We don’t usually do art here at “SportsBiz” but we couldn’t help notice the attention that was being given to a particular artist who used Nike shoes as his canvas. After seeing a couple of his “works,” we wanted to find out more about this man.
His name is Daniel Reese and he’s a 22-year-old from Merseyside, a county in northwest England.
Three years ago, Reese, who always had a thing for pop art and the sneaker culture, tells us he drew on a pair of Converse sneakers and wore them to a local bar.
After seeing the reaction in the bar, he decided this was his calling.
He started a blog called Brass Monki devoted to the shoe art and opened up a shop a year ago to sell the shoes he created.
He received so many orders, mostly from teenagers, that he had to close the shop in order to fill the orders.
“I think that this led to a sense of disappointment among potential customers, which I want to avoid, so I am having to re-think the strategy,” Reese told me.
The new strategy?
Closing the online shop and working exclusively on commissioned pieces with premium price tags. Reese — who is already booked with orders through September — says he recently received an order from a Brazilian TV personality who has over 500,000 followers on Twitter.
“I’m confident that I have now hit a critical mass and that there are people out there prepared to pay me well because they appreciate what I do,” Reese said.
Right now, Reese – who hasn’t had any talks with the folks at Nike — is juggling his shoe art business with working at a local sporting goods store, but the Liverpool soccer fan says he thinks he can make shoe art his full-time business.
Despite plenty of hits to his Web site, he hasn’t sold as many as he’d like because he says it takes about 24 hours to complete each pair, which he usually sells for $200 to $250.
Reese says he’s not surprised by the attention he’s gotten from his Michael Jackson shoes or some of his other designs.
“For the most part, footwear is out of sight and boring,” Reese said.
“Bright, unusual designs that stand out in a crowd are what I think attracts some people to it.
The fact that you are able to showcase a work of art on your foot gives my customers a real buzz.”
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