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Nice Kicks: You mentioned players like Mohamed Sanu and Steve Smith, have any additional players reached out to you?
Dezcustomz: It’s 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
Nice Kicks: Do you find that NFL players are competitive in regards to how their cleats look and how they can “out-do” their peers?
Dezcustomz: They definitely are. It’s funny because when I met with Steve Smith, Torrey Smith was right there with him that day, and immediately he was like “Oh, you’re going to get some customs, I’m going to get some too.” Honestly, these NFL players are just like everyone else. If you’re 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’re still young men; and as young men they’re still going to want to upstage the next man.
Nice Kicks: With players wanting to upstage their competition, how do you handle the strict NFL uniform policy?
Dezcustomz: Luckily, most of the guys that deal with me strictly enjoy the art work and don’t 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’t 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’ll push the envelop a little bit more because they aren’t too concerned about fines.
