Among sneakerheads, there lies a group of retro Nike aficionados for whom oxidization isn’t a process that sullies a pair—rather, they find great beauty in yellowed midsoles and off-colored laces. These guys are the patina-loving bronze dive watch collectors of the sneaker world.

Tucked away in this arena is a tight-knit community that not only admires these pairs from afar but actually goes through the painstaking effort to acquire such pieces—much like art—and put their money where their mouth is. They’re known as Nike OTC,  a homonym for “Otaku”, a Japanese word meaning a person having an intense or obsessive interest. Poetic, because OTC is also an acronym for Oregon Track Club, with Oregon being Nike’s stomping grounds.

Mark Ong—or Mr. Sabotage as you might better know him—is one such member. This obsession with retro Nikes dates back to when he was just a teenager.

“I used to head to Kinokuniya every week to look at Japanese magazines, and in the process, I was exposed to these guys wearing 1985 shoes. And that was only 10 years deep. It was 1995,” he said.

And a deep impression these magazines left on the Artist indeed. Inevitably, ’85 Nikes became a part of his DNA. But 30 years ago, there was no such thing as an online marketplace. So the only thing he could do, naturally, was admire them.

This is why when Mark got the opportunity to press pause during the pandemic, he took it as the perfect opportunity to fulfill the dream born in his youth. The catalyst was seeing a post on Nike OTC’s Instagram page.

“There was this one picture that I saw them post which had all the Dunks lined up. And that spectrum of colors made me think, I want this. I want to feel this joy. It took me back to when I was a teenager when I saw those photos in the magazines,” the sneaker afficianado said.

“I thought, ‘I could actually achieve this right now.’ So I started hunting relentlessly, and buying.” His silhouette of choice? Retro Nike Dunks.

“A lot of people have completed the whole series of Jordan 1s. But to get a hold of all the Dunks is way harder. So I set myself on a mission, and bam. In like two years, I completed the Dunk Highs. And then I set myself on another mission; to get the Dunk Lows, which are way harder to obtain,” he said.

“And I got really nerdy about it because like, you know the Be True To Your School campaign. I wanted to replicate that photo,” said Mark. And that, he did.

At the core of it—perhaps even more basal than being an Artist, and a renowned one at that—Mark Ong is a true blue sneaker collector. Which is why Foxtrot Uniform, one of his many brands, is such an authentic extension of himself.

“Foxtrot is actually pre-Sabotage, in the sense that it’s derivative of my passion from back in ’95. Through all that I create via this imprint, I’m able to go back in time a little bit,” said Mark.

Mark Ong spoke to SNKRDUNK Magazine about the Foxtrot Uniform collection he has with us at our Singapore store. He addresses inspirations, the design process, and what the future holds for the brand.

The conversation has been edited for clarity.

What’s the biggest draw for you with retro Nike college colorways?

I feel that collecting sneakers is not only for your foot. It’s also for your eyes. There’s something sculptural about sneakers that’s very beautiful—that brings joy. The thing about college colorways is when you look at them, the range of colors being put together as a collection, it’s stunning. It sparks a lot of joy in me.

Another allure for me with these retro kicks is the idea that since they are the OG pairs, there was nothing before them. There’s something about that that I truly dig.

For those tapped into the culture, SBTG Official is a household name by now. How did Foxtrot Uniform enter the picture?

I always like to start all these incognito secret projects to tell myself that I can do it all over again. I’m a psycho in that if my computer crashes and all my history is wiped out, I’m secretly excited. It was during COVID where, I don’t know, I was a little bit worried about the state of things, you know?

Having more time on my hands, and getting the chance to dabble into my oldest passion—vintage Nike basketball sneakers from the ’80s—sparked an idea for me. Buying vintage shoes came with one downside: the shoelaces were often replaced. But original Nike shoelaces have a certain high-quality weaving, and retro pairs come with a certain faded aesthetic.

Take the Michigan University Dunk, for example. Its navy laces often turn purple through oxidization and fading over the years. So I took it upon myself to try to replicate the same weave and the same fade of shoelaces because it’s beautiful. My target audience? Japanese consumers who were part of that whole magazine culture.

It was a crazy mission that I took upon myself. I cut an original pair of shoelaces, counted the threads—it was about 100—and accordingly called it the 100-thread weave. Then, I found a supplier that could make it after a lot of back and forth with samples. That’s how I created the perfect vintage shoelace.

Oh, so Foxtrot Uniform blew up because of the shoelaces?

Pretty much. I posted my research, talked about it, and when I launched them, 100 laces sold out within a minute. I thought that only the Otakus were going to buy them because they were specifically a replica of a 1980s shoelace, but the Gen Z crowd ate them up too.

So, I made 500, and they sold out in the next drop. Then the same thing happened in the subsequent drop with 1,000, and then the one after with 5,000 laces had the same reception. I was like whoa, what’s going on here? So I decided to make the whole color wheel. Black, Yellow, Red, Carolina Blue, two-tone laces—the Unions. Then, we made Fadeaway laces in homage to Jordan’s legendary perfected fadeaway shot in ’96.

Before long, I realized that I was dabbling into something that I had so much knowledge on; so much so, that I could create a whole brand. And, yeah, I was locked in mainly on that and didn’t focus on SBTG Official for about two to three years.

You mentioned that your target audience is Japanese collectors. You must’ve been acutely aware of their appreciation for the smallest details. Would you say that’s why Foxtrot Uniform’s retro laces were such a hit?

Yeah, creating these laces was deeply nuanced. I needed that high level of attention to detail to impress these people. Otherwise, it wouldn’t work; I’d just be like the rest of the noise out there. I set my bar high by making discerning Japanese collectors my target audience. I told myself that if they respected my work, I would have succeeded, and if not, I’d have failed. True enough, they were highly impressed. And I’m so happy. I completed my mission.

At the end of the day, I respect the way the Japanese do it. When we go for these community meet-ups, the focus isn’t trading, selling, or buying. Actually, we don’t even talk about shoes. We just enjoy each other’s company.

Let’s talk a little about the collection you have with SNKRDUNK. You have the Fadeaway Tee, for instance, that heavily draws inspiration from Michael Jordan’s first frat house, Omega Psi Phi. How much of the golden era of basketball influences your work?

Quite a bit. I played basketball because I saw Michael Jordan play on TV. And, I mean, it’s just something about the way he moved, right? Jordan could fly; that whole poetry in motion thing. If you pit an artistic player against a power player, I’d choose artistry.

Do you know the dunk that MJ made? The leaner dunk? He has one dunk where he just leans. His body is parallel to the ground, his legs are up. You can see the sole. That’s, like, the greatest dunk ever in my eyes. At any given point of time during that dunk, his body’s silhouette is a logo. I can’t say the same for many dunkers.

It correlates to skateboarding too, right? Skateboarding is all about, like, being in the air and doing tricks like jumping and stuff. So since I was already a skateboarder, seeing Jordan play made me go, “Man, this is something I want to play.” I’m still playing and am heavily involved in both sports till today.

Ultimately, I draw inspiration from all of this to shape the work I put out at Foxtrot Uniform.

What’s your top OG silhouette of all time?

Of all time? I guess the Jordan 1? Because it’s the most balanced out of all the ’80s models.

The Jordan 1 has stood the test of time, remaining a grail even in today’s landscape of technology-fueled basketball shoes. What’s your personal take on why?

Because the first was already perfect. So many after tried to outdo the first, but it was already perfect. And the idea that there was nothing predating it is also a draw.

And, I don’t know, it just, like, it goes so well with streetwear. Also, the skateboarders wore them to skate. The Bones Brigade wore them, so everyone wore them to skate back in ‘87 when they were on sale. Can you believe that?

I saw Steve Caballero, Tommy Guerrero, and all these legends wearing mismatched pairs. They were painting on their pairs.

That connected with me so deeply because it was a confluence of all these things I love: custom culture, skateboarding, and the Jordan 1.

Finding an authentic pair of retro shoes—especially one that isn’t falling apart—can be challenging. We’ve noticed that Foxtrot Uniform has provided a solution via the Neo Vintage makers. Are you guys the only ones with such a product?

We invented it. And it took the world by storm in this category.

What was the eureka moment that led to this happening?

I was toying with some markers; customizing work for SBTG. The ink spilled on a pair of Chuck Taylors. On the sole. Couldn’t get it off. So that mistake was in my head for like five, eight years. Fast forward a decade, when I was doing the laces for Foxtrot Uniform, I was putting cream laces on a brand new white sole, and something hit me. There was a missing piece of the puzzle.

And then I remembered that instance when I spilled ink onto the midsole. I went to buy a marker that would give that vintage aesthetic. Tried it, and it worked. I got a factory to make markers in that specific color and a few others, then we tested them.

Developing the three sneaker stainer colors we have today, Cream, Sail, and Ivory, was a process. I had an array of ’85 Chicagos, about 10, so I picked the best sole colors and reverse-engineered them.

Now, in just 5 minutes, someone can achieve their desired sole color. To this day, the Neo Vintage Markers sell better than the laces.

As a collector of authentic retro pairs, what are your thoughts on the Nike Reimagined series and retro revivals? For example, the Air Jordan 1 “Bred” ’85s (2025).

These are all attempts. I feel that for Nike to achieve a one-of-one, it’s kind of hard. To achieve a pair closer to the real ’85s, you need to tap into our community. You need to get guys from our community to do it. I mean, it’s evident. It’s a good attempt. What they did was very good. But it’s not as close to what my community could achieve. And I always say, it’s not so much the construction, not so much the thickness of the leather, it’s not so much of what they are paying attention to.

Air Jordan 1 “Bred” 1985 (left), 2025 (Right)

An ’85 is more like a feeling. It goes beyond technical factory settings. It’s like art. It’s heavily nuanced. It’s something intangible. And that feeling is impossible to replicate. You could attempt and come kind of close. But if you could fully replicate it, then what good are the actual ’85s?

What can we expect from Foxtrot Uniform?

Foxtrot was a side-project that turned into a monster under the Sabotage brand. I guess we have executed every kick-ass idea and not-so-kick-ass idea already. But what’s next, I would say, is to share the collection of Foxtrot with the world. Putting it at SNKRDUNK, for instance, is one way to reach different audiences.

I would love to have a travelling exhibition one day, and I would like to publish a book. We’ve already started to take pictures of the ’80s Nike basketball sneakers that I’ll want to include. The fundamental idea is that because a collection takes up space, the best way to immortalize that collection is to publish it in a book.

By doing so, you share your collection with the world.

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You can find the Foxtrot Uniform collection at the SNKRDUNK Singapore store and on the SNKRDUNK App. Also, head to the Foxtrot Uniform website to take a look at the wider range of products available at the fashion imprint.

For the latest releases, breaking news, and exclusive interviews, stay tuned to the SNKRDUNK Magazine and @snkrdunk on Instagram. Explore the SNKRDUNK App and use the welcome code from the banner below before making your first purchase. Additionally, if you want to try a pair out, visit our stores in Singapore and Japan!

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