Sneakerhead Spotlight: Danny AKA @beiberlove69

Question 1: What’s in your current sneaker rotation?

Danny: What's not in my rotation right now?  Haha, I always want to try a new model to see what the tech does and I always keep some classics around.  I'm not always after "heat" as much as I'm drawn to a design, performance and nostalgia.  I always keep an am1 and am3 in the rotation. Jordan 1s I shuffle through regularly - Highs, lows and mids. Blazers and dunks. The air max pre-day line has recently made it into a regular place in the lineup.  

The last couple of weeks I've worn my first pair of saucony shadow 6000s and was really pleasantly surprised with the comfort. Jordan 5 "top 3". Air Fear of God 1. A few air max varieties for air max month. Always rock with a pair of blue dunks or Jordan 1s. I started beating up the dunk vs af1black dunk and have hiked a ton in the Jordan Delta mid the last year.  And every once in a while I break out an older pair or two in order to keep em worn in. 

Question 2: What's the last pair you UNDS'd?

Danny: I undsd 2 pair in the last week.  One was the am90 "daisy" because the spring flowers were so nice out...and i out of the very simple desire to see what the glow did, I undsd the Jordan 13 low singles day. I know neither are hype favorites but I like the uniqueness of both of them.  The "daisy" has a cool mix of materials. And the singles day 13s were so ridiculous I wanted to see em on foot.  I also have a habit of holding onto pickups and not unds'n for like a year, so I thought I'd get to these sooner than later. I dunno if it's a bad or good habit. 

Question 3: What is your fave sneaker you currently own?

Danny: Sooooooooo.  Hard question. I'll narrow it down to 5. (In no particular order) 

A) Jordan 6 black infrared   

B) Jordan 11 playoff

C) Jordan 16 CDP black and red 

D) Jordan 2 CDP Home

E) Jordan XXXII "Italy" sample f&f

I guess I have others that are collabs/more hype in the collection, but I have reasons for all of these.  

I was prime age to both start playing ball and watch Jordan begin his quest for 6 and these were my first j's. I wore these until the soles were flapping off.

I was also prime to watch the goat make his comeback in the 10s and 11s... needless to say the concord and playoff 11 are probably my favorite shoes of all time.  They were like a symphony met Missy Elliot in superduperfly.  Classic and hip in patent leather all rolled together. Maybe I was there at the right time and it's all nostalgia for me, but I've never looked at another sneaker the same since. 

Both my CDP picks are still in really nice  wearable condition and I can't believe they're almost 15 years old. Classic colorways that Jordan wore and represent a time when I could barely afford sneakers but had to get these packs.  Compare that to my original 2000 space jam 11s which are in pieces (but I also played hs ball in them).

My last pick is a modern J.  I splurged and picked up my first friend's and family "not for resell" XXXII pair on resell and love the story and the quality on the build. The 32 was a pretty good ball shoe but the lux take on this "Italy sample" with the high end leather and quilting makes them like a protro style 2.  I just really like the look and feel on foot. 

Question 4: What is your must-have grail?

Danny: OK. I would put this into 2 categories.  There's attainable and unattainable.

My attainable grail right now would be the dunk low Kentucky sp or Jordan 3 "free throw line."  this opinion may change daily. 

My unattainable grail would be the Fragment x Jordan 1 or a nicely refinished og 85 pair, selfishly....and unselfishly when I was younger my older brother got his team basketball shoes stolen from school. The b&w 1995 air strong mid (early model team shoe). I think CWebb and Sprewell wore these. I always wanted to find a pair of these to give to him for a present since they were stolen. (sz 10.5 if they're out there). Too bad nike won't put these back out. Kinda a modified cb34. But a cool look. Dunno if I'll ever find a pair of these still wearable unless they are retroed. 

Question 5: What got you started in the sneaker game?

Danny: I wanted to be like Mike. As I eluded to earlier, I was a prime target for nike and Mars for the early Jordan campaigns. By the time I was playing little league you "needed" to be like Mike. I saved up for my first pair of 6s in 1991/92 in the 2nd grade and made it a point to buy a new pair of j's every year to go back to school until I went to college. Then I would go through spurts of not having enough money or moving in and out of places when I would miss out on a lot of the early 2000s boom. But I got back into it a few years later when I was a little more stable and have been able to re- collect a lot of the oldskool and nostalgia pieces I had when I was younger. But this time I don't get 1 pair until I grow out of them and I don't have to wear em until the soles fall off. Some have come and gone along the way. I wierdly wish i hadn't thrown out all my old busted and beat up basketball shoes. Now I like exploring some of the new tech and, of course, always go after og and retro pieces. 

Question 6: What's something that most people don't know about you?

Danny: One time I hiked the Appalachian trail from Maine to Georgia. (Since this is shoe related) I hiked in both Merrell moab ventilators and a pair of lafuma hiking boots I don't remember the name of. They were both pretty great. The Merrells were light hikers I put about 1000 miles on. And the other 1000 on the lafuma pair but I've never been able to find that second boot again. 

Question 7 (optional): What do you do for a living?

Danny: I'm an environmental scientist. Which gets me outside a lot. I like wearing my sneakers into the woods. 

Question 8: Where can people follow you on social media? YT, Snapchat, IG etc.

Danny: I'm pretty much only on active on Twitter, I don't have enough time for other social media.  Follow my sneaker habit and dumb thoughts @beiberlove69