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I've been collecting kicks since my first pair of Jordan's back in 1989, when my mom gave me $100 for school clothes and I used it to buy some white T's and a pair of Jordan III's (on clearance). I rocked them everyday like they were going out of style. Every year since I have looked forward to each and every new release with excitement and anticipation.
I experienced my first line-up in 1995, as a Champs employee, when I witnessed 50 people waiting for the Jordan XI release. The line started a couple of hours before the store opened and everyone received a pair. Times were simple and the culture was entrenched with respect and admiration for other sneaker collectors.
The sneaker game began to change when eBay and the internet started to play a bigger role in the direction of the culture. By 2001 eBay was in full swing and selling fakes on eBay was big business. This really crippled the game for many sneakerheads, including myself, who were duped into buying fake Jordan from eBay sellers. EBay has since put into place some rules and guidelines to protect buyers from these counterfeiters, however, the site is still riddled with all kinds of fakes and counterfeits. Even with these crappy fakes out there the sneaker culture among collectors still had dignity.
Now its safe to say that sneaker collecting is addicting. It embodies all the qualities of addiction and is problematic if not carefully monitored. As collectors, we can't wait for the next release and we're willing to do some crazy things to get them. What is sad, is there are some people out there who see this as an opportunity to exploit others for personal gain.
More recently (over the past 3 years) the culture has taken an ugly turn for the worst. What use to be a culture of comradery is now tainted with greedy, selfish people who are willing to exploit anyone for a few bucks. In particular, resellers have taken over and tainted the culture. Most of these resellers do not collect sneakers at all. Now, all of us have sold a shoe we copped, because we were unable to get our size or we decided we didn't like it. Thats an admirable sale, but the idea of buying multiple pairs to resell them to other sneakerheads for high marked-up prices is trashy and violates all of my personal morals. Anyone who rapes one of their fellow sneaker brethren with inflated pricing for personal gain is sorry! I equate them with a drug dealer who sells drugs to their own family and neighbors claiming their actions are a legitimate hustle. All I have to say is watch out for these people in any aspect of life because their morals are weak and they will easily stab their own mom in the back if they thought it would benefit them.
A couple of years ago I showed up 12 hrs before a release to cop a highly coveted shoe. I was lucky enough to get my pair, but some people didn't get theirs and their was havoc at the event. I had never experienced this kind of behavior at a sneaker release. Some people tried to strong arm a couple of yougins saying they had been there since the night before, but had taken off. None of us ever saw them and we were there the whole time expect for the occasional bathroom break. Today some people think they can leave a chair days before, go home, to come back to their spot in line. Even worse is the group of five people who think they can have one person hold spots for all five of them. Thats NO respect. Thats why people bring burners and shanks to these events and they end up in a wet T. Disrespectful people getting checked by folks who don't play or vice a versa.
There are still a few real collectors out there who appreciate the game and I have nothing but the most admiration and respect for you. Unfortunately, many are being forced out by Nike and Jordan's crappy marketing antics of Hype, Diminished Quality, Quick Strikes and limited releases, which has resulted in the creation of these morally corrupt resellers and hypebeasts. I blame these companies, however, we have also contributed to this by allowing it to happen. We need to realize that this is our culture and even though they produce the products we decide what we want, not them! These companies are not the creators of our culture, we are.
I know most of this is my own personal rant from my recent experience with the past few releases, but I would like to take this to the next level. At this point in my life I'm still a sneaker collector as well as an anthropologist at a research one university. My next project focuses on American Modern Material Culture where I plan to examine our culture for all of the good and bad it has endured over the years. I hope to bring to the forefront the issues that plague and enrich the culture today and hopefully provide a new direction for the future of sneaker collection.
I'd like to hear from the Niketalk community. What do you think about how the culture has changed and where you'd like to see it go.
I experienced my first line-up in 1995, as a Champs employee, when I witnessed 50 people waiting for the Jordan XI release. The line started a couple of hours before the store opened and everyone received a pair. Times were simple and the culture was entrenched with respect and admiration for other sneaker collectors.
The sneaker game began to change when eBay and the internet started to play a bigger role in the direction of the culture. By 2001 eBay was in full swing and selling fakes on eBay was big business. This really crippled the game for many sneakerheads, including myself, who were duped into buying fake Jordan from eBay sellers. EBay has since put into place some rules and guidelines to protect buyers from these counterfeiters, however, the site is still riddled with all kinds of fakes and counterfeits. Even with these crappy fakes out there the sneaker culture among collectors still had dignity.
Now its safe to say that sneaker collecting is addicting. It embodies all the qualities of addiction and is problematic if not carefully monitored. As collectors, we can't wait for the next release and we're willing to do some crazy things to get them. What is sad, is there are some people out there who see this as an opportunity to exploit others for personal gain.
More recently (over the past 3 years) the culture has taken an ugly turn for the worst. What use to be a culture of comradery is now tainted with greedy, selfish people who are willing to exploit anyone for a few bucks. In particular, resellers have taken over and tainted the culture. Most of these resellers do not collect sneakers at all. Now, all of us have sold a shoe we copped, because we were unable to get our size or we decided we didn't like it. Thats an admirable sale, but the idea of buying multiple pairs to resell them to other sneakerheads for high marked-up prices is trashy and violates all of my personal morals. Anyone who rapes one of their fellow sneaker brethren with inflated pricing for personal gain is sorry! I equate them with a drug dealer who sells drugs to their own family and neighbors claiming their actions are a legitimate hustle. All I have to say is watch out for these people in any aspect of life because their morals are weak and they will easily stab their own mom in the back if they thought it would benefit them.
A couple of years ago I showed up 12 hrs before a release to cop a highly coveted shoe. I was lucky enough to get my pair, but some people didn't get theirs and their was havoc at the event. I had never experienced this kind of behavior at a sneaker release. Some people tried to strong arm a couple of yougins saying they had been there since the night before, but had taken off. None of us ever saw them and we were there the whole time expect for the occasional bathroom break. Today some people think they can leave a chair days before, go home, to come back to their spot in line. Even worse is the group of five people who think they can have one person hold spots for all five of them. Thats NO respect. Thats why people bring burners and shanks to these events and they end up in a wet T. Disrespectful people getting checked by folks who don't play or vice a versa.
There are still a few real collectors out there who appreciate the game and I have nothing but the most admiration and respect for you. Unfortunately, many are being forced out by Nike and Jordan's crappy marketing antics of Hype, Diminished Quality, Quick Strikes and limited releases, which has resulted in the creation of these morally corrupt resellers and hypebeasts. I blame these companies, however, we have also contributed to this by allowing it to happen. We need to realize that this is our culture and even though they produce the products we decide what we want, not them! These companies are not the creators of our culture, we are.
I know most of this is my own personal rant from my recent experience with the past few releases, but I would like to take this to the next level. At this point in my life I'm still a sneaker collector as well as an anthropologist at a research one university. My next project focuses on American Modern Material Culture where I plan to examine our culture for all of the good and bad it has endured over the years. I hope to bring to the forefront the issues that plague and enrich the culture today and hopefully provide a new direction for the future of sneaker collection.
I'd like to hear from the Niketalk community. What do you think about how the culture has changed and where you'd like to see it go.
