20 Things Sneakerheads Should Stop Doing Right Now

Image via Complex Original

When you look at your collection, is your first thought "wow, I hope I can have as many pairs as [insert name of obscenely overpaid professional athlete or entertainer] someday"? Stop it. Instead, learn to appreciate how many pairs you DO have. And maybe consider taking your two (or 10) least-worn pairs and donating them. If there's not a Goodwill or Salvation Army near you, maybe there's a homeless shelter. Or you can always look up places online. Because for everyone out there more fortunate than you, there are a thousand less fortunate. Do your part.

Everyone does it - we look and snicker at the guy wearing department store Reeboks, or the entire family wearing those Jordan retros that came out LAST month. Well, some people have different priorities. And other people actually have to pay their own bills. You don't have to literally wear another man's shoes to appreciate what it's like to walk in them.

Call them rationalizations or justifications if you must, just know that they're all the same thing - lies. And whether it's finding a way to tell yourself how much you need something before it releases or how much you didn't need something after, just stop it. You know why "honesty is the best policy" is a cliché? Because it's true, that's why.

Man, listen. If you have to leave three comments on your own Instagram photo just to fit all the hashtags, you're doing something wrong. You already know that we only feature on-foot photos, so tagging your super-rare, in-the-box sample pair of Air Jordan 3.14159265359s #ComplexKicks (let alone #WalkLikeUs) isn't going to do you - or us - any good. Try and be more selective.

Finish this piece first, by all means, but then take a break. Close up the browser, cancel the Google alerts, turn your phone off, and, well, maybe go outside for a while. If you think you can manage, stay away from the sites and the tweets for a day. Or a week. Appreciate the silence, and see what else you can hear.

Instead of bitching about how expensive your "grail" is, why not skip the generic releases for a month and see how much money you can save? Instead of getting a dozen things you kind of sort of thought you wanted, spend that money on one pair that you REALLY want. See how that feels for a change.

If there's any one overriding lesson you learn as you grow older, it's that - in the grand scheme of things, anyway - you don't know shit. So instead of fronting like you know everything there is to know about sneakers, be open to learning from those who have been in the game longer than you. And if you can apply this to your whole life, even better.

It's Saturday! Time to head out and do the rounds and see what everyone got this weekend. Then, a couple hours later, you come home with a couple bags, a depleted bank account, and five pairs of sneakers you didn't even know existed on Friday and that you won't even think about wearing for another six months, at which point they'll all be on clearance somewhere. Don't just shop to shop, have a plan, man.

Back when you were a little kid, you probably wished it could be Christmas every day. And now, with a sneaker release calendar that has a gold star on damn near every day, it feels an awful lot like it sometimes, doesn't it? Here's the thing, though - it's extremely tiring (not to mention extremely expensive) when you have to be Santa for yourself. And if you hype up every release the same, that adds up to a lot of disappointment if you can't cop. Learn to pick your spots.

You know that saying "the customer is always right"? That's not always the case, especially if the customer is acting like an entitled asshole. You waited all night in the freezing rain to buy a pair of sneakers and still couldn't get your size? How exactly is that the store's fault? Did they chain you to your lawn chair? Of course they didn't. And if the fact that there were 100 people ahead of you didn't convince you of the futility of your mission to cop a common size of an extraordinarily limited release, we're not sure whether anything would have helped. If you think you can do things better, don't bitch about it - open your own shop. Then you'll always get the latest releases, and some other kid can complain about you.

Before you throw those retros in the storage unit to let them marinate for a while, thing about this - when was the last time they retroed before? It wasn't that long ago, right? And they'll probably be back again before you know it. Just wear them now.

First off, yes, there are certainly aspects of the sneaker game that aren't perfect. Which is a good thing for us, or else we'd actually have to find real jobs. But at the same time, there are an overwhelming amount of things that are great that we should all be thankful for. Look, if you want to complain all the the time, you'll always find things to complain about. But is that really how you want to live?

Hey, here's a thought. Instead of just throwing this weekend's pickups on top of the stack, how about actually taking a step back and looking at what's on the bottom. Do you even remember what's all there? Or is there a second stack in front of the first stack by now? Does your sneaker closet/room resemble the last scene of Raiders of the Lost Ark? Do you need to play a dangerous game of Jenga just to get dressed in the morning? Maybe your collection just needs a remix.

"Which pair should I wear today?" This may not be the oldest trick in the book, but it's definitely near the front. You know damn well which pair you want to wear today, this is just an easy way to say "look at all my pickups from this weekend" without seeming to brag. Well, you are. Cut it out.

Creases happen no matter what. And whether they happen on the first wear or the tenth, you just need to learn to embrace them. And walking like your feet are in casts will always look dumber than creased sneakers. So accept the aging process and walk normally. Please?

The Air Monarch IV and the Air Walker are two of Nike's best selling sneakers. Ever heard of them? Better yet, ever worn them? Didn't think so. Most of the world doesn't care about a release date, it may be important to us but the bottom line is, we as sneakerheads have very little impact on the most important thing to every brand...the bottom line.

The fact is, resellers aren't the reason you aren't getting a pair of kicks. Look around, you'll see more people wearing dope sneakers than ever before. If you're old enough to remember days without resellers, give yourself some cool points because clearly you're one of the influencers that attracted more people to the sneaker game.

If your first thought when putting on a pair of sneakers in the morning is whether you'll be cooler than all the other people at the club/school/work, then you're definitely doing it wrong. You worry about you, let those other people worry about themselves.

First of all, if you're 14, you don't even KNOW how it used to be. You want to really know how it used to be? Moms bought you one, MAYBE two, pairs of sneakers a year. Not a weekend, not a month, a YEAR. And if you took her to a place like Flight Club and showed her a pair of Jordans for only $500, she'd slap you right across the face and drag you out by your ear. And as for the quality of originals compared to retros, did you ever have a pair of originals? Have you ever SEEN a pair of originals? Right, didn't think so.

You wouldn't care about sneakers if it weren't for the people they're connected to. Whether it's a hero like MJ, Kobe, or LeBron, or the friends you trash talk with about the daily sneaker info, sneakers are only important because of the people that wear them and the friends you share laughs with about them.