What’s Missing I’m Sneaker Culture: Quality v. Quantity

If you have listened to our previous episode of the Sneaker History Podcast, you’ll remember our topic of “What went missing with Sneakers”. After really sitting and thinking, once the guys and I finished recording, there was one thing I noticed that seems to gets lost in the sneaker community. That missing thing is Quality over Quantity.

With sneaker culture seeming to reach another apex, everyone (sneakerheads, resellers, and everyday consumers) seems to be caught in the wave. And with brands being fully aware of this continued growth, we are bombarded with an insane amount of releases any given week. So much so that as soon as we get that must have pair, we are already getting force fed the next. An example of this would be the Jordan 11 Concord release last December. It wasn’t even 48 hours after the release when we began getting reports of the Playoff 11s making their return in 2019. How can we enjoy what we have when we are basically told that it’s played out as soon as we get it. So with this example, I’m sure that you are starting to understand what I mean by quality versus quantity. I’m questioning the quality of our purchases and is it something we truly appreciate. Or have we fallen into the cycle of having to have the next and newest just for the sake of the Gram? Now, by no means is this me passing judgment on anyone. Just like everyone I have fallen into that trap of getting caught up in making a purchase just to add another pair to the collection, just for it to get put in the back of the closet. This is more of a sneakerhead therapy session to help us remember why we got into sneakers (at least most of us). Watching fellow members of the sneaker community break their necks (and phone) to get every release in every color of every Yeezy or Jordan gets a bit redundant and tiring. The reason I use the word tiring is because of the trends we continue to see on social media. People laying in pools of ridiculous amounts of the new hot sneaker or someone eating cereal out of a shoe (it’s a shoe, not a bowl). These displays make me scratch my head more often than you’d think.

Since I don’t know any of these individuals who partake in these displays it’s impossible for me to know their true feelings about sneakers, but the perception is that they are only in it for the “clout”. We have entered an era where you have either doubled-up or suffer from a fabricated depression called catching an L. Again, I’ve publicly complained about Ls, but it hasn’t truly ruined any of my days. My true appreciation always overpowers my L. With a lot of the people I know in the community, this is the same for them. They have a true love for the art, technology, materials, and stories behind sneakers. This true appreciation is what the culture is missing. Can we get back to complimenting each other’s kicks and not just having resentment that flows out as hate through social media? Or, how about getting back to being so excited to wear a new pair that we rock them out the store (funny enough I get weird looks for doing that). Let’s get back to sneakers being fun!

What part of sneaker culture are you missing and wish would come back? Sound off in the comments.