Sneaker obsessed individuals aka sneaker heads, collect sneakers as a hobby and status symbol. This craze started in the United States in the 1980s, with the rise of skater subculture and hip hop, injecting sneaker brands such as Nike with tonnes of street credibility. Back then there were 4 people employed by Nike to work on collaborations, now there’s a whole building dedicated to cross branding. Traditionally shoes were created around athletes (famously Michael Jordan’s stratospherically successful Air Jordans), nowadays it can be rappers, DJs, fashion designers, and more.
So why are we so obsessed?
Well, sneaker head culture is cool, there’s the slang, Dope = fashionable, Fire = very good, Goat = greatest of all time, Heat = rare, Steezy = stylish, Yeezy = designed by Kanye West – I could go on…
There’s the collectors, an A to Z of cool, a plethora of rappers, DJ’s and A list celebs, to name but a few; Mark Wahlberg, David Beckham and Jay Z. Collector and actor Jerry Ferara – Turtle in the hit TV series Entourage, even had an episode written about his sneaker obsession.
Then there’s the collector’s fanaticism, hypebeasts (trendsetters who only buy the latest releases) attend conventions, wangle invites to special release parties and it’s not uncommon for dedicated fans to queue outside shops for several days to get their hands on the latest nibs (unworn boxed sneakers).
The biggest collectors have thousands of pairs of kicks. Mega collector DJ Clark Kent has what he calls his ‘one a days’ a fresh out of the box pair worn daily. Kent has cooked up some of most sought after Nike colabs, such as Nike LeBrons and ‘Black Friday’ AF1s. Chances are if a rapper wants a pair of kicks they’ll either go to Nike corporate or Clarke Kent. Now that’s sneaker clout!
Of course, most sneaker heads use wads of cash and contacts to secure rare treasures like the Air Jordan black and golds (The first Air Jordan produced, only 12 pairs were made and the price today $25,000!)
But there’s a tragic dark side to the sneaker industry, every year an estimated 1,200 people die over sneakers, many blame the huge marketing hype pumped out by the mega brands, (Nike, Adidas, Reebok) for creating a consumer feeding frenzy, which in turn creates violence.
Kicks, sneakers, keds, trainers, call them what you want, there are those willing to commit murder to get their hands on a limited-edition pair of kicks. Is it really worth it?
OMG where did you get your top from?! 