223/ A Satellite From Mars

Hi everyone, and welcome to episode 223 of the InKicksWeTrust podcast.

I am here with four-fifths of the InKicksWeTrust team. Kev, how's it going? What's going on, everyone? Juan, how's it going? Yo, Kev, I know I've been gone for a few weeks, but did you change up your routine of how we start up and you press the thing? Because you usually press the thing first and then you do the countdown. So I'm a little thrown off. But what's up, everybody? Yes, I have changed the routine because we've changed up the way that we're doing this.

I'm not editing the plot anymore. Juan, I'm letting AI do the whole thing. Oh, okay. So that way we have a clean start. That's why it sounds a little bit different for you. But yes, that's the difference. But most importantly, I'm interested to hear how those ons work for your trip. So we'll save that for your words. We're going to talk about it. Yeah. I'm very interested to hear on that from you. Okay. And Rich, how's it going? What's good?

We're joined by a guest today, so we're joined by Jeff. He goes by jswith416 on Instagram. We're recording today on Air Max Day 2025. So Jeff has been steady posting his Air Maxes the last month. So we had the ladies featured most of this month, so we wanted to get one Air Max episode in here as well. So Jeff, you're one of the top of the list for Air Max this month, And so we definitely wanted to tap in and hear the journey. So welcome to the pod. Thank you. Thank you.

Awesome. We also found out that there's a connection between a few of our guys who were part of the OG and Kicks We Trust team. So yeah, definitely happy to get you on. Pleasure to be here, man.

Awesome. I think we have some wares and pickups because Rich and Juan have not been here for a few weeks. So let's get it started with wares and pickups. But we'll start with Ken, as we always do. Sure. Again, just to reiterate the fact, it is Air Max month. So, of course, I've been rocking the Air Max. For me, it's been Air Max 1 Schematic White. Rocked those. I also busted out the Air Max 90 Duck Camo that goes green pair. Air Max 1 Lemonades. Broke those out.

Air max one another air max one id that i have also rocked the air max one crep hemp crep hemp retro also pulled up the air max one masters and of course for today we're recording on air max day i rocked the air max one air max day the the red pair with the volt sole so fitting for today but those are my wares in terms of pickups actually i don't normally talk about pickups that haven't arrived yet because I don't usually want to jinx it but literally just

while we were on this you know just started recording I got an email notification so I was talking to Juan today but I was able to grab that Air Max 95 97 Oregon hybrid off goat today as an assist for the homie AWOX 99 he said he really won that pair when he tried he said it was sold out so you know I. Went onto the app and it was like 30 minutes after the drop and seemed to work so i was able to cop that for him so it's being sent over to one and i did get the shipping notification so,

hopefully i didn't jinx it you know with final boss or anything like that but it is on the way to you supposedly one and i'll let you coordinate that with with uh with andrew but i know he was excited to get that pair but then i also copped something else too which i'm gonna be sending to one, but we don't have these in Canada yet, which is why I copped them and then sent them to one, but the Nike rejuvenates. So I know a lot of people have been talking about those. I guess they're,

I don't know, is viral the right word? I don't know. It's everyone's kind of talking about them, I guess, but a homie of mine was like, Oh, you know, I want to get these for me and my son. They don't, they're not available in Canada. So I was able to cop a men's size and And then also a kid size for his son. So a bunch of stuff on the way to one. So hopefully those tariffs don't ding us too badly. But again, Juan, appreciate you for letting me send stuff to you.

But yeah, those are just a few cops from today. Don't have anything else personally, but yeah, where's the pickups for me that this past week. Lightwork, Kev. Yeah.

Nice. Good week, Kev. Thank you. All right, Juan. I want to hear how was your trip? And let's hear the review on the ons. First, I'm sorry to Sid. I tried, guys, last week. The time difference was crazy. I would have been on at like 2 a.m. or 3 a.m. I even had to message Sid and say sorry because I would have been cool to be on, but I'm so tired because I did touristy stuff in Barcelona. And as Trav mentioned, I bought a pair of on clouds because his recommendation, listened to, agreed.

I did a lot of steps, Trav. My feet didn't bother me. So they're a great purchase. I'll tell you that much. I know I'm going to buy like 10 more pairs, but the pair that I own, I might buy like a second pair and I'm good. But I don't know about like buying 10 pairs at all. It's because, you know, unless they make Jordan 1 slash on situation, that's a difference. But yeah, other than that, I had a great trip. I saw a lot of stuff. I paid attention to the fashion and the way that they wear.

Because I know Khali is into that. But I was noticing all the kicks that everyone was rocking. And there was a lot of different types of tourists. So you get to see a mixed bag of what people are into. It's nice. I see a lot of variety. So that I always appreciate. And some people, you know, I walked into a foot locker.

I was wearing my medium ultra. child scott the the girl was like oh my gosh he was wearing like sambas and then this other guy was wearing he was wearing bread ones and i was like oh cool we you know i had a cool conversation because i could tell they really like sneakers i remember back then way back then when i used to go to europe they used to get really great stuff in foot lockers not so much now but back then i used to really enjoy when i would visit europe different foot

lockers had like stuff that we couldn't even get here i cut them stuff for other people so i don't need to mention it i know chef posted something he had asked he had asked me to cop something and i didn't he said like thanks a lot but yeah that's that's going to him i won't tell you guys whatever he bought that's gonna come to me i'll send it to him i want to open it same thing with andrew whatever he got i got to andrew i've sent stuff to him

before though so kev i could like yeah yeah i've messaged him before so i'll send him all that stuff and whatever anything that you order like all this let me know and then else in that over appreciate you on yeah for where's i did a aside from the on clouds and the trial schedule one i did wear air max anniversary once today for air max day obviously nice the rest of the week for my trip i i wore my action bronson new balance

pair the blue pair what else did i wear i'm a minier jordan one of course i wore it to the trip else oh the black and white 85 jordan one and then that's it for my trip. Yeah nice good variety there I like that thank you very good variety. I'm glad you like the Ons too. I say that I want that many pairs because I wear them for work. So it's like a very comfortable shoe when I'm walking a lot on my feet.

But yeah, they are like insanely comfortable. When I had them on in Florida taking like 15,000 to 20,000 steps a day, I couldn't even tell I was wearing shoes at all. It was insane. Great, Trev. Same thing. I got that many steps in too. I was in the heart of La Rambla where I stayed. So all I did was everything was easy to walk. So I would walk all the everywhere, like up and down instead of getting like Ubers and stuff. They're all like short 10, 15 minute walks or 20 minute walks.

Yeah, it's like it's it's it's insane. They are super, super comfy. I know in our in our group chat, someone picked up a pair. Josh picked up a pair of Ons today and I was like, listen, they are super, super comfy. You got to check them out like they are going to love them.

Technically i have a second pair coming in but i forgot that that pre-order from kit is like you gotta wait like five to six weeks or something so that would actually be my next pair because i missed the actual release and then they did a pre-order or something so i'm happy that i did pick it up though because i know that i'm gonna like it'll be comfortable to like wear yeah nice, great week one i guess i'll go next so i i forgot to wear air maxes today on air max day.

I made i woke up this morning i woke up this morning i did the post for the in kicks we trust account i put a bunch of people in our story and i'm like okay cool when i get dressed i'm gonna make sure i put on a pair of maxes today and then i was driving to work and i was like shit i didn't put air maxes on so i feel terrible about that the face of sadness you're the most reliable one man it would be me who forgets i was like damn how did i forget

this anyways so didn't wear air maxes today but i i only wore one hair max the entire week actually so i wore my on clouds today, I wore air max fuck those on clouds today man what are you talking about this dude said he didn't wear air maxes and you got on clouds come on Trev, that did feel a little wrong no matter how much I support yeah bro you're just trying to just gloss over that yeah I didn't wear the ax but I wore some on clouds fuck out of here with that man trying to hear that shit,

yeah it's not on cloud day it's air max day air max day man what the fuck. Yeah yeah i i forgot i definitely forgot so that's embarrassing i wore some air force one flax this week, Kobe 8, Year of the Snake. And the one Air Max I wore all week since we last recorded was the Air Max 1 Kev. I figured out how to pronounce the name. It's pronounced Kabatomushi. Kabatomushi. Okay, good. Shout out to Liu Kang 9 on Instagram. He messaged the account and let me know.

And he gave me the pronunciation of it. So I'm just going to leave that in my notes. So I have it. And it means beetle.

Oh, okay. so yes shout out to shout out to him for for sending that over and then i had some nike free run to wolf greys on this week so nothing like crazy nothing like air maxi or anything yeah nothing air maxi or anything nothing kev nothing, yeah that that was it wasn't bad that i didn't wear them much this week it was bad that i didn't wear them on air max day that was that was embarrassing yeah i was on that bullshit,

that well that that was my week nice so jeff i'm hoping you have at least seven air maxes in the last week that you can you can redeem me with me it's all me now.

Yeah yeah well we like what were your wares in the last week and any uh what was your last pickup oh for me oh man so to be honest with you i am bouncing i don't know if you've been watching what i've been doing with the midsole collector we're just going we're going back and forth so he's pretty much 95ing down the place so yeah i'm just literally stepping back and enjoying it because it's just fun to watch like to watch someone do 31 pairs of like not in

the store type shoes like like he's getting a lot of exclusive ones so i was like i'm just sitting back and enjoying so i've been holding back for just for fun but every now and then i'm kind of like okay i'm jumping in right so yeah yeah i'm just going my my rotation is usually like i do a air max one and then some other variant but because my grail kind of shoe what started me in the whole thing was the air max one so nice that's why i'm

kind of like air max one then a 95 air max one then like air max light two and then you know i mean like just going back and forth like that but.

Yeah i've just been having fun with it like this week was pretty much going for the finish line so i have a couple bangers coming up this week so i'll hold off on those but uh but today i put i put out the air max 95 i think it's pronounced aema a mama manier i think i'm the dollar maniers, because uh actually i'll give a shout out right now to the guys at capsule because they always didn't good to me so i've been able to cop quite a few exclusive joints from those guys but yeah the

air max air air a mamaneer or however you say it for sure yeah yeah they're nice whatever you want to call them they're nice but yeah but yeah they feel like almost like designer shoes because like it's like very the leather is much much more buttery than like the regular shoe Yeah. Does it have the leather interior? Is the interior leather as well? Yes. Like the inside. Yeah. The one thing I will say, though, is that you have to wear long socks with it.

That ankle sock stuff, they'll chop up your ankles because it's very rigid. So it's a sacrifice you make for pretty shoes sometimes, right? So those will not be ankle socks ever. Yeah. Yeah, as for pickups, I've been much more selective because I pretty much have most of the things I want. So I was able to cop the Nigel Sylvester's. Oh, nice. Brick by Bricks. Brick for us. Brick by Bricks, nice. I was able to cop the Flu Shoe because old school.

So I was watching that game, so I had to have them. Yeah. I was also able to cop the OG ones. Red ones. Yeah, the red ones, the OG ones. a special release from capsules. So I was able to get those. What else have I got? That's like recently, that's pretty much all I get, but I get little things here and there just for myself. So, but on that, that on cloud thing, for me, the most comfortable shoe I found, for those long walks is the ASIC GL3.

GL3. Okay. Yeah. GL3. Like from, I'm flat footed. So comfort is a big deal. Like I've, I've sacrificed my foot for a couple of shoes. I'm never doing it again, but. But when it comes to comfort and longevity, I've noticed that a six, the gel series unbeatable. Hey, cause I, and I'll spend the money, but comfort is paramount, especially at this age. Cause I'm not as sexy as some shoes are. I can't do it. I can't. So, cause there's a couple of shoes that I died. I died a death in them.

They're pretty, but I was dying inside. We've all been there. Yeah. single tier moment when you try them on a footlock or wherever it is like oh these suck but I have to have them. So especially when it's back to the days when your parents bought the shoes like oh these are so uncomfortable but man I gotta have them yeah I need them, my worst experience was the do you remember the, Air Force, I think they're Air Force 180 Max, the Charles Marks. Yep. Oh, yeah.

The most uncomfortable shoe ever, but so pretty. Oh, beautiful shoe, yeah. Beautiful shoe, but they were so uncomfortable. Oh, my God. Yeah, well, I know when my parents were buying me sneakers, uncomfortable was never a word that would ever come out of it. Oh, no. They said perfect. Yeah. Oh, no. Yeah. These fit fine. Yeah. These are amazing. Yeah. Oh, yeah. You know? Pull the sole out. Pull on top of it. Oh yeah, you're pulling out all the tricks for sure. As long as I get them for you.

Church socks. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. That style on your friends, man. Once you tell your friends you're going to get them, you can't turn back. Oh yeah. There's no turning back on that. Yeah. You're coming to school the next day with those or you're not coming to school. Oh no. No, you're sick. Yeah. Crazy. Good pickups though. Yeah. You're right. Capsule does. Capsule has treated you well. You got those. bread ones. I know a lot of people were trying to get those and capsule did that.

I mean, whatever store released them, they had that sort of special white glove treatment type of. Yeah, it was, it was really good. I was, I was really like, I'm pretty good at those guys. When they told me like the whole thing, I was like, whatever. Cause it was super, I went on Superbowl Sunday. So I was kind of, and I'm an Eagles fan. So I wasn't paying attention. Right. Eagles fan. Oh no. Listen, we're not going to go there. Might get really ignorant up in here. No, we're going to go there.

We're going to go there, Jeff. You guys want to go there? These guys give me so much shit all the time. Please go there. The only reason I'm going to give you some grace is because of Saquon Barkley. That is the only reason. No, you're going to give us some grace because we won the fucking Super Bowl. You guys better have won the fucking Super Bowl. What are you talking about, man? Stop it. Like I said, the only reason you get a pass is because of Saquon.

That's the only reason. You sound like a Giants fan. I'm not even a Giants fan like that, but yo, Saquon is the oldest. I am the Giants fan. And you love for that. I've been since Cunningham, so I'm not even trying to get to these things. I've been a fan. Lose, we lost a lot of years, but this was our year. I'm happy for it. But, yeah. I got to give you a little respect there. You're taking it back to Cunningham. Oh, yeah. Okay. That's different. Yeah. I mean, dude, Santa Claus, I'm back there.

I'm way back there. That's different. Yeah. Randall was the guy, man. Randall Cunningham. He was the first time I've seen a quarterback do that stuff. Yeah. I'm not a bandwagon jumper. I respect all the teams and stuff like that, but I flied with the Eagles for a long time. That's it, man. We don't do no Kali movements over here. We don't go where the quarterback goes. We don't go where the quarterback goes.

The inside joke is that just surprisingly, whenever Trev books a guest, they just happen to be an Eagles fan. So we wonder whether or not it's planned. We wonder whether or not it's planned. Bro, that's a tick box, man. He's booking a guest and he's like, Eagles fan? Yeah. All right, you're in. I'm no stranger to it. It's all over my stories. I didn't hide it. I'm very ignorant like a Philly fan. That's funny, man.

We are also known as the Eagles We Trust podcast. I don't know if you've heard that or not. You'll fit right in here. Maybe in your world. All right. Travis's world. I did go to the release on the Sunday, the Super Bowl Sunday. And it was really, really well done. They had the displays of all the sequential releases of the ones. Oh, nice. That's dope. They had pictures of the Agus... The iconic pictures of Jordan in the ones and like the box and all stuff like that.

So it was really like, I, it was over the top for me. Cause I'm just like, I'm coming to see some shoes, but you guys want to go out? I'm good. But it was well done. Like very exclusive. It's just you send a couch, sparkling water, give you the shoes.

So it's like, it was a real, real good experience. And like, and it, it, it did justice for what the shoe meant like it was a you technically had to be a sneakerhead to appreciate what they were doing because it's it's been a waste it's been wasted on those those people that just want to cop like you have to really understand right the the moment like how momentum like it was because like it's all-star like it was pretty much like an all-star weekend type thing and you know even the

bag had the the canceled sticker on it oh nice yeah yeah so like it's like a black bag all black and then they have like a black patch over it for like a for under like you know.

Yeah censored legs yeah censored and then on the other side they have like the jump man and like the capsule logo so like even the bag itself is the collector's item that's dope glad that they went all out for that yeah and it's good it's like a good experience and it's good for the city too because like I don't know how far back you guys go but I remember, the time then people understood how deep we were in the sneaker culture was an NBA all-star weekend,

in Toronto yeah that's when Toronto like everyone's like wait a minute Toronto's no joke like we're not to be played with because they released the Drake 12s and the Drake 10s, and at the Jordan store and people are like wait a minute these guys don't play around like we our culture is deep, right so no for sure yeah because and and absolutely i agree yeah like we i remember because i go way back for sneakers and i remember we had to travel like you'd go to new york and,

florida yeah for sure they were never here yeah and like you could go to different states and get different colorways because of their college teams and all that kind of like just all these things that you couldn't get in toronto and then slowly and surely yeah people started to recognize like yo these guys don't play in toronto like we got to get our stuff there right to the point now where we're getting our own air max and our own types of shoes because we were, we're a dope city for shoes.

Recognize. Yeah. Right. So no, for sure. And we'll get into that, all that stuff too. Cause you know, like, you know, it wasn't always like that, but for sure. Yeah. We'll, we'll definitely get into that. But good week, good, good week, good pickups for sure. Rich, what about you? You, it's been, I think it's been almost a month since you've been on. Yeah. It's been a minute, man. I don't have a lot of words to be honest with you. Last week, I was sick literally for fuck like over a week.

So pretty much in the house. And I didn't post much to my IG, so it's kind of hard to track what I wore. Yeah, when was the week, Trev? Like beginning of March? I want to say? Or longer than that? No, it was probably beginning of March. I think the last episode you were on came out like March 3rd or 4th or something like that. So yeah, probably like end of February beginning of March.

Yeah, it would have been after that i have worn by i guess they're considered to reimagine that bread pair the patent leather pair, wore those recently i wore that that lakers question um the yellow toe were those i wore the psny 15s actually salute to my brother actually just got those back from him, wore white varsity sixes, lost and found ones and this was prior to me getting sick wore the lost and found ones the reimagined threes those have been getting a lot of wear I wore that ambush,

temple broke those out I'm trying to think what else and I think that's pretty much it and then just the ray gun air force ones those are like my at the door pair. So I'll be wearing those. Yeah, and I think that's it. Yeah, I haven't worn too much. Last week, like I said, I was sick most of the week. In terms of pickups, I got... Fuck, it's been a while. What the fuck did I get? I know I picked shit up. Oh, Olive Nines.

So I ended up... Shout out to Foot Locker. Yeah, they actually went on sale. So I've been waiting, man. I was like, it's Nines, right? I'm like, they're going to sit. So I wasn't really too pressed. So they went on sale, and I scooped them up as soon as I seen the sale. So I got those for like 200. I think they went down to. So scooped all of nines. Got the flu game 12s as well. Hit on those. You know what, though, man? I'm having an old moment, bro. I put them shits

on and I'm like, yo, they're not for me. They're not for me. I didn't bite them to rock. Yeah. See, yo, see, that's the thing is, too, is like I was going to put them up, but I'm like, ah, you know what I mean? So I put them on and I'm just like, yeah, I don't think I could pull these off anymore, man. I don't know. I'm just having a senior year's moment when it comes to them. Can I interest you in some ons, Rich? Fuck out of here, man. No damn I'm not wearing those shits. You can only wear

them on Air Max Day, though. Nah, right? Well, yeah, they get the flu games. Just kind of crazy to see just with the Jays, like, what's happening with them. Obviously, I'm excited because, you know, the A6 and New Ballas bullshit that we had to endure for the last little bit.

It's kind of nice to see you know jordan's back and you know that frenzy and shit and a lot of those dudes with the aces to the new balances like i said they came back so it's always good to good to see that flu games and then shout out to kev actually ended up grabbing bread forest so suede here we kind of had conversations about those the reimagines and the breads love the functional of the reimagines, but they just... I don't like the way they look on feet.

So, I've been kind of searching for a pair of the Breadfours. And I was able to get a pair, I think the guy's name is Seth Sells Kicks. I'll probably give him a shout out to at the end of the show. But he had a pair, really good condition. I got them for like $250. So, it was a no-brainer for me. And I actually wore those yesterday. I think I posted those. So, yeah. If I had my pick between the two, I kind of like that new book.

I know it gets a lot of flack just because they just get dusty and shit but i just like the way they look as a as opposed to the leather pair so yeah all of nines flu games got that bread pair back metallics i already talked about ended up scooping those and then that that black tote jordan one two was another one that i picked that recently i've talked about those as well but yeah just you know a couple things cool great nines i'm gonna wait i know trev a couple spots

I still haven't gotten them right yes but I got mine yeah I know you got yours I know I could read, so but I'm gonna wait on those once again as well my hope is that those hit the sale racks too.

Yeah because I think they like Foot Locker didn't get them Champs didn't get them and Nike didn't get them which like let's be honest those are always the stores that get that kind of stuff and like it was on Champs release website and then it got taken down the night before I asked the Foot Locker they said that they were delayed and above all Nike always gets that kind of stuff especially like excluding like really hype releases

like they may not get some of those but like the cool grade nines was not that right like they would have got pairs of those for sure so yeah so I'm just waiting for those you know I'm gonna probably grab those two. Finally reunited yes you weren't on last week Rich but yes I finally got them back I was very very, very happy on this one. It's a nice pair, man. Can't wait to get my pair, man. Question is, when the fuck are you going to wear them? What's the next New Balance holiday

or something like that? Maybe that's what I'm going to bring it up. That's what I like to hear, Chad. That's what I like to hear. I'm going against the grain here. I'm not doing what everyone else is doing. No, we don't do that. We don't do that over here. It's Air Max Day? No, I'm going to wear Ons today. Yeah.

Killing me, man. like this but yeah that was what i could remember in terms of my ways what i've scooped nice nice good we good pickups for sure getting good to have you back for sure but yeah no we we have a special guest today goes by j swift 416 on instagram and so jeff thank you again for joining us but very fitting of course like we mentioned you know he's been rocking air maxes today's air max day but want to get into a little bit of you know his

personal story like his sneaker journey too so jeff why don't you tell us a little bit about your sneaker journey like where it began you know some of your favorite brands models uh colorways that got you into sneakers.

My sneaker my sneaker journey actually started with the actual dates of all these shoes that came out so like when i it's funny i used my good report card to try and get my first shoe i love it so i saved my best my best marks to try and get a pair of jordan threes actually, And I don't know if you remember the store Panda shoes for kids. My dad brought me there to get the shoes and they didn't have my size. So I was heartbroken. But beside it, they had an Air Max 87.

And the girl's like, we just got these today. Do you want them? And I just remember as a kid, I was like, well, the bubble is bigger than the Jordan bubble. Hell yeah. Yeah, yeah. It's just about the image. Right, yeah. So then I remember I got them and it was like a, it's like a gray with like navy blue toe box, like the OG ones, basically. It's basically like the 86 ones that they released last year.

Right. Okay. And I remember I got home and I told all my friends that I have a shoe that has a bigger air bubble than the Jordan. And they were like, ah, cause we didn't have internet and stuff back then. So we're like, ah, you're lying. Whatever the case may be. So I remember I, I put them in my backpack. Cause when you buy those shoes back in those days, you have the good shoe and you can't wear it at school. Cause you know, we're playing kickball and all, you know, four squares and British

bulldog. You can't be wearing them joints. So I put them in my backpack and I brought them for show and tell. Cause I'm like, seven eight years old at the time and i remember i took them out and then like the holy grail noise and everyone's like i was like yes it's the attention i was like this is what i'm going to be doing with my life it starts now yeah yeah but it's funny though because i remember when we went to pan the shoes even as a little kid my dad explained like the value

of money not to say i couldn't have them but how much it costs like breaking down money and stuff like that yeah speech always stuck with me because i remember like maybe two or three two or three years later i was seeing that like jordans were coming out in different color ways so i got the black ones.

The white ones would come out in playoffs or vice versa right so i was like oh man i have to have both how am i gonna do this so by the time i was 11 at a paper route so i've been working since i was 11 literally just to buy shoes so so like from that time i realized that a lot of people saw your shoes before they even saw you and it was like oh yeah it was during a time where like hip-hop was still growing and like you didn't have internet so like we had magazines like it's like

sports illustrated or esquire you'd see the pictures in there and people like go into like beckers and rip the page out and stuff like that and you know go to the library and you have like the library card like photocopy so you have like a full copy of the shoe and then and then there's stores like i don't i don't know if you remember but like that farzani's locker collegiate's locker Yes, yeah. The professional sports was carrying them joints.

And like, you'd literally take the bus just to go see the shoe. Like, just to see it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Right? So, that was like my come up. And then I just realized like, as I was buying these shoes, I was realizing like comfort over style, you know, certain sacrifices had to be made. Like I said, the Air Max 180 Barclays, they, oh, they hurt so bad, but they were so pretty.

Like, you know, the different colorways, Jordans. So eventually, like I started building a collection, but I didn't realize as a sneaker, I just like shoes. Right. Because there was no term for it at the time. And then at the time, my parents, Jamaican parents, a lot of the culture was synonymous with drug dealers and stuff, right? So you have to be very careful how you put together your look, right?

Because the guys out there in the MGM suits and all those things like that, the major damage suits and exhaust suits and cross-color suits with their matching shoes, you didn't want to look that way.

But you wanted the shoes. so you have to be very careful how you put stuff together because I think for my generation the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air kind of saved us because at one point the good that look was all drug dealers and stuff like that but then when Fresh Prince came out I could be like I want to look like that, so like the fives and all the stuff was on Fresh Prince and I could show my mom like he wears them it's okay,

but before it was like iced tea and all these guys were like ah imagine telling your immigrant parents that want you to be good you want to look like Flavor Flays yeah.

That's fucking funny yeah i want to look like flavor flavor of chuck d those guys who want to fight the power and have like you guys clock around your neck yeah exactly right so it was very hard to in you know get into that culture because the imagery of it was so negative until stuff like fresh prints came along and stuff like that they kind of softened the blow it was still hip-hop but it softened that blow and that's when i was really

able to ramp up the sneaker like my sneaker collection but at the same time too i don't know how you guys came up like, there was like a golden rule. If someone in your crew had the shoe, you can have it too. So you know how it is, right? Everyone has that. Yeah, no, yeah, for sure. I don't know if it was like so much of a rule, at least for me, but it was like, I didn't want to have the same shoe. I think that's what it was for me.

And there were people that got the same shoe because, you know, they just wanted to have it. But I remember, you know, and I talk about this a lot, you know, the military floors were the first floor, first Jordan that I ever got.

And when I got them, this other kid in my class, he was just like, so envious and he ended up getting and i was so mad because i was like oh man i just wanted to be like the only kid to have them in my class but you know i get it other people want the same shoe too but yes you're right like it was either you either weren't allowed to get the same shoe because your homie had it or you just kind of wanted to stand out you want to be different right so you didn't want to have the same

shoe so yes i get it yeah so that for me i i quasi evade that rule because I bought the shoe anyways, I just put it on ice. Right. You didn't wear it when your homie was wearing it. Exactly. Because I had a job. I had a paper route, so I was able to buy what I wanted. You remember you'd come back from Christmas break, and some guys would have Jordans, and some guys would have maybe Travel Fox or British Knights. People just had British Knights.

When I grew up in Malvern, there was a shoe that everyone had that I didn't want, but everyone had the NASA. I never wanted that shoe, but trust me. It was like a hybrid champion feel it was like it was it was horrible but everyone it was terrible like even like the Ewing's like I was a very skinny kid so certain shoes I couldn't rock like Ewing's it looked like, a two bricks like in a yeah like my foot would look like a toothpick in a kleenex box.

Like it just it wouldn't work so i didn't i didn't rock high tops and stuff like that right so yeah that's kind of another reason why i was big on air max because i couldn't rock like the basketball shoes that's why i really like the jordans because the jordans are like mid-cut.

They were never really high top shoes right i think the only high top one were like the one of the twos after that it was like all mid-cut right so yeah yeah it was just it was that was just kind of the journey and then as i started to ramp up it just became a collection i didn't realize it was like a sneaker until like someone else saw it and like holy crap you have this many shoes like yeah very so yeah yeah like i do but i didn't it never dawned on me as like a sneaker

i just loved it i love the shoes and i also love the fact that even to this day your shoe could basically be the mood of the day like you put on a pair of shoes and you don't have to say much like you could put on the subtle pair of shoes you could put on a loud pair of shoes it's like almost like it's explaining how you feel that day without saying a word to anybody oh yeah it was a form of expression right exactly so like most

people like they make the outfit they they put together that outfit then they put the shoes i'm like shoes first outfit afterwards yeah right so it's always been that way for me but like as you could tell like and there's a little attention to detail because like you could they're like battling things right so someone does some like ah you got those yeah i got something for you like me and as i said me and the mid soul collector having fun with that those

little battles because i was like you have to run a 95 soon but you can't so i've been going hard at it and i'm i'm sitting back enjoying it because i know that, as much as it's fun and games there's a lot of work that goes into having a collection that good so that's that's the fun part about the whole thing but yeah like it's it's it's. I think when I was coming up, you really had to love sneakers. It wasn't a, how do I put it, a boasty thing. Like, you just,

it's something that you liked. Not everybody was into it. And when I was coming up, the shoes were being, like, the shoes that people are rocking now, the athletes are actually wearing them. Right. So it wasn't like every other week of Jordan was coming out. It was, Jordan's playing in these shoes. I want to be Mike. Andre Agassi's playing in these shoes. I want to be like Andre Agassi.

Bo Jackson, like all these great shoes that were coming out, you know, Michael Chang, all these athletes had their own shoes and they were great. So you want it to be like them. And the closest thing you get to them is like either their gear or their shoes. Whereas now it's like, there's just all these drops and the way they're dropping them, it doesn't have the same effect as when I was coming up. Absolutely. To be like Mike was a thing. Like it was a real thing.

Yeah, no, for sure. You want to emulate him. And that's like you said, Like you waited until you saw him wearing the sneakers before you actually knew what the sneakers look like. Right. So when, you know, Jordan threes, the next ones came out, fours, whatever, nobody knew. Like you either saw it in a magazine, you had to like record it on TV, the games on TV, Superbowl Sunday, Superbowl Sunday, the commercial would come out. Yeah, exactly.

So start weekend, the other colorway would like, there was an order to the operation. Like you had to like, even if you're in your deathbed, you had to watch the Superbowl, see that commercial, like, right. And then they got better and better as they went on. and it became an event, right? And then, like, as I said, you had to really, really love it to do it because I was like, we would go on the bus to Scarborough Town Center just to look at the shoes. We didn't have the money.

We just wanted to go see because we used to put it on the mantle because, you know, people steal. So we used to put it on the mantle. You'd be like, oh man, that's a shoe. Okay. And then you just save up for it or you get your A's and you ask your parents for it. But it wasn't, it wasn't like. Every other week, there's a drop. It was like, this was the shoe, and that was it for like six, seven months. Yeah, and you're right. Like, you would go and you would look at it.

It would be like almost like motivation for you to work harder, save your money. It wasn't like you had to like, yeah, it wasn't like you had to like line up for sneaker and it would sell out. Like, it would be there for weeks, and you'd go back like every day just to look at it like, yo, I'm going to have these. I'm going to get these. You know what I mean? Walk through your parents. Can I look at them? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Oh yeah i mentioned that a couple times on the pod where i was like oh mom you got to drive me to mall and she would just say to me straight up like just so you know i'm not buying you nothing right i'm like yeah you know i just want to go look at the shoes okay yeah i just want to hold them i'm just trying to manifest right now you know i'm just trying to look at them trying to admire them you know because like you said yeah there wasn't any social media there wasn't any internet nothing you

know the way you nothing the way you consumed you know the the releases and And that sort of information on the releases was to actually go to the store, talk to the employees there, look at the actual shoe, that sort of thing in order to, you know, just in order to ingrain that in your mind. So you can like draw them out at school too, you know, things like that. But yeah, I know you mentioned earlier too, about just like going to the States

and stuff, right? Like we would, we would do that to get different colorways. And I, and I, and the thing I used to do when I used to go to the States is I remember I'd look for the most outrageous pair.

So they had a shoe that was here like i remember one of my favorite air maxes was the air well not was is the air max bw's yeah and in the states they had all these crazy colorways and i would, always look for something that would be like the joke i always tell my friends like i want to get a colorway that you can see from a satellite from mars so i want to be loud yeah and it was like what the hell are those because it goes from what the hell are those like where did you get those Yes.

You know, are you willing to trade those? Nah. So that's why I'm always about the... Because the thing about being a sneakerhead, and I've always looked at it this way, is that there's millions and millions of shoes. There's no reason for me to be like anyone else. I get that there's a silhouette that everybody wants to have because they represent a memory or whatever, like the Jordans and the first Air Maxes and stuff like that.

But there's so many colorways and so many mix-ups that you could get to differentiate yourself from everybody else. So I don't understand, and I've never understood why so many people have the same collections.

It's never it never made sense to me because there's so many ways to be an individual now especially in the way they've done things that i'm always about trying to get something that i know would make me stand out as a sneaker because i'm about that you know having something that i could say is mine and i also like the fact of saying that hey i know a dude that has those shoes like i don't have to have everything i like knowing that that guy has that shoe, and i know that he has it because i'm

grown up now i don't need to be that guy anymore right so yeah and i and i and i learned that by going to like the in kicks we trust events and you know t dot has kicks and stuff like that getting to see these collections like oh cool i'm seeing it like for example seeing the air mags for the first time there's no way in hell i'm buying no shoes yeah it's just nice to see them i'm not spending 10 g's on no shoes as much as a fan I am, nah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Not non-functional.

The Air Marty McFly's, I'm good. Yeah. I'm good. I can skip those. I also think, too, that's what I liked about some of the earlier shows were also just to see what people had on feet, right? Where before, that's where you would see people just kind of bringing out these obscure pairs. It's like, oh, shit. And then it just snowballed into you. Then you go to the shoes that everybody's wearing the same fucking shoes, same pairs. And it's just like,

How many Jordan 4s I'm going to see? Or you know what I mean? Like everyone's rocking the same shit or whatever's trending at that time. Where before we go to these shows and you see like just like some shit you wouldn't see like every day. And people are actually wearing them. And you compliment them. You're like, oh man, those are nice. And it's just that conversation. It's like, you know, you see those pairs that those older pairs of those pairs you don't really see often.

So that's what I used to love. Like just about the sneaker shows. And then even touching upon, like you said, like with the stores, I remember coming up. Because I grew up in the States, right? So I remember, once again, we didn't have social media. So a lot of times we would go to the mall every day just because that's how we knew what was dropping. So, like, we'd go into the mall and it's like, oh, shit, they got a new pair of Air Forces or whatever it may be.

And then, like you said, we're in there every week, you know, just holding them. All right, yo, I got to put in, like, two weeks work and I can split these, you know what I'm saying? Yo, mall culture is different, man. Like, you say that a bunch, because I remember, like, a Scarborough Town Center run, it'd be like, you go to Wizard's Castle. Wizard's Castle! Oh, my God. Some Street Fighter. Then you go over to... So you know what I'm talking about, right? Of course.

Yo, I grew up in Scarborough, so that was my shit. You go to Scarborough Town City and bust a man's ass in some Street Fighter. It was his castle. Yeah. You go over to Taco Bell, you get your $2 meal from your soft taco and your fries. Yeah. And then you head over to, like, Champs and Foot Locker to see what's coming up. Because I remember that it was, like, Tuesdays and Thursdays when the shoes drop. That's as much information as I could get from the people that work.

Yeah, yeah. And they'd show you the shoes. And then you're like, okay, I got to save up this amount of money. Planting the seed to my parents because I'm going to get these for Christmas, but you knew, what the next drop was going to be that you would want to get. But the thing, as I said, is like once you started learning about the fact that like, for example, Jordan would change colorways, like you'd have the one that he wears in the season.

Yeah. And then you'd have the playoff ones. You're like, ah, man. But you would never be able to see what the playoff ones were. So you had to risk it. Like, ah, do I get them now? Because all your parents do is you want the same shoe twice. It doesn't matter. It's like, can I get the same shoe again in black? Like, are you dumb? Like, same shoe. Well, that never happened for me. That never happened for me. Right? So like, it was a gamble. It was a gamble. It was a gamble.

So that's what I'm saying. We didn't have the internet. We didn't have social media. We had word of mouth. We had magazines. And you had your people. You just had your people, right? And that's all it was. And at that time, you really had to love it. When you're talking about those sneaker shows, there's three levels of sneaker ads for me. There's the OGs that were around when the Su's were brand new. So when they were coming out. Yeah. There's the new school guys that love this culture.

And just want to basically be part of it because they know how deep we are in it. And they're just people with money. And the people with the money is screwing up everything pretty much. Yeah. Because they're just buying it to floss. Like you don't care about the shoes. You care less about any of the culture. It's just these shoes cost $500. I'm buying them because I have $500 shoes on. That's not what we're about.

And that's what I found that the shows kind of went to. And that's why I stopped going. Because I don't care if you have 800 pairs of shoes because you're rich. You couldn't tell me what George, like you don't understand the significance of the flu shoe. You don't understand like when they showed the 11s on TV for the first time and people were lying. I remember when they showed the 11s on TV for the first time and I went to school the next day and people were saying people were lying.

No, no, I saw them and they had like this leather stuff on toe and like, no, George would wear shoes like that. And they were shiny. No, you're lying. Like it was pure arguments, right? It was like, I came back from retirement. So it's those kind of memories that... That sneaker culture, like I embrace from it because you were there when it happened. Yes. Right. And I'm not knocking these new guys because it's not their fault that they're not here.

But this new regime of just copying everything to say you have it is kind of annoying because even the people like us that try to just even relive it because we have money now, we can't do it because they just buy out everything. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Right. So. It's a different culture for sure. Yeah. I agree.

Yeah. It's just a, it's a. It's a floss culture and i get it because we have the social media and we have all this other stuff like that so it's basically look at me now kind of stuff whereas there's a love behind it like as richard was saying the 12s are not comfortable not by any means but he had the flu in them joints i have to have them you know i mean there's there's a memory attached to that like i'm i'm a proponent of saying that jordan's probably the most uncomfortable shoe line ever,

but they're the most significant as well 100 that's why i'll never stop wearing them i don't get fucked listen man you you i've rolled my ankle so many times playing ball in jordan.

Dumb ass running up and down and playing in jordan's and i'm like no tech is no tech in the in a couple years i'm gonna be in a wheelchair because i know once that arthritis kicks in so out there playing in these damn jordans rolling my ankle like these are so bad but they're so pretty so pretty so pretty man right so like i sneaker culture and And like what you said, going to the mall and stuff like the whole experience in itself is like, it's crazy because it's like, it's a part of the era.

Like, like everything was just so creative hip. Like it was part of hip hop. It was part of mainstream culture. It was part of sneaker culture. Sports was different. Yeah. Everything was just crazy at the time. So we had so much getting thrown at us that we didn't realize how great it was.

Because you're like, bro, I'm going to say this. what's i when i think about that time for me it was a pair of baggy jeans a fucking anautica polo top oh yeah some air force ones mids that was like a go-to for sure yeah or we had the army fatigues same thing air force one mids or a pair of tims and you know nice little hoodie or whatever so like for me it's just like when i see that stuff like that time it's like bro i i tell my son sometimes and he was looking at me like an old head.

I'm just like, y'all don't understand, man. Like, yo, when we was picking these outfits up and we was rocking these shits, like, yo, we was feeling ourselves, man. Like it was just, it was just different. Like you said, the music, you know, you got the boom boxing, you know, you got the headphones with the CD player. Like it was just, it was a great time. Like, but it was, but as I said, everything was new. So like the, they, this generation is now rebuying what we had, like this.

This stuff was full circle. Like the Tinker hat feel designs are insane. Right. Like he was just coming out with stuff was like, what in the, how the hell even come up with this stuff? Like we had like, like lines, like, I don't know if you guys had this in the States, but we had like Eddie Bauer. Right. Oh yeah. Eddie Bauer too. Of course. Come on. Eddie Bauer, Tommy, Nautica, Polo. Rocking EB tech with some ACG joints. Like it was like crazy time. Like it was, you know, Eddie Bauer.

That took me back. Oh yeah. Eddie Bauer. The big the big uh outlet sale over the pickering flea market.

But yeah like even even something like explaining to like this generation like the big deal about a cross trainer because like the cross trainer was like especially like coming up at the time you could only have one shoe the cross trainer was like the only shoe you could play basketball track in and it wouldn't die yeah right like you could destroy that like literally destroy that shoe and it lasted everything like i don't even think shoes could are

could handle what what we did to shoes back those because i don't think they play what we played back then right so like you had the the air missions yeah okay the se trainers the whole train is action line yeah the the diamond turfs all those shoes, We're like cross trainers because those guys are multiple sport athletes. Right. So like, and we're seeing this coming out. Yeah. You know, you're watching these bull jazz. It's like, I have to have that. Yeah. I have to have that one now.

You know, like it's just like, and, and they were, and they were fresh. It was fashionable. Like I think you could dress them up and it would, it just looked dope. Like that was the thing too. Right. And it just transitioned well off of the court, a hundred percent or whatever they were doing. A hundred percent. And then they started adding different technologies, but like, I remember the biggest mind blower for me, other than the Air Max, was the Hirachi.

Hirachi. That's when I stopped tying my laces. I was like, I'm done. Life is good. You slip down joints on and you run it like, the Hirachi is probably the great life. That's like Nobel Prize, like Nobel Peace Prize kind of thing. Next level innovation, right? Oh yeah. And it just hugged your foot?

Exactly. They put it in everything. It was in the it was in the Agassiz they put them in the AirTech Challenge 2's I think Jordan 7 had them too the 7's had the Hirachi Jordan 8's as well the Jordan 8's yeah, and then they put them in the the Moabs Moabs yes, the Moabs are pretty much like an ACG Hirachi like it was what a time to be alive like that and that's the thing like they were just throwing shoes and there's so much coming at us that we're like,

you know I'll come back and get them joints yeah it's like right and then that's And that was just Nike. And then Reebok had the pumps. When D. Brown pumped up his shoes, I was like, I have to have them. I didn't even know. I was like, he bent over and he pumped up his shoes. I was like, mom, I have to. You just see that? Yeah. That's what I'm saying. There's no internet. So that alone was the biggest advertisement for me because the man bent over, pumped up his shoes, dunked,

and then let the air out. I was like, I have to have them. Yeah. I must have those shoes. I still remember when, when, when a kid came with those rewalt pumps and people were just like, it's crowding this kid, like asking if they can pump a shoe and just see how it worked and everything. I was like, he was the coolest kid, but yeah, I mean, it was, you know, at the time that was like, you know, we were seeing this innovation or these like new, yeah, these new trends or whatever in real time.

And they still, you know, they're, they're still classics to this day, right? Like pumps come out and then Reebok, you know, Shaq had pump on his shoes. Michael Chang had pump on his shoes. Like that was their thing. The tennis ball pump. Right. So yeah, I mean, it was definitely like what a time to be alive because they were putting out these new things that for us, we'd never seen before. You were talking about like these Nassau shoes or whatever, right?

You know, Nike and Reebok and Adidas and you know, whatever brand it was, there was, you know, they were all top tier at the time. It didn't matter what you rocked. Right. Because every athlete had their signature shoe. Had something, bro. Every brand had something that somebody wanted. Like I still joke around with the guy that, you know, he's a lifelong friend of mine, but he got Brooks Hydro Flow. Those are amazing. Remember those? Those are amazing.

So like everyone was getting Nikes and Jordans with the air bubbles. And then Brooks even came out with their own technology where they had a visible air unit. but it had like this like gel shit inside of it. It was like neon green. Yeah. It's amazing. And even still like you, you, you'd think, you know, somebody comes to school in some like off brand sneaker, like Brooks wasn't even like a, you know, like a shitty brand or whatever.

Like they were still top tier brand, but you know, everyone was wearing Nike, Jordan Reebok and he's, and then he came in with Brooks and now all of a sudden, like his shit was like the top shit. Yeah. Cause he's got this like neon fucking, And, you know, like, it looked like the ooze from Ninja Turtles. Right? So, mutagen. For me, it was the fucking Shacknosis, bro. I remember my boy rolled up to school with the Shacknosis. Yeah. And I was just like, what the fuck are those? He's just like,

yo, these are the new Shaq joints. And I was just like, what the fuck? And then remember Men in Black, Will Smith was wearing them in the first Men in Black movie. So it was just like, bro, gone after that. You know, the kamikazes, dudes were pulled up in the kamikazes. It was a great time, man. It was a great time. And I remember that was like when Basketball Adidas released the Torsion.

Yeah, I remember those. torsion and the funny thing is people don't realize that torsion is technically the first version of boost like they don't they don't realize because it was like this yellow foam stuff that did in the shoe and now the boost is just pretty much like white foam but it's like the same idea like the same it's almost like a re-release but they did it with kanye literally.

Yeah good point yeah i mean they they had different types of technology like comfort level technology since back in the day you know it's just it was it was just 90s technology as opposed to you know what it is now you know they were still doing that stuff back then it was just you know they've they've evolved it's just evolved to but it was innovative right i think the thing that i liked about that time was that everything was mind-blowing right like it was just like

like even if you want to talk about the air max i remember when i saw the 95 for the first time on the mantle i was like wait a minute one two three like i'm counting but i was like there's more than one bubble right yeah yeah yeah yeah what the hell and it's like and it's neon and it's like gradient gray i was like i have to have these and i think i was like and it's like the first year that was like over 200 so now you have to really like you know i'll wash the car i'll vacuum the house

mow the lot you know i'll do everybody in the house's homework yeah i'll go to work for you you know because it was like incredible so it's like it was just mind-blowing because at the time you didn't know about designers and stuff like that you just knew Nike was releasing these incredible shoes, and everything was like a level up because, you'd never think that the next year it's almost like something would come out and you're like it can't get any better than this,

like the Jordans like it's like these are the best ever and then six months but there's more. And the thing is like if you don't watch NBA Inside stuff you'll miss it yeah yeah yeah so if you have to get up Saturday morning and be ready at 11.30 or 12 depending on when you're watching it, to make sure you watch India in that stuff because Amado Shad will come out of it and hold them in front of the camera like, what are those? Yeah.

Hannah Storm with Hannah Storm. Because if you miss them, you feel asked out. Your friend's like, did you see them? Oh, I missed it. Like, of course, right? We lived in a time where Innovate was so crazy that now when you look back at it, they're selling, like, it's just so crazy that the same shoe that we grew up on that was like $160 is selling for like $330 now. Yeah, it's crazy. And selling out. And when we're growing up, it's sitting on the shelf for $160.

Now you wake up in the morning, you wake up at 10.05, the shoes glass. Yeah, it's wild though. And you're right. It has a lot to do with the fact that kids have so much exposure to stuff, social media, internet, and on demand too. Whenever they want to see it, they can see it. Whereas we had to ride the bus out to the mall to take a look at it, the sneaker, and you didn't have the money at the time and you'd have to save up for it. But yeah, that hype wasn't there.

That whole, I need it right now type of culture was not there. The whole reselling culture was not there. Oh man, I didn't get to start on that. But yeah, no, I mean, it definitely brings me back to, you know, those simpler times where, you know, you were able to just, you know, find a shoe that you liked, made sure that nobody else had that shoe and then be able to rock the shoe and be proud because you were able to express something that you loved, right?

It didn't matter that somebody else, or sorry, it didn't matter, you know, trying to be like somebody else. You wanted to be unique and that's what it was all about. And I think, you know, you made a good point in terms of just, you know, all these other brands too.

You could roll up to school in a different brand and you could still have that same effect of loving your sneaker and, you know, being, you know, just, just being able to express yourself and be proud of, of what you're rocking because you liked it. And I feel like we've lost that right now. Like people just need to have what everybody else has in order to feel like, you know, that shoe is mean something to them. But I think it comes from a thing of understanding too, right?

Cause in the, in the nineties, we had so much variety. That's. Cause I don't know, like you're a Scarborough man. So you know, like a roots man, like a reggae man had their style and like the Hauser's had their style and everyone had their style. But for some reason they're all rocking sneakers.

Yeah. Right. It was like, it was like the, the sock down, everybody was hitting hard and then everything else was like, so, cause I, I just realized that like, I remember seeing like Hauser's rocking, like, like what was the shoe that they was always rocking in high school? Like they were all black. What was that all black shoe?

Mata's the ACG I think it's the Mata Plus, but all black I know the shoe you're talking about I don't remember what the houses were rocking but it was just like the shoes like everybody paid attention to the shoes and it was very.

Enlightening to me because like, no one cared about what people thought about them but for some reason they paid attention to the shoes especially in Scarborough I don't know what it was at other places but growing up in Scarborough like shoes was a big big deal it was right so, and sometimes you can even like I remember you can even talk to certain girls and you never took good shoes.

That's for sure no the girls noticed too yeah because they had good shoes because remember the thing that people never talk about and I'm still hurt to this day is that women had the best of both worlds especially when it came to Air Max they had all those soft pastel colors and I think rock ours as well I hated them for that, remember that purple gradient Air Max 95 of course damn so angry about that Yeah. And if I find them in my size, I'm buying them to this day. But like,

they had the best of both worlds. And like, they knew it. And especially the girls that were Rocky sneakers, they knew that they had the best of both worlds because they had their allotment, because they had Lady Foot Locker at the time, and they had their allotment of stuff. And then they could rock a WiiWare. And if you didn't have a game and your shoes are mashed, they let you know. Oh, they knew, yeah. They let you know. They let you know for sure. They invented one of those. Yeah.

They started that trend that's a that's a 90s trend what are those yeah without using that exact line but yes you know but i mean like yeah i mean time thinking about back in the day and in how we grew up and the way we consume sneakers and even the way that you know we found out about sneakers you were still able to build you know whatever collection that you could or rotation that you could because you just love sneakers but fast forward to now like what

does your collection look like now like what you know what would you say are some of your favorite are you still like nike and jordan through and through or you know branch out to other brands still i've i've grown up and started being diversified the collection because comfort matters a lot now especially with the prices yeah so i've i have quite a few asic gels gel threes and gel fives.

New balance 574s what else do i rock i know it's like sacrilegious now but i have a whole bunch of yeezys like 350s yeah i have tons of those because those are funny story about those that i was not i was angry at him for leaving nike so i was like you're an idiot i'm never wearing your shoes and then i went to the watch the throne concert and i saw him running all over the damn stage and those things i was like there's no way those can't be comfortable he's behaving like that

yeah like the next day like i was like literally i was so he sold me on the concert because he's like running all over the place and i was like jumping off speakers i was like you know what's this guy doing i was like let me see what these shoes are about and i bought a pair and i remember i went to my room closed the door and i tried them on i was like oh man these are like the most comfortable shoes ever and then since

then and then obviously there's controversy now but that's probably one of the, for me, one of the first times I actually. The loyalty kind of, because I was like 100%. But then when I got ahold of those, I was like, wait a minute, this is on something. Right. And it's not only, I can't say it's just his shoes. I think it's the boost because even the AE ones, incredibly comfortable. So, you know, yeah, I, I try to be very diverse because there's a lot, a lot out there.

It's just for me now I'm more about the comfort than I am about the flash. Right so luckily the stuff that's comfortable is flashy so like the air max ones have been beautiful right over the last yeah over the last i'll say four or five years because the guys at capsule laugh at me because literally they'll come online and they'll see my my name in the basket.

Another order from jeff listen man when i the funny story about those guys is that when i went in person to pick up shoes because i usually buy everything online yeah one day to pick them up and they asked your number and email and the guy was going like this on the screen yeah and then he called the guy from the back he's like this is that guy i'm like oh it's like he's scrolling yeah yeah so i was like it's you know i i like personally i like supporting those kind of stores

because i like the the family feel of it yeah because the big box stores as much as they do have things i find that part of the sneaker culture is being able to go to these boutique stores and have these conversations because they actually care more about the culture than say, the generic footlocker worker right so that's what i'm saying things like the air the air jordan one release stuff like that you get that kind of feel because they know you're about the culture,

right rather than i stand in front of a store and then when somebody gets them before me i jack them that culture i'm not about yeah of course yeah i know you never want you never want to associate you know the stuff that we love with violence and and negativity and things like that and you know like we, we talked about just being a kid and you know, your, your parents associating sneakers with like drug dealers.

My parents always associated it with, you know, if you have nice shoes, somebody is going to rob you for them. Right. Because that was a, that was a lot of, you know, a lot of the news was people getting jumped for their sneakers. And my dad was always like, no, you can't have Jordans because somebody is going to rob you for them. Right. Like there's, there's a negative stigma towards it because of just the way the culture was back then. But you know, you're talking about boutiques and stores.

Like these stores like Capsule and Livestock and whatever, like these smaller boutiques, they sort of encompass that whole feeling of, you know, Foot Lockers and Champs and Athletes World and whatever. Back then. That we grew up with. Yeah. You know, you go in and you talk to the employees and the employees actually cared. You go into these Foot Lockers and JD Sports and, you know, whatever the store is now.

And you get this like 16-year-old kid who's just there for the paycheck and they don't even really give a shit. You're not really having conversations with them. You're just asking for the size. They go back and they bring it to, they bring it to, they've got it. Right. That's, you know, the, the extent of, you know, and you know, I don't want to speak. You know, generally, but I haven't had many interactions where it was like, how do you generally, you're right.

Like you're a hundred percent right. Like this whole, this, this group basically started on exactly that principle, right? Like Rich came into a foot locker.

I was working, we would chop it up. and like that's how we kind of all started to connect in some way right like yeah but you don't have that anymore like no it's lost you know jeff you talk about going into like store like or sorry one you were talking about when you're in in spain and you're going into stores and people are noticing your shoes like i've i don't feel like i have that anymore like people at foot locker i feel like are ignoring me when

i've been there like they talk more to their you know their co-workers than they do with the actual customers in the store yeah 100 is what i find well so it's and as i said like i don't the culture is much different now because it's like. Everything's available one way or another whether it be on social media, you know, the internet, whatever the case is, like, you had to pay attention when people had stuff because you may never see it again, right?

So, like, if you saw that guy who had the Jordans on that you've never seen before, or the guy who had, like, this pair of Agassiz that you've never seen that colorway before because, like, his parents would take him to, like, say, Florida every summer. Like, these are the things that you have to pay attention to because now I can't show it to you because I can't pull up my phone now and show it to you.

I have to explain it to you, right? So, I got to pay attention because, like, one of my things that I do when I go into shoe stores and stuff like that is my rule is that if you ask me what i have on my foot that means i don't need to buy anything at that store right right you're like what where do you get those from okay there's nothing in here for me like literally that's like if what i have on my foot is shocking you then there's nothing in here for me yeah that's an easy in and out for me,

it's like oh man where you get those from i'm out yeah i never thought about that way but it's it's it's a good gauge right because you know like you you'd expect somebody to to to know at least you know i don't expect everyone to know the history everyone's going to start somewhere yeah but if you're in your if you're in the industry of you know sneaker and and re sneaker retail you would think that they'd have some knowledge of you know what's out there right the base of it because i.

Don't even know everything but i can respect it because i'll ask whether you know what are those or respect nice kicks whatever the case is but if i wear something and your mind is blown and you're supposed to be selling shoes i'm like yeah i guess i don't gotta be here like yeah i remember i went into the night store was it fairview and i had on the the air max one west sorry, night coasts on with the the feather as a swoosh oh yeah yeah yeah yeah and

they called each other to come look at my shoes i'm like bro you guys work here your your company makes these things Like, well, you've never seen them before, but I'm like, bro, you guys made these like, Yo, where do you get those from? I'm out. Yeah. I'm out. Home time. Like, you know, like, yeah, there's nothing in here for me. And I think, yeah, I had that same, I had that same interaction too. When the, the Mocha, Mocha One Lows came out.

And then I went into a Champs or a Foot Locker or something here in Hamilton. And I went, I was like, oh, I'm looking for the Mocha One Lows. And this girl's like, what the hell are those?

She's like, oh, and she, she, she brought me over to show me a bunch of jordan one lows and i'm like no no no i want the mocha colorway one and i had to pull it up on my phone to show her and she's like oh i don't know when those are coming out i'm like they're releasing today like they released today like you work here and you don't even know they're releasing today no uh and she's showing me these like yellow jordan one lows she's like oh we have

these jordan one lows these are nice i'm like you don't understand i'm looking for a specific parent i'm just like what am i doing here man yeah that hurts my soul that hurts my soul like I wish and I'm this will bring you guys back I wish, that there'd be like a sneaker store and it'd be like consumers distributing you fill out the, catalog you fill out your form there's a little conveyor roller you just wait, you come up and put the box on the counter you look through the boxes like okay

I'll take these ones and you keep those ones back. Yeah and it should be like how Price Club was before they made it for everybody like you have to have like a certain amount of clout before you go in these places so you go under your order shoes there's nothing to talk about they bring them out for you it's good but yeah as i said it's the availability and not only for the product but for the information because i mean like there's a different type of love coming from where i'm coming from

versus what it is now and i'm not knocking anybody i just can't stand the.

The disrespect of how great the culture is and how they're just downplaying it because it's, it's a flossy thing rather than a respect thing that drives me nuts. But also, I mean, it also, you know, it also kind of sheds light on just how these companies respect the culture too, because I find that if you actually cared about, you know, the product you're selling, if it's sneakers, for example, you train your staff to do that.

And I know when Trev was working there, they, you know, he was saying that they would have representatives from Nike, from Reebok, from Adidas to come in, explain the sneakers to them, tell them what it's about so that they can tell the customers about it. I feel like they don't do that anymore.

In fact, I think, I don't think they do that anymore at all, but you know, it was one of those things where, yeah, like you said, you would go in there because you're, you're also learning about stuff too, but you'd ask them because essentially they're supposed to be the subject experts, right?

It's like, if I go to a butcher and i go in there and i'm asking for a certain you know type of cut of meat or whatever i'd expect them to know and be able to suggest something to me i shouldn't have to go there and guess or or learn with you that doesn't make sense you know you're the one that's working there you should be telling me what i'm getting what i should be you know but i also think it comes down to like like i was saying earlier is that there was so much attached to it back in

the day that it's it you had to be more knowledgeable of the product like jordan was wearing jordans so you were watching jordan yeah agassi was wearing agassi so you're watching like larry johnson was wearing you know the converse so you're like you know about these people so you have some sort of knowledge of the shoe and the person whereas now it's just i'm just buying them it's like yeah yeah one of my biggest gripes that i've spoken to

nike reps like high up reps about this is that when you take them like if there's a jordan silhouette that has nike here on the back and you put a jump man on it it's no longer jordan to me because nike air is supposed to be on the back. I don't care what colorway you put on there. The original silhouette should have Nike on it. Once you slap the jump man on the back, it's no longer Jordan to me.

And they make some beautiful colorways, but once you put that Jordan or they put like the jump man in air, I'm like, nah, that's not, and I've actually spoken to like the president of Nike in Canada about that. And she's like, what's the big deal? It's like, just because a shoe sells doesn't mean you did it right. Right. Right. And that's the problem that happened with it is that they know it's going to sell anyway, so they don't care. They just, oh, just put it out there. Right.

And for me, it's about. Once you take that part of it off, it's no longer the same shoe to me. Like, I get it. People are going to buy it, but it's not a Jordan to me anymore. It's some generic four that you've made to just sell shoes. Yeah, exactly. Right? Like Rich was explaining about, for example, the fours, right? The fours, when they re-released them and they had the jump out of the back, I just walked by them. As soon as I saw the Nike on the back, I was sold. Yeah.

You know what I mean? It was a no-brainer for me. Once you put it the way I remember it, I'm buying it. Even like the fives. When they made the fives and they re-released it like in the OG colorway, but they had the jump man in the back, they could stay on the shelf for all I care. Once you put the Nikkei in the back, take my money. And it's like, they're so uncomfortable, but it's like the nostalgic reason of like the great fives are coming out.

Most uncomfortable shoe i'm buying them fresh prints at them i guess it's like it sounds stupid but it's a no-brainer to me because it's nostalgic there's a nostalgic attachment to it so it's like i remember seeing fresh prints on the front of tv guide in the chair with those shoes yeah yeah yeah right everyone that's like a picture we all saw because no one's like what the hell is fresh prints doing on tv guide and then fresh prints came out and he's like rocking all the best shoes and

it's like you're calling your parents not to only watch a show but look those are the shoes talk about those. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Why do you want those big, ugly yellow shoes? I don't care. I want them. Well, it was a style thing too, right? You know, that was, that was the fashion. That was the trend. You know, we looked up to him too. And, and, and he was popular at the time. And he wasn't Flavor Flav. And he wasn't Flavor Flav. That's right. There you go.

But I mean, you know, we grew up in an era where we watched not just, you know, TV and these personalities or whatever but we watched the evolution of sneakers as as we mentioned earlier but you know being it that it's air max day today uh you've been rocking air maxes air max one was the sneaker that kind of started it all for you too you know when did you like was it that moment when you got your first air max from panda panda shoes was that when you fell in love with it

or you know did it did it did that love it's a bit of everything because it was the process right like.

Discovering something new that i didn't i no one else had because no one i'd never seen an air max one before i just thought the jordans so discovering it that was that hype was amazing the reaction from people when they saw it was amazing but then there's also that feeling of confidence in those shoes right like it's just a it's just a feeling of being in those shoes and i just as i said like when i got those shoes i was like this is the best feeling ever it's

never could get any better than this. And they just started releasing more and more. And I'm like, It kept getting better and better and better. And I was like, this is crazy. And that's only one type of shoe, right? Like the Air Maxs were coming out and then everybody was starting to get their signature shoes and it was like madness. But the Air Max to me was like the most, I guess, foundational shoe for me because, it was like a running shoe, right?

Like the running shoe, like when we were growing up, like every company had like a running shoe and the Air Max was like the running shoe.

Everything else like as a specialty shoe like the jordan was the basketball shoe and everything but air max was like the running shoe and as it evolved so did so did my respect for the culture so that's why i tie my love for shoes through the air max line which i found out that when i did my own research that i guess i'm like the biggest stinker hatfield fan because all the shoes that he made pretty much is what i it's like he knew how to make shoes for me yeah yeah yeah it was

almost like you know when when you kind of gravitated towards a certain design at the time you didn't know who the designer was but now that you know and you're older it all makes sense it's almost like when you grew up and you listen to like primo beats or something like you always knew you loved those types of beats and then you realize oh primo produced all these beats and you're like now i understand why i love all these beats exactly i feel like air max

was one of those things too where you're right like when i when i first saw air max i never owned you know the the air max one but my cousin had the sneaker and i saw that i saw it it kind of fell in love with it but you saw the evolution of air maxes onto other sneakers too and it kind of like you know broke it broke ground into the basketball world so you saw barclays have them you saw pennies have them right like so it kind of all transcended upon itself where i loved seeing

barclays and and just all the air balls all you know like.

Tempos and those tempos exactly like you were saying like oh how where are they going to put more air how is this going to get better and then the next week you'd see you know a new air max sneaker and it was just a full length air bubble on a basketball shoe or on a running shoe and you know i think the craziest release that i remember that was so controversial amongst the guys and stuff like that was the 97s the dan o'briens because they were released for the olympics i'm

like you know like this silver shoe is ugly and i remember i'm buying this right now like i was like i was the same way i was like i don't care what you guys think and it had 3m on it i'm buying it right now see i didn't even get the the silver one i got the atlantic blue one so for me it was like again everyone had the silver or everyone wanted the silver one and i didn't end up getting that but for me it was like i got the blue one and it was different from everybody else yeah but i love

that sneaker it was like so futuristic. And i just felt like with that full length air bubble too it was like look how much air is on it. It was just, yeah, it was great.

Insane and that's what i'm saying like that's why i think the air max i think the air max line sets the standard for what the air pockets look in most shoes it's like the foundation of what was happening right because like i said like when i saw the i'll say one of the most the craziest shoe i saw i think that blew my mind in the air max was the 93s and i only saw them in florida they didn't really have them here i remember they had like we did sports but

i didn't see many people rocking them here but when i went to florida everyone and their mom had.

Because the colorway was the florida gators right like one of the og color yeah yeah okay so everyone is rocking these shoes i'm like what the hell are these i remember the back the bubble was like the full back yeah it was yeah yeah yeah there was no separation it wasn't encased yeah and i was like why is this guy's laces tied what's that like my whole like because the harachi sock the air like everything was like what is happening to shoes like it was so

crazy so that's what i'm saying like the air max for me is like the standard of what everything else branches out to right like it just it starts with the air max and then they just take that technology they start bouncing it around and stuff like that no yeah not saying that like no other things happen but it just seems as though the air max sets the standard for what they're going to do because like even for me the most recent air max that kind of

blew my mind and i fought it with the hardest i could was the vapor max i was like man these things are so ugly but i couldn't stop looking at them i'm like ah and then i can't wear them in the rain but have to have a pair like it's like it's just like i was fighting it so much and then i eventually bought a pair and being flat footed i'm like you know these things are comfortable and breathable they're amazing right so that that's what i like or

i loved about sneaker culture is like the evolution of testing what you're really willing to to play with and i think that's what the air max really did is like they tested.

Your your risk factor because right it takes it takes a lot during those times to be the first to do something so because the first a lot of times when the things came out a lot of people like oh those are ugly okay i'll do it first it's like little that's how sneaker culture was like okay you don't want to do i'll get it yeah you get it and then once people like yo those are crazy but i had them first because remember that was the thing back and they had them first.

That's like how the 95s and the 97s and the Air Light 2s and all those things. When you're the first to have them, at least you had that cloud to say that. Now you have Instagram and stuff like that so you could take a picture. But people would be like, yeah, so-and-so had them first. And that's kind of the thing that was, no matter what colorway, whatever people got, you were the first to do it. So I found with Air Max is that Air Max would come out and then everything would follow suit.

You know what I mean? So that's why I really love the Air Max culture is that, It seems to be downplayed because it's not tied to any celebrity or athlete, but it seems to be the most important foundational shoe of the Nike line, in my mind, for me, because the Air technology goes in all their shoes, and it's based off the Air Max. Yeah. Right? And they have different types of Air, like the Zoom Air and all those two-air and all kind of stuff like that, but it all started in 86.

Yeah. with that that's why for me it's the most important is because i had to start somewhere and now because i don't know what happened within their design team that they're going back to the silhouette of the one and putting out all these crazy colorways and all these things like i'm in heaven because now the thing i love has all these different varieties that i get to love rather than seeing all these new shoes come on like wasting money and time you can

just take something that's perfect yeah it's better because even this new thing with the. Big head origins like the super yeah yeah sorry N64 I guess I think Gold and I they're doing one for they did one for like Tomb Raider yep the Donkey Kong Country one came out today yep not here I'm hurt but yeah.

But like you know they're doing things I think it's called the Polygon Poly yeah Poly Air Max yeah but it's like it's cool but they don't change the bass they just play with the silhouette and that's what i think was really cool about the air max is that it's one of the most forgiving shoes for you to allow you to do those kind of things,

right? Yeah. No, it makes sense. And you're right. Like, I feel like it was the reason why I gravitate towards Air Max is too, especially when I was in high school was, you know, they were, they were a lot more affordable than, you know, Jordans, for example, but they did have a bunch of different colorways.

And then it still had the evolution of, you know, a Jordan, for example, where the next year they would have a new design, a new look, more air, whatever the case was, different types of midsoles, things like that. So you could have the next new thing and watch it evolve, but then still be mesmerized by the fact that they're putting more air on the sneaker where you didn't think that they could.

But yeah, it was like, you know, you had a base of a sneaker and then they just had design elements that sort of accentuated that too.

I remember when the Air Max 95s came out too, the Air Max 95 was just like mind blowing just in terms of just that mid sole with that you know the back but then at the front you had those two bubbles at the front as well but then that upper so simple but so like advanced at the same time right that gradient yeah right so but yeah i think uh air max is just one of those things where i feel like it's downplayed because a lot of people just feel that feel like it's not as

maybe flashy as yeah as like a jordan or something like that but at the same time all these design elements people don't take that into account right it's less is more right like i think i think what's happening now with the evolution of stinkers is less is more i think that's why all the retros are doing really well because as much as at the time when they're coming out they were crazy like did you

see such and such but compared to what's coming out now it's like simple like how's the jordan 11.

Most like sought after shoe on christmas and it's just basically a patent leather shoe with a different colorway every year and it's yeah right right like they're releasing five of them this year and i'm buying them all i'm already talking those guys i'm i'm upset because i'm gonna drive a whole bunch of money on gamma blues and you know like it's it's synonymous with the memory for me but for me it's kind of like it's such a simple shoe but it says so much right whereas

you have like all these other guys like the jama rants and the whatever the case because i was just reading an article the other day and it said that the more simple shoes that they've released for these newer athletes are doing better than these high flute ones like the book one like a d book yeah i was just gonna say the book one is selling out and then even like when kairi was at night his stuff was simple but all the kids loved it right

the the sponge bobs and also like they loved it because it was like a simple silhouette that you could just throw stuff on yeah but then you have all these other guys like the lebrons and stuff like that where it's like 270 bucks for a shoe that is uncomfortable and crazy but because it's lebron it's whatever but yet as great as you want to say lebron is his sneaker line has never even touched jordan's no not even close and but you have his fan base like that's

what i'm saying like you have this fan base is telling us that he's the goat but you guys don't support him other than saying he's a goat jordan was the goat completely. We're drinking Gatorade, eating Frank's, buying shoes, you know, Wheaties. Yeah. You know, we wanted to be like, being like Mike was a thing.

Running around with your tongue sticking out, biting it all the time because you're an idiot. Like. We wanted to be like Mike. That bad. And that's why the culture is that, like, people wanted to be like Bo. People wanted to be like Agassi, you know, Michael Chang, Dee Brown, Larry Johnson, Charles Barkley, Sean, like we wanted to be these people and we encompassed everything about them. So to call these people the goat and their shoes the goat, it's not the same.

And that's why I think like you're saying, because.

A lot of the stuff that we came up on shoes wise and sneaker and sneaker culture it's simple, but it's perfect it's like yeah you you have the air max one it's a very simple color like a very simple silhouette silhouette yeah change two or three things on it and it's like what the hell is like the greatest thing ever right and then the thing that i like too is that these bigger companies are now doing collabs that are making the shoe even crazier right like something that's

i was talking it was it a sneaker closet and i was telling him i was like one of the things that i find crazy about the air max one now is that when they put the little swoosh on the toe box oh the mini swoosh no the small one like the little one on the mini swoosh on the toe yeah that completely changes you oh complete like the complete like it's like a sucker for that mini yeah charge me an extra 50 bucks i'll pay you yeah yeah oh yeah that mini swoosh is everything is everything nike id

as well like being able to design your own sneakers too on nike id having different things collab like yeah you mentioned collabs as well like it's just one of those things where you you take the base of that air max one and you change little things and it just speaks volumes right you know the just most read like just recently supreme dropped an air max when you talk about simple yeah you know it was definitely a simple,

in terms of the colorway yeah like but they had the mini swoosh they had the branding on it did I want it to be a little bit. More than what it was. Yes, personally, but you're right. I think one of those things that the route that they took was less is more, right? You just have a simple, solid colorway. You have some little branding and then you have that mini swoosh and you keep the sneaker the way that it was.

Trevor and I, we, you know, we agreed or we had a lot of discussions about when Travis Scott did his Air Max and I was like, he went too far.

I think he just changed it up too much where it was like it wasn't an air max one anymore you know and i didn't like that so there's a fine line but in the end it's almost like less is more keep it simple and that's where the love for the air max at least for the air max one silhouette comes in yeah yeah it's funny that you talk about the nike id thing is i have banned myself from that because i if if i get on that i would be my background

gonna be a cardboard box on young street yeah yeah because i'd be homeless i have nice shoes but i'd be homeless but man when i was playing around it's like no i gotta get off this thing because it's just the amount of variety and colorways and then what was the name of that company that they had that that british company that has like pendleton oh god when pendleton the wool the wool yeah yeah yeah oh when that thing i when i found that out

i was like nah man And I actually stayed off a computer for a week because of that. Oh, you can go overboard with that. I remember just with Nike ID, just having at least 15, 20 designs banked and just being like, should I pull the trigger? Should I pull the trigger? My cart had a comma on it. I'll just say that. It was a comma. I was like, wait a minute. Carry the four. Yeah. Track two. Can I pay it with fucking, you know, can I sizzle this? Call it my mortgage broker.

So if I downsize my house. Yeah. But it's like, it's, it's what, this is what I learned about the sneaker culture is that like we talked about less is more, but even something as crazy as like the Witherspoons, when those came out, use the base. The sole is the, the Air Max one. Yeah. Then he took the upper from the, the 97 and then put like the, the gradient colorway with the corduroy stuff like that. But it was so simple.

But crazy at the same time right and i remember when it came out i was like oh no no i'm not getting it i couldn't get a pair of them but i remember when i saw them in person the amount of, sneaker envy i had because it was so simple but crazy at the same time yeah right and it was an air max day shoe as well like it came out they voted on it it was yeah and it came out and i was like that's. That is what I think the sneaker culture should go as because I think heads

deserve to be part of the creation process. We spend a lot of money. Yeah. You should be part of the process. Like they've bombed so many times with a lot and I'm not knocking them because I guess it's the, but like these, whatever the, whatever these ones are bringing out now, like the last few years, I'm like, what in the hell are these things? The RNs and TNs. I can't even put like, yeah, it was like a DN, I think. DN8. Yep. Yeah. Like they're, they're not, they're not for me.

It might be for them but there's a reason why i could go to a store and it's on the shelf, yeah right that to me is like that's that's tells a lot like if i wake up the next day and all i could do is look at them online and it says sold out in the bottom you've done something special yeah right and i think that these brands not only night but all these brands should trust their customer base because we'll tell them what we like and we don't like like it's easy market research for them.

Oh, absolutely, yeah. It's very easy for them because... They just have to scroll through comments sometimes and find out what they need. We'll tell them what we like and we don't like and then we'll buy it. There's certain things you can't mess it up. I'll give you a perfect example. I'm not the biggest Ford guy like the Air Jordan Ford, but I saw the Nigel Sylvester's. I was like, mini swoosh, brick air, buying.

Storyline right yeah buying like you know there was you didn't have to say you you change the bike and you put a mini swoosh on it and then the advertising yeah easy you didn't and that's what we grew up on like we grew up on you know like certain like little details but also materials and colorways but also that story too right and and and that that sold it for us you know that's all we needed like

you talk about advertising and all that stuff we were like marketing was huge when we were younger. And the thing about it too is like, you want to talk about simple, we could go to a different silhouette. The Hirachi trainer. Growing up, those shoes were like grail for me, but they were hard to get because they didn't have many varieties. They released them, we'll say maybe six or seven years ago in every colorway on earth to the point where Catholic school kids are wearing the black ones

at school every day. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

There's such a simple shoe where they say so much, right? It's like a cross trainer slash whatever you want to call it, but you change one or two details on it, it's crazy, right? Like, you could have an all-black pair, and then they made this one for, I think, the girls, and it had, like, a rose, like, kind of thing on it. Yeah, like, little detailing. But that completely changed the shoe. Yeah. Right? And...

Something that was we took for granted back then because i remember the harachis came out and they were got they were gone like poof like they came out i think for like two or three years and then they were gone yeah and then they re-released them and i remember when i saw them for the first time i saw them in vegas at shoe palace and i remember literally i was in the food court eating and i went in with my food and said i want this whole like little like jay-z in in streets is

watching 10 and a half like because i didn't know when the next time i'm going to see these again and then literally they start coming out more and more and more colorways are coming out it was great because to me it's like it was such a simple shoe but it said so much yeah right and that's what you talk about the air max stuff like this very simple shoes but it says so much about you your collection even how you rock them like do you tie them do you do you not

tie them do you use all the you use all the holes like how do you like everything is like a very for me it's a very, telling thing of how you rock the shoe yeah yeah it can be very personal for sure everyone has their touch right yeah for sure lace swaps things like that whatever the case is this box is amazing.

But you know you you you you talked a little bit about you know air max day releases the sean willerspoons having people involved and things like that you know back when you know back when you know canada just in general i want to say canada in general you know, Back when we were buying sneakers, it wasn't a thing. But then we started to get Air Max Day events and activations and things like that.

Unfortunately, I think with COVID, we saw a huge decline because we weren't able to go in person to do these things anymore. But over the years, were there any activations, ads, or even releases that stuck out to you that we were able to experience here in the city? For me, let me think about this.

For me I think one of the proudest moments and to this day I've still heard about this one is when they did the Air Max 1 Canada the 6, to me that was a moment where I was like you know what we're on the radar now, right because not only was it a Toronto release the shoe was amazing. Because they did it they did it in a way where showed that Canada, because they winterized the air pocket, right? Like they, they, they, so I was like, they like pointed it out, right? Exactly.

So you understand us. And I think I saw, I touched on it earlier, but I think like the, when they did the cement fours, the white cement fours, all-star weekend, um, in NBA all-star weekend, the same weekend where they released the Drake's, Drake's, I think that's when it resonated to me that, you know what we're on a different level now yeah because i remember i was i was doing my website i was doing coverage and i remember that people were coming from the states to try

and buy all like they were lining up oh yeah i met i met so many americans that weekend and they came in racks like 20 g's yeah try and buy as many pairs as they could and it was like i didn't realize.

That it was so prominent now in toronto that they now knew they had to come here to get what we had yeah right and like with the air max day releases and stuff like that like i thought, they were getting better and better but i think they need to stay to the foundational shoes like, as far as the vapor max release that was probably the far as far as i'd go with it but when they did the air max ones um with the the yellow sole and that's a

great way of doing it because it represents the day there's other siloets obviously you could do it with but once you start like releasing these other types of shoes i think you're losing the moment like you said like i think you have to stick with the foundational shoes because that's it seems that air max day is important to us not to them because it represents us going down memory lane and we could have conversations like this whereas for the new school guys

it's just like oh that's a new thing I might have with whatever the case is. Like for me. It's a way for me to showcase my collection as well as the other people's collection. Yeah. And I love it too. And have fun doing it. Like there's no jealousy, no animosity. I'm like, Oh man, those are crazy. I wish I had those or I got it. I got those too, but I'm putting them on. Like I'm having conversations with people. I've never spoke to in my life. Right. Because of shoes.

Right. And it's a mutual respect thing because I know it's an investment. I know how much these things cost. So I know you have a certain respect for it. Like I do without even have to talk, talking about it. And that's what I enjoy the most about the Air Max Day thing and the Air Max Month is that I get to see these people's collections.

But I do agree with you that I wish that there was more put on these releases because I think that if they respected us enough, they'd probably boost their sales in the sense of us showing them what we want. Because the ones that have sold out the most have been the ones that have been the simplest. All the Air Max ones that they've done on Air Max Day are all gone.

Yeah. Like all of them, all of the ones that did like all these new things, they stay on the shelf, but all the Air Max ones that they've released on Air Max, they are gone. Like they're gone right away. And that should show them that one, you know what we're talking about. And two, you don't have to give us much for us to be happy.

No that's a good point because when when the when we were talking about the water spoons but it was the year before that where they did the vote back air max day right and that's when the atmos air max one amazing retro right amazing but not only that that air max day i to this day that's like the best air max day in my opinion because they had the vote back so you could vote back which Grail you wanted to come back. The people voted for Air Max 1 at most, right?

But then you also had the Masters that came out, right? That was also an homage to a lot of the Grail Air Max 1s that came out. Because of the patches.

It had the patches on it. But not only that, they released the Anniversary Red 1s that year as well. They released the Anniversary Blues as well. All Air Max 1s. But the people had a say in those Air Max days.

And you felt like a part of the moment you felt like a part of the moment exactly like you just it's it's it's not about i i do appreciate the fact that they're coming out with new models too because when we were growing up you got the air max one then the air max two air max 90s then 90 like you know it just went on and on and on so i do like the fact that they're creating new stuff but now that we have this sort of celebration which

is kind of like created by the people and kind of taken taken and on by Nike to sort of continue that on, they should let, us have more part of it right i 100 agree with that and we're the consumer so it's almost being like an interactive consumer yeah because i think they've done an okay job with some of the like the new air maxes that have come out but the problem is is that like it's it's just a general shoe that you see on shelves it's not personal it's like a generic shoe it's

not a yeah it's not an air max released to me. It's a generic shoe that you're just trying to sew. Exactly. It's a shoe that you would walk into. A Foot Locker, a Champs, a JD Sports, Dick's Sporting Goods, whatever it is, wherever you are, right? It's just there. And anticipation is not there like it used to be. Yeah, like you're not looking forward to that model. I think the last good one they had was the 270. But again, it's the same thing though, right?

It's a pair of shoes that's just sitting on the wall and you can go in and get them. Like I have the dusty cactus pair. So like, yeah, that's the, that's the first colorway. And that's usually the one you want in those shoes. But like you can find a 270 sitting on the shelves and are all black, a little white, whatever the color is. Right. And you can go to Dixie, Dixie outlet model and get like a whole bunch of the box store. A hundred percent. A hundred percent. Yeah. I think, yeah.

And, and, oh, and sorry, speaking of that, at most that year of releases, that was when the VaporMax first released too. So that was the new model. and there was a huge hype behind it. Now, you know, you have, when they announced the DN, or, you know, the last year's one, they tried to do that same thing where they had, you know, you know, all like these big air bubbles at the back that were like the individual tubes.

So they try to build that same kind of like anticipation that they did with the VaporMax where the VaporMax was all like, basically the entire midsole was an air bubble essentially, right? But then the, I think they did it wrong because they just released like 10 different colorways on the same day and people were, it was oversaturated before it even had a chance to be saturated, right?

The thing about it too is that I think if you're going to do a shoe like that, where you plan to saturate the market and colorways and stuff like that, I think you have to be very confident in the silhouette. Yes. The first shoe I saw them do that with, where they wanted to go loud and proud, was the Two Nerd. Yeah. When they came with that blue, I remember walking in the mall and I said, what the hell is that blue shoe? I just remember saying, what is that blue shoe?

And it's like, the two near it. And I was like, what's this? The new shoe. I was like, I have to have it. And then I walked, because I used to go through Scarborough Town Center to go home. And I remember one day I was walking through the mall. I was like, what's that orange shoe? It's the two near it. Bag it. It was just all these different colorways, right? But it was like the same silhouette. But they did such a good job with the.

The upper even though it's like a very comfortable shoe but the way the silhouette was is like it went with all these different like the tiger stripe thing and the gradient blue and then the gradient orange and then they had like white and it like it would just like it still sells to this day yes and now they use it for like the air max plus like air max plus vapor max yeah right i think it was the silhouette though what's that i said i believe it was the silhouette right It just looked,

it didn't matter what color you put on that shoe. Like that TN, like I remember those dropped, even the all black. I had the all black back in the day. It was just like, it didn't matter what color came out in those. We just ate those up. But that blue and orange, staples. Yeah. The first colorway was the blue. And I remember you could see that from anywhere in the mall. Set it off, man. Set it off. That shoe, and remember, we're in Toronto. Blue Jays, blue this, like, yo, give me that shoe.

Right? So it was amazing. so to me it's not even about like not doing new things i think you just need to take the time and energy to put like actual goods like like you're saying like if you put the time into these things we'll buy them but just don't throw us these generic shoes and say yeah this is the new one.

Take the time do the ads like and the funny thing is sometimes less is more because like what as i said when we came up i remember the ads for shoes was like you see the back of the shoe and a phone number. Yeah, right. Yeah, yeah. Remember, like, it'd be like the Airbags 95 and you just see, like, the phone number. Like, I have to call the phone number now. Yeah, yeah. I don't even know what the hell's going to, like, it could be a recording. I don't know, but I have to call. That's the ad.

Yeah, it was almost like a teaser. Like, they gave you a little teaser of what it was, right? You never got to see the full shoe. You kind of almost had to, like, do your research, look into it, and then they would do different parts of it, you know, and then show you a little bit more of it. And you're right. I think that's the way that you build anticipation. It's not like, okay, next year, this is a sneaker and whatever.

And I feel like they did that with the VaporMax where they kind of hinted towards the fact that it was going to be like a full midsole air bubble type of thing. And then it got people interested. And then when it came out, that silhouette just blew up. Now it's just like, okay, the next year is going to be a DN. It's going to be three, you know, four air bubble tubes. And then here's 10 colorways of it. Right. It just almost felt very impersonal. Like they didn't try to make you

like the sneaker. They just kind of dumped it on you. Yeah. And the funny part is while they're releasing these new ones, they're releasing a whole bunch of retros. Yeah. To me, it's kind of like, you obviously know they're not doing, it's not working for you. So you have to go back to the retros. Right. So if we're telling you we don't want these, stop putting them out and ask us what we want. Right? So it's like, it's mind-blowing.

So like, for example, a place like Toronto where we have all, Canada where we have all different weather types. Why have they not retro the ACGs more? Yeah. Yeah, yeah. ACGs would be perfect at our climate. You know what I mean? Like the wintertime, the whole point of having ACGs was that you didn't have to wear those nasty Napoleon Dynamite boots at school. You know what I mean? Yeah. Now I can wear cool shoes in the snow. Yeah. I don't have to wear these.

Be functional. Yeah. Exactly. Right. Cause you could convince your parents like these are for all conditions. So now in the wintertime I'm wearing, I'm rocking knees. Like my mom's not going to be like, put on your boots. No, no, I got the, you know what I mean? So yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. These, these were functional things. And it's like in the climate that we have now, why are you not putting out these shoes and the gear and the, and like you're retro in the wrong things. Right.

Cause like, to me it's like, okay, you can retro jordan ones all you want i'm not wearing them in the snow and i'm not i'm not rocking any jordans in the snow so it's it's like you're saying like i don't understand how their market research is because when they did those voting things for air max day and stuff like that everybody was on it yeah and then they just i don't know if they rotate their staff i don't know what's going on over there but

if your whole if the majority of your sales and what you're making your money on is as retros, then listen to the people that, that, do the retro stuff. Yeah, that are buying the retros, yeah. Or, like, you're seeing that people are, like, you're having release events with white gloves for Jordan 1s. Right? You're having, like, all these Jordan, they're retroing pretty much every single Jordan this year.

And people like me are going to go through this because of the 8s, the 11s, like, it's just too much. But I got to have them all, right? So, like, me, like, well, the first pair of Jordans I actually had were the 8s.

Like the Space Jam not the Space Jam sorry the Hair Jordan ones so for me it's nostalgic because I remember watching the Super Bowl commercial, and I remember going to Syracuse at March and they had March Madness there and I remember I bought the shoes and I snuck them into school, and I had the Air Raid you know the Air Raid strap yeah the straps yeah straps and I was like you don't have them and I pulled them out the bag like styling on everybody and I put them back in.

So it's like those kind of things will make me go and buy those shoes. Yeah. Right? I wish, for the sake of the culture, that it evolves and it brings out more new things that not only I get to participate in, but the next generation gets to participate in. But if you have to keep going back to the retros and going back to the retros, which I don't mind, the culture's not going to grow. Yeah, it dilutes it almost.

And that's going to make this whole old head thing, where, oh, the old heads, well, you guys are living through our lens. Like you have your own stars in sports, yet like they're not doing anything for these stars in sports. Like their lines are terrible. I'm not knocking them, but like the book one looks like a smoothed out Air Force One. Yeah. Like it doesn't, it doesn't look like a tinker hat fill innovation. You know what I mean? Like. No, absolutely. I agree with you.

1000%. Right. And then it's, you know, I think what it is, is what you're trying to explain to is that, you know, this new generation needs their own identity too, right? 100%. So like we, when we grew up, it was, you know, we saw these things in real time. They need to experience that too. And I get it. Nike and Jordan, and even, you know, we're talking about Reebok, Adidas, all these brands are going back to the retro, vintage, whatever, because that's what people remember.

People that have money or disposable income or have the money to spend now on sneakers that they wanted back when they were younger are spending money on that. But the newer generation needs that identity too. They need to be able to grow up and be like, that VaporMax was, when I saw that come out, that was the newest shit. They need to have that feeling too, to sort of evolve, like you were saying.

I think Adidas still is doing a good job with that. I'll give Adidas a respect because with the Harden, not for me, but they've done a good job with the Harden. They've done a really good job with the AE1. I'm hoping the AE2 is good. But you could see that they've created a brand and a line for these people. And it's a loyal because I see players wearing them. I see kids wearing them. So obviously they're doing well. My niece, she plays basketball and I bought her a pair of the AE1s.

And then when I saw the rest, like there's a whole bunch of people, AEW ones, I was like, oh, like. It's a thing for them. And they're not wearing Jordans. They're wearing, like, he's doing it. Yeah, they're wearing Adidas. Yeah. Adidas is doing it. And this is an innovation. Like they created something new for a new player. So I'm kind of like, I like this because now she has something that she could say. When I first started playing basketball, I played in these.

Yeah, right. Like, you know, because like for when I started first playing basketball, seriously, I played in the, what do they call it? I want to make sure I say the name properly. The Nike Air Force 7, the 93s, the one with the zigzag strap. I don't remember. I can't remember. No, I can't remember. It's, um, how do I explain it? So it was like an Air Force with a bubble, but it has like a zigzag strap. It was on Fresh Prince all the time.

I probably saw it. I'm sure I saw it. But it's like, I can't. But you have to make sure you say 93 because if you search it, it's not going to come up. So it's like called a Nike Air Force 7, 93s. Okay. And it's had the zigzag strap. But that was like the basketball shoe at the time. and I remember it was great because you could go on East Bay and get how the colorways were. Yes. Right?

So that was the crazy part. So depending on what your team's colors were, you could go on East Bay and say, okay, we all want to have the, Ah, yes, I do know those shoes now. We sent it. Yeah. Should I put it in the chat? Yes, I know it. Do you remember that shoe? I do remember that shoe. So that shoe had the zigzag strap, it had an air rubble, and it had a Hirachi sock. So it was like the perfect 90s shoe. Yes. Right? And then when you weren't playing ball, you could unfasten the strap

and it was like hanging. So it gave you that 90s feel. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So you'd keep your jeans up, right? Yeah, I remember those joints.

Yeah. I do remember those. yeah so that those are like and then and then when east bay the east bay catalog will come out you can get them in like every color every college colorway yeah exactly right so you get your team and then you order them in bulk so you like 12 guys order them and get like a discount so that's what i'm saying like that was the basketball shoe for the team yeah whereas now you're seeing kids playing like in pardons or ae ones and stuff like that and i like seeing stuff

like that because you can only recycle what we have so long before it's like okay it's going to be dead because like.

You hear people complain like how many more jordans can they release well if they're going to keep selling them they're going to keep releasing them yeah right but if if you could change the game a bit and put something out that's different eventually people like okay let me try because even i was kind of like let me see what these ae ones are about and i tried them on i'm like yo these are yeezy basketball shoes right they're very comfortable they're so comfortable and i was like it makes sense

to play basketball shoes like this because the jordans are not comfortable yeah at all yeah and then not even just like you're not even talking retro jordans you're talking about like the newer like jordan 37 or whatever the funny thing is like the jordan that were most comfortable to play ball in were hard to manage i can't remember how was it the 17s whichever one had like the the flap thing on them the shroud so the 17s the 17s yeah the 17s they had the zoom air

most comfortable but if you played with the shroud thing on it it'd pop off all the damn time. It was pointless. I think that was just aesthetics. It was aesthetics, but I mean, once it came off, it looked like a, it was almost like a skeleton. I'm like, ah, put it back on, cover me, cover me. Yeah. But it, it was a very, very comfortable shoe for the design and it was one of the most giving ones because Jordan, I think it was the 11s or the 12s when he started putting that toe plate in.

Is this the 12? Like it was the 12, because remember you did that. No, the 10s, the 10s. Was it the 10s where the toe plate came in? Yeah, well, the toe cap thing was... Oh, the plate. There's like a plate in the shoe. So, like, when you go up on your toe, it's like a plate. Oh, oh, I thought you meant... It might be the 12s. Yeah, the 12s. Like, that lean, right? Yeah. That lean thing you did. Once they started putting that toe plate in, it was a wrap. Shoes were uncomfortable.

I was falling over for no reason. It's like sprinting for the ball and it's falling over. I'm like, the hell's going on with the shoe? Because it wouldn't bend away, right? So... Yeah. But as I said, like...

Even going back to the air max and stuff like that is like i could understand why this generation doesn't like the air max because it's just a shoe like to them it's just like something that's out there versus it was an innovation for me yeah we saw the evolution right like they they they go to the store and they have it like in six colorways like ah whatever for me it was like this was the thing this shoe started it for me and it will be the staple as to why i continue yeah and then.

It's like i don't know if you like if you've seen like those like memes and stuff like that where you see like a car driving and like the peel away layers and it keeps evolving that's how the air max is for me like it starts at the one and the peels away and then there's air max loop two and then the bw and just see it evolve into all these beautiful things realizing that i was there from the beginning and i had to wait years for that to happen yeah right whereas now you

can just google every blasted thing you see everything that i saw it took me like 20 plus years to get to see this process happens so for me i have a different love yeah i have a different love for it because i was like this is years of it in the making you know and then you get and then when you get it i just you see that tim k hatfield designed this and this person did that and then was it like sergio lazana or something like that he's the one that did the the 95 right yes and

then it was based off like exoskeletal like all this stuff that would be or something exactly right so no it's There's just so much, so much that's gone into them that it's like, we have a personal thing with it. Whereas for the person coming up now, it's just a shoe on the shelf. Yeah. Right. And there's, and there's variety. They don't have that. They don't have that sort of like tie to it. Like we have. Right.

And I, and I do wish to, I do wish for, you know, the people that are getting into stickers now to have that because it's something special. Like it brings you back to a certain time. Like when you, when they get older, when they're our age, I want them to feel like, oh, you know, I saw, you know, Anthony Edwards playing the sneaker and the, his line evolved to this or whatever.

Like kids never kids now, or sorry, I don't want to say kids, but just people, you know, that I guess that are into Jordans now that never watched Jordan play. It's, it doesn't have that same effect. Like they like it because it's popular. They don't like it because they watch Jordan play in it. it's part of their their what they call their their fits because like i said like you, I remember, as I said, like, I don't know how, but you'd emulate what he did. So, like, the final shot.

The amount of times people have done their shot, they're holding up their hand on the one he did on Brian Russell. Yeah, yeah. Because he did it, right? Yeah. And he had the shoes on. There's moments, there's all these moments he did things, and there's shoes that synonymous with.

Yeah. And that's what I'm trying, like, I don't, I don't know if you watch Space Jam in the theater, but I remember when I watched Space Jam in the theater, and the scene comes in with Daffy Duck and I think Porky Pig would get the shoes. And the kids are like, don't forget the shoes and they showed the Space Jams. Yeah. The amount of cussing and riling up they did in Scarborough Town and in the theater. When they saw the shoes?

People went wild. They went nuts. And I remember people ran out the theater right to Foot Locker. Yo, where's this? I need these Jordans. Right? Because it was crazy because it was like the complete reverse of what we've seen. Yeah. But I just remember that moment in the theater. People lost their minds. Like, that's a moment. People lost their minds. What are those? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But that's how they did it back then, right? They introduced new things with

sneak peeks in movies and TV shows, right? You talk about Fresh Prince. I remember what was the Fred Savage movie, The Wizard, when Super Mario 3, they showed Mario 3 and you're just like, holy shit. That's how they did sneak peeks of things, right? Yeah, get the flutes. Bro, Georgia the Jungle with the more up tempos. There you go, right?

Shit like that. like that's how they laces them up yeah that's how they yeah even in Fresh Prince when uh Jazz was on when he was on the stand and he put the fives up on the like he put his foot up on the stand yeah and he had the bottom of the fives, that's when I wanted the fives look all those shows he's in court I want those yeah man remember that Martin episode with the taxi twos when he gave the kid yes his uh Jordan twos yeah man, even when Jamie Foxx gave the true blues so yeah.

In the box when he was singing. Yes, sir. And the funny thing was, too, is there's sleeper sneakerheads, like Seinfeld. Yeah, Seinfeld was... Seinfeld had some of the craziest shoes. Seinfeld rocked some heat. He had some ace. Jesus, I'm like, this guy is a sicko. Yeah. Because they're like, do you watch Seinfeld? Not for the jokes. Yeah, for the kicks, bro. I wanted to see what he was rocking. George always had the Black Cortez, but Seinfeld, I was like,

sit on the counter. Sit on the counter so I could see the shoes. Cause you know, you put it on the counter? You do, yeah, yeah, yeah. You, you knew he was rocking some feet. Oh, he had the best shoes. Like, and, and that's the thing, like in living color, Martin. Wayne's brothers. Remember the Wayne's brothers? Wayne's brothers too. Marlon was always rocking some shit in Wayne's brothers. Always some great, great shoes. And, and that's the thing. And that's how we got our access.

We didn't have any access, right? Like, I remember the first time I saw Moabs, I think it was like Pete Rock and Steel Smoove on in living color. And I remember I taped it and I had to look at the TV, like zoom up on the TV and like, what the hell are those? Because I'd never seen that colorway in a shoe. I was like, what are these things? And then eventually the Sports Illustrated came out and they had the advertisement of the Marbs in the ACG app.

So I'm like, this is crazy. It was, yeah. It was a different time. Literally, if I had internet, like if I was coming up and they had internet in the 90s. It would have been over. It would have been over. Yeah, it would have been over.

Ridiculous. they used yeah they use you know certain things like movies and television and music and uh and that sort of thing to to promote you know leaks and and build hype and stuff like that so it's definitely a different time oh yeah that's that's how they that's how they got you but they sold so much to you in the time right like they not only did they sell the shoe they sell culture they sell fashion because it was like if you got the shoes you have to get like the kanai sweater

or whatever. On the Pacific.

Look at, look at, um, the fact that 100 Miles, that sweater is like the most iconic sweater ever. Yeah. And that's from the 90s. Tupac. Yeah, Tupac. That guy's from, Miles is from Malvern. Yeah. Right? So, as soon as Tupac put that sweater on in, above the rim, that's over. That's iconic now. Right? Just something that's simple. Or even, even more local, two black guys.

When Mary J. Blige wore that, that, the jersey, the baseball jersey in real love and then everyone's like what the hell is this because i saw more americans and two black guys and i saw canadians yeah yeah leaders in a new school were in two black guys tribe called quest is in two black guys i'm like what the hell is this brand and meanwhile it's on bathurst street yeah right so it's like yeah it's it's crazy but it all went together right so like the culture like

everything went together and it's just so funny because. People don't realize how important sneakers are until they have to really think about it. Absolutely. Because when you put together this outfit now and you're going to walk out the house, you can't go up in some beat up shoes.

That would never happen, yeah. You know what I mean? Especially within the urban culture, it's like you can't, if you have a black and white outfit on and you go out in some Air Force Ones that look like you were cutting the grass on them. It's a wrap. It's a wrap. Right? It's a wrap. I know, which is funny because that's what the trend is now. You see kids rocking. Oh, I'm not even getting it.

The cook the cook the cook sneaker look missed yeah that's not it that's the new balance thing though like the ripped is it new balance where they do like this thing that looks like it's ripped and shredded up and stuff like that where yeah there's one they have a protection pack they have a protection pack is that what it's called a protection pack yeah where some parts are kind of like torn out it looks like yeah they can keep that but but they've got yeah like other

brands you know high fashion brands like i'm sure you guys seen the balenciaga stuff oh i don't want to talk about that you know like shit like that but a garbage bag for for a thousand dollars yeah exactly exactly but i mean speaking about just evolution of you know sneakers but not only just sneakers the the community and the newer generation too what would you like to see i guess going forward for me the, For me, I think if you want to keep this going, I think there has to be a certain

amount of respect for the culture. It's not about what you could afford. It's about what it means. I don't dig this whole because something costs $500, it's respectable rather than saying that it's an actual good shoe. Yeah, right. Because you can get a good pair of Air Max from Dixie Outlet Mall, and it's a grail, right? And you got it for like 60 bucks. So I think that because there's so much access, there's a lack of respect.

And I think that there has to be a certain amount of appreciation because when you don't appreciate things, they take it away, right? Like I'll use the example of the, what's a good example of something that it, we'll use the Toronto club district. Coming up in the 90s and 2000s, Richmond street was like, you didn't say you're going to a club, you said you're going to Richmond street.

And you just went to whatever's popping and now, that's like parking lots and condos so now there's nowhere to go to club we didn't appreciate it at the time we just had Richmond Street and now it's gone and now there's nothing for anyone to go to I feel as though they do that with sneakers where it's just like it's just going to be sitting there, eventually it'll just stop making them the way we like them and we'll lose out

on it because the shoes that they make you through three four hundred dollars, is what people are going for. And then the grails are just going to get left. It could be like a museum, like what's behind you. Like, you know, pictures of silhouettes and construction and stuff up on boards because you're going to stop making them. And I think that there's a certain level of appreciation that's not there.

And I can understand it because this is a Google AI generation where they get access to everything so fast that the appreciation level of that is not the

same. But at the same time, you're basing a lot of your culture and what you're doing off the foundation of what we came up on, and once we stop buying and like i don't know whether ever come the time but once our generation is gone there's not going to be a generation that's going to appreciate the sneaker culture like we did because we came up with it like we as i said like i started at 87 and i'm here now.

This generation comes in it's like the 87 is on the shelf and they could care less right so they're not buying it they're going to stop making it because that's how business works If it's not selling, they stop making them. And I just hope that this generation understands how... I think if they understood how much access they had and how grateful they should be compared to what we had, they could understand how good they have it right now. Yeah.

Absolutely. They have access to stuff that we waited years for. And then who would ever think that you'd see a Jordan 11 every year? Oh, that's insane. I would never think in my life... Because I remember once you missed it, that was it. That was it.

Right like if you didn't get that release it's done and especially with jordan's and now every year the 11 comes out around christmas time right now they're getting multiple yeah like this year they're getting 11s that come out yeah yeah this this year you're gonna have to drop a couple g's that's how bad they're getting with the gamma blue and this style but it's it's happening and i and i think access they have so much access to the point where they can't appreciate what they're getting,

And I don't blame them because it's not their fault that it's Google and this, that, the other. But I think there has to be a fine line where you start appreciating what you have. It's like everything that's happening right now, because there's so much access and so much of it saturation, people don't appreciate. And it's in everything. Not only in shoes. Look at the NBA now. You have people that make more. Joel Embiid sits out half the season.

Like this load-bearing, like load management stuff is insane. Like if you pay me a million dollars, I'll play in a wheelchair.

Yeah you mean like i mean that's your job though right like we laugh right that's that's that's what i'm saying like there's so much saturation now that people don't appreciate things and they take things for granted you get paid millions of dollars to do things but you can sit out, there's all these shoes and all these things have you access to but because you don't understand, how these things got there your appreciation is the same as us because like

we'll walk at the story we want to buy the whole thing because like oh man they have this this this this this this This is crazy. Where's it coming like, ah. You know what I'm paying for. Yeah. It's just, it's always just been there for them. Exactly. It's just there, right? Where like, you remember when so-and-so had such and such. Like, I remember when they were releasing the Diamond Turfs. Yes. I was like, this is crazy. And then I remember I went to the JDs or something like that.

And someone picked them and was like, what are these? I was like, oh, no, don't do this, please. Here we go. Please don't. Because the Diamond Turfs represent the super athletes. Mm-hmm. Right? Mm-hmm. Like, not only was Deion Sanders good at baseball, he was good at football as well. And the shoe represented that. To them, it's just this, you know, white, black, and gold shoe with red highlights.

And that's what I'm saying. They can't appreciate that because they're not seeing the representation for these things. And I think representation is a thing. And I think that also goes back to advertising. I think what these brands need to do, Nike, Reebok, all of them, they need to go back to their archives and show the advertisement to show why these shoes were booming.

Right? Because the one thing that a lot of these guys, these new generation people like is like, they like to rediscover things and introduce it to their people. Right? There's a guy on, I think he's on YouTube, where all he does is he watches old hip-hop videos and listens to old hip-hop songs, and he's reintroducing it to his generations. I think he's called the 25-year-old watch. And to watch him react to what we used to grow up on is crazy because he's reacting the way we react.

I watched him listen to verbal intercourse, and he looked like someone slapped him in his face because the lyrical like nasa's lyrical play was killing it like who is this guy so now he's like now he's looking at all nas stuff that's the kind of stuff i think needs to happen where this generation basically is reintroduced to how we got it because there's a lot more than just a shoe there's the advertising the athlete behind it the culture behind it the subculture because

like it was like the shoe would come out and we'd see it on like in living color so now we have to have it even more and then we'd see like crisscross with their stuff backwards and they had on the pair of joints then we had to have even more so there's so many you know and then you had like all these magazines like right on and all the black beats you're watching you know esquire and all these guys and then like even the kids on home improvement had

kicks yeah yeah yeah right everybody had these shoes you're like i gotta have these things now but it was done in a way where it was everywhere but the access wasn't the same and you had to pay attention to the culture like i remember watching entertainment tonight just to see if they go to like the sets of some of these things so you can see what they're rocking yeah yeah yeah like we watched any chance you get to get a glimpse right absolutely like

anything that i could get a little sneak peek on i was watching right and even like one.

Of the biggest shoe weekends was all-star weekend and it's because all the celebrities were rocking whatever was not coming out for another couple weeks like you're watching jaleel white playing like jordan sevens yeah you know like the bordeaux sevens i'm like what the hell are those and then you didn't see them again until you saw the michael jackson jam video i'm like what is happening what are these shoes right like.

That's that's the kind of stuff we go and and you didn't see the jam video until like after the simpsons so there's like an order of operation there was no internet you had to sit and watch simpsons and then you had to wait to watch the video yeah the big release of michael Jackson's new video and Jordan was in the damn video he was yeah yeah yeah so yeah what I mean like what's the last time you saw like an athlete in a music video if you don't make those anymore no,

So maybe Lamar Odom with, with, with the locks or something. Nikes. Yeah. Well, no, that's a good point though. I think brands in general, I think they need to limit the access, like make it more, make it more like, like it's earned almost. Right. Yeah. Like, you know. Put some effort into getting it. Yeah. So it's, it's definitely one of those things where, you know, and we joke about this all the time. I think, you know, Rich and I, we mentioned like there was a, there was a sneaker.

I mean, you can, you can actually say it for any secret now. Like you see leaks of the sneaker a year before it's released. And then they show pictures of it. There's a new angle of it. There's a new, but whatever. By the time it actually comes out, you're like, I don't, I don't even want the sneaker anymore. Exactly. It's so damn much that it's like too much teasing. Yeah. There's just, it's just way too much, way too much exposure.

You almost feel like you already own the damn shoe because you've seen the sneaker like a million times before it's even released right and firstly start with the mock-up kev yeah yeah yeah it's not even the real one yeah what do you think it's gonna shock anybody right like the discovery like you can't even you can't even, be that guy who brought something that no one ever seen before yeah I mean like I that's the thing like I remember is like cross borders like you go to the

states and buy a shoe that you know they didn't have here, right it wasn't on the internet that there was no like i remember like when they re-released the air tech challenge 2 the same time i went to vegas and they put it on like the top. Because the shoe palace, I don't know if you've been to the shoe palace before, but it's almost like a library. They have ladders, and it's crazy. Shoes everywhere. They had the AirTek Challenge, which is a grail to me, up on the top.

I'm like, can I get that, please? He's like, why? Get your ass up on that ladder and give me that. And go get it for me. Exactly. He's like, get up there, climb, put whatever safety net you need, get me that shoe. Brings it down, he's like, oh, these aren't moving. They're moving to me. Right. I took the shoe, and I came back here, and everyone's like, where the hell did you get those? Vegas.

Like, you know what I mean? Like, and there's, there's internets, there's Google, but yet I found something that no one was even thinking about. And then I just remember maybe like a couple months later, people were going to Vegas looking for that shoe because they had it like in the OG colorway. They had it in like a Phoenix sun colorway that it like Atlanta hot got like, but the silhouette is so iconic to me, but it's the way they treat it is like,

because it's done in a certain way. Everyone's like, ah, whatever.

Yeah. it's nothing anymore right and the thing about is like one of the most like people had lines so that's what i'm saying like like this kd line lebron's line like i think lebron's shoe up until, maybe eight or nine they were pretty good now they're like they look like, yannis's shoes yeah yeah yeah that's true and then you had people that were like super athletes like andre agassi and all those guys that had like a sneaker line and every shoe was like fire Yeah, every one that came out.

Yeah, every next one that came out. Yeah, it was great. Like Michael Chang, fire. Bo Jackson, fire. Barry Sanders, fire. Kenny Griffey Jr., fire. Like all their backs are fire. But yet you're not releasing these things. You're putting out these generic garbage shoes. And I'm kind of like, if you were to put out like the Griffey's during baseball season. Over. Like now, people would buy those things like crazy. Because not only would the baseball players buy them, I would. Yeah.

Right? Football season comes along, you put out the Barry Sanders, football players would buy them, so will I. Right? Even with the tennis. Tennis season is starting, what, in a couple months? If you put out all the air flares and air tech challenges, I'm buying them all. Yeah. Yeah. But they don't because for whatever, they don't think there's an audience for it.

If you put the advertising, like, all you think is put out those retro ads on YouTube or on Instagram, the way they did, and people come.

Like, even look at the way they did like I think one of the best things that Nike did was in the way we released the Wu-Tang jumps the Wu-Tang, yeah sorry, the Dunks sorry, the Wu-Tang Dunks but they did it with a blend of new school and old school so they used the current nicks, with voiceovers from Wu-Tang and they blended together and had the dark culture and everyone was like yo, I have to have these because it's two cultures coming together,

I'm 36 Chambers to the death but these new kids these guys are like I'm feeling this Wu-Tang stuff yeah just two audiences coming together but it's for the same reason and they didn't give a lot they just had the buzzing bees, yeah whatever it was a simple ad it wasn't too crazy, but it sold the shoe sold out right so I think if you do that with a lot of these other things like, like you talked about like for example the Dan O'Brien's you got the colorway

the blue colorway I got the silver one when they came out the shoe was bananas.

Now it's just every other blasted colorway on the shelf like people don't understand how crazy that shoe was when it came out it was a full aerosol yeah and it was just ever you'd never seen an upper like that either it was just like yeah gradient silver right now but a whole full aerosol that was insane when it came out but now it's just a little idiot thing they have at jd sports yeah i know because yeah because there's they're available in every single color

way they're available in like you know just i'm glad they do the full family sizing and stuff too But yeah, just, it was just a run of the mill sneaker now, you know, like now it was just. And that's the thing. Like, I think I feel as though, and I, and I don't want to do the old head, not the young generation, because it's not their fault. But I think that because they just get everything they want at the access that they want, their appreciation is not there.

And because of that, they take a lot of these things for granted. Right. It's, it's, there's so many things that I had to do coming up. That made me appreciate things so much more. That's why now I appreciate like the Air Maxes more and all this. Like, yeah, I grew up DJing and you had to love music to DJ because you had to pay for every blasted record. You didn't get to go download MP3s, save your lunch money, take the subway, go down the tracks and play the record. Yeah.

Sift to records, you know, eat a big slice. Like you're sacrificing your health to buy music. You're buying songs you didn't even like, like you're buying records.

Now you're gonna sit down in front of a computer download and then dj in your kitchen with no headphones yeah i mean like the serato too yes and i have dj friends that they feel slighted because these guys have rooms filled with records because it was the culture but now because it's a cool thing to do you buy a macbook a controller download itunes and then have your friends in the in a room with you drinking

behind you with pre-mixes done yeah and that's the culture now That's what's considered a DJ. You're in skimpy clothes and you have a pre-mixed on and people are dancing behind you. That's what sneaker culture looks like to me right now. Yeah, right. That's how I see it. It's like, you don't have an appreciation for it because there's just so much access and you can do whatever you want with it, but you're not willing to invest in it. We invested in this culture.

We knew we didn't have access to all this stuff, so I had to save my money for the next Jordan came out. I knew that at playoff time, Jordan was going to drop the black ones or the darker colored ones, So I had to be ready for when that came out. Now it's just, you go on Google and be like, okay, this is releasing in May. And you care less. There's no anticipation, like you're saying. You didn't know what you're going to see unless it came on NBA Inside Stuff or the playoffs. You're right.

So we had a certain appreciation and love for it that we knew that we had to save our money, put together our time and all stuff like that to do it. And it's in everything that I'm seeing. And I think it's just too much access and lack of respect for it. In every sense of the word. And I think it's, as I said, it's not their fault because the information overload is good to a point.

But I think when you have too much, you don't appreciate it and it decides to, you know, dissipate and you lose things. No, definitely. Well said. And I think you're right. I think, you know, there needs to be a little bit of change on just how we consume things, you know, in the sneaker community, because we need to, we need to bring that back.

And I think, you know, it not only does it, it, it, it build that anticipation or also like, you know, people, it helps to educate people as well and helps others to pass on that information. And I think that's, what's important too, is that, you know, we were losing, we're losing that sense of history. We're losing that sense of, you know, we, we grew up and we're losing that sense of how things evolved. Right. You know, we talked about your max and talk about Jordan and things like that.

So very well said, But hopefully somebody at Nike is listening because, you know, not that I'm expecting them to change things because the world is a different place, but they need to bring things back to that bread one release where you felt special about something coming out. Right.

So, but listen, I don't think it's only like, I think it's all brands. I think they all need to put that work into. Yeah. All brands. Definitely. to show the appreciation for their consumer because I think just throwing stuff on Instagram is not advertising. That's just, to me, that's not, that's lazy advertising. I understand we live in that kind of world but that's not advertising. That's just lazy to me. That doesn't, that doesn't. That doesn't want me, like, if I see a book one on Instagram,

I don't want to be like book one. I need to see a commercial. I need stuff to make me feel like, and that's what I'm saying. Like, when we talk about advertising and shoes and appreciation, the whole Michael Jordan experience was an experience. Like, he lived up to everything that they advertised. And that's the thing is, like, I'm not hating on LeBron because he's one of the greatest players ever, but I'm not seeing ads of him on TV. Like, when he first came out, they had good ads. for LeBron.

Yeah. The stuff where he had like the multiple personalities and stuff like that. That was amazing. Yeah. Now there's nothing. And this is the guy you're toting as the goat. I don't feel that from him. Right. As I said, the amount of times I've bit my tongue trying to be like Mike, the amount of Gatorade I poisoned myself with, the amount of, you know, the amount of ballpark Franks I've eaten that I probably poisoned myself with.

Like I wanted to, as eating went, as a Wheaties cutting up my tongue, like I wanted to be everything like Michael Jordan. Yeah. Everything. and it's because of how they pushed him on me. Yeah. Right? Anything that he did, I want it to be like, wear ugly pants like him or baggy like everything. Everything that he did, I want it to be like him. Yeah. So that's what I'm trying to say.

Like with branding and consideration of like the consumer, I think that if they go back to the old school way of doing things, I think they'll bring a whole new audience that could experience. The whole entity of like what sneakers are. Because it's an experience. And it shows like an Air Max month that people wait to show... What other shoe line do you see people showcasing their sneaker collection? I don't see any. There's no other time where you see people...

There's no Jordan month. There's no... Six months. There's no Yeezy month. It's, you know, March, March, March is Air Max month. And people literally wait and showcase and show and they pose and they take great pictures and they have special effects and it's incredible. And you have this subculture and you're putting out that garbage like they're putting out this year.

Like you actually have a following in subculture with Air Max month that's been done by the actual fan base, but you're putting out nonsense.

Like, what are you doing? Yeah. They need to do better i agree i agree but yeah i mean well said though i think you know there's a lot of stuff that you know nike can do better brands can do better we're not just not seeing it hopefully down the line especially with how mainstream sneakers are right now there's things that they can improve on and i feel like that would just build this community even even more so but listen jeff i going down memory lane with you man it just

brings me back especially being like an East End kid too. You know, just all this stuff. Wizard's Castle, I'm never going to forget that too. Wizard's Castle is the joint man. That fat guy with the quarters. In his pouch. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But yeah, no, it's been super dope just hearing your story, getting your insight on Air Max. Air Max is an Air Max month. But yeah, no, appreciate you spending the time with us, man. Anytime. Thank you for having me. Nope.

Yeah, man. Appreciate you taking the time with us. Thank you.

We'd be starting in 20 minutes if it was the other email. Oh, man. Any shout-outs for us? Well, shout-out to you guys. Kicks We Trust, thank you for having me. Shout-out to Jeremy and Quincy. Yes. OGs. Shout-out to... The homies. To Capsule for keeping me in the game. Shout out to Michael Jordan for being the goat. And I'll argue that down to the grounds. I think we can agree on. Yeah. Shout out to, I'll say like the Instagram community that keeps it going.

Like mid soul collector, sneaker closet, Canada got soul, Mr. Q Mart, L doggy styles, Joe Dooney. So many people like recently I met this guy named DMX. God, he is crazy. Yeah. Shout out to our homie. Yeah. He's been a guest on our podcast. Multiple times. Yeah. Yeah. Like he's just, it's ridiculous. If I had a teacher like that, I'd be, I'd have problems. Just, just a shout out to like everybody that's in the culture because it's just, it's just good to know that it's still out there.

And it's funny until social media, I didn't even realize the community was that big. It's just good to see that there's still a purist people that appreciate it. And I like the fact that, There's no envy or jealousy. Everyone just appreciates the culture. And it's just nice to see people have good stuff. Yeah. I love seeing people have things. Like I said, like I've missed out on a whole bunch of things, but knowing that somebody has them, I just like seeing it.

Rather than seeing like in a magazine, I like seeing it like, oh, so-and-so has those shoes. Crazy. Like I could appreciate that. So, you know, shout out to all those people. Shout out to Nike.

Wasn't bashing, Don's. just do better and shout out to all the secret brands shout out to all the all the boutique stores shout out to the new generation just do better, I understand it's information overload but you guys have to appreciate what you have because if you don't it'll be taken away from you right so it's good now but one day you might wake up and you go to a footlocker and it's not even

there anymore like they almost lost their Nike account so that's how serious it got at one point so, So you guys need to respect the game because tariffs are coming. So they're going to be pulling a lot of things, man. So you got to be better. So, you know, I really enjoy the culture. I really enjoy the experience. And I hope for the future of the sneaker culture that it just goes back to the basics.

Not to say that they can't change anything, but I just appreciate what's out there because there's a lot of great stuff out there that hasn't even surfaced that like hasn't even been retroed yet and stuff like that and there's so much that can be done, i just hope that the the brands take the time to listen to what people want because, you know it'll come to a point we're just going to be all wearing chucks if they don't do what we're doing we say they want to do,

rocking chuck tailors because he just shut off so. Yeah man thank you guys for having me oh yeah this is dope see you guys maybe next next Air Max 2026? Of course. Not Trev. Trev will be rocking on clouds. Yeah, shout out to On. I'll piggyback off that. Just shout out to all the Air Max 1 enthusiasts, yourself included, Jeff.

All the people that are posting, keeping this, as I like to call it, celebration alive because our love for Air Max is, can be sometimes looked at as kind of over the top, but we love what we love, right? There's a community there and I just love people that are showcasing it, so shout out to all them. It's a certain love. If you don't understand, it's not for you. It's not for you. And for me, man, just shout out to the homies for holding it down,

man. Like I said, I've been gone for three weeks, so I appreciate you guys. Shout out to the guests, Jeff. Great conversations, man. Always nice chopping it up with some of the old guys, as they call us. This is a beard. Yeah, you already see it. This is wisdom right here. Yeah, man. These are earned. That's it, man. But no, it's always great just kind of going down memory lane, just, you know, talking with guys that came up in that time.

It's always true. Just be able to do that, man. So salute to you.

Pleasure man man and lastly shout out to dmx god as well speaking to him i gotta he has a shirt for me i ain't forget about you homie we'll be sending that to one but i'm gonna get with you on that and then also to jeff like kind of what you mentioned just like seeing other people and you know being happy for people when they get you know certain pickups and things like that you might have missed on shout out to the homie captivated souls man he did a he had a

nice little haul and i had to I had to hit him up, man, and just show some love to some of his pickups, man. And, you know, we had a great little quick chat, but that's what it's about. Like I said, there's some pairs. I won't get them, but it's always nice to see you guys here. Yeah, it's just nice to see them in the advertisement. Yeah, man. So salute to the homie of Captivated Souls, man, and his haul that picked up a few nice pairs.

So it's always nice to see the homies win. So salute to him. 100%. 100%. I think I'm good for this week. So, yeah, I think we're good. Juan, do you have anything? No, I'm good, man. Y'all already shouted all the guys out. Nice to hear Quinty and Jem again. I speak to them once in a while. Maybe one day they'll have an on-cloud day for Chris. And don't worry, what is happening with those guys, too? They'll be on, too.

We ain't forget about the OGs. Yeah, you can tell them I said what's up. Yes, sir. As we said, Jeff, we appreciate you taking the time and jumping along with us. Yeah. Oh, shout out to Eastern Pacific time. I like that. Those of you who don't know, I got my laptop back and it was on Pacific coast time. So when I sent the media invite out, it was at 1130, not eight 30. I was like, looking at, but I was like, man, I gotta take a nap.

All right, guys, as always, you can find us on Instagram at InCakesWeTrust. Make sure to use the hashtag InCakesWeTrust for a potential feature. And if you are new to this podcast, please make sure to like, subscribe, give us five stars. That way you know when the new podcast comes out every Monday. And you can find me on Instagram at Trevsky63. Kev, where can we find you? You can also find me on Instagram, KevinKMan. Juan, where can they find you?

Instagram, 321. He mentioned to me about travel and kicks, mainly during ones, but everything's fair game. Sir. And Rich, where can they find you? You can find me on IG growthstatus13. And Jeff, where can they find you? Yeah, you can find me at Wizards Castle at Facebook 416. Awesome. As we said, Jeff, we appreciate it. And happy Air Max Day to everyone. Yes, thank you. Have a good one, guys. Thanks for having me. Everyone stay safe and be well. We'll see you all next week.