the grand reopening of Apple Ginza in Tokyo, which was the company’s first retail store outside the United States when it originally opened in 2003.
The Sashiko Gals collective specializes in the traditional Japanese needlework technique of sashiko, which uses bold running stitches for reparative and decorative purposes. The group, consisting of women ages 40 to 80, formed in response to the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011 as part of local reconstruction efforts. Each custom piece requires approximately 30 hours of meticulous handwork by experienced artisans.
