Shoe Designing Business

3 Shoe Designing Business Success Stories [2025]

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Updated: April 14th, 2025

Designing shoes that people love to wear isn't just a creative dream—it's a viable business venture. A shoe designing business involves creating custom footwear tailored to your customers' tastes and needs. By leveraging your unique design skills, you can produce original shoe designs that stand out in the crowded fashion market.

You'll need to familiarize yourself with materials, design software, and possibly even basic manufacturing processes. Partnering with reliable manufacturers and quality suppliers is pivotal to ensure your designs come to life efficiently and to high standards.

The global market for personalized and unique footwear is booming, making this a promising field for budding entrepreneurs. If you're passionate about fashion and design, this venture allows you to tap into a niche while blending art with functionality. With dedication and creativity, launching your own shoe designing business could be the perfect step toward a fulfilling career.

In this list, you'll find real-world shoe designing business success stories and very profitable examples of starting a shoe designing business that makes money.

1. B Street Shoes ($720K/year)

Blake Barash, the founder of B Street Shoes, was inspired by street and sneaker culture in the San Francisco Bay Area. His passion for street art and custom designs led him to start painting shoes for fun and eventually launch his own business. From painting shoes in his bedroom to now running a 1,500 sq ft Studio Warehouse and employing 6 people, Blake's business has grown significantly.

How much money it makes: $720K/year
How much did it cost to start: $1K
How many people on the team: 8

How I Started A $50K/Month Business Customizing Sneakers

Meet Blake Barash, a custom shoe painter who grew his business from his bedroom to now making $50k per month and employing six people.

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2. MyPaintedShoes ($48K/year)

Smieon Mo combined his e-commerce background with a passion for painting to launch MyPaintedShoes in 2013, quickly attracting organic traffic and securing his first orders within a month. By 2020, the site reached 10-20 daily orders, transforming his hand-painted shoes into a sustainable business.

How much money it makes: $48K/year
How much did it cost to start: $1K
How many people on the team: 3

How I Built A $48K/Year Artistic Business In A Niche Industry

This case study follows the journey of Smieon Mo, the founder of Mypaintedshoes, one of the first online platforms for selling hand-painted shoes, who shares insights into building a successful custom shoe painting business, attracting customers, and transitioning from canvas to leather shoes.

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3. Creative Souls ($12K/year)

Drew McNamara, the founder of Creative Souls, came up with the idea for his business while in a social entrepreneurship class during his junior year of college. He was inspired by a non-profit that had artists with disabilities selling their artwork on shirts, but noticed that no one was printing their designs onto shoes. This led him to create Creative Souls, a brand that prints designs from individuals with disabilities onto canvas shoes and apparel, providing them with opportunities for success and income.

How much money it makes: $12K/year
How much did it cost to start: $45K
How many people on the team: 0

On Starting A Shoe And Apparel Brand With Designs From People With Disabilities

Creative Souls is a shoe and apparel brand that prints designs created by individuals with disabilities onto their products, paying artists over $1,000 since August 2019, with an average of $1,000 monthly sales, while providing opportunities for people with disabilities to earn money by creating art.

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Read by 7,168 founders