About Us
Catch Body Customs — What's In A Name?
My name is Mzu. I'm the custom sneaker/clothing designer and artist behind CBC Street Apparel. But before I tell you what Catch Body Customs is, I gotta tell you where it came from — because the name means everything.
It Started With Hip Hop
My brother (R.I.P.) introduced me to Hip Hop in '89. I was 6 years old, and from that year on, I was hooked for life. Everything I did after that was influenced by Hip Hop — the clothes, the haircuts, the sport I played. All of it.
The first time I got to pick my own outfit was '94. I'd been watching music videos, seeing my favourite emcees in baggy jeans, matching denim shirts, and Timbs. I wanted to look like 'em so bad. So when my time came, I picked baggy jeans, a denim shirt, and a pair of black Hi-Tec Magnums — we ain't had Timbs in South Africa in the early 90s! I felt like the flyest kid on planet Earth that day.
In high school, I linked up with friends who were just as obsessed with Hip Hop as I was. We started building — new music, new styles, new artists. By the late 90s and early 2000s, we were absorbing everything: movies, TV, underground music, all of it. Hip Hop wasn't just something we listened to. It was how we moved.
From Sneaker Head to Custom Artist
In the 2000s, a documentary called Just For Kicks changed everything for me. Before that, I was casual about sneakers — as long as I had my 3 pairs, I was cool. After the doccie, it was all about getting my hands on as many pairs as I could manage.
But you know how it goes — by the time you got the money for the joints you want, the bots already copped 'em all and flipped 'em for triple the price. Frustrating? Hell yeah.
So one day, instead of sulking, I had a different thought: I been nice with my hands since the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles colouring books. I decided to cop white sneakers and custom paint them exactly how I wanted. January 2021, I posted my first ever custom painted kicks online — the feedback was crazy. I liked that feeling.
People started hitting me up: "Where you get your joints?" My response: "Send your joints to me, I'll hook you up — long as you gon pay." The calls kept coming. I upgraded to a compressor and an airbrush. The work started looking factory-level. Every time I posted a plain pair online, people knew what was coming next — those kicks were about to get bodied.
The Name That Had to Be
Word was spreading. People were asking how they could get their joints bodied too. I needed a name. CATCH BODY CUSTOMS just came naturally — that was what the movement was about. It fit, the way Phil Knight had to call his company Nike. There was no other name that could define what this was.
From there, everything started falling into place. The kicks were so fly, they needed matching tees. I had a print shop do some pieces for me, and everything came back wrong. Shoutout to them for messing up — because that was the reason I finally rolled up my sleeves and started doing this myself, the way it's supposed to be done.
That's how CBC Street Apparel was born.
What We Do
At Catch Body Customs, everything is built on the culture. Custom sneakers, graphic apparel, and street fashion rooted in Hip Hop — designed for the ones that already know, and the ones that are just finding out.
Every piece is made with intention. Whether it's a custom painted pair of kicks or a graphic hoodie from the Hip Hop line, the goal is always the same: catch a body.