Leroy Ogungbeje is a sneakerhead who fell in love with sneakers at a young age. Since then, he’s continued to build his collection and create content about sneakers. On Instagram and TikTok, Ogungbeje (@oleroy) keeps the sneaker community updated with the latest releases and shares his opinions.
Where did your love for sneakers come from?
It specifically came from the Air Jordan 12 Taxi, way back in 1996 or 1997. That school year, I was in the fourth grade, and seeing other people having them and watching Michael Jordan do his thing in them, I just had to have them. I’ve never gotten them; that’s the crazy thing. That’s part of the reason I collect so many today; back then, I wasn’t able to get the shoes that I wanted. Now I get any shoe I want, so I’m cool with that. But yeah, that was the one shoe that got me into sneakers. I think that was just a beautiful silhouette and colorway. That was my all-around favorite sneaker.
How can people begin to build the ultimate sneaker collection?
You want to have that story behind every sneaker that you get, and you don’t necessarily want that story to be, “I just got it because everybody else has it.” I would tell anybody just to buy what they like. There are a ton of Jordans, and a ton of shoes at Footlocker right now. If a shoe doesn’t have any kind of good resale value, they call them bricks. I say build your collection brick by brick, build your house brick by brick. I have a few hype beast shoes, and you may not be able to get them on release day, but just save your money for it. At the same time, don’t make that the primary focus of your collection. If you see a sneaker you like, buy it because, at the end of the day, if you do care about sneaker value, maybe that shoe that you bought that was on sale for $70 is going to be worth $500 to $800 in the future. I’m not saying that’s what it should be about, but if you’re into that type of stuff, if that value is something that pulls you towards shoes, then that’s still a reason to buy what you like. You need to be happy with your purchases; you have to be happy when you look down at your feet and see whatever shoes you have on. Rome wasn’t built in a day, so take your time. If you can only buy one pair of shoes every two or three months, do that. I didn’t buy my whole collection in one day. This took years. Take your time and buy what you like. If there’s something that you like that you can’t afford right now, save your money for it if you can. You have to be pleased with your collection rather than everybody else.
