Brian Pinho: King College Sneaker Head
Brian is a coworker who immediately stuck out to me in the office. Before I heard him speak, before I saw what he looked like, and before I saw how he worked, I saw his shoes. They were Air Jordan 1’s, specifically Celtics. That’s literally all it took for me to know he’s a sneakerhead.
Over the years I saw him on campus and saw most of his shoes. He had an amazing collection that I wasn’t even close to. That’s what convinced me he might be one of the biggest sneakerheads on campus and why I wanted to profile him.
His first ever big shoe purchase and the one that got him hooked was black and white Air Jordan 1’s. However, his first mistake was buying them from Flight Club. A brand that has the shoes you want, but they make sure you pay the price.
After that, he had to adapt to getting good shoes on a college budget. To solve that problem, Brian got creative.
Lace-swapping is an easy trick Brian taught me that anyone can do to make any shoe better looking or make your collection bigger.
“I don’t have pink shoes but I have a pair of white vans with pink laces” -Brian
He also recommends mix-matching. A white and a black van make a nice combination and anyone can do it.
Another big thing he taught me is to go thrift shopping for shoes. 10 of his most regularly worn shoes are from thrift stores. He found a pair of Air Jordan 1 “Celtics” that he bought for $50. They retail for over $500 dollars now and the only problem with Brian’s was that one of the shoelaces were torn. He went home, lace swapped them, and now they’re some of his most worn.
More of his restoring projects include a pair of “Grape” Air Jordan 5’s and a pair of “Military Blue” Air Jordan 4’s.
I asked his friend and roommate, Hugh, what he thought about Brian and sneakerheads in general. He was a little more down to Earth about shoes.
“I respect it as a form of art” -Hugh
He likes shoes as a way of people expressing themselves but he also thinks sneaker heads are insane sometimes. Hugh said, “you gotta get your priorities straight before shoes,” and he’s not 100% wrong. It’s expensive.
Brian and I recapped some trophies in his collection for the end of the profile.
- Favorite shoe? Air Jordan 1
- Shoe he wants the most right now? Yeezy 700
- First big shoe purchase? Air Jordan 1 “Black and White”
Kickolls 