One of the easier “concepts” in the custom sneaker world is that of the color swap. It involves the customizing a pair of sneakers into a different colorway based on an officially released colorway of a different model of shoes. Even though the creativity needed to complete a color swap is basic, the skills needed to pull off a decent end result take some practice to achieve. [more]
Do mess with Texas based customizer Jake of Dank Customs when it comes to customizing your favorite Nike Air Max retro. His latest customer request creation is full of the state of Texas pride. Starting with the red, white and blue colorway the midsoles were painted blue with black added to the groove lines. Upon the upper you see one of the better takes at recreating Nike’s elephant print with the black on gray design painted after being engraved. Red on the Swooshes and liners bring together the look. [more]
Will any team be able to cool off Lebron from getting his 2nd NBA Championship this June? So far it appears not. In celebration of the Heat’s 2013 playoff run BlackLion Customs created this custom titled after the classic “He’s On Fire!” line from the video game NBA Jam. The Lebron X has seen lots of customs that cover the entire upper in a painted airbrushed design but BlackLion chose to keep it a bit simpler. [more]
After last month’s tragedy at the Boston Marathon Christian of Fuda Customs chose to use his growing customizing skills to show support of the bombings victims. He customized this originally all white Nike Air Force one with a skyline of downtown Boston, Massachusetts superimposed across a background of an American flag. Along the heels is the phrase “Boston Strong” in white lettering. The design is being auctioned off to be re-created in the winners size. All proceeds will be given to The One Fund Boston. [more]
Darn Nike they really sure know how to upset “sneakerheads” these days. Having Lebron and Kevin Durant, their two biggest basketball athletes, post up samples that’ll never see the light of day in sneaker store shelves across America. The next option for those sneakerheads are customizers if you haven’t figured that out yet. Taking inspiration from the “tennis ball” Lebron 9 Elite that KingJames posted online Twizz Customs brightened up the Lebron 9 Elite in white and black in this “US Open” customization. [more]
If anything is popular in sneakers this year it has to be animal prints. But doesn’t it seem like that’s been popular in some sense for years? Either way this custom stands out from your standard cheetah or leopard with the look of the ocelot. Ossawhut? It’s a dwarf leopard. But for a more interesting look Ryan of Twitch Customs actually combined two patterns. [more]
With a history of 50 years, 500+ comics, and now 3 feature films Iron Man is quite the accomplished comic book character. Apart of the Marvel Comics empire the red and gold superpower machine super hero is not just for comic book nerds. Sneakerheads have fully embraced the metal suit look of engineer billionaire Tony Stark. With the release of 2008′s Iron Man movie the idea to use the red and golden suit for a custom sneaker fan art design only continued to grow. 5 years later and on the release of the 3rd movie we have scoured the web for what we’d like to consider the best Iron Man [more]
Last week we showcased Dank Customs take on a Doctor Doom theme Nike Air Max 1 as part of SAsneaksup 2013. For the same event and 4th year in a row Jake of Dank Customs put together a 1 of 1 custom that was raffled off at the event last weekend in San Antonio, Texas. Sticking with the Doom theme and the AM1 retro, the MF Doom Nike Dunk was recreated in low top form. One of the better thought out color swaps, this Air Max is spot on to the look of the Dunk hi sans just the 3M piping’s reflectiveness. Though the all black and metallic gray upper was still accented by a light gray outline. [more]
The all white Foamposite is starting to make the rounds in the custom sneaker world. Taking inspiration from a few places SmoothTip goes New York Knicks and Sole Collector on these Foams. NY blue was added to the lace panels, tongue, ankle, and sockliners with hints of orange on the embroidered Swooshes and tongue pull tab. Next embroidered patches of the old school Knicks NYK logo and the Sole Collector S logo seen on the limited [more]
A simple but detailed alteration can give a shoe an entirely different life. The hibiscus flower which goes by gumamela in the Philippines was the inspiration for this more masculine take on a flower design by Charles of CPB Customs. Starting with the Slate Blue Nike Dunk SB they were transformed starting with the painting and engraving of the gumamela pattern mixed in with roses, banana tree leaves, and thorns in black against the slate blue panels. The previously white Swooshes were given a coat of metallic gold with matching laces to tie in with the classic gum soles. [more]
The look of many shoe designs upon one shoe is either a love or hate thing. It was a concept started by Nike SB with their “What the Dunk” that due to limited numbers became a popular shoe. Do you think you could pull off a look like this? Twizz Customs recreated a plethora of Lebron 9 colorways onto that same 9 with apparently not a single spot on the shoe missing a change of color. [more]
Even if a list of the BEST CUSTOM SNEAKERS OF ALL TIME, curated by the most experienced sneaker customizers of the last 10 years was EVEN possible I don’t think many Lebrons would be very high ranking. Even though the shoe is surely what is popular these days I don’t think we have seen it’s best customs. Oh you say but look at Jordans! The love for custom Js that has come around is lovely. But 4, 5, heck 2 years ago the majority of people would have commented “They cool but I wouldnt where cuz people think they fake.” But see something enough and it becomes what you know and “people only like what they know”, if I may use the words of emmanueLabor. You say but don’t forget the Foamz. I say stop, show me your favorite Foam custom and I’ll show you five better customs. [more]
One of the great things about custom sneakers is you get to see different artists representation of a certain theme. Though nothing new, the comic book hero inspired design has been done before but it is cool to compare one persons idea up against another. One character not seen an overwhelming amount is of The Hulk. But starting with a Nike ID Lebron X JP Custom Kicks gave his latest custom the angry green Stan Lee character’s look. [more]
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]
