It all begins with an idea…

The year was 2011. I had finally made it: my freshman year of high school. I followed my brother, Guch, to ‘Iolani—one of, if not the top high school in all of Hawaii. The dress code was simple but strict: collared shirt, non-athletic shorts, appropriate hairstyles. I wore a hand-me-down Reyn Spooner Hawaiian shirt, Dickies khaki shorts, and topped off my fit with Locals slippahs (of course, purchased at Longs Drugs). I thought I was slick. I was used to being shirtless, barefoot, in boardshorts—so, being in a collard shirt was a big change for me. Plus, it’s a norm for everyone in Hawaii to wear slippahs if they weren’t barefoot, and shoes if they were really trying to impress. I didn’t think much of it to be honest.

Fifteen minutes into homeroom, I was sent to the principal’s office for a "write-up" due to my attire. I was puzzled, I thought I looked good. My principal was a good dude though, he let me off with a warning, but I remember his words like it was yesterday: "Kenji, you’re not at the beach. You have to wear closed-toe shoes here in school!"

That was the moment my sneaker journey began.

I was the "new kid" who didn’t quite get it. My classmates looked at me like, Who’s this guy wearing slippahs? But as the day went on, I started making friends and was able to laugh it off. But, I still needed a new pair of shoes, so I started to see what others were wearing to get some ideas. Vans, Asics, Nike Roshe Runs—it was mainly these walking up and down the hallways. But, I wanted something more. Something cool. And that’s when I saw the freshest pair of red and black Nikes I'd ever seen, with the signature swoosh across the sidewall. This guy walked with a swag with them on, the shoes giving him confidence in every step. I asked him, "What kind of Nikes are those?"

"My guy, these are Jordan 1s!" And that’s when the addiction took off.

When I got home, the first thing I did was search “Jordan 1s” on Yahoo. Back then, we didn’t have iPhones, iPads, or laptops with everything at our fingertips. So, on the family’s shared desktop, I opened multiple tabs, all trying to find these shoes. I eventually found them, they were called "Banned 1s" and they really sparked my interest. I figured, these are swag, I need a pair of Jordan 1s to have swagger. But where could I buy these things?

Turns out, it wasn't as easy as going to Sports Authority and grabbing a pair off the rack. They were sold out everywhere, and on top of that, they cost around $500! No shot, I thought. But my curiosity prevailed, and the next day at school, I asked that guy who was wearing them, “Bro, where did you get those?”

“Truest,” he said.

If you’ve ever been to Oahu, Hawaii, and you’re into limited-edition shoes, clothing, or collectibles, you’ve heard of Truest. Shoutout to John and HSS. I went to the store, broke as beans, and stared at these crazy price tags. They just looked like normal shoes to me—what gives? So I asked John, “How do you get all this stuff?”

He gave me some OG advice: “You put in the time, wake up early, and grind, and you might just have a chance to get them.”

At the time, you had to sign up for raffles or be the first in line to have a shot at buying a pair for retail. Everyone loved Foamposites back then, but Air Jordans were, and still are, iconic. People would put in time and energy to get these shoes, knowing their value. That’s why they cost so much—and people like John would resell them at a profit.

A lightbulb went off.

For a few years, I tried my luck with terrible results. I was signing up for every raffle, waking up early to catch the 57 to Ala Moana just to get to Footlocker. Eventually, I got tired of coming up short. I decided I’d save a few surf paychecks to buy an exclusive pair at resale prices. A pair that would give me my own identity, or maybe reinvent it. But of course, the pairs I wanted were going to take a few more paychecks to get. So I kept saving and waiting.

The next big release was the Air Jordan 4 White Cements. I was hesitant, but what the heck. I gave it a final go and signed up for all of the raffles and hopped in line at Footlocker on release day. The sneaker gods blessed me. I managed to get a solid spot in line, and luckily enough, I snagged a pair at Footlocker—size 8, though not my size. Still, with so many people in line, I knew these were valuable.

I headed over to Truest.

My first ever sneaker sale was to John. I thought I’d make easy money, but I only got $50 more than what I’d paid. I didn’t know anyone else to sell to; places like StockX and GOAT weren’t around yet, and Craigslist was sketch. There were so many other people like me, who had just bought a pair and were trying to sell them to John. He had a business to run too, so he offered only a little above what we paid. I took his offer and walked away with a small profit.

The more I researched, the more I learned about how dedicated people were to reselling. They’d hire "bodies" to wait in line for them and pay them a fee. They’d sign up for multiple raffles and do whatever it took to win. It was a lot of work and time, and I thought, there has to be a better way.

Then I stumbled upon a Vine video. "Nike bot" was the term they used. It looked like random code to me, and I didn’t get it. But I saw kids, like myself, checking out multiple pairs and winning raffles with it. And that really stuck with me. If they were doing it, I could too.

Well, as high school went on, I met a girl. And, naturally, my focus shifted. Girlfriends aren’t cheap, and I didn’t have the money for both shoes and a girlfriend, so I chose the latter. I was content with my Old Skool Vans and Sanuks for a while, and kind of forgot about reselling.

Then technology started booming—iPhones, iPads, all that. People had the internet at their fingertips. News, information, raffles were much more accessible than word of mouth. So I started keeping up with the releases, more as a passion and dream of owning every colorway in a collection. Before I knew it, years had flown by, and I was graduating. Heading off to college to start a whole new life at Creighton University, a place I'd never seen before. As a surfer, I was a bit sick to my stomach, but I persevered thinking about my future.

Then, in 2015, Yeezys flooded the scene. Turtledoves, PB’s, 750s, all the other 350s—I had to get a pair. That’s when I remembered the Vine I’d seen earlier in high school. And that’s when a little fire lit up inside me. I remembered how I felt in my prior experiences, and knew that there was a better way.

I started researching sneaker bots.

At the time, there wasn’t a reliable bot, just some sketchy guys offering checkout links or paying people to take their raffle reservations. I struck out again and never got my Yeezys. But I decided I was going to figure it out. As technology advanced, more sneaker bots began popping up. Twitter became my best friend for finding out new things, and that’s how I found “cook groups.”

These groups took my game to the next level. I had info on releases, and I met like-minded people. Eventually, I bought my first bot: ProjectDestroyer. It wasn’t easy, but I learned, and it paid off. I was botting Supreme primarily, and occasionally Footlocker and Champs. I would get a few pieces here and there and would sell them on the up and coming platforms: StockX, GOAT, Grailed, and eBay.

Then it struck me—why not create my own brand, my own entity to do that, just like John did at Truest. Using the word connections and tweaking it to include my first and last initials, knektions was born. I thought it was a cool name, I was the connect, the “plug” if you would. Connecting people to coveted items. And it was my own identity, so I stuck with it. I started to build my brand name across all the reselling apps and socials. I felt like a good entrepreneur in business school.

Well, Summer was bound to happen at some point. So I went home and would surf. And I asked one of my roommates at the time, to grab my deliveries at the front door for me, and put them in my room. They started to pile up. There were probably 10 boxes of things showing up each day for him to put in my room. Eventually, he asked me what the hell I was doing. So I told him. And his eyes widened up. He wanted in. He saw the opportunity—maybe if it wasn’t even money at first. Maybe it was just an “in” to these exclusive items. It didn’t matter to me, I was excited to have support, and to have a little extra help in the overhead cost of everything. So he started to help me and we went after limited releases together.

Fast forward to today, my business partner, Wunsch, and I are still at it. We’ve built a business reselling everything from sneakers, apparel, accessories, lifestyle items and collectibles, and we’re proud of what we’ve accomplished. We’ve spent countless hours, dollars, and emotions figuring out our angle, and even to this day we’re still evolving. We don’t “bot” anymore, but we’re always trying to find something new and cool. I think that’s the beauty of our trial and tribulations; we’ve made so many new friends, gathered more resources, and have a great community who helps us curate exactly what we want.

So stop searching and start finding.

Find out what drives you, and go for it. It all begins with an idea… and maybe—just maybe, that idea can turn into something bigger down the road.