Mongolian Shoe BBQ

LISSA HARRIS

If you’re consumed with longing to be the only kid on the block wearing camo kicks with bright pink toe caps, pinstriped vamps and metallic bronze heels, then get thee to 333 Newbury. Through the end of the year, Boston’s Puma store is running the by-appointment-only Mongolian Shoe BBQ promotion, where for $130, you can make your own custom-sneaker recipe a reality.

Customization is nothing new in the sneaker world. Vans and Nike have both gotten in on the DIY game with websites that allow you to cobble together a custom-designed shoe out of virtual components. But flickering pixels can never satisfy like living sneakerflesh. Puma lets you get up close and personal with the ingredients of your sneaker. Run your fingers along vamps of shiny nylon and nubbly tweed. Bring a handful of sneaker parts up to your nose and inhale the ineffable bouquet of fresh suede.

The Cabana Racer, the old-school ‘80s unisex style chosen for the BBQ, has 13 individually customizable components, each of which comes in a tempting array of fabrics, leathers, metallics and meshes. Consider that if each component had just five choices, that would make for a total of 513, or 1,220,703,125, possible sneakers. You could very well own a shoe that has never before existed, nor ever shall again (especially if you make it really, really ugly). All color combinations, no matter how hideous, will be lovingly assembled at the Puma factory, and shipped direct to your door in six weeks.

Of course, there’s a good chance your unique sneaker recipe will be duly logged, cross-referenced with your age, ethnic background, street address, yearly income and shoe size, and analyzed to death by Puma’s crack team of market statisticians. Such are the perils of life in the Information Age.

[Puma, 333 Newbury St., Boston. 617.369.7091. www.puma.com]