Nope, no intro. None needed. —PJC
Will this shoe collection of yours ever be complete?
Collecting shoes means different things to different people. Some get shoes, regardless of how rare they are, and wear them out to impress the sneakerheads. To the collector that considers the shoe a piece of art, that’s sacrilegious. That’s like cutting the canvas on a Picasso painting and sewing it on the back of a denim jacket as a patch.
Really? You take shoe-wearing that personally?
Since I consider the shoes as art, unless you’re at my house you’re not going to see them. For me, it’s definitely personal. I’m usually looking for shoes that no one else would be looking for because of my personal experience with that shoe in the past. For instance, take the Nike Air Flight Zoom 95. This is a shoe that I wore senior year of high school for varsity basketball—ended up going to the California State Championship with them. I had been looking for the shoe for years, having them escape me a few times on eBay. I finally found them in 2005—only to have them retro-ed in 2007. Same thing with the Command Force Hi, aka the Nike Pump, not the Nike Air Pressure.
Because you sought out the rare originals, how do you feel when a company reissues?
This is a common theme in my life. All the records I spent years scouring the earth for are now worthless because of tekmology. In the old days, if you wanted to play a song, you needed the record. Period. And I take pride in playing some bugged-out shit. Nowadays, the kids hear us vets play a song and they go download it and play it because they think that’s what they’re supposed to do, not knowing anything about the history of the song, artist, or why I was even playing it. Same thing goes for kicks. All the sweat and tears to find OG Nike Air Tech Challenges (aka Andre Agassis) is pointless because Nike reissued them and now kids are wearing them at the park. Fuck.
What’s the most you’ve paid?
I have a pair of OG deadstock Nike Dunks from 1985, which to me is the greatest shoe ever. I paid a pretty penny for those. Also, since I wasn’t blessed with the friendship of the Undefeated crew, I had to buy my Dunk Hi Undefeated in ballistic fabric online for just under a million dollars. Yo, Eddie Cruz, need your lawn mowed? Holla!
What’s your favorite shop?
Doesn’t matter where you go anymore, ’cause they’re all going to have the same shoes on the shelves. You really need to ask what’s in the back after you make nice with the manager, ’cause the vault is where you need to be. Honorable mentions go to Bodega and Concepts in Boston, Blends in SD, Centre in Dallas, and KNYEW in Vegas.
Being that the sneaker culture is so massive and appropriated right now, do you ever feel like just selling the collection off and buying a yacht?
Lately, I have been considering selling the collection—size 10, everyone. Now that I’m older and my tastes and interests have changed, I find the shoes to be more of a nuisance than a pleasure. In my apartment, I have a closet full of shoes, my second bathroom counter is stacked with boxes, my second bathroom tub has shelving in it holding shoes, my storage in my apartment building has shoes, and a storage facility I rent houses shoe boxes and records. This is the nuisance. I have even been wearing black Chucks to try and wean myself off of the need to always have a fly pair of shoes on. Now I want gold watches, real estate, and, to go with my Rockport deck shoes, a sailboat.
Who’s the ultimate sneakerhead?
Hands down, Bobbito Garcia has to be the foremost expert in the sneaker game, amongst other games. Shouts to Stretch, too.
Collectors like yourself seem to favor the golden oldies. This say something about modern shoe design?
Historically, people always turn to the past to fix the present. Fix the ugly fucking shoes they’re making now.
Any brands impressing you right now?
Reebok is definitely making strides to come back in a major way. Since I grew up wearing Reeboks, it’s nice to see the shoes they’re releasing are older models in new flavors, and the flavors are so delish!
