It all started off with one Youtube video. Senior Mario Skowron takes in plain shoes and brings them a new life by painting them with designs that are usually not seen in stores, selling some and keeping those he cannot part with.

“I started to get into customizing shoes because I saw a video on YouTube, and it was customizing Air Force 1s by Jordan Vincent,” he said. “After watching the video, I really liked the shoes and just wanted a pair like that, Louis Vuitton x Air force 1s, I saw the price for them which was like $200$ and said, ‘Nope. I’m not paying $200 on Air Forces.'” (originally priced at $90).

Instead, Skowron ordered items essential to the custom sneakers and decided to take on this challenge for himself.

“I ordered the parts for the custom [shoes]. A week later the parts came, and I wasted a whole day to customize the shoes. In the end, I loved the outcome and just thought to myself, ‘Maybe this can be my future,’ or ‘What can I do with this in the future?’” he said. “On Snapchat, I posted the pair of shoes and everyone swiped up asking for how much and how [I} did it, and from that day, I knew what I wanted to do.”

Deciding he wanted to do something with this passion, he set some short-term goals.

“In total, I’ve customized about 40 shoes. By the end of the school year, I plan to customize at least 100 shoes,” Skowron explained. “I also think I have room to improve on customizing; I think I can do a little better on taking my time on them and making sure they look perfect.”

What keeps him going is that he really enjoys doing this; the profit part is a bonus.

“I customize for fun and the money; I like art and design; I like to draw; I also love shoes. So I took two of my favorite things, art and shoes, and combined them and made a job out of this,” Skowron said. “I don’t charge much for the shoes. I can pick up shoes, clean them, and make the desired custom for the customer and charge them only about $45. If they want a new shoe with the custom, it would be around $145”.

“In the future, I plan on just making a YouTube Channel on how I make these customs. A lot of people ask how I made these customs, and I would also want a visual presentation on how theses customs are made,” he said.“I also plan on making or opening my own store full of shoes and customized ones and just live from there. I plan on going to college for entrepreneurship and fashion design.” 

If you are interested in Mario’s work and want to take a look into it or want to request an order, visit his Instagram @sslimycreationz.