Today we’d like to introduce you to Sailboat Lewis.
Hi Sailboat, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
By day, I’m a physical therapist working in an outpatient environment. I specialize in orthopedic care, vestibular training, and golf rehabilitation. I am also certified in dry needling for the entire body.
When I am off of my day job, I spend my time working on sneakers. My favorite project is what is known as a “Sole Swap Hybrid”. With these projects, I remove the soles off a pair of sneakers and combine them with the uppers from another pair of shoes. This allows me to create new, one of a kind shoes that may be a combination of different brands or even adapt a pair of shoes for a different function. Recently, I have been most excited with turning running sneakers and basketball sneakers into golf shoes ready for the course.
I also dabble with sneaker resale as well as pokemon card collecting and sales. I have been collecting and selling both sneakers and cards for the better part of 15 years at this point in time and am excited to see where both of the hobbies have come in the last several years
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Perseverance and learning to let go of my fear of failure were probably two of the biggest things that I needed to learn along the way. I am primarily self taught with a lot of the skills that I have learned. While I have got aid along the way and learned from some of the best people in the sneaker customization and restoration game, a lot of the techniques I learned, I had to do so on my own. A lot of experimentation comes into play and I have ruined more projects than I care to admit. I needed to stop looking at projects that didn’t go my way as “failures” and instead, use them as motivation and learning opportunities. When you’re working with expensive sneakers and are worried about potentially ruining them, it can really lead to significant nerves and learning to calm them has been an indispensable part of my learning process.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
My main work revolves around sneaker swap hybrids. I essentially make “Frankenstein” sneakers combining different parts, mixing and matching brands, and retrofitting sneakers to make them more viable for different activities. With the summer months in full swing and golf season at its peak, I have been doing a lot of golf cleat sole swaps and making cleats for people from Jordans and other ball shoes.
I document the process of my creations from front to back on social media in the hope that I can inspire other people and teach them some of the skills that I have learned along the way
What were you like growing up?
Growing up, I always got along with everyone but never had a specific crowd that I really was a part of. I learned a ton of different skills and had a hugely varied interest over the years. I played hockey and lacrosse, ran and weightlifted from a young age, skateboarded for nearly my whole life, and dabbled in a ton of other sports and recreational activities. My love of shoes began when I was in high school and I started to see the skate scene explode and fashion from the skateboard world seep into daily culture. I was always into video editing and photography and began to incorporate that into my sneaker collecting as time went on and developed my own fashion based on all my experiences.
Golf was one of those things that always stuck with me throughout the years and when I started to collect and restore sneakers, I figured that a lot of the skills could transfer into making my own custom golf kicks. If I was going to be fresh off the course, there was no reason I couldn’t transfer that style onto the course in some way.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.sailboatsupplies.xyz
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sailboatsupplies/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sailboats.sneakers/
- Twitter: https://x.com/sailboatsuplies
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/sailboatsupplies
