From Sneakers to Watches

I had more sneakers than days of the week. Now, timepieces are my new hook.

At one point, I had close to 15 pairs stacked up. Some I bought for the hype. Some because I genuinely liked them. And some because they had that gimmick factor. Somewhere in the middle, I even tried hydro dipping after seeing it online. Ended up doing it on my phone case and one of the sneakers. Honestly, they turned out brilliant.

But over time, maybe it is the age, maybe it is perspective, the obsession faded. Now I just rotate the same three pairs week after week. Once in a while, I dust off one of the fancy ones, wear them for a day, feel the discomfort, and then feel a little sad looking at how little use they get.

Then, eventually, like every maturing adult, I have now graduated to watches. The only thing that has grown faster than my shoe shelf back in the day is my watch budget. They are definitely not cheap.

And then, in an interesting conversation with our CEO, another angle came up. "What do you think is the carbon footprint of these habits," he asked me. I got thinking. With everything being so accessible today, with one-week delivery, one-day delivery, even one-hour delivery, some of these products may have travelled more than we ever will in our lifetime. Flights, ships, trucks, bikes, all of them burning fuel just to get us something we didn't even need urgently. Isn't that something that makes you take a step back and think?

Now, coming back to my initial thought. Has anyone else been through this cycle? Sneakers to watches, and I wonder, what is next?