In senior Cameron Scott’s closet, shoe boxes rise in columns toward the ceiling. Jordans teeter atop Nike, black lids stack over red, some pairs rest on the floor.
Of these roughly 30 pairs, some haven’t seen the light of day in months. Some only work with certain jeans. A few are freshly purchased. Cameron knows which drops are coming up before most people do.
For Cameron, collecting shoes is one of the ways that she connects with her father, who has fostered her love of apparel since she was young.
Both Cameron and her father have Nike’s SNKRS app on their phones, where they can track upcoming drops and send each other alerts before anything sells out.
“It’s always been shoes,” Cameron said. “I just took a liking to sneakers.”
Over time, that interest grew until something they shared closely. They own several matching pairs and gravitate toward the same style. When a new set of Jordans drops, they’ll drive to the mall together. If one of them likes a colorway, the other usually does, too. They come home with two boxes instead of one. Other times, she’ll walk in and find a new box waiting on the counter.
The first pair of shoes she fell in love with were pink Jordan Flights she got in elementary school.
“I remember going to the store with my Dad, and I usually get to pick out a pair of shoes for back-to-school,” Cameron said. “Honestly, I think I was with the majority of my family. I’ve always been a fan of high-top shoes, and I saw these and thought they were amazing. They honestly looked kind of futuristic to me.”
Today, her collection is dominated by Jordans, though she branches out depending on the look she’s going for. Her current favorite is the Jordan 5 Retro “Golden Ticket.”
“The thing with Jordans is they’re retro,” she says. “They release, and when they come back again, my dad’s always like, ‘Oh, I had those when I was younger.’”
That sense of nostalgia is part of the appeal. What feels new and exciting to Cameron carries history for her father; the same sneakers he once wore end up in her rotation, sometimes the same pairs, sometimes just close enough.
“I was talking to him last night, and we were looking at all the upcoming drops and stuff,” Cameron said. “We have a lot of conversations, obviously, but this is one of the major things we talk about. It plays a very big role in our relationship.”
