Ohio Teen's Sneaker Line Growing

WICKLIFFE, OH -- Phil Knight got Nike rolling with a $500 investment. And before it became Adidas, the athletic shoe was born in a Bavarian woman's kitchen.

So there is no telling what will happen to 17-year-old Charlie Malta and his line of canvas sneakers called "Guice Mann Shoes."

"Freshman year it started. I was just bored and wanted to draw on some shoes because I like art. So I drew on a pair of canvas shoes and it just took off. I wore them to school and my friends liked them," Charlie explains.

Pretty soon the friends started asking for the sneakers covered in Charlie's original doodles.

They became walking billboards for the teen's accidental business. He started charging a small fee, but quickly learned a novice businessman's lesson.

"I learned that I was selling them way too cheap. I wasn't making any money at all. But now I am selling them for $50 so I am making a better profit. So I am doing a lot better than when I started," says Charlie.

The doodles are inspired by music or a movie. His mother, Mary Beth, says each of her three sons were "doodlers" who would draw as she read to them from books like "Goosebumps" or "Sweet Pickle."

No time for reading now, Mary Beth is busy helping her son pick up new supplies, or mailing shoes off to places as far away as France and England.

"We're like at the top of the mountain here. Every day since January, it's been 'boom, boom boom.' It's all positive what he's doing, so it's hard not to support him," Mary Beth explains.

It takes Charlie about two hours to complete a pair of shoes.

His room is filled with blank shoes. Each is a pair that signifies a paid order waiting to be filled. So far Charlie's completed and sold about 200 pairs. And the requests keep pouring in.

"The money that I make on this, I pretty much put right back into the business to buy more shoes, and more supplies to make the shoes," Charlie says.

The name Guice Mann is actually a nickname friends gave the Lake Catholic teen a few years ago. Orange juice is his drink of choice, and his bright red hair is hard to miss, but as Charlie points out, "I call it orange hair." He changed the "j" in juice to a "g" just to be a little different.

As his business grows, Charlie has quickly learned the value of giving back to his community. Recently, his shoes raised funds for the United Way, Broadmoor and Lake Catholic schools. It was at the Lake Catholic fundraiser that Charlie's shoes prompted a bidding war.

"Two people were bidding back and forth and they went for $1,200," says Charlie.

On August 14 at a Lake County Captains game, Guice Mann Shoes will be auctioned off again, to raise money for ALS research.

"I like helping out, and giving back to the community and hopefully someday I will be able to give a lot back to the community. And also by doing that people will hear about the shoes and be interested in buying them," Charlie says.

When we visited Charlie, he was working on an order for a rock band out of Columbus. He also plans to send a pair to talk show host Ellen DeGeneres, an avowed sneaker collector.

Like all good businessmen, Charlie is already looking at ways to expand his services.

"I am working on high heels. So ladies, they will be available in the future," Charlie says.