In some ways, the black OG Voorhee is the beginning of ShoeBaker. I had already made shoes. I had already made the name. But this was the first iconic Air Force 1 I created that people kept coming back for. Years later, it was still selling.

October 2020 / As remembered by Baker

It started in my garage

I remember seeing Warren Lotas’s Jason-inspired shoe online. At first I thought it was Nike. I remember thinking, “Nike’s bold for this. This is sweet.” That idea stayed with me.

As a small creator, I took that inspiration into my own version on an Air Force 1. I added the mask to the back panel and the tongue tag, then brought in the signature ShoeBaker drip to look like dripping blood. I wanted to do something different from the usual paint splatter.

I remember making that pair in my garage around October 20, 2020. I posted it, and it went viral.

The orders kept coming

My following was growing fast. The orders were coming in, and I was making money like I hadn’t before. But the attention brought a challenge I hadn’t been prepared for.

“Not all businesses fail for lack of business. Some businesses fail because they have too much business.”

I had to learn how to be an artist and an entrepreneur at the same time. There was a lot of trial and error. I almost didn’t make it through that season.

What kept me going was that people kept ordering. The demand was a lot to navigate, but it also gave me a reason to keep figuring it out.

You can see the growth

The design changed as I kept making it. The tongue tags changed. The details developed. Looking back at these photos, I can see different stages of my work.

I remember working with the original version from 2020 into roughly late 2021 or early 2022. These archive photos preserve those earlier details, before the versions people see today.

Timeline based on Baker’s recollection. The supplied archive files contain no embedded capture dates, so individual photographs are not assigned exact dates.

One story. Three colorways.

The white, black, and red OG Voorhee AF1s belong together. The black pair is where this chapter began, and the collection carries that story forward.

There’s a reason I want this first in the portfolio. This pair represents a turning point in my work and the season when I had to learn what it takes to keep a business moving.

Made to be worn.

Sneaker Con Chicago

The OG Voorhee out in the world. Different people, different colorways, and a shared love for a shoe with its own personality.

The people behind the pairs.

Meet Baker →