Do you do customs on Air Force Ones only?
No I do, Blazers, Dunks, Terminators and Jordan’s, and most recently Adidas. Retro Shoes like Air Force 1’s are the most popular.

What's your favorite custom so far?
I will have to say the “Yellow Fades”. I did for a friend of mines. The shoes have a fade on the swoosh from yellow to obsidian. On the back heel it has “CEL” and the other shoe has “1,29”.
The “CEL” represents his mothers name and the “1,29” is her birthday. She passed away recently so he did it in remembrance of her. That shoe meant a lot to me and him and I think the paint job on it was flawless.

Any neck-breaking stories while rocking your customs?
I get the usual stares, and whispers, but something I haven’t got use to is people pulling up my pants leg to see my shoe or crouching all the way down to my shoe just to check it out. I always get the “Where’d did you get those? Question.

What kind of paint do you use?
Basically what everyone uses. People sometimes get offended by that, but like Joe the founder of sneakerpimp.com said in an article, “I’m gonna sell you the cake, but I’m not going sell you the recipe.”

What was your hardest custom job?
The Adidas All Star Game Customs. That was the hardest because there was a short deadline, and that was my first time painting Adidas and that many.

You recently got a deal with Adidas for the basketball All Star game, how did you get in touch with them and who did you do customs for?
Well it was like free-lance work for Adidas. I ran into Chris Rivers who is Reebok’s National Grass Roots Basketball Manager at the Barber shop I go to, and the barbers in the shop love my customs, so they introduced me to Chris. I had on my Rayguns 2 lows and he liked how I did those. So we exchanged numbers and he said he would keep in touch. So like a week later I get an email from Zach Fawcett at Adidas. He said he received my info from his friend Chris and he wanted me to do some customs for a few players and friends of Adidas for the All Star Game in Los Angeles.
He sent me 9 pairs of Adidas Super Cup Lows, and pictures of what jerseys were going to be worn on the people the customs were for. So I had to match them to the picture and I got to choose where each color went and everything which was cool. But I have to give huge props to my boy Kimko for the crazy font designs for their names on the shoes. I did shoes for Antoine Walker, MVP Kevin Garnett, Tim Duncan, Eric Snow, Dahntay Jones, Chingy, Ludacris and Sebastian Telfair and my favorite player Tracy McGrady. Unfortunately Chingy and Ludacris didn’t get their pairs but the players loved their customs and they gave me a size 18 Adidas Superstar signed by them.

Did this deal bring you new customers/companies?
Since Chris works for Reebok maybe a collabo with them might happen. Adidas again also, but from the exposure of the HHG customs I get a lot of international orders.

Would you rather get a deal with Nike like Remix Da Kickz or stay independent like Methamphibian?
I love Meth’s work ethic and how he sets trends, but I would have to take the deal because I can gain more recognition and exposure. Also I could get more customs done faster and to a more mainstream audience since a factory is producing them.

What makes you stand out from other customizers?
I hear from people that our customs are more simple and the detail to the images is unique and creative. Like the Revolutionary His and Yay Area forces are flawless. I have to give credit to my partner Kimko because he is the artist that does the imaging on the shoes. Without his help, creative sole I think wouldn’t receive the recognition that it gets now.

What do you think of the custom game right now?
I think the custom game is getting over crowded right now. It seems like everyone is picking up a brush and doing customs. I remember having an album on Retroshoes and I think there was only one other person (Hotflavaz) doing customs and then I came in the picture then there was a bunch of people a few months after.

What do you think will be the next trend in customs?
I see customs getting more into fabric and denim and crazy prints. I also think dunks are going to be the more popular for customs.

Any last words?
I would like to shout out my folks Kimko, HHG for the support, Pinkstringz reppin Kokomo, Chris and Zach at Adidas, speakeasy, Cuts and Bends in Oakland and everyone who has supported and liked my customs. And Peter Kim, Alan and Erick for the inspirations. Yadamean..

http://www.creativesole.com

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CREATIVE SOLE CUSTOMS
A Town Stomp	Green Supremes (inspired by Lebron SB)
KG ASG Customs	Sole Brotha
Yay Area Forces	YELLOW FADES
YELLOW FADES