I'll be 29 years old in a few months, and I've worked in the sneaker industry for nearly a decade. I've fallen in and out of love with sneakers over that time period, and I once thought I was too old to be obsessed with them. That was a few years ago, and I realize that it's one of the dumbest sentiments I've ever had. Not only because I gave away some of the most cherished and hard-to-obtain portions of my collection, but I thought that someone could be too old to wear sneakers. Sadly, I'm not the only person who thought this way at one time or another.
The sneaker world has seen power collectors, such as Kansas City Royals pitcher Jeremy Guthrie, retire from the daily pursuit of hoarding and ogling over footwear. With Air Jordan 1s and Nike Mags sitting next to him at a staged press conference, Guthrie announced, "In terms of my decision to not continue on as an active sneakerhead...I'm very solid in my decision at this time. The reasons being...when I lose that sense of motivation, that sense of having something to prove as a sneakerhead, it's time for me to move away."
As one ages, their tastes should evolve and change, but they should also be representative of who they are.
I couldn't believe it. I know that a huge portion of collecting revolves around the need to show the world how fresh you are — and people give up pastimes and passions for various reasons — but how can you give up being a sneakerhead? It's nearly impossible to stop wearing sneakers all together, and once you get the itch for putting cool things on your feet, it feels like a cop-out to erase that desire. Especially if the reason is "I'm too old to be doing this anymore," or "I've done it all already."
There's a misconception that being a "sneakerhead" is something that's better pursued by those who haven't received a college diploma yet or are still in high school. The camping out, daily in-and-out of checking Twitter and Instagram, and caring more about sneakers than anything else in the world is not only time-consuming, but it can be counter-productive to being a fully functional adult. And that thinking isn't completely wrong. It's not easy to get coveted releases these days without running the rounds on social media and doing an extensive amount of leg work.
But as we get older and less amused by the circus that goes down on Saturday mornings or with the mention of a Jordan restock, it actually becomes an opportunity to get sucked further down the sneaker rabbit hole. Guthrie is right: There reaches a point when we don't have anything to prove to people anymore. It's pointless for older folks to try and one-up the growing swarm of kids that are fanatic about everything that Jordan, Nike or adidas puts on the market, whether in the smallest or largest of quantities. The idea of having the biggest, latest, and greatest is a hard feeling to shake, but once that feeling wears away, it's possible to discover a portion of sneaker culture that some never knew existed.
Once the feeling of being the most revered collector or simply posting pictures online for Instagram likes is out of your system, a sneakerhead can do what they do best: just love sneakers. They can either explore once-forgotten models from the past, get themselves up on new technology and live in the moment, or just put on the same pair — or own multiple pairs of the same sneaker — every day.
It's not childish or immature to reach a certain age threshold and still obsess about sneakers. It's quite the opposite, really. While it might not be wise to have a collection take up a huge percentage of someone's living space or financial expenses, a true adult will figure out how to balance keeping something interesting on their feet along with their checkbook.
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The worst part about getting older is realizing that you're old. As one ages, their tastes should evolve and change, but they should also be representative of who they are. If that means they've moved on from multi-colored Dunk Highs from Nike SB or metallic Foamposites to a pair of all-white Common Projects Achilles or grey-suede New Balance 997s, then that's OK. Don't worry about getting less attention from people on the street or not owning make-ups that were manufactured in the hundreds.
If the feeling of wearing something that makes us smile doesn't fade, then someone can always be labeled as a "sneakerhead," even if their stacks have been downgraded from a 1,000 to 20 pairs. Because, at the end of the day, it's all about personal satisfaction that sneakers give us and not something that we look to validate from others. What's the point of getting into this culture if it's not about wearing what you like in the first place, anyway? You'll finally be able to match the idea of wearing a pair of O.G.s with literally being one yourself.
Matt Welty is a staff writer at Complex. You can follow him on Twitter here.
