Designer lives his dream with exclusive White Sox kicks

CHICAGO -- Dan Gamache, better known as Mache, is a renowned custom shoe designer. He also happens to be a diehard White Sox fan who grew up idolizing Frank Thomas and Bo Jackson.

That passion led to the club partnering with Mache on a limited-edition South Side sneaker. The White Sox “Mache Runner” was made available at a pop-up event on Wednesday at the Guaranteed Rate Field outfield concourse with hundreds of fans showing up.

Mache has created shoes and cleats for a variety of top athletes over his 20 years in the business, including CC Sabathia, boxer Gennady Golovkin and most notably, LeBron James. His collaboration with the White Sox marked the team’s first-ever independently designed sneaker.

“It was really dope that my all-time favorite team came to me and was like, ‘We want to be the first pro team with our own sneaker,’” the designer said. “To actually design it exclusively for the White Sox, it was an awesome opportunity.”

The Mache Runner pays homage to the White Sox with touches of the team and baseball all throughout the sneaker. You'll find pinstripes as you slip your foot through the shoe, which represents the white home uniforms. Then, you will find gray and black all around, which represents the road uniforms and the South Side alternate jerseys. It also features red baseball stitches on both sides.

Despite being specifically designed for the White Sox, Mache designed the shoe in hopes that fans of other teams would also love it.

“[We] just wanted to give an individual design to the team that wasn’t just like hardcore Chicago White Sox,” Mache said. “So someone maybe from the North Side of Chicago or someone that lives in New York might still appreciate the color black and still want to wear it.”

The Mache Runner is a one-of-a-kind shoe that conveys the designer’s baseball fandom. He grew up on the East Coast but rooted for the White Sox for as long as he could remember. So of course, he was more than thrilled to take the opportunity to design an exclusive White Sox sneaker.

The reason for his South Side fandom stems from two iconic athletes: Bo and the Big Hurt. He fell in love with Thomas in his rookie season in 1990, and when Jackson signed with the White Sox in '91, it was inevitable that Mache started to become a fan.

“I was a Bo Jackson fan,” the designer said. “I was always someone that idolized him, playing football and baseball. And then when he went to Chicago, I was like, ‘Oh, I like the White Sox now.’ Then Frank Thomas was a rookie, and I became enamored with him. I mean who didn’t like the Big Hurt back then? And that’s just how I became a fan. I had been ride or die ever since.”

Mache cheered on the 2005 team that won the World Series, had a photoshopped photograph at the old Comiskey Park that said he was the team's No. 1 fan, and all these years later, he stood at the concourse at Guaranteed Rate Field selling exclusive White Sox sneakers to fans.

“Now my real name is up on the sign at Guaranteed Rate Field, so it’s kind of like a full circle moment for me,” Mache said. “I haven’t gotten a second to really soak it in yet, but it’s really awesome and humbling.”

And of course, Mache made sure to give some of the players a pair. Tim Anderson, Lucas Giolito, Yoán Moncada and his idol, Thomas, all received the exclusive shoes.

“They loved the shoes,” Mache said. “I know Gio wears them every time he’s not pitching. The feedback has been great.”

Mache has created a ton of different baseball-themed shoes over the years, most recently a series of cleats for Derek Jeter to celebrate the Captain’s Hall of Fame career. But designing shoes for his favorite team will be a memory he will never forget.

“I think it’s just the fact that it’s with the White Sox, that’s the best part,” Mache said. “It’s one of those bucket list moments. I’ve had a lot of really cool clients and relationships and partnerships, not with just designing the shoes but doing the custom shoes for over 20 years. And just having a team -- my favorite team -- that wants to work with me and lets me do something for them means everything.”