In 2023, FIFA Women’s World Cup fever overtook the nation, as the entirety of Australia rallied behind the Matildas and women’s football in general.
But one man who played a unique role in Australian football’s biggest moment was Justin Michael, aka Khameleon Kickz, a sneaker customiser who was chosen for an incredibly important honour.
In what was an incredibly top-secret mission, Michael was flown to Nike’s Australian headquarters in Melbourne, in order to make custom shoes for the Matildas, the Lionesses, and the French National Team.
This was the latest step in what has been a short yet storied career for Michael, which includes work for Australia’s most impressive athletes, but the sneaker customiser told The Sporting News that getting to make shoes for his country's national team was a monumental milestone.
“[It was] pretty straightforward in terms of getting it signed and dealt with; we actually worked with a marketing agency previously who was dealing with Nike at the time, and Nike was actually requesting customizers, but didn't have any,” Michael said.
“So they were going through the agency, and they had reached out to us and just said, ‘We have this really huge opportunity and we can't actually speak about it because it's so like private, but [it’s for] the Women's World Cup, we'd like to have you guys on board.'
“Getting to be flown out to Nike headquarters in Melbourne was a pretty, pretty cool thing to have happen, obviously as a massive sneakerhead… like it was it was so surreal.
“It's like in the heart of the CBD in Melbourne which is crazy, and then to go in there and just see their work environment but more so to be set up there and see your name.
“You know, I'm here painting for the Matildas, and then going home and watching them on TV wear your stuff, like, that's even better.”
Michael was picked for this project due to his already extremely successful customiser business, but like all things, this success had to be earned.
Beginning his customiser career when he was just 15, the Khameleon Kickz journey started on eBay, where Michael first went to buy and sell his wares.
“I knew [sneaker customising] existed, mainly in America, not in Australia at the time when I was in high school and I thought like, you know, if someone else can do it, why can't I?”
“So I bought like $50 worth of [Nike Air Force Ones] on eBay, and then some random paint, started painting, and sold it on eBay again.
“It was shit, but then I kept going from there, and the rest was sort of history - started networking, started growing my Instagram page, learned the proper materials to use, all the techniques, and just blew up since then.
“The one biggest thing is, when I had started out, there was nobody to ask for help. So, you had to sort of prove yourself in the industry. And if there was no one who would take you on to teach you or to help you, you sort of had to do the hard yards yourself. So that was like countless nights of, you know, research, videos, YouTube videos.
“You got to sort of drop your ego and understand that this is what makes or breaks businesses and people and artists. So people are going to talk all they want. They don't like your work. They don't like your designs, blah, blah, blah, but that's what makes people quit, and that's what makes people shine through.”
Shine through Michael has.
In the years since his initial eBay forays, the customiser has worked with multiple high-profile clients, from NRL players like Payne Haas, to tennis behemoth Nick Kyrgios, and even rap superstar Tyga.
But the Women’s World Cup opportunity was a watershed moment, and one that Michael is hoping can launch his brand to even greater heights… now that he can finally talk about it.
“Family and friends didn't really know about this as well because of the NDA that we had to sign,” he said.
“It was only like four months later or five months later that I could actually tell people that yeah, that was me that actually painted those shoes.
“It was very strict because of Nike's guidelines and how they want things to occur. So we had to do multiple photoshopped images for each of the teams.
“So there was four designs to choose from, and it was like one of the flags, one of the mascots for each country, the animal, and then colour fade gradients of the actual colours of the country.
“It was about a week or two worth of designing for Nike, then once we got the tick of approval, they did the print media. They made books and stuff so the players could actually see what they were getting, and then we actually went ahead and created them on the day, and we also had to make prototypes and samples for them.
“We met the Matildas, the French team, and the English team, and it was pretty cool because they were actually coming up to us and watching us, filming us, posting them on stories and just talking to us about, you know, what they want on their shoes.
“Some of them were doing special requests, like ‘Oh, can you put my daughter's name on it?’ or ‘Could you do this and this?’
“[Despite having] strict guidelines, we did make some of them work, which was ideal, but yeah, it was a pretty cool moment to have met, you know, every single player from the Matildas, the French team and the English team.”
As for what comes next for Khameleon Kickz, and for sneaker customising in general in Australia, Michael’s eyes have turned to the states, and particularly the NFL, hoping to draw inspiration from that league’s ‘My Cause My Cleats’ round, in which all players wear customised cleats dedicated to charities of their choosing.
“In terms of like my next biggest steps, it's continual work with these major corporate companies, these major sporting companies, it would be really cool,” Michael said.
“Like I've spoken about this with many other sport customizers in Australia who work with me, we wanted to eventually transform the sporting industry in Australia to have a week dedicated to custom boots and custom shoes like America does with ‘My Cause, My Cleats.’
“That was one of our biggest end goals. We have the manpower to do it, and for charity, it's a no-brainer that we would be able to make this, make this happen.
“More so now, you know, just continually building a name for myself and getting my art out there and doing more one-of-one pieces where I can actually show what I do best rather than customers coming to me and be like, ‘Can you put my name on a shoe and can you change the colour of this?’”
