This post has absolutely nothing to do with swimrun or training. Maybe you can call sneaker collecting an endurance sport though? Please read on.
Being a sneakerhead is not just a taste in shoes, it’s a lifestyle. It’s a lifestyle that requires patience, money, good taste in footwear and physical space.
I seriously started collecting sneakers in 2009 so I haven’t been doing this for longer than that, but managed to build quite a collection with over 300 pairs since then. I’ve never played basketball or being particularly interested even though I enjoy going to NBA games. My first pair was a pair of Puma x Undefeated 24k. That was before I understood what the sneaker game was all about, but I clearly saw the magic in that shoe. It was made correctly. Great materials. Felt great wearing. Like a proper sneaker should be.
The last six years have been spent more seriously collecting and I have got over the constant chase for heat and focus more on the classics. Some of the shoes I buy today, I can’t even wear as the sole will crack and details will fall of. So what do I do with them, well I put them where I, my family and my guests can behold these behold these works of art.
My son Calle is holding on to his future legacy, unless his younger sister catches them first. He loves his Marvin the Martian 7’s.
Because really are – a few of them at least. The choice of materials, the colors, the design. Many sneakers have a way better quality than any Saint Laurent, Christian Louboutin or Hermès sneakers you will ever find. Obviously some of them are just as pricy and some of them even pricier, but they are often worth every penny. And I wear my sneakers (except for the old ones) in circulation every day, every week, every year.
Wearing my sneakers is of huge importance. I’m not in the shoe game to be a reseller and I really despise the greedy ”collectors” who humiliate themselves standing in line for a day only to buy three boxes and put them right out on any sneaker forum for sale. I understand their motivation though, because the sneaker resellers market is HUGE.
2001 Jordan III ‘Black Cement’. The most important sneaker in history. Originally released in 1988.
The resellers market was a few years ago according to Josh Lubers excellent TED Talk (watch the talk below) $1.2Bn USD…. ONE POINT TWO BILLION DOLLARS! Nike and Jordan Brand (which is 98% of my collection) represents 96% of that amount. 380MUSD profit of profit to the resellers… Now, after Adidas NMD push after their humongous success with the Yeezy Brand, will catch up but my theory is that they are still far behind. However, judging from the line outside stores such as Sneakersnstuff here in Stockholm, the resellers market is keeping its foothold. I really don’t care that much. I buy from resellers quite often and despite having to pay quite an overprice, I can wait a month or two as Nike, Jordan Brand and Adidas tends to restock shortly after a big release.
https://embed.ted.com/talks/josh_luber_why_sneakers_are_a_great_investment
I’m currently not particularly interested in more NMD’s (except for the Adidas NMD x Mastermind’s) or Jordan 12’s. I am looking for the older rare ones, the sneakers that carries a story and some of these aren’t that expensive at all. Like my Nike SB x Ruckus for example… Paid less than $200 for them and they came in that not-so famous crazy box with the boil bag. To me they are worth more than a pair of $800 Jordan 12’s.
My current chase-list are:
- Jordan I ‘Doernbecher’ Mr Boober
- Jordan XIII ‘Doernbecher’ (Update: Bought them two minutes after I wrote this)
- Nike SB Dunk Low’s x Diamond Supply Co. ‘Tiffany’
- Adidas Super Ape Star Bape
And the list goes on…
Nike Bespoke is a great program and I’ve been fortunate to design my own pair, which I made into a tribute to the first game I brought from concept into a million selling franchise; Just Cause. That unboxing was something out of the ordinary and knowing there are only two pairs in the world was a really cool feeling.
Nike AirForce 1 ‘Bulletproof’ designed by yours truly. Made in black and red kevlar, rugged black leather, black denim on the inside, cork on the tongue, blue laces with RICO engraved on the lace-tag.
All in all, I love sneakers and I love the sneaker community. Nobody will probably care about us 100 years from now, but what the hell. It’s fun posing on Instagram and I will continue to do so until I’m tired of it.
Check out my Instagram for more sneaker pictures.
Finally, this is a very humble man. Kenny ”The Perfect Pair” Gonzales is one of, if not the, most famous sneaker collectors in the world with a collection worth around $700 000 and over 600 000 followers on Instagram. If I had a bigger house, I would also build a shoe room.
JÄRNVILJA / IRON WILL 