“Yoz, what do you think of this?”
It’s in early May, Singapore is early into Circuit Breaker. The outlets are closed, and we are all stuck at home. Velo Velo is still operating online but with limited capacity as we can only pack and ship twice a week. Never thought that I would miss the interaction with everyone else this much. The weekly zwift rides were fun, but nothing beats meeting up in person. This was when my friend YZ sent me a link to customize shoes on Whatsapp.
Interesting story about YZ. Well I met him at OCBC cycle’s expo when he and his wife were just starting to cycle. Then we became friends and later colleagues. We’ve worked on many projects together, many made it past the drawing board; some really good like our Velo Velo club Kit and Tesserae 1 and 2.The collaboration with him was often enjoyable, fun and stimulating and often took many days or even weeks but the process became more fluid as we got to know each other better.
YZ and his family moved to the USA towards the end of last year and the Covid19 pandemic struck shortly after his transition. I can only imagine how challenging it is for him and his wife with a newborn to assimilate into a new environment and culture usually, now made worse by the outbreak and racial tension. I have been keeping in close contact with him to catch up on events in his life. And yes, I do miss the easy banter and the brainstorming we had over teh-oh peng (iced tea).
A while ago, we just completed a custom team kit for OneBike Asia, and he started experimenting on designing podium shoes.
Yz: “So how? (Is it) Nice?”
Me: “hmm, do you have other designs?”
Well, like any business owner, I wasn’t adapting to the Circuit Breaker well and feeling worried and anxious on what awaited.
Yz: “ok, how about this?”
He knows me really well. Seems like he is well prepared with plan A & back up plan B; saving the best for last.
“Love it! I want it!”
It’s hard to explain; but when you see THE one, you just know it.
After some to-ing and fro-ing on choosing the brand to make the shoes for us, we decided to make a pair for everyone in the team. And Vans shoes were our choice for comfort and design (as with when choosing any cycling jersey house to carry). I really wanted to find a way to cheer the team up during these trying times. Since it was possible to customize the shoes individually, YZ communicated with everyone in the team to give each of them the option to showcase their individual style. Almost all of us chose the doodle graphics which was hand drawn by YZ a while ago and one of the most fun one we made together. He even doodled on the wall of the shop as a gift before he left for the US.
Welcome to the Velo Velo team. We’re showing off who’s the proud owner of which design. Share which design you like in the comments! We might make a limited run for all our special customers.
Cheers,
Jon
