TRINIDAD-born US rapper Nicholaus “Trinidad James” Williams owns more pairs of shoes than he can count, and from various brands. In fact, he said he doesn’t really consider himself a sneakerhead but, instead, a “sneaker god.”

But this November, he will officially move from just being a customer to a creator as he launches his very own kicks.

The US$100 sneakers are a collaboration between his fashion label, HOMMEWRK, and US athletic footwear brand Saucony, using the latter’s Jazz 81 runner as the base.

It features tumbled leather, butter suede and a semi-transparent toe box.

Williams told Newsday it all started three years ago when Saucony commented on one of his Instagram posts.

He was wearing a pair of their kicks.

“I used that as an opportunity to reach out to the company and let them know we should do business…And over 2018, 2019, I kept the relationship going ‘cause (they were) still unsure ‘cause they never did a collaboration with a person – they’ve only done collaborations with stores.”

[caption id="attachment_920097" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Trinidad James’s sneakers are set to release in November.Photo courtesy James -[/caption]

But 2020 would be the year he finally got the phone call he’d been anticipating.

The representative he had been in talks with got promoted to head of collaborations at the company and was excited to implement new, creative ideas.

“He wanted to do collaborations with people and businesses that were trying to actually do things for the culture – not just people who were trying to make money or cash grams.”

Interestingly, he worked with another TT designer based in the US – Asha Paul – on the sneakers. She is the creative director of HOMMEWRK.

“When we turned back in the designs of what we wanted to do, they were blown away, they really appreciated it and they loved the story, because Saucony was one of the first brands that I ever wore when I came across to the States as an immigrant…So it’s kind of a full circle moment.”

But the online marketing campaign for these shoes had a rocky start.

On October 5, he posted a digital page from US sneaker magazine Hartcopy to social media saying the shoe will be released in November.

But there was one error. Well, two.

It said, “James looks to the hibiscus flower for inspiration – the national flower of his hometown TT.”

But TT’s national flower is the double chaconia, and TT is not a “town” but a country.

This caused a lot of backlash, particularly on Twitter. But he did not shy away from the criticism. He owned up to it, which he was highly commended for.

He posted a video admitting an error was made, adding: “I own my company and I’m very proud of my company and I’m very proud of my workers. They are amazing...But the one thing about the human experience is that you will make mistakes.

And when you make mistakes, you have to be a big man or a big woman and be able to own up to them.”

He then said the real reason the hibiscus was the inspiration behind the shoes was because his favourite drin