FV talks to trainer restorer Pierre Allan about how he got into turning beaters into heaters and shares some of his techniques

Pierre Allan is a sneaker restorer from Auckland New Zealand, putting the life back into 100’s of sneakers that have seen better days.

With his own special technique Pierre spends hours lovingly tending to sneakers - no matter the condition focusing on Air Jordans and Nike Air max, taking them from the brink of the bin to box fresh.

 Not only this, but Pierre is a admin for the sneaker head community marketplace known as big foot nz 12+, City rippers BMX crew and as well as his nights Mates&Crates, where DJ’s who are reputable in specific genres of music, switch it up, choosing to mix alternative genres. These nights are held at Whammy Bar in St Kevin’s Arcade, on the notorious K Road. 

We talked to Pierre about his passion for sneaker restoration who gave us a step by step guide revealing some of his tried and tested techniques. 

                           

1. Why Sneaker Restoration?- I really enjoy taking something old and making it look near new again, I've always have had a interest in this. Cars, shoes, furniture. Basically anything that I can take and make near new. With the sneaker page I identified that there was no one really doing restores, a few BFNZ lads like Dylan, Jaxon and Justin are pumping out some wild customs but otherwise no one was doing it. Jordan 3s and 4s and notorious for paint falling off after a few wears which sucks when you just dropped 300+ on them. 

 

               

 

2. Is there a particular pair that you have restored that you are most proud of?- Im generally proud of all my pairs The best part is giving them back to the owners and seeing how happy they are. The pair I was most proud of was a pair of black cement 3s that looking due for the bin but after a good clean inside and out followed by complete repaint and then detailing turned out mint. I paid $40 and sold them for $160. 

                                   

 

3. Are there specific tools you favour when restoring?- Anyone who has spoken to me about sneaker restoration knows that I hide no tricks and will tell everything but my best tool hands down would be a small 5 buck file from Bunnings (shout out sneaker revive Sydney for that)                                  

4. What has been your most challenging restoration?- When I first started trying to learn how to do it, I destroyed a pair of my other half Gemma's kicks in the process. She forgives me now as i've helped her collect some of the most sought after Air max. Apart from that, James from BFNZ gave me his Jordan 4 cool greys which came in pieces, a lot of glue, a lot of time, a lot of Heineken and we brought them back to life                  

                                              

 Can you please give us a step by step on a restoration including some pics? sure sounds good, ,These are a pair of super rare Jordan 4 black laser in a giant size 16, covered in mold, missing paint, trashed then returned to a solid 8/10