January 21, 2020 • 24 mins
Let's be real...for the longest time golf shoes have been kinda, well...BORING! Enter Roly Padron! He's done custom artwork on shoes for the likes of Ray Allen, Ken Griffey Jr., Rickie Fowler, Brooks Koepka, Phil Mickelson, Justin Thomas, Bubba Watson, Jason Day, Patrick Reed, and Barack Obama just to name a few!! We talk to him about how he got started, how the process works, who he'd love to do some work for, and what his biggest F-Up so far is! With Wacker and Roly both being big UM/Canes fans...Froggy has to ask about his need for some Gator shoes!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Don't mind us where playing through here Froggy and welcome
to another edition. I'll be playing through podcast. You know,
sometimes in life, I know I sat around and drew
on shoes, but I didn't turn it into a profession.
Some people turn things that they love into a job.
And that's what we're doing today talking to Roy. You
(00:25):
may follow him on Instagram. Uh No, mad Customs and
that's exactly what he does. He customizes shoes. My co
host Brian Whacker also has done an interview with him
in Golf Digest magazine. Real Quick if you want to
reach out to us at any time at Froggy Radio
or at Brian Whacker wants a Whacker. How exactly did
(00:45):
you find out about role and this amazing business that
he's created. Well, it's a wild story, right and uh
or the backstory anyway is wild. You know, custom golf
shoes is sort of become kind of a thing lately.
I mean last year at the Kepka wearing the Nike
off whites and that was that was like this big
(01:05):
deal that sort of became this viral thing online because
you've got a bunch of you know, middle aged golf writers.
Asking Brooks Kepka about his shoes. You know, Brooks in
his twenties, twenty nine years old, and you know he's
got these off whites that have the zip tie on
them and I don't really look like golf shoes. And
(01:28):
what he did was basically, Brooks had an off white
shoe a golf soul put on them so he could
wear them during the tour championships. So anyway, this thing,
as often is the case, sort of goes viral on
social media, but it really spoke to a larger issue
that you know, we've we've seen custom golf shoes popping
up more and more. I remember seeing Justin Thomas at
(01:51):
an event and he had some some foot joys that
were customized for the event he played in for the
Bahamas Ricky Fowler Corps. That's really cool one the last
couple of years at Big Hill that honored Arnold Palmer.
So it's sort of become this thing, and we've seen
in another sports, right, We've seen it in baseball, We've
seen in basketball, yeah, exactly, football. I mean, guys in
(02:15):
other sports. You know, there's a lot of sneaker heads
out there, and that's kind of what some of this
young crop of golfers has become and and so that's
er roleing the Drone. And there's a guy who'ss living
in Miami cottying at a golf club but has always
been into shoes. And you know the way this speaks
to the power of social media. So we kind of
(02:35):
posted some designs and was cattying one day at a
golf club in Miami. Get to Ray Allen as Loop
of Basketball Hall of Famer. So Ray was wearing a
pair of Jordan golf shoes that hadn't even been released
to the public. They sort of bonded over both being
sneaker heads and really just suggested to him at one
point during the round, says, hey, you know, like I'd
(02:56):
love to show you some of the work I do
and customizing golf shoes is. And it goes from there.
So Ray takes a lookout it eventually loves when he
sees and boom, the next thing you know, Ray tells
his friends, his friends tell their friends, and the thing
starts to just mushroom from there, and and the next
thing you know, Brolly for Drone has become a thing. Right,
(03:19):
He's designing golf shoes for Ricky Fowler players on the
President's Cup teams. So roly, How exactly do you start
drawing on shoes? Is it a case of like for me, example,
when I was in school, I get bored, I draw
my new shoes. My dad want to kick my ass.
How does this start? Of course? Pretty much the same,
pretty much the same way. I mean, you know, getting
(03:39):
board in school, always into art, always into sports. Um,
and back then, you know, the sneaker the sneaker world
is nothing like it is today. Um, the sneaker drops
would come, they were they were very spread out. My
parents would only buy me a person heats once a year,
and you beat the ship out of him. You know,
(04:00):
you'd wear them to the souls were almost gone. And uh.
And like I said, I've always been into art, and
I would always do something to my shoe just to
set it apart. So that's that's kind of where it
started for me designing shoes. It wasn't a big deal,
but I just remember every time I did it, you know,
friends that were into sneakers would notice right away. So
(04:22):
that's kind of something that that that always was like,
you know, I got something that you don't, you know,
so give us the laundry list of people that now
it goes from you drawing on your sneakers in school
to now you have become safe to say friends or
buddies or our text partners with. I'm sure a laundry
list of guys you've done shoes for? Yeah, I have.
(04:43):
I mean I think the first big one was was
Ricky Fowler. I mean I did. Uh. I did some
Arnold Palmer shoes for him. Puma had reached out to me.
I think it was three years ago to pay tribute
to UH to Palmer at Bay Hill. That got a
ton of attention. Um. Ricky loved the shoes. Um. I
(05:04):
mean that's that's probably the first one, the first big
p g A shoe that I did. Then of course
I did some shoes for Brooks kept up for the
US Open. Uh. Doesn't work for Bubba Watson, you know,
Patrick Reid got still Michelson. Let's see who else came
in champ you know, Bryson de Shambo. There's so many guys. Yeah,
(05:26):
it's crazy. It's been a it's been a crazy ride. Now,
is there anybody that you haven't done work for yet
but you're dying to do work for? In the future.
I know where you're goat. He is the goat of
all goat. Listen of all goats. He is the goat.
And that really would be like an honor to do shoes.
(05:47):
Have Tiger Woods send you shoes. Do you have a
design in mind of what you would want to do
for him? Would you do like would you put goats
on him? I might, I might, I don't know. I'm
talking about feel about it. You know, Tiger is a
low key kind of guy. You know, he does rock
the Red on Sunday. That's probably as uh as rash
as uh as as Tiger gets, you know, but you know,
(06:10):
I have no idea. It has to be. It has
to be a Sunday a Sunday shoot for sure. Do
you like being self employed or is this something you
would like to You know a lot of people start
a business, they sell it to a big conglomerate and
they end up being a consultant or they work for
the big conglomerate. Do you like it the way it
is or would you like to eventually take this and
work for say Nike, or work for Puma or work
(06:30):
for Joy. Well, I kind of have the freedom to
do that now, uh you know, I'm not I'm not
exclusive to anyone. So I guess I'd have to answer
that by saying that that I like it the way
it is now, like like working for myself. You know,
collabing with with those brands is always great, but it
is also something that I have thought of growing at
some point. Now is is it's now? It's it's grown
(06:55):
at least for me to the point where where I
do have to think about that, where I do have
to think about expanding the business. Yeah, I mean, you're
a single You're I mean you're a business of one man.
I know. I read in in Whacker's article in Golf
Digest that you do employ on assistant to kind of
help you start the stripping process. So how does it work?
So let's let's say, for example, Ricky Fowler wants you
(07:16):
to do a pair of shoes. They ship you the
shoes and then you start the process from there. Yeah,
they'd have the shoes directly sent to me. We kind
of toss some ideas back and forth. You know, if
they have an inspiration for an upcoming event, you know,
whatever the the event uh theme is, and uh go
back and forth with them on designs and once it's approved,
(07:39):
you know, once they run it by p you know,
I just I start going in on the on the
shoe and you kind of mentioned, you know, the stripping
and and the prep work, which is which is really
what I have. A buddy of mine comes, he comes
over and you know, he gives me a hand with that,
and uh and once that's done, then it's just then
(07:59):
that's when you it happens. You know, that's when the
magic starts. And and uh, I mean there's nothing like it,
you know, in the finished products. When it's all done,
and uh, I see the guy whoever it is, you know,
rocking it in a tournament and I see it on
TV or see it in social media and pictures. You know,
it's it's an awesome feeling. Man. I can't. I can't
describe it. It It never gets old. It's kind of like
(08:21):
your baby, you know. You put so much time and
effort into it and once, once, once you see it
on TV, man, it's like, Wow, it's pretty freaking awesome.
Of all the ones you've done, do you have a
favorite pair or favorite job that you've done that still
sticks out in your mind? Is like, holy sh it,
I can't believe I pulled that off. Man, There's so
many there's so many. I mean there there's one. There's
(08:42):
one job in particular that that still blows me away.
And that just happened a few months ago. I did
up here for Barack Obama. Actually I did two pairs
for Barack Obama for his birthday, and that was through
Ray Allen. You know Ray Allen, it is kind of
the guy that got me on the map per se um,
and he just wanted to give Obama for his birthday
(09:03):
something unique. I mean, what do you get the president,
you know, the ex president? And uh, you know, from
my understanding, he loved the shoes. You know, Ray said
that he he was just blown away by it, and
uh and that's kind of something that, you know, it's
hard to top that. Well, what was you mentioned? You know,
seeing him on TV, seeing on social media, seeing on
(09:24):
the feet of guys like Ricky Faller Brooks, you know,
hearing the reaction of former President Barack Obama. What's your
you know, what was like the first shoe that saw
somewhere publicly, be online, be it on TV. That really
kind of you're like wow that it was like that
it moment for you look, do you remember what the
(09:44):
first time you saw that, what that shoe was and
what that experience was like. Oh well, so early on,
like you know, it wasn't always it wasn't always heavy golf,
like I would say the last three and a half years. Um,
I kind of shifted to golf, mainly golf. In the
early days when I started the business, I did a
lot of baseball leads, so I did a lot of
(10:06):
stuff to the MLB players. I did some work for uh,
for some of the Marlins guys and Miami, Miami pitcher
Jose Fernandez who passed, he kind of he kind of
was was the first baseball player, one of the first
baseball players to to wear my work. And uh, and
you know I never forget, you know, going down here
(10:28):
to Marlins Park delivering the shoes and watching him pitch
in the shoes, and and that was that was that
was the first like really wild moment for me. You know,
I was I was scared of ship that the paint
was gonna come off, you know, like I was, I
didn't know what to expect, even though I had even
though I had done the trial and error on my
(10:48):
own shoes. Um, it's still you know that moment you're
you're all nervous and you're freaking out. So that was
probably one of the one of those wild moments. And
you're a baseball guy, I mean, you grew up in
Half Florida, played a lot of playing a lot of
sports when you're a kid. But you're a huge baseball fan.
I know, that's just top to be memorable to have.
(11:09):
Here's the here's your hometown team, one the star players,
and he's got your shoes on, but you design. Yeah, yeah,
it's wild man, he's and you know he's he was
Cuban on from Cuban parents, uh you know, born and
raising Hialiyah. So definitely ain't the baseball all my life.
And uh yeah that was huge, man, that was huge,
(11:29):
and he was a superstar, you know he wasn't. Just
how long does it take you to do a pair
of shoes, Like say, somebody ships you have a pair
of shoes just just for sitting giggles eight on on
a Monday, you get them. How long? How many hours
man hours does it take from the stripping process to
the design process to actually finished and the shoes on
the way back to the person. You know it all varies,
but in perfect imperfect conditions where I know exactly what
(11:52):
I'm doing and the design and everything is said, it
shouldn't take more than eight hours, you know, six to
eight hours just to let the paint set, you know,
and and and have it detailed and whatnot. So more
or less a day do you create the designs or
or or do you do you get a little input
from the person whose shoes they are. So sometimes guys
are very specifically with what they want. Other times, ayre like, hey,
(12:14):
do your thing. You know, we we we love your work.
You know, anything anything that you do is is cool.
So again that that very I think the easiest one
is when I have the design, you know, when someone
knows exactly what they want, a little different than someone
saying we'll do anything, you know. That's what's kind of like,
well do anything. I mean, that makes it a little
(12:34):
more difficult. You talked about sort of the early process
of it, Right, you had something maybe that didn't turn out,
you had to go you had to go buy you know,
or go get another pair of those shoes, because obviously
you don't want to go back to the clients say hey,
I need I need another pair of shoes. I screwed
these up. Yeah, what was sort of the funniest, the
most memorable or maybe the toughest shoe that you you know,
(12:58):
I think what he's asking, what's the biggest funk up
you've made so far? Yeah, well, what did you do
to get? Like? It wasn't hard to get the shoe again? Man?
So what I did was so I gotta I got
a little I got a little too happy with my
heat gun, trying to trying to dry the pee a
(13:21):
little too quick, and uh and I burned the hole
inside of the shoe. It was just there's just some
guy on on on social media who reached out. He
wanted me to do a pair of tiger Wood shoes
and it was the the white some white Masters addition shoes.
So these were limited addition shoes. And yeah, man, I
had the hardest time locating the side and the shoe.
(13:43):
But yeah, I burned. I burned the hole right through
the plastic, right through, like it caught like literally were smoking,
you know, in my room. And uh, so yeah, I
learned quickly that the heat gun doesn't play. Now, is
your wife on board with the business, Like she's all
in totally she's oh man, she was she you know,
(14:04):
without her ship, I would have quit twenty times already,
you know, without her support. Like she's you know, from
work from the get go. She was like, you know what,
you're an artist. You know. We we were we were
we were. We were in a bad situation. I mean,
we were living with the in laws. So if that's
not bad enough, and and and I was looking for
a job, you know, meantime I was I was still
(14:24):
a caddy at La Gore's. So even after I did
work for Reality, you know, the business didn't just boom
right after it was. It was a slow process to
get to where I am today. But there were many
times where I wanted to quit. She's like, you can't,
you know, you can't. You're building something, you know, you
you have talent, you know. And I and I didn't
(14:44):
believe in myself. I really did not think that this
was gonna go anywhere. I didn't believe in the product.
And uh and even though I would hear it from
guys like really, you know, Ray Bray was one of
the first also to say, you know, people need this,
you know, the golf shoes are born, and he was,
is right, you know when I started playing golf back
in when Tigger blew Up picked up the game when
(15:06):
I was twenty one, I remember saying, like, golf shoes
are boring, you know, coming from someone who coming from
someone who like collected sneakers as a kid. You know,
my my like I said, my mom would buy me
one play of sneakers and know it was it was
like the hundred dollar sneakers, you know, because she wanted
them to last the whole year. So I was, I
was very much into sneakers, and I just remember thinking, God,
(15:28):
like golf shoes are born. Golf shoes are just you know,
you get black white, or you get white with a
brown saddle. So yeah. So like one of my my
very first creations on a golf shoe when I started
the business, uh and posting on Instagram was I merged
a Jordan three with a Tiger Woods shoe. And I
(15:49):
just remember everywhere that I went, every golf course that
I played, you know, usually the golf cart guys. You
know you've got young kids, man, I just like I
break their neck. Like they couldn't stop looking at my shoes,
and I said, man, there's something here, there's this is special,
you know, and that's kind of uh, that's kind of
what keeps me going, man. Just the expressing yourself. You know,
(16:13):
players love to express themselves, especially nowadays, you know, there's
fashion and that's kind of uh. I think I think
I had a lot to do with the culture. This
is the golf foot where shifting in the direction that
it days today. You know, I think I have heavily
influenced a lot of the brands with my art. Yeah,
(16:37):
that's wild. Yeah, I mean it's clearly golf has moved
in a more athletic athlete direction. We you know, we
obviously saw the Tiger Woods, and then of course he
inspired this entire generation of guys that we've got now
who really could have played other sports and did play
other sports Brooks cath kat Tony Fenaw, et cetera. But
(16:58):
I'm fascinated by the fact this bite the success. I guess,
like a true artist, you sort of doubted yourself, but
yet here you are getting text from guys like Ken
Griffy Jr. When you're when you're laying in bed with
your wife at like one in the morning, I mean,
what what does that experience like? And I was your
standing is she when you know your your phone is
(17:18):
flowing up in the middle of the night, you know,
with somebody who wants to be I can see r
Ken Griffin. She's all for it, man, She's all for it.
But yeah, that's that's kind of wild. I mean, I
don't even remember how. I don't think I ever asked
Ken Gey how he got my number, but but yeah,
it was kind of like a direct message, like hey,
you know, I want I want to do some some work.
(17:41):
I want to do some golf shoes and here's Ken Griffy,
you know, one of my idols growing up, obviously baseball player,
the kid, the swag, and yeah, like that was that
was one of that was another one of those moments.
You know. I actually drove up to UH to Orlando
to head deliver the shoes because I mean I just
wanted to meet the guy, you know, so like, yeah,
(18:01):
we met, we met uh at an outdoor world of
all places, like a parking lot of the Aldol World,
and delivered the shoes to him personally, and you know,
uh same with a guess. I mean, I guess he's
another one of those you know from my time. You know,
those are like the the giants back then, you know,
I guess see Griffy Jordan's Bo Jackson both Jack is
(18:22):
another guy that I did work for last year, which
blows my mind too. I've got to ask, and I
know it's a little shallow to ask this, but what
does it cost? Like? And I know it doesn't I
know it does not include the shoes. You obviously buy
the shoes, you ship them and you'll obviously not just
do them for celebraries, You'll you'll do them for anybody.
But what is the average cost after I purchased the shoe? Again? Again,
design is is everything how much or how little you
(18:45):
want on the shoe. But it can start from five
hundred and up. You know, I've uh again, I it's
hard to pinpoint exactly how much it is, but the
average is about five. And then are you doing as
many as you can do or or are you looking
to do more? Or are you looking to hire people
because it is getting expanses. No, I'm definitely not doing
(19:07):
as much as I as I could. But uh, but
that like again, that's that's something that we are working on, uh,
to expand, to grow the business so that I can't
get out and do more work for for common guys,
you know, just guys like me and you, you know,
just regular guys, not not tour players or celebrities per se.
I would love to I would love to be able
(19:27):
to do more work. Definitely. What's the craziest request you've
had so far? What's the craziest thing somebody's asking you
to do on a shoot? Man? I think the craziest is, Uh,
ray Allen wanted me to do a rainbow a rainbow
shoot on a Jordany Levin And I remember I remember him,
you know, making the request to me, thinking like, how
(19:47):
in the world is ray Alan gonna pull off a
rainbow shoot, like from from the front all the way
to the back. That he wanted me to fade every
single color into this word into this one section on
the shoe and uh. And I was able to do it.
And and sure enough, you know, there's no one like
ray he can pull off a look. Man. He he
matched it and he looked great. It was for his
(20:09):
his tournament on soft Beach that he has every year.
You know, you talked a lot about Rayal and obviously
he's been a huge part of this story. I want
to know who wins when you guys play golf, because
now I know somebody you play golf with Rolie, he says,
you're really good. I actually know Ronnie when you played
golf with He says, you're pretty damn good. I don't
(20:31):
play as much as I used to do so, but
you know, uh, you know when I when I have
played with Ray, this is something that I tell my buddies,
you know, when they asked me what's it like to
play with him? I think what stands out the most
playing with him, in particular, is the intense focus that
he has when he stands over the golf call and
(20:54):
and it's almost it's almost as if he's standing on
the free throw line shooting free throws win the game.
The intensity that you feel, I can't even explain it.
Like the guys, the guy's mental toughness and and and
I think that's why he's so good at golf. Also
is because you know, you kind of have to block
everything out and focus on the moment and the shot
(21:16):
and uh and yeah, it's it's it's awesome. It's awesome
to play with the guy. He's he's super long. You know,
he can stick as well, and he plays he plays
all the time. It's really I got a question, and
I know that Whacker is gonna get all my asse
about this. But I know Whacker is a huge Canes fan.
I'm guessing you're a Canes fan as well. Correct If
(21:37):
I say you a pair of shoes, would you have them?
Would you have a problem designing a pair of Florida
Gator shoes? Not at not at all. I mean, I
mean I might throw up a little bit inside my mouth,
you know, while I'm doing it, but I'm gonna I'm
gonna give you the baddest, the baddest men the Gators
shoes that you've ever seen, because I mean, let's be honest,
(21:58):
the Canes are having a downtime and the Gators are
really playing pretty well. So this is the time, dude. Man,
all I can say is, uh, yeah, we're we're as
as low. I mean, when you loose that by you
pretty much at home, you know that that's as low
as it gets. Man. Yeah, you know I'm happy any worse.
(22:22):
You see, Whacker he said he's happy for the Gators.
See now that and see it's a good guy forgot.
I'd love to face the Gators when you guys are
doing good. You know, it's it's kind of like you
guys playing us when we suck. You know, it's not
the same year about Yeah, I mean we we played
last year and it was a very close game. I
thought we were both going to have really good years
in our years years with two different directions. Yep, it
(22:44):
sure was, man that I think that that that that
game in particular set the tone for the games this year.
You know, how do we won? That game might have
been a little different rolling Congratulations on your business congratulations
uh number one to your wife for keeping you focused
and uh and and keeping you going. And I mean,
here's a self made guy. You started drawing on your
(23:04):
shoes like much of us do, and instead you have
now turned it into a pretty lucrative business. Congratulations. What's
the best way If somebody wants to get in touch
with you? They want to get some shoes done, they
want to read about you, they want to see your work.
What's the best way to get in touch with you
so they can DM me or email me? Uh email
is uh Nomad custom Kicks at Gmail and uh my
(23:25):
handle is at Nomad Underscore Customs on Instagram. Just message
me and we'll get something starting a good deal man. Congratulations,
Thank you so much. I'll definitely be in touch about
a pair of Gator kicks. I just don't want to
I don't want to see you know. Sometimes we we
found out later. Now. You look at these Disney covers
and they like hit a penis or somewhere in there.
I don't need some hitting you in my Gator shoe. Well,
(23:48):
I can't promise you anything, but he's gonna have to
take a microscope to that shoe and find it. Good man,
thank you so much. We really really really appreciate your
time on him. Man. You guys, take care of man.
Take about Bye.
Don't mind us where playing through here Froggy and welcome
to another edition. I'll be playing through podcast. You know,
sometimes in life, I know I sat around and drew
on shoes, but I didn't turn it into a profession.
Some people turn things that they love into a job.
And that's what we're doing today talking to Roy. You
(00:25):
may follow him on Instagram. Uh No, mad Customs and
that's exactly what he does. He customizes shoes. My co
host Brian Whacker also has done an interview with him
in Golf Digest magazine. Real Quick if you want to
reach out to us at any time at Froggy Radio
or at Brian Whacker wants a Whacker. How exactly did
(00:45):
you find out about role and this amazing business that
he's created. Well, it's a wild story, right and uh
or the backstory anyway is wild. You know, custom golf
shoes is sort of become kind of a thing lately.
I mean last year at the Kepka wearing the Nike
off whites and that was that was like this big
(01:05):
deal that sort of became this viral thing online because
you've got a bunch of you know, middle aged golf writers.
Asking Brooks Kepka about his shoes. You know, Brooks in
his twenties, twenty nine years old, and you know he's
got these off whites that have the zip tie on
them and I don't really look like golf shoes. And
(01:28):
what he did was basically, Brooks had an off white
shoe a golf soul put on them so he could
wear them during the tour championships. So anyway, this thing,
as often is the case, sort of goes viral on
social media, but it really spoke to a larger issue
that you know, we've we've seen custom golf shoes popping
up more and more. I remember seeing Justin Thomas at
(01:51):
an event and he had some some foot joys that
were customized for the event he played in for the
Bahamas Ricky Fowler Corps. That's really cool one the last
couple of years at Big Hill that honored Arnold Palmer.
So it's sort of become this thing, and we've seen
in another sports, right, We've seen it in baseball, We've
seen in basketball, yeah, exactly, football. I mean, guys in
(02:15):
other sports. You know, there's a lot of sneaker heads
out there, and that's kind of what some of this
young crop of golfers has become and and so that's
er roleing the Drone. And there's a guy who'ss living
in Miami cottying at a golf club but has always
been into shoes. And you know the way this speaks
to the power of social media. So we kind of
(02:35):
posted some designs and was cattying one day at a
golf club in Miami. Get to Ray Allen as Loop
of Basketball Hall of Famer. So Ray was wearing a
pair of Jordan golf shoes that hadn't even been released
to the public. They sort of bonded over both being
sneaker heads and really just suggested to him at one
point during the round, says, hey, you know, like I'd
(02:56):
love to show you some of the work I do
and customizing golf shoes is. And it goes from there.
So Ray takes a lookout it eventually loves when he
sees and boom, the next thing you know, Ray tells
his friends, his friends tell their friends, and the thing
starts to just mushroom from there, and and the next
thing you know, Brolly for Drone has become a thing. Right,
(03:19):
He's designing golf shoes for Ricky Fowler players on the
President's Cup teams. So roly, How exactly do you start
drawing on shoes? Is it a case of like for me, example,
when I was in school, I get bored, I draw
my new shoes. My dad want to kick my ass.
How does this start? Of course? Pretty much the same,
pretty much the same way. I mean, you know, getting
(03:39):
board in school, always into art, always into sports. Um,
and back then, you know, the sneaker the sneaker world
is nothing like it is today. Um, the sneaker drops
would come, they were they were very spread out. My
parents would only buy me a person heats once a year,
and you beat the ship out of him. You know,
(04:00):
you'd wear them to the souls were almost gone. And uh.
And like I said, I've always been into art, and
I would always do something to my shoe just to
set it apart. So that's that's kind of where it
started for me designing shoes. It wasn't a big deal,
but I just remember every time I did it, you know,
friends that were into sneakers would notice right away. So
(04:22):
that's kind of something that that that always was like,
you know, I got something that you don't, you know,
so give us the laundry list of people that now
it goes from you drawing on your sneakers in school
to now you have become safe to say friends or
buddies or our text partners with. I'm sure a laundry
list of guys you've done shoes for? Yeah, I have.
(04:43):
I mean I think the first big one was was
Ricky Fowler. I mean I did. Uh. I did some
Arnold Palmer shoes for him. Puma had reached out to me.
I think it was three years ago to pay tribute
to UH to Palmer at Bay Hill. That got a
ton of attention. Um. Ricky loved the shoes. Um. I
(05:04):
mean that's that's probably the first one, the first big
p g A shoe that I did. Then of course
I did some shoes for Brooks kept up for the
US Open. Uh. Doesn't work for Bubba Watson, you know,
Patrick Reid got still Michelson. Let's see who else came
in champ you know, Bryson de Shambo. There's so many guys. Yeah,
(05:26):
it's crazy. It's been a it's been a crazy ride. Now,
is there anybody that you haven't done work for yet
but you're dying to do work for? In the future.
I know where you're goat. He is the goat of
all goat. Listen of all goats. He is the goat.
And that really would be like an honor to do shoes.
(05:47):
Have Tiger Woods send you shoes. Do you have a
design in mind of what you would want to do
for him? Would you do like would you put goats
on him? I might, I might, I don't know. I'm
talking about feel about it. You know, Tiger is a
low key kind of guy. You know, he does rock
the Red on Sunday. That's probably as uh as rash
as uh as as Tiger gets, you know, but you know,
(06:10):
I have no idea. It has to be. It has
to be a Sunday a Sunday shoot for sure. Do
you like being self employed or is this something you
would like to You know a lot of people start
a business, they sell it to a big conglomerate and
they end up being a consultant or they work for
the big conglomerate. Do you like it the way it
is or would you like to eventually take this and
work for say Nike, or work for Puma or work
(06:30):
for Joy. Well, I kind of have the freedom to
do that now, uh you know, I'm not I'm not
exclusive to anyone. So I guess I'd have to answer
that by saying that that I like it the way
it is now, like like working for myself. You know,
collabing with with those brands is always great, but it
is also something that I have thought of growing at
some point. Now is is it's now? It's it's grown
(06:55):
at least for me to the point where where I
do have to think about that, where I do have
to think about expanding the business. Yeah, I mean, you're
a single You're I mean you're a business of one man.
I know. I read in in Whacker's article in Golf
Digest that you do employ on assistant to kind of
help you start the stripping process. So how does it work?
So let's let's say, for example, Ricky Fowler wants you
(07:16):
to do a pair of shoes. They ship you the
shoes and then you start the process from there. Yeah,
they'd have the shoes directly sent to me. We kind
of toss some ideas back and forth. You know, if
they have an inspiration for an upcoming event, you know,
whatever the the event uh theme is, and uh go
back and forth with them on designs and once it's approved,
(07:39):
you know, once they run it by p you know,
I just I start going in on the on the
shoe and you kind of mentioned, you know, the stripping
and and the prep work, which is which is really
what I have. A buddy of mine comes, he comes
over and you know, he gives me a hand with that,
and uh and once that's done, then it's just then
(07:59):
that's when you it happens. You know, that's when the
magic starts. And and uh, I mean there's nothing like it,
you know, in the finished products. When it's all done,
and uh, I see the guy whoever it is, you know,
rocking it in a tournament and I see it on
TV or see it in social media and pictures. You know,
it's it's an awesome feeling. Man. I can't. I can't
describe it. It It never gets old. It's kind of like
(08:21):
your baby, you know. You put so much time and
effort into it and once, once, once you see it
on TV, man, it's like, Wow, it's pretty freaking awesome.
Of all the ones you've done, do you have a
favorite pair or favorite job that you've done that still
sticks out in your mind? Is like, holy sh it,
I can't believe I pulled that off. Man, There's so
many there's so many. I mean there there's one. There's
(08:42):
one job in particular that that still blows me away.
And that just happened a few months ago. I did
up here for Barack Obama. Actually I did two pairs
for Barack Obama for his birthday, and that was through
Ray Allen. You know Ray Allen, it is kind of
the guy that got me on the map per se um,
and he just wanted to give Obama for his birthday
(09:03):
something unique. I mean, what do you get the president,
you know, the ex president? And uh, you know, from
my understanding, he loved the shoes. You know, Ray said
that he he was just blown away by it, and
uh and that's kind of something that, you know, it's
hard to top that. Well, what was you mentioned? You know,
seeing him on TV, seeing on social media, seeing on
(09:24):
the feet of guys like Ricky Faller Brooks, you know,
hearing the reaction of former President Barack Obama. What's your
you know, what was like the first shoe that saw
somewhere publicly, be online, be it on TV. That really
kind of you're like wow that it was like that
it moment for you look, do you remember what the
(09:44):
first time you saw that, what that shoe was and
what that experience was like. Oh well, so early on,
like you know, it wasn't always it wasn't always heavy golf,
like I would say the last three and a half years. Um,
I kind of shifted to golf, mainly golf. In the
early days when I started the business, I did a
lot of baseball leads, so I did a lot of
(10:06):
stuff to the MLB players. I did some work for uh,
for some of the Marlins guys and Miami, Miami pitcher
Jose Fernandez who passed, he kind of he kind of
was was the first baseball player, one of the first
baseball players to to wear my work. And uh, and
you know I never forget, you know, going down here
(10:28):
to Marlins Park delivering the shoes and watching him pitch
in the shoes, and and that was that was that
was the first like really wild moment for me. You know,
I was I was scared of ship that the paint
was gonna come off, you know, like I was, I
didn't know what to expect, even though I had even
though I had done the trial and error on my
(10:48):
own shoes. Um, it's still you know that moment you're
you're all nervous and you're freaking out. So that was
probably one of the one of those wild moments. And
you're a baseball guy, I mean, you grew up in
Half Florida, played a lot of playing a lot of
sports when you're a kid. But you're a huge baseball fan.
I know, that's just top to be memorable to have.
(11:09):
Here's the here's your hometown team, one the star players,
and he's got your shoes on, but you design. Yeah, yeah,
it's wild man, he's and you know he's he was
Cuban on from Cuban parents, uh you know, born and
raising Hialiyah. So definitely ain't the baseball all my life.
And uh yeah that was huge, man, that was huge,
(11:29):
and he was a superstar, you know he wasn't. Just
how long does it take you to do a pair
of shoes, Like say, somebody ships you have a pair
of shoes just just for sitting giggles eight on on
a Monday, you get them. How long? How many hours
man hours does it take from the stripping process to
the design process to actually finished and the shoes on
the way back to the person. You know it all varies,
but in perfect imperfect conditions where I know exactly what
(11:52):
I'm doing and the design and everything is said, it
shouldn't take more than eight hours, you know, six to
eight hours just to let the paint set, you know,
and and and have it detailed and whatnot. So more
or less a day do you create the designs or
or or do you do you get a little input
from the person whose shoes they are. So sometimes guys
are very specifically with what they want. Other times, ayre like, hey,
(12:14):
do your thing. You know, we we we love your work.
You know, anything anything that you do is is cool.
So again that that very I think the easiest one
is when I have the design, you know, when someone
knows exactly what they want, a little different than someone
saying we'll do anything, you know. That's what's kind of like,
well do anything. I mean, that makes it a little
(12:34):
more difficult. You talked about sort of the early process
of it, Right, you had something maybe that didn't turn out,
you had to go you had to go buy you know,
or go get another pair of those shoes, because obviously
you don't want to go back to the clients say hey,
I need I need another pair of shoes. I screwed
these up. Yeah, what was sort of the funniest, the
most memorable or maybe the toughest shoe that you you know,
(12:58):
I think what he's asking, what's the biggest funk up
you've made so far? Yeah, well, what did you do
to get? Like? It wasn't hard to get the shoe again? Man?
So what I did was so I gotta I got
a little I got a little too happy with my
heat gun, trying to trying to dry the pee a
(13:21):
little too quick, and uh and I burned the hole
inside of the shoe. It was just there's just some
guy on on on social media who reached out. He
wanted me to do a pair of tiger Wood shoes
and it was the the white some white Masters addition shoes.
So these were limited addition shoes. And yeah, man, I
had the hardest time locating the side and the shoe.
(13:43):
But yeah, I burned. I burned the hole right through
the plastic, right through, like it caught like literally were smoking,
you know, in my room. And uh, so yeah, I
learned quickly that the heat gun doesn't play. Now, is
your wife on board with the business, Like she's all
in totally she's oh man, she was she you know,
(14:04):
without her ship, I would have quit twenty times already,
you know, without her support. Like she's you know, from
work from the get go. She was like, you know what,
you're an artist. You know. We we were we were
we were. We were in a bad situation. I mean,
we were living with the in laws. So if that's
not bad enough, and and and I was looking for
a job, you know, meantime I was I was still
(14:24):
a caddy at La Gore's. So even after I did
work for Reality, you know, the business didn't just boom
right after it was. It was a slow process to
get to where I am today. But there were many
times where I wanted to quit. She's like, you can't,
you know, you can't. You're building something, you know, you
you have talent, you know. And I and I didn't
(14:44):
believe in myself. I really did not think that this
was gonna go anywhere. I didn't believe in the product.
And uh and even though I would hear it from
guys like really, you know, Ray Bray was one of
the first also to say, you know, people need this,
you know, the golf shoes are born, and he was,
is right, you know when I started playing golf back
in when Tigger blew Up picked up the game when
(15:06):
I was twenty one, I remember saying, like, golf shoes
are boring, you know, coming from someone who coming from
someone who like collected sneakers as a kid. You know,
my my like I said, my mom would buy me
one play of sneakers and know it was it was
like the hundred dollar sneakers, you know, because she wanted
them to last the whole year. So I was, I
was very much into sneakers, and I just remember thinking, God,
(15:28):
like golf shoes are born. Golf shoes are just you know,
you get black white, or you get white with a
brown saddle. So yeah. So like one of my my
very first creations on a golf shoe when I started
the business, uh and posting on Instagram was I merged
a Jordan three with a Tiger Woods shoe. And I
(15:49):
just remember everywhere that I went, every golf course that
I played, you know, usually the golf cart guys. You
know you've got young kids, man, I just like I
break their neck. Like they couldn't stop looking at my shoes,
and I said, man, there's something here, there's this is special,
you know, and that's kind of uh, that's kind of
what keeps me going, man. Just the expressing yourself. You know,
(16:13):
players love to express themselves, especially nowadays, you know, there's
fashion and that's kind of uh. I think I think
I had a lot to do with the culture. This
is the golf foot where shifting in the direction that
it days today. You know, I think I have heavily
influenced a lot of the brands with my art. Yeah,
(16:37):
that's wild. Yeah, I mean it's clearly golf has moved
in a more athletic athlete direction. We you know, we
obviously saw the Tiger Woods, and then of course he
inspired this entire generation of guys that we've got now
who really could have played other sports and did play
other sports Brooks cath kat Tony Fenaw, et cetera. But
(16:58):
I'm fascinated by the fact this bite the success. I guess,
like a true artist, you sort of doubted yourself, but
yet here you are getting text from guys like Ken
Griffy Jr. When you're when you're laying in bed with
your wife at like one in the morning, I mean,
what what does that experience like? And I was your
standing is she when you know your your phone is
(17:18):
flowing up in the middle of the night, you know,
with somebody who wants to be I can see r
Ken Griffin. She's all for it, man, She's all for it.
But yeah, that's that's kind of wild. I mean, I
don't even remember how. I don't think I ever asked
Ken Gey how he got my number, but but yeah,
it was kind of like a direct message, like hey,
you know, I want I want to do some some work.
(17:41):
I want to do some golf shoes and here's Ken Griffy,
you know, one of my idols growing up, obviously baseball player,
the kid, the swag, and yeah, like that was that
was one of that was another one of those moments.
You know. I actually drove up to UH to Orlando
to head deliver the shoes because I mean I just
wanted to meet the guy, you know, so like, yeah,
(18:01):
we met, we met uh at an outdoor world of
all places, like a parking lot of the Aldol World,
and delivered the shoes to him personally, and you know,
uh same with a guess. I mean, I guess he's
another one of those you know from my time. You know,
those are like the the giants back then, you know,
I guess see Griffy Jordan's Bo Jackson both Jack is
(18:22):
another guy that I did work for last year, which
blows my mind too. I've got to ask, and I
know it's a little shallow to ask this, but what
does it cost? Like? And I know it doesn't I
know it does not include the shoes. You obviously buy
the shoes, you ship them and you'll obviously not just
do them for celebraries, You'll you'll do them for anybody.
But what is the average cost after I purchased the shoe? Again? Again,
design is is everything how much or how little you
(18:45):
want on the shoe. But it can start from five
hundred and up. You know, I've uh again, I it's
hard to pinpoint exactly how much it is, but the
average is about five. And then are you doing as
many as you can do or or are you looking
to do more? Or are you looking to hire people
because it is getting expanses. No, I'm definitely not doing
(19:07):
as much as I as I could. But uh, but
that like again, that's that's something that we are working on, uh,
to expand, to grow the business so that I can't
get out and do more work for for common guys,
you know, just guys like me and you, you know,
just regular guys, not not tour players or celebrities per se.
I would love to I would love to be able
(19:27):
to do more work. Definitely. What's the craziest request you've
had so far? What's the craziest thing somebody's asking you
to do on a shoot? Man? I think the craziest is, Uh,
ray Allen wanted me to do a rainbow a rainbow
shoot on a Jordany Levin And I remember I remember him,
you know, making the request to me, thinking like, how
(19:47):
in the world is ray Alan gonna pull off a
rainbow shoot, like from from the front all the way
to the back. That he wanted me to fade every
single color into this word into this one section on
the shoe and uh. And I was able to do it.
And and sure enough, you know, there's no one like
ray he can pull off a look. Man. He he
matched it and he looked great. It was for his
(20:09):
his tournament on soft Beach that he has every year.
You know, you talked a lot about Rayal and obviously
he's been a huge part of this story. I want
to know who wins when you guys play golf, because
now I know somebody you play golf with Rolie, he says,
you're really good. I actually know Ronnie when you played
golf with He says, you're pretty damn good. I don't
(20:31):
play as much as I used to do so, but
you know, uh, you know when I when I have
played with Ray, this is something that I tell my buddies,
you know, when they asked me what's it like to
play with him? I think what stands out the most
playing with him, in particular, is the intense focus that
he has when he stands over the golf call and
(20:54):
and it's almost it's almost as if he's standing on
the free throw line shooting free throws win the game.
The intensity that you feel, I can't even explain it.
Like the guys, the guy's mental toughness and and and
I think that's why he's so good at golf. Also
is because you know, you kind of have to block
everything out and focus on the moment and the shot
(21:16):
and uh and yeah, it's it's it's awesome. It's awesome
to play with the guy. He's he's super long. You know,
he can stick as well, and he plays he plays
all the time. It's really I got a question, and
I know that Whacker is gonna get all my asse
about this. But I know Whacker is a huge Canes fan.
I'm guessing you're a Canes fan as well. Correct If
(21:37):
I say you a pair of shoes, would you have them?
Would you have a problem designing a pair of Florida
Gator shoes? Not at not at all. I mean, I
mean I might throw up a little bit inside my mouth,
you know, while I'm doing it, but I'm gonna I'm
gonna give you the baddest, the baddest men the Gators
shoes that you've ever seen, because I mean, let's be honest,
(21:58):
the Canes are having a downtime and the Gators are
really playing pretty well. So this is the time, dude. Man,
all I can say is, uh, yeah, we're we're as
as low. I mean, when you loose that by you
pretty much at home, you know that that's as low
as it gets. Man. Yeah, you know I'm happy any worse.
(22:22):
You see, Whacker he said he's happy for the Gators.
See now that and see it's a good guy forgot.
I'd love to face the Gators when you guys are
doing good. You know, it's it's kind of like you
guys playing us when we suck. You know, it's not
the same year about Yeah, I mean we we played
last year and it was a very close game. I
thought we were both going to have really good years
in our years years with two different directions. Yep, it
(22:44):
sure was, man that I think that that that that
game in particular set the tone for the games this year.
You know, how do we won? That game might have
been a little different rolling Congratulations on your business congratulations
uh number one to your wife for keeping you focused
and uh and and keeping you going. And I mean,
here's a self made guy. You started drawing on your
(23:04):
shoes like much of us do, and instead you have
now turned it into a pretty lucrative business. Congratulations. What's
the best way If somebody wants to get in touch
with you? They want to get some shoes done, they
want to read about you, they want to see your work.
What's the best way to get in touch with you
so they can DM me or email me? Uh email
is uh Nomad custom Kicks at Gmail and uh my
(23:25):
handle is at Nomad Underscore Customs on Instagram. Just message
me and we'll get something starting a good deal man. Congratulations,
Thank you so much. I'll definitely be in touch about
a pair of Gator kicks. I just don't want to
I don't want to see you know. Sometimes we we
found out later. Now. You look at these Disney covers
and they like hit a penis or somewhere in there.
I don't need some hitting you in my Gator shoe. Well,
(23:48):
I can't promise you anything, but he's gonna have to
take a microscope to that shoe and find it. Good man,
thank you so much. We really really really appreciate your
time on him. Man. You guys, take care of man.
Take about Bye.
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