#SneakerheadProject: Ariana Jones

Tell us about yourself.

“My name is Ariana Jones and I am 28 years old. I’m from Seattle Washington but currently residing in Washington, DC and I am an HR and Operations Manager for a nonprofit.”

How long have you been a sneaker lover?

“I would say since I was like 7. That’s a good age I think because I have very vivid memories of asking for certain shoes, so since I was like 7.”

Do you remember your introduction to the sneaker game?

“Yes, I actually have two little quick stories. The first one, my cousin was a sneaker collector, so I used to break into his room and I wasn’t supposed to go into his room because I’m like little cousin you stay out of my stuff. I would go break into his room and just look at every single pair of shoes that he had. Since then it’s like all I want to do is wear kicks. Then I remember I think it was my 10th birthday, I think it was the Carolina 14s or something I had asked for for my birthday and my dad was telling me that they were sold out, out of stock and he couldn’t get them. I wanted them to go with my Charlotte Hornets jacket, it was the swishy jacket and he showed up to my birthday party with those 14s in hand and I lost my mind! I was so excited.”

What is your favorite pair of sneakers?

“I’m a 1s girl so I would say the Royals are my favorite pair of 1s.”

What are you wearing now?

“Right now, I’m wearing the Infrared 6s. It was the 2018 release, I think. I just have on a Topshop teddy bear coat, this little graphic tee from Topshop as well, got them both from Nordstrom and then I have some H&M sweats on with some Nike socks giving a little cozy girl vibe today.”

What is your favorite sneaker colorway?

“Oh, it’s always black, red and white so anything that resembles a Bred colorway, that’s my favorite colorway.”

If you could collaborate with any sneaker brand, who would you collaborate with and why?

“Oh, for sure I would want my own Jordan, so it would be them. I feel like right now they are more geared towards letting women find their voice in the sneaker game. I’m not really the type of feminine person, I’m very retro, very OG in regard to the types of kicks that I wear. I’m not a pink and purple girl and so I think Jordan would allow me to stay in that retro OG lane.”

What do you think the sneaker game is missing?

“Well right now I don’t really think the sneaker game is reallly missing anything. I think there should be more women that have a voice, able to put their ideas down on paper and be able to create a shoe. I feel like that’s the direction the sneaker game is going in right now and so I don’t necessarily think that it is missing anything. Well I think, let me take that back, I think that when people think of girl sneakers, they always think of the pink, the purple, the lime and everything instead of just letting females be cool with staying in the retro OG lane like I love, like that OG colorway. Just like the boys want to wear, we want to wear those too.”

To keep up with Ari’s love for OG colorways and inspirational posts, follow her on Instagram @AriJones!