These Nike Air Mocs were one of the first shoes that got me into Nikes, go figure. I worked in a childrens’ shoe store the better part of three summers, with a sneakerhead owner. - He had one of the first Nike accounts in Ottawa, wore Jordans to his wedding, and was in such good standing with our fav company that they sent him grips of good sneakers in his size, for himself. I wore some III’s to work one day, and my boss mentioned how he had “every Jordan ever, including the metal ones”, but gave them all away to the guy who had my job before me. Cool. At least we were the same size. Cooler.

We were a children’s store, but we carried some bigger sizes - half the Ottawa Lynx’s roster, then the Orioles’ AAA affiliate, bought their VC3s from us - mostly in Mocs and Alpha Project shoes. Whatever Nike was pushing, they sent to us. I remember coming in to work one day and the whole floor was covered in boxes - it was a small store, but did a lot of business - mostly baby Terra’s (not the good kind), but with 3 pairs of Kukini’s in a size 10, in obese orange boxes, staring out at us, daring us to c0pe. None did. I bought a pair of Mocs that summer to add to my busted ass collection. I returned them a week later, not being leisure enough to pull off this look. I have since regretted it, but not in any real way.