1/“My first pair of sneakers that I could honestly say, ‘I’m cool now’ were Giuliano [Fujiwara’s] and they had snakeskin on them,” says Ride Along 2 star Kevin Hart. The 36-year-old father of two might be best known for cracking jokes and starring opposite Hollywood’s leading comedians, including Will Ferrell and Ice Cube, but he’s also got a sneaker collection to make any hypebeast envious. “I’m probably at 500 to 600 pairs,” laughs Hart via phone, adding, “I bought some of the same ones again.”That collection includes everything from “pretty much every Jordan you can think of” to rare Air Force 1s and Cartoons, sneakers reworked by the tattoo artist Mister Cartoon. “I turned the dressing room closet into a Jordan closet,” jokes the comic, adding that he’s attempting to curb his habit. “Right now I’m big on limited editions. I’m big on the ‘you can’t get them’ or ‘can’t find them’—that idea of limited exclusivity.” And one of his favorites is also one of the sneaker world’s most coveted kicks: the Air Yeezy 2 Red Octobers.
“A lot of people didn’t know they glow in the dark. The red sole clashes with the sneaker, and one night when I wore them I saw the red glow,” Hart says with excitement. “I was 35 and saying, ‘Did you see my sneaks glowing?’ That’s when I had to re-evaluate what’s important.”Hart says all this with a laugh, but when it comes to wearing the sneakers, he has plenty of serious styling advice to offer. His Instagram is flooded with images of him all over the world in slick ensembles punctuated with hard-to-find shoes. “There’s nothing cooler to me than dressing down an outfit with sneakers,” says Hart. “It’s a great way to wear a jean. Or dress it up with a nice high-top or sophisticated low-top.” As for the red carpet, Hart suggests—you guessed it—designer sneakers: “I love being able to do that. It’s about who you are and what you have on your feet. My mom told me that you can tell a lot about a man by how he keeps his sneakers.”Particularly when one has designs on his very own sneaker.
The actor has been working with Nike on his own cross-trainer expected to be released this April, the Hustle Hart, which he says is equipped for everything, “from lifting to running to jumping to being all over the place—this is a great shoe to have.” And with his own shoe under way, is there anything that still eludes the sole collector? “The [Air Jordan 10] OVOs,” he says immediately. “I have the cream 12s, the ones that are round in the front, in the cream and gold color. But they just came out in black and Drake is being a jerk,” Hart laughs. “I don’t like to use my relationships to get them, but I’m going to have to get those.” My husband spent 2.5k on shoes... WTF (self.offmychest)submitted by To preface this a little, my husband used to collect sneakers but has stopped and only buys a pair every few months. He doesn't go crazy buying pairs and his collection is rather small now. He's sold a few of his "grails" as he calls it so we could put a downpayment on our house.
We both work reasonable jobs and have enough to save and pay for the mortgage each month. But seriously, something just clicked in his head and he apparently went crazy this weekend. I seriously cannot believe he spent that much on shoes. I come home this morning after a graveyard shift to a few shoe boxes scattered around the living room floor. I thought to myself, maybe he's getting rid of some more pairs and don't really give it a second thought. He comes home after his run and before I take a nap he asks what I think about those shoes in the living room. I'm like... uhh I didn't really bother opening them since I thought you were going to give them away. He gives me a pretty stern look and I knew he wasn't planning on it. He told me he bought them. I was like isn't 4 pairs a little too much (assuming they were new sneakers, usually he spends about $100 for a new pair of runners). Then he dropped the bomb. He said those 4 pairs total cost us $2.5k. I had no idea what to say.
I was completely dumbfounded. Who in their right mind spends $2.5k on 4 pairs of sneakers? He said he bought those 2 pairs off of a guy in a local sneaker group that he met up this morning. Each pair was $1k... I asked him wtf. He said he wanted a pair of the Yeezy's. But he had to buy 2 since he wanted "one to stock and one to rock". I was livid at this point I thought he was done with this bullshit and now he spends this month's mortgage on 4 pairs of fucking sneakers. He said the other 2 pairs he got at the mall so I'm going to get him to fucking return those. I still can't believe he spent 2.5k on shoes. I'm really fucking upset right now and I have no idea wtf to do with $2k of our money locked up in shoes. π Rendered by PID 97105 on app-787 at 2017-03-13 23:53:23.768537+00:00 running 2ae7f3a country code: SG.ALL I DO IS SLAY Women's T-Shirt to match Jordan 12 Dynamic PinkThousands flock to show off shoes at Sneaker Summit Robert Paredes passes through the crowd of sneaker lovers with his wagon full of sneakers at H-Town Sneaker Summit Sunday, Dec. 4, 2016, in Houston.
It was Paredes' first time to participate the summit and he wanted to trade and buy sneakers. ( Yi-Chin Lee / Houston Chronicle ) lessIt was Paredes' first time to participate the summit and he ... more A small army of sneakerheads invaded the Space City Sunday. Grinning as they snagged their new kicks, shoe enthusiasts bought, sold and traded the finest in footwear at the bi-annual Sneaker Summit at the Bayou City Event Center. Hip-hop bumped in the background and drink-toting event-goers shouted over each other in the hightop-happy hubbub. SPEAKING OF SNEAKERS: These shoes take Whataburger love to another level "I liken it to a party atmosphere," said founder Bryan Angelle, 42. Fourteen years ago, the Houston native kicked off his shoe summit in the back of a now-defunct coffee shop. "It was two dozen people who were friends on a message board," Angelle said. "Then it doubled in size with the second event and went from coffee shops to sports bars to nightclubs to concert venues."
Somewhere along the way, the cool kicks celebration started attracting some celeb shoe-lovers. A small handful of rappers, a world-renowned shoe cleaner and even a YouTube star set up tables Sunday, showing off their high-priced pairs. Somewhere around 3,000 attendees were expected, Angelle said. H-TOWN FASHION: Houston bureau reportedly spent $450K on fashion show Bernard Freeman - better known as Bun B - came bearing thousands of dollars of sneakers. He wasn't there to sell, though. "This is my personal collection," he said. One of the newest additions to his elite shoe closet was a pair of Nike Air Force 1's originally released in Japan in 2001 - and rereleased Friday, only in Miami. "The ticket price is only $127, but if you go online on eBay, it'll be between $1,500 and $2,000. But that number will go down significantly by Monday," he said, pointing out that the limited-release shoes have future sale dates on the calendar. The Houston hip hop legend's collection also includes a pair of Eminem Jordan 4's.
Gifted to Freeman last Christmas courtesy of Jordan brand and Eminem, the kicks have previously auctioned for more than $15,000. Although he rolls out the big bucks for sneakers now, he got into collecting them as a reminder of back when that sort of expenditure wasn't an option. "It was something that my family couldn't really afford so whenever I got sneakers I had to take care of them because they had to last," he said. Now, he likes showing off - and occasionally giving away - his exclusive sneaks to shoe fans who might not otherwise get to see such rare finds. Londia Weatherspoon is a shoe fanatic with a similar drive to share his sneaker fandom with the masses. FASHION IN POLITICS: Will the fashion industry embrace Melania Trump? The Baton Rouge 26-year-old works at Foot Action and, on the side, hawks high-end used sneakers to benefit a non-profit he runs with two friends. "We try to bring sneaker culture to the South, to people who don't get to travel," he said.