Solomon Kithan
Modern College Kohima
When you read the above heading, for a culture such as the “sneaker culture” you might find it boring and silly to be a culture. But it is not what you have thought about; it has a lot of different aspects for a culture. Everyone has a hobby that they are interested in whether it’s clothes, cars, bikes, or even food. But one of the most popular hobbies that are sweeping the world that is starting to trend is the sneaker culture. There are many factors why people buy sneakers, but the main influential and considerable reasons are because of basketball, rappers, designers, kids, and entertainments. Although everyone owns a pair of sneakers, not many people know what their shoes are worth. Many don’t even know if their sneakers are authentic or unauthorized. There are a wide variety of sneakers which holds very different colors and styles, the designs have led to popularity in sneakers.
In the following paragraphs will be sharing more about the sneaker culture and the interest I have and to be a part in the culture. The extent of sneaker culture came in to existence after the basketball era. Most of the Western people have passion in basketball and they have started to emerge along with the game. Younger generations have been passionate about the game and the sneaker came along with it. Now, it has less to do with what we have in common i.e. the Adidas, Nike, Puma, Reebok, Under Armour, etc. In this culture it is not about the brands like the ones mentioned above. Through basketball, popular players started their collaboration in different sneaker brands, and this brought out the flame in the younger generations. The culture began to be on trend when artists and popular players started their collaboration in the field. Some of important collaboration that made the sneaker culture popular were Michael Jordan's collaboration with Nike, Kanye West with Nike and Adidas, Stephen curry with Adidas, Lebron James with Nike, James Harden with Adidas, Stan Smith with Adidas and more.
The trend started to grow more when these players and artists tagged names of the specific and iconic sneakers. Different collaboration has been made since then, but the greatest and iconic sneaker collaboration was made by NBA player Michael Jordan known as the "Nike""Air Jordan1". When it comes to the best sneakers of all time, everybody has different taste. And with so many incredible styles over the years, it’s impossible to get to every single sneaker that helped shape the indelible marks on our sneaker-loving hearts.
The sneaker culture that this generation has taken by storm is called Sneaker heads. Sneaker heads are people who are blessed with sneakers and collect the most popular ones. Sneakers might seem like they were just simple to most people, but to others it’s a whole another lifestyle and world for them. To sneaker heads it is not just something you wear on your feet; shoes to them are a life style. The sneakers are not only hyped in the sneaker culture, but a lot of sneaker heads wear them with costumes and some actually only collect these sneakers for the future so they can resell them for more money. Sneakers are a huge craze in the United States but the shoe craze doesn't end here. The need for shoes spreads across the whole world. China, Japan, India etc the shoe craziest where nowadays everyone is looking for shoes, including me.
Although I am not one among the sneaker heads, I have an interest in the sneaker culture and someday I want to be a part of the culture. The sneaker culture has not been in my sense and passion from my early age. Back in my old days in my High school was dull about sneakers; all I knew was pair of sneakers called Adidas, Puma, Nike and Reebok beyond that I never knew the extent of the sneaker culture. But my sense of sneakers started to change when I recognized the style and design of different sneakers. I started to discover beyond the brand of a sneaker, for instance the name of the pair, the popularity, the secret, etc. In my earlier days of being someone who had a different sense of passion and who wanted to be an expert in a way different from that of the common passions like sports, reading, writing, sketching etc., I always thought I am someone who had a different and useless passion but I always wanted and was passionate enough to be an expert on it. I have always had more of a passion for the searching out and wearing of sneakers. I learn more of the in-depth culture of sneaker, started using different social Medias and assistance to learn more about it.
Having to know more about the culture I started to gain more of interest and experience and this is how I became more like an expert among the people I know who has an interest in the same culture as I do. Though the sneaker trends are getting better and trendier I use every possible ways to get up-to- date from different sources. Today when someone speaks about any shoes particularly sneakers that are on trends I can be the best for that talk. I am so into the game that I know a good number of sneaker heads and men that are in the world of sneakers. Some times when I think of myself being well versed with the most popular Western Culture, I assume people might consider me as a person who is quite astray from my own Culture or roots. But it is not what it appears to be. I know myself and where I belong. In either fantasized or want to erase the passion I have. I am a person who has moved along with the ongoing culture yet I am still the same person who has the real spirit to present my ethnic culture.
I have enlightened you with some information about why the sneaker culture is the way it is, and I believe you also learned some new things as well. In the coming days when you see someone wearing a pair of sneakers you will probably wonder the story behind them. I encourage you to look into the sneaker culture more and do more research because this trend is going to just get bigger and better in the future.
The writer is a student of BA 5th Semester, Department of Economics, Modern College Kohima
