I try to not get sucked into the stories, topics, and complete nonsense that seems to permeate through “sneaker culture” like a pot of boiling eggs that has been left unattended. Yet, here I am, cracking my knuckles as I sit down in front of this keyboard to do what I have for 20 years now, write about (and perhaps defend) one of the things that I absolutely love, that’s connected me to friends, lovers, and opportunities for even longer than they’ve been “my career.”
Sneakers.
Long ago I would spend countless hours with my brother, drawing them to best of our prepubescent abilities. We would dream of one day having a pair with “a real” Air bubble. We would take details from a shoe like the Nike Air Huarache and draw it with the midsole tooling of an Air Max 90. Back then, we would only dream of the days when we’d be able to afford them.
In my family, 30 dollars was the budget. That’s it. One time per school year, we’d get to pick something out. Most of the time, we’d be lucky to get a basic pair of brand-name shoes over a pair of knockoffs, and if I would have had the chance to get a forgotten brand like British Knights or LA Gear, I would have been ecstatic. Even though I was fully aware they were just trying to make shoes that looked like a pair of Air Jordans.
Back then, nobody had ever used the term sneakerhead. Actually, if you cared about sneakers as much as I did, you were an outcast, and at times made fun of for it. I guess it was easier to not talk about them at school and instead, just race home and get back to drawing them with my brother. At least he understood why I was nerding out about them. I still cleaned my shoes, repainted them, re-glued them, and tried to keep them looking as new as possible. I never understood why the kids whose parents got them Air Jordans never tried to take care of them more. I guess maybe when you can afford it, you can afford to take it for granted.
Fast forward a few decades and I’m still the kid who obsesses over every detail, every material and color choice, and every ad I see for sneakers. Even though for the last 18+ years, I’ve been working in some way or another in the footwear industry. I still get excited about new models, signature shoes, collaborations, and the marketing behind all of them. Over the past few months though, things have felt different.
I was laid off from my job last week for the first time in my life. For the most part, I could see it coming. The company I worked for was owned by another more fashion-focused company that was basically a big conglomerate of companies, and that parent company was mismanaged to the point of nearly filing for bankruptcy, and narrowly escaping it by selling the entire portfolio for pennies on the dollar. The connection to sneakers and authenticity that once existed was gone, and despite my extensive experience, when big conglomerates acquire one another, the only thing people look at is the spreadsheet, not the actual future of the companies. I get it, and the experience is also what has me acknowledging the buzzwords I see so frequently as of late.
Sneakers are dead.
To some extent, I can understand where people are coming from with such a bold statement. When the people making decisions at these companies don’t know the difference between Air Jordan models, it’s hard to have much confidence in the future. When the brands that many of us know and love can’t decide whether they want to encourage the resale market by hyping up releases or kill it by raising retail prices, it can seem uncertain. When Nike, the leader of the industry, whose cut-throat competitive nature is what turned sneakers into a booming industry, is somehow slipping up and posting Kobe Bryant wearing adidas on their billboards, it feels kind of like everything is wrong in the world of sneakers.
However, if you look at the cyclical nature of sneakers, we’ve been through this type of thing many times before. I could go way back and find examples of pre-internet ups and downs for footwear but there are a few more recent examples that I think are more relevant to the current state of sneakers.
Remember when brands were making shirts that said “Sneakers Ruined My Life” in 2006? How about when “Shoe Game Fucked Up” was trending on social media platforms a few years after that? Or more recently when “resellers ruined sneakers” was the trendy thing to say?
I’ve been told that I can’t love sneakers because they can’t love me back. I’ve been told if I sell my sneakers, I’m selling out. I’ve been told if I don’t wear my sneakers, I’m a part of the problem. I’ve been told there is no such thing as sneaker culture from people who many would consider a part of the sneaker community (also something I’ve been told does not exist.)
Yet, here I am. Excited about the future of sneakers, the incredible diversity that has steadily improved the industry over the past few decades, the ability for anyone with a dream of making their own shoe just a few clicks away from getting started, and the opportunities for kids like me and my brother back in the day, who can turn their passion into a career doing something they love.
We’re in a time where the balance of power in the sneaker world is changing for the better. There are so many good quality shoes available on the market right now that almost everything is accessible to the average fan. Small brands can capture a dedicated fanbase like never before. Mid-size brands are steadily taking market share from the whales of the industry. Women’s signature sneakers are finally getting some respect again. Nike SB released a proper gender-neutral sneaker. Footwear for those with disabilities is being regularly produced now, and they are dope, not some terrible check-the-box design like it used to be. Don’t even get me started on the inevitable innovation that is just around the corner for the entire footwear industry.
As for consumers, anyone who cares about sneakers can start up a blog, fan page on social, or a YouTube channel, and turn it into money to buy sneakers. Individual creators are getting to do collaborations with major footwear brands on a regular basis.
If sneakers are dead, that means the culture vultures will soon be gone and the rest of us can get back to being the sneaker nerds we are at heart. I’m all for it. I guess that means I’ll be writing here more often again.