I’ve had to set my alarm clock many times for before 8am to go on my phone and hope that at exactly 08:00, I could manage to buy a brand new pair of limited Jordans or other sought-after shoes such as New Balances or Nike sneakers without them being sold out before my card details go through. As a big fan of basketball, it is expected that I would also be a fan of Michael Jordan who is considered the greatest player of all time even though he had retired back in 2003. He is not just known for his talent on the court, but he is also very well known for his influence on international culture in footwear. It was such a great and memorable experience back in late 2017 when I had bought my first pair of Jordans, the Air Jordan XIII “Altitude”. Opening the clean grey shoebox, taking in the smell of new shoes, and picking up the beautifully wrapped sneakers felt as if I had just bought myself a diamond-encrusted Rolex. To me, this just shows how important and treasurable the unboxing experience of footwear should be. Since then, I have collected 5 new pairs of Jordans so I probably should say that the Jordan brand is my favourite out of the 3.
Why do I like New Balance so much? Well I only have 1 pair of New Balances (the 997H Rain Cloud) but I can comfortably say that I could wear them all day long and my feet would feel just as fine as they did in the morning. I also love the way the brand markets their products to all audiences. New Balance is really made for everybody. To me, the brand is run perfectly and I concluded this during my report from my Year 1 Buy, Supply and Management module and New Balance also works alongside honourable charities such as Playworks (providing children from low-income schools with “safe, healthy, and inclusive play”), NB Spartstart (inspiring children to discover a love for keeping active) and each year New Balance donates $250,000 to The Red Cross, ensuring that this charity can help out at the scene of a disaster at a moment’s notice. You can learn more about New Balance’s Foundation here:
My other favourite footwear brand is Red Wing, an American based company, and I had not known about Red Wing until I met a Slovenian man who was, at the time, also walking on El Camino de Santiago. He told me that he had recently bought a pair of boots from Red Wing and he had fallen in love with them so much that the pair would become his only choice. I had to google the brand once I had returned back from the 10-day pilgrimage and I also found myself drawing love hearts around the selection of boots but not their price tags as they average just under £400. Almost a whole year later, my family decided to chip in their money and surprise me with a pair of 1907’s for my birthday and now I also can’t take them off of my feet.
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