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Something Different Something New
By the time I reached high school, back in the late 80's... I was a full fledged baseball card collector. While most of my friends played sports... I was searching for Jose Canseco and Will Clarkrookie cards.
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, neonCB Sportparkas, Mossimobutton 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'sname on the tongue and the 1968 Olympicsymbol 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 originalHalf 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 Warsthemed 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 Earthtones 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.
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!
More...
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, neonCB Sportparkas, Mossimobutton 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'sname on the tongue and the 1968 Olympicsymbol 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 originalHalf 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 Warsthemed 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 Earthtones 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. TodayAir 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?
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!
More...