What It's Like to Make Custom Sneakers for Kanye West, LeBron James, and Shane McMahon

Mache has made sneakers for some of the biggest celebrities out there, and this is how he gets it done.

Image via Mache

When it comes to making custom shoes, Dan Gamache, better known as Mache, is the man to search out. He’s worked with big-time celebrities such as Shane McMahon, LeBron James, Wale, and Kanye West, and he recently designed a custom pair of Air Jordan IVs for Brisk’s new Pineapple Passionfruit flavor.

At a VIP event in New York City to help promote his new custom sneakers and meet people who are familiar with his work, we had the chance to sit down and chop it with Gamache. He gave us a look into what it’s like to being the in-demand sneaker customizer in the industry right now.

He has a lot of things he’s worked on recently, including custom Adidas Ultra Boosts and Superstars that he sent to Kanye and North West for Father's Day. Fresh off the heels of a project he did with Finish Line and Puma, Gamache says he’s also working on his first sneaker collaboration, too.

But what’s it like to work with such high-profile people? Let him tell the story.

What’s it like working with Shane McMahon?
He’s so cool. It’s funny because you think that someone who’s as successful as he is would be looking at his phone when he’s talking to you, but he’s so polite. I met him at [21] Mercer to give him his shoes. I had them forever, and I met up with him a month later because he’s always traveling for RAW. He was hanging out because I was late. I gave him the shoes and he was so hyped. He said, “What do I owe you?” I wasn’t going to charge him because I’m a fan. He said, “Well, we’ve gotta get a beer or something.” We ended up getting sushi and beer. People were hounding him, but he’s cool as hell. He was asking me questions about my life and where I came from. He genuinely cared. He hit me up for SmackDown the Wednesday before, and I thought he butt-dialed me because it was 10 a.m. and I was driving to my studio.

Did he give you any direction?
Yes and no. He told me what he wanted on the back. I told him it should say, “Shane O SmackDown.” He said, “I want it be Shane O’s, because it’s possessive. It’s my show.” He was afraid of the blue at first, but I said, “The blue is going to look dope on TV.”  I knew how dope the bright green had looked on his first pair [of shoes I made for him]. I told him, “It’s the same shade of paint as the SmackDown logo,” and he said, “I don’t know, that’s really bright.” I told him, “I’ve seen what you’ve worn, it’s going to be cool, trust me. You wrestle and let me paint the shoes.” When he got them he was floored.

You did the shoes for Kanye and North, too.
They’ve been wearing them. Adidas won’t let them wear them in public. I wanted to shoot a text to [Jon] Wex[ler] and say, “Dude, are we cool? Are we good?” I guess North has been wearing them all over the place. There’s photos of her somewhere. Chronicled’s PR person told me they had photos, and I’m just waiting to get them. It doesn’t mean anything unless you have photos. I was stoked that Kanye wore them, too.

It doesn’t get bigger than that.
I’ve done shoes for him before, but we weren’t in the time we’re in now. He was still Polo Kanye. People weren’t worshipping him. Next to doing something for Jay [Z], that’s gotta be the biggest person, in terms of visibility, for me.

That’s bigger than when you do shoes for LeBron James?
Yeah. I’ll tell you: When LeBron got his shoes, I got like 17,000 followers [on Instagram] that night. I had no idea he posted them. At the time, I thought I was doing great with my numbers, and then I was like, “Yo, what happened?” That was the coming out party for me. People who weren’t into what I do knew who I was then. I became known as “The guy who did LeBron’s shoes.”

Have you ever turned down celebrities in the past?
Oh yeah. It’s never been a bad experience, but it’s usually because they want it for free. If you come to me, you’re paying for it. I learned that from Wale. The first pairs of shoes that I did for him, I charged the regular price, and he didn’t shout me out. I was still charging my regular price, because it was early on. I asked him, “What’s going on?” and he said, “It’s not like you go to the Gucci store and buy a Gucci belt and say, ‘Shout out to the Gucci store.’” That was my first time learning the business and how it works. You get the exposure or you get the money. We’re friends now. He texted me on my wedding day, and then I hit him up when he had his daughter. I was delivering some of his ASICS to the wrestlers, because he didn’t have their sizes.

How nice has the WWE deal been?
It’s been great as a fan. I’m doing Sasha [Banks’] shoes for SummerSlam. I was stoked when she won the belt. I thought she was going to win it at SummerSlam, and I was doing to do shoes based off the belt. So I’m like, “What are we going to do now?”

Is it hard to get people to pay the prices for your shoes?
A lot of fans can’t afford a pair of custom shoes. How do you price your own work while you’re still alive? I know I’m a name for what I do and when I’m painting I say to myself, “Who’s gonna pay a couple grand for a pair of shoes?” That’s crazy, I wouldn’t. I choked paying $220 for some [Air Jordan] Vs. Someone’s going to pay a couple of racks, but it’s a different market. You have to understand your worth. It’s like sneakers and reselling. If someone’s willing to pay that price, that’s what it’s gonna be. Who in their right mind was going to pay $7,000 for a pair of [Nike Air] Yeezy 2s? Someone did. Someone screwed it up for everyone else.

What are your relationships like with the sneaker brands?
I’m very transparent because I let them know that I like what I like. Some take that well and some aren’t as happy to hear about it. I know Jordan [Brand] wants people to mess with Jordan and that’s it. But I tell them, “Hey, I love you guys, but I’m a fan of ASICS, I’m a fan of runners, I’m a fan of all these different things.” That’s where you blur the line between business and friendship. I know I’m not LeBron, so you’re not going to pay me a ton of money to just be a Jordan guy. I understand that, but I’m not going to turn down an opportunity to work with all these other brands, just because of one thing. I have a good relationship with every brand. I just tell them, “Hey, I’m doing this with these guys,” and they respect it. If I don’t like a project, I don’t take it. I’ve turned down projects with brands that I didn’t like. It’s a customizer’s dream to do a collab with a sneaker brand.

You had the Finish Line one, right?
Yeah, but I have a real collab on the way. I won’t tease it yet, but it will be up your alley, considering that you’re wearing [The Hanon x Diadoras], you’ll like it. I’m hyped about it. Most people can’t afford to wear my shoes. The Finish Line [with Puma] was cool because I had my sneakers in a big-box retailer, but I still painted it. I want to have a sneaker that’s manufactured. I want to do what Ronnie [Fieg] does, but not exactly what he does. He does clothes, and I’m not a fashionista. I want to do shoes. I was at his first party he did at David Z. I was delivering shoes to the GZA the same night, and I turned down listening to the 8 Diagrams album with him in Battery Park to go to Ronnie’s party.