“The logo, the slogan and the design. Just do it. How much more simple, yet meaningful, can you get?”

Senior James Le began collecting Nike shoes about two years ago and has developed what some close to him define as a border-line obsession. According to James, the main reason he started collecting was because of his involvement in athletic activities.

“I was inspired by playing basketball,” he said. “The interest got me researching proper shoes for basketball and I got carried away and ended up stumbling upon Michael Jordan and his brand, which hooked me into the sneaker community.”

After learning more about different brands of sneakers, James began experimenting with Nike shoes, and his newfound love for the brand eventually caused it to grow into a large collection. Taylor Le, James’ sister, believes that after he started dressing better, it gave him more confidence, which is why he continued to buy more shoes.

“I think it’s kind of obsessive but cool,” she said. “Girls have their purses, guys their phones, well, he has his shoes.”

According to Taylor, if the collection brings him happiness, he should continue it, which is exactly what he intends to do.

“I definitely think I will be collecting in the future,” James said. “Nike continues to better their designs with their releases and I’m really excited to see what Nike has to offer in the future.”

Along with collecting shoes, James also custom designs shoes as well.

“Customizing shoes was actually a recent thing,” he said. “I just really got tired of heading to the Alief and Galleria areas to pick up my customs from people that I know, so I just decided to learn how to customize them myself and do them in the comfort of my own home for my own benefit, but I do customs for other people as well.”

James feels that people like unique things and that his shoe collection fits into that category. He also thinks that his friends would agree.

“They think it’s a pretty rockin’ collection,” he said. “Most people are in love with my shoes, especially my customs.”

Wearing his multi-colored shoes to school everyday has gotten him a lot of attention from his friends, he believes they enjoy his shoes as much as he does. Senior Rebecca Adams is a fan of Nike and loves her friend’s collection.

“I think it’s a really cool hobby that defines him,” she said. “He re-fabrics the shoe to give them a custom design, they’re really neat.”

Although James is known throughout the school for his collection, he claims that it is merely just a hobby and not an obsession.

“I don’t think it’s an obsession at all,” he said. “It’s just a hobby. I collect just to collect. But if it were an obsession, it definitely is not healthy because you’ll never be satisfied with how many shoes you have.”