this sneaker came out five years ago i had it got rid of it traded for it got it back again
and i'm telling you it's been a wild ride but we finally got the shoe in my collection now
and i'm not letting it go this time so in today's video i'm gonna be explaining to you
guys the back story behind how i got this shoe why i got rid of it in the first place and all
the other reasonings and mindsets behind it and i felt like it was only right because this shoe
definitely deserves its own story time and if you guys didn't know by now my name is dj and this is
the dna show so back in 2017 there was definitely a lot of hype when it came to cause and off-white
and all their collaborations with nike and jordan brand during that time we had saw a
sneaker surface with a glow-in-the-dark bottom and you know immediately as soon as i saw that i had a
glow bottom i was already gonna go after it then i saw the upper and i realized the shoe is fire but
typically when it comes to a hot release like this in a dope collab there's gonna be a lot of people
going after the shoe and you know what happened i didn't get him so what sneaker am i talking
about that i didn't get i'm talking about the gray cause force i really wanted to get that shoe and
i was so sick it was okay though i was like it's all right i'm gonna get the shoe then i realized
it was like 1200 or something crazy 1500 bucks and i was like yeah i don't see myself getting
those things anytime soon maybe i could work a trade or something like that so that release
was in march of 2017 i struck out on the sneaker i was looking for it trying to work some deals
couldn't find anything that really made sense and it was just kind of a struggle along the way
then we saw the all black pair surface and it was like a friends and family only very very exclusive
the price was insane everybody was going crazy and they were selling those for way more than the
gray pair i had only seen images of the black pair until i went to a sneaker con and somebody rocking
a pair when i seen them on feet i just knew i was like i gotta have these mind you i have neither
one of the pairs of shoes in my collection so at this moment i'm just trying to figure out how i
can get at least one of them the year continues to go on and they announced that they're going
to be releasing the black pair on november 27th of 2017. i'm like bro this is great perfect timing my
birthday's in november this will be the ultimate birthday gift to myself i can't wait to try to
get the shoes on the website well unfortunately the same thing happened i tried to get on the
website and get the shoes and i didn't get them but that's okay you know what i'm saying it's
all right we don't hit on everything i completely understand sometimes you got to work some deals
so as the year comes to an end i'm getting ready to make my top 10 sneaker pickups of 2017 video
and i'm like yeah this is going to be great like i just started a youtube channel i want to make some
videos and see how this goes you know i'm going to show you guys my top 10 pickups and don't get me
wrong i had some good pickups in 2017 but i really wanted to have the cause fours in that lineup so
i told myself i said self we're gonna have to get this shoe in 2018. so 2018 rolls around and i end
up going out to la for all-star weekend and i end up over at project blitz so i ended up having some
shoes on me that i had known had grown in value and i was looking forward to trading them because
i just didn't want them anymore and this was the perfect opportunity to work this trade at the time
the sneaker was worth somewhere around 12 to 1500 bucks it was a size 13 and actually people weren't
appreciating size 13s as much as they are today so i wasn't valued as high as i thought it would
be which was kind of convenient because after i worked the trade my total out-of-pocket cost was
450 bucks so now today i can say oh we got the shoe now this video in particular isn't about
this grape here but it is a part of the story so i had to incorporate them now let's continue the
journey to the black pair so i get back home i'm all excited i got the gray pair of my collection
and now i'm like bro i have to get the black pair there's no way i can go without them because i
already got one part i gotta have two i just gotta complete the same so i get on the hunt and then
immediately i'm like bro this shoe is like 500 600 like i ain't trying to pay that like that's too
much mind you this was in 2018 not 2022. if you guys want to see the graph i can show you right
here the shoes weren't going for nearly as much as they are going for it now and at that time i just
didn't want to spend that much because it just didn't make sense to me so one of my bros ended up
hitting he got a size 11 and a half he got him for retail he wore him a few times he said he didn't
really like the shoe that much anymore and he was trying to get rid of him and like he always does
he showed me so much love and he sold me the shoe for retail yes that's right he sold me the shoe
for retail now hey before we get started retail on the sneaker was 350 so it's not like it was just
a cheap shoe i did still have to pay a couple bucks to get the pair of shoes in my collection
it was a size 11 and a half and it was used so it did kind of make sense you know people were
selling a used pair for around 400 and something i got it for a little bit of a discounted price
and at the end of the day i was still a happy camper but the job was not done i had a size 13
in the gray pair and i needed a 13 in the black pair so i had to find a trade and i was looking
for months and i just could not find a trade so we're nearing 2018 now and i have both pairs
so they make my top 10 pickups for 2018 which i was very happy to do the black pair came in at
third place the gray pair came in at second place and you know i had to put the blacksmith threes at
number one with the nike air you can never go wrong with that oh and by the way the channel
has definitely come a long way i appreciate all you guys that are og subscribers as well
make sure you guys hit that subscribe button we're almost done with the video but i need y'all to
hit that subscribe button we almost had a million subscribers like okay well we still need like 800
000 more but it's okay we're gonna get there soon so 2018 comes to an end in 2019 has just rolled in
and i go out to sneaker con in vancouver bc for the first time i'm checking it out and i'm like
well maybe i can bring some shoes out here maybe i could work some trades or something or if i do end
up selling a shoe i could take the cash and then go buy another pair if i find a size 13 at the
event whatever it may be i'm trying to figure out a way to get this 11 and a half and turn it into
a 13. so i go all day throughout the event i might have brought like six pairs of shoes up there with
me i had sold the other five pairs of shoes and black cos fours was the last ones i had i was
really looking for trades but then i was like you know what i'm gonna just sell the shoe they're
going for like 650 years now the prices kind of went up a little bit i think i can get that much
money hopefully i can sell them for that much it took me about 20 minutes dude walks up to me he's
like yo those for sale i'm like yeah what's up i'm trying to sell for 650 boom bop bing next thing
you know shoes is gone i got the cash now this is a predicament that sneaker heads get put in where
they have to make a choice they can either take that money that they made from the shoe and use it
for other things or they can take the money that they made and go seek out that shoe in their size
like they said they would in a situation like this because i had a friend sell me the shoe for retail
and i was able to profit off of that sneaker i told myself i have to make sure that i end up
with a size 13 of this sneaker in my collection simply because i feel like it would be wrong if
i were to go and take that sneaker sell it make a big profit use it on something other random thing
pay some bills buy a different sneaker whatever it may be he could have done that right so i had
to honor and respect that situation and i said you know what i have to continue to look for a
size 13. now this is where things got sticky i was looking for a size 13 and it took me a while every
size 13 that i found that was used they were just the price just kept going up and they were taxing
they were literally charging for used pairs then they're the same price as new pairs and i'm like
bro this just doesn't make any sense i want to get this shoe i really wanted my collection now the
price is going up she was like almost a thousand dollars now and i'm like bro this is crazy like
a used pair thousand dollars like just last year it was like 600 bucks but we get that with
inflation collaborations hype all these other things that's just typically what happens with
shoes so i do understand why it happened but i couldn't understand why people were taxing
for some beat pairs so now we're coming into 2020 and we all know 2020 was a blur so for that year
a lot of other things were on my mind compared to just me trying to get the black cause force
so we're just gonna let that year slide and then work our way into 2021. 2021 has arrived
obviously i don't have the exact six hundred and fifty dollars but i definitely have over 650
in my bank account so i'm ordering that credit from how much i sold them for in the past and
willing to put that much up towards another pair or adding more money to it or whatever it may be
so i ended up picking up a pair of travis one lows if you guys haven't seen this story time great
story i got these for 300 bucks super super happy about these these are actually a size 12. i still
need a 13 in these so this story actually isn't over yet but it's a pretty good story about how
i got these for so cheap at that time because of inflate yeah anyways good story so i had this shoe
and then i ended up getting another pair because i picked those up in 2021 for about a thousand
dollars and at that time that's a really good deal the shoe was starting to inflate as we can see now
the shoes worth even more than a thousand dollars but we had another problem the pair that i had was
a size 11. i purposely bought these because it was a great deal they were dead stock and i knew they
were gonna go up in value and it only made sense and like i teach a lot of people in the hobby
to hustle program always use stuff for trade bait again if you guys want to learn more about really
growing your collection and taking your game to the next level and really bubbling up your sneaker
collection definitely check that out i have a link for you guys down below in the description we'll
talk about that a little bit more later in the video but anyways i knew that size 11 travis scott
lowe was going to be great trade bait and what did i end up finding i found a size 13 in the black
cause 4. so i saw that sneak city up in seattle had them available i hit them up and i asked them
i said hey you guys trying to trade this travis low for your black cause four i just need a pair
of my size that's all i want they said sure no problem so now i can officially say oh we got
the shoe so after five long years of me battling going back and forth and trading and selling and
negotiating and getting another pair and doing this and doing that i can say i'm a happy camper
i'm so glad i can complete this set and have the black and the gray pair in my collection cause
bruh these things are so clean i hope you guys enjoyed this i had a great time telling you guys
this story reminiscent on all the moments and i'm excited to share more stories with you guys
about sneakers in my collection how i got them how i traded for them all those different things i
feel like if you have a sneaker collection you got to have good sentimental stories you got to have
you know different hard times getting shoes it's not fun when you can just go purchase everything
for retail and i mean don't get me wrong everybody wants to do that but it does make it a little bit
more fun when you gotta go through the hunt when you gotta make a trade when you gotta sell and
buy and do these things to get this and get that i don't know i think it just makes it a little bit
more fun obviously i don't wanna do it all the time but it is fun doing it so that's my story
it's my time to go i'll see you guys with another story very very soon all right y'all i'm out
yo if you enjoyed this video and want to grow your collection or make extra money on the side i built
a vip mastermind that will teach you everything that i've learned about growing my sneaker
collection over the past 15 years this will also give you access to the dna fam in my vip community
where we talk about investing outside of sneakers and don't worry if you don't plan
on joining the vip community it's okay i also set up a private dna fam community that gives
you access to all the behind the scenes looks from the studio and multiple chances to win
free sneakers and gear from weekly and monthly challenges so all you need to do is click on
the link down below in the description or the first link pinned in the comment section that
will get you set up and into the community i'm excited to see you guys on the inside
you