Painting and uniquely customizing sneakers is an increasingly popular trend worldwide. Sports shoes, especially those from the most important brands, are often treated as true cult objects and collectible items, and their customization is not just a hobby; it is also a vast business.

If you want to customise your sneakers, or perhaps just breathe new life into an old pair of shoes, you are in the right place: in this article, we present some excellent products specifically designed for footwear.

Angelus Leather Paint is a well-regarded line of colours used worldwide for sneaker customization, and more. We have recently added this new line of colours to our catalogue at Hobbyland, and now we present it to you.

Discover Angelus Leather Paint

Angelus is an American company with a history of over 100 years. Its founder, Paul T. Angelos, arrived in the United States from Greece in the early 1900s and built his fortune starting as a shoeshiner. The product he used to polish shoes and boots became so famous and in demand that at one point the Angelos family decided to focus exclusively on its production. The company's fortune continues to expand, and today Angelus has a catalogue of numerous products for footwear, including a line of acrylic colours for leather and sports shoes.

Sneaker decoration

Leather, canvas, mesh, and plastic: the ideal product for every footwear

Angelus shoe paints are used worldwide to decorate, reinterpret, or simply renew old footwear. Sneakers, in particular, are the type of sports shoe that most creatives and enthusiasts focus on. In fact, it is often the companies themselves that customise their cult models and promote their decoration.

Angelus Paint Acrylic Paints

Let’s take a closer look at the Angelus Leather Paints line, which offers over 130 colours, providing an almost infinite range of creative possibilities! One of the distinctive features of Angelus paints is that each colour is created from a pre-coloured base, rather than a white base: this gives all the colours a particularly vibrant and rich quality.

Angelus products stand out for their flexibility and adaptability to completely different surfaces and various creative purposes, from complete customization to repairing damage. Designed specifically for footwear, Angelus paints are also waterproof and resistant to scratches and wear, ensuring long-lasting durability and optimal performance.

A product for every creative need

Let’s quickly review the different offerings from the Angelus acrylic colours line.

  • Angelus Acrylic Leather paint is the base line, featuring the most commonly used colours for leather customization. They are ideal not only for sneakers but also for jackets, boots, bags, and accessories. This series includes Neon colours, a new series of fluorescent colours that react to black light, Metallic colours, a range of metallic paints with great shine, and Pearlescent colours, which provide a pearlescent and iridescent effect that changes with the light.
  • Angelus Glitterlites: a paint that already contains glitters, providing a sparkling and long-lasting effect.

Beyond colour: preparation and finish in sneaker decoration

Angelus offers many products that allow you to complete the sneaker customization process. In addition to colour, it is also very important to have the necessary items for preparation and finishing, essential stages for an optimal and durable result.

Surface preparation, for example, is essential to ensure that the paint is applied evenly and adheres perfectly. For this reason, it is important to use a specific product to clean the surfaces, removing traces of dirt and residues from previous paints and treatments. A deglazer like the one from Fiebings is just what you need.

The paint must also be prepared before use. If you intend to use an airbrush or want to paint fabrics like canvas or mesh, we recommend using the Angelus 2-Thin thinner, which is specifically designed to make Angelus Leather Acrylic Paint more fluid and thin.

In general, always ensure you follow the indicated quantities and proportions, so your colour always has the right density based on the work and the type of target surface. This will help you avoid unpleasant issues like clumping and application problems, or conversely, poor adhesion to hard surfaces like the plastic of inserts and midsoles. At the end of your work, don’t forget the finishing! Angelus offers a range of protective top-coats in urethane that are scratch-resistant and long-lasting, available in Matte, Satin and High Gloss, and the 600 Angelus Acrylic Finisher, for a semi-gloss finish suitable for all smooth leathers. It does not require polishing once dry, is water-resistant, and withstands rubbing and impacts.

Not just sneakers: all the uses of the Angelus line

As we have seen, Angelus products are specifically developed for footwear, but their versatility makes them perfect for other items as well. This video, created by the company itself, clearly and intuitively explains how to proceed with the decoration and colouring not only of various types of sports shoes - in canvas, mesh, or leather - but also of bags, backpacks, belts, and even furniture elements.