Not much separates sneakers from the crowd more than a 1 of 1 custom design. Some customizers rely on small runs of multiple pairs usually lacking intricate detail while others make it their bread and butter to bring the detail in something only one person could have. Finally we’ve made the effort to share some of the involute of work from United Kingdom based sneaker customizer Benji Blunt in this adidas Superstar 80s titled Dragons.
China
Color Swap Saturday: Nike Lebron 9 Low “China” Custom by KURTZASTAN
One color swap idea too many leads to another? Sneaker customizer by the name of Kurtzastan intended to make a ever so popular South Beach themed custom sneaker on this previously “Easter” colorway Nike Lebron 9 but had seen enough. Instead he decided to recreate a lesser seen colorway of the Lebron 9 high’s official release, the blue and orange “China” version. The entire upper was changed from a turqouise to crystal blue with details of an orange Swoosh and the Year of the Dragon graphics recreated on the tongue tags.
Nike Air Max LeBron VII Artist Series: Shenyang Ray Lei
Here is the second pair from the China trip and 5th pair overall of the Nike Lebron World Tour 2009 . I’d imagine after his career is over Bron Bron will have a collection that only rivals that of Mr. Air Jordan. Just imagine the 1 of 1s. Via Freshnessmag.com.
As LeBron’s More Than A Game World Tour continues, venturing off Akron, Ohio and heads onto the other side of the globe, landing in one of the world’s oldest capitals, Beijing, and now Shengyang, the fifth pair of the Nike Air Max LeBron VII (7) Artist Series is unveiled. The unique, one-off sneaker from this leg of the global tour is created by local artist, Ray Lei, as we had previously introduced in a preview.
With each pair of Artist Series kicks representing the city artistically, Ray Lei tapped into the Chinese cultural stronghold of loyalty and bravery with images of Chinese warriors. To tie in the theme of loyalty with the MVP himself, Ray Lei incorporated elements close to LeBron such as green color to represent his high school team at St. Vincent St. Mary, “23″ for his loyalty to Cavaliers, and “330″ (the area code for Akron, Ohio) for his hometown.
Adding more local elements into the shoes illustrated in a playful style, Ray Lei dressed the shoe upper in water and clouds, which were frequent motifs on uniforms of the Qing Dynasty. The city flower, roses were added to pay tribute to the city, as well as fog patterns that are crucial to Chinese tales of mythical battle where battalions emerged from fog for victory.
Take a closer look at the kicks designed by the young 22 year-old graduate of Tsinghua University’s Academy of Art and Design. Sadly, since these kicks are one-off, if you want them, you might actually have to take that matter up with LeBron.
