Not Without Her Sneakers

Spain's Zapateca.com sneaker blog has the subtitle "No Sin Mis Zapas!", or "not without my sneakers" to us English speakers. FSF recently caught up with lead blogger and founder Sonia Sanchez, who is definitely all about her zapas!

by Lori Lobenstine

How long have you been into sneakers?
I think I’m a sneakerhead since… always. I remember being a little girl and dreaming about getting some cool sneakers when I watched NBA games and American movies like White Men Can't Jump. (I loved those Reebok Reverse Jams.)  I did my best with the money that my parents gave me in b-days and x-mas to get the kicks I wanted. For the record, in the early 90’s the internet and cool sneakers didn’t show up often in Spain; it was a hard work to get it.

What was the first sneaker you remember falling for?
My first crush was on a white Reebok Pump Omni Lite with navy blue accents. I remember a classmate had them, and she always said that she jumped higher when she inflated the pump… I was so jealous!! I never got them in my childhood, so I bought them as soon as I got older and had my own money. I can not forget that day; I felt like that 12 year-old-girl.

What’re your all time faves?
I’m totally in love with the Nike Dunk Hi. I love the design, all the colorway combinations, the patterns you can get, and also they look awesome with everything: pants, skirts, leggings...they’re just perfect.

  What are your current holy grails, if any?
I’m looking for Air Jordan 1 Black Toes of the Old Love New Love pack, the red ones like Will Smith totally destroys in [the movie] Hancock. I like when you rock a pair of kicks to death.  And of course I can’t forget about the ones that Michael J.Fox wears on Back to the Future II!! I want…sorry, I need those Nikes with self lacing.

How long has Zapateca been up and running? 
Zapateca.com has been running since November 2007, and since then many things have changed. We’re still growing up and getting bigger: the blog, adding banners, getting friends and followers, making contests, etc. In the future we want to be one of the biggest Spanish sneakers blogs where people can get complete information about our passion.

Are you the sole writer for Zapateca?
When we started running Zapateca.com, I wrote 70% of the blog that I share with two friends, one of them another female sneakerhead of course .  Since March I’ve been the sole writer for it, but in the next weeks my fella will join me again, and we’ll rock the web together.

How do people respond when they find out Zapateca is run by a female?
At first they’re like, ‘What?!? You’re a girl and you know about kicks?!’ Then, they start reading all the posts and say, ‘Ok, you know how the game goes.’ They’re still so many people that think that girls only care about heels… Poor babies.

What have you learned from being involved in the sneaker game at such a deep level?
I learned that this is a world that you must love, I mean, if you’re into this it isn’t because you wanna make a fortune or something; it’s because you care about sneakers and want to find people around the world to share this great way of life… people who understand your passion. I find many different people but we have something in common—we love kicks!!

Do you think it’s different being a female sneaker fiend? Does it have particular perks and challenges?
Of course it is different.  It isn’t fair, but that’s the way it is.  It’s like you have to prove and show everybody else, especially boys, that you’re really into this, that you know what you are talking about. Sometimes I feel like I’m being tested all the time. Thankfully this is changing and people are starting to respect female sneakerheads.

What are your future goals for the site?  
I want to continue working on Zapateca.com to make it a huge Spanish sneaker website that everybody can check anytime they want to know everything about kicks. Also I want to see how the female sneakerhead community grows up, especially in Spain.

What else would you like to say to female sneaker fiends?
It doesn’t matter if you got 3 or 300 pairs of sneakers, or if you are a newbie or a veteran in the game, the important thing is that you enjoy this way of life, this true passion. Keep going sisters!

Want to hear more from Sonia? (And in Spanish!) Check out zapateca.com or catch her soon on our FSF blog!