24-Year-Old Asked to Create Custom Sneakers for...

Colin Szumski has made it to the big leagues

Published Time: 08.10.2024 - 02:31:22 Modified Time: 08.10.2024 - 02:31:22

Colin Szumski has made it to the big leagues.

The past four years have been "surreal" for the 24-year-old Ohio native, who graduated from Kent State University with an architecture degree. Instead of stepping into his field, he chose to kickstart his sneaker business instead, and has designed shoes for Justin Timberlake, players from the Philadelphia Eagles — and most recently, Brittany Mahomes.

In an exclusive interview with PEOPLE, Szumski explains how his latest customized shoe for quarterback Patrick Mahomes' wife came to be while reflecting on his career trajectory, which he says "doesn't feel real sometimes" since his first design went viral in 2022.

Szumski tells PEOPLE that he's a self-taught sneaker designer who learned from watching YouTube videos during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, noting his "first client" was his cousin. "The shoes were going well, but obviously not well enough to do it full-time just yet."

Fast-forward four years (and another move from Los Angeles to Miami to work for MajorWavez Lab, a custom sneaker workshop), and Szumski says one day, he gets a message from Mahomes' stylist.

"Hey!! I'd love to collab with you on a pair of custom sneakers for a game night! Your stuff is dope!!" wrote the stylist, seen in a screenshot shared to Szumski's Instagram account.

While the stylist didn't initially specify who the shoe would be for upon first reaching out, Szumski assumed it would be for Mahomes based on context clues on her social media page. "Let's do it," he replied once she confirmed it was for the mom of two.

Szumski explains the collaboration process from start to finish, noting that Mahomes' stylist gave him a "base idea" which involved the use of "patchwork," a technique that interested him since it was "something that he's never done before" in his designs.

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"I created a digital mock-up of the design and sent it over to her," he says, before getting the go-ahead from Mahomes' stylist to move forward with his custom creation. The process was tedious, requiring time spent "deconstructing, then reconstructing" the shoe.

For the patchwork, Szumski cut up a Kansas City Chiefs jerseys (Patrick's No. 15 jersey, of course) and stitched the pieces around the white Nike Swoosh logo, noting he used Billie Eilish's Nike Air Force 1 Low ‘Mushroom’ shoes as inspiration. -

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In total, Szumski says the process took around 10 to 12 hours from start to finish. "That one was a little bit longer just because I had no idea what I was doing throughout the way," he jokes.

Then, the shoes were shipped off to Kansas City in the hopes Mahomes would wear them for game day and post them on Instagram. Ultimately, she did — and it was a moment Szumski remembers vividly.

"It was crazy," he recalls in reference to the response since the pictures were posted. "I was just staring at my phone for two hours, just trying to take it all in."

Szumski compares the social media reaction to the time Timberlake shared his work on Instagram in June. The designer was asked by TD Garden to create a custom pair of Boston Celtics sneakers for the superstar pegged to the 2024 NBA Championships.

"When he posted that on his story, I couldn't put my phone down," he recalls.

Thought it isn't 100% clear how Mahomes' stylist came across Szumski's Instagram page (where he's known as "Chummy's Creations" online), he is "assuming" she saw the video detailing his Taylor Swift-inspired custom sneaker design. That post has more than 1 million views to date.

The "blinged-out jersey shoe" was created in collaboration with Pineapple Princess Creations and features the NFL logo on the tongue, the Kansas City Chiefs logo on the back heel — and of course, Travis Kelce's jersey all over the sneaker. The lettering of his name is bejeweled.

"Our intention was to create them, hopefully people see them and then maybe send them to Taylor if we can get the contact," Szumski explains. "I think we got close. The video did well and it was definitely seen by some people within the Chiefs organization, but there's not really an update on that right now."

Szumski continues, "I don't know what will happen, but it would be cool if we can still get them to her to see them." In fact, he says he "was hoping" for a Kristin Juszczyk repeat, like "when Taylor and Mahomes wore her jackets."

"She was definitely one of the inspirations behind the jersey shoes," he adds of Juszczyk, wife of San Francisco 49ers fullback Kyle Juszczyk, who has created incredible game day fashions. "I definitely want to collaborate with her on something for a game day outfit in some sort of way. I can definitely see it happening for sure in the future."

As for whether Swift will be wearing a Szumski original one day this season? The ask is out. Now, Szumski says, "we're hoping for a moment."