MILWAUKEE — Everybody’s sporting their Bucks gear right now, and that includes the Bucks’ unofficial sneaker artist.
A lot goes into a custom shoe. It starts with acetone, to strip the factory finish from the shoe. Then, tons of tape is used to create the design and protect certain parts of the shoe. The paint comes last. That’s “the fun part”, if you ask Noel Alvarado.
He hears all kinds of job titles for what he does. “I get [called] shoe doctor, shoe customizer, shoe artist,” he laughed. Whatever title someone chooses to use, his job is to customize shoes. It’s a combination of his two biggest passions: art, and sneakers.
“It started in high school. I got into sneakers … started collecting had a ton of pairs at one point,” he said. “I was into art since [I was] a kid, I’d seen someone else do it. And I was like, you know, let me give this a try.”
It’s obviously working out. He has his own custom shoe studio, called None Above.
He’s been tapped for big projects from across Wisconsin and beyond. The Milwaukee Bucks have come to him multiple times.
After the end of Harley-Davidson’s sponsorship, the Bucks were searching for a jersey sponsor. As they courted companies, they tapped Alvarado to create shoes for each of them. There were more than a dozen: Spotify, Jack Links, Zulily, Zappos.
Motorola ended up becoming the next jersey sponsor. Of course, that meant they’d need their own shoe design. He even posted a screenshot of his text conversation with someone from within the Bucks organization, who said “the Motorola people freaked out when they saw the shoes.”
He made a pair when former Buck Sidney Moncrief was inducted into the NBA Hall of Fame. One pair of those Nike Air Force 1s was auctioned off for $800.
Donte DiVincenzo got a couple custom pairs for his birthday. The Bucks even posted a video of DiVincenzo opening the shoes, and raving about how much he liked them.
That was a big moment for Alvarado. “That gives me an opportunity for me to have a relationship with someone on a team,” he said. He hopes that exposure gains him even more players in the future.
One of his newest creations is a pair of Nike sneakers with the Bucks logo, and impressive hardwood detailing.
“They kind of went like, viral on Facebook,” Alvarado said. “I probably received over like 50 different requests for shoes.”
Alvarado just moved to Tampa, Florida, to grow his brand. “I made a pretty good name [for myself] in Milwaukee,” he said. “But I just wanted to reach a different market.”
Even after the move, it’s clear he’ll still have tons of Wisconsin clientele.
Alvarado is running a contest during the NBA Finals. If the Bucks win the title, he’ll give away a free pair of custom sneakers to a Bucks fan. For more information, click here to see his posts on Facebook.