For the most part the majority of customs are created on brand new deadstock shoes as the final presentation is better without creases or worn soles. But these “Staple Pigeon” Nike Air Force III’s by sneaker customizer Hybrid creator of the brand KLR WHALES go against that school of thought. With the idea to give these shoes continued life this custom became a part restoration as the base was a decently worn and yellowed pair of kicks.
Reconstruction
Customs that involve deconstructing a shoe and then reconstructing that shoe to its original shape or a new form but with new fabrics and materials.
PMK x PUMA Meek Mill Dreams and Nightmares Custom Pack
You’ll have to step your game up if you want these. Step up as in be good enough in some artistic or creative way that another company wants to work with you. PMK Customs worked with shoe brand Puma to offer Philadelphia based hip hop recording artist Meek Mill a set of two shoes inspired by his recent Dreams and Nightmares album.
Adidas Crazy 8 “Python” by @JBFcustoms for @I_Am_Iman
The jumps a few recon sneaker customizers have made in the past year have been huge. Moving away from the classic silhouettes of a Dunk or Air Force 1 to more technical sneakers. One who is steadily rising ahead of the pack of sneaker customizers in general is that of JBF Customs. His latest resume builder is a complete reconstruction of an adidas Crazy 8 retro for one of their signature athletes, Iman Shumpert of the NY Knicks.
PMK Customs: The Blue Print Video via LifeandTimes.com
He wore them on the sidelines of a Brooklyn Nets game now he shares the custom sneakers’ story via his website LifeandTimes.com. That he is Jay Z and the sneaker is the Air Jordan 1 Brooklyn Zoo by PMK Customs. Released last year in a very limited amount of 10 pairs for somewhere around $2500 each the full decon-recon customs feature the real skin and leather of 9 different animals. Check the video below to see how the idea came about and how PMK Customs works with a company called American Shoes to bring the idea to life.
Nike Roshe Run “Snakeskin” Custom by Emilio Zuniga
Nike Roshe Runs have continued to grow in popularity since their successful launch last year. The model went from basic colorways in limited quantities to what now seems an endless array of shades, patterns, and materials. Jeremy Hedin, better known as @whatthekicks, commissioned Emilio “PK” Zuniga to create a pair that transcended what we’ve seen so far from the running shoe.
Nike Dunk Untit1ed by GroundBreaker Customs
How else will you accomplish a goal if you don’t push yourself out of your comfort zone? Ask Demetrius Mensah of GroundBreaker Customs and he’ll tell you. Demetrius chose to make his latest pair of customs be a challenge in another step forward to customizing a pair of kicks through the decon-recon process. As someone who has been customizing coming up on three years now he was unsatisfied with the lack creativity in his work, wanted to start commanding more respect from his sneaker customizer peers and overall just kick GB up a notch. What did he do? These Nike Dunks titled Untit1ed.
Air Jordan 4 Command Force Customs by @emmanueLabor
The years were 1989 and 1991, Michael Jordan and David Robinson, the Air Jordan IV debuted first and the Nike Air Command Force a couple years later. MJ continued to sell shoes obviously while Mr. Robinson never gained that status that could sell his own signature shoe. Surely Robinson influenced some sales. But Woody Harrelson playing as Billy Hoyle rocking the Command Force in White Men Can’t Jump is considered more significant than anything that happened in them around Mr. Robinson’s Neighborhood. Yet for emmanueLabor this custom combining the both pairs was a way to bring him back to his childhood.
Air Jordan 4 Bred Python Custom by @TheShoeSurgeon
The Air Jordan line has been getting its taste of animal skin as of late in the custom sneaker world. The most recent is the Air Jordan IV in the classic “bred” colorway. Created by Dominic Chambrone aka The Shoe Surgeon this Jordan retro was reconstructed with an overlay of black python skin over the entire black nubuck upper. The back heel tabs and eyelet wings were kept while the Air Jordan flight tongue tags were replaced with those of The Shoe Surgeons logo lasered into red suede. Exotic.