Meet Jim Nilson | Sneaker Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Jim Nilson and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jim, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
I initially created custom sneakers for a Wu-Tang concert we were flying out to in 2019. I wanted to paint the logo on a pair of Jordans, so figured out how to do that. It turned out way nicer than it should have. So my buddies traveling with me asked me to do Wu themed shoes for them. I recreated Ol Dirty Bastards album cover and again turned out way nicer than it should have. I posted the sneakers on IG and one of the Wu’s engineers reached out to me and said that they were a fan of my work and he shared with the Wu guys and they loved it. Anyhow, long story short, Inspectah Deck (one of the Wu members) had a solo album coming out and the engineer wanted to commission a pair from me to celebrate: So I did my first pair and brought them out with me. They were so happy with the art piece and we were VIP for the show. That next week I had all kinds of celebs in wrestling and hip hop reaching out to commission a custom 1 of 1 pair. So, I started up an LLC and started this journey. I’ve been fortunate. Most of my clientele are celebs in hip hop, wrestling and comedy. Everyone from Dave Chappelle, to Topanga from Boy Meets World, to David Arquettte, Rey Mysterio, Matt Hardy…..etc I’ve done over 100 pairs to date and mostly for celebs.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
My day career is as a Marketing Director in Cincinnati. My new night and weekend career is now as a sneaker artist. Quite the juxtaposition. I knew nothing about the custom sneaker craft, but something lit up like a lightbulb once I started creating. First by just painting and now by fully deconstructing a new pair to use the sole as a donor sole and then hand cutting, designing and sewing them as a 1 of 1 wearable sneaker art piece. I’ve definitely learned that there are a lot of haters online that love being negative. As an artist it is hard to put your work out there for critique but I’ve learned to ignore the negative energy and focus on the positive with everything I do. Everything I do is to make me happy, and I try to align that up with clients that have a similar taste.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Funny thing, ever since COVID I’ve found this weird introvert version of myself. I’ve always been very outgoing, but this business has really consumed all my free time. But if I had to pick a place it would probably be one of the concert places going to see someone that I’ve worked with or one of the arenas to catch a wrestling show, again probably featuring wrestlers I’ve worked with.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Yes, Josh Gannet, who is the engineer that has done a lot of work with the Wu and other big name musical artist. Without that first connection I’m not sure I would have thought about setting up a business around this. Shane Helms is one of my closest friends and we happens to work for the WWE (formally as a wrestler and now as an agent behind the scenes). He’s been so supportive and connected me literally with everyone in the wrestling world. Finally MC Serch. I was a huge fan of his and his music and he’s been nothing but 100% supportive of my art.

Website: glaciersofice.com (currently being redesigned)

Instagram: goikicks

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jim-nilson

Twitter: https://x.com/goikicks

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/rTdnBrhVcAXb7vbK/?mibextid=LQQJ4d