DUNKXCHANGE MIA 9/28

[Tier0club.com]

Ok, so I finally made it to my first Dunk Exchange.
I was excited to see what the local sneaker scene is like and what the turn out would be. I wore all MKors so I wouldn't have to compete with the serious collectors. As I drive closer to the event I see them; sneaker heads. I see people parking their cars and opening the trunk to carefully open an orange box to put on their shoes. I was like oh man this is very serious. They each carried the best pairs of sneakers they have in hopes to exchange it for what they consider the Holy Grail for their collection. I can see everyone as they walk sizing each other up, from the feet up of course, making sure the outfits match perfectly with the shoes and giving an approving nod. Finally, I make it to the door and it’s mostly teens and some older collectors all perfectly dressed to match the sneakers they have on. So okay I’m thinking this is going to be fun, a nice and mellow event with people talking about sneakers. Once inside, complete freaking mayhem! In a nice way of course. It was like being inside EBay, everyone screaming out prices, holding up shoes and the highest bidder wins. People were asking each other, “where’d you get that shirt from?” and the biggest pick up line of the day was “hey what size are you?”. I never heard anyone asking names, just prices and sizes. The people who came in empty handed had a pocket full of money to do a “buy it now” bid. The girls represented well too, they had on the exclusive brands of female clothing lines and traded the small sizes with each other. There was a great variety of local and indie streetwear brands at the vendor tables along with a few fitted hats. I saw my friends from Hi-Top in Fort Lauderdale had a table selling exclusive kicks and a few tees. Luckily I didn’t bring any money; I knew I would want to buy it all, especially in that frenzied environment. I saw an impressive line up sneakers mostly Jordans, Nike Air Forces and Nike Skateboarding shoes. It was cool to see shoes you almost never see in person, like those Tier 0 account pairs to the ones you only see online in blog photos. True, there were a lot of pairs that were the same but you’re only lucky if it’s your size so it didn’t matter if there were many similar pairs. I was a little surprised by it all but I was happy to see a bunch of sneaker heads in one place. Next time, I’ll be better prepared and I may even wear sneakers and bring cash to buy those fresh t shirts that will match the shoes I don’t wear. As I exit the event impressed by it all, I happen to notice an older guy wearing the Eggplant Nike Air Flightposites, a week early from the release date of course, and I had a lingering thoughts. What are all these young kids going do when 2009 comes the Jordan countdown ends and the Nike Basketball retro releases come out? Will they like it? We shall see, but for now I see the line has been drawn in the Miami sand between the really young kids and the older folks that know their basketball shoe history and lived to see the original and the retro release.
MM
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