But believe it or not, I was also fascinated with wearing cool cloths and nice shoes. When I wasn't spending my birthday money on wax boxes, I was buying Z. Cavariccis, neon CB Sport parkas, Mossimo button ups, and the latest Air Jordans.
Everything changed when I went to college. My parents stopped buying me clothes and I started wearing Levi's and cheap flannels. Nevertheless... I still made sure to invest in my feet.
These days... I pretty much live in my Olukai flip flops. But a few months ago, I picked up a pair of shoes for one of my sports memorabilia collections.
Seven years ago, Puma commemorated the 40th Anniversary of Tommie Smith's gold medal performance in the 200-meter dash at the 1968 Olympics with a special pair of shoes.
Each shoe has Tommie Smith's name on the tongue and the 1968 Olympic symbol on the heel. It's also littered with clenched fists to honor his and John Carlos' iconic podium stance. I purchased these directly off of Smith's website. They weren't exactly cheap, but he did sign both shoes and the shoe box.
This is the first time I purchased a pair of shoes with collecting in mind.
So tonight I figured I switch gears and let you peek into my closet, instead of my sports card collection.
Let's start off with a pair of shoes I received for my birthday back in September:
Vans Authentics
If my go-to card company is Topps, then Vans is my go-to shoe company. I still own my original Half Cabs from the early 90's and when I'm forced to wear actual shoes... you'll usually find me wearing Vans at least half of the time.
You can imagine how happy I was to receive these cool sneakers from my best friend, who happens to be a big Yoda fan herself.
Next up are another pair of Star Wars themed shoes:
Adidas Superstar a.k.a. Shell Toes
I had these custom made over at Adidas. Superstars are another one of my all-time favorite sneakers, so I was pretty excited when I found out that you can actually design your own shoes on their website.
I decided to go with camouflage and Imperial Stormtroopers, because I'm a huge fan of Earth tones and the design really stood out to me.
These aren't the only custom pair of shoes I own. Back in the mid 2000's, my ex-girlfriend made me these:
They are a pair of Nike Shox. Unfortunately... I don't wear high tops anymore, so until today they've been sitting in my garage for about a decade. Normally, I'd consider selling them online, but she personalized them for me:
I'll wrap this post up with another pair of shoes I found sitting in my garage:
Air Jordan 13 Retro Low
I'm not sure why I decided to save these, but I've only worn them a handful of times. The original 13's were released back in the late 90's and were one of my favorite Air Jordans.
That's probably why I decided to buy these back in the mid 2000's. Today Air Jordans aren't my style, since I haven't played basketball in years.
If you didn't know any better, you might think that I'm starting a shoe collection... but that really isn't the case. I might add another pair of signed shoes at some point in time, since they're something different and display well. However... I just don't have the room to store hundreds of pairs of shoes.
What about you guys?
Any of you collect shoes?
If not...
Have you ever kept a special pair of shoes?
Looking forward to seeing if anyone still has an original pair of Birkenstocks from the 70's or maybe a collection of Crocs out there. Happy Saturday and sayonara!
9 comments:
Nice kicks. Those Shox are sick.
I was never much of a sneaker head but I do at least make sure my shoes aren't some lame sneakers from the likes of Sketchers.
In high school I mostly had Vans or Converse shoes on. Eventually I grew to enjoy even bigger shoes like Air Force 1's (and Nike high tops in general) and Timberland boots.
I've purchased a few pairs of Nike's recent Bo Jackson-themed releases, although there are a couple I missed out on. I also bought a pair of Reebok's re-released Kamikaze II's (Shawn Kemp's shoes) because they were similar to a pair I had in high school. The other pair I chased down specifically was a special edition Nike released to commemorate the Army-Navy football game. I had to get the Army pair. I wear my shoe collection instead of keeping them in the box, so nothing in my shoe collection is minty fresh.
I don't necessarily collect, but I've got around 20 pairs. A lot of them are Air Max, although I've been getting Nike Frees lately.
Cool post, Fuji! I 'collect' shoes only in the sense I have lots of pairs. As a coach I go thru them pretty quickly so when I find a pair I like I stock up since the shoe companies seem to discontinue lines like I change shirts.
I did have a pair of Hakeem Olajuwon's Etonics but I put them in an auction for charity.
I had a butt ugly pair of red/black Nike Shox. They were a model named for some guy in a hat who didn't look too athletic LOL but they were the most comfortable shoes I've ever worn.
Interesting post as usual. I have some Birks, not from the 70s but old enough that I don't remember how old they are :-)
The closest to a collection shoe I have is the Seahawks 12th man shoe. If anyone wants one and are lucky enough to find one in their size... look for last year's Brooks Glycerin 12 shoes in Seahawks colors.
No shoes. I have been wearing my "satin" Cubs Starter jacket from the early 90's. "Gotta support the team."
zippy - i don't wear jeans very often... but when i do, i wear my tims too.
raz - my coworker's husband works at a shoe store and had access to some of those bo's. he made a lot of money selling them on craigslist. i guess they were in pretty high demand.
the lost collector - huge fan of air max 95's. one of my favorite shoes of all-time. probably should have included them in this post.
commish - i used to stock up on shoes i liked. at one time i probably had five pairs of half cabs and at least two pairs of shell toes in my closet. now the only thing i stock up on is my olukai flips. i have two or three pairs waiting for me.
chop keeper - i need to get me some snake skinned boots! rock on!
steve - i saw one of my students wearing birks and was told they were coming back. as for the 12th man shoe... gotta find me a pair. they're probably on clearance right now considering where they are in the standings. go hawks!
hackenbush - hell yeah! i love those jackets. i had a seahawks one growing up. totally wish i kept that.
I'm a woman..Obviously I collect shoes! Mainly snickers! I just got my brand new Adidas SuperStar (white with black stripes and no golden whatevers) and I'm just like walking on Cloud #9!
And I have this thing for writing on some of my AllStars..don't ask..I just like to write stupid non-sense stuff on them..
I wish my wide feet could fit into Converse All-Stars :(
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