How To: Videos, Tips, Tools

I went through a lot of trial and error when I first started making customs. It was both time consuming and expensive, and I know that, although many young people might want to personalize their shoes, most will either get discouraged by early failures or get tapped out by the costs involved. I hope this video will save people some of the trial and error that I went through because I think personalizing the stuff you put on your body is a meaningful experience that more people should try.

Check out a slide show from one of my custom shoe workshops:
Art and Identity: Custom Shoes with Iraqi Youth (with Vans and Jones Soda)
Art and Idnetity: Custom Shoes and Identity Doodles with Granton Rancheria Youth

TheVansBlog
A blog associated with Vans that literally “talks about stuff about Vans.” Go there nowto click “Custom Painted” link on the right see a cross section of customs artist from around the world.

Paint or Thread
Brandon Lakowski has put together one of the most comprehensive resources on the web for the person that wants to create their own customs or check out the work from the best customizers around the world.

My Facebook Gallery
Check out every one of the 130 unique customs I’ve made over the last two years. You can see my development from early works to customs that I created just a few days ago. It’s all about practice.

Fabric Mate by Yasutomo
I used fabric makers 90% of the time when working on canvas shoes. The dye is much more durable than acrylic.