Brandon Laskowski 
Has there been a super villain with a bigger legacy than the short lived Joker played by Heath Ledger? Kyle of KSM Custom Kicks brings that Joker’s signature characteristic to the Nike Lebron X. The previously all white upper received a painting of purple on the toes, green on the back Swooshes, and the Flywire mesh was painted black.
Use your resources. The craze for glow in the dark painted uppers and soles is at an all time high in the custom sneaker scene, but why go to the trouble of adding glow if you can already get it on a base sneaker? Detroit based customizer El Cappy went to the archives to pull out a glow in the dark Nike Dunk from 2006 for his latest custom to receive his 1 of 1 treatment.
Any good idea is worth doing again if there is improvement right? I mean how many times did they make that movie? From the preview earlier this week of the Metal Guy Dunk High by Diversitile and 3R Customs anyone that has been paying attention to custom sneakers for at least a few years probably said “hmm something seems familiar”. In a new revamped take on their original design that sort of got them into a bit of trouble in 2010 this Nike Dunk is customized in a recognizable metallic red and gold colorway.
First released in 2008 and later released in the updated version seen below last year Art & Sole: Contemporary Sneaker Art & Design is a complete record of the trend towards “artist” series released from the sneaker industries big brands up until 2008. The dream of many customizers was to have their own chance to design a colorway or theme to be made in mass by Nike, adidas, Puma, etc. This book gives you an idea of who and what has caught the attention of brands enough to give artists or independent art brands their own sneaker.
Will collaborations be the trend for the second half of 2013 in custom sneakers? If so leading the way for that wave might just be the guys from Diversitile and 3R Customs. Thankfully the two custom veterans put faith in PaintOrThread to give the world the first look on this updated and revamped version of a past Diversitile world-infamous release.
If 2012 saw anything in the custom sneaker game it was the growth in the use of animal skins for reconstructions. 2013 has seen that trend only continue to increase in popularity. The latest animal endeavor comes from a well known name, Mache coming together with a relatively unknown name, Relevant Customs to make The REAL Nike What the Kobe VIII.
“You can’t get these.” That is the only statement anyone to ever obsessively wear a pair of sneakers wants to tell EVERYONE. But these days most anyone that wants a sneaker release will get it as they are nearly all 99% attainable. So how do you out do the next man….and next and next? Get vintage or customized. Odds are vintage aren’t gonna be wearable so you gotta get a retro release made unlike something on a store shelve. One known to do that and one known to provide for that are Wale and JBF Customs.
If you’ve been wondering how some customizers have been adding special patches to their customizations here is your answer: Herbjuice. If you know the name you’ve likely come across his work on the aforementioned sneaker customizers or his patches of Air Jordan and Nike silhouettes posted all over Instagram. With his growing popularity in the custom scene we had to get more info on how Herbjuice’s whole production came about. So read below to see what has happened and what might be next.