My name is Paulo aka @Bostonsbest1 and I’m from Boston. My first great pair of sneakers my dad bought for me were Jordan 3’s white cements. At the time my dad worked over 80 hours a week to maintain a household that included my mom and sister. I didn’t even have a bedroom at the time, I slept on a pullout couch in the living room. I knew it was difficult to get that pair given my hard working parents lifestyle. Truthfully I didn’t expect it to happen. I had taken my dad to a local store that had the shoes and when he saw the price tag he told me I was crazy, I remember being disappointed but understood why he couldn’t buy them. A week later my dad came home from work and said he had a present for me that he had put in a paper bag. As I was opening the bag my dad tells me don’t tell your mom how much they were. My father had always known of my love for sneakers, another funny story involves me wanting a pair of white Air Force 1’s. This was well before the Jordan 3’s story but same situation there just wasn’t enough money to warrant my dad spending that kind of money on a shoe for me. So he goes to the local Fayva (old shoe store, bad crappy shoes) buys a pair of knockoff AF1’s and draws a swoosh and writes Nike on them. Thinking back now my dad was doing what Virgil is doing now. My father was way ahead of the times.

I’d say my favorite brands are probably Nike, New Balance, and Diadora. Nike just hits me hard with the nostalgia and their catalog is simply impressive. I don’t think anyone will ever touch them. Having grown up in Boston I always loved New Balance as well even though it wasn’t cool to wear back then. I had quite a few outlets and factories close by that we’d spend a lot of time shopping in those stores for back to school so needless to say I went through a lot of NB’s growing up. The Made in the USA hits hard too, I love supporting American companies that actively try to manufacture here in the states. Diadora is a brand I really love as well having spent my summers in Portugal and playing soccer it was a brand I wore a lot for that activity. Having watched Roberto Baggio growing up wearing Diadora it resonated with me, and those beautiful Italy blue jerseys when Diadora was their sponsor brings me back. I even wore a pair of racing flats from Diadora in high school for my events the 800 meters and 1600 meters. To this day I still say that was the best racing flat I ever owned. I wish I could remember the model name. 

What are your top three sneakers you own at the moment?

Well having to narrow down things to 3 is extremely difficult. I am certainly a homer and two of the shoes come from Concepts. One being the Tannery 998 which I think is the greatest 998 ever and the other the Luxury Goods 997. The Luxury Goods 997 represents its name perfectly, luxury at its finest. I had actually seen the cease and desist to Concepts from Hermès because of this shoe which makes the story even better since many don’t know about that. My third favorite shoe is Nike Huarache Free Shield “Megatron” because the shoe represents an athlete who has now retired but is quite possibly one of the top 5 wide receivers to ever play in the NFL. The shoe is incredible with 3M covering the whole upper with a grid. Check online photos out

What do you plan on buying next?

I just purchase the Nike Air Zoom-Type Black Menta, I am hearing a lot of great things regarding its comfort. It’s also taken a nice piece from Sacai in terms of the aesthetic of the shoe and it’s aggressive look. I’ll have to let you know how it is. I’ve also been searching for some other shoes that I have to double upon. Many know me for not cleaning my shoes so I, unfortunately, need to go back and grab some classics again.

What are your expectations of the sneaker industry for the remaining of 2020?
I believe New Balance has really set an example for the industry in terms of the last two years and the introduction of new silhouettes. I’d like to see other brands follow suit, retros are great but it’s nice to have some new, fresh innovative footwear available. 

If you could change one thing in the sneaker community, what would it be and why?

Great question because one thing that has bothered me the last 2-3 years are how some of us older folks (I hate the word sneakerheads) have treated this new and young generation coming into the hobby. Some of us hate that they are buying some of the brands we love like New Balance, making it harder for many of us to buy limited pairs. I’m one to embrace people coming into new brands I think it’s great when we can teach them the history of the brand or shoe. There are too many of us getting upset or calling people Hypebeasts just because they never wore New Balance. At one point in time those same individuals didn’t wear New Balance either so they need to relax and move on. Instead of hating welcome people into a brand you’ve loved by providing insight. The JoeFreshGoods collaboration was enormous, unfortunately I wasn’t able to get a pair (NB or Joe If you are reading this please feel free to send a pair), and I’ve followed him and what he’s done for a while and am extremely happy that he is being noticed now. We did have some folks that were quite upset about not being able to get the shoe etc. yeah it sucks but it is what it is, and if a sneaker makes you mad you shouldn’t be buying them it isn’t that serious. The sneaker world has become a lucrative business for many, I miss the days of walking into a store in the afternoon and being able to buy what I want. Like all things eventually normalcy will come back but I think for now the industry is in a good place. One thing some of these manufacturers need to start doing more of is bringing in more diverse folks from different backgrounds, more black representation at the corporate level is needed. Let’s face it by bringing in more diverse people we will certainly see new creativity to help this industry continues its progression forward.

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