The owners of Cream, the new sneaker boutique on Market Street that’s become a hang-out for area hip hoppers, recently enlisted local graffiti artist Rich to custom-decorate their limited-edition shoes.
“Skate, hip hop, tattoo culture, it’s all coming together in art,” says Rich. “As opposed to a normal name brand that would give you a plain product, I think the general taste is changing.”
So far, Rich, a/k/a Michael Rich, has decorated only one pair of shoes for Cream — a black pair of Converse sneakers. But Rich has custom-decorated Cream’s trucker hats — mostly for local rappers who want a cap tagged with their stage names — since the store opened on July 29. Everything Rich makes is one-of-a-kind. He thinks this appeals to Gen Xers looking for something new.
“It’s collecting art and shoes at the same time,” he says. “It’s cool.”
Drawing all over shoes is nothing new to the hip hop crowd, especially in larger cities, where hip hop artists paint shoes and send prototypes off to sneaker companies in hopes of landing their own boutique line. Rich says he knows a handful of local artists who paint sneakers like him, though he says the custom-designed sneaker culture is only just beginning here in Portland.
Shoes at Cream, which are all limited-edition lines, range in price from $80 to $130. With a custom design, shoes cost between $180 and $250, depending on the type of shoe and the complexity of the image. Rich says he prefers to create a design from a concept, not work from a sketch, but he can get it done either way. Shane McGarvey, 33, owns the store with his wife Michelle. He’s building a studio in the basement where Rich and other artists can eventually paint and silkscreen more of Cream’s clothes and shoes.
