At a desk in the corner of his east side basement, Ian Matthews gives old sneakers new life.
The idea started when Matthews was a senior at La Follette High School and bought a used pair of Nike Air Jordan 1 sneakers like the ones his favorite rapper J. Cole wore on the cover of his 2014 “Forest Hill Drive” album.
“The shoes, to me, were very valuable. I wanted to keep them in good condition,” said Matthews, now 24. He learned how to clean them, and his friends started paying him $10 a pair to clean theirs.
Ian Matthews holds a pair of Air Jordan sneakers he custom painted with hue-shifting metallic “chameleon paint.”
Later, he taught himself to whiten yellowed soles using hair-lightening cream and a UV light box. He learned to remove and replace peeling paint, swap out worn parts and re-glue soles, repairs he said work differently for sneakers than for the dress shoes cobblers specialize in.
“I don’t like buying new sneakers,” Matthews said. “Sneakers are so expensive and I’m pretty frugal, so if I can find a way to save myself some money, I’ll do it. I’ll go through the extra mile just to do that.”
He posted before-and-after photos on Instagram under the name Ian Restores. Soon strangers were hiring him too.
Ian Matthews hand paints a pair of Air Jordan sneakers for a customer at his home in Madison.
Before long, he wasn’t just restoring sneakers but also customizing them, adding his own designs to formerly plain shoes. His favorite is a pair of Nike Air Max 90 he painted to look like a Curtiss P-40B Warhawk, a 1940s fighter jet with a shark-like face. The distinctive planes were flown by the Flying Tigers, a group of American aviators hired by China to fight the Japanese before the U.S. officially entered World War II.
Ian Matthews was inspired to painted these Nike Air Max shoes by the Curtiss P-40B Warhawk, a World War II airplane flown by the Flying Tigers.
Nike makes a shoe with a similar design, he said, but it runs around $2,000. “I’m not going to spend that much on shoes,” Matthews said. “I want to wear the shoes. I don’t want to worry about creasing them or getting them scuffed up.”
Last year, Matthews wore his Warhawk sneakers to the annual Oshkosh air show, which draws hundreds of thousands of aviation enthusiasts to see modern and historic planes. “A lot of people loved the shoes. It was so cool to wear them,” Matthews said. “This is wearable art.”
Ian Matthews painted these Nike SB x Ben-G Dunk lows, inspired by a vintage shirt worn by a tennis player.
In the six years since he started, Matthews estimates he’s cleaned, restored or customized at least 500 pairs of sneakers. Most belong to locals, some of whom wait months for a spot on Matthews’ schedule. Others are shipped to him by customers as far away as California or Georgia.
“I feel very honored for them to do that. It takes trust to send out your shoes and money to someone that you’re thousands of miles away from,” Matthews said.
Pumpkin the cat sits in Ian Matthews’ chair in his home studio.
Projects can take anywhere from a few hours to several days. Repainting shoes, for example, requires removing the old paint or factory coating with nail polish remover, then painting one thin layer after another to ensure the paint remains flexible and doesn’t crack or peel. To speed the process, Matthews dries the paint with a heat gun. To whiten soles, he keeps them in the lightbox for a week.
Ian Matthews was inspired to painted these Nike Air Max shoes by children’s TV show “The Fairly OddParents,” each one representing a fairy godparent from the show.
But Matthews tends not to watch the clock. “I hate to keep track of time because I always feel like I’m wasting time doing things and just not making a profit enough,” Matthews said, explaining that no matter how long a project takes, his prices usually top out at a few hundred dollars.
“I wish I could charge two or three times as much for my shoe restorations because I think I deserve it … but I understand that people have a certain budget they want to pay for shoes, and it wouldn’t make sense for the work to cost more than the shoes themselves.”
‘A step up’
Until last year, Matthews ran his business from his bedroom in the apartment he shared with his mom and brother. But with 50 pairs of his own shoes, the space was crowded. So when the family moved into a house last year, he set up shop at the far end of the basement, between the water heater and the utility sink.
Ian Matthews stores tools and paints for customizing sneakers in a tackle box at at his home in Madison.
On shelves to his right sit shoes he’s finished or currently working on. At his feet sits a green tackle box filled with the tools of his trade: glue, thread, cotton swabs, sandpaper, suede erasers and an array of artists’ paintbrushes.
The new work space is lit by a sneaker-shaped neon sign and a pair of studio lights Matthews has been using to practice a new skill, photographing his work. “It’s nice now that I have a little bit more space that I can work on my shoes,” Matthews said. “It’s a step up.”
Fresh paint dries on an Air Jordan sneaker in the home studio of sneaker restorer Ian Matthews.
Matthews doesn’t have as much time for shoes as he used to. In December, he graduated from Madison College with an associate’s degree in graphic design, then got a full-time job photographing graduations and kids’ sports games. When he was in school, the business helped him cover expenses. Now, it’s more like a hobby, a way to unwind after a long day at work.
Ian Matthews pauses while painting a sneaker to discusses his style and methods.
He’d love to one day have a career designing sneakers, but he’s still figuring out his plans. “I have so many passions it’s hard to keep up with,” Matthews said. “The cool thing I’m learning right now about my life is that things can go unexpectedly one way or another …I’m definitely someone that takes opportunities whenever they’re offered to me.”
Though he’s not sure he’ll make a career out of sneakers, he’s grateful for everything he’s learned in the years he’s spent doing this work. “I would say my business is the best thing I’ve ever done for myself. It’s really built me into the person I am today.”
The four questions
What are the most important values driving your work?
Taking my time with my craft and establishing a good reputation. I try to make sure everyone has a good experience with me, because my reputation has brought me to where I am today. I very rarely promote myself. It’s just that my work and my services are that good that people will tell about me to others.
How are you creating the kind of community that you want to live in?
Some of the shoes I’ve worked on, (the customers say), “I used to have this pair as a kid,” or, “My mom got me these as a gift for Christmas, and I want to wear them more.” It’s more than just the monetary value in shoes that’s why people get their shoes restored. It’s the sentimental aspect that I’m honored to revive.
What advice do you have for other would-be entrepreneurs?
If you really care about something, you will find time to do it. I barely have time for my business but I still try to make time for it because I understand my purpose. There’s a lot more things I want to do with my own passions, like making music, photography and graphic design. I still try to find a way to do them because those are things I truly want to experience.
Are you hiring?
No, it wouldn’t be Ian Restores if it was multiple people.
