This MDC Athlete Designs Cleats For Major League Baseball Players
Atavya Fowler was awestruck as she stared at the white Nike Air Force 1’s with a bedazzled logo that popped up on her Instagram feed.
“I had never seen anybody paint on shoes before,” Fowler recalls. “I was captivated by that.”
Eager to unleash her creativity, Fowler experimented with a pair of white platform sneakers her sister, Gianna Moncur, gave her to test her skills. The then 17-year-old labored at a table in her living room in the Bahamas for four days before concocting a Johnny Test and Dexter’s Laboratory inspired design.
Nearly four years later, Fowler, now a softball player at Miami Dade College, realized those sneakers were the genesis for a shoe design business that has attracted the attention of professional baseball players.
The 20-year-old computer animation student at Kendall Campus has customized more than 20 shoes, including spikes and sneakers.
“Art is something that relaxes me,” Fowler said. “I don’t consider it work. It’s basically a hobby that I get paid to do.”
She charges $100 to design a pair of shoes, but prices can increase depending on details such as the types of shoelaces she uses or how intricate the artwork is.
Fowler’s Major League Baseball clients include relief pitchers Joel Payamps of the Milwaukee Brewers, Luis Garcia and Guillermo Zuñiga of the Los Angeles Angels and Iván Herrera, a catcher with the St. Louis Cardinals.
Her first MLB order came from Tampa Bay Rays outfielder Harold Ramirez, who discovered her talents on Instagram in the summer of 2022. Impressed, he requested a pair of autism-awareness themed sneakers as a tribute to his son, Elian, who is autistic.
Since then, Ramirez has ordered five more customized cleats.
“She has excellent talent and her business is incredible,” Ramirez said. “I hope she can grow quickly and have a huge business.”
Fowler’s cousin Chavez Young, a center fielder in the Milwaukee Brewers minor league system, ordered his first personalized shoes for the Don’t Blink Home Run Derby in the Bahamas more than three years ago.
The swagged-out footwear featured aqua and yellow shoelaces, confetti, black palm trees and a John 3:16 Bible reference.
“I give her kudos; she did her homework,” said the 26-year-old Young, who owns approximately 10 customized shoes. “Anybody can design shoes. But it’s [about] the next level—when you play in them, are they gonna fade? Can you use them next year?”
When she started her business, Fowler painted every inch of shoe by hand and used a hair dryer to speed up the process. It took about 48 hours to finish a pair of shoes.
Now she utilizes a master airbrush, a heat gun and a cricut—a machine used to create stencils and vinyls—allowing her to decrease her production time to 16 hours.
“I think for her to have a business where she can use her creativity and love for art is brillant,” says Sharks Head Softball Coach Gina De Agüero, who asked Fowler for an MDC-themed pair of Nikes in December of 2022.
Former Sharks Head Baseball Coach Adrian Morales, who is now at Nova Southeastern University, was so impressed with Fowler’s craftsmanship that he commissioned her to design cleats for his daughters, Penelope and Alejandra, last March.
The finished product featured a bald eagle, the girls’ favorite colors (blue, pink and purple), their favorite Bible verse (John 3:16), an American flag with three nailed crosses, a hand holding a soccer ball and the sign language sign for love.
They loved it.
“We have a clean pair that we will never use because that’s how much we liked and appreciated her work,” Morales said.
The shoes rest on a mantel in the girls’ room next to a cross.
Fowler, who is also a Christian, says her faith has helped her persevere when she’s worried about finishing designs on time.
“I don’t even worry about it anymore,” Fowler said. “Anything I put my hands to, I know that His hands are all over it. The battle’s already won.”
To view Fowler’s work, visit her Instagram page @kicksanekustoms.
Click here to subscribe to our bi-weekly newsletter, The Hammerhead. For news tips, contact us at mdc.thereporter@gmail.com.
