More Custom Design Shoes on Vans Slip-Ons

Our Punk Your Chucks post was a pretty popular one, and it featured a New York City artist who hand paints shoes with custom designs. Over at YourKicks.com, a Beverly Hills shoe company, each Vans slip-on shoe is also hand painted with custom unique designs using acrylic paints that are coated with a protective layer to preserve the artwork. From what I've seen, their work is extremely detailed and carefully crafted. If you're looking for originality and rare Vans, I would suggest checking out Your Kicks and seeing what they have to offer.

TOMS Shoes One for One Movement

TOMS Shoes is a shoe company with a mission: to provide a child in need with a new pair of shoes primarily to help prevent the contraction of diseases and infections. Many children growing up in developing countries come from families too poor to afford shoes or sandals, and walking around barefoot is the norm. However, debris and contaminated soil threaten the health of children walking barefoot when they get cuts and open sores on the soles of their feet.

"The leading cause of disease in developing countries is soil-transmitted parasites which penetrate the skin through open sores. Wearing shoes can prevent this and the risk of amputation." - TOMS Shoes

In their One for One Program, with every pair of shoes you purchase from TOMS Shoes, TOMS will give a new pair to a child in need. A popular way that several groups of people have been gathering support for this movement is by holding "Style Your Sole" parties.



At these Style Your Sole parties, people get together to customize their own blank TOMS shoes - and whether it's to express their creativity, create memorabilia for showers or parties, or just to have fun, all of the shoes purchased for these events still go towards the One for One movement. The white canvas classics are recommended for these get-togethers because they are the easiest to decorate and customize. They are $44 per pair, but orders of 25 pairs or more will receive 10% off. For more tips and information on how to hold your own Style Your Sole party, check out TOMS Shoes website.

TOMS Shoes and Brandon Boyd of Incubus Launch New Shoes

In a collaboration with Incubus frontman Brandon Boyd and Southern California artist Kristin Jai Klosterman, TOMS Shoes is set to launch their latest shoe design in the inaugural offering of the Collaborative Canvas Collection.

Brandon Boyd and Kristin Jai Klosterman created three canvases (one by each alone and the third with the two together) and individual swaths were cut from each piece of artwork and put back together uniquely in an effort to ensure that each pair of shoes in their collection are truly one-of-a-kind. Seventy-five pairs of shoes in total were created and a few are currently on display at UNDEFEATED stores in Silver Lake, Santa Monica, La Brea, and Las Vegas. They will go on sale at 7 pm on September 26, 2009 for the launch event at the Silver Lake UNDEFEATED store location in Southern California. With every shoe purchased, TOMS will give a new pair of shoes to a child in need.



For more information about TOMS Shoes, check out our blog post on their One for One mission.

DJ Cassidy Debuts New Michael Jackson Inspired Rockport Boat Shoe

DJ Cassidy, one of the most sought-after deejays in the music industry, has recently launched new shoes inspired by Run DMC and Michael Jackson at the East Hampton Blue & Cream store. For the boat shoe colorway, DJ Cassidy modeled his design after what he believes is the greatest outfit of all time: Michael Jackson's ensemble in the Billie Jean music video - black leather suit, red bow tie, pink shirt, and pink socks. The DJ Cassidy's Rockport boat shoe features soft pink perforated leather, a red canvas upper, black pinstripe, gold eyelets, and a custom pink terry cloth footbed.





Commemorating each year of Michael Jackson's life, Rockport produced only 50 limited edition pairs of shoes. This new exclusive Rockport Bridgeport boat shoe is being touted by Russell Simmons, Ryan Leslie, Lyor Cohen, Andre Harrell, Swizz Beatz, and Paul Sevigny. It comes packaged in a custom DJ Cassidy shoe box, with pink tissue paper, a red satin bow tie, and a personalized card from DJ Cassidy detailing his inspirations. Again, these shoes are only available at the East Hampton Blue & Cream store.

Punk Your Chucks - Custom Hand Painted Shoes

I have always been a fan of unique creations, and having a pair of custom designed shoes is a great way to get compliments. Punk Your Chucks is a website that features an urban New York City artist with a lot of talent. Artist AKA MAG offers custom hand painted converse Chuck Taylor sneakers (Chucks), clothes, Vans, Air Force Ones, tote bags, pumps, and urban vinyl toys. This guy is so good that even celebrities have commissioned him to do work for them - celebs from Will Smith, Tommy Lee, Kelly Clarkson, the producers of Twilight movies, and more! Check out his galleries at www.punkyourchucks.com and get inspired!