In late 2009, Mikie teamed up with Cartel Records owner Griffin Guess and artist
REALLY DOE to design a one of a kind shoe in connection with the release of
Really Doe’s debut album “First Impressions”. REALLY DOE, who was originally
signed to Kanye West’s G.O.O.D Music Record Label made the switch last year to
Los Angeles based Cartel Records. The highly anticipated album was released on
August 18, 2009 with iTunes and Best Buy. The design of the shoe showcases
both the record label and the hip-hop artist by featuring their logos creatively
cropped into a side panel of the shoe. REALLY DOE was hugely influenced by the
city he grew up in – Chicago, so it only seemed fitting to feature the Windy City in
the design across the back of the shoe. The one-of-a-kind sneaks were delivered
to Cartel in handcrafted wood crate boxes with sliding lids and encased in black
tissue paper. These shoes were created with unique style and attention to detail.
In addition, Mikie handcrafted 2 graffiti art renditions of the sneaker to feature each
side of the shoe as both sides were tatted different.

The “Overspray” was the second design that I created while I was still exploring the possibilities of creating custom sneakers.  This specific design was created for the Kanye West Glow in the Dark Tour.  I had a ticket to go and wanted to rock a pair of kicks that I knew no one else had.  It wasn’t enough to just have different shoes than the rest of the crowd I also wanted them to stand out.  So I threw in the neon orange to set them off.  The idea was to take the 80’s neon craze and marry it to a graffiti style in a clean and classic way.  As you can see from the photos between the two the “Overspary 2.0″ has some new elements that still follows the same guidelines.  This shoe was a custom project for my good friend Matt Aebersold.  Enjoy Matt!