Formula One driver Alex Albon on designing sneakers in his free time and growing up as a third culture kid in the UK

In our 10 Minutes With ... Alex Albon, the Williams Racing driver talks about launching Alex Albon Athletics during the Singapore Grand Prix—that got sold out almost immediately

Thai British racing driver Alex Albon has been enjoying a speedy Formula One season competing for Williams Racing, while representing the Thai flag. Off track too, he’s showing no signs of slowing down—indeed, in September during the Singapore Grand Prix, he kicked off the launch of his footwear brand, Alex Albon Athletics, with a stylish pair of sneakers designed by Albon that sold out almost immediately.

While he’s not permanently swapping driving for designing shoes, it is a new avenue for Albon, and he spoke to Tatler over video chat ahead of the Qatar Grand Prix about how the brand came about and how he incorporated his personal style into the sneakers.

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Could you please tell us about the brand that you launched, Alex Albon Athletics, and how it came about.
It was a spontaneous thing. I love shoes, especially sneakers, and I’m guilty of buying a lot of them. A friend of mine, who’s also a racing driver, started a fashion and lifestyle business, and I thought it sounded fun.

How many pairs of shoes do you own?
Not in the hundreds, but in the high tens. I live in Monaco, which isn’t known for its space, so unfortunately I have had to get rid of some pairs, which is a bit sad.

How did you incorporate your personal style into these shoes?
I don’t have a particular style, I wear a bit of everything. I can go from an English country boy or “gentleman look” to streetwear style and baggy jeans the next day.

We made a high-quality, unisex shoe which I knew I would want to wear every day. We used suede, which is known for its soft texture, around the heel and the tongue to make the shoe feel easy-going—sort of like me—and also included little details like a peace sign and my racing logo.

What was also fun was the branding around the shoe and the creativity behind it. I got my pets involved [in the shoots] and Williams [Racing] helped me release the shoe in Singapore via popup stores.

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Tell us about the designing experience.
We worked with YouTuber and designer Jon Olsson [a Swedish professional free skier], who has a lifestyle brand called C’est Normal. We wanted to get it right, so [for the silhouette] we went with a mixture between a New Balance and an Axel Arigato shoe, which is stylish but still streetwear-inspired.

I didn’t do the whole “going to Portugal to look at all the different factories and fabrics” thing, but I followed the whole process and I really enjoyed the design aspect of it. Especially all the little details—the box and the bag the shoes come in.

We went through a ton of different samples to choose the colourway and material, and while we ended up with quite a neutral palette, we want to do more funky colours if the shoes become the brand’s signature piece.

Are you planning on doing more exclusive launches for future races?
We’d like to for sure. To be honest, we’re not sure how many drops we want to do yet, and which tracks and areas of the world mean the most to me. We’re still learning how to position the brand for next year.

Realistically speaking, I also have to consider how much of my time I can designate to this. As much as I love [devoting time to my footwear brand], I still want to drive a car for 22 races a year and sometimes these things can interfere with that.

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What’s something you’ve learnt on track that you apply to your daily life?
Work ethic, more than anything else. It sounds simple, but at the end of the day, you do have to sacrifice a lot to be in Formula One and you do have to devote your life to it.

Outside of racing, I still have the same mindset to pursue perfection and execute everything as efficiently as possible.

What’s your experience of being a third culture kid in the UK, and what does your mixed heritage mean to you?
I grew up in the UK countryside. There weren’t many Asian kids where I went to school, but everyone was very welcoming to be honest. As I got older, it made me realise that [being mixed] set me apart from other people, and I saw that as a positive and used it as an advantage to set myself up [in this industry]. When I went from racing in the UK to proudly racing under the Thai flag, it meant a lot to me. It made me stand out and gave me confidence.

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Alex Albon Formula One Williams F1 Trainers Footwear Fashion

Tatler Asia

Formula One driver Alex Albon on designing and launching his footwear brand, how being mixed race sets him apart and his pursuit of perfection