This Whitehorse 'sneakerhead' has more shoes than he'll ever wear

There are people who like shoes, and then there are "sneakerheads."

John Matheson proudly places himself among the latter. He's got about 250 pairs of shoes stashed in his Whitehorse home, many unworn and stacked in their original boxes.

"I remember when I was 16 or 17 is when I saw my first pair of Jordans, and everybody was wearing them and I couldn't afford them," he said.

"And now that I have a little bit of extra spending money, I have a few new pairs of shoes."

Nike Air Jordans make up the bulk of his collection. He's got about 100 pairs of those.

"To me, they're like artwork. They're, every pair is different. Even though they're the exact same shoe, every pair is different."

The other 150 pairs he has are other collectible brands: Vans, Converse, Fluevogs. He's also got a few Dr. Martens.

He's not exactly sure why he got into collecting sneakers. He says he grew up poor and he remembers envying kids with new shoes. Now he describes shopping as his "vice."

"I love to shop. My wife goes along begrudgingly and lets me have a little, she calls it, 'retail therapy,'" Matheson said.   

Matheson says he's actually inspired his wife to start her own more modest collection of Fluevog shoes. But Michelle Matheson isn't all-in like her husband. She says she just kind of goes along with the whole thing.

"I think it's crazy, but I let him have it. It makes him happy," Michelle said.

"You know the 'happy wife, happy life' thing? This is the happy husband thing."

Even John himself admits that his younger self would likely be baffled to see his collection.

"I think he would think that he's a little crazy. Who needs that many pairs of shoes?" John said. "Realistically, nobody needs as many pairs of shoes. I don't know what I'm ever going to do with them."

Whitehorse's healthy sneakerhead community

John is far from alone in his obsession. Some of the most collectible pairs of Jordans can sell for tens of thousands of dollars. 

Sneakerhead culture has also received the Hollywood treatment in the new film AIR, a sort of biopic about the famous shoe brand.

Even in Whitehorse, there's a healthy — and growing — sneakerhead community, according to Rory Macdonald, who owns The Franchise Footwear and Apparel in the city.

"We have multiple customers that have supported us since day one," Macdonald said.

"They're here every time we have a drop. We have people lining up at six o'clock in the morning, we have people camping out in lawn chairs waiting for us to open on the days of certain releases."

John Matheson has no idea how much he's spent on his shoe collection. 

"I wouldn't even want to venture a guess. Like I said, I probably have about 250 pair, and the average cost is probably a couple hundred bucks a pair," he said.

"So yeah, that's quite a bit of money. It's one of those things that I don't really worry too much about, how much money I spent on it, I guess."

He figures some of his more collectible shoes might be worth a lot of money one day, and those are the ones that he's never worn. But he insists he's not in it as some kind of investment strategy.

"It's not about what they could be worth. It's just about enjoying them when I own them."