In the very recent past, custom-made shoes were only available to the very wealthy, and custom-made shoes were limited to handmade leather dress shoes. Frankly..boring!  Now, you can have almost any type of shoe custom-made.  What started 10 years ago as an experiment with a small shoe factory and a tiny start-up brand has become a real opportunity for all of us to get one-of-a-kind shoes. All the major shoe brands now offer custom shoes: Reebok, Converse, Nike, Puma, Adidas, Vans, New Balance, Keen, and Boombah etc. 

How can Nike, Puma, Adidas, Vans, and New Balance make custom shoes? Well, you are not getting a fully customized shoe, you are getting a custom color up of a shoe.  These “production” custom programs offered by big brands like Nike and Adidas have removed the “development” required for shoe production. The choices they offer on the website only require the shoe factory to pull the material from stock and cut the correct shapes for assembly. So, while not being a new pattern made just for you, you can get a wide range of colors to suit your personal taste, and can still be (almost) one of a kind.

Here are my reviews of the major custom-made shoe programs:

New Balance Custom Made Shoes
New Balance offers 7 models of their classic suede running shoes for men and women. While this seems like a limited selection, it’s actually not very limited because you really only need a few offerings of this sort from New Balance – sweet, high-fashion trainers. The midsole options are limited and prices high, but I still like the New Balance custom shoe offerings.