The Unspeakable Truth About Cleaning Sneakers

I came across this good read by Complex magazine about the type of person I used to be back in the day - the avid, slightly compulsive sneaker cleaner.

For those who have been through the same process as I, only you would really understand. 

You're the one who truly knows just how much of an impossible task it is to keep your kicks clean because in reality, your sneakers will only be worn as clean once - that is right when you lace it up for the very first time. 

Doing all that you can to keep all your sneakers as white as possible, using all the shoe products you can get your hands just to keep your shoes in pristine condition, you try and try but come up short every time. It's as if you know once that you step out the door with your new white sneakers, that sneaker is destined to come back with some sort of an off-white and nothing like the pristine condition you first laid your eyes on when you saw them sitting on the sneaker store shelf. 

Hold that image in your mind.

Just hold it right there.

That white you see in your memory will be the whitest shade it will ever be.

But as the writer reflects in the article, he breathes the unspeakable truth that all sneaker-heads dread to hear - the wear on your sneakers is unavoidable. Simply by lacing up the sneaker and putting on the shoe, you are putting stress on the material. This already begins the process of the sneaker wearing itself out. 

How terrifying, right?

As I've come to learn over the years of buying new sneakers and wearing them out, each sneaker I've purchased holds a special memory. I've created some wonderful, long-lasting memories wearing particular shoes. I've also fallen short and received bad news wearing others. All in all, for each of the sneakers that I've owned or still own, I have worn them to take steps toward growing pains and joys, so there is definitely more to the footwear than meets the eye.

Which is why, in the grander scheme of things, rather than focusing so much on worrying about all the different terrains or factors that could cause your shoe to get dirty, come to embrace the fact that you are actually wearing the shoe (rather than having them all wrapped up in your closet) and see those marks made on your shoe as features that add more character to your footwear than unwanted dirtiness you're itching to clean off right when you get home.

Then again, if this post was too terrifying for all you sneaker-heads out there, go and quickly read this PG-version of ways sneaker cleaning brings zen in your life to flush out the horrendous idea of how new sneakers will never be the same once worn... Woops did I say that again?

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Side note:

I have always believed that one's personality and character can be first seen in one's choice of footwear and more importantly, the condition in which their footwear is kept. It is often the first thing I take note of when I meet a particular person or people-watch during my daily commute on the subway. For some reason, I've come to believe that it provides a very subtle look into who that individual may be as a person simply by their footwear.

Maybe that's why I've always wanted to keep my shoes as clean as possible... Or is that just telling of my character?

I wonder if any other people out there do this as well or if it's just me...