I am a sneakerhead episode 216 - @jamesbwill2
First of could you briefly introduce yourself?
My name is James Williams, and I am 33 years old. I live about an hour away from Toronto, Canada. I got into sneakers in the same way as many other people in North America, through sports. I was a big basketball fan growing up, and basketball introduced me to sneakers. I wouldn't say I started collecting right away because I didn't have the money while I was in high school, but I did have some pairs. As soon as I started earning money again, I spent it on shoes, and Adidas is actually what brought me back.
Do you recall what the first pair was that you ever saw and thought “I need to have this” on a ‘sneakerhead’ level?
Yeah, but it was probably before I had the money to get them. It was back in high school, and it was the Allen Iverson collection, the one with the zip-up feature. I remember at that time; I had a friend who got them, and I thought, 'Oh my gosh, I want a pair.' It was when Allen Iverson was the guy because he was so cool; he rocked streetwear, which was unheard of. Today, I only have pairs that I wear, except for one pair, the Nike Zoom Generation, LeBron's first pair, which I keep for nostalgia. I've worn it before, but it doesn't fit my style. However, I think LeBron is one of the greatest players of all time, so it will be in my collection forever.
How many pairs do you have in your collection?
I am supposed to stop at 50, but right now, I have about 55 pairs. I am currently selling a few pairs to reduce it to 50 only, and that's where I want to stay. I think it's actually a very healthy amount because I tend to wear everything. For me, it's important to wear everything, but I know other people like to collect. I do not consider myself a collector because of that; I consider myself more of a connoisseur. I enjoy having the shoe; it's more than just looking at it; it's using it. For me, I also enjoy photography, so taking pictures of my shoes, usually on feet, is like a hobby.
How do you then decide which pairs to let go of, to stay at the 50 mark?
In Canada, we have four seasons. Don't worry; it'll loop back. I have a rule that if I don't wear a pair during one of those seasons, it's usually gone. That's because it typically just sits there. The whole point for me is to wear the shoe and walk around in it. I buy what I like, but there's still that feeling of having them on my feet. It's one of those experiences that only someone who is into sneakers will understand. If they just sit there, I don't feel the same way about them anymore, as it's clear I don't like them enough to wear.
Are there any brands in your collection that you feel like taking over or do you have a great variety of brands and models?
I tend to have a great variety, one of the pairs I have is called Harmony from a brand called AWorldUNTD, it’s a friend of mine who started it, he lives in the US, and it started as a clothing line originally. He recently started designing shoes, and this was the first one they ever did but I think I have about 7 shoes from them at this point. To me, I like supporting my friends and brands that are not as popular, and this brand is about Uniting the world, which is important you know. Not everyone likes them, around here, people would say “Oh it’s not Nike, it’s not Jordan” which tends to be the most popular, New Balance has started to take off here too but… I do like to have a variety, but after looking more closely at my collection, I see that I do have a lot of Air Max, I do have a lot of Jordans. I’ve gotten rid of a lot of my adidas, the zx series was what got me into sneakers originally, but I have kept my favourite pairs of Zx’s like the ZX8000 Aqua, the Lego ZX8000, the ZX8000 to me is the perfect comfort, I only have one pair of 10000’s, but I don’t wear them much as they are all white. In my opinion, it is important to have variety in your collection, no hate on people that only have one brand, it’s just the way I like to set up my collection.
That’s nice, I think I have a very similar approach, but sometimes you go down a rabbit hole and suddenly you have twenty pairs of Gel Lyte III
I love the Gel Lyte III, but it is just not comfortable for me. It's very weird; I have a love-hate relationship with it. I love the look of a Gel Lyte III, the split tongue, and the silhouette itself. However, the only Gel Lyte III I own is the Sean Wotherspoon & Atmos collaboration, which I love. It's funny; I haven't even mentioned him yet because I get made fun of. But I own every single Sean Wotherspoon silhouette because I find his creativity to be unique, and I love colors on my feet. Not everyone shares that feeling. Yes, I know some of them sit and go on sale, but there's something about what he does. I know it's a love-hate relationship with Sean Wotherspoon in the industry.
Do you usually buy sneakers at physical stores or online?
I almost exclusively buy online because I am about an hour from the nearest sneaker store, which happens to be a Footlocker, but I cannot remember the last time I bought anything there. I try to buy exclusively from boutiques because I like to support smaller stores, and it's nice that small boutiques get a cut from the big manufacturers for promoting their products. However, I also try to buy used pairs to save some money, and I don't mind if they're not brand new since I'm going to wear them.
What is your favourite boutique then?
My go-to store is Livestock for almost everything because they're a tier 0 store in Canada. Also, they offer free shipping, making it easier for me to justify buying more sneakers. There is another shop called Solestop, which is relatively new, and they don't sell Nike yet, but they have a lot of New Balance. It's nice to see a boutique that can do well without Nike because Nike is by far the biggest brand in North America for both sneakerheads and non-sneakerheads.
Have you ever bought anything from other regions?
I tend not to buy outside of North America due to customs reasons; it is just too expensive to import items to Canada. A few years ago, I bought something from Size UK, but they lost my package, so I thought I would never buy from them again. Shoutout to Size UK support because they were really easy to deal with, and I quickly got my money back. I also bought from Kith in the US, but I am very excited about the new Toronto store, so I won't have to pay customs for their goods any longer.
What about reselling platforms, have you bought anything from any of those?
I have. I do not consider it to be resell unless you pay over retail, so I have bought from StockX, GOAT, or eBay, but only if it is less than retail. The only time I have paid over retail recently is for the Patta Monarch Air Max 1.
How many pairs have you purchased in ’23 so far?
So last year, I went a little crazy. I bought like 25-30 pairs, and this year I am at 10 or 11, and I am done. I have set a hard stop, or my wife has set a hard stop, so I'd be shocked if I bought another pair. I think us sneakerheads need to learn to enjoy the pairs that we have rather than move on to the next one because obviously, we have all tried to pull something out of the closet that we forgot we had. And I don't want to get to the point where I forget what I have. I want to get to the point where I think, 'Oh, I haven't worn these in a while,' and that's fine. But I have friends who forget what shoes they have, and that is not good. You shouldn't have that many.
What do you then look at when deciding to buy a new pair?
As much as I follow big accounts on Instagram, I always consider whether I will like the pair or not, and I try not to veer off the path. I have friends who make a list of ten pairs they want to buy each year. I don't do that, but I think it's a nice idea. If new pairs come out, then you have to knock something off the list. For me, if I know something is coming out, I have to stop myself from buying anything before that. I used to buy a lot of shoes on sale, but now I don't do that. I wait for a particular pair. However, any pair that Sean Wotherspoon releases, I will probably buy. The joke in my local community is that my shoe of the year is the Sean Wotherspoon Gazelle. I don't care what anyone says; I think it was such a good take on the Gazelle. It's a unique pair, very Sean Wotherspoon with art and corduroy, and it's cool that every pair is different. It doesn't have a high resale value, and it's not hyped, but I don't focus on hype. It's not me.
You mentioned the four seasons in Canada, if you were to wear one pair for each season next year, which ones would you choose?
That's a really good question because that could change in like an hour. For winter, I have a pair of Dunk High J Pack in the Bred colorway in used condition. It's an older pair that I found for a good price, and I tend to wear them a lot in the winter. They're not the most grippy shoe, but I don't mind it as we usually salt the roads where I live. I'm not the type of person who cleans my shoes with a toothbrush every time I wear them; I might just use a towel or something if they get really messy to make sure they stay somewhat clean.
Spring is another rainy season, but you know what, I am not going to choose a colorful pair; it's going to be the New Balance 2002R in this navy colorway. I can't remember the exact style code, but I think the color is called Deep Ocean. It's almost like navy with a cream midsole. It was actually one of the first pairs I ever sprayed with water repellent, and I think the 2002R is one of the most comfortable shoes. I've had Ultra Boost, but I got rid of almost all of them because, you know, Boost loses its comfort after a while, so it ended up being a very uncomfortable shoe. I like the 2002R way better.
Summer, that's a tough one because there are so many pairs. You know what, it would have to be the Sean Wotherspoon Orketro. In my opinion, the Orketro is one of the ugliest silhouettes I have ever seen, but there is something about what he did with this pair, the different materials, the colors, that makes this pair so wearable, especially in the summer. It's another pair I don't mind getting a little dirty. I wore it when we went to Disney World. It's super comfortable, it stands out, and it's incredibly resistant, so when you get dirt on it, it kind of goes with the whole look.
Fall, this is the easiest one for me. It will be the Concepts Heavy Air Max 1. This might be one of my most-worn pairs in the last year. The denim has dirt on it, but what I love about this pair is that if you get it dirty, it doesn't really matter because it obviously has the details to make it look like fake dirt from the Woodstock theme. I think this is arguably the best Air Max 1 collection because of its wearability, and I think this is a very unique shoe because of the different heel counter and the denim. There is something special about this shoe. I wear them all the time. My wife hates them, but I love them. I don't mind if it's rainy or if I get mud on them; it kind of just adds to the character of the shoe and tells the story of Woodstock and what it is intended for.
Last but not least, I know there might be a lot of people reading this who want to get more into shoe collecting, do you have any advice for people who want to enter the sneaker community?
I think the most common answer is to buy whatever you like. It doesn't matter what other people think. When I first started getting back into it, I passed on Jordans that I really liked because Complex did not say they were cool, and I ended up not buying them. If you are starting to get into sneakers and you see a pair that you like, whether when they release or when they go on sale, just buy it. You'll form your own sneaker identity along the way. For me, maybe it was a blessing in disguise because I may have ended up buying only Jordans. But it was the adidas ZX collection that really got me back into it. I had bought pairs before that, but what got me back into the community was the recent ZX collection. Now I have pairs that I may not have ever seen or liked because ZX wasn't popular here, and they still aren't. I think you can get almost all of them for under retail, and really cheap. It's mind-blowing to me because I've kept a few pairs from that collection, and one of my favorite pairs, which I think is one of the cheapest ones from the collection, is the Deadhype ZX8000, the purple pair with no three stripes on it. I think it's a very clean shoe. But I think if I hadn't gotten into sneakers, I wouldn't know what that shoe is. And if anyone wants a pair, it's definitely less than $100 CAD everywhere. So, form your own sneaker identity. It doesn't matter what the hype accounts post. Clearly, I'm not a hypebeast. I love Sean Wotherspoon. I think it's important that when you join the sneaker community, you form your own identity.
Make sure to follow James on Instagram: