So, I’d been looking at my old football boots, and man, they were just… boring. Same old colours everyone else has. I’ve always liked the Adidas Predators, the low-cut ones, you know? They just feel right on my feet. But I wanted something a bit different, something that popped. That’s when I got this idea: black and orange. Classic, but still sharp.
Getting Started with the Base
First things first, I needed the canvas. I went hunting for a pair of low-cut Predators. My idea was to get a mostly black pair to begin with. Makes life easier, right? Took me a bit, actually. Some shops only had the flashy multi-coloured ones, or the mid-cut versions which I’m not a fan of for my game. Finally found a decent black pair, pretty plain, which was perfect for what I had in mind.
I cleaned them up real good, even though they were new. You know, get rid of any factory dust or whatever. You want a clean surface if you’re gonna mess with them.
The Orange Dream
Now, for the orange. This was the main event. I didn’t want to go overboard and make them look like a traffic cone. Just some key accents. I thought about different ways to do this. Painting seemed like the obvious route for some parts.
I decided to focus the orange on a few specific areas. Maybe the stripes, or some panel details. I masked off the areas I wanted to keep black with some good quality tape. This part takes patience, let me tell you. Rushing it just makes a mess. I got some special leather paint, the kind that’s supposed to flex and not crack straight away. Orange, obviously. A nice, bright orange.
- Applied a thin coat. Let it dry.
- Then another thin coat. Let that dry too.
- Probably did three coats in total to get the colour solid and even.
It’s always better to do multiple thin coats than one thick, gloopy one. Learned that the hard way on a different project a while back!
Lace Game Strong
And then, the laces! This is such a simple thing, but it can totally change the look of a boot. The stock black laces were fine, but to really tie in with my black and orange theme, I had to get orange laces. Finding the right shade of orange to match the paint, and the right length, took a couple of tries. Some were too dull, some too thin.
Once I got the perfect ones, I swapped them out. I even tried a couple of different lacing patterns just to see what looked best and felt most secure. Went with a pretty standard criss-cross in the end, but those orange laces against the black boot? Chef’s kiss!
The Final Look
So, after all that – cleaning, taping, painting, waiting for paint to dry, and finally lacing them up – they were done. My very own black and orange low-cut Predators. They looked awesome, if I do say so myself. The orange accents really stand out against the black, and the orange laces just finish it off perfectly.
Took them out for a kickabout, and yeah, they felt good. And they definitely turned a few heads. It’s cool having something unique that you’ve put a bit of your own effort into. It’s not like I’m a professional customizer or anything, just wanted to try something out. And you know what? I’m pretty happy with how these turned out. Definitely beats paying a fortune for some “special edition” that thousands of other people have.
