Dustin recounts his attempts to begin a sneaker collection and his frustrations with trying to get a pair, any pair, of the KD IV’s.

About a year ago I purchased my first pair of Nike’s. I had long been against the company due to the child labor allegations and reputation that hung over them in my mind. I was finally convinced to invest in a pair after trying to play basketball with my friends in shoes including; slip-on VANS, Adio skate shoes and low-top Adidas. Suffice it to say, none of these shoes cut it and a near ankle-explosion one night had me at the nearest Foot Locker the next day.

Even before going, I knew I wanted a pair of Kevin Durant’s third signature shoe, the KD III, Durant was/is my favorite player in the NBA and logic told me that if someone as seemingly upstanding as him could endorse Nike, then I could soften my stance and purchase a pair.

I still play in that pair every week and I’ve been looking in to getting more pairs for both basketball as well as just casual wear. Durant remains my favorite player so the last few months I tried to get special color schemes of his newest shoe, the KD IV.

Finding those stupid things have been like hunting down Sasquatch and Nessie while riding a unicorn, i.e. it’s not happening.

Those pairs of sneaker perfection right there are the N7 KD IV’s, designed to help support the Native American population in athletics. When I caught wind of these bad boys, I didn’t even care what color I ended up, all I knew was I had to have a pair. A sneakerhead had been awakened in me and I knew there was no turning back.

Nothing was going to stop me from getting these when they dropped May 25, 2012, not even work. They went on sale at 10 a.m. which was right when I started a shift but that didn’t matter as I used my phone to pull up the Nike website and add a pair to my cart and checkout. I wish it had gone this smoothly but alas, it was not to be. After inputting all my info and finishing checkout, I was greeted with an error message telling me they were sold out and unavailable. It was 10:03 a.m. and my dreams were already dashed. Discouraged, I returned home from work in the evening to find the Nike website had the N7’s on sale again. I rapidly purchased a pair before they could sell out again and relished the opportunity that had fallen to me.

Two days later my dreams were trampled again when I received an email from Nike Support, it informed me and countless others, that an error had occurred and we wouldn’t be receiving the shoes we had ordered because there simply weren’t any. For the troubles, I was given 15% off my next order online as well as free shipping, neither of which I can look awesome while wearing.

These are the KD IV Scoring Title edition, designed to celebrate Durant’s third consecutive scoring title. Funny enough, only myself and fellow editor Cameron Heffernan recognized and appreciated their beauty. My family laughed at me, my girlfriend questioned my judgment and a few of my friends just didn’t get it. Then, I discovered another pair coming out that pushed these out of my mind, but just picture those out on the court and try and tell me they wouldn’t look awesome.

The current source of my shoe slump, the Team USA KD IV is the shoe that Durant is currently rocking in the London Olympics as a part of the Team USA basketball team.

I found out about these almost as soon as I did the Scoring Titles, so after deciding against the Scoring Titles I began tracking how to get these sweet pieces of freedom on my feet. After about a month and a half of waiting, the release date was announced to be July 28, the first day of the Olympics. The night before, I stayed up waiting and hoping to score a pair online at midnight and keeping my girlfriend up late but they were never posted. So I spent my Saturday glued to my phone, looking and hoping they would be added but I never saw them. I hoped the release had just been delayed but Sunday, I learned that they had been released at 5 a.m. Saturday morning, while my girlfriend and I were fast asleep. I don’t know how, but suddenly I was 0 for 2 with my shoe collection.

August 18, these, the Gold Medal edition, drop. These will hopefully celebrate Team USA men’s basketball winning gold, because otherwise they may just be laughable. To me though, they represent my own personal victory, to get these is to finally truly embrace being a sneakerhead. I could just get a pair of Jordan’s, that’s true and I have spent a lot of time looking online and in stores at all sorts of styles, but for some reason, the thrill of knowing I have to be on point to get any style KD IV makes the potential success that much more satisfying. The journey to sneaker fanatic begins with a single pair, and I’m still looking for mine.

* Not so shocking update- 

The release of the KD IV Gold Medal colorway has been pushed back to September 29th, Durant’s birthday. Of course they have. I had Friday and Saturday off, I was ready and prepared, scouring the internet for a release time the 18th. While I didn’t find that, I did happen to get a look at the KD5, sure to be the bane of my existence next season. The fight for freshness never ends.

Dustin Brewer is co-editor-in-chief for Hefferbrew.com. If something prevents him from getting the Gold Medal KD’s, he plans on switching to Adidas or possibly Reebok, just kidding, those Zig things are appalling.