Sportswear biggies cash in on Sneakerhead subculture

New York / DPA

Dating back at least to the 1980s as a minority pursuit in the United States, the Sneakerhead subculture has now broadened out to a mass market that extends well beyond brands like Air Jordan and Converse Chuck Taylor.
Streetwear — particularly the trade in limited collections — has emerged from the underground to become a widespread obsession, accounting for billions of dollars. Major sports goods manufacturers like Nike and Adidas are starting to cash in.
Sneakers — trainers in British English — can now be traded online, and large sums are changing hands for the most collectible items. Beach chairs are out on a warm summer night in Lower Manhattan, as a group gathers outside an upmarket shop window with the Nike logo on display, passing the hours until the doors open on a new T-shirt collection.
Night vigils have become almost routine for denizens of the sneakerhead world. “It’s part of the deal,” says Orlando, 17, who has managed to grab a place right at the front of the queue. He and his friend Raymond have made the trip from the Bronx with their folding chairs to wait for the opening by Nike and the underground label Kith of their popup streetwear shop.
On offer are rare sneakers for up to 1,195 dollars and a jointly produced T-shirt in a limited edition of just 100 at a relatively modest price of 55 dollars. By the time the doors open at 10 am the queue stretches to the next block.
Tyler, who is on the staff at Kith, is clearly pleased at the interest shown, although a bit taken aback. He estimates the queue at between 250 and 300. Security staff are on hand to keep order as passing pedestrians look on with bemusement.
There are sneakerheads all over the world, but here in New York, where cult labels like Supreme, 10.Deep, Stussy and Kith are based, is the scene’s headquarters. The line between true devotees and those seeking to make money from rising prices for rare items is as hazy as it is in the art world.
“I’ll definitely sell my shirt,” Orlando says, and two days later an internet transaction is concluded for 225 dollars. The youngster says he has been making extra money in this way for the past 18 months. A passer-by is less than impressed by this sort of entrepreneurial activity. “None of them have jobs to go to,” he says. Orlando implicitly acknowledges the point.
“Unemployed kids from the Bronx also have to make money,” he says. “I made my biggest profit with a pair of Yeezy Boosts from Adidas, where I earned 3,500 dollars.”
Directly behind Orlando in the queue is Andre, who now treats joining queues like this as a fulltime occupation. He says he can support his family entirely through Facebook and his Instagram account SoleStreet.
The sneakerheads now have their own online exchange – StockX deals in new limited editions and also classics, presenting itself as an investment platform, complete with indices for Jordan, Nike and Yeezy on its home page.
StockX estimates turnover on this market at more than a billion dollars a year. The US market for sports footwear is put at around 17.2 billion dollars for 2015, up some 8 per cent on the year. While this is considerably larger than the specialist sneakerheads market, this niche segment is certainly attractive to the likes of Nike and Adidas.
The big names decline to reveal their margins, “for market reasons,” as an Adidas spokesman in Germany says. But clearly all the hype around the special items serves to boost the broader brand, and partnerships such as that between Adidas with rapper Kanye West on Yeezy Boost lend star appeal.