off the bike: david dekker on sneaker culture
off the bike: david dekker on sneaker culture
Jumbo Visma’s young Dutch sprinting talent David ‘Sneaker Dave’ Dekker has been collecting sneakers for years, posting his impressive exploits on his special Instagram account, @sneakerdave98. He sits down with derailleur’s Kate Wagner to talk fashion, basketball, and the ups and downs of collecting shoes.
Kate Wagner:
As a basketball fan, I know that sneaker culture is very important there. It’s a whole segment of NBA broadcasts. It’s big in hip hop, on Twitter, and generally in American pop culture. How did you, a Dutch cyclist, get so into sneakers?
David Dekker:
I actually don't know how I got really into it. I know how I got into basketball, but they're not related to each other. I was always, well, not the sneaker kid in school, but I was already wearing high tops, Adidas sneakers when I was going to high school in Belgium. Europe is already always a few years later with stuff in America like fashion, sneakers and that, but Belgium is even further behind than most of Europe. So everybody was always saying, oh yeah, why are you wearing basketball sneakers and not just normal shoes? And I was like, ah, these are normal shoes in my opinion, you know?
Back then, I didn't even know about Jordans or anything like that. It was a few years later, when I was 13, 14 years old that somebody told me, oh, Jordans, they are cool. At that point, it was really hard to find Jordans in a store somewhere in Europe. But I've been to New York a few times, and I was always looking forward to going to a New York Foot Locker or the big Nike store, just to see real sneakers.
Kate Wagner:
You mentioned that you also got into basketball. When and how did that happen?
David Dekker:
The first time I went to New York, I was like 10 years old. I remember I wanted to have a New York Knicks jersey. I don't know who was the star player at that point but when you are in New York and it's your first time in the US, you want something from that city, you know? But the first real time that I got into basketball was the 2012 Olympics in London, and I remember I was watching the game, USA versus, I dunno, maybe Australia or Brazil or something, and I saw Kobe Bryant shooting three pointers five times in a row, like getting the ball, going to the line and shooting it. I was like, oh, this is really cool.
I'd heard of Kobe Bryant before, but I didn't really know about how big he was, how he could shoot the ball that good. And that wasn't even with an NBA atmosphere because the atmosphere in an NBA stadium is quite different from anywhere else in the world. From that point on, I got more and more interested and more and more into following basketball. Now, 10 years later, it's way easier to follow the NBA from Europe.
Kate Wagner:
Who do you root for in the NBA?
David Dekker:
Still the New York Knicks, although it's a hard time as a New York Knicks fan. And since I joined, I for sure can say that I'm not, how do you call it, a bandwagon fan for the New York Knicks. But yeah, that's mostly because I just love the city of New York. I also support the Lakers because of Kobe Bryant, who was the one that got me interested in in basketball. Those are the teams I really root for no matter who plays for them.
Kate Wagner:
Going back to shoes, how many pairs of sneakers do you have?
David Dekker:
Last week I counted them. I think right now it's around 60.
Kate Wagner:
Wow, that’s impressive. So is there a brand that you prefer? How do you choose your sneakers? Is it just aesthetics? Is it collectability?
David Dekker:
Out of the 60 pairs, I think 55 are Nike and from the 55, I think 40 are Jordans. When I really got into sneakers more and more, Jordan was all I wanted, you know? And that's basically still what I want, but now I have some Dunks, I have some Air Maxes, I have one pair of Yeezys, some New Balance, but yeah, it's still just mainly Jordan's at this point.
Kate Wagner:
How do you choose a pair of sneakers?
David Dekker:
Yeah. How to choose? Well, sometimes it's a bit of an expensive hobby. It's not about you having to choose, but the wallet chooses for you. So of course price is a big matter. I can't really say some specific points that decide how I choose my sneakers because it can be really different. In Jordans, with those models, it's mainly the Jordan, the Jordan One, and the Jordan Three that I have. I don't really get the standard models you see at the sneaker stores. In the end, the thing about sneakers is it's quite a unique pair of shoes. I mean, when you see the numbers, you see, okay, they are produced in 100,000 pairs. That sounds like a lot, but of the 60 pairs that I have in my own collection, I don't see people wearing them that often when I'm in a city or something like that. It's cool to have something special and to have something unique.
Kate Wagner:
Do you have a favorite pair of sneakers?
David Dekker:
My all time favorite shoe is the Jordan One off-white with the university blue colorway. That's the one I'd been looking for for two years and I was always like, ah, it's expensive. And the price only went higher and higher. Then at one point I was like, now I just gotta do it and then I’ll have it for the rest of my life. But also it's a blue colorway — blue is my favorite color — with some orange accent. But in the end, when I look at my collection, if you ask me to say a top five and you ask me again in two weeks, then it will probably be completely different.
Kate Wagner:
Do you wear your sneakers?
David Dekker:
I haven't worn all of them but I think there's only one pair where I want to keep that pair completely new because it's a bit of a strange colorway. It's the Jordan One J. Balvin with the rainbow colorway all over the shoe. I'm not gonna wear that on a Tuesday afternoon. I just wanted to have it because I think J. Balvin is a cool artist and it's a pretty unique shoe. But other than that one, I try to wear all of them. Compared to two years ago, I have a bigger issue with wearing shoes for the first time, to go from from completely new to being worn one time, that's a bit of a harder step.
Kate Wagner:
Especially the white sneakers that are really popular now.
David Dekker:
Yeah. I mean, sometimes I think the best shoe ever is maybe not even an Air Jordan, but it's the Air Force One triple whites. When you go out in the Netherlands, like I think 50% of the boys are wearing Air Forces, completely white. Some people are wearing brand new ones and some people are wearing them when they are almost falling apart. But that's also the cool thing about about the Air Force. It looks pretty cool when it's been completely worn out for two years or something.
Kate Wagner:
Do you have a pair of sneakers that you wear just, like, when the weather is trash?
David Dekker:
I have my Yeezys because they're already three years old right now. And I've worn them a lot because they're really comfortable. Normally I wear them when I am on the road on a trip, like a training camp or a race. So they're in a really bad condition right now. When it's like a bad weather and I have to go outside just for, I don't know, an hour or something, then I mainly wear those or some really dirty Air Forces.
Kate Wagner:
How do you store all those shoes? Do you use those special sneaker boxes?
David Dekker:
I moved out last year and started living together with my girlfriend in December. I bought a house and my big dream — I don't have a lot of like boyhood dreams, but this was one big boyhood dream — was to have a sneaker room. I have a room with these Ikea shelves. And I measured the height of an Air Jordan, to measure how many shelves I could use. So I have three of them and the sneakers and the boxes are next to them along the wall. And I have some basketball jerseys hanging on the wall as well. For me, it's the ultimate boys dream.
Kate Wagner:
That's amazing. And so everyone at team Jumbo Visma has their own special number for their jersey. Your number is 23. Is that a Michael Jordan connection?
David Dekker:
Yeah, of course. My favorite number was always number two because I'm born on the 2nd of February (laughs). And then I got more into basketball and then, okay, Michael Jordan, number 23. After I signed with Jumbo Visma, that September I received an email saying, we have these numbers, these are the numbers that are available for next year. I could choose from eight numbers or something. And number two, number eight, number 23 and 24 were all available. But then I thought I'm gonna go with Jordan because I'd just seen The Last Dance documentary [about the Chicago Bulls in the 90s.] I have to go for that one.
Kate Wagner:
Of course cycling is a sport that also has shoes and we're starting to see more interest in that. The painted shoes have become very popular. Do you think that shoe culture is coming to cycling?
David Dekker:
I don't think this is something that has to do with the shoe itself. I notice that more and more cyclists, they are looking to express their identity or something like that. It doesn't matter if it's the shoes or the glasses or maybe the helmet, if that would be possible, or if you could even have a custom bike. But of course [with the UCI rules] it’s the shoes where you have the most options to do something.
Kate Wagner:
Do you have a pair painted shoes? Or want one?
David Dekker:
No, but I've been thinking about it a lot. Last year, I was with George Bennett in the team. His girlfriend [Caitlin Fielder], she paints cycling shoes. I've had some designs in my head with the Kobe numbers on the heel of the shoe. I was discussing it with some teammates last week in a race — it's cool when you see the shoe, but when you're cycling, nobody sees the shoe. That's the stupid thing, because it's moving so fast. In basketball, the shoes are easy to spot. So in that way, I'm not really convinced to do something unique on my shoes. Also for cycling, I just really like the combination of clean white socks and clean white shoes.
Kate Wagner:
You're pro white shoes, pro white socks.
David Dekker:
Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's just so clean looking.
Kate Wagner:
One last question. With regard to sneaker culture and cycling, there was that very first Air Jordan commercial with Spike Lee in the Brooklyn cycling cap. And I'm starting now in Chicago to see people wearing cycling caps just as caps. What do you think about the emerging intersection of cycling and fashion outside of sport?
David Dekker:
I think it's funny to see in the last two, three years, cycling essentials being used as fashion items. Sometimes you see women wearing what are basically cycling shorts. You see Supreme doing collaborations with Castelli, with helmets and cycling jerseys. You see every influencer or celebrity basically with Oakley sunglasses, but like the cycling sunglasses or the ones for skiing, not the casual glasses.
I think that's a bit strange to see those items being used in a fashion way, because, I mean, the bib shorts, that's something that, as a young kid in high school, they’d laugh at you for wearing. And now you see celebrities on Instagram with 1 million likes on the post wearing basically those kinds of shorts or when you go into a women's clothing shop you see bike shorts as a casual item. That's a bit strange for me as somebody who uses that stuff for work and performance, you know? It's funny to see, but I would never wear cycling clothes in my in my own casual time.
Kate Wagner:
Yeah, exactly. I was joking to my husband. It's like, wow, bike shorts are in. I'm finally cool.
David Dekker:
Yeah! You don't look weird anymore when you walk around in cycling kit when you're not on the bike.
Kate Wagner:
But I don't know if it will catch on with the cleats though. Walking around with cleats is just pretty miserable. Obviously I'm an amateur but I always feel funny waddling into the grocery store or the cafe.
David Dekker:
(Laughing) I have the same problem. And then you hear the sound and it's really really annoying as well. And it's quite slippery as well most times in the grocery shop. So yeah, that's always a bit of a silly moment, especially with our main sponsor being, you know, a grocery store.
This post is the first installment of the “off the bike” series, an ongoing set of informal chats with professional cyclists from both the men’s and women’s peloton about the things they love to do in their spare time. The first two installments will be free, with subsequent installments being for paid subscribers of derailleur.
Our next edition “off the bike” will feature Team BikeExchange’s Luka Mezgec talking about his truly elaborate coffee setup.
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How refreshingly playful to talk 100% non-racing with a pro cyclist! Bet it’ll be his fav interview for years.