I haven’t bought a new pair of sneakers in months. I’m doing tremendous, thanks for asking.

February 17, 2024

February 17, 2024 was the last time I bought a pair of shoes. It took me a moment to recollect because I didn’t just like the shoes I bought that day and forgot I had them – probably because of that hate. That day, I got one of those coveted “I got them” notifications on the Nike SNKRS app about a pair Air Jordan 4 “Reimagined.” That notification brought me a lot joy; I remember feeling like I had thrown $215 down the drain that day.

After some reflection, I can confirm that I did indeed waste $215. I remember opening the shoe box, taking a look at the shoes, and regretting not buying them until I saw them in person. I forgot I had them until recently when I saw someone wearing them in the shop and thought, “I don’t like those shoes,” only to do not forget that I had spent the equivalent of a week of a kid’s summer camp — OK, perhaps not a whole week, perhaps three days of camp — on shoes that I could have worn once and can probably never wear again.

The most interesting thing about this story isn’t that I wasted money or that $215 isn’t enough to send my kid to camp for a week, but that I remember the last pair of shoes I bought. For my life, that’s kind of amazing. I used to purchase a few pairs of shoes a month with mindless nonchalance, a lot in order that I couldn’t even remember what shoes I bought the week before. I had a shoe budget, on purpose. I would scour sneaker blogs and Instagram shoe pages for the newest releases from shoe brands I loved, sniffing out collaborations that may result in cool, limited-edition shoes that fit my taste and aesthetic.

And then I just stopped.

It’s a weird feeling. I’m a shoe person. I like having a lot of shoes that go together with almost any outfit I can imagine. I like having shoes which have interesting stories and designs. I used to love buying shoes. But now I haven’t been interested enough in a pair of shoes to make a purchase for months. That’s to not say I haven’t seen shoes that I like or might like, I still browse sneaker sites and blogs and sites etc. I just feel uninterested in every thing I see. The closest I’ve come to purchasing a pair of shoes has been in February with the recent release, collaboration between artist Nina Chanel Abney and the Air Jordan 3 shoe. I really like these shoes but didn’t feel compelled to purchase a pair. I watched so many unboxings of the shoes attempting to force myself to purchase them but I moved on pretty quickly.

Lifestyle

It’s a new space for me. I’ve sold a few shoes, but I’ve mostly given them away to friends and friends with kids who might need a practically new pair of what I had. I don’t know if my interest in shoes is waning. Like I said, I still browse my old favorite sneaker spots, but I don’t do it as often. I don’t spend hours watching unboxings of the newest sneakers from my favorite sneaker creators. I don’t see people wearing cool shoes and think I need a pair. I listen to them and move on. The funny thing is, I don’t even miss buying shoes. That’s the weirdest thing; I used to like the enjoyment of buying shoes, and now I’m like, “Great, I have more money!”

Hunting for shoes I love at a price I’m willing to pay was a sport, now I’m a very completely satisfied spectator. Maybe it’s because I don’t feel like shoe corporations are getting as creative as they used to. Maybe I got bored and got what I needed to get out of the game of owning sneakers. Maybe I’ve reached the natural end of my sneaker journey and I’m completely satisfied with my collection (which remains to be pretty big and may very well be reduced much more) and moving on to other endeavors.

Whatever the explanation, I was tremendous. I had no hives, no fever, no withdrawal symptoms. As it seems, not buying shoes for probably the longest period of time in my life since I had my very own money turned out to be… tremendous.

If only I could reduce the dimensions of this book collection…