Nike Lebron X “POW!” Youth by @TwizzCustoms

The womens and kids size sneakers don’t get nearly as much love in customizing as the mens sizes so a custom like this is always refreshing. What started out as the Easter colorway of the Nike Lebron X in a youth size was given a POW! of neon colors by Twizz Customs. The first addition is the painted midsoles featuring a purple to pink to green fade that wraps around the shoe with splattered paint throughout. The shapes painted on the upper take us back to the 90′s with a very Fresh Prince and comic book vibe color combination. [more]

Color Swap Saturday: Baby Nike HEINEKEN Air Force 1 by @gordo__1

Kids apparel with alcohol brands all over it? Sounds like a PR nightmare. Fortunately the “Heineken” Dunk original shoes weren’t officially licensed in the first place when they released. @gordo__1 on Instagram decided to give their look in child Air Force 1 form painting an white on white toddler size with the memorable green and black upper. [more]

Air Jordan 4 Bred Python Custom by @TheShoeSurgeon

The Air Jordan line has been getting its taste of animal skin as of late in the custom sneaker world. The most recent is the Air Jordan IV in the classic “bred” colorway. Created by Dominic Chambrone aka The Shoe Surgeon this Jordan retro was reconstructed with an overlay of black python skin over the entire black nubuck upper. The back heel tabs and eyelet wings were kept while the Air Jordan flight tongue tags were replaced with those of The Shoe Surgeons logo lasered into red suede. Exotic. [more]

Spiderman and Enemies Custom Vans Shoes by Off The Wall Art

With four feature films and the heart of millions of comic book fans it’s nothing new to see some Spiderman fan art. PaintOrThread might be biased but this kind by Off The Wall Art is the by faaaaaarrrr the coolest just for the fact that they are custom sneakers. Off The Wall Art took to the classic all white Vans slip ons mostly with red and blue to create some spot on hand painted renditions of the web-slinging superhero. Because there can’t really be a hero with out a bad guy Spidey was matched against a couple villians: HobGoblin and Venom.

If you’ve been thinking of getting your own original pair of superhero custom kicks visit: Off The Wall Art on Facebook and follow them on Twitter: @OTWcustoms

The Ave Venice: Custom Shoes and Shirts on ABC’s Shark Tank

For the most part everything posted on PaintOrThread.com has been a hand made custom shoe. Created by hand through a form of painting or deconstructing and reconstructing with a few other minor techniques in between. Generally shoes are not posted that were created from any big brand online or in-store customization programs such as NikeID, miAdidas, YourReebok or Vans Customs. The reason being that shoe customization is truly its own art form that takes an understanding of the footwear’s features to end up with a quality finished piece of wearable art. This brand is somewhere in the middle.

Sometime in 2010 we stumbled across a shop called The Ave Venice. Upon their Facebook page a pair of custom Converse Chuck Taylors with a persons face on the sides was showcased. Amazed by the details, this warranted a quick click to their website which introduced a completely new technique seen in custom shoes. The Ave Venice was started in 2010 by Nick Romero who modified a digital t-shirt printer, through a patented process, to be able to print on shoes. First it was the aforementioned Converse All Stars and later on Vans Slip Ons were added to the selection. Starting with a blank pair of canvas sneakers, a picture or some sort of graphic design add the printer and minutes later the shoes are finished. How is this in the middle of sneaker customizers and something like NikeID? Because technically no one is making them by hand and they can be “mass produced” but at the same time each pair could be a design that took some Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator skills. Plus the fact of the ingenuity it took Nick and his team to create the customization process was altering an original concept is right up any sneaker customizers alley. The long hours obviously aren’t behind every shoe but there still is a level of individuality which is what most all sneaker customizers pride themselves in. Today though this brand might get a big kick start.

Tonight at 8pm EST Nick and The Ave Venice will be featured on the ABC’s Shark Tank in hopes of making the brand and business bigger. In front of 5 “sharks”, more realistically known as five wealthy investors, and millions watching at home, Nick and his team will attempt to pitch his business to gain funding. Two notable sharks to PaintOrThread readers are Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban and FUBU creator Daymond John Success is having just one of the sharks interested enough to provide investment, insight, guidance, mentor-ship, connections and more in return for a certain percentage of the company’s equity. Failing may be considered not having one shark interested but success is still gained through millions of people being introduced to the company and who knows, maybe a possible investor somewhere down the road. Considering some brands and products that received investments from the sharks the The Ave Venice hopefully won’t go home empty handed.

Checkout more about and buy designs created at The Ave Venice via their website: TheAveVenice.com

Where The Wild Things Are Vans Slip Ons:

Sugar Skull Converse All Star Chuck Taylors:

Breaking Bad Converse All Stars worn by the shows actor Bryan Cranston:

Red Porsche 911 Custom Air Jordan VI Shoes by C2 Customs

Over the 26 years of Air Jordans a main point of inspiration for their designers has been found in the automotive and airline industries. One of the first was the Air Jordan VI made by the brands most well known designer, Tinker Hatfield. Releasing in 1991 Hatfield’s VI design was created based on the look of the Porsche 911, one of Michael Jordan’s cars at that time. The most telling piece of the shoe became the pronounced, black and red plastic heel tab on the VI that was created in the essence of the 911′s over sized spoiler. Chris Hui of C2 Customs‘ goal on this pair of Air Jordan VIs was to further develop the original inspiration and transform the shoe to embody the look of a Porsche as close as possible.

C2 started out using a youth sized white/varsity red/black Air Jordan VI retro as his base shoe, seen below to understand the amount of changes made. After prepping the shoes properly, change number one was painting all white parts Porsche’s official “Guards Red”, complete with that auto body like shine using a waxed gloss finish. Second the white neoprene tongues were dyed tan to match the rich tan leather interiors. A third subtle detail included painting of the Air Max cavity walls a bright maize to represent the signature Brembo brakes and calipers of the 911s. To add more of that official Porsche look, the placement of emblems on the toe and heels a la hood and trunk was painted with gold and black. The front being a small C and 2, while the back mimics the Porsche coat of arms using the stitched Jumpman logo as its centerpiece. Now that is where many customizers would stop and call it done. The details are what C2 is all about though, as his toughest task was drilling four holes and filling them with hand cut metal to create the look of the Porsche 911′s quad exhaust. Luckily C2 is patient enough to not have mis-drilled the holes considering he probably did that step first and could have easily ruined this pair of Jordans and the entire project. There is no way to imagine how hyped these Porsche Air Jordan VI would be if they were an official Air Jordan release. Thanks to C2 for the first look here on PaintOrThread.com.

Checkout more work by Chris and contact him for your own detailed C2 custom sneaker via his website: C2Customs.com

C2′s Porsche 911 inspiration board:

Before being customized by C2, image via Hypebeast.com

Breast Cancer Awareness Air Jordan VI Shoes by Da Prince Customs

Three or four years ago wearing a pair of all pink shoes on the basketball court or football field might have gotten you some weird looks. Now though pink shoes alone are changing the level of awareness for breast cancer research and treatment so much that a custom pair is one of the main options. Da Prince Customs recently finished a customer request for this pair of Breast Cancer Awareness Air Jordan VI. The base shoe used already had pink on a few panels and to start Da Prince dyed the previously clear soles. Next after painting the entire leather upper pink, a few ribbon logos were engraved and painted a darker shade. Lastly in metallic pink, words such as Hope, Friends, Power, Faith, Cure and more were painted to act as empowering statements to help those dealing with the disease. Never would these get a weird look.

For your own Breast Cancer Awareness Air Jordan shoes contact Da Prince via his facebook page here: Facebook.com/DaPrinceCustoms

Dallas Cowboys Custom Shoes: Nike Air Force 1, Blazer, Vans and Adidas

Given the history of signature shoes by Dallas Cowboys players, like Deion Sanders and Emmitt Smith, you’d think there would be a good number of custom sneakers too. It seems as if Cowboys fans just might not be as big a sneaker fans as those of the Pittsburgh Steelers or Green Bay Packers. One thing those Cowboys fans do have is the 2nd longest Thanksgiving Day game behind the Detroit Lions. Dallas started playing the annual holiday game back in 1966 after the NFL looked asked for another team to host the annual Thanksgiving Day game, while every other team declined and decided a Thursday game would somehow hurt their momentum. I wonder how many teams would have said “Yes!” knowing what they know today about football and America? Dallas fans checkout these custom sneaker and comment with your favorite. To purchase any style or contact the artist check out the link in their description.

Kids Cowboys Vans Slip-on painted by Tiffany Minkus

“How ‘Bout Them Cowboys” with mascot Rowdy Nike Blazers painted by D@ Prince Customs

Cowboys logo fabric Nike Air Force 1 by Casey Custom Sneakers

Big Star logo Cowboys Adidas Superstars painted by D@ Prince Customs

Run DMC adidas Originals Superstar 80s Kids Size by Dank Customs

In celebration of the 25th anniversary of Run DMC’s “My adidas” another pair pair of the iconic white with three black stripes Superstars were released with the groups branding. The pair was complete with 1986 stitched on the sides and limited to just as many pairs, gold dookie chain dubraes, JMJ on the heel panels, special tongue branding and the classic RUN DMC logo on the insoles. But as with previous RUN DMC themed adidas releases not much was made for parents wanting their kids to match. Leave it up to a customizer like Dank Customs to create a simple pair like these mini versions of the Adidas Superstar 35th Anniversary pair from a few years back. Maybe parents and kids will be able to say “Our Adidas” during the 30th year celebration.

Checkout more work from Dank Customs aka Jwdanklefs via his blog: http://jwdanklefs.blogspot.com/

The Beatles Cirque du Soleil “LOVE” Vol. 2 Custom Shoes by Swaves

Shoes made in multiple colorways are usually only for the companies factory releases, so when you get to see a pair of custom sneakers in a 2nd colorway it is a special occasion. The latest occasion happens to be a 2nd rendition of the The Beatles and Cirque du Soleil “LOVE” Nike Dunks by Swaves. After the first pair Swaves made last summer was shown in the Cirque du Soleil private newsletter the shows CEO, Guy Laliberte, decided to commission Swaves to create this pair in him and his child’s sizes. On this second pair Swaves stuck with a pretty similar design of the LOVE logo and The Beatles on the back heels and a 5 color stripe wave that wraps around the shoes but instead of a bright yellow the shoes are mostly black with details made of  white, yellow, and shades of red. Oh and once again completely free-hand painted. Which do you like more, Vol. 1 or Vol. 2?

Swaves said he won’t be painting these again anytime soon but if your looking for a super clean and crisp detailed custom design contact him through his site here: CustomSwaves.com

Volume 1:

Volueme 2:

Pittsburgh Steelers Custom Shoes: Nike Air Force 1s, Vans and more

It would probably be fitting to just type black and yellow forty more times, right? But did you actually know the Steelers were originally named the Pirates after the city’s baseball team of the same name in 1933 but changed to the Steelers in 1940. Like their opponents in tonight’s Super Bowl the Green Bay Packers, the Steelers are as rich as football history gets as they are actually the winningest team since the Super Bowl was introduced with 6 SB victories, and won more AFC Championship games with 8. So who did you put your money on? Green or Black? Blacks got some catchin’ up to do.

To purchase any of these custom shoe designs click the link of the customizer name in the following titles:

Nike Air Force 1 Mids with black and yellow speckle by D@ Prince Customs

Simple Steelers black Nike Air Force 1s by Pimpmykicks

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania city skyline painted Nike Air Force 1s by PimpMyKicks.com

Troy Polamalu Steelers Nike Air Force 1s by PimpMyKicks

another pair by PimpMyKicks.com

Nikes custom painted for Steelers Linebacker Lemar Woodley by PinkEye

Vans slipons painted with an image of Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger by Stabby’s Custom Shoes

And these last two because Steeler Nation needs the whole family reppin’ black and yellow. Kids canvas shoes with Big Ben’s #7 on the toes and Steelers logo lace locks by tickledtoes on Etsy.com

Baby booties made from Steelers fabric by TGMDesigns on Etsy.com

Green Bay Packers Custom Shoes: Nikes, Vans, and more

As the second oldest franchise in the NFL the Green Bay Packers have some history. Nowadays they are the last of the small town NFL teams but the most winning team ever with 12 league championships: 9 NFL Championships prior to the introduction of the Super Bowl at which they have three victories 1967, 1968, and 1996. Heck the Super Bowl trophy was named after their legendary coach Vince Lombardi after he died in 1970. As the 2nd highest post season winning percentage Green Bay takes on the number one team Pittsburgh Steelers in tonight’s Super Bowl XLV. Green and Yellow or Black and Yellow? Checkout the Green and Yellow Green Bay Packers Custom kicks below and check back for the Pittsburgh Steelers custom kicks at halftime of the game.

Nike Air Force 1s by MP Custom Kicks

Hand painted Vans slipons with the classic G logo and Vince Lombardi by: BootSauce

Cheesehead Green Bay Packer Nike Air Force 1s by KickFactory 619. Notice the cheese holed Swooshes!

Bright yellow Packers Nike Air Force 1 low tops by KingOfSneakers.com via MyAirShoes.com

Nike Dunks made for Green Bay Packers Quarterback Aaron Rogers back in 2009 by Imag4ever via SneakerObsession.com

And because the babies in Green Bay love the Packers before birth, custom Packers booties from Blakestermom on Etsy.com

Chinese Year of the Rabbit Custom Vans by 8th Generation

You can keep the mass produced and overpriced Year of the Rabbit kicks and their chenille, give me these custom Vans by Louie Gong of 8th Generation. Louie who is actually one part Chinese customized these previously all white Vans in celebration of the 4708 Chinese New Year, the year of the rabbit. They feature a nearly symmetrical hand drawn design of a white red-eyed rabbit and gold lotus flower in Louie’s signature Coast Salish Art style. Just don’t light those celebration fireworks that close to your custom kicks.

For your own pair of Year of the Rabbit Vans contact Louie via his website here: www.EighthGeneration.com

11 pairs of Womens and Kids Custom Christmas Themed Shoes

Despite the fact that Nike usually comes out with some sort of Christmas colorway shoe ever year Christmas and other winter holidays are not a very popular theme among the average PaintOrThread.com featured shoe customizers. But…there is a market of people that do like Christmas themed custom shoes and I have a feeling they are along the lines of the same people that buy Christmas sweaters but not because they think they are ugly. So here is a look at 11 (of the actually better executed) Christmas themed shoes and a cool set of Converse All Star Chuck Taylor stockings.

Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer Custom Converse All Star Chuck Taylors via Amazon.com

The Grinch Who Stole Christmas toddler shoes via eBay.com

Wintery Snowy Christmas womens Hi cut Converse All Star Chuck Taylors by Artouches on Etsy via http://epherielldesigns.com/

The Grinch Who Stole Christmas womens shoes by elizapink on Etsy

Santa Claus and Candy Cane Swarovski crystal Converse Chuck Taylors by Dara43 on Etsy

Womens Candy Cane clogs by dinosaurbox on Etsy

Converse All Star Chuck Taylor Stockings(not real shoes) by creationzbycatherine on Etsy

Toddler Christmas Tree and Lights painted canvas shoes by JLPerillo on Etsy

Santa Claus and Reindeer womens Sugar shoes by dreaminbohemian on Etsy

Believe in Santa Claus and his reindeer womens shoes by dlnquentunicorn on Etsy

The Grinch shoes by Buttercup Customs on Etsy