Jake Ferrato Breaks Down His Six Favorite Custom Creations

Jake says: "These were inspired by the ever-so-popular Balmain Biker Jeans. I don't know how I ended up thinking shoes inspired by pants would be cool, but it happened. These are made of a waxed black denim, with the ribbing and modified panels as seen on the jeans. In my eye this is one of the dopest pairs I've ever done, but for whatever reason the public didn't get that excited about them. Maybe you just need a second look. Regardless, I have my pair on right now. These were released in Fall of '12"

Jake says: "This pair is inspired by Curren$y's movement and I actually ended up making him a pair too - there's a video of him receiving them somewhere on the net. Anyway, these marked the first time I ever really modified the Swoosh. I think this pair is also the first time that I really managed to carry a theme all the way through the shoe. From the Jet swoosh, to the tongue tag, to the cutout on the back, right down to the colorway. Oh, and V1 has glowing Swooshes and cutouts. V2 has leather Swooshes and genuine raw papers to back the cutout on the heel. V1 released in January of '11 and V2 in January of '12. Both sold out within a week."

Jake says: "This pair was put together in an absolute panic out of all the materials I had laying around in the summer of '11. The pair was being done for a friend over at Sneaker Freaker, and were originally supposed to be a drastically different design. I don't even remember what, but for whatever reason we determined that the original plan was not going to work. So like two weeks before the client needed them I had to dig through all of my materials and throw something together. Fortunately, I had awesome materials laying around, and was able to put together something dope. These are made of suede and snake, and are a 1-of-1."

Jake says: "I wear my pair of these so much, I absolutely love them. They are made of Pendleton Wool and white leather - inspiration for them was actually those varsity jackets that Mr. Ronnie Fieg put out a while back. I saw those and the material combination of leather with the patterned wool was amazing to me, so again, I had to put my own piece together. Don't be surprised if something similar to these comes out down the line - when my pair wears out I'll have to put another release together! "

Jake says: "John Geiger came to me with this idea way back in December as a gift for Darrelle Revis. All black genuine python with luxurious lambskin liners. This pair was limited to 10, and sold out in three days. These were released January 1st, 2013 to really kick off the Year of the Snake properly (even tho, the Chinese new year doesn't technically start Jan 1), and I'll be having fun with that theme on various shoes all year."

Jake says: "The Chicago 1s were the first pair to be done of the two, and it was Ty (@regularolTy) from over at LDRS who came to me first with that idea. After I put out the picture of the Chicagos, I got the ball rolling on the Royals. I was lucky enough to get a pair very early, and actually managed to release and sell out my pair (an exclusive - only three pairs made) the day before the Royals even released. This is my first release to sell out in one day."