Artist Mathias Dos Santos Creates Custom Shoes for Carles Gil
“Muy buenos.”
You never know when an opportunity will present itself.
Artist Mathias Dos Santos created a custom pair of shoes featuring Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez to wear to the New England Revolution and Inter Miami CF game. It felt like the right thing to do as a native of Uruguay.
Dos Santos received plenty of compliments, perhaps none more important than those from Willy Whitelaw, the Revolution’s Player Care Liaison. Whitelaw was looking to do something special for Carles Gil, who was on the verge of breaking the record for most regular-season assists in Revs history.
Dos Santos went to work, looking for imagery that best defined the club captain. He included an illustration of Gil smiling and one of him pointing to the sky, a regular celebration for the designated player. The Revs and league logos also adorn the shoes, along with the phrase “Record Breaker”. A subtle detail was including the names of Carles’ son, Marco, and wife, Maria.
“I like to pick images that really go with the flow, with the design,” Dos Santos explained.
After organizing everything in Procreate, Dos Santos hand-painted his vision using Angelus. Once the final product was complete — and yes, they are wearable — Dos Santos had to wait for Gil to surpass Steve Ralston in the club’s history book.
The midfielder went eleven games without a helper before the historic moment occurred on April 19, 2025. Dos Santos had been regularly attending home games with the shoes. As luck would have it, he was out of town when Gil connected with Ingatius Gango to propel the Revs to a 2-0 win over New York City FC.
Whitelaw invited Dos Santos to an upcoming practice, but that proved to be easier said than done.
“I'm at work in Tampa, and I was like, ‘You know what, just take a flight,’” Dos Santos said. “So, I took a last-minute flight that Thursday night.”
The decision was worth it because Dos Santos was able to present the shoes to Gil personally.
The artist grew up watching the Revolution and is friends with fellow Uruguayan Diego Fagundez. As such, he was naturally nervous about showing his work to Gil.
But the review was positive.
“He said, ‘Muy Buenos,’” Dos Santos recalled.
Dos Santos has been doing art his whole life, which includes making custom shoes for himself and others. Doing a pair for a professional athlete was something special, and he’s open to doing it again.
“It would be pretty awesome to do shoes for more athletes,” Dos Santos said. “It would be a cool next step.”
Dos Santos’ work, which can be shipped worldwide, can be found on Instagram.