"Worldwide Wynn"

Everyone has their first pair of baby shoes...but only two have T.WayCustoms as theirs: Rip Hamilton's son and now Worldwide Wes' newly born daughter. It doesn't get any more exclusive than that, ha. Click to view the sneakers featured in GalleryThree.

Happy Turkey Day!

Happy Thanksgiving! I woke up this morning feeling like it was Christmas, ha. I certainly hope you have a great Turkey Day with your family and friends and are grateful for all your blessings. My plans? I woke up this morning to watch the parades for a bit as my mom prepared the turkey and dressings, then we're soon to catch matinee movie, then make it back for the meal around 4PM. As for the Lions game - I'm not even sure if it'll be worth watching unless Barry makes an appearance, ha.

Wednesday, Wednesday

Wednesday morning started off with a little photo shoot for a Grand Rapids Press news article (to run on December 1st). Then from there I had to pack up a huge laundry basket of 2-weeks worth of dirty clothes to travel back east. After battling traffic for 2 hours and literally dodging and swerving through 6 different accidents, I arrived in hometown Brighton. The highlight: my puppy went wild and piddled all over the floor from missing me so much, ha. After settling in, my older sister and her husband arrived from Hillsdale and shortly after took a family trip to the Great Lakes Crossings mall with a mission. Every Bass Pro Shop store in the country features an e-log cabin for family-photos with Santa...so of course we had to make sure we got our family picture taken with the e-log cabin, ha. And if you're up early tomorrow, the e-log will also be featured on the set of FOX's morning show before the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade - FYI.

McAlarney from Notre Dame just hit his 10th three-pointer to give him 39 against UNC. Dang. He jacks 'em up from everywhere. Another useless sidenote: Detroit Lions 0-11 tomorrow! Hah, might as well make history one way or another...Mannnn, I miss Barry.

Black Friday Sale - ACK

Kanye's New CD: 808s and Heartbreak

Kanye's CD dropped today...so while I was out to lunch I stopped by the Best Buy and picked up the album. There seemed to be a lot of debate about this album based upon his singles from it concerning his "new sound." This CD is much different than his previous ones, but that's what an artist has to do - otherwise why would you want to listen to the same ole' same ole' everytime? I think Kanye continues to evolve himself and the industry, and he has my support. This album had a much different feel to it, and I'm not just talking about the sound. I was expecting something very heartfelt after the death of his mother, and the entire album seems to be. The lines that stood out to me the most were from the second track Welcome to Heartbreak, where he says: "My friend shows me pictures of his kids / And all I could show him was pictures of my cribs / He said his daughter got a brand new report card / And all I got is a brand new sports car." Go buy the album - don't be cheap and rip it off.

Lakeshores 2nd Top Entrepreneur...

It was a long and snowy day at Hope College on Michigan's west coast. The business competition was made up of three different rounds: The first round was a 90-second elevator pitch about being an entrepreneur. The second round was a 4-minute presentation about the overall business, and the third round was a 7-minute presentation that went into greater depth about the venture & questions from the five judges. I represented T.WayCustoms very well throughout each round, but it's just sometimes very difficult to explain the size and the passion of the sneaker & streetwear cultures. I was able to secure the 2nd place spot, which isn't bad - don't get me wrong, but I just hate losing...no matter how close a margain it was by, losing is just something I do not like to ever accept, ha. But the winner, Digital Wingman, has already been named to the top-20 list of national college businesses - so Brian and his people definitely have something to be proud about. I got my little 2nd place trophy and a nice little cash prize, so I can't be complaining about anything. I just hate losing, that's all, ha. Now it's your turn to step out and try something new...

The Century Mark!

In case you haven't been counting, this is my 100th post! It's crazy cause I never thought I would have over 100 words to even say, let alone 100 posts. To celebrate this monumental feat, I figured I'd throw confetti in the air, wear a party hat, and blow a noise maker. So I did...and freakin loved it. Wish you could have been there.

Moving on to less important things now: I found this Nike Bizness Zach Randolph PE during my daily sneaker blog visits. What caught my attention was the silhouette of the NYC skyline - which seemed pretty similar to the early, early sneakers I did for the on the rise hip-hop recording artist, JBiZzNys on his AF1-lo. But then I also did an AF1-hi with the Detroit skyline for in-line skater Andrew Hendricks soon after. Now I'm not saying Nike is taking my designs ha, because who knows if someone else has done something similar before me, but I just thought it was an interesting find. Take it for what it's worth to you. Hopefully it's worth A LOT, like gold or something really shiny.

Frozen 'Nanas

Michigan is known for our four seasons: spring, summer, fall, and winter. Sometimes the season changes are gradual, while other times one day it's 70 and sunny and the next day 32 degrees and literally freezing. Last night after I got out of a night class around 9PM, I did some quick grocery shopping on my way from downtown. One of my items were my usual bananas for my mornings of cereal, toast, and coffee. However, instead of heading right home I visited Adrienne for a couple hours at her apartment to have a study session & get some work done. Yes, I left my groceries in the car because I knew they'd stay chilled. Little did I consider that by the time I was leaving, we were getting hit by the freezing lake affect snow from Lake Michigan just a few miles away. Short story long, my bananas did not survive their temporary parking lot residence. And the result...banana bread most likely in my future. Moral of the story: Michigan weather sucks, and ALWAYS take your bananas with you.

Lakeshore's Next Top Entrepreneur

This Friday I'll be competing in an all-day business competition to hopefully be named the Lakeshore's Next Top Entrepreneur. Through three rounds I'll be competing against the other 9-selected participants each pitching their different business ventures. This event will certainly add to an already busy and important week for me, but my goal is to make it another reason for celebration, ha. I will be sure to keep you posted on the outcome. Work hard this week.

LeBron - The Six

Yeahhhhh! Cuz

Like I mentioned before, this weekend's schedule was filled with hoops. Friday and Saturday my cousin played here in Grand Rapids for Spring Arbor...and he was able to do his thing even with a bad ankle. Friday night he put up his average 18 points, but unfortunately lost by 2 points to the #23 team in the nation. Saturday however they defeated the #10-ranked team and put up a 15-number. Congrats and good luck to him and the Spring Arbor team for the rest of the season, and I'm hoping to catch a few more games this season.

That's me with the cous, the 6'7" guy in the middle, and my sister Aubrey (the volleyball player from Cornerstone on your left)

Poor Scarlet! Hahaaa

Saw this on YouTube and just had to post it for you, haha. It's self-titled "Scarlet Takes a Tumble," by Miss Scarlet herself...hahaa. (No one was seriously hurt in the taping of this video - except Scarlet that is! hahaa, just messin!)

Vote Now!

Now that the Presidential election is done and over with, it's time to make the real vote that counts - the 2009 NBA All-Star game! I'm not bias or anything, but I'd suggest voting in the following: Chauncey Billups and CP3 in the West and then Richard Hamilton, Tayshaun Prince, and LeBron in the East. Good luck, now go get your vote on!

As Seen On ABC Extreme Home Makeover

As you've seen about a month back, I did a pair of sneakers for the Pine River, Inc. as an extra promotional tool for their innovative "e-log" product. The e-log will be featured on ABC's Extreme Makeover Home Edition show this Sunday, the 16th, at 8PM EST. Make sure to check your local listings. And in case you're not in the Northern Michigan viewing area, below is an ad they're running during the airing of the show. (http://www.e-logsiding.com/)

Website Botox

Every now and again it's time to freshen up the T.WayCustoms website and give it a little face lift. So I've made sure to put aside quite a lot of time these last few days to give it a little botox injection. Make sure to check throughout the site (WWW.TWAYCUSTOMS.NET) and see what you think - feel free to get at me for some feedback as well. The entire website is for you so I want to make sure you're getting what you want out of it. I've got quite a fun weekend coming up full of basketball (including the Pistons game going on right now as I type) that I'm looking forward to! Hope you have a good weekend as well. God bless & be easy!

LBJ Dunk: From the Free-Throw Line?!?

LeBron James dunking from the free-throw line doesn't seem too crazy or unbelievable, right? But IN A GAME, being chased down by two defenders, and taking only 1 dribble from the mid-court line? Are you serious?!? Granted it might have been a 1/6 step in from the foul line, it's still sickening that LBJ did this without any difficulties...He did this last night IN A GAME against the Milwaukee Bucks. We're not talking about practice (insert Iverson joke here)...but IN A GAME?!?!

Make Veteran's Day Personal

I certainly hope you were aware that yesterday was Veteran's Day and that you remembered to thank those that defended our country. Personally I have a few friends over in the Middle East right now, and a few more preparing to ship over within the next months, and I honor their bravery and dedication. I don't know how they are able to leave their loved ones, then have their lives on the line every single minute of everyday battling gunfire and missles, and then come home and resume their lives (for those that are fortunate enough to). No one enjoys war, and many don't think this one is necessary, but you still need to honor, support, and pray for those that are allowing us to live on over here. You think your life is tough battling the bad economy and stock markets? Try battling for your life. Then it certainly puts things into perspective. So make sure you thank those that have fought, those that are currently fighting, and those that gave their lives for you, myself, and America. RIP to all those that have fallen, and God please be with their families.

God bless & be easy

"The Most Powerful Baby in Sports" Sneakers

Now that I'm back from the Chicago conferences and basically missing 3 or 4 days work opportunities (not meaning I didn't "work" in Chicago ha, but that was more networking - which is just as important as "work" for me), it's time for catch up. Balancing being a full-time college student and trying to further grow and expand T.WayCustoms certainly has its troubles, but I think this week won't be as difficult as the last few - I hope.

Last night I stayed up until...well...I guess I didn't go to bed until this morning, but then I woke up early this morning, so...I guess you could say I had a nap last night. But back to my regularly scheduled thought, last night I started work on a baby sneaker for Wes' new-born daughter, who is now just a couple months old. These things are freaking cute. Yeah, that's right: I'm a guy and said they're cute. They're supposed to kinda be a surprise/late birthday gift/early Christmas gift - so if you talk to "The Most Powerful Man in Sports," please don't spoil the surprise. After I finish these, which will probably have to be delayed until Wednesday (because today I've had classes all day and am about to head to Cornerstone University for my sister, Aubrey's conference playoffs in volleyball), then I've got another pair to sneak in (haha, that pun is definitely intended!) before the BIG project. I've got another pair to do for Rip Hamilton, so my goal is to get those done within the next week or two before the LeBron project really kicks off.

The latest on the LBJ project is: I've just e-mailed the proposals to some big corporate companies to join as sponsors (names TBA upon contractual agreements) and am continuing to look into the aspects of the budget, time schedules, travel, tour stops, promotions, etc., etc., etc. I'm definitely looking forward to just getting it underway and begin designing the sneaker - because I don't like handling the business as much as I do the actual art work. I should prolly just hire someone to run the day-to-day for T.WayCustoms, but I still enjoy having a hand in everything I do and put my name on. That's something I need to work on: not doing everything myself, because it certainly adds up very quickly.

I'll continue to move on, get good grades, design beautiful sneakers, and prepare to change the world if you continue to support me in doing so...agreed? Thank you very much for listening, and I look forward to our next discussion. *The numbers show you read these, but more discussions/comments are always appreciated, ha thanks! God bless & be easy!

Chicago's Finest : Sneaker Spots

The first stop I made Thursday night was to Leaders on the NW side of town. They had a nice selection of some high-end sneakers and clothing, including Billionaire Boys Club. A few days after I was there (Saturday) they released their collabo project with Reebok, which was limited to only 75 pairs. The one they had on display looked amazing, better than any pictures. I chilled with Cory and them for just a minute before we had to head out for dinner downtown. Only issue: no Nikes.

Then on Friday I made it to Jugrnaut on the South Loop. They had a bunch of tees from a number of the usual and others streetwear brands. The dude was real cool, and they had a nice tight spot...just not as many sneakers as I would have hoped - but they've got their own niche in the Chi-city, so they're doing their thing and just celebrating being 1-year strong so far!

My next stop came suggested to me from my man at Jugrnaut, called Succezz, near the southside. NBA player Bobby Simmons is an investor is this shop that just opened this past June. I met his good friend Marvin and talked with him for a good minute and decided this is the prime spot for the LBJ project when it comes to Chicago! They've got the Nikes, a lot of space, and the right atmosphere to collaborate with the T.WayCustoms brand. Definitely more work with them, I'm sure of it.

From Succezz, Marvin directed me to Self Conscious, which was actually the next stop anyways. This spot is "the spot" for the T.WayCustoms clientele...so definitely a shop I'll look into working with in the near future. The dudes were cool as heck, and if I didn't have to leave early for a meeting, I could have spent all day in there with 'em. That night they had a big event with LRG and some Chicago Bears players too, so they're doing their thing.

And of course, Adrienne and I visited the Niketown store on the Manificient Mile. I'm not sure what else I have to say here, except that it's Nike. I think that's enough said, ha.

Winterized in Chicago

I just got back late last night from that National Collegiate Entrepreneur's Conference in Chicago and enjoyed it tremendously. Over 1,600 college-aged entrepreneurs in one hotel & conference center is an extremely powerful group.

Physically I came back from the trip with a winter coat, hat, gloves, and an umbrella. But overall I gained much more than that. I met and networked with some of the most powerful 20-something year olds across the nation and world. My favorites was a small group from Melborne, Australia. One of them flipped when they heard of the LeBron project coming up, haha...he just about choked on his dinner. Nice to know I've got a couch with my name on it Down-Under; now I've definitely got to make a trip.

Some of the multiple highlights of the trip include listening and learning from Robert Kiyosaki, author of the international best selling series, Rich Dad Poor Dad, and Doris Christopher from The Pamered Chef (which she just sold to Warren Buffet for a nice chunk of change). More than just those keynote speakers and the highly-effective group sessions that I participated in, I was also able to further my network outside the conference center and all over Chicago. I made sure to make time to visit all over the Chicago metro-area to the different sneaker boutiques - but I'll share more about them in my next post.

Truly, entrepreneurs, especially these young ones, are our nation's future. Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks, just wrote about the future of entrepreneurs in our country and how PE Obama made his first mistake by not having one entrepreneur on his advisory board. It's interesting, quickly read Cuban's statements HERE.

Chicago Conference, Sneakers, Obama, Bulls?

Tomorrow I'll be in Chicago (home of our freshly elected next-President) for the national Collegiate Entrepreneur's Organization conference. It should be another great networking experience and as always, a nice visit to the Windy City. Outside the meetings, I'll definitely be visiting a few sneaker shops for prospects to host the up coming LBJ project when I come into town in December. And who knows, maybe a Bulls game? Derrick Rose is my guy, and he's gotta step his sneaker game up, Adidas or not, ha. You come back, and I'll have worthwhile updates for you...I promise!

God bless & be easy!

Go Forth, My Good People!

A history professor at the university e-mailed me this photo and explaination to make sure everyone votes, no matter the perceptions the media may portray that the election is already over before it's even election day. This is important for both McCain and Obama supporters!

The story behind the photo is from the 1948 election: one of the great blunders in history from an election that many thought was over before Tuesday. Beyond popular belief at the time, we now know there was no President Dewey. Never count out the underdog, just another real-life example that anything can happen. McCain supporters should not stay home just because you don't think it will matter, nor should Obama supporters stay at home because they believe he'll win by a landslide - seriously, every vote counts! Make sure to take serious consideration about the proposals and any other state elections on your ballot as well!

God bless your decisions, & be easy!

*Pistons Get Iverson Now, LeBron Later!

READ THIS! This article was extremly interesting and exciting for Detroit fans, which includes me, ha. Make sure you read the most important part of the article which talks about WWES, who, if you've been a semi-active reader of my blog, you'd know his importance and active role in the T.WayCustoms brand. I believe this article is very plausible in actually happening, and when it does, it'd be much easier scheduling sneaker projects with LeBron when he's only minutes away, ha. Joe Dumars is a genius! If you missed the link above, click on it this time: CLICK HERE.

Halloween = Marketing Opportunity

Yes, I did dress as a homeless man...and yes, I did use it as a marketing tool, ha. Wearing these T.WayCustoms (pictured below) drove people to probe about the homeless lifestyle but yet the $1,000 sneakers...which led my response to be, "I bought the shoes and then I went homeless, but it was well worth it. These sneakers are killers." My exit was then handing them the T.WayCustoms flyer, and then carrying on. Lame? Maybe. But as I've learned, every opportunity needs to be turned into a marketing opportunity! Just another night in the life.

Allen Iverson to Detroit...But No More Billups

It was a bittersweet morning for me today. I received a call that started out, "You ready to do sneakers for AI?" My only response was, "What??" Then my informant on the other end explained that Detroit was trading Chauncey Billups & Antonio McDyess to Denver for Allen Iverson. My first thought was, "Crap. Not Chauncey. He still hasn't decided on what he wanted for sneakers...and now it's not gonna be any easier to get 'em done!" Chauncey is a great guy, and I'm definitely gonna miss him. He was one of the first players that showed me plenty of love, but unfortunately he was never able to pull the trigger on an order, ha. I'm happy that he'll be able to go back to Colorado though, and wish him and his family the best.

Allen Iverson quickly turned that little frown upside down though...not only is he an amazing PG that can score at will, but he's also real tight with my business advisor, WWES. You know what that might mean: SNEAKERS! Even though he's signed with Reebok, I'm pretty sure I can find a nice canvas of theirs to work with. So who's telling what will come from the deal, but there's always that silver lining. Besides, I've still got my dudes Rip and Tayshaun, ha.

God bless & be easy!

Video: Nike AF1 Lux - Italian Shoemaker

It's not quite the same process or art as customizing sneakers like T.WayCustoms, but this video documents the process an Italian craftsman goes through to build the Air Force 1 Lux limited-edition series that he was commissioned to complete for Nike.

Little Sister Reppin' T.WayCustoms!

The older of my two younger sisters, Aubrey, is just finishing up her freshman season on Cornerstone University's volleyball team. Not only is her volleyball play making me proud as her older brother, but she went above & beyond on this one, ha. Aubrey was featured in a player profile at her latest home game, and I couldn't help but notice her "Hobby" that she listed...haha. Way to rep Aubs!