Today we’d like to introduce you to Allan Quijano.
Allan, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
My name is Allan Quijano. I’m a footwear designer for Professional athletes of all sports like the NFL, NBA, MLB, etc. I’m based out in Southeast San Diego! It has been a long journey to get where I am at today, creating this website will give you a better understanding of who I am as a person.
Growing up in Southeast San Diego shaped the person who I am today. The community has taught me a lot of life lessons, one of them being stand tall, chest out, and chin up! What I mean by that is you will have a bunch of obstacles thrown at you but always stay ten toes down, if you believe in something or got a passion for something, don’t be afraid to take the chance. I’m a 20-year-old artist that grew up in a traditional Filipino household where the expectations are very high. One of them being to work as a doctor/nurse or an engineer of some sort.
In my family, being an artist doesn’t get that much respect. My motivation/drive for being an artist is to show people that you don’t always gotta go by the books. If you really have a passion for something and want to pursue it, just do it! My ultimate goal is to impact other people’s lives in a way that will make them into a better person. This is just more than custom shoes or being an artist for me if I can make a person smile through my art, right there, already made an impact in their life.
My passion for art started at a very young age, from drawing my favorite comic book characters to making paper tech decks from scratch. In elementary, I would make paper tech decks out of index cards, Elmer’s glue and scraps from old tech decks! I never liked the store-bought designs which is why I made my own. I would bring them to school every day just so I can play with my friends. It got so popular that my friends bought some custom tech decks from me. My mom was so amazed on how I had this mindset of an entrepreneur at a very young age. In middle school, I was really into Call of Duty, which opened an opportunity for me. There was a whole community of hardcore gamers at the time, at the age of 12 years old. I taught myself how to be a Graphic Designer. I taught myself how to use the programs: Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Maxon Cinema 4D, Sony Vegas Pro, etc…
As a GFX & VFX artist, I got commissioned to design Logos, YouTube banners and even websites for the gamers! I will link some of my work here: https://www.youtube.com/user/artisticAllan/
https://artisticallann.carbonmade.com https://artisticallan.carbonmade.com/
Learning and teaching myself how to be a Graphic Designer helped me in the long run for my business and how it is today!
Fast Forward to getting into high school, I was heavily addicted to collecting shoes from the most limited pairs I can get my hands on to the most beat-up vintage shoes. From collecting those vintage shoes, I saw another opportunity to make something out of it. I would fully restore the shoes to the best I could to make them look factory-like. They just came out of the box! Which started my first business, as a freshman in high school I was cleaning and restoring other classmates shoes. From $5 to $180 for a full service of making your shoes looking brand new. I went from just cleaning, repainting, repairing/swapping soles.
The first few clients I had gave me the confidence to start the business, which gave me the ability to branch out and communicate with other people in my city. I even got help teach a class in Los Angeles with Sal founder of Kickstradomis. As time went by, being a high school student and handling this business got very overwhelming to the point where I terminated the business. Being a high school student and trying to be independent, I eventually applied for a job that wasn’t as great. Working a 9-5 job made me realize that I can be my own boss. Eventually, I found my way back into my passion and this time, it was different.
On Oct. 24, 2016, Access Kustoms was created. It was different, fresh start. Starting up was difficult, but eventually, it started to pick up. I was on Twitter one day, just had the confidence to tweet out to Keenan Allen if I can customize a pair of cleats/shoes for him. Couple of days went by and I get a Liked/RT and follow from him. First, I couldn’t believe it but he DM’d me asking to customize the San Diego Slayers his AAU basketball team, and of course, I didn’t pass up the opportunity. Eventually, season was coming up for the NFL and he asked me to do a pair for him! I did almost every single game that year and he became Comeback Player of the Year prior to him getting injured the year before. Since then, charger fans always say, “IT’S THE CLEATS, YOU GOT THE MAGIC TOUCH.” Before that season ended, I did a cleat that made Keenan go crazy, which were my Chris Brown inspired cleats, he texted me saying “LOOK GOOD, PLAY GOOD.” Ever since then, that has been my motto for athletes that get custom cleats from me!
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Starting this business has been a life-changer, but it sure wasn’t a smooth as it looks. I like the saying where you can’t be successful overnight, you have to work for it. Day in & Day out I would be working on my business and even working late nights, early morning. It took a toll on me mentally and physically. I would go days without sleep or eating just to satisfy my clientele and to get work out. Eventually, I found a mutual ground to have better time management. I’ve had family and friends doubt my business but that only fueled my fire on to striving to be the best I can be as a person and business owner. With a lot of struggles I’ve went through, there was a lot of good moments.
We’d love to hear more about your art.
I’m an independent Footwear Designer ranging from Professional athlete to the little leagues. I like to make art that can express how people feel or just want to be different from the rest. I use shoes/cleats as my canvas because everyone wears shoes daily or cleats are always on the field. My art separates players from others and makes them feel good. I say this to my clientele all the time, “Look Good, Play Good.” The most Proudest thing in the company is to see people’s ideas come to life and seeing they are satisfied with a smile on their faces after receiving a product of mine. What sets me apart from other artists is I don’t see others as competition, but rather as someone else you can learn from. I believe that everyone is trying to reach the same goal, which is why I am always willing to help other artists.
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
My favorite memory from my childhood is creating a 52 deck of playing cards from scratch and designing each card differently. There was a day I wanted a deck of playing cards because I wanted to show a magic trick to my friends that I learned from my sister. So I grabbed a bunch of manila folders sketched out the template of a card then started to designing them. It took me while making and cutting them out but when I finished making them, I showed my mom the deck of cards and she was so amazed by them.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.accesskustoms.com
- Phone: 619-917-9395
- Email: access.kustoms@gmail.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/access.kustoms
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AccessKustoms/
- Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/kustomsbyaccess
Image Credit:
Photo Credit
Richwell Correa/San Diego Customs
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