Utah Custom Sneaker Artist puts his talents on All-Star weekend stage

SALT LAKE CITY — Over 15 years, Jonathon Millar has built a reputation, athletic shoe by athletic shoe, transforming them into custom sneaker works of art.

This weekend, his talents may be on their largest stage yet with a pop-up shop and sneaker workshops held in conjunction with the NBA All-Star Game and NBA Crossover events.

“I just never thought I would be here today,” Millar told KSL 5 during an interview Wednesday. “We just got the deal with Nike and the NBA so it’s just a super overwhelming week.”

Millar, who operates under JSM 801 Customs, has steadily built his craft into a business where he has completed and sold as many as 1,900 pairs of custom sneakers in a calendar year.

“The thing is to just try to make it as cool as possible,” he said as he worked on a custom pair inside his garage-turned-workshop.

Millar said he was particularly excited about the 5 workshop sessions he was scheduled to hold at the NBA Crossover at the Salt Palace on Saturday.

“I just set up a shop to where people can come in and we do a class and they customize their own pairs,” Millar explained.

Millar said ordinarily entry level for his custom sneakers can range from $750 to $3,500 and go up from there.

He said he had completed roughly 200 pairs for All-Star weekend that will sell in the $200 to $400 range.

To him, taking part in All-Star weekend was highly significant.

“I grew up in a household where we didn’t have a lot of money—I never went to a Jazz game in my life,” Millar said. “I never thought I would work events like this.”

He said the last week had been an incredibly busy, often sleepless time, but he was just grateful to be included.

“It’s just overwhelming emotionally and [I’m] just feeling blessed,” Millar said. “It’s exciting!”