VERSUS: Rock ‘em or Stock ‘em?
There are two types of sneakerheads in this world: those that meticulously clean and methodically organise their sneaker collections (stock 'em!), and those that grind them into the ground (rock 'em!).
Luckily for you, one of each of these enigmas work right here at Sneaker Freaker HQ.
We’ve plucked them from behind their desks and sent them to duke it out in the greatest combative arena since Rome’s Colosseum: the World Wide Web.
- Gabe
- Jacob
As always, make your vote count below!
The state of your Undercover Element Reacts have really got me wishing I had a pair I could beat up...
Why TF would I beat 'em?
Why would you keep them clean?
Sneakers have been elevated to ‘work-of-art’ status; it’s not even correct terminology to call them ‘sneakers’ anymore. We shouldn’t treat them as such. My Undercover Reacts will be a sculpture in my home museum. Not trudging through the streets like your Diamond Dunks...
You know what I do with those Dunks when I get home? Kick them off into the bottom of my cupboard. Boxes live in the top of the cupboard, shoes in a pile below. Shoes that don't get the proper love (read:worn) just end up sitting on a shelf and crumbling! Art isn’t worth anything when it disintegrates!
Yuck. Listen, your sneakers aren't worth shit once you lace them. You know what I have in my closet? Financial security. My wife leaves me? I've got Jays to stem the financial haemorrhaging. Second cousin smashes up my wheels? My Travis Scotts are gunna cover that. This is what we call financial dynamism. Something you kids constantly dropping wads of cash on kicks wouldn't understand. Beat 'em, sure. But you ain't gunna have shit once it's all said and done.
When you say art, I say sneakers. What’s the point of owning sneakers if I walk into my room and can only look but can't wear??? Hell no! At the SF Swap Meet I bought a pair of DS Skippys. I put them straight on. I’ve always wanted that shoe, it was always on my wishlist. There’s no point building up a huge collection if you don’t beat it up. They ain’t gunna last forever playah...
What about obvious 'art' shoes? You're not seriously telling me you'd trudge around in the Tom Sach's Mars Yard Overshoe?
If I get a pair of the Overshoes, I’m wearing them in the snow.
No way. You're going to wear a thousand-dollar sneaker in the snow? Why? To try and pickup on the chairlift?
What confuses me is that you care so much about keeping all your kicks so pristine. WHY?
Keeping things in mint condition is THE BUSINESS. The sneakers become emblematic of an era. Material constructs from a bygone era. What happens to your beaters? They get beat. Trashed. Forgotten. Once your memory goes bye-bye (which is not far off, btw), then you're going to have zero recollection of any of these Grails that you beat...
You can’t keep them ‘pristine’. The glue won’t hold forever, the Air won’t stay at the same PSI, the material will fade, and you’ll be left with a relic. Something you can look at, but won’t be able to touch. Imma keep wearing my shoes the way I treat you on the bball court: Beat.
May I present a third option?
And that is?
I'll still be beatin' all three, boy.