As the number one star of the Chinese women's basketball team, Li Meng not only performed outstandingly at this Asian Games, but her image is also particularly eye-catching. Every time the Chinese women's basketball team plays, the blonde Li Meng always attracts everyone's attention.

And some attentive fans discovered that the sneakers Li Meng wore at the Asian Games were very special, pink and bright red, with patterns.

Li Meng's sneakers are not ordinary sneakers. They are completely unavailable in the world. She asked someone to paint them for her. The person who made custom sneakers for Li Meng was Wang Haibo, a young painter from Zhuji, Zhejiang.

The sneakers customized for Li Meng have all elements related to her.

Female basketball stars also have girlish hearts.

Wang Haibo had received an order from Li Meng before and drew a pair of sneakers for Li Meng that she wore when she played with the WNBA." Obviously Li Meng was very satisfied with this pair of shoes. Not only did she wear them in WNBA games, but she also sent two pairs of shoes before the Asian Games for Wang Haibo to continue to help her draw customized patterns.

"She told me that these two pairs of shoes were specially prepared for the Asian Games. She had her own pattern. I was responsible for adjusting the pattern to a suitable form on the upper, adding the two theme colors of Chinese red and pink." Wang Haibo told Tide News reporters that Li Meng is very careful about her style. The design patterns and colors of her sneakers and her manicure and other styles are all from the same series.

In fact, Wang Haibo, who has been running the customized sneaker business for many years, found it not difficult to complete Li Meng's order, but because it was prepared for the Asian Games, he still completed it with special care. Originally, he wanted to buy a ticket to see Li Meng play in this pair of shoes. "It's a pity that I didn't buy a ticket, but I was a little excited when I saw the live videos and pictures my friends sent me. After all, it was me." His works appeared in the Asian Games.

Wang Haibo in his studio

Living in Zhuji, a nationally famous hometown of basketball, Wang Haibo has been exposed to basketball since he was a child. In a car accident during his freshman year of high school, he injured his leg. The doctor told him at the time, "Try to wear more comfortable shoes to help your legs and feet recover." This made him pay attention to basketball shoes.

Like other boys who love shoes, Wang Haibo also experienced a period when he was a student and saved a lot of pocket money to buy a pair of basketball shoes. After working, he realized the "freedom to buy shoes" and bought several pairs a month. As a fan of Kobe, he would collect various series of Kobe's sneakers, which he still keeps on his shoe rack.

But gradually, he felt the impetuousness of the sneaker market. The craziness of following the trend and pursuing limited editions is completely different from his idea of sneakers.

Wang Haibo’s workbench

Wang Haibo also hopes to pursue "uniqueness" in sneakers. But he didn't want to join in the fun of "limited edition", but chose to design and paint by himself.

In 2018, Wang Haibo made a special trip to Beijing to find the first generation of sneaker customizers in China to "apprentice and learn skills" from him. He had no painting skills at all, so he got started by working harder than others. "The time it takes me to paint may be two or three times longer than others. Once I painted a pattern 17 times, the upper surface of the shoe became convex."

In 2019, Wang Haibo, who had "already got started", quit his "9-to-5" job in a bank and became a full-time sneaker customizer.

In December of that year, Wang Haibo was entrusted by fans to help CBA star Chen Peidong paint customized shoes. From then on, he began his career of painting shoes for players. Shen Zijie and He Xining are both his old customers. Later, his customer base expanded to include female basketball players and even NBA players.

In addition to painting shoes for Li Meng, Wang Haibo recently also painted customized shoes for Aaron Gordon, who just went on a trip to China. Because Gordon likes Chinese elements very much, and he had a stop in Guangzhou during his trip, Wang Haibo painted it specifically for him. Gordon liked the shoes with the lion pattern very much and refused to let go.

Custom-made sneakers with lion pattern for Gordon

When Li Kaier's name was still Kyle Anderson, Wang Haibo had been in contact with him and painted shoes for his mother. "That was two or three years ago. At that time, I painted shoes specifically for his mother, with Chinese names of family members written on them."

Originally, he had planned to help Li Kaier draw shoes when he represented the Chinese men's basketball team in the World Cup. "It was too late at the time, which was a pity."

Being loved by so many players, bringing the sneakers he drew to various arenas around the world means an affirmation for Wang Haibo.

Source: Tide News

Editor: Bian Bingying