Salehe Bembury is an American footwear designer and vice president of sneakers and men’s footwear collections for Italian luxury fashion house Versace. He is the creative director of Spunge, known for his luxurious streetwear style. He is the former footwear designer for Adidas Yeezy, a fashion collaboration between the American rapper, designer and German sportswear company Adidas, and American men’s and women’s footwear brand Cole Haan.
My current career is a result of jobs I hate and jobs I love, successes and failures. It’s definitely about the journey. ” — Saleh Bunbury
Wiki/Biography
Salehe Bembury was born on Friday, October 3, 1986 in Tribeca, New York (age 37 years 2023). His zodiac sign is Libra. He completed his elementary education at Calhoun School in Manhattan. He studied a six-week pre-college industrial design course at the Rhode Island School of Design in the United States. He then took an eight-week pre-college industrial design course at Carnegie Mellon University in Pennsylvania. In 2005, he earned a bachelor’s degree in industrial design from Syracuse University in Syracuse, New York. . After graduation, he moved back to New York.
appearance
Height (approximately): 6′3″
Weight (approximately): 60kg
Hair color: black
Eye color: brown
family
Parents and siblings
His father is a photographer and his mother is a teacher. In an interview, he talked about how his parents showed him various arts. He said,
I don’t have a traditional fashion background, but I gained my passion and perspective growing up in downtown New York with artist parents and a group of artist friends. My parents did a great job of showing me the various facets of race, class, and all walks of life. This diverse upbringing has shaped who I am today. “
wife and children
Salehe Bembury is unmarried.
Profession
He has been interested in sneakers since he was a child. In an interview, he mentioned his passion for footwear design, saying:
I have loved sneakers since I was a kid. I grew up obsessed with sneakers, sneaker culture, and most importantly sneaker designers. I remember when I saw the Jordan 3 as a little kid, I was like, wow. I remember seeing this pair of And1 shoes that were all blue, with stripes on the front and no laces. “
Payless shoe source
In August 2009, Salehe Bembury joined international discount shoe chain Payless ShoeSource as a footwear designer and worked there for three months. In an interview, he shared his experience working at Payless ShoeSource and said:
My first design job was for Payless ShoeSource, which I wasn’t excited about. In retrospect, this was very educational because Payless makes a variety of shoes. I do menswear, womenswear, childrenswear and formal wear. This is truly a rewarding opportunity. “
Fortune Shoes
In October 2009, he joined Fortune Footwear in the greater New York area as a footwear designer. He revealed in an interview that he was not excited about working at the company, but that the experience taught him a lot. He said,
Then I collaborated with Fortune Footwear, which was equally underwhelming. But they worked with brands like Birkenstock and Steve Madden, so I got an education, which is important for any young designer. “
Damon Dash – DD172
In June 2010, he joined Damon Dash as a senior footwear designer and served for 6 months.
Cole Hann
In March 2011, he was hired by Cole Hann, a Nike company, to join their “innovation” team. There, he created the LunarGrand silhouette, a major turning point in the history of men’s shoes that added a colorful, modern sole to traditional men’s shoes. He works for Jeff Henderson, an engineer-turned-footwear designer who designed the Air Max 2009 and has worked at Nike for 15 years. In September 2013, he resigned from his post.
great man
In August 2014, after nearly three years at Cole Haan, Bembury moved onto the ground floor of Greats, a small startup that aims to be both functional and fashionable and has become a favorite with menswear icons like Nick Worcester. His supervisor at Cole Haan worked for Kanye West and encouraged Bunbury to submit his portfolio. In September 2015, he resigned from his position.
yeezy
Jeff Henderson collaborated with YEEZY on a project in 2015, sharing Bembury’s product portfolio with the company. A few months later, in October 2015, the company finally hired him as a men’s shoe designer, and he moved to California to work with Kanye West and collaborate with famed designer Kerby Jean-Raymond of Pyer Moss. He designed a line of luxury street-style sneakers for the YEEZY Season 3 and 4 projects. In an interview, he talked about one of his famous corporate-themed series, in which he dipped shoes in flexible silicon to illustrate the metaphor of models being crushed by concrete in the corporate world. He said,
This is a metaphor for those things, whether social or financial, that get us into trouble or hold us back in life. “
Salehe Bembury launches corporate-themed sneakers
He worked there for a year and resigned in September 2016.
Versace
In September 2017, Bunbury was offered the position of head sneaker designer at Versace by messaging prospective executives directly via LinkedIn. In January 2020, Bunbury became vice president of athletic shoes and men’s footwear at Versace. He also designs independently. Senior Director, Athletic Footwear and Men’s Footwear. In an interview, he discussed how he joined Versace, saying:
I contacted one of the design directors at Versace and basically proposed an opportunity. I explained that the sneaker industry is a multi-billion dollar industry. Traditionally, consumers would never buy sneakers from a fashion store. “
I didn’t expect to hear back, but a few days later I received an email from Donatella Versace’s office. My idea was well received and they invited me to Milan for more conversations. What was originally a two-page presentation turned into 40 pages. I introduced myself to Donatella and I was hired on the spot.
Salehe Bembury and Versace Vice President and Artistic Director Donatella Versace
2018 Versace chain collection designed by Salehe Bembury
sponge
In December 2020, he launched his own brand and became the creative director of Spunge, Los Angeles’ leading online destination for men’s contemporary fashion and streetwear.
Crocs
In November 2023, Crocs appointed Salehe Bembury as creative director of Crocs x Pollex Pod. In addition, he collaborates with New Balance, one of the world’s major sneaker and apparel manufacturers.
Salehe Bembury promotes his new Crocs designs
dispute
Salehe Bembury was searched after allegedly jaywalking while crossing the road
On October 2, 2020, Salehe Bembury was stopped by Beverly Hills Police while crossing the street using the GPS on her phone. The officer asked Saleh Bunbury for identification and then began searching his ID. Saleh felt uncomfortable and nervously allowed the search. The officer asked Saleh Bunbury if he was carrying any weapons. Saleh Benbury refuses to accept this. The officer then placed Bunbury’s arms behind his back and patted him. He filmed the interaction with his mobile phone and said:
So here I am in Beverly Hills, shopping at the store where I work and I’m being searched, and I’m just black. Unfortunately, the shoes in the bag were actually designed by me and I got fucking searched. I was so nervous and this felt a little too much. ”
He later posted the video on his Instagram account with the caption:
I’m fine, my spirit is not fine. “
On October 2, 2020, Italian fashion designer Donatella Versace expressed her support for Salehe Bembury through her Instagram post, saying that she had a heart attack in Beverly Hills shocked by the incident.
I am appalled by what happened today to Salehe Bembury, who has been a consultant at Versace for a long time and the behavior he experienced is completely unacceptable. He was stopped on the street simply because of the color of his skin. ”
Awards
On December 8, 2020, Salehe Bembury was named Designer of the Year at the first virtual FN Achievement Awards 2020.
tattoo
- He has tattoos on the left side of his neck and both arms.
Salih Bunbury’s arm tattoo
Saleh Benbury’s tattoo on the left side of his neck
- He has a sneaker tattoo on his right hand.
Saleh Bunbury’s sneaker tattoo on his right hand
- He has a dove tattoo on the right side of his neck.
Saleh Bunbury has a dove tattoo on the right side of his neck
- He has a tattoo of Jean-Michel Basquiat on his right leg.
Salehe Bembury has a tattoo of Jean-Michel Basquiat’s face on his right leg
Facts/Trivia
- In an interview, when asked why he stayed overnight for a pair of sneakers, Bunbury said he was addicted to sneakers, just like other people are addicted to drugs.He said
People buy drugs for different reasons. Some people buy drugs because they can make money from it, some people buy drugs because of how they make them feel, and some people buy drugs because of how they make them look. I think the same goes for sneakers. There are some shoes that make you feel like a superhero when you lace them up. It’s really amazing. “
- In an interview, when asked how racial equality was changing, he said
This time has made me realize that I have a greater responsibility to lead Black people. This is something I’m already aware of, but I think maybe I have to open up a few more seats on the bus. At the same time, it’s weird because this has suddenly become an issue in the last three months. This is my life experience; I’ve known these things for a long time. There was some pain at first, but now it’s numb. There’s a sudden sense of urgency now, but I’ve had this sense of urgency for a while. When I see certain brands – and I’m not talking about any particular brand – wanting to do something, I find it a little weird, maybe even a little disingenuous, to be like, ‘You need to see someone get murdered in order to take action? This can be easily conveyed through simple conversation. The end result was disappointing. “
- On February 11, 2021, to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the National Basketball Association, Canada Goose collaborated with designer Salehe Bembury to launch a limited edition sneaker as part of a multi-year partnership with the NBA.
- On September 9, 2023, Los Angeles portrait artist Kohshin Finley painted a portrait for his first European solo exhibition at the Barbati Gallery in Venice, Italy.
Portraits of Kohshin Finley and Salehe Bembury
- Salehe Bembury enjoys hiking and fishing.
Salehe Bembury fishes at Utah’s Sundance Film Festival
Saleh Bunbury takes a hike in Los Angeles
Categories: Biography
Source: HIS Education