Last night I picked up a grail. A sneaker I have wanted since the first rumours of it hit the Internet. If you follow me on Instagram then you know what it is. The KAWS Jordan 4. I wanted to write a post about how it feels to finally have something you have spent so much time thinking about.
Jordan Breds on the beach in Palawan, Philippines
I am lucky enough to have picked up more than one sneaker I desperately wanted. I don’t know if they are all ‘grails’ but they are definitely important to me. The first good story is the weekend of the Jordan 1 Breds. Obviously a sneaker everyone wanted including me and @laizey_bones. We talked to everyone we knew at sneaker stores to see who was getting GS sizes and what the line up/raffle procedures were and entered as many as we could. We woke up in the middle of the night (1 am) ready to go camp at the mall but a five minute look at the line of 100+ people told us that would be a lost cause.
It wasn’t looking good and I posted a few places to try to secure a resale pair before we went back to sleep (GS pairs are usually not too bad on resale). By the time we woke up again we had secured pairs in both our sizes for ok prices and felt pretty good. But then… as we were driving back from picking up my pair… @laizey_bones phone rang. Then my phone rang. Two raffle wins from the same store! We couldn’t stop smiling and laughing all the way to pick them up. We couldn’t believe our luck! I love that feeling. I didn’t love waiting at a gas station at 10:30 that night to sell our extra pairs quite as much, but it was so worth it.
No one in my office really understood why I was jumping up and down
The Air Max ‘Elephant’ was another sneaker I obsessed over. Even before the 2016 Vote Back campaign, I looked at pics of the original on a weekly basis. Price were just too much for me to even consider, so I never thought I could have them. Then, Vote Back started, and did I ever vote. Every. Single. Day. And they won. And I spend the next year counting down the days till the re-launch. Pics started leaking, and the rumours about the shape started coming out. Then rumours about the pack. I wanted these sneakers and was prepared to camp out to get them.
During Air Max week I got a package delivered to my work. I slit open the packing box and saw a black and jade sneaker box inside. I share an office and my co-worker was having a meeting in it. I can only imagine what my face looked like. Then I opened the sneaker box and held the Elephants and read the note from Nike Canada. I felt like I was walking on air for the rest of the week (not an intentional Air Max pun but now that it’s there I have to keep it).
Had this picture in my mind since I first saw them. CAN’T WAIT to wear them.
Finally, the KAWS Jordan 4. Another sneaker I was obsessing over for months. I entered every raffle there was. I paid to enter raffles. I stalked kawsone for weeks. I researched what happened to the people at the Brooklyn Museum and I learned about the dude who won the raffle at Footaction in Chicago and flew there from Miami to pick up his sneakers. I followed every rumour and tracked down every lead. It was all Ls. Resale prices have been just too high for me to justify, even for something I wanted this badly.
Then, on Saturday I got a DM that there might be a pair available for me at a reasonable price. I refreshed my messages every few hours till I got the final word – there was a pair, it was my size and I could have it at a price I was willing to pay. I got them last night and they are beautiful. I couldn’t be happier. Its a different sort of feeling from the win of the Jordan 1 Breds or the surprise of the Air Max Elephants. This is a quieter feeling. I think its going to take a few days to sink in that they are finally mine.
Hype Less 