Design Your Own Custom Shoes

A lot of consumers have a hard time finding the perfect pair of shoes. There are those who just can’t seem to fit their feet in the standard-issued shoes from retail stores. Then, there are also those who want styles that aren’t conventional and unique to their tastes. Whether you are looking for custom shoes to find that perfect fit or to satisfy your style preferences, you will find a whole lot of sites that cater to these concerns.

Design Custom Sports Shoes

We scoured the web for custom sports shoes and thankfully found a good amount of them. Some of the biggest names in the shoe industry have also ventured out in custom shoes. Companies like Converse, K-Swiss, Vans, Reebok, New Balance and Nike have all designated a part of their websites for create-your-own-shoes. Others, like Adidas have offered custom shoe design tools in the past, but have discontinued them after a while. Also, not all of the shoes displayed on these websites are available for customization. There are only limited models up for customization.

These top companies live up to their big names and good reputations. Their websites have great visual aesthetics and are all equipped with sophisticated and easy to use design applications. Naturally though, custom kicks from these brands are a little bit pricier. For options that are easier on the wallet, Solecreator provides affordable, unbranded selections.

Design Custom High Heels

Women’s custom shoes generally have more style details. The sites we found cater to different types of consumers. Shoes of Prey, Nina Shoes, Atelier Shoes, Upper Street London and Milk and Honey Shoes have the most stylish selections among the sites we have reviewed. Among these sites, Upper Street London is our top pick because it is equipped with the most user-friendly tools, along with a very appealing DIY studio. All of these custom high heels sites have a wide range of shoe styles ranging from wedding shoes and formals to trendy, stylish pieces. Maguba also has cute options but this company specializes in custom clog shoes so you won’t be seeing your classic pumps here. However, they do have beautiful hand-made custom and ready to wear clogs.

Design Custom Specialty Shoes

For those looking for specialty stores, FootJoy, Swappeez and Sara’s Shoes are great options. FootJoy specializes in golf footwear and apparel, with MyJoy being their custom golf shoes section where you will find a good range of style and design options at reasonable prices. Swappeez offers fun, customizable flip flops of different designs, colors and embellishments that you can mix and match. Sara’s Shoes is all about the comfort and fit of the shoe. They specialize in customizing durable leather shoes for people with special requirements. Dream Heels has a totally unique concept, as they are more of a shoe lover’s destination to design and discuss shoes. Their products, however, are very limited.

Design Men’s Custom Shoes

For men who require fine custom dress shoes to match their custom suits, we highly recommend iShoes by iTailor. This website is fairly new in the shoe game but the quality of their custom shoes make them at par with even the biggest shoe names. Unfortunately though, they only offer men’s custom shoes at this time, and their selection is also a little limited but we foresee that this site will have more options available in the near future.

Most of these sites have great, sophisticated design centers that have 3D images of the shoes you are designing. Additionally, all the essential tools and information you need to create a nice pair of custom shoes is readily provided, along with helpful customer service who can assist you in the design process.

How to Design Your Own Shoes

If you have decided wich kind of shoe you want to design (sport shoes, high heels, sandals, boots or dress shoes) you can decide which brand you like the most. Adidas, Converse, K-Swiss, Vans, Reebok and Nike all have great options to design your own shoes.

To show you an example we will choose NikeiD and open the “customize”-page where all customizable products are listed. Look for a base model you like and click the button “Customize and Buy”.

After you have chosen your favorite shoe model you will be shown some pre-configured options as examples how colors and materials can be combined. You can either start to make your own design from one of these inspirations or from a blank canvas.

After you have made your choice by clicking on the desired design the 3D design tool will finally load and the fun of creating your own shoe can begin.

You will be guided through a step-by-step process where you can choose colors and materials for each part of the shoe like upper part, lace, midsole, outsole, etc.

If you want you can can also choose a custom text or logo which will make your own shoe truly unique. Depending on the shoe model the custom text “id” will be printed or sewn onto the heel or the lace of the shoe.

The last step is choosing your gender, your shoe size and the width (regular fit, wide fit, narrow fit), then you can add your custom shoe to the cart and order it. It will be custom made especially for you and delivered in three weeks or less.

Nike also often partners with celebrities and sport stars to create special shoe models like for example the “Mo Farah Nike Air Zoom Pegasus 33 iD Running Shoe”. It was created to commemorate the long-distance icon’s historic “triple-double” record in the 5,000m and 10,000m and his historic six gold medals, two apiece at three different championships on the world’s stage.