Customs made for men
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.
Before PaintOrThread the first blog dedicated to custom sneakers was 2000words. Ran by Kevin Moore the site updates ultimately succumbed to life’s responsibilities. Luckily some of the content was salvageable. Allowing sneaker customizers of today a way to look back on their past or to give a glimpse of what came before them. Just perfect for Sneaker Customizer Throwback Thursday.
If this shoe looks familiar and you never saw it the first time in 2008 or spotted them in the streets, what you saw likely was not authentic. These are from a time when the Nike Dunk was the choice shoe amongst both sneaker customizers and sneakerheads. DEZ, a graffiti artist known for putting his work on everything from walls to kicks, made these “Do the Dew” Nike Dunks as a complementary piece to his Mountain Dew Green Label Art winning bottle design.
The stigma of customizing a high dollar after market sneaker went out the door sometime last year starting with customized Yeezy IIs and a pair of these same Nike Air Mags. Sneakerheads that will never get these shoes are probably crying “Why ruin a classic wah wah wah!” But a driving factor of customs is that they aren’t meant for everyone, and often times they are designed for one person. But surely this Air Mag by Kickasso Kustoms modeled after the “Elite” concept used on Nike’s premier basketball models would fly off the shelves in 2015 self-lacing or not.
What DOES love got to do with it? Everything, right? The theme of love, summer love that is, comes back around again from Ecentrik Artistry for 2013. Previous Summer Love collection of custom sneakers from EA were on Nike models like Air Force 1s and Air Max 90s. This time the oh so popular Air Jordan V catches the love bug. Using two recent retros of the AJ V in white/black/red and “Grape” Ecentrik created a whole new look for the shoe.