2024: The year sneaker culture 'died'?

It goes without saying that sneaker culture peaked over the past few years, with its ascension happening in conjunction with the rise of streetwear. However after every peak comes a trough, looking at the recent happenings within the sneaker landscape, it seems as though sneaker culture has become far removed from the foundations that built it. Begging the question, are we witnessing the end of a cycle?

Historically, sneakers have always been rooted in subcultures, communities and the youth. What you wore presented something, it communicated something about you and signalled what group you identified with. If you wore Jordans, you were either a big Jordan/basketball fan or someone who understood the cultural significance of the shoes. If you wore Nike SBs you were most likely a skater, sambas a football fan, maybe even a football hooligan and so on and so on. You could instantly make an assumption of someone's interests based off the shoes they were wearing and most often you would be right. Beyond being a signifier it also indicated someone's tribe as every shoe had its own ecosystem, its own lore and community, which is what the aforementioned shoes had, a whole world built around a shoe, it was equal to wearing a sports jersey.

Then came the shift, the rise of streetwear was accompanied by the trendification of sneakers, soon what you wore no longer reflected your interests but rather your awareness of what's in. The Yeezy's are a good example of this, if you saw someone wearing Yeezys they were either a massive Kanye fan or just someone aware of whats trending. As sneakers grew in popularity, they became detached from the communities that made those sneakers popular, the communities that those sneakers once represented. Take London for instance, owning a pair of Air Force 1s was equivalent to having a pair of socks but due to a drastic price increase, it’s changed what the shoe means in the city.

As this shift became increasingly apparent, sneakers have gone from being a cultural artefact to a commodity and everyone wanted a piece of the pie. Brands increased the prices, increased volume of releases, while consumers soon turned into sellers themselves, with resell culture becoming dominant. The rise of resell culture was also aided by technology, with people using bots to finesse their way to the front of the queue, which also meant that stock was going into the hands of people who wanted to flip them at a higher price and skipping the hands of those who wanted the shoe to actually wear it. A continued cycle of this has led us to a world where sneakers are no longer representing the communities they were built on, market saturation with multiple releases in different colourways and sneaker enthusiasts feeling discouraged from buying sneakers as they compete with bots, as well as extortionate resell prices.

Which brings us to where we are now. Sneakers have grown so much in popularity, and have become so far removed from its roots that it's now seen as a propaganda tool by politicians to seem likeable. In the past few weeks, we've seen former US President Donald Trump release his own sneaker as part of his election campaign, UK prime minister Rishi Sunak sporting a pair of sambas in an interview and Nigel Farage, UK right-wing politician, rocking a pair of Gazelles in response. Which begs the question, if politicians are using sneakers as a propaganda tool, what does that say about sneaker culture? Ironic considering the sambas are historically associated with football terrace culture, a demographic known for its rebellious nature.

The sneaker industry is in dire need of a refresh. Leading brands need to put a concerted effort towards combating bot and resell culture while also taking the time to innovate – as opposed to rushing to release the same silhouette in different colourways, maybe then the sneaker enthusiasts who have become detracted over the past few years will regain their lost interest in sneakers. A good step in the right direction was the recent release of the J Balvin AJ3, the shoe was priced at $25000 but fans were given a discount code that brought the price down $250, the higher price point was used to target bots.

The state of sneaker culture is a symptom of larger issues at play, the memefication of subcultures, late capitalism and our obsession of signalling to one another that we are chronically online. In trying to stand out, people end up fitting in. However, there is a growing resistance to this as people are becoming increasingly driven towards rocking footwear made by independent brands and also seeking different kinds of footwear beyond just sneakers, as we see with the growing popularity of Timberland boots and loafers too.