{"id":406872,"date":"2014-09-30T10:10:51","date_gmt":"2014-09-30T15:10:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.snkrsday.com\/?p=406872"},"modified":"2022-09-17T12:50:33","modified_gmt":"2022-09-17T17:50:33","slug":"meet-nfls-latest-custom-cleat-creator","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.snkrsday.com\/meet-nfls-latest-custom-cleat-creator\/","title":{"rendered":"1 on 1 With DezCustomz: One of the NFL&#8217;s Best Cleat Customizers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>With millions of fans and hundreds of camera angles displaying visuals of each and every game, the NFL has easily become by in large the &#8220;it thing&#8221; when it comes to American sports. As the game&#8217;s popularity grows, the abundance of players looking to make their name known is elevating as well. With penalties stiffening in regards to exuberant displays of individuality, many players are shifting their focus towards custom footwear. We spoke with <strong>DezCustomz<\/strong>, one of the more prominent up-and-coming custom cleat creators, about that exact trend.\u00a0This DMV based artist displays a reserved and humble demeanor while his custom work continues to captivates those around the league, further ascending his name to into larger NFL circles. Check out our exclusive interview with DezCustomz as he talks all things NFL footwear.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Snkrs Day: What got you started with custom cleats?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>DezCustomz:<\/strong> Last year, I did a couple for Mohamed Sanu and Arrelious Benn. The Mohamed\u00a0Sanu pair was really the only pair to hit the field. However, towards the end of the 2013 season, a friend of mine from way back in the day, I\u2019m talking someone I\u2019ve been friends with for twenty-plus years, happened to know London Fletcher of Washington Redskins. So from there, they happened to speak one day and London Fletcher was like,\u00a0<em>\u201cI would like to do something really cool for my last game, like a custom pair of cleats or something.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0Our mutual\u00a0friend knew that I did shoes and he literally called me, with London sitting right there beside him.\u00a0You know, with me being such a huge fan&#8211; and specifically a Redskins fan&#8211; it was a bit of a moment for me. You know, you get butterflies and get a little bit emotional. That was definitely one of those moments you\u2019ll remember.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Snkrs Day: Once you secured your first client within the NFL, did things begin to grow from there in regards to your NFL clientele? <\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Dezcustomz:<\/strong> Yes, London Fletcher was really the catalyst I would say. This year, very early before the season, DeAngelo Hall tweeted out: <em>\u201cHey, London Fletcher, you have to put me in touch with your guy.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0A bunch of my friends saw it and retweeted it out, and that led me to\u00a0reached out to DeAngelo. Subsequently, DeAngelo Hall\u2019s marketing manager reached out to me and we went from there. Then through DeAngleo Hall, Steve Smith of the Ravens contacted\u00a0me and then various other Ravens reached out such as\u00a0Tyrod Taylor, Torrey Smith, and Terrell Suggs.<\/p>\n<p><!--nextpage--><\/p>\n<p><strong>Snkrs Day: You mentioned players like Mohamed Sanu and Steve Smith, have any additional players reached out to you? <\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Dezcustomz:<\/strong> It\u2019s funny because these guys have friendships through college and throughout the league with other teams. So the cool thing is that it just expands. One guy hears about you, then he tells his friends in league and then they tell someone else, so it always expands. This year has been really crazy. In fact, a lot of the defensive backs for the Washington Redskins have reached out, such as Brandon Meriweather and EJ Biggers. Recently, I have received something from the New England Patriots and the Carolina Panthers<\/p>\n<p><strong>Snkrs Day: Do you find that NFL players are competitive in regards to how their cleats look and how they can \u201cout-do\u201d their peers? <\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Dezcustomz:<\/strong> They definitely are. It\u2019s funny because when I met with Steve Smith, Torrey Smith was right there with him that day, and immediately he was like <em>\u201cOh, you\u2019re going to get some customs, I\u2019m going to get some too.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0Honestly, these NFL players are just like everyone else. If you\u2019re a true collector, or just enjoy sneakers, you want your kicks to be one of a kind and you want to upstage the next guy, that is what the culture has become. We have to remember that although they play on TV every Sunday and make a lot of money, at their core they\u2019re still young men; and as young men they\u2019re still going to want to upstage the next man.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Snkrs Day: With players wanting to upstage their competition, how do you handle the strict NFL uniform policy? <\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Dezcustomz:<\/strong> Luckily, most of the guys that deal with me strictly enjoy the art work and don\u2019t care about the fines. However, various players that are still on their rookie deals happen to be a bit more rigid about what they prefer because they don\u2019t want to get fined. So, for players like that I have to make very subtle customs. But for players like Steve Smith or DeAngleo Hall who are well established veterans we\u2019ll push the envelop a little bit more because they aren\u2019t too concerned about fines.<\/p>\n<p><!--nextpage--><\/p>\n<p><strong>Snkrs Day: From a personal standpoint, what seems to be the most popular cleat sent to you by NFL players? <\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Dezcustomz:<\/strong> A lot of players enjoy the Jordan cleats, but they don\u2019t lend themselves that great to placing art work on them. However, the Nike Huarache 4 LE TD works really well. Although they\u2019re a lacrosse cleat, players really enjoy them because they\u2019re designed to fit a wider foot and have more comfort to them, from what I\u2019ve been told. Lastly, Under Armour has some great models.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Snkrs Day: Do you feel like Under Armour is closing the gap on Nike within the football market? <\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Dezcustomz:<\/strong> Yeah, I see them making a nice push. You know, Nike is Nike, they conquer the world. Anywhere you go people recognize the Swoosh. However, most of the Ravens I work with are Under Armour representatives and for me personally, it has been about 70-30 in regards to Nike cleats versus Under Armour that I create for players. But Under Armour is making a good push and making great\u00a0products. Just in me touching the shoes and working with it, they\u2019re are definitely comparable to Nike. In the process of creating the customs we put them under the heat gun, we paint them, sand them, acetone them; I mean these things are pretty top-notch. In fact, if you took the branding off of each cleat, and performed in either one, I doubt you could tell the difference.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Snkrs Day: Considering you\u2019re a Redskins fan, would you be opposed to in any way creating a custom cleat for Dez Bryant?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Dezcustomz:<\/strong> I would give him the best custom cleat he has ever seen in his life, because he\u2019s a <em>client<\/em>. However, as soon as I send them out, I would have to wash my hands and take a hot shower because it would hurt me to do it. [<em>Laughs<\/em>] But I would give him my best, my absolute best.<\/p>\n<p><strong>RELATED:<\/strong> 1-on-1 interview with Washington Redskins defensive back DeAngelo Hall<\/p>\n<p><strong>RELATED:<\/strong> Nike LeBron X \u201cGalactic Beach\u201d Custom by DezCustomz<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>With millions of fans and hundreds of camera angles displaying visuals of each and every game, the NFL has easily&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":149,"featured_media":406909,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[96,51,1219126],"tags":[1216825,1208882],"cultivate_rss":[],"class_list":{"2":"type-post"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.0 (Yoast SEO v24.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>1 on 1 With DezCustomz: One of the NFL&#039;s Best Cleat Customizers | 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