Club Shay Shay - Shannon Sharpe gets custom sneakers from The Shoe Surgeon

Episode Date: August 16, 2021

CLUB SHAY SHAY VIP MEMBERS! Enter for a chance to win a pair of custom Club Shay Shay sneakers designed exclusively by the Shoe Surgeon! How to enter:  Subscribe to us on YouTube, Apple, Spotify Leave us a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts Share our contest giveaway graphic (see @ClubShayShay on Twitter, IG or FB) to your own social media feeds Reply back to @ClubShayShay on Twitter, IG or FB with screenshots from Steps 1 + 2 using #ShayShayGiveaway On a special road show edition of Club Shay Shay, Shannon visits the shop of custom footwear and sneaker designer, Dominic "The Shoe Surgeon" Ciambrone. The pair tour the facility, talk shoe design, inspiration and creation. The Shoe Surgeon has created customized shoes for LeBron James, PJ Tucker, Drake and many more athletes and celebrities. Today, it's Shannon's turn. Tune in all the way to the end of the episode for a special surprise for Unc!#DoSomethinB4TwoSomethin & Follow Club Shay Shay:                                                                 https://www.instagram.com/clubshayshayhttps://twitter.com/clubshayshayhttps://www.facebook.com/clubshayshayhttps://www.youtube.com/c/clubshayshay Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Take a look. Oh my God! this one's not even out yet take a look Oh God hustle pay the price, want a slice, got the roll of dice, that's why all my life, I've been grinding all my life. Welcome to a special roadshow edition of Club Shea Shea. I am your host, also the proprietor of Club Shea Shea, Shannon Sharp, and today we took the show on the road. We're down here at the shoe surgeons at his shop. He's going to tell us how he makes the shoe, how he comes up with the idea,

and at the end, we got a special surprise for you, come on in don what's up bro welcome thanks for having me thanks for coming by tell me what your take is on sneakers why do you why do you like sneakers when i was growing up the hot sneaker were the cons the dr j's yep and then the weapons came out with bird and magic spud webb had a shoe, a pony, called the City Wings. It was red, black, and white. Nobody had Nike until Jordan came along. Right. So when we were growing up, everybody wanted the Chuck Taylors.

You got the Chuck Taylors and different. You got white, everybody had to have the white, the lows and the highs, and then you branched off with colors. You got the blue, you got the black, you got the greens. And when Jordan came out with the Nike, it was like nothing in no other shoe matters it didn't matter not the top ten Adidas and there's no disrespect the cons everybody wanted Nike I just remember like every Nike come out I made sure I worked in summer and I kept money aside because I like okay if they drop a shoe I'm gonna

want to get it so when the Siemens came out, I got them. Every Jordan came out, I got them. And the first Jordan that I got, my mom waited in line for the two. That's still my favorite shoe because my mom, what she did, she waited in line. And she said, boy, you better wear this shoe for the rest of your life as long as I had to wait in line for this damn shoe. And so I fell in love with the two. And for the longest time, I didn't wear it.

I think I might have been in high school, my last year of high school, my freshman year in college. I didn't end up wearing the shoe until, like, my senior year in college. Had I known what I know, I would have just saved every Jordan shoe. Every Jordan shoe. Right. Every Jordan shoe. It's kind of like the cars. Yep. Nobody was thinking about no 68 Mustang and 2000 was going to be worth something or, you

know, a 60. That's right. You know, so you don't think about it at the time. You just get it and wear it and you look back on it like, hold on, people pay $50,000, $60,000 for a pair of shoes? Well, I mean, what do you, do you look at these like art, or do you look at it? Oh, it's art. That's why I was like, man, I don't

know about wearing these, Dom. I mean, to know all the details that you put into it, and it actually looks like Club Che Che with the black and the gold accents. Yeah, that's art. And I'm like, man, how you going to wear that? You going to mess it up. Dude, you got to walk.

You don't got to have your toes up, because you don't want to crease them. I think. Then you gotta walk, you don't gotta have your toes up cause you don't wanna crease up. I think it's different for me because I can make them, right? Yeah. Yeah. But like, when I'm, that's the same thing you're talking about, is like when I make a shoe,

it's meant to like have the functionality. But see- And I get the art side too, and then like you don't wanna mess it up. But see, when you're a breeder of dogs, you're like, okay the dog's meant to, they don't love any of the dogs, cause they know the dog's gotta go. So they don't really to mess it up. But see, when you're a breeder of dogs, you're like, OK, the dog's meant to. They don't love any of the dogs, because they know the dog's got to go.

So they don't really get attached to it. Like, once I get the dog, that's my baby. That's a good point. See, you, you're like, I just make it. I give me another. No, this is my baby. I can't just wear them with it, just wear them. No, it don't work like that.

I look at this shoe totally different than you look at this shoe. You're like, man. I might have to make another pair. One to rock, one to stock. How old were you when you fell in love with sneakers? I fell in love with sneakers freshman year of high school. So I was 15.

And what was the hot sneaker out there? I mean, luckily, my cousin let me wear original 85 Jordan 1s. And I wore those, and then it just opened a can of worms. I mean, then I had to have every sneaker. So, was it because of the popularity of the

shoe? Was it because the way the shoe, it was different than any other shoe that had been made? They didn't see a whole lot of multicolored shoes? Right. It was just this shoe that was special because of the story behind the shoe that i did i wasn't even really aware of that story yet i was just like i put on these shoes everyone would flock to these shoes um not necessarily because of the colors it was just the magic that was created with jordan and nike that time. So that's what attracted me.

Man, now I need to get all of these special shoes the same way you feel about shoes. And then that's when, after I could only get so many of those, that's when I had to figure out how to make them. So there's a saying, does the car say something about the man or does the man say something about the car? With shoes, does the shoes say something about the man or the man telling you something about the car? With shoes, does the shoes say something about the man or the man telling you something

about the shoes he's wearing? I think the shoes do tell a lot about a person. I love shoes and how they're made, but I also wear dirty-ass shoes. I mean, it's kind of like a mechanic, right? Like they have a bunch of cars that need to get put together. I have one story though.

One time I was wearing like these dirty Chuck Taylors, and I was in line somewhere, and this lady saw this tattoo. I have a cobbler tattooed on me. She's like, what do you do for work? I said, oh, I make shoes. She looked down at my feet. She's like, I'm not buying shoes from you. And look at me now.

But still. But you know what? That's a true story. If you look at the mechanic, he works on works on everybody else car and his car won't work You look at you you look at guys that be people that do hair you like hold on you do help or living you Walk around you looking like this. So you see the lady looks at you is that although you do shoes You know, so you're not gonna buy you're not gonna do a pair of shoes for yourself How did you come up with the name the shoe surgeon?

Yeah, I live in Charlotte from age 18 to 19 and being in Charlotte, I grew up my whole life in California. Okay. And you have one big state, California. So when you drive down to LA, you're driving through California. When I lived in Charlotte, I could drive to New York City in eight hours. I can go down to Orlando in whatever, eight hours. And I took a drive up to New York City just to go. I've never been there. So I drove up there.

When I got up there, I went to the Bape store in Soho. And this is the first time I ever experienced New York City. I ran into Pharrell Williams at the Bape store. Hype Williams was there. And it was just like all of this energy of New York City. That's why people go. So I was just like extra. I had so much energy that I just knew I needed, it was time to like create this name. I was already doing custom shoes, but I was like, I was in my, it was like a closet size

hotel in the middle of the square. And I started writing everything down. what am I gonna call myself? And it just finally it clicks like what do you do with shoes and it became shoe surgeons? Yeah, I make them better exactly so it's like oh it clicked and Since then it's become the shoe surgeon and it's also a catchy thing. That's what people I think can it it's hard to say sometimes but That's why people I think can it it's hard to say sometimes but You told the story that the very first pair of sneakers that really got you into the sneaker game was the original Jordans and you said a cousin let you wear hers

When you from that point, how did you get your shoes? Did you save up? Did you work? So, how did you get the shoes and how do you like? Move out from there. Yeah, I started working in the mall and so let me guess footlocker no no but because of like this is like a sports store we sold jerseys and stuff so then we would get like the mitchell nest stuff we get stuff the the footlockers want to get so then we would talk to the guys so you trade so you know, okay, I got this king, I got this, you know. So back then, so the throwbacks were in, was in heavy. Yep. And everybody wanted the throwbacks.

Yep. So you was like, okay, I give you the throwback, let your boy get these joints. Exactly. Yeah, we would be trading and selling and, you know, that's when the mall culture was really... That's where I got my inspiration, in the mall. We all talked to everyone and that's how it started. Did you ever think the shoe culture would be what it is now? Did you ever think there would be something called a sneaker head and the resale market would be the price that sneakers would go for as much as a brand new car?

I know, right? A retail shoe as much as a car, it's insane. I never thought resale would be what it is. I was always envisioning what I was doing and where it was headed, but no. I remember being in high school and trying to find Jordans as a kid and going on a website, Nice Kicks, and ordering a bunch of fake jordans not knowing they're fake and getting them and it was just like being i ended up when i got these fake shoes in the mail in the mail i started crying i was just like what is this i didn't know that it was gonna it was so tough but you know it's crazy now that there's kids like 13 years old reselling shoes

right it's a business now within a business right it's wild so yeah and you get these situations that you mentioned you got 13 14 year old kids that buy you know however they get them box or whatever they knew someone 300 pair of shoes in their in a garage and they're like young entrepreneurs but they're messing up the market. Yeah, because a hundred fifty dollar pair of shoes shouldn't cost you nine hundred bucks No, and that's why I think like custom and having the one-off thing is definitely still going to be continue to be the future where? People can come and just create a one-of-one and not have to worry about you know buying and seeing it on everybody else's. Yeah When you got into this obviously you do customs and you're very good at this. When people think of customs, they think of you.

But you mentioned that you eventually want to do your own thing. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, as an artist and a creative, I think I've been able to do so well and I'm grateful for the brands and I'm grateful for Michael Jordan and Nike to have created such a magic shoe to make sneakers what it is today to now give me a playing field to be like, now I can create whatever I want to create, you know, like the boots I'm wearing or just something completely different. So that's the next phase of the shoe surgeon or even just, you know, me as an artist.

When it comes to collabs, entertainers in collabs, who do you think is the best? Kanye, Pharrell, Travis Scott, Hov did a collab. Of those four, who you got? Pharrell Williams is the one artist and celebrity that I've always just fought to from the style and him starting and being so unique and different. But I mean, Kanye. Kanye is just, you know. He took it to a whole new level.

He took it to a different level. And I don't love the Yeezy stuff. I don't love it. I appreciate how much he puts into it. It's his vision into it. It's not for me, which it doesn't need to be. But I it. It's his vision into it. It's not for me, which it doesn't need to be, but I see what he's been able to do. And he took it to a different level. He created something that's opened the doors for everyone else.

So it's amazing to see. But I also remember being in the mall and seeing the S.Doc Carters as those two. Just like, yo, those are sick. So it's like everything played an important role to even allow, you know- Oh, I forgot Drake. Drake is also the M&M. Yeah. Now the new Drake stuff with the Nocta is going to be dope.

It's like they're doing really good stuff with that. But I mean, Kanye just, Kanye's on a different level. You've done shoes for OBJ, LeBron. You've done some custom shoes for a lot of high-end celebrities and entertainers. Who is someone you would like to do a custom shoe for? I've never had to ask that way. More just female.

More females, had to ask that way um more more just female more females because i feel like females really appreciate fashion and art just and even sneakers they're getting into sneakers too they're getting away they hey they be wearing you know they wear their their leggings and they wear the you know their you know their their outfits and they got on the fours and they got on the 11s and they don't get the quality stuff yet. So it's like, man, I don't know, though. That's a good question. I mean, I think sitting down, like, I've done something for Pharrell, but I want to be able to, now I want to sit down with these guys

and, like, create with them and do something collaborative. When I did something with P.J. Tucker, he brings so much energy to the collaboration that it's that it makes me thrive. So that's what I like, is that collaborative feel where you can sit down with someone that maybe know nothing about how to make something, but they have a vision and then I can put things in front of them, show them, and then bring it to life.

And I want to do that with Pharrell. What athlete would you like to do a custom shoe for? Tom Brady. What would Tom Brady Brady shoe look like? Would it have horns? Would it have fur? It would definitely be made out of goat. Wake up with football every morning and listen to my new podcast, NFL Daily with Greg Rosenthal. Five days a week, you'll get all the latest news, previews, recaps, and analysis delivered straight to your podcast feed

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It would just be the goat shoe, man. Right. It might look like a goat. Because you did LeBron. You did the custom, the one-on-one with LeBron when he reached 30,000 points. You did the one for AD that he wore in, I think, game five last year, the NBA finals. You did a shoe for the Golden State Warriors. Wasn't necessarily for Steph.

I've done something for Steph. You've done something for him. I mean, I've done a lot. I can't even name half the athletes that I've done them for. Right. Some of the greats, too. And I'm grateful that I can this is my sport I'm an athlete and this is how I I show my skills so it's great to I mean it's even yourself to someone that's so great at what they did and also can see

what took me 10,000 plus hours 15 years of my life to be able to create. It's not just like the shoe. It's like the whole story and what took so long. Like you said, even from misplaced checks to the next level, and it keeps leveling it up. When you presented LeBron with those shoes or you present a celebrity or entertainer with that custom and you're watching them, are you anxious you anxious you're like man i hope they like the bad please like this shoe i mean i put a lot of yeah a lot of blood sweat and tears with this

bro please please please this be the one are you that anxious yeah no i i am i am um so for the lebron ones i finally got i i saw him after the fact in Fashion Week in New York City, and he gave me love for them. But yeah, when someone sees it, because the way I look at it, I pick apart all of these things. Even when I'm showing you these shoes, I'm looking at these little details that drive me crazy that no one else sees. It's just like how you train or whatever it may be.

Like you said, you look at everything different. We're looking at different things. So it's like, yeah, when I present something, I'm just kind of like in my head like, f***. But I'm learning to understand that we all have a different lens and we see things differently. You might see, but here's the thing, though. Because you created it, you're going to see something, a detail that you're like, I could have did this. They won't even know. They won't even pick up on it. They would never know.

They look at it and it's like, whoa. Whoa, whoa. You're like, I could have did this. But I'm not saying anything. Exactly. You moved into this new space. You say you started out in 300 square feet and then you went to 900 and you went to 3,000. And now you're 16 and then you went to 900 and you went to 3,000 and now

you're 16 and you're looking to expand. Where do you see Dominique the shoe surgeon? How big is this thing going to get? How big is it going to get? All because of a custom sneaker, all because of wearing a pair of shoes has now allowed me to create a bigger voice. We haven't really spoke on it much but what's most important to me is like the teaching and giving back and like helping others

be successful in whatever that may be so for me this has now allowed me to to now do furniture it's allowed me to open the doors and you know people trust me with shoes so now it's allowing me to have my original brand and have it funded by the many years of success. So I'm just an artist that's constantly evolving and changing. Like last week I took a welding class. Tomorrow I got an improv class. I just want to continue to learn and like build

and whether it's I'm working on a show, a TV show. You know, I had a dream the other night that I want to figure out how to actually have custom shoes in a fashion show in Paris. I want to figure out how to change the world in a positive way and do it from a sincere place. There's no limits of where it can go. They say if a picture's worth a thousand words and everything has a story to tell,

what does Dom Shoes, Custom Shoes, what's the story? What do they say? What do they tell? It's blood, sweat, and tears. Usually when someone sees it or appreciates it, they also know what goes into it. They understand the time that it took for even me in my story to get to where it's at. And it's a story of craft.

It's a story of love and passion. So it's more than just the shoe. Right. Yeah. Is this the only thing that you've ever wanted to do? No. It's the one thing that just stuck. This next year, I'm going to try out for a semi-pro soccer team.

Really? Yeah. So sports were, you mentioned you were a soccer, you played soccer growing up, but the custom shoe had a bigger pull than sports did. And you know why? Because the dedication that you have to do to be a professional athlete is unlike. The dedication that you have to do to be a professional athlete is the dedication that you got to do to be good and that's what i finally learned i've been hanging out with athletes the last couple years and just like to you know go out and party and then to like

see how they're back on it and i'm like yo that's where i need to take my craft and that's where i met in my life that's why i want to try out for a pro soccer team because it took me so long to get here and if I would have known what I know now and treat this, this did take a lot and it still takes a lot, yet I want to go even above and beyond and I want to start treating myself like an athlete, be physically, emotionally, mentally focused

on anything I do. So that's the goal of this next year to try out for a semi-pro soccer team. Well, I don't know. I mean, I had a So that's, you know, the goal of this next year to try out for a semi-pro soccer team. Well, I don't know. I mean, I had a teammate that was hung over and rushed for 215

and five touchdowns. Could you be hung over and desire a pair of shoes? That's the thing. You can. You can. You just keep going. You know what I mean?

Like, you're just like, you keep going. So, but you can't do that and run a business, you know? But as an artist to do one-offs here and there, you can fuck around. But when you really want to take it to the next level, you got to be focused. Is that all you think about, shoes? Because I mean, I think to be great, I'm talking about to be truly great. You just don't, okay, I'm opening at nine, I close at five, and I'm done. How much time do you think

you actually spend thinking about designs and fabrics and textures in sneakers in a given day? Yeah, last night I went to sleep with these ideas and thoughts and boots. And it's not even just the sneakers anymore. Now it's the business. It's like, okay, now I got to... You got mock-ups in your bed. You inside the bed. You got fabrics and mock-ups all in the bed.

No, what I do, though, is if something new or something is inspiring, I put it in my passenger seat and I drive around with it. Right. Like, you know, I want to soak it all in. So, I mean, I think about it 24 7 like this isn't just A business this is the life my life that took me so long to get here And now now it's really about taking it to the next level so you hear a lot of artists say that okay when a song Comes in my head I might be

Sleep I'll get up and I start writing or I might be at the dinner table And I just start writing when an idea comes in your head Do you start drawing do you start drawing? Do you like, okay, yeah, I like this. This is gonna be just all right. Recently during meditations when it comes up, I have to wait till I'm done with the meditation. But yeah, now I need to write down the ideas and there's things that really stick that

I need to write it down and then I need to put it into production or put it in to production right away we were talking earlier like when you do issue with the functionality of a shoe so if there's someone past or present that you could make a shoe for who would it be I was thinking you I think you'd probably say Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo. Man. Lewandowski, Kane. So Abraham Lincoln used to love his boots. And my mentor, when Abraham Lincoln was shot, my mentor went to the, Before theater?

The museum. Okay. And studied these boots, and then he recreated these boots and i just feel like someone from back in the day that loved boots they would love sneakers now like you have boots right so like they didn't have sneakers back then so imagine like any of these guys from the past like how swaggy they'd be in sneakers what's the most expensive pair of sneakers you've created? I did the $100,000 pair for LeBron, and then the pair I just showed you

is gonna be a couple hundred thousand. And I'm working on a $2 million shoe. Is that Dorothy's shoe? Is that the one she clicks together if she's back in Kansas or something? It's gonna be the most expensive shoe in the world. It's gonna be a pair of Air Mags. That's all I can tell you. Diamonds. Oh man, it's going to be the most expensive shoe in the world. It's going to be a pair of Air Mags.

That's all I can tell you. Diamonds. Diamond Hermes. What's the top end for a shoe? Now with technology, it could be anything. It could be the auto lacing and then it's the different materials and then making gold components and then the packaging, how long it goes into it. The shoes you showed me over there had diamonds that you could take off and wear as a bracelet. and then making gold components and then the packaging, how long it goes into it.

The shoes you showed me over there had diamonds that you could take off and wear as a bracelet. So you can get up to $5 million, $10 million for a pair of shoes. Yeah. That should be a goal of mine. That's a goal of yours? It is. So you just like creating things.

It's not so much as shoes. Like you said, you're going to work with furniture. And you want to work with it. So you just like creating things it's not so much as shoes you like you said you're going to work with furniture and you want to work with so you just like creating it's not just a specific thing that i want to create i want to create a i just want to build right shoes just happened to be that one thing that made that was the foundation exactly made me feel good and i can wear them and it was so hard to figure out that that's what drove me to it like i need to figure this shit out and now no it's anything. I mean, if you see the lamps up there, I've made those lamps.

I mean, I designed this space. We're building up the space as we go. So it's gonna just, it's creating. Like that's why I feel like I'm on this earth and it's like now me creating what I want to and also giving that back to anyone, from kids to people that come from all over that just want to learn how to make something,

because I feel like that's what we're missing. People need to make stuff. So many people are just sitting on computers, and it's like you've got to move, whether it's cooking or making leather goods or a bag or hat, whatever, but people need to move and move that energy through them. I appreciate the tour.

I mean, you caught me off guard. I don't know if you guys need to take a look at this. This is a custom. This is a one-on tour. I mean, you caught me off guard. I don't know if you guys, you guys need to take a look at this. This is a custom. This is a one-on-one. No, you can't get these. One-on-one. This is a one-on-one Club Shea Shea edition.

Jordan won. It got, it has all my stats for Denver, Baltimore. Do something before two something. I mean, it's unbelievable. They got, look at this. They got the Broncos. They have the Ravens. My number on the other side.

And I didn't know anything about this. My team, club, Shea Shea team, had Dom working on this for about eight weeks, and they kept it from me. And it caught me off guard. And so, Dom, I want to say thank you from the bottom of my heart. What a great job. My team in the back, thank you guys. Bruh. And so, Dom, I want to say thank you from the bottom of my heart. What a great job. My team in the back, thank you guys. Bruh.

Thank you, man. Thanks for always reaching out and working with me and, you know, seeing my art too. So I appreciate it and appreciate you guys as well. As you can see today, we took Club Shea Shea on the road today. We don't normally take Club Shea Shea on the road, but special guests require special visit. So Dom, again, thank you. And thank you. on my life on my life been grinding on my life sacrifice hustle pay the price wanna slice

got to roll the dice that's why on my life I've been grinding on my life wake up with football every morning and listen to my new podcast

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