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"When I see the foam, I'm in my zone"
His videos get millions of views, but his inspiration is personal. Here is the story of Miguel Solorio, aka The Showlorios. “I started restorations because my son has autism, and he tippy-toes when he walks. He bends the toe box of the shoes. I found a technique where you put a sock inside the shoe and you wet a towel. I didn't know what I was doing at first. But to save money, I had to do it. I had lost my job previously. I was looking for a stay-at-home job, for my son. And I said to myself, "Why can't I just start fixing shoes professionally?" So he is actually my inspiration for my sneaker restoration”, says Miguel Solorio.
“My sister invited me to a goodwill thrift store and I found some shoes for eight dollars. I bought them. And when I took them home, I fixed them up. One of my friends saw me with brand new shoes, brand new Jordans. He said, "How much did you get them for, man? Those are good shoes." I said I got them at the thrift store. He couldn't believe it. He was like, "You know you can sell those shoes, right?" And I sold them for 150 bucks. And that's where the catchphrase comes. But with that money, I bought more shoes and I started reselling shoes”.
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Miguel came from a very poor family and “never had good shoes”. “Everybody would make fun of me. So when I finally got some good shoes, I took care of them and I would, you know, clean them and I'd treasure them, because I knew how much the shoes cost. When COVID-19 hit and they closed down all the thrift stores, my sneaker restoration job basically was ruined. I couldn't get no more shoes. And that's when the TikTok idea came from my daughter, Grace. She told me, "You know what, Dad? You're a funny guy. Why don't you do TikTok videos with me and do skits?" And that's how we started”.
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Miguel and his daughter hit one million followers in three months. “I received a lot of messages from a lot of different cleaners, shoe cleaners, and I chose EB Kicks and I was sponsored by them. And that's how I started getting paid. And it made it a lot easier. And basically, I love doing what I do know. Now I do it for entertainment purposes. Some of the shoes I give away to the people, we do raffles. And that's my way of giving back to them, to the people, to my followers”, explains Miguel Solorio.
