When receiving his first pair of flashy red and white Nike Dunks for Christmas last year, freshman Jake Szinski was unaware that along with the gift he anxiously unwrapped came an extra price to pay–an addiction to one-of-a-kind athletic shoes that most boys could only dream of owning was about to be unleashed.

Over the past year, Sarzinski has accumulated many other new pairs, starting quite an impressive collection that would make Air Jordan, himself, envious. “I don’t know how many pairs I actually have. Just a lot. It is bad karma to say. I’d say I find a new pair at least once a month,” said Sarzinski.

Searching for that perfect shoe is something Sarzinski has become very passionate about. “I love to find shoes that are out of the box. I typically stick with the Nike brand, but if I find a pair of a different brand, I certainly don’t limit myself,” said Sarzinski.

Boys can search the web with hopes of purchasing a pair they might once have seen Sarzinski model, but will soon realize these shoes can many times not be found in Nike stores or on the website. “I have a website where I purchase most of my shoes from, but I’m not going to tell it of course!”

So the secret remains untold. Sarzinski will keep his reputation of sporting preppy outfits paired with trendy sneakers that never fail to turn the heads of all the shoe obsessed.

First pair
“My mom got me Nike Dunks for Christmas last year and got me addicted. When I see a picture on the Internet of shoes I like, I search and search for the pair until I find them.”

Most significant pair
“When I was ten, my family took a trip to Venice. There were corn stands where you could feed the pigeons. The pigeons would completely flock you, so my mom nicknamed me ‘Pigeon Boy’. A couple of months ago I was looking at shoes, and I saw a pair of Nike’s with pigeons on them and had to buy them.”

Hardest to find
“My Nike Osakas were the hardest to find. I found them from a place in Japan. They had to go through customs when they were shipped to me since they were coming from out of the country.”