Salehe Bembury Says Running Out Of Money, Getting Scared, And LinkedIn Got Him To Versace — ‘I Look Like The Image Of Unemployment’

From financial uncertainty to high-fashion success, Salehe Bembury has shaped modern sneaker culture with creativity and vision.

Salehe Bembury On Landing Versace

In a conversation with “The Cutting Room Floor” podcast host Recho Omondi, Bembury shared how he secured opportunities with luxury brands like Versace, an experience that established him in the world of high-fashion sneakers.

Bembury recalled a moment of financial uncertainty.

“I’m out of money. I’m getting scared. I look like the image of unemployment. I’m in my underwear eating cereal on my couch,” he said in a clip from the Patreon podcast.

At that low point, he reached out to Dean Quinn, a design director at Versace, through LinkedIn. “Forever grateful for him replying,” Bembury said, adding that he pitched a project for Versace’s sneaker line.

He suggested that Versace could create sneakers incorporating the brand’s signature elements, including the Baroque print, the Greca, and the Medusa logo, merging streetwear energy with luxury craftsmanship.

“Three days later, Donatella Versace emailed me back and said she looked at my ideas, wanting me to come to Milan and tell her more,” he recalled.

Bembury admitted he initially did not know much about Donatella.

“I wasn’t that familiar with who she was. I’m an SNL watcher … I always remember Maya Rudolph would play this blonde lady in a black dress. Once I did a little more research, I was like, ‘Oh, the Tupac shirts,’” he added.

After traveling to Milan to present his ideas, Donatella told Bembury she wanted to hire him. Bembury reflected on the moment: “I wasn’t going to meet with Versace. I was going to meet with someone that would potentially pay me. So it was great that it was Versace. I’m honored. But on that day, I was like, ‘In two weeks, I’m getting a check.’”

That experience launched him into the luxury fashion world, as he became head designer of sneakers at Versace in 2017, and also showcased the importance of persistence and self-advocacy — traits that would define his career. He later climbed the ranks to senior director and eventually vice president of men’s footwear for Versace, per his LinkedIn profile.

During his tenure, Bembury earned Footwear News’ 2020 Designer of the Year award, recognizing his innovative approach and influence on the luxury sneaker market, as AFROTECH™ previously reported. He played a key role in bringing the Versace Chain Reaction sneaker into the spotlight in 2018 and contributed to the development of the Squalo and Trigreca models.

“The majority of my time and attention is spent on Versace — that’s the thing that inspires me the most and what I have my head buried in most of the time,” Bembury told Footwear News at the time.

“And because footwear is my passion, I’m able to work on the side things without really seeing it as extra stress. It’s just more fun for me. Because I manage my time and my work well, [Versace] was nice enough to let me juggle these different projects,” he added.

The Pollex Clog Collaboration

Following his tenure with Versace, Bembury expanded his creative footprint through collaborations with Crocs on the Pollex Clog in 2021, as previously reported by AFROTECH™.

“I see you as a Crocs guy,” Omondi told Bembury in another podcast clip, capturing the way Bembury put the brand “on the map.” Omondi recalled the now-iconic fingerprint motif, calling it “so creative, so interesting, so cool” and admitting she had never paid attention to Crocs before that.

Bembury explained that the Crocs project was a game-changer, though it wasn’t originally intended to be. Crocs first reached out to offer him free shoes, but Bembury, already a designer, wanted more: a true collaboration.

“I owned a pair, a few pairs of Crocs, but it wasn’t in my rotation, if you will,” Bembury said.

He added that, as a designer, he had “so much respect given to a brand that’s able to take a proprietary material and then base their entire forward offering off of that thing. That is a very rare thing to do. And then, furthermore, invest in a silhouette that the majority of the audience is not getting behind and often makes fun of. So like, that is a feat in itself.”

Initially, Bembury proposed a simple color update, or “color up,” explaining, “Color up is essentially a reskinning, if you will. So many of the Crocs collaborations are on the original Croc silhouette, and then the collaborator gets to choose the color, maybe choose the Jibbitz, which are those little button things in the toe, and I would say that’s like a color up.”

But Crocs recognized he was thinking beyond just recoloring: “Would you like to create one from scratch?” they asked, and Bembury replied, “Absolutely.”

With the help of a friend and collaborator, Bembury translated his 2D fingerprint aesthetic into 3D. He described their process: “We spent about just two weeks designing throughout the day … He was kind of my digital clay, if you will, and he would just help me kind of bring my ideas into the 3D rendering space.”

After minor adjustments with Crocs on signature details and heritage, the final product retained about 90% of his original vision.

Bembury also emphasized the importance of physical models in presentations, including when he pitched ideas Donatella Versace.

“I love going to meetings with a 3D print of my idea because for so many years I was just trying to explain pieces of paper … Instead of trying to, like, figure out what [Donatella’s] language is and how to translate it, I literally just handed her the product and she understood it immediately.”

Launching His Own Footwear Brand

After years of high-profile collaborations, Bembury made a career-defining decision to turn down a deal with Nike and launch his own footwear line, Spunge, as AFROTECH™ reported in October 2025.

In his conversation with Omondi, he reflected on the decision.

“I think that I’ve been giving a lot of brands a lot of sauce, let’s call it, for the last 15 years. I’m also familiar with the amount of money that I’ve made brands in the last few years. And I’m grateful for the slice of that I’ve been able to receive, but it’d be nice to have the whole pie.”

Bembury emphasized that the brand is designed to be “always on” — not tied to hype, drops, or exclusivity.

“Brands aren’t investing in collaborations like they used to. They’re just happening constantly. You can’t remember them. They don’t matter the next day,” he said.

While Spunge will still feature collaborations, Bembury described the brand as a shift toward consistency.

“There will be product that is always available. We will, of course, exist in hype. We will have collaborations, but this is a shift towards having a brand that’s always on, always available, and it’s going to be very real.”