Nice shoes

Brandon Laskowski admits his lifelong footwear fetish.

 The Blue Springs native realizes he may be the only young adult who can recite, from memory, every pair of shoes he’s owned since preschool. But, he relishes his uniqueness.

 Growing up, the first day of school traditionally was a day he eagerly anticipated. Not for the reasons most students look forward to the first day, such as re-connecting with friends. For Laskowski, it was all about the shoes. Readying for the first day signaled an annual trek to the local shoe store that fed his frenzy. Shear joy accompanied shopping for, then stepping out in, his new footwear fashion.

 But simply shopping for, and wearing new athletic shoes wasn’t enough to feed Laskowki’s obsession. So he discovered another outlet. If there’s one thing Laskowski  likes as much as shoes, it’s art. In school, he’d always looked forward to creating something new, whether in clay or in paint or pencil drawings. One day, during class, his random doodles landed in a footwear design. Then, an accidental Internet search led him to discover sites displaying the designs of others who dabbled in shoe design.

 Laskowski, now a senior at Northwest Missouri State University in Maryville, began experimenting. First, solid colors of paints, then he added detailed design and graphics, engraving and stitching, pasted-on fabric and lights, to his one-of-a-kind creations.

 Since 2001, when his obsession became a time-intensive hobby, he estimates he’s custom-created about 200 pair of what has become “Evolved Footwear,” the name he coined for his growing company.

 The now 22-year-old said his hobby began to take off after classmates at the Blue Springs Freshman Center saw his first pair, ones he created for himself. The next school year, he began creating shoes on request for others. Laskowski said he was surprised when other people wanted his shoes.

 “I just went into it because I enjoy it and wanted my own pair,” he said.

 But his newfound hobby wasn’t hurdle-free. After discovering how pricey most athletic shoes are to purchase (these days, the shoes he uses run about $80), and the time it takes to create such shoes, he soon learned that most people he knows can’t afford his shoes. Despite the hurdles, Laskowski began taking orders for his one-of-a-kind creations. His Web site, www.evolved-footwear.com, is his best marketing tool. Most of his orders come from the East and West coasts. Many of his orders come from overseas, too.

 At least one former high school teacher remembers Laskowski from his perch in her desktop publishing class at Blue Springs High School. What, exactly, does she most remember about her former student? Of course, it’s his shoes.

 “I remember some of the other kids commenting on them,” (his shoe creations) said Linda Friedel.

 He created quite a commotion when he first wore a pair of his creation to her class, and Friedel agreed he’d found an interesting outlet for the creativity he’d displayed in class.

 “I thought it was a really cool idea.”

 Laskowski admits his designs are pricey. He earns $300 to $400 per pair. But, he often spends days creating each custom design. Many orders come with specific requests. For instance, many of his customers want their initials, or that of their high school or college, worked into the design. Some include paw-prints and mascots. And, many also incorporate their favorite sports or hobbies into their design requests. Many shoes are decorated in neon, glow-in-the-dark colors, done in squiggly lines or leopard prints.

 One customer even ordered mostly black shoes painted in gold with his and his fiancée’s initials and wedding date. He even wore the shoes at his wedding. The groom planned to keep the shoes as a wedding keepsake.

 His shoe design has caused him to create shoes for some important people. He said last year he made a pair of shoes for the new CEO of Capital Records. The shoes featured musical notes and the owner’s name painted in gold.

 A more unusual design features shoes made to resemble a basketball court with veneer, glossy-type wood on one shoe and a painted blacktop on the other.

 And, because the work is so tedious, he can’t spend more than a few hours a day creating. That limits the numbers of shoes he typically creates to about three per month during the school year and that jumps to about five per month in the summer months. Laskowski joins those who visit his Web site and are interested, but can’t afford his prices.

 “To me, it’s ridiculous because I don’t want to pay that much for my shoes,” he said.

 “I understand where they’re coming from,” he said. “But, I’m not making that much per hour.”

 Although he routinely wears a pair of his own creations to school sporting events, where they draw a lot of attention, this direct marketing tactic usually doesn’t result in sales.

 The Internet also has become the place where he finds most of the shoes he purchases. Brands such as Adidas, Nike and Reebok are the most popular. He’s also discovered that the quality of shoes matter. They must be constructed of real leather, because the paint and other materials he uses rub off of the shoes made of plastics.

 While his Web site is his best marketing tool, it’s also much more.

 “It’s a portfolio for my design capabilities,” he said, adding that shoe design gives him an outlet for a second lifelong love - art.

 But, the marketing major has been able to apply some of his newfound business knowledge to his shoe business. And, he uses his business as the subject of class papers projects and presentations, too.

 Laskowski said he’s learned to utilize changing technology. A recent addition to his marketing tools is a Youtube.com site that displays moving videos of some of his shoes, including those with working lights. His site also includes a live interview of Laskowski wearing a pair of his shoes. While on spring break in Florida, a television news reporter for a Web site, thepalestra.com, interviewed Laskowski about his shoes. He was amazed when the site logged about 10,000 hits over one weekend in May, after it appeared on several blogs.

 He credits the site with increasing his orders and plans to spend much of this summer filling the orders.

 His fetish isn’t a short story. So obsessed is Laskowski that a personal narrative recounting his lifelong fetish spanned seven pages.

 Laskowski noticed a contest, sponsored by the online footwear news company, Crooked Tongues. The contest invited entrants to write an essay explaining why they should attend an annual celebration the company hosts, which they dubbed “CT BBQ of 2007.” The winner would get an all-expense paid trip to Thailand and the opportunity to meet footwear executives from throughout the world. Unfortunately, he didn’t think he had much chance of winning since he only discovered the contest the night before the deadline.

  His award-winning essay recounts his footwear obsession.

 “Here is literally my 21-year-old life story on how and why ‘shoes’ MIGHT be the single most important thing I’ve ever come across,” Laskowski wrote. Somehow, his essay spoke to the judges. In the end, all it took was conveying a simple message.

 “I think I showed I really like shoes,” he said.

 His first foreign trip also will go down in history as his first ever flight. Though the 20-hour trek was difficult, it was worth the effort.

 “Before, I’d never thought about traveling, but now I want to go everywhere,” he said. “It kinda just like motivates you.”

 To wrap up his essay, he concluded: “So now if I was given the great opportunity to attend the CT BBQ of 2007 I’m DAMN sure I’d do my best to get my foot in the footwear door.”

 That’s just what Laskowski did, meeting and networking with shoe designers and athletic shoe executives from throughout the world. He also met the president of Crooked Tongues.

 About a month ago, Laskowski’s shoes were featured in a book, “Custom Kicks,” a coffee table book featuring shoe art from throughout the world. The book includes a short bio of Laskowski and a description of his creations.

 Laskowski still dreams of someday designing shoes for a living.

 His Dad, Randy Laskowski, summed it up his son’s experiences as only a father could: “I think this is a good way to apply some of what he’s learned,” he said. “And, hopefully, it will find him a career.”

 His son agreed.

 “Any kind of job in the footwear industry would definitely be a dream come true.”