To Be or Not to Be a Sneaker Head

To be or not to be a sneaker head? Shakespeare’s most famous words. This will be installation one in “To Be or Not to Be a Sneaker Head.” In this series I will guide you through the ins and outs of the sneaker head community and whether or not you should jump in feet first. Only after you take off your sneakers, of course!!

1. The Community

Sneaker collecting isn’t just a hobby—in fact, it is a culture. Like any socially profound culture you must have people backing it up. In the sneaker culture, everyone is welcomed. The sneaker culture is full of every race and every age all coming together over their love of sneakers. The sneaker community is truly a close knit group of people that loves expressing themselves through the clothes on their feet. In this picture above, you see sneaker con Los Angelou’s. At sneaker cons, sneaker heads from all around the area gather together to indulge in their love of sneakers. In another installation, I will go into more detail on sneaker cons and where you can find one and dive into the Olympic-sized pool that is the sneaker community.

2. The History

Shoes have been around for ages. Back in the old days, people used to wear sandals and I’m sure even back then there were people that had their own sense of style and wanted to be set apart from everyone else. Those were the first true “sneaker” heads. The sneaker heads that we know nowadays owe their fit to Michael Jordan who came out with his first shoe on the market sneaker in 1985. These were the Chicago Sir Jordan 1. On October of 1984, MJ was almost banned from the NBA. Reason being is he wore a pair of his unreleased air Jordan 1’s. The NBA’s reason was that the shoe had no white in it. Ridiculous right? You could say that Micheal Jordan had so much heat it burned the white off. People that watched and looked up to Michael wanted his sneaker to show support and to fufill the famous slogan of “be like Mike.” The game has only grown since MJ has retired with the Jordan brand coming out with more and more unique sneakers that are highly sought after by collectors.

3. Why I Do It

I myself am a small time sneaker head. Meaning: I don’t have a huge walk-in closet full of just sneakers, but I do have around 35 pairs of sneakers. Nothing like Dj Khalid’s collection,

But I am making my way up. So, why do I collect shoes? Well, a lot of people like to express themselves in different ways and through sneakers I can show the world around me what my style is like, what my personality is like, and even what kind of mood I am in on that day. Am I in my Off-white Prestos ready for what ever the day decides to throw at me, am I in my Air Jordan 1’s styling and profiling, or am I in my slides just ready for the day to be over with? People can gather all of this information from my sneakers without me even saying a word. My shoes also set me apart from everyone around me. Instead of just wearing the same Adidas NMD’s every day, I can hit them with NMD on Monday and then blow them away with MJ on Tuesday. My final reason, according to my mother, is genetics. My mother “like most women” has an affinity for shoes and all I can prove is that it must have been passed down to me.

4. Is it right for you?

Now to the important, life-altering, make-or-break question, is it right for you? Well, if you have an affinity for shoes and you like to be set apart from the people around you, then you might be in the realm of becoming a sneaker head. Now in order to be a sneaker head, you don’t have to own 100 pairs of shoes. All you really need to be a sneaker head is you just need to have a love for the sneaker game. This doesn’t mean you have to buy and love every shoe that comes out on the market. You buy what you want and what speaks to you.

For Example

To me, this shoe looks like something my grandpa would wear. Not even my dad would look at these. Now if you like this shoe I am not trying to bash you I am just stating my opinion. If you like this shoe, ok, there is a large group of people that love the Yeezy 700. Personally I am not one of those people and that’s ok. In the sneaker head world there are plenty of people that you can click with that have the same sneaker-like ability as you.

What I Like

This is defiantly my speed of shoe. Now I may be a kid in some people’s opinion but I love the retro sneakers. For the Jordan company, these are the Jordan 1- 15 in the original color ways. Now just like the shoe that I showed above, there are people that don’t like the Jordan Retros. Crazy, I know, right? I love the sneaker because it is iconic and it is a shoe that will last for generations.

This will conclude installation 1 in the series “To Be or Not to Be a Sneaker Head.” Thank you for reading my first article. I look forward to continuing this series and helping you find your click in the sneaker head community.