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Nice Kicks: In addition to working various players across the league, you worked with a Jordan Brand athlete last year in Dez Bryant. Can you elaborate on that process?
SolesBySir: Dez literally had one of the coolest PE’s I’ve ever seen. His Jordans were the Air Jordan 12 Lows back then, but it was absurd. I just thought, Why aren’t all shoes made like this? because they were catered to his foot and to his heel. The shoe was gorgeous, but all he wanted me to do was take the white [side] paneling and make it look like aluminum foil and put an ‘X’ on the tongue. Literally, that’s what I did.
Nice Kicks: Shifting towards performance, is there a particular cleat that players prefer to send you?
SolesBySir: For last year, it was the Nike Vapor Carbon, that was the main thing. Then when Jordan released the Jordan 12 cleat they all went crazy for them. But as of late, they are all going crazy for these soccer cleats called the Mercurials.
Nice Kicks: Is there a reason for the switch to soccer cleats for some of the players you work with?
SolesBySir: To be honest with you, it’s more of a style and comfort thing. The cleat is almost like a sock. It literally doesn’t weigh anything–I’m pretty sure it’s like five or six ounces.
Nice Kicks: I also noticed a lot of defensive backs are wearing Huaraches, which are predominately used for lacrosse, any particular reasoning behind that?
SolesBySir: The defensive backs, those are the guys more concerned about their style. They go with the Huaraches, the Carbon Vapors–they don’t really like Jordans because they weigh a lot. They usually stick with very, very lightweight cleats.
Nice Kicks: What is your primary focus going forward in regards to providing NFL players with custom cleats?
SolesBySir: My ultimate goal is to have a guy on every team by the end of this year, that’s on the active 53-man roster. When I actually counted, I’m at like 27 different teams. But the best thing, is that you really build quality relationships with these guys. I never thought in a million years, I’d be able to tie up my love for sneakers and football. It’s so crazy that it’s been so successful so fast–my back orders are right around 240, 250 pairs right now, mostly consisting of NFL players.
Keep up with SolesBySir on Instagram. Tune into Gridiron Kicks tomorrow for more coverage of custom cleats.
