If you are aware of sneaker culture, you probably have seen custom sneaker art on social media. From experimenting with different color ways and concepts to illustrating favorite anime characters, usually on a pair of Nike Air Force sneakers, the custom sneaker community is constantly pushing the boundaries of creativity and challenging the status quo by creating a unique pairs of sneakers not designed by huge fashion brands.
At the forefront of this niche art and fashion community is Angelus Direct, the established paint company known for its quality shoe paint and shoe restoration tools by many sneakerheads. Tyler Angelos, the current CEO of the Angelus Brand, was one of the first to notice the custom movement taking off around 2012 on social media and the significant role that Angelus Direct paints were playing within that movement. “Us putting it in front of people’s faces and letting people know that it actually existed is what made it as big as it is today,” explains Angelos, whose company was a key player in growing an exclusive community into a more wholesome artistic movement.
However, before the custom movement actually took off as an “art form,” it was a restricted community in which customizers didn’t have as much freedom with their designs. “It used to be that if you painted a shoe, but it didn’t look like something that Nike dropped, you’d get flamed in forums for not doing it as it should be done,” says Angelos. Angelus’s custom sneaker push came at the right time – when streetwear trends dominated the runways, and the sneaker industry exploded, resulting in resellers everywhere.
With an established popularity among sneakerheads for their restoration tools and shoe paint kits, Angelus Direct can be credited for making the customization community more accessible to sneakerheads and art lovers. Serving a significant role within this subculture, Angelus Direct also ensures to support sneaker artisans through their own sponsored artist program.
The impact that customization has on sneakers is just one glimpse into the popularity of customization in fashion. In a creatively expressive style such as streetwear, customization has found its way into becoming its own cultural movement as more people become interested in owning a unique, one-of-a-kind fashion piece over a designer. Angelus Direct paints have gone beyond the sneaker and have been used to adorn jackets, bags, accessories, and more. It’s all about being able to “create what you can’t have,” as their trademark goes.
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