UNKNWN (@unknwn) co-founders LeBron James, Jaron Kanfer, and Frankie Walker Jr. recently revealed the first full look at their new Miami flagship retail destination — UNKNWN Wynwood — through all-new photos of the space.
Located at 261 NW 26 St., Miami, Florida 33127 — across from the famed Wynwood Walls — the new UNKNWN retail destination is approximately 10,000 square feet, including 3,000 square feet of retail space and a 4,000-square-foot courtyard.
“I’m excited about this new space because every inch and every detail is dedicated to bringing people together. From the basketball court that will host community events to featuring custom collaborations and celebrating local art, this location is all about fusing fashion, sport, culture and community,” James said. “This innovative and engaging space takes not only the UNKNWN brand, but also the brick-and-mortar retail concept, to a whole new level.”
Showcasing a highly curated selection of multi-brand designer apparel, footwear, and accessories, as well as UNKNWN’s exclusive in-house labels, the new location is designed to provide a premium shopping experience that reflects the shared vision, lifestyle, and wardrobe of the co-founders, freshly set in the artistic vibrancy of the evolving arts and culture district of Wynwood.
The largely concrete concept space was built in collaboration with visual artist John Margaritis of New York Sunshine to ideate and execute one-of-a-kind architectural design and layout, with completely handmade details at every touchpoint.
“The strength of UNKNWN lies in our ability to create cultural experiences that are unexpected and new” said Kanfer, co-founder and CEO. “In designing our Wynwood space with New York Sunshine, we collaborated with artists and designers as the heart of the store’s concept. We want our brand and stores to be the canvas for a global community to feel welcome, excited, and express themselves through interacting with our space, brands, and events. We draw inspiration from our community and that is something that’s reflected in the way the collections have room to evolve without compromising the integrity of the UNKNWN retail design.”
Having opened its first location in 2011, UNKNWN has earned a global reputation and clientele by offering a curated assortment of covetable sneakers, collectable items, contemporary ready-to-wear, and designer apparel with a distinctive point of view. The company was built with the objective of reinventing the shopping experience by connecting brands to consumers through high-level experiences and products within the worlds of art, fashion, sports, and music.
Paying homage to the shared passion and strong friendship of the three co-founders, who met as young men in Akron, OH, UNKNWN Wynwood is centered around an open-air functional basketball court and multi-use courtyard space that will serve as an experiential venue for sporting and lifestyle events. Complete with hoops, the court is debuts painted with bold blue hues and white baselines, lined with gardens, and features 200-plus feet of mural wall space and surroundings that will constantly be changing for different art creations and collaborations with world-renowned artists and creatives.
“As we approached our opening of Wynwood this week, we have finally had a moment to reflect on this journey,” Walker revealed. “One thing that has stood out to us is how our experiences over the past eight years of UNKNWN has given us a clear context for this new extension of the UNKNWN brand. We have been able to take everything we learned and applied it to this flagship location. We are very clear on who our customer is and how they like to shop.
“As co-owners we are very different individuals, but we share a passion for bringing fashion and sport together in our own way, and for building a community that can coexist on the basketball court and in the store are the same.”
Margaritis designed a stunning custom water feature (over 5000 pounds of concrete with 5300-plus pounds and more than 85 cubic feet of water) at the entrance of the storefront.
An artistic spectacle of basketball, copper, and water, the permanent art installation is the centerpiece of design. Projected on a live-plant wall adjacent to the piece, brand visuals will highlight and showcase new arrivals, exclusive collections, and key product drops.
Moving past the entrance, shoppers’ attention will be drawn to custom designed concrete shelving with a capacity to exhibit 175 of the highest-wattage footwear releases from an edit of world class brands. Suspended from the ceiling with stainless steel chains, LED lit shelves hang in front of fully operational, hurricane proof steel and glass garage doors overlooking the courtyard that offer an indoor/outdoor shopping experience when the doors are lifted.
Designer collections will be thoughtfully presented on over 20 custom dyed shelving fixtures and displays while a steel cut tube checkout area also created by New York Sunshine is set in front of nine large-format LED screens.
Mirroring the visual impressiveness is a top notch customer service experience offering personal shopping by appointment with highly trained stylists and a relaunched UNKNWN.com with an anti-bot sneaker release integration and tech partnership. The new building will centralize UNKNWN’s online operations.
Store Hours are: Monday-Friday, 11 a.m.-9 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m.-9 p.m.,and Sunday, noon-8 p.m.
