You’ve Heard of Sneaker Customizers. But Have You Heard of One That Does Bike Shoes?
Sneaker customization is in the news—and not for good reason. Veteran sneaker customizer The Shoe Surgeon is being sued by Nike for US$60M for mass customization, counterfeiting, and trademark infringement. On top of that, he’s dealing with another lawsuit from French fashion label Goyard for utilizing exact replicas, virtually identical or strikingly similar to Goyard’s copyrighted designs, without permission.
So, in light of how badass sneaker customization has become—multimillion-dollar lawsuits and all—we thought we’d shed some light on the art form through the lens of a talented creative in the game. A rockstar in his own right, Yen from Hide The F Up (@htfugoods) customized his first pair in secondary three (grade nine).
“I remember I did the most horrible thing. I took a marker and drew on my white school shoes. And I drew the dumbest things: naked women, a dick, and then a man and a woman having sex,” he says. “As punishment, I was told I wasn’t allowed to wear shoes for the day and had to stand outside the general office barefooted.”
Fortunately, Yen’s journey in the realm of art didn’t begin there. At the age of six, he attended a community center drawing class. “My drawing was always the worst one. It was never pinned on the wall, and I always was like, where the fuck is mine?” he says.
But that didn’t stop Yen from enjoying art, thanks to his father, who always encouraged him in the pursuit as a child. The owner of Hide The F Up fondly remembers trips to the Pasir Panjang shipyard with his dad to draw the landscape and ships using crayons and the like.
You don’t hear of many Asian dads in particular encouraging their sons in art. Was your dad himself an artist, by chance?
Oh, so your dad ended up wanting you to go down the traditional route?Yen: My father was from the Boy Scouts, so he carried that tradition of exploring into adulthood. He had many badges—an expansive collection because he’s done everything. But eventually he still questioned me about my choice of going into fine arts after secondary school.
After his O-level exams, Yen decided to pursue a diploma in Fine Arts from LASALLE College of the Arts, much to the disapproval of his father.
Yen: I was so frustrated. He was like, “Why are you doing fine arts? Why don’t you go into business?” I was sort of like, “Why can’t I?” He ended up buying me a ticket to Australia for a week or two alone, for me to stay with a friend and experience what it would be like to study there. He wanted to try to encourage me to pursue studying business there and hoped the change of environment would be incentive enough.
However, when Yen landed Down Under after flying as an unaccompanied minor, he never got out of the room he was in. “For at least one whole week I didn’t get out of the room at all. Because I really disliked it.” His rebellious streak was at work once again, which ultimately caused him to be resolute in his decision to pursue a path in art—no matter what it took.
Yen understands, though, why his dad was hard on him. “The thing is, being a dad, you always want to play the safe game for your child.” He would know now, being a father himself, of a 12-year-old boy and a girl, aged six.
As with any career path, pursuing art had its own set of challenges. Yen ended up doing graphic design, a lane he’s still in.
Yen: Yes, being a graphic designer is my full-time job, actually. I slave for a company *laughs*. I started when I was nearing my 20s and have gone on and on until today.
Yen: The COVID-19 period was very dark for me. I got into this very bad pit of depression and couldn’t catch up with my work in a company I used to work in. In a sort of Catch-22 situation, the depression was mainly caused by my work situation. So it was literally like being tortured every day. I tried to speak up a lot of times but was just told “Your condition is not that serious,” and I would just get brushed off.
In an attempt to find a way to cope, I decided to act upon an idea I had to customize cycling shoes.
As an avid cycler himself, this medium was a natural choice. Yen’s been cycling for over a decade and has participated in the Singapore Cycling Federation’s Individual Time Trial and did the Chiang Mai road race—a four-day four-stage race—twice.
In fact, the inspiration behind his company’s name, Hide The F Up, draws inspiration from rule no.5 from Velominati, which states “Harden The Fuck Up.” If you’re unfamiliar, Velominati is a loose collective of cycling enthusiasts who have developed a set of guidelines or "Rules" for cycling etiquette, bike setup, and overall cycling culture. Seeing that he’s covering up shoes with his artwork, Yen cleverly swapped “Harden” for “Hide.”
Yen: Let me put it this way. Consumer behavior surrounding sneakers nowadays generally tends to skew towards copping hype pairs. Most people tend to want to preserve the aesthetics of their shoes after purchase, and scuffing it—let alone completely revamping its aesthetic—is probably the last thing on their minds.
Cyclists on the other hand—at least those serious about the sport—are open to customizing everything from head to toe. I mean, some are willing to pay US$20,000 for a fully-customized bicycle and wait two years for it.
So, wanting to customize their cycling shoes isn’t far out there and is almost a natural choice for many cyclists because having things tailored to the individual is an integral part of the sport. Cyclists are definitely more willing to splurge on a pair of custom shoes.
Yen: The first pair I did was for free using my friend’s cycling shoes. I decided on the KitKat theme on a whim. I literally just went to YouTube and watched tutorial videos. Ultimately this is a craft you just have to get your hands dirty doing and learn on the ground, using the first few pairs as testers. Just beware that you can’t trust what you see online sometimes. But, all things considered, I think my first one turned out quite alright! The base color of the shoe was grey, to begin with.
Yen: Overall, the process is very similar to going to a tattoo artist. Ultimately, I work with my clients to achieve what they want. Based on what they share, I usually propose my own idea or concept that I think would work, and we go from there. Once the person’s happy, I’ll begin.
And much like with tattoos, making a mistake is very costly. It’s very difficult to recover, but it can be done. Sometimes, if I find that using a stencil is not the best for the design, I’ll just draw everything by hand. That usually solves everything.
Yen: As odd as it may sound, I’ve found that going to the toilet seems to help a lot. After I come out of the toilet, I’m always like, “Hey I’ve got this idea…” That kind of space and time in the cubicle without any distractions at all gives me the space to do nothing but daydream. That’s how my creative juices start flowing.
I also ask my daughter for her opinion whenever I’m working on a shoe.
“I’m learning to coach myself to let it go. It’s better nowadays—I used to be much more anal last time,” Yen says.
Instead, he’s redirecting some of that energy into going deeper into the craft of shoe customization. Since he also takes on projects involving regular sneakers, Yen has been increasingly curious about how he can get to the roots of making a pair of shoes. He believes that understanding everything down to the nuts and bolts of what goes into making a sneaker would give him greater agency when it comes to bringing his visions to life on various pairs.
“I think it’s so cool. You can actually change so many more things when you understand how to take apart and put together a shoe. You can put croc skin, fish skin, or whatever skin you want to put, you know? You have so much more leeway and autonomy to customize a pair in a way that you truly want to when you can change its materials,” he says.
As for the brands and models he’s experimenting with? What are you, a Fed? In the words of @mengmengduck: “Can’t say. Signed an NDA.
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