The Best Iron Man Themed Custom Shoes

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]

Steven Van Doren Vans OTW Slip Ons by TwoLeft Custom Shoes

Some people can just draw really well. They’ve got the whole scaled perspective thing down. When they decide to take their drawing ability from paper to sneakers the process is a bit different and the outcome is something to be proud of. Joe Ziegler of TwoLeft Custom Shoes made the transition to drawing on shoes years ago but possibly one of his coolest custom projects just finished this year. In a chance occurrence Joe changed a pair of all white canvas Vans Slip Ons to a pair commemorating the brands VP of Events, Steve Van Doren, the son of founder Paul Van Doren, for Steve’s daughter Kristy Van Doren. [more]

Map of Los Angeles Custom Vans by Randy of @RadIsRad

The type of custom designs that can speak for themselves are a favorite here at PaintOrThread.com. But the least we can do is give a good description of what is pictured and where you can contact the artist that made them. Even then you’d be surprised how many times people still comment asking where they can get the featured shoes. But the word where is not a question for these custom Vans. Living in southern California probably had something to do with the design on this previously all white pair of Vans slip ons. Randy De Jesus of the streetwear brand Rad Is Rad put his drawing [more]

Vans Custom Culture Top 50 Semi-Finalists Announced

Today Vans announced the Top 50 Semi Finalist schools as part of their annual Custom Culture contest. That 50 school list equates to 200 different customized Vans with four entered from each high school’s brightest artists. That may seem like a lot but realize that up to 1500 schools may have entered split into 5 regions. Heck the STATE of California has it’s own region (fitting of course). That equals a total of 6000 custom Vans made for this contest. Imagine having to weed through to get the Top 50. [more]

Batman vs The Joker Custom Painted Vans Shoes by MonsterMacDesigns

A post sharing the completed customization work from MonsterMacDesigns is long long long over due. This recently finished pair of Batman vs The Joker Vans by the customizer Jordan “MonsterMac” McMahon is cream of the crop when it comes to custom hand painted Vans sneakers. The ever so often used white canvas sneaker features a very comic book styling of the polar duo. Batman was placed on the  [more]

Neapolitan Ice Cream Cone Custom Vans by Carl Floyd Medley III

The pristine white canvas of a Vans Era gets the sticky sweet colorful look of an ice cream cone on this pair titled 5 Second Rule by Carl Floyd Medley III. From the edges of the sole to the end of the sockliner these Vans showcase a fresh outlined Neapolitan ice cream made of chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry. Details were not skimped upon with the painting of multi-colored sprinkles, bright red cherries, and the look of a golden brown waffle cone wrapped around the heels.

Check more work from Carl Floyd Medley III at Facebook.com/CarlCanDraw. Also contact him about his custom holiday shoe sale going on until January 2013 at: info@carlmedley.com

CKIP: Bacon and Beaches Custom Vans kicks in progress for @baconshakin by MonsterMacDesigns

The combination could only be custom: bacon and beaches? Follow this customizer @MnstrMacDesigns

Don’t Step on My Vans! Customs by @FreakerSneaks

Purposely stepping on another persons sneakers is one of highest forms of disrespect. Athens, Greece shoe customizer Jonny of FreakerSneaks put a spin on that foul act on his latest custom, Don’t Step on My Vans!. After a Vans rep visited his shop he was asked to make a pair in celebration of a new Vans store opening up in the local mall. The all white Vans Era was given an addition of black paint to the back half with neon pink around the lining and lime green laces to match. Next the concept was made true with the painting of two other shoes footprints on the white canvas toes. Finishing touches to complete the package were insoles done up with their title and FreakerSneaks logo.

Check more work from Jonny at FreakerSneaks.com and on Facebook.com/freakersneaks and Twitter: @FreakerSneaks

Vans Red Bull Stratos Custom Shoes by Sloth

Would you go to space if given the opportunity? The company known for the most extreme of extreme stunts, Red Bull, has been working on a project titled Stratos with the goal of breaking the speed of sound. That is a human jumping from a stratospheric balloon freefalling in attempt to break the speed of sound. That guy is Felix Baumgartner known for his expertise in skydiving and BASE jumping who is being led by his predecessor Joe Kittinger who set four world records by freefalling from 102,800 feet in 1960. Earlier this week the project was postponed due to weather, and as of now it appears Sunday October 14th is the next best day. Seriously there is so much more to this project, take 5 minutes to get all the details here: RedBullStratos.com

Known for his signature style of hand painted custom Vans, Timmy Ham aka Sloth was asked by RedBull to make some customs based on the project. The usual look of bold black lines and bright colors transformed this previously all white pair of Vans to Red Bull Stratos sneakers. Red Bull’s repertoire of primary colors cover the shoes with their bull silhouette and sun making a couple appearances along with a space helmet, wing motif, blue skies, “Stratos, and Sloth’s XX. Unique art for a uniquely risky adventure.

Check out more custom sneaker work by Timmy Ham aka Sloth at IAmSloth.com and follow him and the Red Bull Stratos project on Twitter: @RedBullStratos and @TimmyHam.

Michael Jackson Portrait Vans Slip On Custom Shoes by Matt Cory

Today marks the would have been 54th birthday of the King of Pop, Michael Jackson. One of the most famous icons ever, Jackson’s likeness is often a subject of choice for many types of artists. After his death in 2009 the amount of fans wishing to make a tribute to the late pop star through some type of creative outlet undoubtedly increased at an exponential rate. Chances are not many were better than these couple pairs of Vans Slip Ons by Matt Cory. Created shortly after his death each pair features a spot on black and white portrait of Jackson from the late 80s and early 90s.

Checkout the video to see Cory draw both shoes in two sittings and contact him via his website: http://mattcory.wordpress.com/

The Best Fight Club Custom Shoes: Nikes, Vans, Converse

In celebration of a spike in traffic today due to people searching for Fight Club custom shoes and landing on couple previous posts here is a list of hand created Fight Club custom shoes from around the Internet. In no particular order the best 10 pairs found are on the next pages along with info on how to contact each artist. Base shoes range range from Nikes to Keds with designs of Tyler Durden to the infamous pink bars of soap. Which is your favorite?

CKIP: Michael Jackson’s Thriller Custom Vans by Monster Mac Designs

These CKIP look like they will be perfect to celebrate the upcoming spooky season. Texas based customizer Monster Mac Designs just finished the base sketch on this pair of Vans with a Thriller theme based on Michael Jackson’s classic music video. Follow @mnstrmacdesigns for more of his work and check back to see the finished Vans.

Hulk Face Vans Shoes by RNGTN Customs

This pair of Hulk Face Vans by RNGTN Customs is a complete face-off. The left shoe features a hand painted classic green skinned Hulk visually upset about something. That something may be the fact that he has to split the canvas of a pair of Vans slip ons with his adversary The Red Hulk seen on the right shoe. Check Bradley of RNGTN Customs process in the video below and follow him on Twitter for more custom sneaker updates: @RNGTN

The Berrics: Steve Berra and Eric Koston Vans by RNGTN Customs