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Ian Stonebrook
Nike Air Foamposite One “Dark Neon Royal”
The older I get, the more shoes I get, the less attached I get to each pair. I’ve still never really sold a pair of sneakers so I guess I’m more attached to my kicks than I think I am, but at the end of the day I’ve been real blessed in the footwear department and I could part with some. The “Dark Neon Royal” Foamposite Ones though? That’s tough. Those were the shoes that I always oggled at Playmakers in the Meridian Mall when I was a pint sized Penny fan in elementary school. While my mom gave me all the love and shoes I could ever want as a kid, a pair of $180 shoes wasn’t happening for my fast growing feet or imagination. Heck, I was even Mike Bibby for Halloween in fifth grade in hopes of getting a pair to perfect my costume. No dice. A year later, the less expensive Penny 3s would soothe my Foam fiending, but as they say, “ain’t nothing like the real thing.”
Fast forward to 2007. After lots of NikeTalking about the molds being too expensive rebuild and hunting down my long lost love like Ben Stiller in There’s Something About Mary, the famous Foams finally got the retro treatment in OG but of course limited fashion. For the first time in my life I paid more the retail for a sneaker (no snobbery, just frugal) and got these off Pick Your Shoes for $260 something with my 19th birthday money. Truth be told, these spent more time in my South Wonders dorm room than in the streets or hallways of East Lansing, but I was giddy to have my grails.
These are the shoes that I wore when I came down to visit Snkrs Day before I interned. These were the shoes that always filled the answer space in the theoretical “if your house is on fire, what is the one material item you run in and save” question before I even had them, or the first purchase when I won the lottery. I’m not gonna front like I’m not somewhat of a jaded Penny/Foam fan with the recent rise in popularity and colorways. That may downplay the chase or the exclusivity, but it doesn’t change the memories. These are still the ones for me and always will be.
Twitter: @ianstonebrook/Instagram: ianstonebrook