The interest in 'sneakers' keeps growing and has become a business that has more and more followers and that moves millions

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 In April 1985, Nike launched the Air Jordan 1, the first shoes of the Air Jordan brand , born from the American company's collaboration with Michael Jordan. Apart from incorporating the legendary  swoosh  – the Nike logo – this high-top model also featured a first version of the new brand's logo: a winged basketball. Thanks to these shoes, which became quite an icon, interest in sneakers began to grow , which became for the first time an object of worship and desire. This was the first big step of the sneakerhead culture , which today moves billions of dollars and has more and more followers.


The Air Jordan 1 is one of the most popular models on the market and every year they are reissued, so in addition to the originals you can also find others, ranging from the Air Jordan 2 to the Air Jordan 36. In fact, to understand the extent to which these shoes arouse passions, you only need to remember that in 2020 Sotheby's auctioned some Air Jordans from 1985 that Michel Jordan himself had worn for a starting price of between 92,300 and 138,500 euros . In the book 1,000 sneakers. A guide to the world's greatest kicks, from sport to street estimates that, since the year of its launch, more than 100 million pairs of these boots have been sold. This model alone has an annual turnover of around 3 billion dollars.


Sneaker fans , sneakerheads , buy and collect this type of shoes . Although there is no specific sneakerhead profile , the vast majority are men: "The audience is mostly male. There are also women, it is not a world that is exclusive, but there are more men," explains Mireia Barato, col · teacher of vambas. His point of view coincides with that of fellow collector Gerard Almirall, who adds that " sneakers are an expensive product and, under the capitalist system, the one who has the most economic capacity is the cis heterosexual white man, so it is understood to be so."



If one thing defines sneakerheads it is the fascination for innovative design and the exclusivity of the different models. Some of them see the shoes as objects of exhibition and never get to wear them, which, according to Almirall, can accelerate their deterioration: "If you don't wear them, the rubber breaks and starts to separate. I like to wear them and enjoy them: that's how I add personal value to them and they become much more than leather and rubber, because I link them to the moments when I wore them."





Sneaker collecting focuses on limited productions of certain brands, which tend to be hard to come by. The exclusivity of the models means that the demand is greater than the supply and that there is a large resale market, made up of both individuals and specialist shops. "Resale takes advantage of this need and the prices they mark can be up to ten times higher than the original. I think it is not a very desirable practice, but I think it will continue to exist and against which we can do nothing, because it is natural that this market exists," says Barato.




StockX is the most popular buying and selling platform on the planet and marks the prices of all models. "Everybody looks at StockX and nobody will offer a lower price than what is marked there. It works a bit like the stock market: they have stock bars that define what hedges they do, if they go up, if they go down... But, just like cryptos , you can't trust it because you don't have the numbers and there's a lot of speculation," Almirall adds.





Luxury and 'streetwear'



Behind the  sneakerhead world  there is a history and culture closely linked to the urban world, because its origins are closely related to street basketball: "The original style of these shoes is street styleof basketball That's why, even though these brands often collaborate with designer and luxury brands like Supreme, Gucci and Louis Vuitton, they still maintain their  streetwear  style and are very tied to their roots," explains Barato.




The collaborations with luxury brands collide with the humble origins of the sneakers and for many it takes them away from their original idea. " Sneakerhead culture comes from the humbleness of African-American and Latino neighborhoods, but now the level has been raised, which is what happens with capitalism, and brands are redirecting the prices towards the upper classes, which is a somewhat contradictory to its origins," says Almirall.


Furthermore, sneakers are only the tip of the iceberg of a much larger world of collecting and passion for urban culture and streetwear fashion. One of the most popular collectibles are bearbricks , bone-shaped figurines that collaborate with brands such as Supreme, Karl Lagerfeld and Vivienne Westwood.




Collaborations with artists



Until now, Nike and Adidas have the duopoly of the sneaker market . However, Almirall points out that this does not always have to be the case: "Kanye West is breaking up his collaboration with Adidas and wants to have his own brand, so maybe in a while we will have Yeezy as the third competitor". In fact, the American rapper's recent racist and anti-Semitic comments have led Adidas to cut ties with him , so Yeezy's future is uncertain.


Collaborations between artists and brands are common in this sector, which seeks the exclusivity of its pairs of shoes and in this way manages to raise their value. Among the most relevant of Nike is that of the rapper Travis Scott with Air Jordan, from which several models have emerged, such as the Jordan 1 Travis Scott, from 2019, or the popular Nike SB Dunk Low x Travis Scott, from 2020. Adidas has also collaborated with several artists, such as Bad Bunny, with whom it launched the Adidas Forum Low 84 in four colors in 2021, or Pharrell Williams, who in 2016 surprised with the Pharrell x NMD Human Race Yellow.


David Camprubi, founder of the Newcop sneaker resale store , assures that collaborations with artists are one of the aspects that have increased the population's interest in these shoes: "Singers do not only collaborate with brands but they also wear designer sneakers at their concerts and in everyday life, and that makes a lot of difference. A lot of people discover sneakers thanks to them." On the other hand, social networks have also played a key role in its popularization, "especially Instagram, which works like a trading card album of your thighs and which, in addition, generates a lot of hype ", points out Almirall.


However, not only internationally renowned artists collaborate with sneaker brands , but also fashion firms such as Staples, Balenciaga, Louis Vuitton and Comme des Garçons and designers such as Stella McCartney,Sean Wotherspoonand the late Virgil Abloh (founder of Off-White), who in 2017created The Ten collection, inspired by the ten most iconic silhouettes of Nike and Converse (Nike's subsidiary brand). Some of the models that inspired the collection – which has become one of the most popular – are the Nike Air Force 1 Low, the Converse Chuck Taylor and, of course, the Air Jordan 1. All models of The Ten sold out immediately on all platforms, making it one of the most coveted collections, and is considered the collaboration of the decade. In fact, the entire collection has been put up for sale this year at Sotheby's auction house for between $30,000 and $40,000.


However, there have also been unexpected collaborations, such as Nike's with ice cream brand Ben & Jerry's, which in 2020 introduced the Nike SB x Ben & Jerry's Dunk Low Pro, also known as the Chunky Dunky. Despite criticism for having an unattractive and overly colorful design, this model sold out on the day of its release and became one of the most popular sneakers of 2020.