As a child, he could not afford to have much. A pair of sneakers was something he could only dream of. But as soon as he was a teenager, he started to work and from his very first salary, he bought a pair of sneakers. His love for fashion developed through the years and he became a collector. This involved a lot of hunting for the right pair, or how the sneakers community calls this pairs, ‘unicorns’.
Chris Robinson was clever enough to make connections and to build his way up in the community. His biggest inspiration was always Kanye West.
“Seeing how he focused on what he loved and inspired him without caring about what anyone else thought.”
How is Chris spending his free time? He loves to travel, food, exercise, and of course, he hunts for sneakers. As a collector, one of his goals was to have his own store. In 2007 he finally achieved this but in 2009 the store Addicted Sole was closed. Not later after that, in 2011 he opened another store, and very soon he will celebrate 10 years of incredible success.
Chris Robinson is not just a simple sneakers collector. For him, a pair of sneakers is far more important than just simply shoes. He thinks they are more than that, they are art. One of his goals is to change the people’s perspective of seeing sneakers, they are more than just glue and sole.
“Why I feel I stand out from a lot of other collectors is my love for Sample pairs, which are the pairs that the brands work on before releasing the actual shoe. These pairs tend to be different than the actual released version and can therefore be much more sought after and valuable in today’s market. Sometimes these shoes can get scrapped, and in some cases, I have the only pair in existence.”
It was not easy to get here, but with dedication, it was not impossible. There were many people out there doubting Chris, but he believed in himself and did not give up at any cost. Today, he has over 3000 pairs of sneakers and a beautiful community of over 130k followers on Instagram. Feel free to check his collection and feed on @sbcollector and you will be amazed by how organized everything is. What you will find there? Recently he picked up a pair of Louis Vuitton sneakers (Virgil Collabs) at a retail of $9.2k that light up in sync and can be controlled by your phone. There’re only 28 pairs out there. Lil Uzi and Kim Kardashian have them.
We all have something important to learn from his story. No matter where you come from, there is always a chance for you if you believe in yourself and if you are brave enough not to give up. The three top core values in life from SB Collector’s perspective? Money, Power, and Respect!
