Introducing… Craft Syndicate

Alexander-John has a name befitting a designer of coveted gear. And with his latest adventure, he’s another step closer to making his dream come true.

A self-taught artist, Alexander-John has been on the scene for a number of years. First gaining recognition for a custom pair of ‘Brooklyn Zoo’ Nike dunks he made for Jay Z, and other customs and concepts. Recently commenting, “I’ve been doing concepts for custom sneakers based off a design he put out years ago called ‘The Pigeon’, Nike SB.”

The ‘he’ being legendary designer Jeff Staple who hand picked Alexander-John as the first Craft Syndicate aspiring master to be selected for an apprenticeship and collaboration. Created by Dutch Masters, Craft Syndicate is an incubator that pairs aspiring masters with established entrepreneurs from the worlds of fashion, music, film, art and design.

To cut through the massive response of more than one thousand entrants in the collaboration competition, Jeff solicited the help of industry friends to help judge designers Alexander-John beat out for the Craft Syndicate collab: musician and entertainer Fonzworth Bentley, LTD Magazine founder and Chef for Higher, “Hawaii” Mike Salman, Urban Culture Expert Sean Malcolm, and Stylist and Image Consultant Jocelynn Jacobs.

With face-to-face collab sessions underway, the two are in the lab cooking up nothing less than fire. And, while no one knows what the two have been developing in their one-on-one design sessions, word is Jeff and Alexander-John will unveil their expected street wear collab at an exclusive event in New York City in November.