Some like to collect quilts or rugs. Others have a passion for dolls, craftsman furniture, cars or pottery. I like Mason jars and vintage Nikes among other things. Vintage Nikes fascinate me to no end. The older the better imo, and they can be in the most ratty condition. It really does not matter to me. Vintage Nikes make for some cool antiques even if they are a quaint 30 years old or so.
Like coins, stamps and comic books and most everything else old and coveted, vintage sneakers hold value with respect to condition. The better their condition, the more they are worth.
Today, I found a vintage pair of Nike LD 1000 running shoes on eBay as seen below. I love the thin shape of the Swoosh logo. Modern Nikes are issued with Swooshes I find a little too thick for my taste. Anyway, the shade of orange and the thin material make the Swoosh on the original LD 1000 stand out nicely, boldly. That was the Swoosh's point back then right? To stand out and exude boldness? Swooshes meant more then than they do now, and that's a shame. The world is so familiar with this iconic logo, so over-saturated with it that the novelty has plain worn off. It wore off a long time ago.
I once bought a pair of vintage canvas Nike court shoes that were popular around 1980. I found them on eBay. They were very much like a pair I wore to school when I was much younger. I do not have the pair from school anymore, but I still own the pair from eBay. They appear in the photo below.
This pair has a rubber toe cap, vulcanized herringbone sole and a light blue Swoosh. If I am not mistaken, John McEnroe competed in this model against Borg at Wimbledon. At the time, I thought the shoes were revolutionary because they had a built-in arch insert. The insert was made of foam. No other shoe manufacturer had such in their products. Early on, I could tell that Nike was an innovator instead of a follower. It is no surprise that Nike rose to the market leader status it holds today.
