If you watched the Phillies play in the London Classic Series in early June, you might have noticed the custom cleats worn by Bryson Stott and Orion Kerkering. Red, white, and blue, with several UK-themed icons, the cleats stand out — and were made by a father-son duo in Downingtown.
Ryan Stevens has been customizing baseball cleats since high school. What started as a hobby officially became a business, NxtLvl Customs, in 2020, while he was still a student and baseball player at Central Penn College.
“In high school, I painted my first pair of cleats,” he said. “After one practice, they were ruined, and all the paint had come off.”
Ryan continued to work on his craft. His father, Ron, who worked for years at a body shop and understands the importance of a quality paint job, offered to help.
“I worked at a body shop for a long time. I started off detailing and from there I went to painting cars,” Ron said. Painting a shoe, he notes, is “basically the same process as it would be painting a car. Your paint job is only as good as your prep work.”
It wasn’t long before other college athletes began to order from Ryan. Eventually, his work caught the attention of pro players.
In the middle of a game during his junior year in 2023, Ryan was on-deck waiting to hit when Ron came up to the fence with big news.
“Bryson Stott just DM’d you, he wants a pair of cleats.”
Ryan had customized several cleats for other pro baseball players, but this was the biggest name thus far. More importantly, for a Philly sports fan, this was a dream come true.
“It was hard to kinda focus on the game after that,” said Ryan. He says he has no recollection of how he played that game.
Fast forward to the summer of 2024, and a plethora of Phillies players now have custom cleats from Ryan, including Edmundo Sosa, Zack Wheeler, Gregory Soto, Dylan Covey, Weston Wilson, Jeff Hoffman and Rodolfo Castro. He’s also made shoes for Sixers mascot Franklin and star point guard Tyrese Maxey.
Since his first shoe with Stott, Ryan has customized over a dozen cleats for the Phils’ second baseman.
“The ‘OG Bell’ ones that we did last year, he wore them the whole season,” Ryan said. “Probably 80-some games.”
This is no small accomplishment since customized shoes can oftentimes lose their paint after one or two games if not prepped and painted properly. This happened to some Phillies players this season who got custom City Connect cleats from another manufacturer.
“They’ve only worn the City Connect [cleats] two or three times; they’re like destroyed,” Ryan said.
In fact, durability is a key reason pro ballplayers keep coming back to Ryan for shoes, and where his father Ron’s expertise really comes into play. Dad’s helped out Ryan since the beginning, and as business ramped up, he started helping more. Now he does it full-time, prepping nearly every shoe that Ryan paints.
Ryan and NxtLvl Custom’s next step is opening a brick-and-mortar store in Downingtown that will serve as a workshop and retail space.
In the meantime, his workshop is in his house, where the workshop dog, Rocky, is in charge of company morale. This reporter received sniffs and licks the entire time this interview was conducted. No complaints here.
Ryan also wants NxtLvl Customs to begin customizing other baseball accessories, such as sliding mitts and shin guards — keep an eye out for a custom sliding mitt on outfielder Brandon Marsh coming soon.
Ryan describes his experience working with his father as overwhelmingly positive.
“It’s good because I trust him,” he said.
Ron agrees, and says he and his son appreciate the opportunity to work with professional athletes and receive exclusive field access.
“Growing up, especially as a Philadelphia fan, it’s a proud moment,” he said, adding that without his son’s creativity and work ethic, “this opportunity would’ve never happened.”
