GourmetKickz was born when Chef Spar decided to turn a hobby into a business in 2002. After collecting and reselling sneakers as a past time, and generating both a following and a clientele, Chef decided to kick things up a notch and play to his business name by actually cooking up custom artwork on kicks. After a trial run on a pair of Dunk Lows which sold for over $300 once Chef cooked them into the “Beef and Broccolis”, it was decided that custom sneaker creation would be a focus. Chef then climbed the ranks and became well known as a top tier collector and customizer.

GourmetKickz approach to custom sneakers is all about presentation and is meant to mimic the experience one might have at a 5 Star Restaurant. The head Chef creates dishes for his clientele. He creates dishes that cater to an audience with a refunded palate. The Chef does not take requests for specific dishes, but rather takes suggestions and creates his own masterpieces. And just as a 5 Star Restaurant would present its famous dishes with amazing detail and style, Chef of GourmetKickz presents his masterpieces in a manner that attracts attention and elevates custom sneakers to the realm of fine art. His packaging and attention to detail put his dishes over the top and into a class all their own.

GourmetKickz “Food for the Sole” started by specializing in custom Nike Air Force Ones. Chef’s love of the AF1 aka the Nike Air Force One brought him to amass a sizable collection of limited and exclusive Nike AF1s and later led him to the trade of hand crafting custom sneakers. A mixture of the old adages “the best way to a man’s heart is his stomach” and “you can tell a lot about a man from the shoes he wears” – GourmetKickz seeks to bring a fine dining experience to the realm of custom footwear. Serving only the highest quality hand crafted Nike customs, GourmetKickz is also known as the AF1 King

GourmetKickz now offers some of the best custom foamposites, customized LeBrons, custom painted KDs and custom galaxy Zoom Rookies in the world. Chef of GourmetKickz was consistently ranked one of the best custom sneaker artists for several years in a row by the major sneaker blogs and news sources. He continues to push the envelope by straying from conventional painting methods. With a focus on textiles, textures, and color harmonies Chef’s creation stand out from the crowd. For instance check out the amazing and original GourmetKickz Custom “Copper Patina” AJ1 and entire patina series.

During the same time the brand began customizing sneakers, it also started offering deadstock exclusive sneakers for resale online. GourmetKickz has made it a point to continually offer both custom sneakers from  and rare deadstock sneakers whenever possible. To keep up to date on what deadstock Nike sneakers or other brands of exclusive kicks available, please click on the Deadstock Exclusives portion of the menu. Since Chef of GourmetKickz has over 500 pair of deadstock Rare Nike Air Force 1s that you can find on the AF1King website.

In 2006 Chef of GourmetKickz decided to invent a solution to prevent toebox creasing in sneakers. GourmetKickz launched the DeCreaseR after a successful Beta Test on a few sneaker forums. Shortly thereafter GourmetKickz was copied by a few accessory companies and even had his original design plans stolen by his ex-business partner. The DeCreaseR is such an innovative and effective idea that Chef’s simple invention has given birth to a slew of copy-cat products. GourmetKickz’ DeCreaseR remains the most comfortable, effective, and reliable crease prevention shoe accessory on the market. Try for yourself and see.