I am a sneakerhead - episode 176 @alexismysneakers
First of all, could you please introduce yourself?
Hello, my name is Alexis, I'm 25, I've been interested in sneakers for almost 10 years, and I've been collecting since late 2013, early 2014 with some Nike's, Asics, and New Balance. My first real pair of sneakers was a Jordan 1 High Chicago from 2009, which I didn't respect at school but I had the style for sure haha!
I have really looked into the Japanese brand since 2014, 2015. I started to be able to buy a few collaborations from the previous years that I already knew but I could not afford to get them, the prices were very expensive during those years, but I was going little by little until today, where I have almost all the pairs that I would like from Asics.
I'd love to hear more about your camera setup, could you please take us through what you use when taking sneakershots?
I started photography in 2019 where I opened my "alexismysneakers" account because before that I took pictures on the phone, which I posted on a personal account, so I opened another account for sneakers, to dissociate both. For 2 years, I have been taking my sneakershots with the Pentax K1 Mark camera and two Pentax lenses, a 50mm f1.8 and a 30mm f2.0. And a Cullmann carbon tripod, light and easy to handle, and versatile.
ASICS seems to be your favourite brand, why is that?
My passion for Asics came quite naturally, I had heard of a few blog collaborations at the time but not really into it, and the collaboration with SneakerFreaker in 2010 had caught my attention, and between the time of release and 4 years later when I wanted to find her, I didn't remember the name, suddenly I typed keywords on google with a little hope, and I came across many others collaborations except the one that I either looking for the Sneakerfreaker, including a lot of Ronnie Fieg because he was very present at the time, he had opened Kith 3 years before, he was continuing collaborations with Asics. I fell in love with lots of colorways, and I started to slowly search for what I liked about all of it. And to finish with this question, it turns out that one of my first pairs of Asics was therefore the SneakerFreaker but the reissue released in 2014 by PackerShoes, which I had 2 times, but I wanted the first with an R on the heel, very limited and slightly different from the retro, I got a sample 2-3 years later of the OG, which I sold then for a 2010 release version a little over 1 year ago, I got 4 pairs anyway haha!
What is your favourite ASICS release of 2021? And all-time?
I didn't have any favourite release in 2021 because I bought nothing from ASICS’ recent designs... The shape is horrible, and ideas aren't my taste. But my favorite pair of all time is the Slam Jam Asics gel Lyte III "5th dimension" from 2010. Matteo Angelo and the team did a legendary shoe!
Most of your images on Instagram are with others, do you have a great community in France?
Yeah! We are a small group of collectors in France, we were more like an era. There are a few other people today who are not known for their Asics but still have very limited pairs in their closets. But as a still-active collector, there are very few of us in France.
They are people that I love a lot, we have known each other for several years, and we meet a few times a year when we can because we all live in the four corners of France, we talk to each other every day, we laugh a lot! So big up to my french brothers, Marius aka schoenkunst on Instagram, Guillaume aka Guigan713, Anthony aka tcoolkicks, and Jordan aka jordanrpl_! Kisses!
If you were to cop anything besides ASICS, what would it be and why?
Sure! I am wearing some Nike's, Diadora, New Balance, or Clarks Wallabee.
I often rotate brands other than Asics in my closet, I resell and redeem other pairs, but I often wear for daily some dunks, air maxes, or other brands like I said before! I am not married to Asics, especially for the last few years... I am still looking for old pairs sometimes when I've opportunities but I love what other brands are doing even most of the releases are hype nowadays, I try to get some cool pairs!
What is currently on your radar? Do you have anything particular you want to purchase soon?
About Asics, I am still looking for Patta GLIII, Zillion GLIII, 252 Pink Ronnie Fieg, and some GTII, like Ultra Marine and Bread and Butter Vanilla GTII, but those are very rare, and I try to get most of my Asics in decent condition even close to deadstock often, and at a right price! I got another grail from the past few weeks ago which was on my shortlist, so yeah I am happy! (SB pigeon colorway for Asics… it's a clue) And about other brands, prices are very expensive, but I really like last Travis Scott Jordan low with Fragment! Some New Balance's, last Levis or first Joe Fresh Good... etc, only hype shit haha! Even if everybody wants the same pairs, in my opinion, without hype, they are very good sneakers, beautiful colorways and materials sometimes!
Let’s spread the love around sneakers and don't forget, wear what you like the most and don't do it because other does!
Make sure to follow Alexis on Instagram