Ahead of Air Max Day, We Spoke to Some of Football's Biggest Sneakerheads About Their Love for Air Max

We spoke to some footballing sneakerheads to find out what it is they love about sneakers, and why they fell so hard for the Air Max.

Images via Nike

Footballers and sneakers go hand in hand. Like peas and carrots, you'll almost always find a footballer wearing his sneakers, and why not, when your job involves running around and away from the pitch comfort is paramount? Some footballers though, they're straight-up sneakerheads just like the rest of us and share the appreciation for the iconic Air Max sneaker family tree. 

Air Max 1s, 90s, 95s—the list could go on for days. We spoke to some footballing sneakerheads to find out what it is they love about sneakers, and why they fell so hard for the Air Max.

Darren Bent

One glance at the former Spurs striker's Instagram will tell you that this guy is a sneakerhead through and through and just like the rest of us, he loves to rock his heat; "I'm a guy that collects trainers to wear them, I don’t collect them just to have them." Dude isn't just showing off; sneakers are clearly something that he loves, something he has opinions on, and something he loves to collect and wear. You can't fake the smiles in those LPU photos man, that's true feels, from a true sneakerhead, and his observations are on point; dude definitely knows his sneakers.

His introduction to sneakers was pretty similar to most peoples; "One of my friends back in the day was a big trainer collector," and we all know there's nothing better than sharing your love for sneakers with friends. When it comes to Air Max, Bent has major love for the OG, the Air Max 1, and he's got cracking taste in them, too; he's got mad love for Amsterdam sneaker boutique Patta, and his favourite pair are "the ‘Albert Heijn’ Air Max in orange and blue, which "I searched for about 5 years to find and I eventually found them on Instagram​." With his collection of Air Max 1s alone pushing 900 pairs, you know dude is a true 'head. 

What would a signature Darren Bent Air Max look like? "Meshy, suede, black. Definitely Air Max 1." Sounds like a winner, right?

 

Jordon Ibe

Kyle Walker

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The current Spurs right-back and England International fell in love with Air Max while growing up in Sheffield. His introduction to sneakers was the same as most kids; "when I was about five or six, when my family used to drag me along to the shops trying to find the latest Nike." Now it's less like dragging, and he's always on the look out for new Air Max in new colourways. His Air Max collection stretches above 50 pairs, and in total his sneaker collection is pushing 150 pairs, all organised in their own closet.

Growing up in Sheffield, the Air Max 90 was dominant among the kids Walker knew from a young age and it's stuck with him as he's grown up; "everyone used to try and get the latest colour. I can remember I used to go to my friends’ house, knock on their door and say to them ‘Can I borrow your trainers?’ I didn't want to ruin mine." Like most sneakerheads, he still doesn't want to ruin his kicks, and has a strict regime when it comes to maintaining them; "It's not a sob story or anything, but when I was growing up I didn't have much, so my mum always said, ‘Treat things with respect, and they'll last a little bit longer.’ So that's what I've tried to do. As soon as I wear them, I put them back, baby-wipe them, and that's about it until the next time I wear them."

Having moved around the country, and travelled around the world, Walker is in a pretty good position to comment on sneaker culture, and how it differs in different places; "coming from Sheffield and moving down to London at the age of 19, you know, I found it a lot bigger down here and the trainers have gotten a lot louder. [...] I see a lot of people in America wearing the Air Force 1s. So I know that's really big over there. But as they say, the Air Max is a London trainer. So I feel that being from England, I have to keep repping the Air Max rather than the Air Force 1."

 

Will Hughes

Ross Barkley