A custom shoe designer from Wrexham is building up a pretty impressive clientele list, including Wrexham's co-owners and a UFC fighter.
John White, started customising trainers during lockdown and started up his own little business venture - zebracustoms.
Having gained more confidence in the work he was doing, John began reaching out to people with the hopes of customising some trainers for them.
READ MORE: Wrexham bound Will Ferrell pictured with Wrexham co-owner
He is now in a position where he has seen his shoes appear at a UFC main event and in the hands of one of Wrexham's co-owners (the other co-owners are on the way).
John had his dad to thank after the idea came about to make Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds a custom pair of trainers for their visit to Wrexham in October.
He said:
"The interaction between Rob and Ryan I have my dad to thank for if I’m honest, he does a lot of joinery work for the football club and he got speaking with Humphrey Kerr, a really nice guy who is also a direct contact with Rob and Ryan."
"The idea was to make them both a pair of shoes for when they came to visit, but a quick announcement gave me little time to finish both pairs, so I went with Rob’s as they were closest to being finished!
"We had a nice fun moment during the Q&A where I was able to hand the shoes over to Rob personally, and (jokingly) Ryan appeared to be disgruntled at the fact that Rob received something and Ryan didn’t."
John made it clear that Ryan's were on the way.
READ MORE: A year of Rob and Ryan
A big fan of UFC, John reached out to a number of his favourite fighters, only to hear back from Tai Tuivisa, an Australian MMA artist.
After a videochat with Tai, famed for his post fight 'shoey' which sees him drink a beer out of a shoe. The design agreed on was Drink West - a beer company co-owned by Tuivisa and fellow MMA artist Tyson Pedro.
John finished the shoes, sent them out to Dubai and was left shocked when he saw his custom made shoes live on TV.
John added:
"My emotions were all over the place during the fight, it’s was very back and fourth
"After the post fight interview, Tai exited the cage and my expression quickly changed when I saw the flash of yellow on the shoes I’d customised in the crowd. Two of his close friends had the shoes and were waiting to congratulate him.
"I’m truly touched and indebted to him for the promise he kept for me, it’ll be a night I won’t forget for a long time."
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