Tired of buying the same mass-produced clothing designs from skate shops, Cody Cameron decided to make his own.
Now the 19-year-old is turning his unique shoe, hat and skateboard designs into a viable business.
Cameron, along with his close friends— brothers Mac and Colton Gardener— have created the company Shed Designs as a platform to sell their unique products.
With Cameron and Colton Gardener on the creative side, and Mac handling the photography and promotions, the young artists have managed to sell 20 pairs of custom designed shoes since starting their business a few months ago.
“I just got tired of regular skate brands and the designs on them so I decided to make my own,” Cameron said.
“They are definitely one-of-a-kind and designed to what the customer wants. It’s off the beaten path. I just didn’t like what skate logos were pumping out.”
Selling them to friends and online through Facebook at first, Cameron’s designs are starting to get some retail attention. Ollie North Skate Shop in Cloverdale is now carrying his hand-painted shoes and arrangements are being made with stores in Langley as well. Other skate shops such as West 49 in Metropolis at Metrotown Mall in Burnaby are distributing flyers on their behalf.
Using plain canvas skate shoes as a base, Cameron hand-paints his images onto the fabric using acrylic paint. Some shoes have taken upwards of 10 hours for him to complete.
From glow-in-the-dark shoes to painted creatures that change in size with the movement of the laces, many of his designs have been made customary to suit his customers.
“I think the real nice thing about Shed is that we can adapt to anyone’s needs,” Mac said. “We’ve been talking with bands about doing sets of shoes for them, doing promotional runs for charity and all sorts of things.
“I’ve been listening to a lot of people after they hear our idea for this stuff and they get excited because I think our generation is naturally very custom. The way we look at our media and the way we look at the internet is all very customizable. To see products people can actually be involved with the process of creating is really exciting for anybody.”
With his shoes becoming a success, Cameron has also been working on hats and skateboards with Colton.
“There’s always ideas that just pop into my head. People will give me a vague idea and I’ll expand on it,” Cameron said.
“We are definitely acting on creating new designs and definitely pushing our boundaries and making more interesting apparel.”
For more visit the Shed Designs Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/sheddesigns.