DM: In the book you talk about your friends making fun of your sneaker habit, calling you Imelda Marcos. Do you feel like you've gotten the last laugh? Have any of your buddies become sneakerfreaker converts?

Woody: Hell yeah! The best example is my best friend Matt from Monkii.com who does all our web stuff. Matt was kinda into sneakers a little bit but over the years I’ve been feeding him a little flow here and there because he does an amazing job on the site and now I gotta say, he is fully hooked. I think he might have to go into rehab or something... he’s mad for sneakers now and he’s a fusspot as well, he wont take any old stuff I throw at him. And he has to hide stuff he buys from his wife as well, we all know what that’s like! Overall, I have found people’s reaction to the mag to be interesting, there’s something about it that is very seductive and alluring. I think it might be because newbie kids and even old folks always have some notion about sneakers and then when they read the magazine it’s like - KABOOM - they just realised that there’s a whole secret society going on all around them. Plus I think they respond to the honesty and the genuine warmth of the magazine, it’s not a bullshit fashion wank mag with 5 pages of editorial and 150 pages of ads that is purely designed to make money.

DM: Sneaker Freaker is the perfect marriage of form and function, kind of like a dope pair of kicks. Are they any other products that you collect? If so, are they utiltarian and cool at the same time?

Woody: Hey thanks, I’ll take that compliment any day. I have never really thought of my pile of shoes as cool which is why I fessed up that a few years back I was a joke with my friends when they had a peek in my closet and saw all the kicks. Times change don’t they! Which is why for us older crew, we get a wry smile when we think of what has gone on for the past few years. This idea of collecting is old but also kinda new in a way.

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