HYDERABAD: In the era of personalisation, how can we leave behind shoes? If store-bought shoes bore you then take them to Rahul Dev at Unhinged Customs, who will hand-paint your shoes to give them an edgy and vibrant look. We speak to Rahul about his art, and the response he has been getting, and how he has been customising new stuff regularly.
Rahul followed his passion to be an artist and a shoe designer and people were impressed with his strokes of colours. Talking about the new stuff that he has been working, he says, “I am working on lot more leather-based shoes, premium Nikes, Jordan’s and other stuff. I am also starting new collaborations with new brands. It is going pretty good and I could say that the prices have gone up.”
Rahul was one among the few who could push through the Covid-induced lockdowns with Unhinged Customs. “The first three months were basically like how it was for everyone else; there was no work. Since everybody was at home, I started creating more content and I was able to get a lot more reach with it. It helped me as people were at home and looking at their phones often. My content helped me push through the tough times and I started getting orders,” he says.
Recently, when Argentinian football star Lionel Messi left FC Barcelona after close to two decades, Rahul painted the sportsman on a pair shoes. After the artist put up the pictures of the shoes on social media, he got a lot of appreciation from football fans.
People usually commission Rahul with anime-related art. “Pop culture and anime-related stuff is in demand for customising shoes. People are interested in new anime rather than the older ones,” he says.
All the recent shoes that Rahul has worked on are leather based shoes and you cannot paint them with regular. Therefore, he imports the paints from the US that are specifically made for leather called Angelus.
You can get your new shoes customised or you can just name the theme on the shoe that you want and Rahul does the rest. “Ninety per cent of the time, I buy shoes from Nike or Adidas, or the customer sends me a brand new pair of shoes. If the shoes are not new and original, I don’t paint on them as sometimes the material is bad and spending money on something that is fake is not advisable,” he says.
Apart from shoes, Rahul also customises bags, wallets and jackets. “I am still working on few other cool stuff which will be out soon. These are the things that have not started in India yet, but yes, I am working on it and will soon show it to you all,” he says.