October 29, 2021

Meet the #atmoscollectorsclub: Mummy Dunk Winners

For the release of the Nike SB Dunk Low 'Mummy', we knew we had to go hard for #atmoscollectorsclub based on the hype of the shoe. Our community did not disappoint, getting crafty and creative with their kicks. We got a chance to wrap (yes, pun intended) with some of our favorite submissions to hear more about their process. Listen closely - each of the winners dishes out advice for the next #atmoscollectorsclub, so take notes.

New to this / us? We're on a mission to make sneaker shopping fun again, and get pairs to the people who really want 'em. We do raffles for grails on Twitter regularly - posting a prompt that you can participate in for a chance to purchase the shoe. Could be a simple question, a request for a shoe pic, a bingo board, or something else entirely. Follow along: #atmoscollectorsclub.

 

Eli / @kickflips01

FAVORITE HALLOWEEN-THEMED SNEAKER?

Believe it or not, the Mummy Dunks are my favorite Halloween-themed sneaker. I really like how wearable the white is compared to the standard back, orange, or purple you find on most Halloween pairs. Aside from The Mummies - obviously the Freddy Dunks are an absolute Halloween GRAIL, but I’m a big fan of what Vans did with their Freddy Sk8-Hi.

WALK US THROUGH YOUR CREATIVE PROCESS FOR YOUR ENTRY

When the contest was announced I knew I wanted to separate myself from the crowd. I figured most people would use toilet paper for their wraps and their boxes as tombs. I saw @atmos_USA respond to someone saying “Do the most”,  so I decided I would go all out and decorate my whole collection. This worked perfectly as I would be able to tie everything back to streetwear and skate/sneaker culture. 

While at the Halloween store looking for wraps, I stumbled across a life size inflatable and I couldn’t pass it up. After visiting 3 different stores I realized I was going to need to make my own wraps. I ended up at a fabric store sifting through hundreds of different fabrics until I found a white nursery swaddle that ended up being just what I needed. I bought all they had which ended up being about 6 square yards.

Nearly 2 hours of cutting the fabric later, I started wrapping my collection. I wanted to make sure that each pair could be identified, so I strategically wrapped them making sure to leave hints showing through the fabric. I arranged everything and set up little headstones for each pair. I picked my favorite pair (A Ma Maniere – AJ3), and reserved those for the mummy.

Rather than laying the life size mummy down, I decided he would be the “night watch” for the Tombs. I had to make make-shift muscles (duct tape) to hold him in a sitting position, then built on the streetwear theme. I gave him one of my favorite outfits and propped him up. The final (and my favorite) detail on the mummy was his nametag. I wanted to show homage to atmos and there was no better way to do that than through the founder himself. I borrowed Hommyo Hidefumi’s first name and paired with the most famous mummy/Pharaoh, King Tut. I made the “Tomb Keeper Hommyo Tutankhamun” nametag and placed it proudly on his chest.

Finally, I stretched spider webs across my whole display and put spiders throughout the webbing. After setting the mood with the lighting, it was photo shoot time.

I want to give a major thanks to atmos for getting me up and working on this project. It gave me a lot of time to explore my creativity as well as do a fun project with my daughter. I never would have done this without you, but I am thrilled with the result. I am going to continue decorating my display and collection as it is the primary focus in my home office. The last few days living with the #GrailGraveyard has really boosted my festive spirit and has me very excited for the upcoming holidays.

ANY ADVICE FOR FOLKS ENTERING THE NEXT #ATMOSCOLLECTORSCLUB?

  1. Separate yourself from the crowd. Your first instinct is probably the same as everyone else. In this case, that was the toilet paper and shoe boxes. Set your first idea aside and find what you can do to make yourself stand out.
  2. Put in a real effort. If you are serious about trying to win, submit the best entry that you are capable of submitting. Hundreds of people will put in 10 minutes, but few will dedicate 8+ hours to perfecting their entries.
  3. If atmos says “Do the most”, you better do the most! I wrapped 15x as many shoes as 95% of the entries and because I followed rules #1 and #2, I was able to submit a very strong entry.

Juan / @x_juanwilson

FAVORITE HALLOWEEN-THEMED SNEAKER?

My current favorite Halloween-themed sneaker is the Nike Air Trainer 3 ‘Dracula’

WALK US THROUGH YOUR CREATIVE PROCESS FOR YOUR ENTRY

For my entry, I wanted to use my personal creative style of including messages that make the photos a manifestation of my own personal experiences. The final image that you can see me in the background was a composite photo of 3 photos merged together. I wanted to give the idea that one of the shoes was being "summoned" by the mummy, so it required some layering and masking. 

My son, who is a brain cancer survivor and my best friend, helped me wrap my face and I think he enjoyed trying to make me pass out from not being able to breathe at first. The box holding the shoes was sitting stacked on a few pairs of New Balance boxes, which were later edited out to give the wooden shoebox a dark platform. I added the messages to the boxes of each image to make sure it looked as if they were actually on the boxes.

I'm a self-taught photographer and videographer and have been at this for about 6 years. I learned this art during a moment in my life where everything was pretty dark and it helped me work through a lot of the trauma in my life. So each time I create something, I guess every image I create is created with a little chip on my shoulder.

ANY ADVICE FOR FOLKS ENTERING THE NEXT #ATMOSCOLLECTORSCLUB?

The only advice I have for people entering the next #atmoscollectorsclub is to put yourself out there. What I mean is to not be afraid to try something new when you create an image.

"I know a lot of people said negative things about their own images, but the fact that they made themselves vulnerable in sharing what they created, it means a lot." - @x_juanwilson

The whole world is full of hateful and hurt people, often the ones who are hurt the most are the most hateful. They hide behind a keyboard and have no issues trying to make you feel less than for trying to win. Don't let that keep you from putting yourself out there. Even though I'm able to put out art that a lot of people considered "professional", I still loved all of the entries. You still have people like me who love the people in the sneaker community, the diversity in themselves, and the images/stories that they contribute. 

Sean / @spanselphoto

FAVORITE HALLOWEEN-THEMED SNEAKER?

Off White x Nike All ‘Hallows Eve’, always been a shoe I’ve always wanted, but never owned.

WALK US THROUGH YOUR CREATIVE PROCESS FOR YOUR ENTRY

I knew when reading the contest rules, I had to shoot my Concord 11s. It's a shoe I wanted as a kid, but could never afford. As an adult I had to get them. For the shot, I wanted a creepy vibe floating the shoe. The pumpkin and lights used set the mood perfectly, and the material draped over the shoe was the best detail in my opinion. Had a blast shooting this and getting a chance to share my shoe photography obsession.

ANY ADVICE FOR FOLKS ENTERING THE NEXT #ATMOSCOLLECTORSCLUB?

When atmos says get creative, go all out! I’ve entered a ton of raffles, but this is my first W. Glad to be a part of the club finally. 🙏🏼

Jose / @1hundredstepsjo

FAVORITE HALLOWEEN-THEMED SNEAKER?

Nike Dunk High ‘Coraline’

WALK US THROUGH YOUR CREATIVE PROCESS FOR YOUR ENTRY

I started off by deciding what in my collection was considered a grail. Not having a grail in my closet I did the next big thing. I based the grail on how I acquired the shoe and what shoe in my collection was an emotional roller coaster ride to get.

After I decided what shoe I was mummifying (Air Jordan 1 Mochas.) I had to decide how I was going to wrap it (toilet paper, paper towels, curtains, sheets, shoe laces.) That’s when I decided to take an old white tee shirt and cut it up into strips to give it that gauze look. I was going to leave the tee white but I felt as if that wasn't enough. I wanted the mummy look: the gauze look, and color. That’s when my girlfriend had an idea and told me to use her brown food coloring to dye the shirt. I did so by damping the shirt strips in a bowl and adding a little bit of food coloring.  I didn’t rinse them a lot, I wanted a dirty dark look to it, like it’s been in the ground for a while. 

After drying I proceeded to cover the mochas in a brown paper bag. I knew I wanted to draw on them but didn’t want to take the risk of anything bleeding through and ruining the shoe. Once I finished covering them up I started wrapping the shoes with the shirt pieces. I wrapped it one piece at a time, I didn't want to rush or mess up. After I was done wrapping the shoe I didn’t know if I wanted to add eyes or even where I would put the eyes. 

I was staring at the shoe for 20 minutes when I decided to add a check. Why not add one of the most iconic logos of our time? I gave the check a twist, being that it was a Halloween theme, with check blood drips to make it look scary. I didn’t want to draw on it with a sharpie, I wanted the blood to look more authentic, so I used red food coloring. I looked at the shoe for a final time and that's when I had another crazy idea and I started to burn the shoe in various parts to make the final look. 

ANY ADVICE FOR FOLKS ENTERING THE NEXT #ATMOSCOLLECTORSCLUB?

Don’t give up, honestly. Have fun with it. Brainstorm before you start. Think of ways you can one-up your ideas and apply the pressure, remind yourself you are creative - no task is too big and remember to have fun! 

Adam / @adamsokatart

FAVORITE HALLOWEEN-THEMED SNEAKER?

I don’t know if this counts but for spooky season, my go to is my Air Jordan 1 ‘Shattered Backboard Away’. The first grail I ever tracked down.

WALK US THROUGH YOUR CREATIVE PROCESS FOR YOUR ENTRY

When I saw the post say "be creative" all (and no shade to my fellow sneakerheads) but for me all toilet paper ideas went out the window. 😅 I already knew I was picking my Chi's & I had a few extra pairs of old white laces laying around waiting to be cleaned. Our house was already decorated with spooky vibes from a party, so I snapped some pictures with different backdrops but none of them felt right, if that makes sense. 

I was standing in my living room, box on the floor, Mummy Chi in hand & it hit me like a bolt of lightning. DUHHH BRENDAN FRASIER!!! So I decided to honor the goat with a quick short. I grabbed my phone, mini tripod, a stack of boxes and went to work.

The style is called stop-motion. Put simply: record, pause, move, repeat until you feel like a mummy too. With a little magic, some tricks of the eye and the stock video editing features on my Galaxy, I managed to pull out a 27sec clip of your worst nightmare. Personally this was a great mental break from the day! I work in a creative industry and sometimes It's easy to get so caught up with work we forget to have fun with it too. This really reminded me of a fun group project I did in undergrad.

ANY ADVICE FOR FOLKS ENTERING THE NEXT #ATMOSCOLLECTORSCLUB?

Anyone who hasn't won yet, don't give up hope! This was my first one EVER & yours will come too with a drop just for you. Trust, I've complained too but give the atmos team a break, they're human beings and they're doing a lot for us. Other retailers just aren't by actively getting people involved in drops. Bingo & creative contests beat doing captchas and hoping you're faster than a bot that's already cooked half the stock. 

"When it comes to creativity: be fearless, it's ok to be inspired by others, work with what you have, & most importantly, KEEP THEM POST NOTIFICATIONS ON." - @adamsokatart

 

Eddie / @illuminEddiie

FAVORITE HALLOWEEN-THEMED SNEAKER?

It’s a tie between the LeBron 13 “Halloween” & the Off-White Blazer “All Hallow’s Eve”. Now that I got a pair of Mummy’s though, they may be my favorite Halloween themed sneaker from now on!

WALK US THROUGH YOUR CREATIVE PROCESS FOR YOUR ENTRY

I didn’t want to do ‘wrapped in toilet paper’ and I wanted to keep it shoe related, so right away thought about grabbing all the extra white laces that I own and started wrapping. If I could do it again I think I would wrap it a little differently, like have the laces go under the side swoosh on the side so that it would still show - stuff like that. I was honestly too excited and in a rush to get my entry submitted ASAP.

ANY ADVICE FOR FOLKS ENTERING THE NEXT #ATMOSCOLLECTORSCLUB?

  1. TURN ON POST NOTIFICATIONS ! 🔔
  2. Don’t expect to win every single #atmoscreatorsclub contest.
  3. Appreciate the transparency that atmos is providing with how they go about selling their shoes by doing contests like these.
  4. Have fun with it! This is better than entering online raffles that get flooded with thousands and thousands of entries and we never win.

Mimi / @mimiz1216

FAVORITE HALLOWEEN-THEMED SNEAKER?

I really love the white skeleton Air Force 1s. I love the glow in the dark soles, especially on a classic pair like the AF1s. 

WALK US THROUGH YOUR CREATIVE PROCESS FOR YOUR ENTRY

Honestly, my focal point was to use every part of the shoe for this photoshoot; so that meant the extra laces, shoe box, and the packing slip (I used the back of that sheet to create a basic tombstone). I am not a very artistic person, but I do feel like it's important to ground creativity based on the items that are accessible to me. 

ANY ADVICE FOR FOLKS ENTERING THE NEXT #ATMOSCOLLECTORSCLUB?

I would say be patient and have those notifications on! Enter into the ones that you can, and don't stress about the ones that you cannot enter. Your turn will come and when you are not able to enter or don't get picked, use it as an opportunity to see what other collectors are showcasing through the Twitter raffles.

Written by Marissa Le