Georgia artist Curtis Booth is the creative genius behind the innovative shoe design sported on Atlanta Falcons tight end Kyle Pitts, who also had quite the rookie season, eclipsing 1,000 yards and 68 receptions.
Curtis Booth’s journey is an example of being in the right place at the right time. ESPN reports, the opportunity to design shoes for Kyle Pitts arose after Booth stumbled across a social media posting on Instagram by Falcon’s social media platform about the player’s area codes . Atlanta receiver Justin Hardy caught the attention of Booth because he recognized area code 252. After further research, he realized his friend was the sister of the athlete.
Taking a leap of faith Booth contacted Hardy and pitched the idea to create his innovative cleats free of charge. However, if Hardy loved the work he hoped to gain his business. Luckily, Hardy did and the rest is history. Booth’s work has since spread and he has landed in the Falcons’ My Cause, My Cleats campaign and he designed each cleat worn by running back Cordarrelle Patterson. More recently, Booth will be designing cleats for Kyle Pitts this upcoming Sunday for the Pro Bowl and plans to honor Pitts’s stellar rookie season on a pair of Jordan 5s.
“He’s the second [rookie] tight end ever to reach the 1,000-yard milestone, so I know I’m going to put that on there,” the Georgia artist said, according to ESPN. “And maybe a couple stats and some Falcons logos, also. Still brainstorming, maybe have one cleat look completely different than the other cleat.”
Check Out Booth's Design At The Pro Bowl
The creative process for designing the celebrity-backed cleats is meticulous but rewarding. The hours-long process integrates brainstorming and creative workshops housed in Photoshop for Booth to understand font and size placement. Booth also leans on his Instagram following to solidify his next design.
“I usually go on Instagram a lot and post my mockups and have people vote on which one they like best, and the highest vote, I’ll go with that,” Booth said, according to ESPN. “A lot of times I’ll do that to make sure we’re on the same page. I’ll know what I want to do with it, so I’ll go post a different mockup to see if people are seeing the same thing that I see.”
Once the ideation stage is complete, Booth dives into the heavy work which can take eight, ten, or in rare circumstances twenty hours to complete. The time spent certainly pays off and it is to no surprise Booth now charges $250 for his stellar designs.
Be on the lookout for Booth’s stellar cleats this Sunday as Pitt will make his all-star debut. Might we add, he will be the first rookie to do so!
