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MBuck951 · #1 11-02-2010, 09:38 PM

Thought I'd share a recent experience I've had.

At the Daytona 24hr this year Tara and I walked into the Stand21 trailer. They are the racing apparel supplier for Porsche Motorsport and I was curious what they had in there. Talked with the rep there, Russel, about my racecar and how nice their stuff was. I hinted that of all my racing gear, my shoes were the piece I liked the least. I have nice Sparco something or others, but they don't fit perfect. My 48's feel too big, but the 46 was too small and there is no 47. He started showing me some of their shoes and I tried them on. The "Daytona II" shoes felt great.

He then said they could measure my feet and build made to measure shoes for me. ORLY?

Also, for a price I could get custom colors and stiching to my own design. Once you go made to measure he said, the price increase to custom design is minimal. I made a comment that it was going to be my 30th birthday this August and perhaps I would splurge on something like expensive shoes. He said why not have him measure my feet and they would keep it on file just in case. So we did.

Fast forward to August. One of my birthday presents from Tara

is a big gift card to Stand 21. I couldn't believe it. This was the motivation I needed to go through with the purchase. A few weeks pass and I email Russel (kept his card in my wallet) and said, what is the process? He said tell him what colors I had in mind and a designer would send me some drawings.

My first idea was some shoes inspired by the blue/yellow Sunoco 917/30. I got some drawings back and while nice, it was not as good looking as I hoped. My next idea was a Virginia Tech theme, but the designer I was working with, Chad, said they don't have a maroon leather. He told me to go on their website and play around with the shoe configuration page. I could click on the different panels, laces, or sole of the shoe and try out whatever colors they offered. Did just that and came up with a design I liked. I then sent Chad my ideas for stitching and he incorporated it and sent back detailed drawings with a front, side and rear views. The design was set, exactly what I wanted.

Next step was to call their office in GA to order. Cherri answered the phone and before I said much more than my name, she knew what design I was getting and that Tara had bought a gift card to go towards the purchase. They had my measurements on file from Daytona and everything was ready to go. The gift card covered the deposit and about 5 weeks later the following showed up at the house =)

Even came with a sheet with photos of my shoes being made and a matching key chain. I had the choice of leather or suede, but choose the former because of the white.

Highly recommend this service to anyone. Everyone involved was super professional and great to work with. If you have any questions, fire away.

I was inspired by the new GT3R Hybrid racecar with my design