Let’s Be ‘Civil’: An Exclusive Look at Nike SB’s Hottest August Release

Rhode Island is noted historically for two things, being the smallest U.S. state by area, and the first U.S. colony to declare independence from the British Empire. Soon “The Ocean State” will add one more thing to their story, the birthplace of Civil skate shop.

When pictures of the Civil X Nike SB sneaker premiered earlier this month many praised the shoe for its clean beige and grey colorway splashed with fire red laces and a black sole. The sneakers are seen as a trip back to Nike SB’s golden days with its simple, yet powerful, make up. We hit up Guido of Civil to get the details about his store’s recent collaboration with Nike SB and got a few exclusive looks at the kicks.

EU Kicks: You’ve recently teamed up with Nike SB, how did that come about?

Guido: Well, I've had some really good friends, Darin O'brien aka DOBBS, Scotty Keating, etc., from way back that happen to be involved with SB for a long time, so when I opened my store Civil with my friend Rob Asselin, we knew we wanted to partner up and sell SB here at the store. Those were the guys that made it happen for us. From there on being a sneaker enthusiast myself, I always had crazy ideas of what I thought could be a sick colorway or idea or whatever. They sent me a few templates I could start playing around with, and after about a year or so, after lots of color-ups and ideas I was introduced to my man Baravetto, the Nike SB Product line dude, got to know him a bit and got to know how the design process all breaks down a little better.

Eventually all colors/ideas go through him first so he can build a virtual sample. Then Baravetto hit me up and asked a few questions about one of the colors I did and wondered if I’d be down to adjust a couple things and then it was sampled.

EU Kicks: Nike SB has such a sick line-up: Blazers, Dunk Lows, Mids, Highs, Bruins, etc. How did you decide upon which sneaker model to use?

Guido: Well I was doing color ups for all the Dunks, low, mid, and high, and Blazers mostly. I was submitting lots of colors on different models, and those were the ones I thought would be the most sell-able as well have enough detail on the shoe to mess with.

EU Kicks: All that work was worth it, the kicks turned out really well. Once you picked the Dunk how did you go about choosing the colorway and color blocking? Does the shoe have any source of inspiration?

Guido: For one, I’m a sucker for grey suede, and grey shoes in general. So out of all the crazy designs I came up with I wanted to do something that was the opposite. Times have changed, people are wearing simpler, cleaner outfits, and are looking to be able to wear any color jean or color t-shirt with a neutral pair of shoes. Consumers want to put in any lace color to pop it if you want, wear blue or black jeans or whatever.

That was basically my inspiration, grey tones for the neutral look, black mid soles to set it apart from most other Dunks out there, and let the customer choose how they want to use the color to express themselves. That’s why we are offering a 3rd lace here in fire red. Our store walls are all red so we wanted something to tie back to the store.

EU Kicks: While working with Nike SB was there anything you wanted to do with the sneaker that you didn’t get the chance to do?

Guido: Well this was the first time I've had an opportunity to do something like this, so I didn't want to ask for too much, you know? I was just hyped that they were going to make one of my ideas a reality. We’ll let this one come out, hopefully get good sales out of it so SB dudes are psyched, and continue to send ideas with the hopes that they will want to create another one and really get deep into it with the materials to the marketing, etc.

I did however have them change the swoosh material from canvas to leather just to break up the canvas panels a little more, and give the swooshes a little more pop.

EU Kicks: What do you think this collaboration will do for your store as far as recognition being that you were such a huge name before?

Guido: We have had some good opportunities in the past to work with some really good dudes. We did a wheel with Spitfire, and a hoody with our friends at SLVDR, but Nike SB for sure is the biggest yet! It will give us a boost for sure as being recognized as a legit shop not just in our home state of Rhode Island, but in the country. We are also launching an online store by the end of the summer so hopefully that will get more people to check us out.

EU Kicks: What will the availability be for the shoe for those looking to cop in August?

It will be available at all Nike SB dealers. It's part of their August line-up.

EU Kicks: Many Nike SB collaborations have made huge impacts, where do you think the ‘Civil’ Dunk fits in sneaker history?

Guido: I don't foresee any huge impact with this shoe really. Hopefully it just adds to the cleaner more simple look that's coming back that set SB off from the beginning.

EU Kicks: Thank you for your time. Anything else?

Guido: I have to thank everyone involved: Dobbs, Scotty, Tufty, Baravettski, Black Rob, and my old ass iBook that I work on not to delete my ideas.