Art Kicks by Evan Schultz since winning our 1st Custom Contest

Ever since winning the first PaintorThread.com Custom Contest in June Evan Schultz Art Kicks has been in full creative mode. His medium is nothing new, people have been drawing on Vans Slip Ons for years. As well there is quite a few shoe customizers that exclusively work on these shoes. But Evan stands out with creative and out of the ordinary designs,  great illustrations, and not to mention he is willing to put his work on the line in the good name of competitions.  Here is what Art Kicks has been up to:

Milk Man Customs: Adidas Shelltoe Switchup

One of the contestants in the first Paint or Thread Custom Contest, Milk Man Customs, recently finished up an interesting modification to a pair of Adidas high top shell toes. The process included changing up the tongue, different lace panels with eyelets, and extended padding around the ankles. The end result was a bit of a hiking boot mixed with classic basketball silhouette and some hand painted cartoony camo or rock pattern thrown in. Success indeed Milk Man, success indeed. Click the link to see Milk Mans process.

DC Howard Dunk Low Hybrid By Hush Fabrications

Amazing. I thought about looking up a fancier word to describe the latest from custom shoe by Hush Fabrications but I gave up. I’m even afraid to ask Hush how he made them. Are they just a skin over the Dunk or a full “decon-recon”? I think it is better if they are a complete mystery. Complete with cowskin suede, ballistic mesh, and 3m reflective accents Hush recreated the DC Howard low skate shoe upper onto a Dunk sole. They look factory made, not by hand. Hush even used eyelets from Air Max 1s and added his H logo on the tongue and heels. Honestly customizers….your really not doing it if you are not doing some form of  “decon and recon”.

Story behind Dunk Force 1’s by The Sole Seeker

Earlier this week Gabe aka The Sole Seeker had a certain customizing forum’s attention when he posted his Nike “Blue Lobster” Dunk SB with a Nike Air Force 1 sole. This has been seen before at sneaker shows notably the Supreme Dunk SB with AF1 sole sticks out in my mind as one of the first to cause a stir. Though they had all been made by Nike. This is the first time a customizer has cleanly presented the finished sole swap as a custom. Not that other people have not or could not, it just has not been seen. So I contacted Gabe for more on the story behind his sole swapping venture:

What inspired you to attempt this customizing of switching uppers and soles of Dunks and AF1?

The inspiration came from 2 things, Chi McBride and a pair of Jordan Six Rings I did.  I’ve been in the shoe game since ‘95 and my favorite shoe is the Space Jam AJ XI so when the 6 rings dropped I wanted a Space Jam colorway since they looked relatively alike.  So I took a Concord and Bred 6 rings and mated the Bred upper to the Concord bottom and made my own Space Jam 6 Rings.  I did not wanna just paint the concord upper cause I wanted it to look original so that’s what started the whole Decon-Recon thing for me and once I saw the Chi McBride photo of his Unkle Dunk SB highs x AF1 bottoms I had to have it, so out of necessity my Dunk Force 1 or DF-1 were created.

df11

emmanueLabor: Air Jordan Space Jam Air Force 1 aka Air Force 11

Arguably the greatest Air Jordan has yet to be truly bastardized and run into the ground by Nike/Jordan Brand. The silhouette is a classic defining shoe for the brand and greatest basketball player of all time. Recently from either their own imagination, mere coincidence, or because they copied the idea from customizers Jordan Brand has been combining or fusing “Air Jordan Fusions” with Nike Air Force 1’s. Despite the usual ugliness the shoes have sold. Which leads back to the greatest Air Jordan, the XI which have yet to be put into the extremely innovative “Fusion” form. Once again the customizer beat the big boys.

emmanueLabor recently finished up a take at what a Air Jordan XI/Air Force 1 Fusion might look like. And he did superb work keeping the major design elements of the XI and the AF1 intact: panels, tongue, curve of the patent leather, clear soles, and JUMPMAN JORDAN tags on the tongue. At the same time he put in some flare using a 3m reflective upper instead of the ballistic mesh. But if you want a pair he can do you up using that same ballistic mesh. A “Concord XI” is what I wanna see.

emmanueLabor’s MySpace

SBTG x Kobe Bryant x Duke Basketball Update

Actual pics of the shoes have finally surfaced. Nothing groundbreaking simple classic SBTG imagery thrown in with a imaginary Kobe Bryant Duke basketball theme. Sort of black and blue Jordan 1’esq? The wooden box with the glass cover and laser engraving takes them up many notches though.

via StreetThing