First of all, could you please introduce yourself?

Hello My name is Conor Coleman, I am 22 years old and I’m from a small town in Ireland called Drogheda. My main interests range from sneakers to interior design, automobiles, and fashion with my favourite pieces being graphic tees and outdoor/ technical gear. I have a keen interest in brutalist social modernistic architecture as well as open plan modern design. I love to collect fleeces, outerwear, vintage graphic tees, and old advertisements from camel cigarettes, Marlboro, coca-cola, and various other staples from the 90s.

For how long have you been collecting sneakers?

Collecting has always been a big part of my childhood from yu-gi-oh and pokemon cards to wrestling figures and football boots. I wasn’t a fan of air max as a kid so tennis and lifestyle football models from Nike and then handball silhouettes from adidas were my favourites and this was the case until I turned 14 or 15. As a kid, I was engrossed with collecting pro model adidas predators and then the occasional F50 and mercurial vapor. The kangaroo leather and the aggressiveness of the predator just made me feel at home on the football pitch and from an aesthetic and functional approach, they were the best boot on planet earth in my eyes. I was very fortunate to amass quite a large collection as a kid but as I became injury prone and spent so much time on the sidelines I began to focus on sneakers as a way of expanding my passion for collecting and they were my coping mechanism in some dark times. I seriously got into studying sneakers and the history and archives towards the end of my 4th year of secondary school and before I turned 16. I was drawn in via the og presto colourways like the abdominal snowman, sole collectors, velours, and lightnings, and then came my love for the air max 1. I remember seeing some studio ids, flannel packs, and cherrywoods and just instantly being hooked forever.

You seem to have a great variety of brands on your Instagram account, do you have any favourites? Perhaps even a favourite model?

Although I mainly collect old air max I do have a major interest in a lot of other brands. Due to the nature of the lifespan of air max soles I made it my mission to try and collect as many of my favourite old and og pairs as I could and wear them before the soles die. Unfortunately, I didn’t get as far as I would’ve liked so i’m finally placing more priority on more wearable pairs and diversifying via some of my favourite brands as well as going back and picking up some of my favourite non air max models from Nike. In terms of Diadora I would really like to pick up skeletors, purple tapes, taipans, and a couple of other pairs. Diadora killed it last year with the Hasbro pack and the cime di rapa. I picked up the monopolys for me and the trivial pursuits for my dad. I don’t think there’s one silhouette that is truly my favourite anymore as I just love the diversity among my collection but some of my favourites are the air max 1, new balance 1500, Asics gel Lyte III, Nike presto, air force 1, and air max 95. I also have a soft spot for the Air Max 360 as I love the aesthetic of the pair and the colourways that dropped back in the day. Some obscure stuff I like would be the air max 03, og 98 TL, terra albis 1 and 2. I could go on for a while.

 Back in May, you posted the 100th pair of your collection, how many do you have now?

I think I’m around 125-130 pairs now but it’s so hard to get time to get the accurate number to count them properly.

Are you planning to expand the collection any further? 

I said id stop at 3,000 pairs so for now ill keep going but there is more to life than shoes. I’ve traveled a lot in the last 4 months and I’m going to New York in a few weeks as it’s one of my dream holidays. I would also like to go to Japan towards the end of the year as well. At the moment I’m saving for an old land rover defender 90 that is modified or an old 80s G wagon with a 3 litre engine. I would love to tick one of these off the list and have my own slice of heaven on the road that is utilitarian but also fits my idea of an aesthetically pleasing vehicle. As always id like to pick up more studio ids this year, 1997 concord spiridons, homegrowns, 1997 jewel swoosh forces, taiwans, and some other stuff. I have a long hit list.

What was your favourite release of 2021?

Some of my favourite pairs from 2021 that I own are the footpatrol adidas eqt 93 support, lightning air Jordan 4, bacon air max 90, monopoly n9000, and finally the gorgeous 992 blue silver metallic. I feel there Are a little bit of everything in that list and all top-notch quality pairs.

Is there anything in particular that you are excited about in 2022?

The lime green Kawasaki-inspired new balance 2002r are a must cop. I’d buy 100 pairs if I could. I’m also excited for what’s in store for the air force 1 as well as some miscellaneous stuff like the sunder max, canton purple 4s,  more acg stuff, and air max 1s. The cdg air max 97s and crepe air max pack have peaked my interest.

If you could cop one pair for retail, which would it be and why?

Verema Air Max Tn

Playstation Air Force 1

Cherrywood Air Max 1

Air max Deluxe samples that Karl Lashnikov owns

Kawasaki new balance 993

It would have to be one of these. Some of my absolute grail pairs.

The fade on the verema and shape is just absolute perfection. Too many og tns to name that are a myth to find like petroles, aec galaxy, and womens draculas. Green is my favourite colour so the sample deluxes and kawasakis are just a no-brainer. Green and black is hard to beat.