I still remember my first pair of Nike Air Jordan, my mother got me after I had seen them in the movie Space Jam. This were not my first pair of cool sneakers, by then I had already had the Converse All-Stars, Vans Authentic and a pair of Puma GV Specials, but the Jordans 94, as we called them back then, mark the moment I became a shoe lover, a collector, and to this day I still have them stored somewhere in my parents storage.
From there on, I went through the 90s basketball sneaker craze, that was dominated by Nike with all their CBs, Uptempos, Posites, the Zooms and the Flights, but when the rappers started getting endorsement deals for sneakers and came out with designs taken from classic models, I rediscovered the classics, models like the Puma Clyde, that my older brother had years prior to that, the Onitsuka Tiger Mexico 86, Diadora Game Low, The Adidas Stan Smith, the Gazelles and the Super Stars, that were having their first resurgence, since the Run DMC endorsement in 86. I also discovered sneakers that were released then like the Asics Gel Lite III.
There was a time when it was just a few of us sneaker lovers, and I could always tel one by the sneakers she/he was rocking, and everytime I met one, there was this mutual respect and understanding, kind of us telling each other "yes I see you", I personally had a special respect for girls that rocked cool sneakers, as they were even more of a rarity and stood out even more.
All this was before the sneakerheads climbed out of whatever cave they came out of, and transformed the love for beautiful designs, durable and comfortable materials, into the love for rarity, overpriced and hyped, and started calling us all by that silly name. What is a sneakehead anyways? A head in the shape of a sneaker? Someone that only thinks sneakers? I'm none of this.
Oh and this was also before the hipsters also decided to jump on the bandwagon by wearing whatever the Kardasian Clan, Kanye West and Justin Bieber told them to, following their big endorsement deals.
Not to say that I was never influenced, as I mentioned earlier on, I got my first Air Jordan sneakers after seeing them in a movie, and I believe that the love for sneakers in Hip-Hop comes from the love for the first sponsored athletes and later sponsored rappers.
My problem with all this hype is the fact that it boomed the counterfeit industry, and raised the price of a product that was once cheaper and more durable.
Take Adidas most sold shoes for example, the Stan Smith. The number of counterfeits being sold in the open on Fecebook is alarming, and I can assure you that the quality of the new authentic releases is just lower, I have two pairs and have made the comparison.
Benn!