This past week I was in Eau Claire, Wisconsin for work. This wasn’t the first time I’ve traveled for my job, nor will it be the last. Since I work for a sneaker company, I always like to try and find the store I’m helping out’s resident sneakerhead and get their thoughts on what the sneaker culture is like in their town.

I’ve been from Sioux City to Eau Claire, and I usually hear a variation of the same things: “Well nobody here really cares about that stuff”. “I have to drive a few hours to the cities to get releases because the stores in town rarely ever get anything”. “Nobody really understands why we do this”. read more

It seems like just yesterday I started collecting sneakers. I was 15, and had just started my first job at Champs Sports. I had always loved basketball, and with that came a love of sneakers. Growing up, I’d get a pair or two before school started (who remembers the 2 for $90 deal at Champs back in the day? Nothing better) and that would be about it.

However, with my discount at Champs and paychecks coming in, I was able to bump up my collection until it swelled to a mildly ridiculous size. I’ve been collecting for seven years now, and it still sometimes feels like I just started last week with how excited I get over sneaker news and new releases. read more

The sneaker world was abuzz this last weekend with the release of the Lance Mountain-designed Jordan I SB’s. Both SB and Jordan heads clamored to get their hands on a pair, and local shops like Cal Surf and Familia had hundreds of people turn out to get a raffle ticket (in the words of a Cal Surf employee “Yeah man, that’s pretty much all we’ve been doing all day.”)

Now that all the craziness has subsided slightly (if you want to see a few shots of the shoes, be sure to take a look at yesterday’s post!), it’s time to take a look back on the sneakers with a slightly more unbiased perspective. Here’s my thoughts. read more

Jordan Brand is the undisputed king of sneaker brands. Everything they put out gets snapped up with haste by voracious consumers who just can’t seem to get enough. They’ve built an aura around their products that, quite frankly, is awe-inspiring. People foam at the mouth about their releases months in advance, and grown men and women have been known to act like little children on release day if everything doesn’t go exactly as they had planned.

With all this hype around the brand, and the crazy demand that their products create for themselves (they don’t even have to work the hype machine! The sneakers hype themselves up!), some complain about their lack of innovation, and how they just recycle the same things over and over, changing the color or just slightly tinkering with the layout of the sneaker. It’s an interesting topic, and one that I felt I needed to add my two cents on. read more