# antique or vintage sneaker market?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/antique-or-vintage-sneaker-market/598982>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [October 8, 2011, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/antique-or-vintage-sneaker-market/598982 "2011-10-08T07:15:46Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![crypto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b3f665/32.png) [@crypto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crypto)\
**Post date:** [October 8, 2011, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/antique-or-vintage-sneaker-market/598982/1 "2011-10-08T07:15:46Z")

</div>

While killing some time on ebay, I stumbled onto a phenomenon that I still find hard to believe.

People selling (and buying) old used shoes. And they aren’t for wearing afaict, but collecting. [Here](http://www.ebay.com/itm/CONVERSE-Larry-Johnson-grand-mama-CONS-Vintage-Authentic-Basketball-Sneaker-/330622976206?pt=US_Men_s_Shoes&hash=item4cfaaa40ce#ht_7282wt_1396) is an example, and this isn’t even close to being the most outrageous thing I saw.

Has anyone ever heard of this? I will try to find the seller again, but the guy that inspired this thread was selling sneakers from 20-30 years old in some cases. Beat, dirty sneakers. This is one I don’t get. I can maybe understand if they were worn by the player, but collecting a pair of converse hi-tops I haven’t worn in 20 years with the leather stiffened and breaking away from the now solid rubber sole.