Under The Palms

Hay whats good everyone and whats good TM.
Just wanted to share some of my custom Vans i made a while back.


First is the SK8 Hi "Califa Raza"

The side panels of the kicks where replaced with hand dyed wax silk material with a paisley patter.
The material was first glued then stitched by hand using s sewing awl. The stitching on the side panels is done in grey thread to match the blue/gray/black patter on the material. The vans stripe was stitched out also in grey thread.
The kicks come with ne set of Blue flat laces and 1 set of White flat laces. Size 9.5 men
The are up for sale so hit up my webstore to check them out: F&F Web Store









Vans Half Cab "Puro Blanco"

The side and heel panels where redone in cream carbon fiber material.
The stitching on the carbon fiber is Glow In The Dark
The material was first glued then stitched by hand to the kicks.
They are 10f1 production and sold out

Good work man. Looks very well done.

Desp1 wrote:The material was first glued then stitched by hand using s sewing awl.

Dude, you have no idea how incouraging that sounds. Got any tips for a beginner?

Crimson Ghost wrote:

Desp1 wrote:The material was first glued then stitched by hand using s sewing awl.

Dude, you have no idea how incouraging that sounds. Got any tips for a beginner?

Thanks bro, the best tip i can give you is take your time when you are working on customs. When using a sewing awl it can get really frustrating and time consuming but dont give up because in the end the work will come out properly. Oh and make sure to stock up on needles because the extra fine needles break easy so its always good to have a bunch on deck, especially if you just started to use a sewing awl.
As far as how to do the custom, the best awl sewing tutorial is from Hush, form Hush Fabrications he did a great step by step guide on how he customized his Vans SK8 hi you should check out his blog for the guide.
Another tip is to take time to properly plan out what you would like to do, what materials to use and etc, proper planning goes a long way when trying to make a custom shoe that durable and looks good.
If you have any questions about anything just hit me up.

How is this tool called? Is it the needle punch?



Ok, I've figured it out - it's a sewing awl. Too bad it's kinda expensive if I want to use it probably just once.

I assume he didn't do the embroidery by hand, right?

you did the 'puro blanco' half cab awhile back right?


i remember seeing it in the customs section on ISS.

personally, i have never really been a fan of custom works.
but those Sk8 Hi's are sweet.
wonderful job Desp1.

Crimson Ghost wrote:How is this tool called? Is it the needle punch?



Ok, I've figured it out - it's a sewing awl. Too bad it's kinda expensive if I want to use it probably just once.

I assume he didn't do the embroidery by hand, right?

Yea its called a sewing awl, it usually costs around $15.00 plus you will have to order extra needles. its not too expensive but a useful tool to have, besides customizing i use it to repair certain things.
The embroidery on the tongue tag was done on a embroidery machine. U can purchase an embroidery/sewing machine from Singer for about $200usd. it hooks up to your comp and you can make your own designs.
I do not have an embroidery machine but i will be buying one soon.

Nuhhhice wrote:you did the 'puro blanco' half cab awhile back right?

i remember seeing it in the customs section on ISS.

Yea i did them a while ago and posted them on ISS my sn on ISS in CH1C0, they sold really quick, i wanted to keep them but i have a crap load of kicks and i can always make another pair.

hairil wrote:personally, i have never really been a fan of custom works.
but those Sk8 Hi's are sweet.
wonderful job Desp1.

Thanks for the comment, it was my first time working on a SK8 hi, and it was great. I did not want to make them too flashy so i only did the side panels with a Cali inspired material. I will def be making more SK8 Hi's as soon as i finish my current 3 projects.

Once again Thanks everyone for the comments, i appreciate it.

Thanks for joining the OTWS community, and I'll post up your Califa Raza's on the blog, since they're still available for purchase. I'll also post up any new work you do as well!

DJGuamstyles wrote:Thanks for joining the OTWS community, and I'll post up your Califa Raza's on the blog, since they're still available for purchase. I'll also post up any new work you do as well!

Thanks a lot for the comment, and thanks for the blog post up. I will def be posting up much more custom Vans work soon, trying some new things on a few Vans Era's hopefully they turn out well.

Really nice work man , like those Half-Cabs