Joe Carson Designs Shoes

DAVIDSONVILLE, MD — A Davidsonville college student has the chance to have his shoe design manufactured and sold at Foot Lockers around the world if he wins the 2017 Pensole World Sneaker Championship.

Joe Carson, a 21-year-old student at the University of Maryland, founded and established his own shoe company called "CarsonCustomKicks" when he was a senior at South River High School.

"I've always been into shoes my whole life," Carson told Patch. "I always wanted to be that kid that had a pair of shoes that nobody else had."

Carson entered into the 2017 World Sneaker Championship, where contestants were told to design a "lifestyle sneaker" that features original styling, quality materials and meaningful use of color. Carson entered a design he describes as "the new age loafer," and made it to the top 64.

The next round of the World Sneaker Championship is the top 32. Voters can view and vote for Carson's design here.

Carson combined his artistic talents and love for shoes to create his own, unique shoes. More and more students at his high school asked him to customize their own shoes, and that's when Carson got the idea for CarsonCustomKicks.

Now, people who wish for a completely individual design send Carson their shoes and let him do his magic. He uses paints and dyes to give them that special, custom design.

Carson said the prices vary, but he usually charges anywhere from $50 to $200 depending on the design the customer wants.

Carson's passion for shoes continued into college, where he studies graphic design.

"Most kids want to be a famous singer, or in a band or a sports player, but not many kids have a route if they want to be a professional footwear designer," Carson said.

That all changed when Carson was awarded a scholarship to attend a prestigious footwear academy in Oregon, called Pensole Footwear Design Academy. This academy teaches students about the entire footwear design process, including concept-development, design process, prototyping, marketing, business and more.

His internship at Under Armour also helped him learn the ropes of design. 

During his time at the academy in January of 2016, he heard about the Pensole World Sneaker Championship.