Today we’d like to introduce you to Vinny Belmont.
Hi Vinny, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
Originally, I’m from Brooklyn. A true NYC boy. Very long story short my parents had struggles with addiction growing up so I was raised primarily by my grandmother, my aunt, and my uncle. Even though it brought a lot of different kinds of chaos into my life that I never invited I ended up becoming pretty strong from it. I always had the drive to be better than what I knew and I’ve worked really hard to become that idea of myself I always had,
Eventually, I made my first small dream come true and got my own place in Manhattan and if anyone knows me and reads this, they’ll know that I am a die-hard New Yorker and I love my city. New York shaped me. It introduced me to different cultures from around the world and different foods. It sparked my love for travel and for art and showed me that different parts of the world view things entirely differently than we do. Work-life balances, foods, culture, recreation, love, freedoms, everything.
And I think that’s what lead me to have the courage to move across the country to San Diego and start my small business which is now The Stoned Aesthetic. It scared the shit out of me to do it but I knew I needed to break some comfort zones when Covid hit and I saw firsthand how the world could just stop in the blink of an eye so I got started.
I honestly don’t even know how the rhinestone thing happened. My fiancee is really loud and flashy with his whole vibe so I made him a pair of shoes and thought “he’d like these Adidas if I made them sparkly and bright blue” So I Youtubed everything and taught myself how to customize my first shoe.
I posted it on Instagram and people really liked em! And me, being the insanely anxious human I am found solace in something that took my attention just enough to focus but not to overwhelm me and it was so calming. And because I tend to use crystals in all my stuff it’s really gratifying when I finish a pair and they light up a room. So here I man 2 years later and about 120 custom pairs in to states all across the country and in about 4 countries(?) now across the globe? So that’s cool. I was covered in a national tv spot by FOX for their holiday gift guide episode and that really made me feel like maybe I’m doing something right.
But most of all, I just love what I do now. Being in California with the freedom to do what I want with my days and when I am working, I love it. I regularly pump out 15-hour days not because I have to but because I want to. I love creating for people that appreciate what I create and I hope I get to do this for a long time to come.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
No. Absolutely not smooth. haha. I know there’s probably not ever a great time to start a small business when you don’t have a lot of money but I left my job to pursue this business of mine full time in March 2020 and I think we all remember that’s also the month the world ended. A week before we went into lockdown to be exact. It’s not exactly easy to sell expensive crystal sneakers to people when we literally couldn’t even get haircuts and everyone was losing their jobs, my partner included. Then bringing the business to California during the pandemic was a hot mess but I just kept putting one foot in front of the other and spent everything I had saved to make it happen. And I think I am?
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I am definitely known for making custom crystallized shoes. I like to take existing sneakers/boots/heels/whatever and elevate them in whatever way I think would be cool. Most of the time this involves crystals but I’ve also worked with chains a lot, spikes, and punk-inspired themes seem to fall out of my head a lot. I love glam but I like to make it dark and a little grunge but still polished. I’m discovering my brand as I go but if you look at my portfolio of what I’ve done there’s definitely a consistent vibe of dark glam going on and I love it.
We’re always looking for the lessons that can be learned in any situation, including tragic ones like the Covid-19 crisis. Are there any lessons you’ve learned that you can share?
Yeah. Life is precious. When everything went down I started a fundraiser to help the hospitals in NYC and ended up working with a team of students from Columbia to supply PPE to all of the hospitals and people who didn’t have access to it at the time. I saw the emergency rooms myself and the hospital staff trying to keep up and man I’ll never forget it. But on a positive note, we ended up spending about $9,000 on masks, gloves, and protective gear for tons of hospitals in NYC and expanded across the country too it was a wild team effort. I had people from Instagram mailing me elastic to sew masks because I couldn’t get any in NYC at all. It makes me kind of emotional to remember the letters of people donating stuff to help out.
Contact Info:
- Email: vinnybelmont@gmail.com
- Website: TheStonedAesthetic.com
- Instagram: @Vincenz_ | @TheStonedAesthetic
Image Credits
@ChigaImaging
