On March 24, Miami billionaire Patrick Carroll gave away truckloads of trendy sneakers to the Boys & Girls Club of Metro Atlanta in his quest to donate a million dollars worth of sneakers to underprivileged kids across the United States.
Ben Kickz, known as the “Sneaker Don” took part in the giveaway, bringing a Brinks truck filled with 600 pairs of high-end sneakers to distribute to members of the Boys & Girls Club of Metro Atlanta. The 23-year-old is an entrepreneur and sneaker reseller and has amassed over $1 million in sales through his sneaker business with clients such as Odell Beckham Jr. and DJ Khaled.
Ben Kickz spoke with rolling out about his influence on sneaker culture.
How are you inspiring and motivating young people to one day do what you’re doing?
It’s not even a sneaker thing. It’s about doing anything you really put your mind to. For me, sneakers were my whole life in a sense, that’s all I really cared about. So I focused in and had tunnel vision with what I was doing. Sneakers got expensive, obviously. I didn’t have a job, so I started selling sneakers in order to fund the hobby. I feel like once you’re invested in something, whether it’s time, money, or whatever, you find a way to go about it and be able to fund your passion. Usually, your passion can make you successful.
How do you view sneaker culture in today’s society?
I definitely see a difference because back in the day, we all used to camp out for shoes for days. A lot of it is now new kids that came in and just want to resell and they don’t really care about the shoes. That’s kind of what bothers me when people say “Oh, you’re a reseller.” I might be a reseller but I probably know more about shoes than the average old head. This is really my passion. Reselling is cool if that’s the business you want to do, but just know the history, study the shoes, and actually get into them to know if you’d like them.
What is one sneaker you’re excited about?
The main sneaker right now collecting and holding, is the Louis Vuitton Air Force 1s. Rumor has it there will be other colors coming out. But the base colors are white, black, green, red, and blue.
