Initial instinct was “here we go again – big brand bullying around a little guy just having some fun and customizing a few shoes for celebrities”.
But then I read the article and saw where he’s up to 80 employees and 20,000 square feet of office space, selling custom shoes for thousands of dollars.
Dude is clearly profiting millions off Nike’s brand, and right or wrong, you can’t just do that without licensing agreements.
Numerous-Process2981
That’s ridiculous. Do I not own my Nike shoes when I buy them? Or is this a subscription service now like everything else.
Satiricalistic
Would this be like Toyota going after the people that tinted my windows?
mfCooldawg
Why we cant have nice things smdh
3s2ng
I genuinely want to know the law regarding customisations.
Does that mean that it’s illegal also to profit from customising cars?
What will be the difference?
I thought you already owned the shoes you already bought? So I can do anything about it. No?
Edit: Like others have pointed out, Shoes Sergeon created custom swoosh, which is a Nike trademark. That alone is a trademark infringement.
boaby_gee
Fair play to Nike.
comalicious
Dumb as fuck. And Nike has clearly botted the shit out of this thread.
Still not one compelling argument for why Nike isn’t head up ass. Lmao. Just a bunch of fucking weirdos dick riding the richest shoe company in the world while sales are down.
Once you buy the shoes it’s your, you should be able to do whatever you want with it, customize it, resell it whatever.
Biotoze
It’s absolutely wild if he’s been doing all this without any legal advice.
swoosh_
Regardless of the legal situation, people are paying $7,500 minimum on commissions for shoes that look like that ??? The record Lebrons are cool but the rest are the ugliest shoes I’ve ever seen. You can either buy a month long vacation or get a pair of forces with the Gucci logo on them
Edit: use 12ft io to get past paywall
Saucy_Totchie
This news broke a little while ago and is currently ongoing. It gets a bit tricky due to Nike directly working with The Shoe Surgeon on multiple occasions making special pairs. Along with this, he also gets reached out to directly by LeBron and other big name celebs for custom pieces. The issues becomes how TSS holds classes teaching people how to make Nikes like him. He claims that Nike is suppressing his and other people’s creativeness and how he’s “doing it for the culture”. Meanwhile Nike believes his classes teaches people how to make fake Nikes.
As someone into sneakers he’s absolutely full of shit and trying to get sympathy. He mostly caters to ultra wealthy. There are customized New Balances that just have alligator/crocodile print panels on it on his site selling for $5000 USD. On top of that, his classes are about $3000+. “For the culture” my ass. Don’t say you’re out there fighting for the little people while your services are not for them at all.
Easy_Money343
Well it’s really a person, more so than a company
ChewbaccAli
I might care if Nike didn’t use slaves to make their shoes, then turn around and sell them for 20x
tiggs
For people unfamiliar with The Shoe Surgeon, this is not some little small business. There are tons of shoe customizers out there and some of the bigger ones have even worked with Nike on projects. For the most part, sneaker companies don’t mind this.
This guy is different though. He breaks down the shoes and rebuilds them with high quality and/or exotic materials. At first, it was just accents and nobody really cared. Now he’s rebuilding the entire thing and essentially making counterfeit shoes on Nike soles. What really fucked him is that he’s now teaching other people how to do this, so not only is he creating counterfeits, but he’s training other counterfeiters.
If we’re being honest here, he should have seen this coming a long time ago.
inmyrhyme
Oh wow! This is my friend’s company in LA! He doesn’t just redo Lebron’s shoes. He does all kinds of shoes for all kinds of celebrities. He started this from scratch. I haven’t read the article, so I can’t take sides. But he doesn’t steal stuff. Guy literally hand sews the shoes back together. Man is legit an artist.
19 Comments
[deleted]
Interesting read.
Initial instinct was “here we go again – big brand bullying around a little guy just having some fun and customizing a few shoes for celebrities”.
But then I read the article and saw where he’s up to 80 employees and 20,000 square feet of office space, selling custom shoes for thousands of dollars.
Dude is clearly profiting millions off Nike’s brand, and right or wrong, you can’t just do that without licensing agreements.
That’s ridiculous. Do I not own my Nike shoes when I buy them? Or is this a subscription service now like everything else.
Would this be like Toyota going after the people that tinted my windows?
Why we cant have nice things smdh
I genuinely want to know the law regarding customisations.
Does that mean that it’s illegal also to profit from customising cars?
What will be the difference?
I thought you already owned the shoes you already bought? So I can do anything about it. No?
Edit: Like others have pointed out, Shoes Sergeon created custom swoosh, which is a Nike trademark. That alone is a trademark infringement.
Fair play to Nike.
Dumb as fuck. And Nike has clearly botted the shit out of this thread.
Still not one compelling argument for why Nike isn’t head up ass. Lmao. Just a bunch of fucking weirdos dick riding the richest shoe company in the world while sales are down.
https://archive.ph/ZwXIM
Good!!!!
“I don’t want to fire back shots,” he said.
Ayo pause!?
Once you buy the shoes it’s your, you should be able to do whatever you want with it, customize it, resell it whatever.
It’s absolutely wild if he’s been doing all this without any legal advice.
Regardless of the legal situation, people are paying $7,500 minimum on commissions for shoes that look like that ??? The record Lebrons are cool but the rest are the ugliest shoes I’ve ever seen. You can either buy a month long vacation or get a pair of forces with the Gucci logo on them
Edit: use 12ft io to get past paywall
This news broke a little while ago and is currently ongoing. It gets a bit tricky due to Nike directly working with The Shoe Surgeon on multiple occasions making special pairs. Along with this, he also gets reached out to directly by LeBron and other big name celebs for custom pieces. The issues becomes how TSS holds classes teaching people how to make Nikes like him. He claims that Nike is suppressing his and other people’s creativeness and how he’s “doing it for the culture”. Meanwhile Nike believes his classes teaches people how to make fake Nikes.
As someone into sneakers he’s absolutely full of shit and trying to get sympathy. He mostly caters to ultra wealthy. There are customized New Balances that just have alligator/crocodile print panels on it on his site selling for $5000 USD. On top of that, his classes are about $3000+. “For the culture” my ass. Don’t say you’re out there fighting for the little people while your services are not for them at all.
Well it’s really a person, more so than a company
I might care if Nike didn’t use slaves to make their shoes, then turn around and sell them for 20x
For people unfamiliar with The Shoe Surgeon, this is not some little small business. There are tons of shoe customizers out there and some of the bigger ones have even worked with Nike on projects. For the most part, sneaker companies don’t mind this.
This guy is different though. He breaks down the shoes and rebuilds them with high quality and/or exotic materials. At first, it was just accents and nobody really cared. Now he’s rebuilding the entire thing and essentially making counterfeit shoes on Nike soles. What really fucked him is that he’s now teaching other people how to do this, so not only is he creating counterfeits, but he’s training other counterfeiters.
If we’re being honest here, he should have seen this coming a long time ago.
Oh wow! This is my friend’s company in LA! He doesn’t just redo Lebron’s shoes. He does all kinds of shoes for all kinds of celebrities. He started this from scratch. I haven’t read the article, so I can’t take sides. But he doesn’t steal stuff. Guy literally hand sews the shoes back together. Man is legit an artist.