After three years the second Clash of the Customizers is set to kick off for an ultimate summer showdown. The top shoe customizers around the world will compete in a friendly battle over the summer months to see who has the skills and talents to make some of the best wearable art fashion enthusiasts have ever seen. The tournament style will commence with a final gallery showing in LA of all participating parties. Will you step up to the challenge? Here are the official details:

In 2009, Jester of 3R Customs  set out to create the ultimate contest for sneaker artists, the Clash of the Customizers. Pitted against each other in an NCAA style bracket competition, each customizer would compete one on one with a new customized pair for each round until one final winner was left.

After a 3 year hiatus, the Clash of the Customizers is back! This time being presented by the Hive Collective the CotCII will take on a slightly different twist following the model of soccer’s World Cup rather than the NCAA tourney. This will give everyone a chance to compete in more than one battle as opposed to previously when it was one and done. Also, unlike last time which was an invite-only event, the CotCII will be opened to anyone that wants to participate making it the biggest and best sneaker customizing competition ever!

Last time, it was painting phenom YoaKustoms who marginally beat out recon artist Jester’s Dunk Yeezy’s in the final round with the Chinese Takeout Dunk Highs. Will it be you this time in the final??

Registration for the Clash of the Customizers II is now open until the end of April and will cost you a deposit of $100 to lock in your spot. Once registration is closed, a live broadcast of the group draft will occur and the bracket will be revealed.

Don’t miss out on your chance to be apart of sneaker customizing history! Visit http://www.clashofthecustomizers.com/ and sign up now!

Direct questions about registering to admin@clashofthecustomizers.com

From the gallery showing in December 2009:

Buy these and checkout more work from Mache Customs at: MacheCustoms.com and follow him on Twitter: @MACHE275

Checkout the entire list here: Inside the Mind of a Sneakerhead: The 10 Hottest Custom Sneakers

Check it out here: Flyer News: Junior Crafts business with style, enthusiasm

Checkout more work and order your own Thunder shoes from KingOfSneakers via the site: KingOfSneakers.com

The entire mashup mix hybrid combo design concept has had a large place in the sneaker world the past few years: Jordan Fusions, Spizikes, Son of Mars, Zoom Rookies, Sharkleys, and maybe number one among many others…the Nike Air Yeezy. Designed by Kanye West the Yeezy II is already set to release this June with growing hype and perhaps unforeseen resell prices. In the meantime Mache Customs knew exactly what to do on these previously white, black, and purple Air Jordan Son of Mars. Their resemblance structurally was similar to the first Air Yeezy so much that Mache imagined their black and pink colorway on them and this is the result.

The Yeezy “Y” print was etched into the heels to start. Next the outsoles were painted to glow in the dark. Third a patent leather effect was given to the strap along with the front elephant print mudguard being grayed out. For a little more life the midsoles were painted black but kept the Jordan feel with the shark teeth painted pink to match the liners and heel tab. As of now these will be a 1 of 1 but to see if that ever changes follow Mache Customs on Twitter: @Mache275.

Checkout more work from Mache Custom Kicks via his website: MacheCustoms.com

Last year Nike’s backlash after the inadvertent use of the names Cheech and Chong for a Nike Dunk inspired these 4/20 Nike Air Force 1s to get finished by emmanueLabor despite a few setbacks. Personally emmanueLabor doesn’t partake in the activity celebrated on 4/20 but that does not mean he can’t use his creativity. This pair of decon-recon customs takes on the look, colors, and feel of the classic amber medicine bottle. The look was achieved with translucent amber vinyl against a gold canvas for the entire upper. To accent the concept colors were used in the perfect shade of green on the sockliner and the purple on his chosen soles with matching amber midsoles. Finally on the back heels you see simple white to represent the bottles plastic lid. Check out the video of the decon-recon process for making these medicinal purpose only AF1s.

See more work from emmanueLabor via his website: www.emmanueLabor.com

To celebrate the Year of the Dragon, shoe customizer Laptop LaSane decided to make a tribute custom for THE dragon, Bruce Lee, as his name in Mandarin, Li Xiaolong stands for “little dragon.” To convey the theme without going all character custom LaSane chose to use the iconic yellow and black track suit Lee wore in The Game of Death. Now in the movie Lee and his doubles wore yellow Onitsuka Tigers but if it was made today the Lebrons might be the shoe of choice. What started out as a pair of all white and red Lebron 8 pretty much had its identity changed completely with the majority of the upper panels painted a bright yellow. Next the previously red midsoles were painted black along with the Swooshes, lace area and Flywire edges. Lastly the “dragon” of Lebron…his lion logo was painted black on the tongues. How do you think these stand against the latest Lebron customs?

Checkout more work from Laptop Lasane Customs via his website:  http://laptoplasane.wordpress.com/ and follow him on Twitter: @Laptop_Lasane

The only way these could be a cooler couple of custom shoes would be if they were actually painted with an octopus’ ink. The artist, Ran Brown, says the process was “messy”, but I doubt that was because she had to source her own octopus ink and went with the usual combination of markers and acrylic paint. Of course if PETA got wind of someone using a sea creatures ink they might have something to say about that. What started out as a generic canvas slip ons are now a completely custom illustrated set of sinister looking octopus sneakers with tentacles spread over both shoes. Created all in an afternoon.

This pair is also one of the seldom seen designs on PaintOrThread.com that was created by someone that doesn’t necessarily list “shoe customizer” on their resume. Yet she still lives creatively day to day as a freelance cartoonist, illustrator and graphic designer on top of a twice-weekly webcomic called, The End.
Which once again proves a blank pair of footwear as a legitimate canvas in its own right.

Checkout more art from Ran or contact her for a pair of your own custom shoes via her website: Unpretended.com

A year later seems about right that these get posted. Exactly one year ago on this date JBF Customs released this pair of decon-recon”4/20″ Nike Blazers for this celebrated day. The design should not need much explaining but as a customer order JBF’s client wanted something more on the subtle side. The three materials used were black suede on the majority of the upper, black leather on the heel tab and eyelets with hemp featured on the Swooshes, tongue, and heel’s smoke puff cutouts. You can count on JBF to always be real detailed and that is the case once again in addition to the heel cutout the tongue features one subtle leaf stitched in the same green thread used throughout the shoe. It’s likely too late but JBF did say he was making 4 pairs of these last year so send him an email at blaise28@gmail.com to see if he’ll still make these for you.

Checkout more work from JBF Customs at JBFcusotms.com and follow him on Twitter: @JBFcustoms