SHOE KNEW
I used $100 from my grandparents to buy trainers & modify them – now it’s a full-time business & I have my dream car
A WOMAN has revealed how she started a side-hustle with $100 in lockdown – and now it’s her full-time job.
Brielle Diliberto, 23, from Huntington Beach, California, runs Kustomb, a customising business that sells shoes, socks and baby clothes.
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Brielle may now be able to afford her own apartment and purchase her dream car- but it came from humble beginnings.
She told Fabulous: “Every year my grandparents would give me $100 so I bought a pair Nike Air Forces back in 2020.
“My mum bought me a starter pack of Angelus paints (the type you use for trainers for $25) and I made my first design.”
On the first pair of Air Forces Brielle customised she decided to go for a classic red rose design, which soon became a signature style for her.
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The business owner posted her first design on her TikTok account, in 2020, just before Covid became a household name.
Soon after, Brielle received five more orders and one person asked for a custom design.
Her first custom design featured a winter theme, with icicles hanging from the famous Nike tick and snowflakes on the toe box.
Brielle shared the design on TikTok, where she hoped her business would blow up after quitting her job working in a gym.
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And she wasn’t disappointed, the video went viral with over one million views and the orders came flooding in.
She recalls: "I was roller-skating with my friend and trying to get my mind off not having a job and trying to make this one work.
“We took a break, and then I looked at my phone, and it was just blowing up with orders.”
Now the business owner has done over 600 orders in the two years her business has been running.
When Brielle started her brand, she was still studying at college, where she learned to create a website and specialised in design.
Brielle created her own website using Go Daddy and spent much of her time in college concentrating on designing artwork for her business.
She always knew she wanted to customise shoes and as she was getting so much business, she decided to drop out of college and focus on her career instead.
“I would be in class but not really be there, designing shoes on my iPad.
"I was getting a lot of orders. And it just didn't make sense to stay." She explained.
While at college Brielle was driving a Chevy Cavalier, 2000, now just two years later, she's managed to buy her dream car, a 2020 model Mustang worth $60,000.
She was so excited about getting her dream car, a white Mustang, she decided to have a photoshoot with it.
";Holding the keys for the first time was really motivating for me to just continue doing what I was doing.
"If I just continue doing this, imagine what else I can possibly do?" She recalls.
Brielle's biggest fans, her grandparents don't quite understand how much that $100 has changed her life, she said: "I have to definitely explain like, Okay, do you understand? Like, this is what happened?"
Since 2020, her business has continued to expand and more and more people are asking for specific customisation on a variety of products.
She has been asked to customise all sorts, from different types of shoes, socks, and most recently, baby clothes and shoes.
Brielle's favorite design she's completed was a customer request for Stranger Things on a pair of Nike Air Forces, which was Brielle's first portrait design.
Each design can take six hours to complete as Brielle currently works alone, but the business owner hopes that won't be the case for long.
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"I'm so busy working for myself, I want to hire people to help out. That's the end goal."
Brielle's designs can be found on her website,
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