Sneakers DIY: How to Transform Old Shoes

Sophiesophss
by Sophiesophss
8 Materials
$30
45 Minutes
Easy

In this tutorial, I’m going to show you a sneakers DIY. You’ll learn how to create off-white laces in any leather shoe and how to make a pair of air forces look exactly like some dunks. Let’s get right into it!

Tools and materials:

  • Sneakers
  • Leather punching tool
  • Eyelets
  • Super glue
  • X-acto knife
  • Needle and thread
  • Black paint
  • Extra-long laces
Marking lace hole

1. Mark where you want the lace hole

With a pen, roughly mark where you plan to use the punching tool.


For the outer side, you’ll want to mark two circles on the front toe box: one in the middle panel, next to the top of the swoosh, and one on the back panel, horizontal to the last marking for the inner side.

Marking lace hole

For the inner side, you’ll want to mark one on the lower bottom of the toe box, two on opposite sides of the top of the swoosh, and one on the top back panel. 

Punching holes

2. Punch any easily reachable holes

Now that we have our markings in place, it’s time to punch out holes with our leather punching tool. This tool has a rotating head for different size holes and really gets through the leather with ease.


To punch the holes, with the largest setting selected, simply place the hole puncher over the marker and apply pressure until you hear a crunching sound. 

Holes punched in DIY sneaker

Voila! We have our first hole. 

Removing fabric backing

One important thing to note is that after punching your hole, I would run something through it to remove the fabric backing.


You can also go in from the inside and cut away the excess fabric that was punched through in the back. It’s really important that you’re able to see through each hole you punch. 

Punching holes with knife

3. Use an X-acto knife to punch the hard-to-reach holes

For the two bottom toe box panels or any areas you can’t reach with a hole puncher, you’re going to need to use a different method to get the holes in.


Grab a sharp X-acto knife and spin it in your marking while applying pressure. 

Holes punched in DIY sneaker

This will gradually create a clean hole for those unreachable areas. 

Securing eyelets

4. Secure the eyelet to the punched holes

Now that we have our holes punched in, we can move on to placing in our eyelets. 

Securing eyelets

Your eyelets should come with a backing that needs to be hammered into the eyelet from the other side as well as a metal tool to do it with.


Personally, I skipped this step because it’s really hard to connect them through the fabric. Instead, you can use super glue to secure the eyelet. 

Tied elastic string

5. Cut and tie your elastic string

Now that the eyelets are in, let’s add our elastic string. Cut a pretty sizable piece and tie a knot at the end.  

String in hole

6. Place the string inside the hole

Place the string on the knot side first, so it comes out as a loop on the other side.

Securing the string

7. Secure the string to the inside of the shoe

On the inside, there are a lot of various ways you can secure the knot in place.


I like to use a sewing needle to sew a few stitches over the knot to secure it down.

Securing the string

You can also super glue the knot in place, or even better, use a little barge cement which will really keep it down and secure. 

DIY sneakers progress shot

Here’s what it should like after you’ve repeated this process for every hole.

Painted DIY sneaker

8. Paint the shoe with black paint

Add some flat black paint to make the shoe look like a Nike Dunk.

Adding laces to DIY sneakers

9. Apply your laces

I decided on orange, reflective laces but they are a bit too small so make sure you get extra-long laces.


To lace up your shoes, you’re going to want to lace one side of the lace first. That’s going to lace all the way through the shoe.

Adding laces to DIY sneakers

Then lace the other side after that.


My laces are a little too short, so I have to leave them hanging on the side when normally, you would be able to tie both laces and a knot at the top. 

Completed Sneakers DIY

Sneakers DIY

Overall, this Nike Air Force 1 DIY came out pretty nice! If you like sneakers with big laces, this easy sneakers DIY is a great way to turn your old, maybe worn-out, forces into something much cooler.


Let me know what you think about this transformation down below!

Suggested materials:
  • Sneakers
  • Leather punching tool
  • Eyelets
See all materials

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