There is a constant dialogue between Wall Street and Main Street that sneaker culture exists inside of an echo chamber. That sneaker culture is only a billion dollar industry as it relates to resale and that the culture is built around teen boys buying and trading overpriced kicks that mean very little to the athletic footwear market. That dialogue is entirely wrong.
If data is the primary driver of information and analysis, then a quick Google/Bing will prove that sneakerheads and sneaker culture is basically relegated to sneaker blogs like Hypebeast, Complex or Nice Kicks. Take a few minutes to look up Sneakers and any news website and it becomes clear that sneaker culture is a part of the daily lexicon. The news may begin on sneaker culture sites, but it extends from PBS to the BBC and there isn’t a news related channel that isn’t planning to run or running a documentary or discussion on sneaker culture.
Every generation can answer the question, “What is a sneakerhead”. What is more important is that the generation that created sneaker culture now has an average age of around 50. That generation has offset a lack of interest in sports and a more complex media world for the next generation who isn’t really growing up with athletes as their chocie of entertainers to follow. In other words parents are relaying the “importance” of sneaker culture to their kids creating a new generation of sneaker lovers to carry the torch allowing athletic shoe companies to earn millions and billions of dollars each year.
Katie Nolan, playfully and expertly delivers a more detailed look at the culture than the recent episode of Hasan Minhaj’s Patriot Act. It’s not a bad segment at all and it shows that sneaker culture is no longer just relegated to teenage boys at sneaker conventions. High powered women are engaging in the culture in a more nuanced way than we think. Check out the episode below.
