The past few years have seen a rampant influx of shoe customizers having their original 1 of1 custom designs ripped off and mass produced into bootleg fake shoes along the same lines as Nike SB Dunks and Nike Air Jordans. All these fake factories use is a few photos they find online. One shoe customizer is taking a different approach from now on with how he shares his work across the Internet in hopes of deterring factories from ripping off his designs. That shoe customizer is the Chicago, Illinois based ST!ZO, who will limit photos to up close preview shots and a quick video to get a general idea of the shoes but not much in the way of detailed shots. His first design to receive this treatment is a pair of “HALO” Nike Dunk lows created for a professional gamer to wear in his next event in Las Vegas. The design is mostly a green and black based off the battle armor worn by Master Chief in the Xbox exclusive game, HALO. In the one photo you can also see what looks to be a screw head on the toe panel and some line engraving and from the video you can also see the Swooshes are painted a pretty shiny gold. Since showcasing custom shoes is pretty much the whole point of this site I’m kinda bummed by ST!ZO’s decision to limit how much we can really see of his work. What are your thoughts on trying to keep his designs from being bootlegged?
To commission your own pair of HALO Dunks visit his site here: ST!ZOMedia.blogspot.com