With a client list made up of musicians, footballers, rappers, DJ and sports stars, Karl Chester's portraits on high-end trainers are a runaway success
The Warrington artist has long had a knack for photo-realistic recreations, but it wasn’t until he started doodling on a pair of Converse to pass the time on a train journey he realised there might be a market for personalised footwear.
‘That was about seven years ago –I was on a trip back from London. I had some canvas shoes and I started doodling on them with felt tip pens,’ he says. ‘Other travellers were stopping at my seat to ask what I was doing and because of the interest I looked up custom shoes, uploaded pictures of my work on Instagram, and I’ve not looked back.’
Initially, Karl’s designs were mostly ink on canvas, but as his skills developed he moved to leather and paint and as well as footwear, customises wallets and luxury accessories.
‘I began to get celebrities asking about designs and I changed the name to Starline Customs,’ he says.
Karl is self-taught, after dropping out of art college. ’It was too rigid in its curriculum,’ he says. ‘There were too many restraints, and I have always felt art should be guided by the soul, rather than put in a box. I gave up college and started working as a roofing labourer. It gave me time to think. I’d be on a roof with the wind in my hair, wondering what I should draw next.’
Karl’s passion for art began at a young age. ‘The first thing I remember was picking up a red crayon and doodling,’ he says. ‘I was obsessed with my grandad’s tattoos; I'd always be copying them. I was two, three, four years old and I’d copy every detail. I just never put that pen down.’
Karl and his partner Katie Bradshaw opened up a shop in Manchester’s Affleck’s Palace but the waiting list for his work stretched to almost six months so they moved the business online to cut down on commuting and allow them to spend time with their son Reid, who was born in 2022 and is already following in his dad’s footsteps.
‘He loves to draw, already; he’s a chip off the old block,’ says Karl.
The business started to hit the big time after a pair of Nike Air Force sneakers commissioned for an Ed Sheehan fan’s wedding was shared by the musician himself. ‘We put them on social media and Ed retweeted them.
'One of Ed’s team also works with Elton John, and they got in touch to ask if we could do two pairs of Elton John sneakers, one for Elton and the other for his husband David Furnish.
‘We couldn’t believe it. So much of this has got from there, with requests coming in from huge names.’ Starline Customs now has more than 106,000 followers and 2.2 million likes on TikTok, and 63,000 followers on Instagram.
Closing the shop has given Karl more time to paint, and the orders keep stacking up, with commissions for Jack Grealish and his partner Sasha Attwood, Paul Pogba, Virgil Van Dijk, DJ Khaled, Steven Bartlett and Bugzy Malone, plus work with Disney and Marvel to create a pair for the Loki series launch.
Each pair is painstakingly hand-painted and takes many hours to design. They are all individual works of art, and thanks to the waterproof paints used, can be worn outside. Prices start upward of £500.
‘Most people keep them on a shelf and display them, but they can still be worn,’ Karl explains. ‘I might wince if I saw someone out walking in the rain and mud though.
‘A lot of love goes into every design. I try to sum up the person and the things they love – their dogs, their hobbies, whatever makes them tick,’ says Karl. ‘Fans say they are the gifts for people who have everything.'
starlinecustoms.com