7 On Your Side: How to find rare sneakers

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- After the Warriors' NBA Championship win, many basketball fans are scrambling to get a piece of the official gear. 7 On Your Side's Michael Finney takes us inside the world of sneakerheads and shows us how to find rare, coveted shoes.

"Sneakerhead" is the affectionate name for fans who buy and sell collectible basketball shoes. For some people it's a passion. For others, it's a career.

Sneakerhead Nicholas Song of Oakland has compiled quite a collection. "It's a hobby and I'm obsessed with my basketball shoes," said Song.

Ask Song and he'll easily identify each and every shoe by name. But there's one line of shoes he's missing. It's the Curry One shoe from Under Armour named after the Warrior's MVP. It's the latest addition from Under Armour, which came out recently.

LeBron James also unveiled his new shoe from rival Nike this weekend.

Upstart Under Armour is now in the game thanks to Steph.

"Because of Steph Curry, they're the mainstream already. They're competing with Nike," explained Dennis Abad. And he would know. Abad is a sneakerhead himself and runs Connect Consignment.

The Daly City store is one of just a handful in the Bay Area which buys and sells rare athletic shoes on consignment.

"I haven't put them on yet, but it feels great now that I've bought them," said Fernando Garcia, a 14-year-old, who got new shoes as a reward from his father for getting straight A's.

Getting limited edition shoes takes patience and lots of advance leg work. Song monitors the release date calendars of Nike, Under Armour and Footlocker, to name just a few. He also follows each company on social media where you'll find instructions on how to get the shoes.

He sniffs a shoe much like someone might wine before sipping. "Smells brand new still."

Being a sneakerhead is big business. The replica of a shoe Michael J. Fox wore in "Back to the Future," the Nike Air Mag, sold for less than $2,000 when it came out in 2011. Now, it's sells for $6,000 at Connect Consignment.

Dennis encourages his customers to find shoes directly from a seller or on reputable websites to save money. Song likes kixify.com.

If you can't find the shoe you want, that's where Connect Consignment comes in. If they don't have it, you can add your shoe to the wish list. "If somebody comes in with what they're looking for, we call them," said Abad.

Abad warns anyone buying online to beware of fakes. Fakes often use materials of lesser quality and the color schemes are often just slightly off. So be sure to do your research.

Some other stores that may be of help are Sole Supremacy or Prestige Shop.