TOMS Shoes hosted a “Style Your Sole Party” at the 2010 Word of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA) Summit in Las Vegas last week. At the party, conference attendees received a free pair of TOMS Shoes to decorate with whatever they’d like. Some of the supplies included stamps, spray paint, gem stones and markers.
With the help of Brian Dresher, Mike Blumenstein and Mike Jensen, I created a lovely pair of red TOMS with white polka dots. The methodology was all Blumenstein’s idea: glue gem stones on the shoes, spray paint them red, and then remove the gem stones. It worked!
I debuted my new creations to the world the following day during the WOMMA panel that I spoke on. Check out a summary of the panel here. And look at my shoes in action below!
Image courtesy of WOMMA and copyrighted by Gary Michael
What may be even more exciting, though, is the fact that the live graphic artist drew them in her depiction of the panel that day, as pictured below. Isn’t that lovely?
I <3 the shoes. I wa soooooo disappointed when I found out they were custom made. I have a question. Does the paint stay on long? Please respond quicky because I am looking to buy some toms and do the same thing.
Hi Morgan! Yes, the paint stays on long. The best way to make this design is to:
1.) Stuff the shoes with paper or towels, so that the paint doesn’t get in the shoes.
2.) Glue plastic jewels to the shoes or stick round stickers on the shoes.
3.) Spray paint the shoes.
4.) Remove the jewels or stickers.
And voila, you have a beautiful new pair of custom shoes!
Thank u soooooo much!!!!!!!
I <3 them. Thanks!!!! 
I love how much coverage your shoes got!
Way to stand out of the pack.
Nice kicks!
Thanks! I was pretty surprised by all of the coverage as well, actually.