Some folks spend their days hunting for old video games. Others prowl for rare antiques. And then there is the rare breed of collectors who will travel the world, wait at stores for hours and spend thousands-yes thousands-of dollars on sneakers. DJ AM is one of these proud, hard-working sneakerheads.
In a recent episode of HBO's "Entourage," the Los Angeles nightlife fixture (real name: Adam Goldstein) got a chance to show off his sneaker-sniffing skills by beating Turtle (Jerry Ferrara) to the punch when he nabbed the last pair of limited-edition Fukijamas at the Undefeated store in Santa Monica, California. Vince (Adrien Grenier) may have been shocked at the large number of people lined up for the footwear, but according to DJ AM, this kind of thing happens all the time.
"It was pretty realistic," DJ AM said of his TV cameo. "I have definitely waited in line for shoes several times, and I have no problems doing it. If you want them, you want them."
He admitted he once waited three hours for a pair of Nike Air Max 95s that came out exclusively at Niketown in Beverly Hills. "I knew they were very limited and I needed to make sure I got them," he said. "That's one of my favorite shows of all time. There's hundreds of different colors of the exact same style, but I have almost all of them. And it's tough, because certain colors you can only get in one part of Germany or something. So I waited in line instead of paying a fortune to some kid who was selling them on the Internet."
As for Fukijama, many sneakerheads think the inspiration for his character was a cross between graffiti artists Futura 2000 and Stash, or fashion designer/musician Hiroshi Fujiwara, all of whom have created limited-edition sneakers with Nike. Others have theorized he was loosely based on Japanese designer Nigo, the man behind the line A Bathing Ape.