This Jordan Flight was my first ever custom pair of shoes. I actually acquired this pair of shoes through a friend in middle school, and in 2016 I hydro-dipped the soles in a mix of yellow and purple paint. I’d like to say that I chose yellow and purple for the lakers but in all honesty it was the only paint colors I had. I wore these 1 time in my freshman year of high school and realized the paint was chipping off the bottom as I was walking. They were then quickly retired to a shelf in my bedroom.
-Samuel Gilligan
Flames ! Flamees ! Flames ! This fiery Air Force 1 is my first attempt at painting a custom af1 in 2017. Originally there were small flames that looked like paint smudges and my mom told me it didn't look clean so I removed them. The black outlines are also a later addition to make the orange, red, and yellow paint mix pop some more. I still occasionally wear these but they mainly sit on the shelf trying not to get dustier.
-Samuel Gilligan
Ignore Space :/
To this day I am proud to wear these “3D Butterfly” AF1 I made in 2017. 2017 was a big year for sneakers for me as I had a car and access to the local thrift store. Now I put “3D'“ in quotes because the plan was to create a 3D effect but quickly just turned in to red and blue butterfly that were not overlapping because that seemed like a lot at the time. I will say however this custom has gotten the most compliments when I wear them out. I particularly like the blue butterlys’s two toned look that makes them look less painted on and more like a patch.
-Samuel Gilligan
Ignore Space :/
Again with the flames but with actual paint for shoes. These purple and pink flame Jordan 3 is my first custom sneaker that I used Angelus shoe paint. The tongue of the left shoe has the word “SORROW” written down the middle and the right has a pink and purple butterfly. The butterfly is a recurring theme in many of my custom shoes. However sorrow may pop up again on some more pieces but its origin is an idea I had for a brand name.
-Samuel Gilligan
This is by far the most disappointing custom sneaker I have ever created! The shoes look amazing but they are a women’s size 11 and when I thrifted them I was excited to have thought to have found my size in an all white nike Cortez(favorite nike model). The theme of these shoes is based on an anime character named Himiko Toga from My Hero Academia. On the outer swoosh has the eyes and mouth of Toga and the dinner swoosh in a bloody knife. Toga is a supervillain who can make herself look like anyone if she taste there blood first. The mouth you see on the heel is another nod to Togas costume along with the pipes on the toe box. I designed these back in 2017 and while I’ve never been able to wear them this shoe was the start of my love for themed sneaker.
-Samuel Gilligan
Both shoes are splattered with Togas name to try and project an “insane” look like she wrote the names herself in a fit of self identification.
-Samuel Gilligan
The “Voorhees” Air Max 90s are my first spooky halloween custom shoe. I actually designed these for halloween in 2021 (a very big jump from my last custom). I actually never put these on feet for halloween and have worn on multiple occasions…… work mainly. The natural yellowing on the soles and side paneling really helped create the dirty hockey mask look. It was a big debate with myself whether to put the blood stains on the sole but I ultimately decided to go for it. I think it makes the shoe much creepier and it makes the poor blood drips on the swoosh look more purposeful.
-Samuel Gilligan
The pictures do not show the silver swooshes well, however the outer swooshes are silver with blood drips and the inner right is all red and the inner left in all purple. The inner purple swoosh is another reoccurring staple that will appear on many more custom pieces. I am a big fan of the color purple and like to use it in shoes that may not require purple and I think it adds to the shoes by highlighting the actual themed parts.
Another Halloween custom but with less of a halloween theme. I wore these to a halloween part where I dressed as the Grim Reaper. However, these shoes are based on the show “The Brim Adventures of Billy and Mandy.” On the back outer heels there are a cross pair of synths and the worm grim. The outer Nike swoosh has Grims smile from the tv cartoon. The in panels on the sides and toe box are black with a red lining to represent Grims robes that he wears every episode. The inner swooshes represent billy with his big pink nose and Mandy with her iconic yellow hair. As for the last detail there is a skull on both young tags.
-Samuel Gilligan
These are the “Manga” Air Force 1 Mid. By far the proudest I am of any of my custom shoes. I made these by printing off manga panels based off some of my favorite anime and pasting them down to a pair of grey and white AF1s with clear glue. Each panel is unique and contains one manga title each. The manga included are Naruto, My Hero Academia, JoJos Bizarre Adventure (Goat), and Seven Deadly Sins.
Another amazing disappointment for me. My first attempt at dying shoes with a gradient pattern. I should have stopped here because these are still the best dyed custom I have done. The disappointing part about these is that they are a size 8.5 and I am an 11. I only bought these to test the dying process but they ended up way better than expected. I do wish the pink would have popped a little more and if the blue faded a little more on the back left heal. All in all I rate these 10 lucky first tries out of 10 lucky first tries.
This Adidas Shell Toe is also a dope model. It is some sort of collaboration swell but I am too lazy to find the name. Shout out them tho!
A personal critique I have on my custom dyes is that I would like to perfect dyeing the soles of shoes, either all the way through or not at all. The soles on this pair are my least favorite part due to how sloppy it looks. Reminds me of a dirty toilet bowl.
Another disappointing masterpiece! The color on these custom New Balance 998s came out exactly as I envisioned. However the fade between the colors came out ver stiff and obvious. The purple in particular shows clear lines from when I left them in the dye. The purple laces do make up for a lot of the flaws in my opinion.
