Discussion: What's Your Story?

We are all here for one reason, we’re all Sneakerheads. Whether we are casual sneaker lovers or addicted enthusiasts, sneakers are something in which we all share a common passion for.

What’s your story, how did it start for you?

Discussion: What's Your Story?

It was in the 6th Grade when I had started to actually notice sneaker brands… right around the same time I started to really get into basketball. Yet it took me two years to convince my mom Nikes were not just shoes, they were THE shoes. Of course Jordan was in the mix but that discussion was shot down faster than the 16 bit duck on my Nintendo system.

So there I was… going to school after a long weekend of explaining to my mom I wouldn’t get picked on again if only I had some Nikes. A glorious pair of black/white Nike Air Flights (found at a store closing sale for $40) wrapped my feet as I strutted into school, feeling fly as a mother… then some dude came by and stepped on my kicks!?! You remember that? When going to school with your new sneakers for the first time was like walking into a battlefield… bobbing and weaving through traffic avoiding all contact with human life because there were people who want to ruin your hard earned (or moderately begged for) purchase!

As I stood there shocked in disbelief that some person would come over and step on my brand new sneakers, a smile broke through… they may have gotten a little messed up, but they were still Nikes.

I was 12 years old by the time I got my first pair of real sneakers, 13 when I had my first pair of J’s thanks to my older brother hooking it up with his used Black/Red XIs, both of which were worn until the soles fell off. Since then I have never looked back… I’ve been in love with sneakers ever since; Nike, Jordan, Reebok, adidas, DC… you name it; I’ve worn it and loved every second of it.

Even if you no longer have the same passion for kicks that you once had, you will always remember that 1st pair. How it felt to hold them in your hands, rock them on your feet… the smell of leather, back when all you could smell was leather instead of the toxic glue…

What’s your story; did that first pair help shape and mold you into the Sneakerhead you are today? Do you still have that very first pair or do patiently wait until you are reunited once again?

Image Via Sandia

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40 Comments

  1. Growing up in the hood, sneakers were everything! I can remember when the first day of school. You couldn’t wait to throw on those frsh kicks and more importantly, wanting to see what everybody else was wearing. I grew up in the 80’s so kicks like the Puma Clydes & the shell top. Bo Jackson’s were the shit in my hood. Air Max. These were days of Starter jackets & Sheepskin’s. I was different then most that came up in the kicks game. I was a young hustler so i bought everything that was hot. I didn’t have to wait till my ‘rent bought me kicks. Jamaica Ave. Dr. Jay’s…VIM…165 was the shopping spots for me. Mid 90’s i went hard on the AF1’s. I was known for having all the flavors. OG Jordan’s galore. House fire caused me to start over. I’ve never been into the collecting side of kicks. I buy kicks to match an outfit or vise versa. I unDS my shits from the gate. My kids are all sneakerhead as well as my wife.

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  2. My first real J’s were my AJ 17’s when Jordan was on the Wizards. I was in 1st grade and gottem from my hometown chicago niketown. Sickest shoes came in a briefcase!

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  3. At my elementary school the librarian’s husband was an artist or something. For whatever reason he did a line drawing of the IV and ran off a bunch of copies and placed them near the checkout desk. They were like pages from a coloring book for all the students to take. I remember doing a bunch of different versions and hanging them on my wall. This is what got me interested in sneakers as well as art. There was something about that mesh on the IV that was so intriguing and out of this world to me.
    That was it, I had to have a pair of Jordans. It took me a year to convince my mom to pay that much for shoes, but I got pair of Grape V’s and wore the hell out of them on the playground. I can remember how crazy I thought Air was back then and how cool it was when those V’s were beat and I popped the air bags with a pen. It hurts thinking about what I did to those things, but at that age I wasn’t thinking about a collection or anything like that. I just wanted to convince my mom that I needed a new pair. I wish I had those Grape’s back. Thanks Mom. Thanks librarian’s husband.

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  4. well i always loved sneakers since early 80’s i also remember kinney shoes store at columbus square mall had knock off air jordan 2’s or 3 i think the shoe company name was stadia lol xj -900 and i remember seeing troop ice lamb sneakers at kmart in 1987 i was like wtf

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  5. i remember watching Hardwood Classics basketball in my basement … i was watching Jordan vs. Wilkins in the dunk off… and when he won with the 3’s on I don’t think I had ever been that blown away by a shoe (because I didn’t care about street fashion, let alone Jordan’s). After seeing his inhuman-like behaviour performed in those 3’s… they have become my favourite shoe for real!

    JKBizzy

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  6. One day I noticed–around ’88–that my nikes were the same as the ones Chuck was wearin’ in my poster. Then my step brother came home with the cement J’s that same week…They were SOOO sick. I didn’t get my first pair of J’s till the 91’s. But I did get a pair of the 89 flights and I pretended they were the 89 J’s. I’d say it was right in there I got hooked–’88 to 91. Between the nike commercials which were changin’ the game and Jordan throwin’ down the sickest dunks ever; shoot, if you were alive and liked basketball during that time then you’re an addict of the nikes now PERIOD.

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  7. I got my first pair of Nike Barkley flights in 92 and still today have them when I was five years old in Philipines. Then coming to the US my family was not well off so payless, pick n pay, and walmart sneakers it was. In 97 my mom finally gave in and bout me some nikes they were the black neon uptempos. I wore them till they talked and I loved those shoes. My mom would only buy me shoes once a year and it was bad. I told myself when I get a job I will get all the shoes I wanted. When I turned 16 I started to hustle and work at dominos and got air ones and Jordan then to bapes. I was known in my highschool for being the freshest. And even til today. I did not get the retro pairs of the Neon uptempos bout I did get an og pair 4 years ago.

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  8. I wasn’t eve into kicks growing up it was all about ball i always knew there was something there, i thought just because it was a jordan shoe it was going to make me better (the thoughts of a 10 years old) i never understood the craze to be honest, i was in highschool during the whole nelly air force thing, but even then i didnt understand it, i wore my AFs to play ball. It wasnt until i graduated highschool that i became addicted,the first pair i got with my own bread were a pair of mars blackmon IVs. After that i was hooked it went from matching the shirt to the jeans and what fitted it just took off now im just tryint to get my money right so i can get new releases and older ones………..

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  9. All my friends had the 4s, most had the breds, but this one dude, the richest one around, had the military 4s. I was all about those shoes and they weren’t even mine. Somehow I convinced my parents to get me a pair of the white/red 4s and I just sat in class all day looking at those shoes. Just something about the design lit something up in my head. Then I was on it, just had to get the new js every year. I ended up stopping around high school, when mike first retired. I even remember being in the mall with my dad and he’s really bugging me about the new Jordans to see if I want em. I thought, “meh, they look like space shoes”. So yeah, I passed on some OG 11s because I was a punk rock kid by then. Dammit.

    Didn’t get back into it until I got back into basketball, around 2004 when the pistons won.

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  10. I grew up in one of the mecca’s of sneakers, Brooklyn NY so I was addicted since I was little. My Dad worked for a textiles company and Nike was one of his clients so I was fortunate enough to have the hook up from a very young age. Any time he made a trip to Portland I would score 4-5 pairs, anything from air max’s to uptempos to J’s. My first pair of J’s were the 7’s in ’92. I purchased my first pair w/ my own money in 1997 when I got the BRED XIII’s. I’d have to say 1995-1997 were my favorite years in shoes w/ the Air Max 97’s Air Max Uptmpo’s, the AJ XI, XII and XIII, Foamposites and so on. And it pretty much continued on since then!

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  11. Every year i always got ONE pair of basketball shoes. i just remember passing up all these OG Jordans for Iverson Answers then to TMAC 2’s ! so bummed

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  12. It all started for me when I was 15 way back in 1985 and had my 1st job as a bus boy and when MJ started torchin’ folks in the league and the AJ I’s (black toe) came out everybody was trippin’ bout they cost too much but I HAD to get me a pair so I saved my tips for 3 weeks and after I got my $65 + tax up I hit footlocker with a quickness and copped my first pair and from then on I was hooked on J’s. So for the last 26 years I’ve been coppin’ EVERY single pair (2 pair of OG’s) in every colorway so I can wear 1 and collect 1 then when retro’s hit I cop a few pair to kick around in. Sometimes I’ve bought 3-4 pair of the J’s I really liked. So now I’m just waitin’ on the 3 pair of 2011’s, pairs 359, 360, and 361, to release on April 30th. SN: I HATE FAKES!!!!

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  13. I think it started during the 96-97 season for me. I was a huge jordan fan and thats when I first started to notice his shoes. It was’nt until the playoffs that I fell in love with black and red 12’s. I wanted those shoes so bad but did’nt have the money. The next season is when I started to really take notice with shoes. The Jordan 13’s, the team jordans, the pipens, air force ones, the uptempos, and even Dennis Rodman’s first pro shoe with Converse. I remember thinking those were so ugly but for some reason I fell in love with them and bought a pair to ball in. I remember that same here taking notice of the white and red 13’s and right away I had to have them. So I did chours and saved up my money and got the last pair from Champs. That same year my friend showed me a Eastbay magazine and I was like holy shit! From then on I was like a crack head but with shoes. I agree with MJC about 1995-1997 being good years for shoes. I wish I could go back in time to those years and go crazy buying shoes.

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  14. I brought my very own pair of jays in 07 when i was 14 i saved up money from working at a racetrack. They were the first shoes i ever brought with my own money away from my dads. They are my favorite and they where about my hometown. Birmingham barons. i had to get the home version so i copp them and since then my dad never brought me another pair and i get every pair. One love to the Birmingham Barons it all started there in March.

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  15. If you can believe it or not,it all started at this site. I remember my 9th grade year, in 06. I went to a prep school in NJ and meeting a kid from Brooklyn. He was sort of well off and he was schooling me on sneakers because he saw me wearing my Space Jams to gym(SO mad someone stold those out of my locker). We were in the computer lab and he shows me a pair of sneakers that were coming out soon on sneakerfiles. When he left,I stayed on the site for HOURS. looking up signature jordan colors,the names,the history. MY very 1st pair that I brought with my own money was the white/orange 8s. I LOVED those sneakers and wore them to the bone. They were done for so I tossed them. I still want a new pair. . . Now I checc this site and a host of others everyday(more then once) to see whats coming out and what I should save for. Thank you Sneakerfiles SO much for helping me realize my true love. . . Kicks !!

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  16. my dad put Js on my feet since i was a kid, then i finally started to notice how big of a deal it was, and i became an enthusiast myself, so now unless its Jordan or Nike, it doesn’t go on my feet

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  17. I was with my brother right off 47 and king drive at this shoe store i was 13 and this guy brought these shoes from the back thats I’ve never seen before and they were the jordan 4’s and the first time i tried them on its like my world changed my brother bought them for me that was the first time i seen anyone pay 150 for shoes that made me want more. Then when i went to school the next day everyone kept looking at my feet and asking me about my shoes and i got this girl number i always wanted. It had to be the J’s so from that day forward Always J’s and Nike but later on i fell in love with shoes period and even though no one knew why i was buying all type of shoes like crazy …… now as long as they are fly i will rock them but Jordan Brand is still my favorite …… i’ll always remember my first pair

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  18. man I have been wearing jays since birth my first pairs were bred 11s and Columbia 11s after a while I stopped wearing jays tho… then I went to visit my cousins over in new York and all they talked about were new jordans.. so of course instated buying again and haven’t stopped ever since.. people always ask me why do you need another pair of shoes I say I dint need them they were just to good to resist..being a sneaker head isn’t an addiction addiction are bad things no being a sneaker head is showing respect to the pure beauty that place on our feet only when trying to look are best our we just want to shoot some hoops in the best basketball shoes ever made…either way is fine.

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  19. Oh boy, you should not have started this thread, I have so much sneaker stories that you will all think that I am crazy or something, or live only for the shoes…well there was a period of my live, that was actually leaving only to be able to see, touch and dream about them.
    It all started in 1991, I was 14 at the time and I remember it was the end of the summer, so after the summer vacation spent over our family’s country house (a short story, I am originally from East Europe and grew up there till after college) and I had to go back to the city to get ready for school. I was walking down this street that was leading from the central station to down town where all the shops were (I was looking for a new pair of jeans to have for school, I had to have only one new pair for the whole year). About the half of the way, I saw a guy walking on my side of the sidewalk, but on the opposite direction, I just lowered my eyes and notice the white, brand new pair of sneakers with something strange on the thong, when he approached me closer I was able to read and it was something like “the pump” – I was like!?! The Pump…that is amazing, you can actually pump those shoes, I thought that you can actually pump the soles and will make you jump high :-) silly me.
    Anyway the model was Reebok AXT Plus mid pump, after that I reached down town and I saw the brand new store opened, and they were selling Reebok, Nike, LaGear, Converse and other brands and those AXT’s were out on the window, I stare at them for a good 20-30 minutes. I spend the next 3 years in school going through every single store (a few more opened during the years) after school watching, touching and dreaming. I could never afford to buy a pair (the price was about the monthly salary of one of my parents) so I just dreamed about owning them, and I was feeding my dreams, by going everyday and hold them in my hands at least for a couple of minutes, that was about as close as I can get to any pair of sneakers. Three years spent in pain, and empty dreams, finally at my last year I was able to buy a pair of new Above the Rim line Reebok’s that I will always remember to the rest of my days (I had to work had farm jobs through the whole summer, so that I can spend all that money for one pair of shoes) boy I was the happiest person in the planet…
    Now many years later, and leaving in the States, I have the money to buy every single shoe that I missed back in a day and that I thought I will never own, too bad Reebok is not as good as Nike on re-releasing old models. My passion and love for the sneaked runs deep, and put the start in my mind that led me to finally coming to US, that made me study hard, learn a lot, finish with 2 university degrees, and make everything possible to go and live in the States and all that just because of the child’s dream to own a pair of sneakers, so yes, for me they were a life changer, not just s sneakers. This is something that a lot of people will not understand, and they don’t, including my family, but hey it doesn’t meter any more, I know haw all that started, and I know how that helped me to become the man I am today, and this makes me very happy.
    In other words, if you want something really hard, it will eventually happen, you only need to be patient and work hard.

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  20. for me growing up. i was the only child of a single mother. and all my friends had a daddy to get them the new hottness. while for me i had the off brand. and often times i get laufed et.
    but i remember this one time. one of my friends was like my daddys gettin me the new jordans for school. we was like yea yea becuz et the time. $150 for shoes et that time was like woo. i b d*mn if he came to the bus stop in some fresh jordan 4’s. while i had some fake pumps from hills department store…lol but as time went on and i was able to get me some of the shoe that passed me when i was in school. now i rock j’s wit the best of them. and i can’t get enuff. with ova 30 pairs of shoes. i don’t think there will b a end 2 it soon. there r just so many out there i just don’t have yet. and with more and more new releases everyday. i don’t think theres enuff time or money. curse u shoes. hate ’em or love’em…..lol

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  21. It is ironic on the timing of this post because when I was a kid my grandmother would buy me new sneaks two times during the school year. I would get shoes before school started and right around this time, Easter weekend. It was almost like a ritual for me because I already had in mind what kicks I wanted to show off. LOL. I have to piggyback off of the first post because growing up in the hood your sneaker game had to be solid or you would get laughed off the block. All bs aside I think my passion for sneakers came from my love of basketball and desire to have the best sneakers on the block. I’m an oldhead so I was alive to see the progression of the major brands and the sneaker wars. I think my shoe addiction also helps me relive my childhood. I can remember the time I had certain shoes or I finally have a chance to buy shoes that I could not afford when I was a kid. At any rate I love sneakers and love how this sub-culture has evolved from the inner city kids in America to across the world. Since I got the first pair of Air Jordans in 85′, I have been fiending. RIP Grandma

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  22. i got my love of kicks from my cousins , who overall had about 100 or more kicks , i’d say their oldest she were some OG pairs of bunny 8’s , which were AWESOME to me , since they were in my size . and right there , tryin on some ’04 altitude 13’s , and some DMP 11’s and 6’s , i got my sneakerhead on , remembering every release that ever came out and all the names of kicks in the book. cause hey , all groups of friends need a sneaker head to see what shoes that drop are crazy hot. but To make a lonq story short , i dont even remember the first pair of kicks i loved xD

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  23. My two older brothers are sneaker heads and there the reason I wear Jordans today. When I was 9 my mom bought me my 1st pair of j’s they were the OG XX’s then I copped a pair of Dub-zeros and XVI’s. The first pair I ever bought with my own money were the Air Jordan IV “Mars Blackmon”. I remember when I first got them I was at the mall sitting down re-lacing them and there was a man watching me. He came up to me and I’ll never forget what he said. DAMN THOSE ARE SOME NICE SHOES WHERE DID YOU GET THOSE?!.

    A year later my style completely changed I was rocking Osiris’s and all that weak shit. It wasn’t until about 2 months ago my brother gave me 4 pairs of Jordan’s because he was joining the Air-force that I realized that i needed to start up my collection again.

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  24. I remember when I was around 7 or 8 I wanted Nike because the had the air bubble. My mother would get them 4 me because she said they wanted 2 much money 4 the kicks. Now this was around 87-88. I didn’t get my first pair of Nike until I was wearing a size 5.5 my cousin Dawn gave me her Ho’s the raiders color withhis number on the back. That was my first pair of Nike with a air bubble. I took care of them till I couldn’t fit them anymore.I cried because I knew my mom wasn’t gonna buy me any lol. Bit she di when I got in6 grade

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  25. I remember when I was around 7 or 8 I wanted Nike because the had the air bubble. My mother would get them 4 me because she said they wanted 2 much money 4 the kicks. Now this was around 87-88. I didn’t get my first pair of Nike until I was wearing a size 5.5 my cousin Dawn gave me her Bo’s the raiders color with his number on the back. That was my first pair of Nike with a air bubble. I took care of them till I couldn’t fit them anymore. I cried because I knew my mom wasn’t gonna buy me any lol
    That’s what started me with the love 4 kicks wanting the air bubble on my kicks. My first pair of Jordan’s came in 98 my freshman treat in college with the black toe Jordan 14’s my mother got the 4 me as a bday/Xmas gift. The forts pair of Jordan’s I paid 4 was the last shot 14’s @ I still have those. I love sneakers & 1 day I will open up a sneaker store 4 customers that love sneakers the way I do.

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  27. My parents have always bought me and my brother J’z since I can remember. I had at least 1 of every pair since J’z came out. The shoe that made me start taking care of my shoes were the bordeaux 7’s. I was on the bus with my mom going shoe shopping with her and my older brother (R.I.P) I was like 8 in 93 and this guy had on the hares. I told my mother “I want those shoes mommy” my mother was like those are ugly and I’m not buying them my heart was broken I think I had a pair of L.A. Gears on at the time (yeah L.A. Gears was in style). So we got to Euclid mall in ohio and we were in footlocker and my mother was trying to get me and my brother to get some nike cortez we was crying like them girl shoes we don’t want those lol. So she called my father and told him he was like take them to payless my mother hung up on him lol. So we convinced my mother to let us try on the jordans I put that shoe on it was like it felt right it was suppose to be on my feet. My brother ended up getting the last pair of hare in our size because we wore the same size I cried so loud and hard in the mall I swear I had a heart attack, stroke and seizure, all at the same time my mother was made as hell then the dude cam out with the bordeaux’s he was like lil man we got the other color for you they just came out I opened the box it was like the holy grail they glowed with a heavenly light lol. Needless to say I got the bordeaux’s my brother got the hares and we were happy. I babied my shoes these were the first shoes used a tooth brush and dish washing liquid to clean em with lol. But like any 8 year old I ran them joints straight in to the ground! I was excited as ever when JB brought them back out so I copped 2 pair. It’s been almost 20 years since I had these shoes. But I believe 100% of all sneakerheads fell in love with sneakers because of 1 pair of jordans they saw no one else will ever get credit for that. I’m just glad my brother was only two years older and I didnt get hand me downs lol.

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  28. My parents have always bought me and my brother J’z since I can remember. I had at least 1 of every pair since J’z came out. The shoe that made me start cleaning and taking better care of my shoes were the bordeaux 7’s. I was on the bus with my mom going shoe shopping with her and my older brother (R.I.P) I was like 8 in 93 and this guy had on the hares. I told my mother “I want those shoes mommy” my mother was like those are ugly and I’m not buying them my heart was broken I think I had a pair of L.A. Gears on at the time (yeah L.A. Gears was in style). So we got to Euclid mall in ohio and we were in footlocker and my mother was trying to get me and my brother to get some nike cortez we was crying like them girl shoes we don’t want those lol. So she called my father and told him he was like take them to payless my mother hung up on him lol. So we convinced my mother to let us try on the jordans I put that shoe on it was like it felt right it was suppose to be on my feet. My brother ended up getting the last pair of hare in our size because we wore the same size I cried so loud and hard in the mall I swear I had a heart attack, stroke and seizure, all at the same time my mother was mad as hell then the dude came out with the bordeaux’s he was like lil man we got the other color for you they just came out I opened the box it was like the holy grail they glowed with a heavenly light lol. Needless to say I got the bordeaux’s my brother got the hares and we were happy. I babied my shoes these were the first shoes I used a tooth brush and dish washing liquid to clean em with lol. But like any 8 year old I ran them joints straight in to the ground! I was excited as ever when JB brought them back out so I copped 2 pair. It’s been almost 20 years since I had these shoes. But I believe 100% of all sneakerheads fell in love with sneakers because of 1 pair of jordans they saw no one else will ever get credit for that. I’m just glad my brother was only two years older and I didnt get hand me downs lol.

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  30. It started for me when I was a kid just being a fan of the game and being exposed to the culture of everything from black literature to music and down to the sneakers. Sneakers always caught my attention because as a sneaker head, the best feeling is picking up a new pair and wearing them for the first time. As i got older though, i wasn’t able to afford them like in the past or whatever. But regardless of all that, ima be a sneaker head till i die.

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  31. When I was young, I didn’t care about shoes until 3rd grade. Before that, it was always Pro Wings…lol. After that, it was all about Nike…until the Reebok Pumps came out. I swear I wore my pair for 2 years straight, I loved those shoes. After that, it was different Nike bball shoes. I never wanted to get Jordans because they were usually high tops and most people I knew had them. I liked having different shoes than the other kids. Then the Barkleys and Chris Webbers came out, which I had to have. Then the Air Flight 96’s came out, probably my favorite pair of all time (I even bought a retro pair a year ago from Nike’s website). During college, I didn’t really care about shoes anymore….until a few years ago. I bought a pair of the 23s: my first pair of Jordans ever. I didn’t even wear them for a year, I just get them DS in the box. Then I was at work talking to younger kid who was a sneakerhead. We started talking about late 90’s/early 2000 Jordans and the Pippen IIs… and then he said that the 11/12 J pack was going to come out in a few weeks. I bought those and I haven’t looked back since then. Nike 1/2 cent, Air Pippen IIs, Cough Drop foamsposites, Jordan 7 Olympic…I swear I’m buying at least a pair a month now.

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  32. Wow! i still remember how it all got started. It started with the man himself Mr. MJ. Seeing him rocked the playoff 12 back in 1997 two years after my family and i came to the US. Wanted one so badly but could not afford one because at the time i was only about 13 with no money and very little english. Finally got a job at a swap meet making $40 a day on the weekend. It took roughly a month and a half to finally saved $155. I rememberd my dad driving me to sport authority on a Sunday evening after doing work at the swap meet. When we got there i rememberd walkiing straight to where the Jordan section was. When i got to the setion i remembered seing the shoe seating on the shelves and it was one of the most beautiful things i have ever seen. It was the black/varesity red-white-metallic silver pair of 12 playoff. It was my very first pair of Jordan and from than on i put it on every where i go. Writhing this bring back alot of wonderful memories.

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  33. Im not gonna lie kicks have been apart of me since i was young my first js were the powder blue xs in 94 i was 4 years old i will never forget that day i actually almost got my ass whooped cause i was gonna go out and play ball in them…my moms was a single mother im her first born n only son she told me she just use to hit the store n ask whats hot every month n id get it. it got worse cause both her brothers were sneaker heads on my grandpa side then 1 on my grandmother side they used to buy me mad kicks .3rd grade the laneys dropped.. (as a retro).. the 14s came out as ogs then the 15s that summer.. i honestly didnt start keeping my kicks fresh until the 7th grade.. the olympics came out 04.. i still have a pair in 9.5// i messed up tho because the year before the olive 9s came out .. i really need those in my life now. but i missed 06-07 i wasnt in the county didnt get shit. but having ds kicks. that feeling of a fresh sneaker on my feet is like a natural high for me the feeling of owning something fly on my feet is great. the xs my favorite js tho. im only 19.. the first pair of js i bought myself were the retro play offs 12s 2003… then the 18.5s then i copped some dunks.. loved the fact i had fresh kicks in middle school even my family noticed.

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  35. My Uncles & older cousins were hustlers and kept me in the newest Jordans, Adidas, Filas, Reeboks, NB, Pumas, British Knights, L.A. Gears, and when I got older and realized the importance of what was on my feet I was 5 1/2 yrs old in a pair of Black/Cement AJ IV in 1989 and almost got robbed for my kicks so those became my favorite sneakers of all time next to the original Knicks color Ewing Sneakers!!! Collecting the classics became apart of my life when I happened to pull out some Barkley 180’s in JHS not knowing how rare they were at the time (thanks to my cuz being locked up and my feet growing I had dibs on his collection lol) I found out they were worth some cash and the rest is history!!!! Hence my name!!!!

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  36. I remember the first pair of name brand kicks I had was a pair of shell head adidas.My moms wouldnt cop the jordan 1s or the shell toes for me so I had to hustle up the bread.I went from house to house asking people if they needed their grass cut.I cut as many lawns as I could and finally made enough money to cop a pair of white and black shell head adidas.While other kids wanted toys and bikes I wanted kicks.My moms wasnt paying a arm and a leg for kicks back then.I remember she bought me a pair of kicks from payless and she washed them joints and put them in the window to dry.Man the fucking sun burned a hole through them cheap ass shoes.I knew my moms worked hard and couldnt afford to cop me js,nikes or addidas so I went out and cut grass,shoveled snow what ever I could to hustle up the shoe money.Then when I got older I got summer jobs to buy all my kicks and school clothes.My moms respected the fact that I was out working to earn my bread for kicks and clothes so she would help out as much as she could.Todays children dont know or dont care how good they have it for them to wear the latest kicks.The love for my kids and the love for kicks makes me buy them the latest kicks.I tell them times is hard but I will do what ever it takes to keep them well dressed.All I want from them is to get a good education and be thankful for what they have.I see alot of parents in bmore where im from who keep them selves fresh but have their kids in walmart shit.I just smh and think to my self dont these idiots realize your children are a reflection of you.If you can afford to put on ralph lauren and nike your children should be wearing the same thing.My hart goes out to the parents and children who cant afford it and the kids that get teased because of it.I was one off those kids that got teased growing up for not having the latest kicks but I was thankful for my moms putting clothes on my back a roof over my head and food in my stomach.I tell my kids to be very thankful for what they have because there are millions of kids who wish to even have a pair of shoes on their feet period.

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  37. Yo….. I would say when I was ten and back in them days jordans travel fox and ellese was killing it. My moms bought me the white ellesse with the big let ters on the side. The block was loving it. Then I got into the jordans the eights and the elevens was the killers was the first to get them in the while school. I could go on about sneakers…. But it didn’t geth better my girl.wants me to get rid of some if I’m gonnas buy more but I find it hard to let go. Love all my sneakers like very the day I bought them or open the box for the first time. Sneakerhead for lyfe!!!!!!

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  38. I begged my Grandma for some Reebok pumps for my birthday in 4th grade. She got me a pair of Blacktops… It was all down hill from there. For my next birthday I got the Jordan VIs, then the Hares… Now my grandma just gives me money and I always go out and buy a new pair of kicks. I’ve been rocking the Charcoal Gray Af1’s since my last birthday. Thanks, grandma!

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  39. it all started when i was young. The pair that got me hooked on buying was the Kobe I back when he was with addias. Then the pair that really got me started was the jordan xix(lakers edt) then from their i could stop

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  40. My story is coming up I never use to get the really GOOD sneakers, not the Jordans and stuff, coming into HS I noticed a uppswing in my sneaker game but things changed completely when I started working in 10th grade in Footaction because then I was getting EVERY sneaker and had tons of money for a HS kid. Ever since then I was always abreast of what’s hot in the sneaker game, its only lately at 27 where I am slowing down, paying attention to what I like more than what’s in and trendy. But I can still kill these youngsters with my old sneaker game. I have exclusives from 2000 to -03 that people wish they could get.

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