FAMILY FOCUS: Local sneaker artist customizing shoes to your liking

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Like many young men, 27-year-old Jarvis Hayes loves sneakers, but the designs and colors on his feet didn’t come from a store.

Just one year ago, Hayes started to customize his own kicks.

“I bought a $220 pair of shoes at Foot Locker, went to the next store and six people had the same pair of shoes on and I just stared at it and I said, ‘I can’t do it, I want to be different,'" he said.

Hayes said he went home and started researching sneaker artists on YouTube.

He never took an art class, or picked up a paintbrush, but he decided to give shoe painting a try.

“So, I just tried it,” Hayes said. “It blew up, it went form there. Just kept going, kept practicing. Kept doing, kept staying up late.”

That’s when Hayes’ shoe-customizing business was born.

The name of the business is inspired by his one-year-old son, Jarvis Jr., who goes by the name Ju Ju.

Custom shoes from “For Ju Cuztoms” come in various colors and designs—from cupcakes, to watermelons, to cartoon characters.

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“They inbox me, they ask me about prices, they tell me what they want,” Hayes said. “They send me the shoe, or I buy the shoe. I customize it and give it back to them. It really just depends on what the customer wants.”

With the help of social media, Hayes said in just one year he has sold hundreds of shoes.

He works full time as a material handler at Fed-Ex and he said he’s finally found his calling.

“I never took life seriously, all through middle school, high school, I never took life seriously,” Hayes said. “If you were to ask me what I wanted to do when I got older, I couldn’t tell you.”

With his son as his constant motivator, Hayes said he hopes to be an inspiration to others hoping to start a business.

“You can’t stop,” Hayes said. “You can’t give up.”

Hayes said his goal is to open his own shoe store or design shoes for a major company.

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