Create one-of-a-kind footwear via Raleigh author’s new book.
Armed with Posca markers in one hand and an unrelenting passion for sneakers in the other, Raleighite Xavier Crews has taken the sneakerhead community by storm. The viral sensation behind the uberpopular YouTube channel, Xavier Kickz touts some serious skill by switching ordinary sneaks into extraordinary works of art—and now he’s launching an instructional book, Art of Custom Sneakers, so you can too.
Landing on shelves in September, the first-ever sneaker customization manual is a step-by-step guide to creating unique sneaks—including fun and easy designs; techniques for leather or canvas footwear; and instructions on how to prep, paint, airbrush, doodle, hydrodip or toothpick paint your sneaks. Translation: fab footwear on fleek (!).
Art of Custom Sneakers kicks off with the basics (think tools and materials, workspace setup, prep, finishing, and design planning) and each chapter continues to put its best foot forward via vibrantly illustrated custom designs and QR code links to his online vids for extra design deets (plus a few laughs!).
The VA native and footwear maestro kicked off his fascination with shoe customization in high school after garnering attention for his cool kicks. “That really got me customizing,” recalls Crews. “I told my mom, ‘This is so cool, I really wanna do this!’”
A software engineer by day and a sneaker guru by night, Crew transforms sneakers right here in Raleigh—and his passion project for shoe design has garnered him an online following of nearly 1.5 million YouTube subscribers. And padding his popularity, the content creator’s personality and infectious sense of humor has only served to catapult his career via his 100+ YouTube videos inviting viewers into his world of sneaker stylin’. … “I’m also very entertaining,” he adds with a smile.
To boot, the sneaker artist + author aims to use his footwear fame to keep pursuing his dreams and giving back to the community—think gifting basketballs, iPads and his customized footwear, natch.Whether you’re a sneaker aficionado or simply someone who appreciates the fusion of art and fashion, Kickz, well, kicks you the opp to join the customization revolution. So strap on your wildest imagination and get ready for a rollercoaster ride of colors and creativity. … Got (shoe) game?@xavierkickz
The Right Bank Shoe Companywebsite is cloaked in mystery, but do a bit of digging and you’ll quickly find out who’s behind the stylish designs: Donald Pliner and his wife, Lisa. Pliner recently settled a lawsuit with his hugely successful eponymous shoe company, which he sold in 2011 and stepped down from in 2015. Now, he’s free to move forward with this new endeavor, a line of high- quality, comfort-driven footwear available now locally at Main & Taylor (mainandtaylorshoes.com). We spoke with the designer about why he’s Mr. Right Bank.
You describe your collection as “retro-fabulous;” what does that mean?
After I resigned, I started writing a book. I never knew who Donald Pliner was as a business and how big the name really was. When you have a passion for what you do, you’re not aware of it. I had lost three times my life’s savings and started over again, and I started looking back at my shoes and designs. It was retro-fabulous.
How does that translate into the designs?
I’m doing stretch but in a different way. Comfort is the main purpose of the whole collection. Twenty, thirty years ago there was the Birkenstocks and Mephisto, what people called comfort. Instead of doing a basic sports shoe, there is a design behind it but it still has the comfort element. It’s about colors I don’t think exist out there, it’s about materials—taking all of those ideas and making them retro-fabulous. It has the story behind it, and the designs aren’t high-end today and tomorrow obsolete. The shoes have longevity. People recognize my quality.
Your logo has the peace sign on it, why?
We lost our first child and ended up adopting a little girl in Kazakhstan. We started a foundation called Peace for Children, so our logo has a peace sign, and all of our soles say peace.
You’re incorporating embroidered patches in your designs. Can you talk about the concept?
The skull has sunglasses on because I’m incognito, and it says 1943 because that’s the year I first started talking. We do all sorts of different embroidery. I work with a gentleman out of India, and we do another crest that instead of having the skull has a peace sign—we’re bringing back the peace sign. They are all hand-done. It takes about 15 hours to make a pair of patches. The patches are hand-sewn [on the shoe] and finished in Italy or Spain.
