Luis Miguel Lozano
to go and check what ’ s there .” It was 1999 , and he had never thought of the old material before . I gave him my phone number and said , “ Let me know if you find something .” Three weeks later , I got a call from him saying that he found the Air Jordans . I said , “ What ?!” We had no What ’ s App or anything , so the only way to see them was to drive back to Valencia and see what was there . So I drove up , and there was one pair of metallic blues with no box . He also had three or four pairs of the Chicago 1s . I bought the metallic blues and one pair of the red , white , and black Chicago 1s . I didn ’ t even realize how difficult it was because it happened so soon . As soon as I wanted to find them , I checked a few stores and found them , so I had no idea how rare they really were ! You can ’ t imagine how many experiences I ’ ve had of that type . Now I own over 2,000 pairs of sneakers , and I found really big bunches around Spain and Europe . Even some in the States . Not New York , but I ’ ve found things in Philadelphia and even in Los Angeles just three years ago . Most of my sneakers have been found this way .
It started with the Air Jordan , but from there I wanted to find all the sneakers I had as a kid . I remember going to places and finding big stacks of sneakers and only picking up the ones I wanted . Two years later , I wanted all those that I loved back then , but couldn ’ t have them , so I visited those stores and bought more and more . The more I had , the more I wanted .
What was your process to find them ?
Basically , the process was get in the car , think of a big city , and go . Let ’ s see what can I find . The beginning was just walking around and looking for old stores . I was always thinking of cities that might have sneakers . During those years , my collection really blew up . Sometimes the stores knew they had valuable stuff , and sometimes they didn ’ t . I remember once , buying 400 pairs of everything , including Nike , Adidas , and Reebok . I would say that 70 % of those models wasn ’ t my thing , but the other 30 % was very good . Everything was 3 euros a pair . I remember the Huaraches , the original Stan Smith , Reebok Pumps , Nike Mariah , and lots of good things . In that place , the owner said he would only sell them to me if I took them all , so I took them all . I negotiated prices for a few months , and it was very easy . Sometimes they know what they have , and sometimes they think that things they have are even more valuable than they really are . Sometimes you have to convince them . Some people think they have a treasure and don ’ t want to sell . I respect them all .
In another place , I remember walking around a city and I saw a pair of Converse Spectre from 1985 or 1986 in the display of a dusty old store , so I asked , “ Do you have any more of those ?” They said , “ Yeah , what size ?” When I got to the back of the store , there was a huge wall full of Converse . I read the names on the boxes and it was all Startech , Spectre , and Weapon . I saw the boxes and said , “ I want them all .” That day it was like forty or fifty pairs . I went back two or three more times and bought more stuff from them , the adidas Lendl track suits and some other things . This was in 2008 . It was crazy . I got five adidas Lendl track suits in all sizes . I also got some Converse track suits . Have you ever seen Converse track suits from the 1980s ? I had to hide my surprise because the owners were very suspicious and asked lots of questions . I told them I was a basketball trainer for kids and just wanted cheap stuff for them because we couldn ’ t afford expensive things . The lady with the Converse said , “ Ok , but I can only give you twenty percent off the price on the tag .” The
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