Episode 29 - Make A Wish

eighteen years old. I currently live in Montpelier, Vermont, which is the capital of Vermont. And I have been into sneakers. I mean really, I've been in a sneakers my entire life, but I really got into sneakers way back in like two thousand and twelve, two thousandt I currently have sixty seven pairs of sneakers, ranging from one of ones all the way until all the way to regular grs. And just a little bit about myself, I A I'm a cancer kid. I was diagnosed way back in June. I

have been pretty much fighting cancer ever since then. I am still going through treatment. I went through remission a couple of times and it's come back a couple of times, which is not always the greatest news. But I've been pretty much fighting every day to try to get rid of it and live my life to the fullest. Um,

I am planning. I am graduating in a couple of days, which is really awesome, and I am going to go to college, and I'm planning on going to college to be a sneaker designer and work in the sneaker industry. And yeah, I mean, I think that's pretty much all about me. So you're so, you're a senior in high school right now. Yeah, I'm a senior in high school. Okay, So, first and foremost, before we get started, how was it dealing with being a senior in high school during quarantine.

It's it's definitely not the most easy thing ever. Um, a lot of online classes, a lot of back and forth with my teachers. Um. It's funny because right now we're actually having our kitchen redone and because of my diagnosis, I actually had a little bit of cancer in my lungs, so my lungs are not exactly the greatest and I couldn't breathe in all the fumes. So we actually went down to New Hampshire. Our friend has a Lake House down there, and we actually stayed. We stayed there pretty

much for the entirety of quarantine. We actually just got back about a week and a half ago, but for most of that I was staying there. And it's crazy to go from being in a classroom setting every single day and seeing my friends every single day to going to pretty much online classes and zoom sessions and all sorts of stuff like that. It's not the greatest thing, especially graduating pretty much like one at a time next week, and I won't get to see probably any of my

friends for a while, probably until later this summer. But yeah, it's really really strange. Like the the COVID definitely took me by surprise. But yeah, it was really interesting because none of my friends because most of my friends graduated last year. Um, so I wasn't really able to talk to many people about like the whole like graduating experience now, especially in But you know, I mean, congrats, by the way, you know, thank you very much. You have one week left.

There's gonna be a lot more brighter and more fun graduations that you're gonna have down the line, and much more festivities and parties and dances and all that, so don't don't worry too much about that. But so you are used to the whole zoom thing, because I totally am not. This is like the fourth zoom call I've done, and every time I do it, I'm like, oh no, I don't know what I'm doing. So, hey, you learned

a lesson on how to use video chatting technology. I guess right, Yeah, what's crazy because actually what's funny is all of my doctor appointments as well. We're on zoom sessions. So not only was I using it for school, but I was doing virtual doctor's visits. Well for sure, man, I mean what else, like from from being at home for the last a few months? Um, have you caught yourself browsing sneaker websites and and uh stores a little bit more than you normally do? Because I totally have.

I've been super guilty of it myself. Yeah, a little bit. Um what, I'm so used to shopping online for sneakers, like I don't think I've probably only bought ten pairs of shoes at at a foot locker champs, like I rarely buy them in person, Like I've never funny, It's funny because I've actually never been to a sneaker consignment shop,

which is crazy. For as long as I've been into sneakers, but I mean when I got into sneakers, I was living in Europe, and in Europe, the only like sneaker consignment shops are in like Germany and like in London and all sort of stuff like that. And I was living in the Netherlands at the time, and no one there is in the sneakers. Like I'm gonna be honest, I think the only sneaker that they were into our easys.

But I mean, zs are pretty much popular everywhere. Um, But like I was, I was actually one of the very first people to go on stock x when it was first launched, because my friend introduced it to me. He's like, hey, there's this there's this website. It's key Bay, but like you get your sneakers verified by these professionals and stuff like that, and I thought and I thought, like that was really cool. And there was this other

it's called it was called Global Kicks. It's it doesn't exist anymore, but it was a sneaker It was a sneaker consignment shop in d C. And me and him would always go on there and check like for sneakers and stuff like that. And it's so hard to get sneakers shipped to from the US to to Europe, especially being a military family, because they can't, like because we have to ship it to a special like box on

the military base, like a po box basically. And it's really really hard because companies think like, oh, I can't ship too, like internationally, I can't ship to Europe, and you're like, no, it's actually you're actually shipping it to a place in New York that ships it to Europe. And for some people was kind of hard to understand. And there's a lot of sneaker releases that I missed out on because I was living in Europe, and for

me it was a little bit frustrating. But I've been on sneaker websites, on sneaker news, on Complex on, I've been watching sneaker YouTube forever. I've been watching like sneaker reviews forever. Like I think one of the very first people I started watching was Kiss And I started watching Kais like way way back before. He has his channel now Crew TV, and I've been watching him forever. I've been watching Bowl forever. I've been watching Tony forever. You're

familiar with them, right, yeah. Yeah. And it's funny because I've met all of them in person at sneaker cons. And that's one of the reasons why I love sneaker cons so much, is because like basically a nobody like me, Um to get to meet them and interact with them was like so cool. And I think one of the best people I was I met at a sneaker Khan was two Jays Like Two Jays was like he was the very last person I met. He He's the most like down to earth guy ever. He's like the nicest

guy ever. Um I actually lived in Las Vegas before, and I was telling him about the military base that I that my dad worked at UM while we were in Las Vegas, and I told them, yeah, I remember, I remember like going to the mall that your store was in, but I never went to your store because I never knew it existed. And he was like super kind. He's like he's like he's like, man, thank you for your service. Like he was just a super super nice guy. And then uh and then Kais, like obviously Kais at

that time was like huge. UM, like way bigger than everyone else. Because he was. That was before he reached a million subscribers. And of course, like everyone in London loved Kais because of Ari and because they're such good friends and like the lot. No kidding. So I got in line to meet Kais. I was waiting in that line for two hours just to meet, just to say hi to Kais. Dude. You know what's crazy to me is like I always thought in Europe sneaker culture wasn't

really a thing. Um. I travel a lot because of sneaker cons and like some other business that I'm a part of, kind of behind the scenes. But yeah, um, dude, it's like crazy. Certain certain countries are nuts for sneakers. I've personally never been to the Netherlands. Yeah, um, but Germany people are crazy for sneakers. Um uh. The UK, so London is always insane, so people, but people in the UK aren't really that into Jordan's is more like air max is and stuff, and they call them and

they call them like trainers over there instead of sneakers exactly. Um. But you know, for the most part, like, for example, I had this kind of like interesting story. Um, I was in Poland for whatever god forsaken reason, and it was right when the N M D O G s dropped. But like you remember like the black and M d's with the blue in the red, So they were going for like fifts at the time, and then they restopped and then I think they came out like uh, and

then they were going for like four or five. This is when like N M d s were like everybody was obsessed with them, and these were like the hottest shoe. I remember, like they just dropped in this local store. Literally I just walked in and they were sitting on the shelf. It in my head, I'm like, I'm like, dude, this is like a hundred dollar shoe that goes for fives back home, Like what is it doing on the shelf? I was so confused, and then I really thought about it.

But in Poland they used a currency called lati, which so it's like four to one, so four's lot is one dollar. And then also in Poland, every think they're so cheap like food, water, groceries, like like the expenses they're super cheap. You can get like a super nice apartment for like a month. And then then I realized that the median pay like the average salary in Poland was I think like two thousand's lotty a month, so so that's like five a month, which is nothing like

if you really think about it. But but the way they live is so so like easy and cheap that for them, they're able to do it. But then I thought about it, and I'm like, these sneakers are sitting on the shelf, but they cost like I think they were like one fifty, so one fifty times four, it was like six hundreds of lotti or whatever, so that's that's literally like over a fourth of their pay. So I thought about it, and I'm like, maybe people aren't

buying them because they're already too expensive. And also people there don't really care about sneakers, Like there were a few kids in the store, but but dude, I saw them and I'm like wow, and I was like, oh, how many can I buy? So I ended up I ended up buying three, one for myself, um, and then one for a friend and another one I think I just kept. But it's insane that the sneaker culture is a lot bigger than well most people think where where

else have you lived? So I mean, obviously thank you for your service and your parents and Yeah, this incredible, man. I always have so much respect for that. Yeah, I really appreciate. It's definitely not been easy, especially I've been to I think seven different schools now and uh so I'll just go through. I'll just go through the list. Um, all right, I kind of like kind of foreshadowing for later. So actually my sneaker that I made, I don't know if you saw it at all, but it has all

the places I lived laser engraved into the side. But so, I was born in Oklahoma City, and then after that we moved to Germany. And what's cool is at that time when I when I was living, when I was born in Oklahoma and we were living in Germany. Next, both my parents were actually the military, and my mom and my dad actually met through the military or through the Air Force actually. Um they met in Oklahoma and then they had me, and then after that they moved

we moved to Germany. And what's funny is my mom actually worked on a different base than my dad, so and so, and then my brother was born in Germany, which was around he was born, and he was born in two thousand six. I was born in two thousand two. But after Germany, I lived, we lived, We moved to Italy and lived in Italy for three years, and then after Italy, I moved to Pennsylvania and we lived in

Pennsylvania for a year. And then after Pennsylvania, we moved to d C. And I went to school in Virginia, and then after Virginia we moved to Las Vegas, and then after Las Vegas we moved to the Netherlands, and then after the Netherlands lived here to where a current me and which is in Vermont. Wow. Mr International, Yeah, that's pretty effective for me been Oliver and I've been to almost almost every single country in Europe. Wow. Man,

that that that's pretty incredible. And shout out to your parents, Like I said, thank you for your guys services, and it's and amazing. I have so much respect for anybody who's in the military. I have a few of my friends who who have had to move a bunch of times too, yeah because of the military. But yeah, respect man, And yeah, I know I've have so much respect for

them as well. I mean like they literally go through like they move like heaven and Earth to literally like do so much for this country and like what's crazy is like they for as like much as they do, Like it just seems like for them and they just like brush it off, like oh, that's a big deal, Like it's just it's just my job, Like I do this every I do this every day. But my mom is actually not like active duty anymore. She's in the reserves. My dad right now, he works, Um, he works at

a at a university. So he works at it's it's called Norwich University, and he's uh, so you're gonna find this absolutely insane. But in all of Vermont, there's only one sneaker store. Really, yeah, there's only one sneaker store and it's uh and it's a chance in uh in Burlington. Wait, so it's so it's a chance. It's not even like a cosignment store, there's no Yeah, there's only one. It's

just a chance. That's yeah, I think so. I don't know if it's just true or not, but I think there's this guy who's opening a consignment store like in that area, and um, not very popular at all. Like I haven't really heard anything about it since then, but I think that that that's going to be a consignment store. But that's crazy. Yeah, I had no idea. Yeah, dude, I mean whenever this, um, you know, quarantine is over

and everyone's like safe and everything. Dude, Like, I love to have you come out to l A. I'll book you a flight and I'll take you around to Melrose and fair Fax. Have you ever heard of Project Blitz? Oh yeah I have. Yeah, I'll bring you to bring you by the warehouse, give you little friends and family tour its. It's pretty insane. Actually, I saw your video that you did when you tried like on like all the most expensive stuff like the like the LV jacket

or and then you had and then outfit video. Yeah yeah yeah, Like I love what's the the guy that owns Project what Creation Style? Yeah yeah, yeah yeah, I think he's like so hilarious And I've seen so many videos like he has the the signed Kobe Eates um and like has like have you ever heard of the of the documentary Sneaker Heads of course? Yeah? I love

That's like my favorite documentary of all time. Um, and I just like love it because it's like because not only does it say like does it tell you like sneeker history and like where the term sneaker came from and like how Adidas was like the very first company to like make like love their sneakers and like, but I also love how it talks about like sneakers nowadays. It talks about the Dornbacker program and talks about um like sneaker violence, um, which I I totally remember sneaker violence.

Like that's something I totally remember, which is crazy that like it's like it's still kind of happens today. But I like, I haven't seen a sneaker fight since and there's so many online raffles that yeah, like like I mean, it does make me like kind of upset. Like I mean, like I'm not promoting like sneaker violence at all, but it is kind of entertaining to see like two people fighting over a pair of like Jordan's love and breads

and like punching each other. I mean I kind of draw the line at like shooting each other for sneakers. I think that's kind I think that's like massively stupid. Um. I mean, but yeah, like that's like my favorite documentary of all time. Yeah, So I have a quick question. Uh, and this is a question for you, And so I'm only asking this question because I know if I don't ask it now, I'll forget later. And so I know, like you're famous for wearing like the mask and being

and being like the mask guy. How is it having like COVID like every and like you have to require a mask everywhere? Is it easy? Is it like easy since you always wear a mask, or it's it like is it like weird or well, honestly, Um, so I only wear my mask when I'm like filming or if I'm at like an event or something. And trust me, dude, it is not easy to wear it for seven hours straight at a sneaker con Um, I'm always super happy to like take it off and just like be me.

It's funny because all these theories came out of like people saying that I knew about coronavirus before it happened and that I just didn't tell everyone that's why I wore a mask. Um, and like all these like super funny theories, Like some people think I don't have a mouth. Uh, some people think I'm like extremely ugly, have like super disfigured face, like all these like crazy crazy theories. Um, but it's funny now because of coronavirus. I guess I'm

kind of used to the mask thing. I definitely don't prefer wearing it, contrary to what people believe. But um, but yeah, so it's I'm kind of used to it. I guess I just thought it. I just thought that would be a funny question to ask. Yeah, d of course a lot of people have actually asked me that recently because of because of the whole quarantine thing. Yeah,

that's pretty funny. Yeah, because I would think you'd be like easier because you like, do you do you get like used to it after a while or Yeah, sometimes sometimes I forget I'm wearing it. Um. The only thing that really bothers me is if my facial hair is a little bit longer, like if I have a beard in at one point it will start sweating and that's really unable. But otherwise, like I'm I'm pretty used to it.

I've definitely gotten used to speaking on camera and being in public with the mask on, so I have to talk a little bit louder than I normally do because it's not easy to understand if you're not speaking a little bit louder with like a little bit louder tone. I'm used to it, for sure, let's put it that way. I only ask because I have to wear a mask all the time because I'm going to the hospital like all the time, and they were and of course they

require it there. Yeah, we do you need any cloth masks? Do you have some of those? Uh? My mom ordered most of the time, like since they give you free masks anyway at the when you check in and they like do the screening and stuff. Yeah, uh they usually we don't usually like bring in a mask just because like they're going to give us one anyway. Okay, but um, but yeah, my mom ordered like from this one random

lady on Facebook that was making and she ordered a couple. Okay, well send me after we're done to send me your address and I'll shipt you some of these. Awesome, thank you, No no problem. I barely have any left. It's crazy. I printed so many at the beginning of the year and then yeah, you know, obviously it's like it's been a big part of my March since like two thousand seventeen,

so like the last three years. Yeah, and you know, people know me for like the mask or whatever, so um, you know, it was always a big part of my March. And the coronavirus hit and I saw all these people started ordering it. And uh kind of decided that, you know, with my platform, and you know everybody's because they're not cheap. They're twenty bucks because it is merch at the end

of the day, you know. But every single um order I've gotten since like the beginning of of quarantine, which is in March or whenever it happened, I've donate all the money. So I literally only have like fifteen left. I'll save I'll save something for you. I actually took him off the site because I just want to have a few just for friends and family. But yeah, it's been cool. I'm happy to give him back to the community,

you know. I al we trying to give back as much as I can because I'm so thankful to be totally. I totally understand. It's funny because I actually donate to a lot of like pediatric cancer things all the time. Like even if the money goes back to me like at the end of the day, like I don't know, to me, like it's kind of sad sometimes, like when you go into the hospital and like see all these kids, like for me, like being eighteen, being like being diagnosed

when I was basically sixteen, it's kind of weird. Like being an adult now and while still going through cancer treatment. Yeah, keep fighting, dude, I know it's hard sometimes, but keep planning. You'll you'll get through it, you know what I mean. Yeah, I really really appreciate that of course. And you you've had some pretty you know, incredible experiences and dude, I mean, I'm I've been entertained this whole time, Like I I just shut up. I just let you talk. You know,

it's it's uh, it's pretty amazing. Um what making which has done for you and with like Nike, it's so cool. So so walk me through. Um So the way, I actually came across your pages because I saw Mike repost on a story a picture of your shoe, which is pretty incredible. So I don't know if you wanted to get that, get to that at the end or go ahead like it's all you because I know you have

some more shoes you want to show me first. Yeah, so U we can actually we can actually do that last and that last and that could be like our

last topics. Um. So, basically when I win in the designers, uh, there was like a group of designers and like different people that all work on sneakers, like there was a there was like a guy in charge in charge of like materials and like the rubber, the prime net, the hyper fused, the like like the laces, like all different materials, and there was a lady that worked on like like traction patterns and which like uh, like pattern was the best the best for like the type of rubber and

stuff like that and uh. And then there was like other people that worked on different things, like worked on the shape, worked on the shank plate, like all different stuff like that. But it was cool, is uh is the team that was in there was actually the ones

that designed the Jordan thirty four. And what was cool is they walked me through because because at that time, like the thirty four was just like leaked and it wasn't actually officially out yet um, but it was coming out, but it was it like was just leaked by it was just like announced by Jordan Brand at that time. So they walked me through like how they came up with the design, like how why they wanted it to

be a late shoe UM. One thing that's really cool that a lot of people don't know is actually designed the shoe UM a little bit after Zion Williamson he had a he had a little bit of influence in the design of the thirty four that's sick. Yeah, he's a really nice Have you met him? Yeah, he shops He shops a Blitz, So that's awesome. I'm associated with Blitz, like I'm part of the team. And uh yeah, I was actually gonna tell you, but I didn't want to

cut you off. The Travis is a very frequent customer of ours. He was actually just at the warehouse like three days ago. So have you met him as well? Yeah? I met Travis met a bunch of times. Do you ever like, have you ever asked Travis like, like, yo, can you like give me a pair of friends of

families or anything? You know? How Tinker said that, Um, you know Kanye and Travis and some of these guys are like interesting and uh, he's right, you know, Like it's it's one day Travis would be like really weird and moody, and he will like walk in and like not talk to anyone, and then one day he'll come in he'll like hug me. It's it's like one day he's this, one day he's that. Um, but otherwise he's

a nice guy. Um. He definitely takes care of us. Uh, we went to me and Andre went to aster world Fest. It was cool. We have like vackstage everything with his concerts and and yeah, dude, like if um, when when you come down to l A, like we can talk to Trav and see if he he wants to pull up when you're there when it would be pretty cool. He every single pair of dunks that you see him wearing,

like literally every pair, they all come from us. So we're also Kylie Jenner, you know, I don't know if you've seen her wearing a bunch of sebes and dunks, like, yeah, those are all from us too. Yeah, like the like the Doom uh the m f hom dunks. Yeah, that's

I actually picked those up. So that's awesome. Yeah. But um, so what do you think of like me see like pages like sol Collector like stuff like that, Like is it kind of cool to see like them like reporting on like Kylie Jenner or Travis Scott like wearing like these shoes and you're like and you're and you're like, oh, we sold them these shoes. Yeah, is that like kind of cool to see that? Yeah? Yeah, it's cool. Sometimes

they give us the credit which is cool. Um, but also uh sometimes it's it's pretty incredible too to like hold the shoe and then you see it being worn by someone like a Kylie Jenner or like a Travis and then they guess like millions of likes and millions and millions of people saw it. Um, because it's kind

of like so it's kind of like satisfying. You're like I did that or like yeah, I mean it's it's really cool and we're always um excited to you know, help the culture, and um, you know, Travis has been like such a big part of it. I'll see what especially with the SBS. Yeah, and it's like influence and stuff. Yeah, I mean he showed us all his shoes like way

before that actually came out, which is cool. Um. A lot of which I you know, like you, I can't really talk about that much publicly, but obviously you know, we'll have a private combo. I can tell you a little bit more of WHI should be cool. Um. But but yeah, yeah, Travis, Travis is an interesting character. But yeah Zion he um, he's shopped with us a couple

of times. Really nice guy, super super down to earth like most of our basketball Um, clientele is like super super nice, so we never have any issues, never have any issues with those guys. But yeah, go ahead. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt you, but yeah, oh no, no, no, it's okay. I was just gonna say, like to like

kind of back coffee what you said. Like there's a lot of like I totally understand like what it feels like to like have like all this like information like Travis unreally sneakers and yeah and so yeah because it was like tons because they becausette without being too specific and like that would get me in trouble, is uh uh? At when I went into the Jordan Brand building after after like I kind of designed my shoe, it kind of walked me around. I guess, yeah, I don't think.

I don't think it would be from um So, like I saw the Bread eleven before, like like before it came out. I saw the hair the hair sevens, you know the ones with like the like the cow hair or whatever on them before they released at All Star Joints. Yeah. Yeah, what's interesting about the the U n C. I saw the U n C threes before they released as well.

And what's interesting about those is they actually had a patch you know that, you know that patch that they put like on the Michigan Jordan's fives, Like it was on the back. So basically they had that on the tongue where the Jordan's where the unc logo would have been, and then the jump Man on the other and on and on the released pair it does to jump Man and simple on both tongues, and then on the on

the insule it has a little patch. Uh, They're they're kind of doing something similar with the Oregon fives that are coming out with. I think they were going to put the patch on the heel. What I really want to do is get those but then cut the patch off of the back. I think i'd be I think that look really cool. Yeah, I agree, I don't. I'm not really a big fan of how the patch looks.

I understand it, but I mean I'm kind of like happy and sad because like obviously they can't release like I think people have realized by now, like obviously they can't release a shoe with a duck on it and a no on that's on, Like that's just not possible. Because because the guy explained it to me, I asked, like, why do you have the patch. He's like because, and like,

why don't you just release the thing? Because for Oregon it makes the Oregon School less value ball because if they were to release it with like the O and then like the duck on the back, they would like, no, like all the all the students that are about to go, they would know, oh, well, why would why would I want to go to this school and get a pe when I know that they're just going to re retro it like four years later, and like kind of how it makes the school less special and stuff like that.

So that so there's actually like a lot that goes into it. It's not just like Nike trolling us or anything like that. There's like a lot of behind behind the scenes for stuff like that. Of course, So did you design your shoe all in one day? Yeah? Wow, it took about two and a half hours to design my shoe. So how did so walk me through the process? How, like, why did you choose the Jordan's four? Did you already kind of have an idea in your head of what

you wanted to look like? Or um? Yeah, so for so, I definitely wanted to be a four just because I love I I love the the dorne Becker for. But I thought, I really want to do better on that. I really want to play off of that and then do better. M And because like no disrespect to the kid at all, but like the design is like god awful. Like I don't I don't think it's a like I

don't think it's an attractive sneaker at all. Really, I like, I know it's a lot of people's grail and like stuff like that, but I really don't like, I really don't like that sneaker. You don't like the dorn Becker for at all. No, I don't think that's crazy. I really like that too. It's funny because I just got it recently too. Yeah, I mean like it's a I mean I I won't like, I have a little bit of respect for it just because a dorn Becker, and I respect like all the dorne Becker kids because I

love that program. Um. But there's like a lot of shoes like I don't like the you know those up tempos that released like a few seasons ago. I think, like I thought those were really ugly. Like I'm gonna be real, like I thought those are ugly. Yeah, there's only a few dorn Beckers that I was like a really big fan of I like the I like the fours, um, the eights, the sixes, yeah, I guess, and the ones are sick, yeah, the ones with the like palm trees

on them and stuff. Yeah, I saw those like I see those in like every single sneaker shopping episode because they're always on like that the l a flight club like back wall. But yeah, so why I chose the four is because I wanted to put you know, the Nike cancer symbol like where it's like the Nike ribbon um. So I wanted to put that on the shoe. I like that was my number one thing. I had to

put that in the shoe. And I knew that with the four I could put it on the back tab and have it be like a and have it and have it like look natural on the back tab because I was reginally going to do a seven. But you can't really do anything because the seven is like my favorite model, but you can't put that symbol like anywhere like noticeable on the seven because unless you put it on like the back where like the twenty three is.

But other than that, you can't really do it. And I didn't want and I didn't want a translucent soul because, um, because I'm kinda I really want to keep these for like ever, and I don't want it to like yellow and then have like a shoe and then I have like a shoe that's yellowed. So that's why I didn't want to do a translucent soul. Um. I love the

thought process. Yeah, No, I like, I definitely want these sneakers to age well, and I know that, like I love translucent soul sneakers, but I also know that the yellow after a while, and I just don't like that, like piss yellow color on like elevens or like fives or anything. Yeah, totally understood. Um. And then obviously the Air Force the white blue and then that gray on the shoe that's, uh, that's just an honor of the

Air Force and that's why. And because the shoe was originally gonna look like you know, the Michigan four pe s, like the ones with like that that like blue suede, They're originally going to be those like That's what the shoe was originally gonna look like, and just have all my logos on it, and we eventually like put all the colors together and put it on the because while we're doing this, like there's just one lady who was showing me colors, one lady that was showing me, showing

me materials, and then there was a guy on a laptop on Adobe Illustrator putting the different colors into uh this like template for a Jordan four. Yeah, and so like he was like giving me like all these different color combinations, like he was talent. It could have looked like the bread pores, It could have looked like the fire red fours, It could have looked like the motorsports, the alternate Motorsports. It could have looked like any of

those shoes as well. And he did like a mock up of an all Camo Jordan's Jordan's four, a one that had liked, and it was a mostly white sneaker with hits of camo, and there was like a he gave me like probably twenty different Jordans options of different color combinations. So that was Yeah, it was really cool. I love the insul. I think the Insul is like one of my favorite Yeah, so I originally wanted to

do like so you know the Jordan's ten. You know how it has like all of his achievements on the soul. I really wanted to do like that design on the mid sole and have all the places I lived from year to year, so like oh two to oh four, Oklahoma, Oh Ford to oh eight, uh, Germany, and like have it be like that. He thought it'd be cooler if I did it on the outside and laser engraved it into the side. That's why you ended up doing that. And uh, like have you seen like the yellow hits

on the shoe? I was like on the soul on the back. Um, well, the lace tips are also that yellow to give it a pop like when you tie it and uh, and the soul is yellow because it matches the uh the Nike ribbon on the back. Yeah, it's so cool. I just realized that, like the Nike logo was actually incorporated on the ribbon, which is so dope. That's awesome. Uh. I have the the original picture of the very first drawing of that on here. That's sick. Yeah it did. That's so cool. Man, Man, you'd crushed

the design. Bro, It's it's sick. They should make that a general really shoot, because I think everyone would want to buy it. I'm just kidding. Keep them, keep them, keep them rare. No no, no, I told no, I told I totally agree with that, and that's really and I was like visibly upset when they said that it was they gonna be like, like, well, so it was oginally gonna be a one of one, and then it was a four, and then it was a four or four when I got them in the mail finally. But um,

I was. I was disappointed because the way that the way that the wish grant her the President made it sound was that me, it sound like it was going to be a Dornbacker and it was going to release to like the public as well, like and I was gonna have friends and family pairs and then I was going to have like and then there was gonna be a general release to the public. But uh, but when they told me, when I went to Nike and they told me that that wasn't what it was going to be,

I was kind of upset. So well, so, so you wanted it to release, so you're happy that it's not going to release. No, I wanted it to release. That's why. That's why that's why I designed it the way I just that's why I designed it the way I did because if you think about that, like, what's a more wearable sneaker, my sneaker or the Dornbacker four. Yeah, totally, like see what I mean, Like like I wanted it to be wearable and and so the fin I don't know if you can tell, but the final design, the

inspiration for it was the was a military blue force. Yeah. I definitely see that. Really good man, And I'm not just saying that they like genuinely like such a clean looking shoe. I'm like incredibly happy about how they turned out. Yeah, I'm I'm looking at them right now on your Instagram. Look,

they do it. The insult is crazy. I love that. Yeah, I don't know, like I think some people are probably gonna think it's bathe and like and like it's like has like a babe inspiration, But that's really not why I did it. It was really do you remember the old they're from the planes from World War Two that have like the shark teeth on the side. Of course, of course that was the inspiration for that. Yeah, dude, dude, it's so fire. I really appreciate it. And then the

air patent, Yeah that is so cool too. I love that. So I was gonna say, so you have four pairs for you, your parents, and your your brother. You said, yep. Do do you think maybe we'll ever see a release or is that something that you can't say or you don't think so? Um, I mean it's definitely a possibility. I mean I definitely have seen like pees and stuff like that like get released, So I mean it would definitely like if they do do it, Like I think

it'd be like really cool for a fundraiser. Or even if they just did it and just took out all my elements and just kept there like the blue and then the white and the gray, I still think people would buy it and then it had Nike Air on the back of both of it. Yeah, yeah, it's it's awesome though. I would definitely line up to try to buy a pair of those. I really appreciate it. How how much do you think they'd resell for in stock

x Oh, I don't know. Actually that's a tough one. Um, I don't know, man, Honestly, that that is like a priceless shoe, you know what I mean. Like I feel like I wouldn't even be able to put a price on it. Yeah, just because like even at at Blitz, we have a couple of shoes that are genuinely priceless. Um that even if you asked, like me or Andre or anybody who who like works at Blazz would just be like, yeah, sorry, not for sale, you know what I mean? Do you like? What are a few examples

of those? Well? Um, for example, we have like the Game Warn signed Kobe Jordan eates in the Lakers color where there's only one pair of those in existence. Yeah. Um, before obviously Kobe passing, we had like some people offer us in like the six figures for it, but we always said no just because it was it was really close to to Dre's like heart, you know what I mean, he never want to let it go as like super sentimental, but now he was thinking about letting it go. At

like auction. A pair of Jordan one pees dropped from I think I think Jordan wore them, so they're game Warren. They sold like half a million. But there's actually plenty of those sneakers, but this one is one of one and it's Kobe's obviously rescues um, so maybe we would we would do something with it for charity, so like like donate it to the to the like Kobe Bryant Foundation thing. Probably. Yeah, so we're we're thinking about what to do with them exactly, but I mean that's what

we're leaning towards. I compare it to like the it's like the last shot, uh Jordan fourteens like that that Michael Jordan war. Yeah, that's pretty insane. Are you gonna do you think you're ever gonna wear them? Um? Maybe one day, maybe like to something special like my wedding

or like something like that. Okay, I feel you. That's awesome and you should definitely wear those where those with pride wear them in good health, yeah, or like or if I ever, like you said, you have the red octobers when you meet Kanye, Well, I have wh I have my shoes for when I meet Jordan's Okay that's a crazy flex. Yeah, but that's so cool man. Yeah. I hope it happens one day. I hope they make him a pair and they give him a pair. That would be so sick. Yeah. Maybe they did, and I

just don't know about it. Yeah. Yeah, we've I've heard a lot of stories about um Jordan getting like one of one pairs that like if they gave Jordan a pair of like the Travis is ones, and Travis didn't even know about it until like way after. Yeah, it's interesting. I mean he is like kind of the head of like the face of the company. Literally. Yeah. Yeah, so I can kind of like understand why they might not tell anyone about giving him a pair of shoes because

I mean it's his shoe. So yeah, it makes sense. Well, what else you got for us? I'll actually show you my rarest shoe numbers wise, I guess if we're going off numbers, Um, okay, we got so this Uh it's a make a issue, So it has a make a Wish thing on the back and this shoe is only given to make a wish kids who had a wish at Nike. And there's only and so it's so it's one so I'm the third person to ever get it. Wow. So this is a one of three sneaker. Wow, that's

so dope. Just one one less than your shoe. Yeah. So that's so technically this is the rare sneaker and it has and it's has a really crazy tag on it. Uh, it doesn't say promo sample, it just says promo Wow. That's cool. Yeah. So and uh, and they're also like one of the best smelling sneakers. And what's also cool. On the bottom, it's kind of hard to see, but if you can see in the background, there's like it's like blue, it's like a blue tie. I sort of it's kind of it's kind of hard to see, but

I can see it. Yeah, that's cool. Hopefully hopefully one day, um, you know, either a sneaker con or when you come out to l A. I would love to see these shoes in person, like they look so yeah, so crazy. I have actually have these really awesome cases for them. I'll show you when they're soul Soul display I think.

And uh, it's just just right. It's just just just just this small company that I found and and they make like really high quality UM acrylic boxes for Yeah, totally yeah, I like these for the way they look.

But you're totally right, Like with certain truth is I want to be able to see like the whole thing on like a real display, you know, like like, for example, if I had a pair of UM I mean, obviously build a custom case for it if I because I could probably afford it, if I could afford this shoe, But like the airmags like I would probably get like a custom case for it and uh and like have like a hoverboard or whatever. Yeah, that'd be sick. Yeah,

your heater collection makes my sneaker collection look trash. So you completely destroy me in any sort of sneaker battle. But that's so cool man, like you You've got to um have that experience, Like that is so cool, bro, Yeah, thank you. Um, it would be really cool to do it, actually be really cool. I kind of love to do a sneaker battle because I kind of actually have enough variety now that I could actually do one. Because before I just had like all the same types of shoes

and it wasn't really interesting. But now that I have like Oregon shoes and Travis Scott shoes and Kobe's and Lebrons and Kyrie's and all these different kinds of Jordan's, I think I can. I think it can definitely hold my ground. I mean, I'm no, I'm no a little YACHTI with his insane sneaker collection. But I don't think that that there's a whole lot of people who can who can beat having your own sneakers, So so I think you'll probably take a lot of people down. No,

I can't. It's truely, it's it really means a lot. Thank you, Yeah, of course, dude, Like, thank you so much for coming on the show. Dude, it's been so it's been so great to get to know you. Obviously the see um your sneaker collection and to hear about your like incredible experience, but it's so great to get to know you. You seem like such a dope, dope guy.

You're not much younger than me. I'm only tending to um, but like to to hear like what you've gone through at such a young age is like and the fact that you still have a smile on your face and you're fighting through it, it just it makes me really happy, just like warms my heart and like, dude, keep fighting, man, like you're a beast. Like literally all right, thank you and um and yeah, like also when you come down to l A. Um, I have a studio in l

A that's normally where I do all my podcasts. We can we can do another one with a little bit more professional equipment. Yeah, but uh but yeah man, it's also like, um, Normally, towards the end of the show, I always give my guests an opportunity to like say something that they want like the audience to remember, or you could literally just be like, go follow me on Instagram. It doesn't really matter. Whatever, whatever you want, all right,

but yeah, go ahead, the floor is yours. I just want to say thank you the easy both for let me come on the show. It really means a lot because not even a week ago I was I was texting some people about my sneaker and now that everyone and now that it came to light, it really means a lot to uh be able to share my my passion with with the rest of this your community. And uh it was awesome telling stories and uh and a lot of sneaker memories that I had. I mean, believe me,

there's way more. I've been into this for a pretty long time now. Uh. But yeah, um, I think my Instagram is p E y t O dot Underscore dot s and you can go there to check out my shoe too. You can leave a like or a comment if you want, or you can give me a fall. Um. I just want to say thank you for everything. And yeah, so ye man, We'll make sure you guys go follow my boy my boy payton um and uh I'll leave his Instagram when I do the post on the legitick

Instagram and all that stuff. But thank you guys for listening. I know this is a longer podcast us the normal, but I guarantee you everybody was listening until the end because of how amazing these stories are. So do thank you one more time for coming on the podcast. I'll probably really appreciate you. Thank you for your support and supporting me and Kiss and Bull and all the guys like you know what. It means a lot to us.

I'll definitely tell them about you two, and I'm sure a lot of them want to, you know, get to know you too. Dude, such a dope shoot man, like I'm proud of you. I'm proud of you for that. I'm proud of you. That's sick um. But yeah, man, make sure you go follow my boy Pat and I'm gonna get you guys in the next episode Legit Check. See you guys next time. Peace,