My First Sneaker Battle

I’ve never done a Sneaker battle in my life…well for the record, I never got invited to one in the first place, but second and more importantly I’m a non-camera, behind the scenes guy….so the words sneaker battles are definitely not in my dictionary.  But, there’s no better way to lose my sneaker battle virginity to my friends in Toronto.  ODTO hit me up and asked me if wanted to take part.  I had no idea who was going to be part of it, but I said yes anyways knowing that apart from a sneaker battle, they will be donating money to charity for the winner.  So even if I don’t win, I know money is going to be donated to a good cause.  The charity the money will be going to is the current food crisis in Yemen.

The first round battle consists of 3 of our favourite sneakers from our favourite sneaker brand.  No brainer – I’m a Nike guy.  For my top 3 sneakers I had to pull out the Playstation AF1s.  This has been one of my favourite sneaker ever since I saw photos of them online when they released many years ago.  Unfortunately when these released I was way too young and too poor to afford them so I had to watch in awe from afar for years.  This pair resonates so well with me over the years is because I still remember the moments I first played the Playstation in grade 4.  I would play Gran Turismo like non stop over the summer break.  I still remember running hours in the endurance races of 60+ laps that would take half a day to complete.  Playstation was the biggest game changer in the industry imo and having a pair of Playstation and being able to see it in my collection brings back childhood memories.

Second pair I had to go with was the Heineken Dunks.  Like I mentioned in the battle, this in my opinion is the godfather of Nike SBs in terms of colour/product themed collaborations.  Though this was not an official Heineken collab, this was the sickest colour combo Nike has ever put on a sneaker in my opinion and there’s no doubt it has to be on the top as of my favourite Nikes.  If this shoe never happened, we probably would have never seen Nike SBs such as New Castles, Ben and Jerry Chunkys and all the sick “collabs” you see today.  Of course the story of Nike getting a cease and desist on these was also a good story to add to this sneaker.

Last but not least…the Paris Dunks.  For most of you that know me already…you already know my story on this pair.  This was a pair I always wanted but could never afford.  Back in the day, sneakers that were selling at $500 was considered very expensive… but these has ALWAYS been on another level.  When sneakers were selling for $500, these were selling for $2000.  As time went by when sneakers were selling for $1,000, these would be selling for $4,000.  It has never been attainable.  I decided to bite the bullet 3 years ago and bought a preowned pair for $5,000 CAD, which is about $3.5k USD.  At the time I couldn’t justify paying that much for 1 pair of sneakers, but I have been working hard for a few years with Netmag and I decided to treat myself to a pair that I always wanted but could never get.  What went through my mind was….damn! I had to work 1 full month of re-selling sneakers just to buy 1 pair of sneaker.  In hindsight it was a great price.  I never could thought this sneaker can sell for more than $50,000 – this just simply blows my mind.  Sometimes I just wish sneakers weren’t this expensive because that way I can really justify actually wearing my shoes.  I really can’t justify wearing more than $5,000 on my feet.  Regardless, even though I rarely get the chance to wear these much nowadays, I see this as a trophy in life where I can look at and remind myself that if you work hard in life, you can achieve whatever you want and the sky is the fucking limit.