Photography by Lawrence Cortez. Hair And Makeup, Brittany Sinclair For P1m.Ca. Photo Assistant, Nathan Cook.

Style

Football Star Folarin Orimolade Is a Bona Fide Sneakerhead

For the Toronto Argonauts player, a sneaker collection is about more than just style; it’s about connection.

Date September 30, 2024

You’ve blown my mind a little bit,” Folarin Orimolade, a defensive lineman for the Toronto Argonauts, tells me. We’re sitting in his Toronto condo, chatting about his sneaker collection. So far, we’ve covered the basics: how many pairs he has (about 70), when his kicks fixation started (in fifth grade) and how he chooses which pairs to purchase (almost always style over colour). But my last question — “What do you hope your sneakers say about you?” — has caused this charmingly chatty man to go quiet. Well, for a moment anyway.

“My shoes represent where I come from,” the Canadian Football League player shares. “But they’re also really reflective of my childhood. Certain shoes bring back certain memories.”

You see, for Orimolade (who goes by “Flo”), being a sneakerhead is in his DNA. “Both of my parents are very fashionable,” he prefaces. “But my dad is the flyest person I know.” Flo credits his father with being his forever style icon and inspiring him to get into footwear; he grew up being surrounded by his dad’s shoe collection, which includes 40+ pairs of dress and athletic styles. It’s also this influence that has affectionately earned Flo the title of “best-dressed” among his teammates. (Double-breasted blazers, turtlenecks and matching sets are all in his pre-locker-room repertoire.)

However, what really drew Flo to sneakers was the basketball culture where he grew up in Maryland. “In my neighbourhood, you couldn’t put together an outfit without them!” he says. Flo spent most of his youth shooting hoops, and, in fact, it was actually his high-school basketball coach who encouraged him to take up football. And while he may have swapped his high-tops for cleats, his love of runners has remained ever since.

Flo’s collection, housed mostly at his home in the States, is a confection of colour and cut, and the assortment he brought to Toronto brightens up his downtown condo. There is, of course, a sampling of classic white runners, but the jewels in his proverbial crown are in more surprising hues: a pair of purple and green Nikes; minty, almost iridescent, runners; and more than a few colour-blocked options.

With a brain that functions like an endless sneaker encyclopedia, Flo easily identifies the first addition to his collection as the Air Jordan 8 Playoffs from 2007. “I don’t have them anymore,” he reveals sadly. “I played basketball in them and destroyed them.” Lucky for him, the same pair was re-released in 2013, and he didn’t waste any time in purchasing them.

As such, like most collectors, Flo has had to practise patience. It can take up to 15 years for some iconic styles to be resurrected from the archives, and most, if not all of them, can sell out in seconds, so Flo prefers to do most of his shopping while travelling. Unexpectedly, he actually found his beloved Nike Air Max 1 Masters in a random consignment shop in Winnipeg. He had been searching high and low for the kicks, which speaks to his shopping ethos: well researched and never impulsive. The Argos player has a list of about 30 styles that he’s on the hunt for, including gold Nike Flightposits. “I only have 10 more to go,” he laughs. “The list was much longer when I was younger.”

So what continues to fuel Flo’s sneaker fire?

He smiles, quite literally kicking his Nike-clad feet in front of me. “There’s nothing like putting on a fresh pair of kicks,” he shares. “The only way I can describe it is that it just feels right.”

To make the most of his collection, Flo actually chooses his footwear first, before deciding on the rest of his outfit. And just like his technique on the field, it’s all about being big and bold. “A good outfit boosts everyone’s confidence — it can lift up a room.”

Photography by Lawrence Cortez. Hair And Makeup, Brittany Sinclair For P1m.Ca. Photo Assistant, Nathan Cook.

1/8

(No) Suit & Tie

“I know a lot of people like wearing Air Jordans with their dress clothes, but for me, it’s a no,” he declares whilst wearing a casual tee and statement jeans with his Maison Margiela Replicas. “It’s too loud — too intense.”

2/8

Mission Possible

It has always been Flo’s dream to own these Prada Americas Cup kicks.

“They came out when I was in school, but they were too expensive,” he recalls. “Wearing them now takes me right back to that time and trying to save up for them. I never wanted any replicas — I needed the originals.”

3/8

What’s In A Name?

“Every year, for five consecutive years, I bought Jordan 11s during the holidays,” Flo reveals, listing each hue from 2008 to 2011. These ones in “Legend Blue” were a re-release of the originals. “All sneakerheads refer to them as the ‘Columbias’ because of the originals from the ’90s. So when they came out, I just had to have them.”

4/8

Colour Vs. Cream

Growing up, Flo says that he preferred more colourful kicks over neutral ones. Nowadays, though, he’s trying to buy more neutrals. But as seen with this pair of Nike Dunk Lows in “Viotech,” which he bought before a trip to Peru, he’s still stuck in his old ways, and that’s OK with him.

5/8

White Knight

Is it possible to have one shoe that goes with everything? Hard to say. But for this collector, the answer is simple: Air Jordan 3s in “White Cement.”

“Those are just an iconic sneaker that goes with almost everything,” Flo shares. “And they’re the shoes that I just want to wear all the time.” Suffice it to say, they’re one of his all-time favourites.

6/8

One Less Problem

The re-release of these Air Jordan 1 AJKOs in 2020 marked the 20th anniversary of the shoe.

“It was during the pandemic, so obviously people weren’t worried about sneakers — and rightly so,” Flo begins. “Except for me — I have a problem. When I see a shoe at a reasonable price, I just have to have it.”

7/8

Easter Surprise

Like many of us, Flo considers the location and temperature before he gets dressed. But he also thinks about how much attention he wants that day. When he first wore these Nike KD 4 sneakers in “Easter” in front of his team, he got a big reaction.

“I think they definitely love the surprise,” he says of his tunnel ’fits. “These are real basketball shoes.”

8/8

Lavender Haze

Flo wasn’t planning on buying anything on a shopping trip with his brother to the Kith store in Toronto. But as all fashion fans know, those are famous last words. He ended up leaving with a purple pair of Ambush Uptempo Low runners.

“At first, I thought they might be a bit loud, but I realized they were never going to be re-released
again so I had to get them.”

This article first appeared in FASHION’s October 2024 issue. Find out more here.