There's no reason why I can't continue to get by on my $30.00 pair of plain black new balance shoes... at this time anyway. When I was a kid “gimmick” shoes were the coolest thing. It started when we were really young and for me at least continued into middle school. Shoes used to be a big part of my wardrobe. Now all I want is something that fits and is cheap.
Through my childhood into my teen years I can remember 5 major types of gimmick shoes that either I owned or one of my friends owned. These shoes included character pictures, light ups, pump ups, Heelys, and Soaps. Here's how they broke down:
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Character Picture Shoes
These shoes are actually my personal favorite. Not because of the design, but because of the ease of use. Not only were they velcro, but for the better part of the time that these shoes were worn, someone was putting them on your feet for you. Now that is service.
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Light-Up Sneakers
LA Lights as they were known to all the kids playing a game show on Nickelodeon and coming in 2nd or 3rd place. These things were also bad ass, however I feel that the lights ran out of juice way sooner than expected. Regardless, I would love to strut around in a pair of these babys today.
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Pump-Up shoes
I begged my parents to get me a pair of these somewhere around age 7 or 8, thinking they would make me jump higher and be able to make me dunk (which I also thought the Nike Shox could do too a couple years later. Go figure right?). These shoes sucked. I don't think I've owned a pair of hightops since then.
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Soaps
I luckily never owned a pair of these trash shoes. Soaps were supposed to make you grind a rail like you were on a skateboard, without the skateboard. Thankfully my parents realized this was a stupid idea and never allowed me to have them. This didn't stop my buddy Josh from getting a pair of these and promptly falling on his face breaking his nose. Score one for mom and dad.
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Heelys
Unfortunately I did own a pair of these shoes. What's worse is I saved up my hard earned money from delivering newspapers to buy a pair for the low price of $89.99. They were fun in school, until the teachers banned you from wearing the wheels in the hallways. So I decided to wear them while I did my paper route. I actually would complete the route backwards just so I could roll down the hill on Proctor Street. Then a rock got stuck in the wheel going full speed down proctor street, probably somewhere around 15-20 mph. Scrapes, bruises, and ruined rubber Heely wheels later, the shoes were retired for good.
Honorable Mention
Nike Shox
Sketchers Shape-Ups
Toe Shoes
So hopefully my kids will get to enjoy and beg me for gimmick shoes someday, but their will never be a fun of gimmick shoes that we had as kids.
Sunday, April 14,
2013
