For as long as I can remember I have loved shoes, all shoes. At the height of my collection days I owned around 130 pairs but then some theives managed to take almost all of them from me. Today I am sitting at around 50 pairs but all of them are PUMA as I have been with the brand for almost 8 years.
But I have taken a trip down memory lane recently and here are the TOP 6 shoes for me. This started when I was about 15 years old and I did manage to own most of the shoes I always wanted. The most I ever paid was a close call between the Reebon Fury and The Nike Rift, they were a first edition colour and if I remember correctly I paid around 220 pounds each at that stage which was around R 2200 at the time. But I loved them and if I ever see a pair again I wil lbuy them without thinking.
So here we go, the top in no particular order as they are all Old Skool from my youth.
1.Patrick Ewings, They were suede, my parents really had to dig deep to buy them for me and I really loved them for that. I wore these everywhere and my mother just told me 5min ago that they were ugly, ha haa, thanks mom. This was the first brand name Shoe I owned and I evem remember the Edgars at the bottom of Church street in Pretoria where we bought them. I remember the conversations with my dad, him in the bath and me by the door, as I knew he couldn’t go anywhere and coming up with all sorts of reasons why and how I needed them. Mine were grey suede with purple and dark green, I couldnt find any images of them, but here is the shoe in RED. I even kept the keyring until it finally fell apart.
2. Puma Blaze Disk, I am actually lucky enough to own a pair of these and I just love them, super comfy and super cool.
3. Nike Rift, as far as I know , these were the first edition of this shoe and the first pair I ever saw I fell in love with, I remember having to pay a friend of mine going to New York to buy them for me as I couldnt find them anywhere else.
4. Reebok Fury, This shoe changed my life, I remember dreaming about them on more than 1 night. The thing was that they were super light, cant remember anything like this at the time and the huge cut out on the bottom of the sole. Plus you had to inflate the shoe to fit your foot. I wore these down to the ground and again had the original first edition, as far as I knew
5. Nike Air Jordan 8, I never got to own a pair of these but I still will, ha haa, Iconic shoe but one of my favourite athletes of all time. Michael was also the start of my love of Oakley Glasses.
6. Nike Air Charles Barkley 34 Air ( CB34 ) , also a absolute classic, I have always had a soft spot for basketball shoes even though I have never had the legs to wear them. But always the first shoe to catch my eye and always out there.
So there you have it, so I guess shoes have always been my destiny and who knows where I am still giong to go. I would love to have a Shoe Room and have 500 odd pair of collector shoes, but then a boy can have a dream can’t he ? Hope you enjoyed that trip down memory as much as I did.
Keep your passions alive, never let them die, you never know where they might take you. Next week I share the Top 6 glasses that started it all for me. Watch this space