NIAGARA FALLS — Olivia Luciani climbed the staircase of her two-story apartment and smiled at the boxes of sneakers. On her second-floor landing, a mini mountain of more boxes piles up all of the way near the ceiling. Loose papers were scattered.

Luciani strolled into a small room on the second floor and surveyed her computer screen, a table and another pile of shoeboxes. A sign on her desk said, “Work hard.” She sighed.

“I do a lot in here,” she said.

Here, Luciani replicated Batman on a pair of Kyries for Syracuse men’s basketball’s best player, Tyus Battle. Here, she designed a pair of custom shoes for 2018 WNBA MVP Breanna Stewart, with “#MeToo” as the design, a reference to the #MeToo Movement. Here, she designed custom shoes for Dallas Mavericks guard Jalen Brunson, former SU star Brandon Triche and cleats for Syracuse running back Dontae Strickland, who helped lead the SU football team to a 10-3 season and first bowl victory in five years.

Courtesy of Olivia Luciani

A Syracuse native, Luciani, 25, started her own shoe company out of her apartment a few minutes’ drive from Niagara Falls State Park. With “Laced by Liv,” youth, college and professional athletes mail her their shoes and then she ships them back with customization. It takes about three days to do a design like Battle’s, from initial sketches to finalized design to photoshop and airbrush.

The process differs with every shoe, but Luciani generally does a variation of the same tactic: Apply acetone, clean the outside, sand, smoothen, tape areas not to be painted or altered, and paint. She’s utilized dozens of colors and designs, based on what the client wants.

As a women’s basketball player at SUNY Buffalo State, Luciani broke the school’s all-time record for 3-point shots made (175) and the single-season record (57). As a student, she cleaned students’ shoes on campus. She started painting sneakers for fun, then got a job at a Nike Factory Store. She runs her own shop and wants to kept growing.

Battle, Syracuse’s junior shooting guard and leading scorer, has worn his special shoes four times. Big games warrant Batman: Georgetown, St. Bonaventure, Duke and most recently, against Virginia Tech two weeks ago.

Wearing Batman, Battle hit the game-winner against Georgetown, went 8-of-8 from the field against St. Bonaventure and dropped 31 at then-No. 1 Duke in a 95-91 overtime win. He and Luciani have a running joke: “It must be the shoes.” Battle said he loves Batman, and his father sports a Batman tattoo. Syracuse players don’t have to buy their own shoes — shoe costs are built into the team’s budget — but Battle spent his own cash for the custom design. Players said a custom shoe signals individuality and it’s the most important piece of “equipment” in the game.

Matthew Gutierrez | Senior Staff Writer

“Good shoes really help,” said Battle, who sustained a foot injury in 11th grade and has worn Nike Kyries ever since. “You want to be comfortable. I don’t change it up too much.”

Because SU head coach Jim Boeheim doesn’t have any shoe rules — many coaches require players wear a certain color — Battle splurged on his favorite hero. Luciani charges a $100 minimum for a custom job, $80 for a deep cleaning and $70 for a shoe restoration, according to her website.

Luciani is moving back to Syracuse, and she hopes to do custom cleats for several SU men’s lacrosse players. She’s designed hundreds of pairs of shoes, and clients include the Seattle Storm’s Natasha Howard, a teammate of Stewart. There are no limits on which sports she can do.

“This,” she said, “has been a lot of fun.”

Published on February 6, 2019 at 11:28 pm

Contact Matthew: [email protected] | @MatthewGut21