Richie Roxas
M677 (1991)
Richie Roxas: I’ve been collecting sneak-
ers for over twenty years. I started out buy-
ing skate shoes, but I quickly progressed into
several categories, but mostly running shoes.
I’m heavy into New Balance. I might have the
biggest New Balance collection in the world.
Besides shoes, I collect anything NB related:
apparel, hats, bags, promo items, vintage ads,
books, etc. clothes were cooler than current stuff. Then,
I started hunting and buying vintage sneakers
from thrift stores. A lot of times these shoes
were already unwearable due to age. That
might be a starting point for my collection
because I was buying them not only because
they were used and cheap, but more so that
they were fascinating and not found on current
store shelves.
My collection started out as wanting to look fly
and have shoes to match my outfits. It quickly
became an obsession. Running shoes were
more comfortable than basketball or skate
shoes. I was buying sneakers from all brands,
and I quickly realized that New Balance was
the most comfortable among the running
brands. They looked just as good as Saucony
or Asics, but felt better. Once I found out about the Internet and eBay
in the late 1990s, it was over. I was searching
for New Balance every day. Back then, there
might be one listing per month, and I was
pretty much buying everything in my size that
popped up. I didn’t even have a debit card
then, so I was sending checks in the mail. The
seller had to cash the check and then send the
shoes. It took forever for them to arrive!
When did it go from “buying” shoes to
“collecting” them? How has collecting changed since you
started?
I’m not sure when I crossed the line from
buying shoes to it becoming a collection. I’ve
been shopping in thrift stores pretty much
my whole life because I always thought older When I started collecting, collaborations and
SMUs were barely a thing. There was definitely
a “Golden Age” from like 2003-2007 where
New Balance USA, NB UK, and NB Japan
40 | Classic Kicks | classickicks.com | Volume 2