Sneakerhead Story

"My Last"

With Roger Jones & Ben Perkins

When you think of spending your last dollar on something the first thing you may think of is being food or paying an important bill but for Sneakerheads we will spend our last on a pair of the latest kicks. Actually we will actually sell other items in order to acquire the money to buy the pair of shoes. Once you enter the realm of sneakerhead missing out on a pair of kicks is just no longer an option. Having the latest, hottest shoe is a must so most Sneakerheads live a “By Any Means” lifestyle when it comes to attaining “That Shoe”. Sneakers are a huge part of fashion and as my friend Ben Perkins once said, “If you want to be fresh you will be broke”. Four years later that has been the truest thing I have heard in my twenty-one years on this planet. Spending you last dollar on a pair of shoes sounds idiotic in the grand scheme of life and we all understand but why do we still do it? I interviewed two of my fellow sneakerheads to try to get to the bottom of this mindboggling lifestyle.

I asked Roger and Ben for their reasoning behind why in the world would you spend your last dollar on a pair of $160 shoes or even why would you pay $160 for a pair of shoes. Roger explained that, "being able to continue to fit in and the intrinsic value of being able to purchase the things that I wanted". Which is the reason I think a lot of us continue to purchase sneakers. Roger went on to say that the days of spending his last becomes less and less likely due to more and more responsibilities but he is still an avid sneaker buyer. Ben had this to say, “The culture that I was apart of was the driving force behind me spending my last on some shoes. The culture forces you to stay up on the latest stuff so spending my last dollar to stay with what was hot was not an issue." I agree with that 100% when you get into shoes you start to have friends that are into shoes and those friends have friends that.., well you get it. So when you are around so many people that are into kicks you have to stay in on par with them or you will start sticking out and becoming that guy who's shoe game is not up to standard of the group. The culture of sneakers and fashion is a world that changes each and everyday to stay at the top you have to date with each wave of trends.