” Don’t be upset when your partner leaves you for about 3 days to go camp out for a new pair of trainers”
God help the ‘Crepe Widow!’ For the uninitiated, its a term for the suffering significant others of the obsessive sneaker-head. The habits of these unapologetic crepe junkies may range from, performing various Olympic level acrobatic manoeuvres, in order to capture the perfect on foot shot (just search #sneakerhead on instagram) to residing in a home that’s more akin to a Foot Locker stock room, much to the aggravation of their partner. These poor souls join a long line of previous widowers of our era, the ‘Gamer Widow’, the ‘Football Widow’ and the ‘Golf widow’. So now, we sit down with them to gain an insight in to what life with a crepe junkie is really about. Enter Lucy from London.
CJ: How long have you and Jake been together?
LUCY: “1 year 5 months.”
CJ: How did you two meet?
LUCY: “We met at a party.”
CJ: Was he always in to trainers?
LUCY: “When I first met Jake I didn’t realise he was into trainers as we spent most of our time going out with friends, partying. It wasn’t until he moved into my mums that the collecting started and I noticed it was all he focused on and talked about.”
CJ: When did you start to realise there was a problem?
LUCY: “From the moment he woke up, until he went to sleep Jake would constantly be on Ebay bidding for numerous amounts of trainers, it went from having about two pairs of trainers, too filling one of the spare rooms full of trainers.”
CJ: How many pairs does he have?
LUCY: “This varies from time to time, he is constantly buying and selling although he has downsized his collection to concentrate on his ‘grails’.”
CJ: Where are they? is there a room for them?
LUCY: “We have moved into our own place and our room is stacked full of trainers, there will always be pairs lying around the hallway and the kitchen.”
CJ: What kind of things did he do to make you think it was getting out of hand?
LUCY: “Jake drove to Aberdeen for two nights to camp out for a new release and also getting myself to camp out so he could double up on his pairs.”
CJ: With the trainers is there any habits he has that you find extreme?
LUCY: “One thing I find quite odd is that he will buy shoes that do not fit him and they cost a fortune! Spending £700 to £1500 for a pair of trainers is normal for Jake.”
CJ: Has his passion for trainers made you appreciate trainers at all?
LUCY: “It has made me realise the difference between good and bad trainers. I used to just go into the store and buy a general release pair but now if I have enough money I will try and buy a rare pair for example we both bought the Boxtroll roshe runs which are limited to 660 pairs.”
CJ: What would you say are the benefits of going out with a sneakerhead?
LUCY: “In all honesty there aren’t any benefits…if you want to be overloaded with information on trainers then that will be a great benefit for you!”
CJ: Whats your advice to anyone thinking of dating a sneakerhead?
LUCY: “Don’t do it if you like to have your own space to put your own shoes, or space to put anything because you won’t find any! Also, don’t be upset when your partner leaves you for about 3 days to go camp out for a new pair of trainers because this is a regular occurrence.”