Nike cracking down on people customizing its sneakers. But is it shooting itself in the foot?

Kino Hernandez and one of his close friends went into business together last year customizing sneakers and selling them online. A few weeks into the operation, his friend bailed but Hernandez decided to forge ahead. "It was about three months in and that's when I started to get orders — and I'm not talking about local orders," the Salem County, New Jersey, resident said. "I was getting my orders from like California and Las Vegas." 

Adding colors and designs to shoes in recent months has netted Hernandez about $10,000 in income, he estimates. For Hernandez, the shoe-customizing business lets him generate income while working part-time as well as allowing him to flex his talents as an artist — an ideal work-life balance, he said. But a lawsuit from Nike threatens that livelihood, not just for Hernandez but for countless other footwear customizers. The suit, filed last month in California, accuses Drip Creationz — one of the largest shoe customizing companies in the world — of deconstructing Nike shoes, adding new material to them and reselling them for much more than regular retail price. That violates trademark and copyright laws, Nike lawyers said.