sneakers. culture. life.: 15: Grails

10.10.10 - Every sneaker collector has a holy grail. Much like the Biblical and pop cultural holy grail references, it refers to a pair sneakers that are rare, elusive, or even sacred -a pair that you want more than any other. The pair you put on a pedestal. The pair you search for every day.

Throughout ones lifetime, it is possible to attain your grails on multiple occasions. Once you acquire your grails, another pair takes its place on the list and the hunt continues. In my sneaker career I have obtained four pairs that I had on top of my grail list including: the Wheat Forbes, the White Supreme Lows and the Black Supreme Lows. However, the Jordan IV White/Chromes were my first.

I started seriously getting into sneakers during Fall of my senior year in high school. I had picked up a few Air Maxes and basketball shoes over the summer, but once I started working at Shoe Palace, it all went downhill (or uphill, depending on how you think about it). I saw the Jordans somewhere, on someone maybe -in the mall, at school, I don't quite remember. All I remember is that the image stuck in my mind. Like when the guy in the movies sees the girl he's in love with. A beam of light came down from the sky and everything slowed down. She will be mine. Oh yes, she will be mine. (1)

But where to start? Were they retro? OG? Did they come out recently? Lucky for me, my senior year was the same year Niketalk really started picking up. The internet was an extremely underutilized resource for information at this point. Who knew there was more to the web than chat and email and games? After a little background research, the hunt began.

Hate to break the momentum of the story, but I would be lying if I said that the adventure was a long and difficult one. It's not because the shoes were readily available at the local shop or because they had recently come out. In fact, they had been out for almost a year and there weren't many online at all in any sizes, let alone popular ones. But the search didn't take long at all, four or five months, if that. In life, sometimes you just get lucky.

I took my grails to Aldwin's nephew's birthday on Sunday. I know they look like they've seen better days and that's because they have. But they've been with me for almost ten years now and every time I wear them, they remind me that if you search hard enough for something, you will always find it.