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. DEZ made a few other epic customs around that time he shared online but these days as far was we know his involvement in the custom sneaker scene is no more. A search online couldn’t really bring up any information on his current work either.
As for these Mountain Dew themed shoes he likely started with the Glow-in-the-Dark Dunk release from 2007 pictured below. The upper features an entirely painted upper in shades of green with a fading “Haze Nike Dunk”-esq look on the inner panels contrasted with a solid green on the toe and lace panels. DEZ flexed his detail work on the back heels recreating the “Dew the Dew” graff seen on his bottle along with a “Dunk the Dew” in similar fashion superimposed over a fading black to green background. Solid black Swooshes finish the complete change.
Before customization. Image via: SneakerFiles.com
“Do the Dew” Dunk images via Nicekicks.com
Another trend heavy in 2008 that still continues to this day was the copying of Nike Dunk customizations by counterfeit manufacturers. Through nothing but photos online factories overseas reproduce 1 of 1 custom sneakers to mass amounts and sell them via shady looking websites to unsuspecting consumers. The popularity and just solid design made these a perfect target by overseas fake manufacturers. On the funny side they liked the custom so much they made them in four more colors: red, yellow, purple and blue AND in high heel form. They are still rampant with a google search of Mountain Dew shoes.
So if you are dead-set on Mountain Dew themed custom kicks DO NOT buy these online. Be smart and don’t support counterfeit business, contact another customizer to make your own 1 of 1 Mountain Dew design. If you know of DEZ’s whereabouts PaintOrThread would love to know what he has been up to. In the meantime you can read more about Dez winning the GreenLabelArt contest in 2008 here: Houston Artist Dez Woods Design Wins Soda Bottle Contest and see his video in the Archives of GreenLabelArt.com.