Best Collection Ever " The Perfect Pair '

Watch these 2 videos and be impressed

I have a lot of respect for The_Perfect_Pair, but I personally wouldn't say that someone out there has "The best collection ever." Different people have different tastes, and many collectors focus their collections differently. I really do respect his drive to complete sets full of unreleased pairs. To say that a lot of his pairs are incredibly rare is an understatement. Salute to him for his ever growing collection of rare pieces, as he has a ton of pairs that I would love to own myself! His collection is definitely beyond top notch and I can't even imagine how much time/money/energy it took to acquire all of those grails! His story is inspiring, and I can't even imagine what he went through with the passing of his brother.


-Jermaine

^ Definitely Right. Everybody has their own preference on what footwear they prefer. @phase2x has an amazing collection as well, check him out.

his girls shoes alone blow alot of peoples collections away, best collection featured ever on nicekicks.

So what's this dude's story? He seem pretty wealthy judging by the house. Also, what happened to his brother?

Great collection btw

Him being of Indian heritage, he appears to have some level of ownership in a casino. Certainly explains his wealth. Definitely a top, top collection and props to him for wearing most of them.

I saw an obituary online where it said his brother passed away from heart failure. Doesn't give anything further than that.

wow that collection is insane.

props

i can't believe he owns the actual "last shot"s... signed and everything (lots of writing on them, looks like more than just MJ's sig)...

says they were his brother's, but his now... has the 13's signed by the whole team next to 'em in that box...

absolutely crazy.

more than 1 of 1

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but still respect that collection

15 pair of Yeezys... This dude...

Mayor? Seriously - of all people, that's who you pick?

Mayor would get run out of the Team AF1 thread on this very message board!

i'm with Jermaine; the idea of a collection is too diverse and personal to say that one person has the best collection. Personally, I don't even consider some of the collections a lot of people love as even sneaker collections - autographed game worn kicks and stuff like that is more sports memorabilia then sneaker culture, IMO.

To me a great collection is very well rounded - and it has to have a ton of vintage stuff too; which is what most of today's shoe celebs lack. I'd take Ibioczo's run of vintage ATCs over a bunch of Bron "F&Fs, of which there are like hundreds anyway, any day of the week. ...Show me a near full set of OG1s before any PE. Eminem 4s, Undftd 4s... ehh, gimme Sunshining's pristine purple metallic 1s.

Mayor is a perfect example of that BS - he's the face of the AF1 and barely owns any pairs at all from the golden era of the shoe.

You want to throw out names, tell me Dependable Jay, Sunshining, Sole Supreme, or several others, but Mayor...

That dude reminds me of fat bastard doe but props to him.

never understood the obsession with samples,pes ,customs ,ids 1 of 1s etc.so many hot cookies came out in the 90s and 00s that were grs and went on sale whats the point of spending ridiculous amounts of money on kicks you dont wanna wear cuz you spent so much  or might think are fake.plenty of cats get got trying to buy rare kicks.been collecting 10 years  never bought any fakes by mistake cuz i havent taken the unnecessary risks tryin stand out and get some internet fame.people say "it happens to everyone" nah it happens to the dumb ones tryin to get some shine.celebs buyin fakes just to stand out and nobody in their crew know enough to stop em.all about whats the "most rare" always been that way and its the worst part of this culture.not impressed you paid 6000 on some game worn signed jays that your afraid to breathe on.and he keeps saying "we wear our shoes" yet 90% of his collection looks  untouched.i feel like this man has too much money for his own good not doubting his love for kicks maybe the passion is there but his collection is boring to me.

^

I think most on here would agree that I'm pretty "purist" overall, and my stash reflects that. But, I think it's natural to also want things that are rare and that others don't have. That's part of the collector mentality. Two things here -

One, not everybody into sneakers is a "collector," so some have a collectors mentality and some don't.

Two, that said, it can't be all about money. I like having rare stuff too, but a)certain vintage stuff is actually rarer than certain PEs/FnFs, and b)not everything rare and cool costs thousands of dollars. The funny things is - and I'm not accusing perfect pair of this, per se - is that a lot super rare stuff doesn't even elicit the ooohhs and ahhhs that some more common "rare" items do. Something has to be common enough that all the tennyboppers know what it is, otherwise they don't know that they are supposed to jock it. I asked one of my dudes who runs a consignment shop if he would want to sell a pair of Deftones for me. He told me that while he loves the shoe (he's an old head like me), most of the people who come into the store wouldn't even know what it was or why it would be priced how it would be. Now, that shoe is a legit FnF - like confirmed 50 or so pairs. That's way fewer than 112 Brons or HWC Brons, or dozens of other "PEs" that sell in the thousands. But, for the beast, it's actually TOO rare because nobody knows they are supposed to drool over it.

I think that once you have a solid base of a stash of you favorite stuff, then it's perfectly understandable to go after rare stuff, samples, etc. But, if that's all you have, then meh.... I say this all the time, but it's like a graff writer who can piece but can't tag - it signals that you didn't come up from the inside.

As far as sneakers you don't wear, it all depends on how large your stash is, IMO. My stash, for example, is hundreds and hundreds deep. So, if some of them are basically things I'll never wear, what's the difference. There's stuff I intend to wear that I'll probably wind up never wearing. It all depends on how deep you are in it. ...Then there's also the idea of shoes as a commodity or investment, which may be sort of outside the pure culture, yet is a real thing. There are people who buy art or any myriad other commodities without personal attachment, but simply as investments. The community usually resents them, but it's an understandable thing.

At the end of the day, the desire to have stuff others don't is a natural part of what drives any collector of anything, but IMO, it has to be balanced with other priorities. Liking the shoe, having a personal attachment to it, the history, etc. are all elements of what attracts me to a shoe, and desire for rarity is a consideration as well - the trick is how much of a part that plays in the overall calculus. ...Vintage collectors are certainly not immune to that. When I'm hunting vintage AF1s, I go by what I want first and foremost, but it is certainly a bonus when it's also something nobody else, or very few others have. If you're secure with yourself and your own collection, you can admit that.

i would disagree i dont think every collector feels the need to buy more and more rare kicks.like i said i have been collecting 10 years and none of my shoes are rare.all can easily be obtained via ebay or at sneaker shows.back in my cherry hill days i knew plenty of dudes who only cared about being fresh (not collecting)and still noone into whats was rare they wanted what was hot what everyone else had.thats the same story with a alot of kids nowadays buying shoes they have no connections to like jordans and foams just because they are hot. the whole reason i have never liked jordans is because of the "idea of cool" that goes behind a pair.sure he can be lame and not know ish about kicks but hes wearing jays so that makes him cool.I HATE THAT.unfortunately we are in a culture where you can buy respect and can buy cool.why do alot of people think mayor,dj clark kent and perect pair have amazing collections?? cuz they have alot(more than most)and they have kicks that are rare and know for being pricey(cartoon af1,paris dunk,undft 4s ect no vintage tho.

i think they care more about showing off their money then actually caring about footwear maybe their driveways couldnt fit anymore cars so they started collecting.i doubt if we lost any of those egotistical clowns the culture would be affected.

to be honest if i posted my collection tom. most people would probably think it was wack cuz i have no samples or pes.sure some people would say "good stuff man" and "dope collection "to be nice but i doubt they would mean it.sad part is alot of people around my age and even older have adopted this "rarer is better "mentality.which makes me question if they ever have truly liked kicks to start cuz if thats the case what were they collecting 10 years ago when GRs were really all you could get.

My point is that the mentality you speak of is present among many collectors of anything collectible.

You may not like it, but it's not abnormal. Collectors wanting rare things is dog bites man - nothing to see here. If that's PART of how you express your love for shoes, then I think that's fine and perfectly natural. Some people don't get into that - and that's fine too. But, if that's like your whole MO, then that makes me yawn.

A lot of these sneaker celebs are indeed pure clowns. Some do have genuine love - CK for example is definitely a knowledgeable old school sneaker dude who was just as interested in this when nobody cared about it. But, nowadays the culture is big and he's an icon and he'll promote basically anything that cuts him a check. Money changes things and changes people - also, nothing new there.

The funny thing about a lot of these sneaker celebs who like to flaunt their expensive items and lifestyles is that many of them are the cheapest, ridiculous lowballers around. They think they are entitled to stuff and actually think they are doing YOU a favor by buying something from you. I could air plenty of shoe celebs out, but it isn't even worth it. On the other hand, there are plenty of stand up guys too.

he clearly hasnt been "in the game" for as long as he says. Maybe jordan wise but he, like many others, doesnt know his lebrons pre-7s

Think Pink Soldier 3s were a HOH release and not as limited as he says. he doesnt have much of the older bron samples because he wasnt into them prior, I bet if you offer it to him now he would buy it just cause its a sample.

end of story he is just another rich guy bringing up the prices of PEs and Samples

i do respect that he wears them all tho, would like to meet him

we obv are far part here and dont agree and thats fine i will leave this convo with last couple words.

i am not doubting any of these dudes have a passion for kicks i just think money plays a big factor in peoples interests.let me talk to a dude that is farley poor about whats hes interested in and thats passion.CK talkin about only wearing a pair once and tossing them out is more of a reflection of wealth  not anything in this culture really cares to hear about......and unless your friends with CK or have met him its hard to really knows how he feels.

you talk about being a purist well so am i dont even like messing with all 90s gimmicks that came with this culture.i remember watching larry johnson and la gear,BK commercials and maybe asking for that pair for xmas but the love was short lived.what did i really need a basketball pump needle in my BKs anyway?? lol  i doubt anything was gonna happen(nobody even brought a pump to the court i played anyway). do i or anyone really need 3m on our jordan 5s or penny 2s nah.but it helps get people in the door and in a way i miss those silly commercials but the point is i just would rather mess with footwear in the most raw form.

rubber midsole>faom midsole

tumbled leather,long cropped suede>armourposite

clean design and decent quality with a simple cw>3m,glow in the dark soles,react juice,visible air bubble(yes i said air bubble)etc.

give me a pair of shelltoes,dunks,bruins,af1s,puma cyldes,half cabs anyday and i will be happy.obv you like both raw and over the top kicks nothing wrong with that i have a few pair myself.i just draw the line at over hyped and over priced samples,pes,ids customs etc.

cool vid and awesome collection. i'd rather see his og's then all the samples he has personally

this guys collection is awesome but IMO, nobody has a better collection than @dependableJay. That guy is a true collector

Collection itself is insane...

but his knowledge on its history, build and materials on each shoe is very impressive  

Sheesh.... I would too if I had the cash.

Nice collection, a lot of kicks not my style but the work involved is amazing.  I will continue to buy what I want and think they are heat in my own head.  If I ever post my collection online and people say it is HOT, cool.  If they say it is wack, cool.  Wear what you like and F what everyone else says.   To many people getting caught up hoping everyone likes what they wear, and get upset when someone says something negative about there collection.

His collection is dope, i was amazed at the PE's and unreleased stuff. But i seen some NTers collections (especially in the samples threads etc.) that got more crazy stuff