Say Hi to Tega Akinola, the newest member of the Ten On Feet gang. This 22-year-old freelance shoe designer has made a name for herself with designs for through her mindful trainers craft-ups dissecting the unlikely everyday materials and turning them into kicks that will make you take a second glances. From USB-encrusted heels to boots made of old-fashioned Nike socks, no piece of junk is safe in Akinola's hands.
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During her teenage years, Akinola was encouraged to reuse clothes found in the back of her closet. “My parents always taught me not to waste, and my mother in particular encouraged me to use the clothes I already had in my closet and play jazz with them, or create something new,” she said.
Her unlikely journey to footwear was born out of her childhood admiration for her shoes. "What drew me to shoes was that I realized that the design theme of clothing and accessories can be translated into shoe design. And because you don't often see such features on shoes, they look brright and different.
For example, a zippered pocket on the side of the bag can be converted into a heel pocket.
As for her most treasured creation of them all, her first cable heel holds a soft spot. “I was cleaning up my room one day in the early days of lockdown and found a bag of faulty phone charger cables that my family had kept. Instead of discarding them, I decided to use them for a shoe design concept. It was a lot of cutting and gluing, and it took some days, but I eventually finished it and decided to post it on Instagram,” she says. That particular concept spurred on a whole chain of events which have led me up to this point and I’m incredibly grateful.”
