Think sneakers are a “waste of money” or “just a pair of shoes”? While taken at face value this is definitely valid and of course many costs should be taken care of before buying the newest pair. I am interested in informing of how there is also a flip to this in the sneaker community.
Sneakers can be a very profitable purchase, that the average person would not expect. In an article from Business insider, it discussed how large profitable it already is, “Sneaker resale is now estimated to be a $2 billion market, according to Cowen & Co estimates. It’s projected to triple over the next several years, reaching more than $6 billion by 2025.” This is again just the reselling of sneakers, a remarkable figure with even larger projection in just 5 years.
Recently I purchased a pair of sneakers for $170, which to people outside of the community might seem astronomical for a pair of shoes. I see this pair as an investment. This pair I bought has already appreciated in one week to $350, and will most likely approach $500 before the end of the year, and overall large profit for one pair. The community as a whole though is much more than a focus on the money aspect. It is a hustle that any person of any age can do, and ties together everyone’s joy for the cool new sneakers that come out or the old nostalgic pair that you could not purchase as a kid that you can now. Every person has a unique story of how they came to love sneakers as a whole, and it is one of the main reasons I enjoy it so much. “Many times we buy certain shoes, over and over again, because there’s an emotional attachment or personal significance behind the shoe. It can be the first pair that you ever bought with your own money, the pair that you got engaged in, or maybe the pair that you wore during that memorable sporting event that you attended.” This quote comes from a prominent sneaker blog, and encapsulates my love for the community.
Ultimately sneakers are just a material and in the grand scheme of things are not very important. I have a passion for them and hope to inform others of the emotional attachment that people have and also of the great investment that they can be.
Interested in looking further? Check out “10 Reasons Why We Buy Sneakers” at Kicks on Fire.
By Colin Durham, Activist writer
