The origin of sneaker culture

Brut America

Cop, Feezys, grail ...   Brut spoke to two New York sneakerheads about the origin of sneaker culture, and why for some, sneakers are more than just shoes.

Transcript

00:00What are y'all favorite brands stores like spots to come I wish I had

00:18Sneakers is top five. No, no top three level of difficulty

00:30I

00:41Remember waiting in line for the Space Jam Space Jam 11th

00:45I think those are the ones

00:47Those are definitely the ones that everyone has to kind of like wait in line for or even the last ones

00:52They let you wait in line for

00:55Around like 2 o'clock a.m. And then people start lining up and then the height just builds

01:01I

01:03Was buying yeah, I gotta go cop some kicks means I gotta go buy some kicks love coppin kicks

01:08I wish I could cop more kicks

01:11Sneakerhead is someone who has a passion for sneakers. There's someone who tries to collect

01:18Different pairs different styles different brands most importantly is about knowledge people who are not sneaker heads

01:25You know, they they have a lot of sneakers, but they don't know a lot about

01:30Skipping to get it

01:47So in school, you know

01:50It was kind of like a competition like when you from New York

01:52You have to have like you have to have the best stuff at all times or else

01:57You're gonna become the butt of jokes

02:01But you don't like my royal sandals try them

02:09Interesting a status that you need in certain neighborhoods and certain places

02:14You need that when we went to school. That's what everybody was wearing and you know, all the cool kids had the cool kicks

02:27On

02:32September 15th Nike created a revolutionary new basketball shoe

02:37On October 18th the NBA threw them out of the game

02:44Fortunately the NBA can't stop you from wearing them

02:57Is this the shoe that the NBA wouldn't let you wear what's wrong with the coloring this what rule do we violate here?

03:02Well, it doesn't have any white in it. Well, neither does the NBA

03:08It's a shortening black and red and the sneakers that you see that have the dominant black and red color

03:15One of Michael Jordan's most famous shots in basketball. He had these on his feet

03:27Like going to school and a fresh pair of sneakers listen sneakers dropped on a Saturday if you didn't have them on Monday

03:33It didn't matter

03:37Those sneakers that you like

03:40Those are the ones those are the ones that you that you gotta have in your collection

03:45My grill would be the royal blue ones the red floors the white cement floors

03:51The og nines that I have on my feet right now

03:54I think one of many are

03:58my off-white dunks like the royal blue satins like those are so rare and

04:06Unattainable almost that you know

04:09You shouldn't wear them, but I do having a pair of white UPS in New York is just a staple for spring and summer

04:14It goes with every outfit. It's clean. It represents the white that you can't wear after Labor Day

04:25The

04:27Only pair that definitely should be kept clean our pair of white ups

04:31But honestly we all know the rule there like you scuff them you got to get a new pair

04:42After the set up for us to actually get it on retail often fail us so we have to lean on the resale

04:49Of sneakers so sometimes stock X sometimes go

04:54If you're lucky you might hit on the sneakers app

05:03The plug is somebody who is tapped in who has

05:08The connects the connections to get the sneakers that everybody wants

05:19Not gonna happen, it's a wrap. I wouldn't say my sources are sacred at all

05:23I would never like keep that information to myself

05:25It's just sneakers at the end of the day sometimes the connects only work for you though

05:30You know and sometimes isn't just a you thing and like as much as you want to share the wealth of people sometimes you can

05:38It's

05:45What's authentic about sneaker culture is that it's still a hand-to-hand kind of

05:49Exchange like some people are still selling like to a friend or to people in their network

05:56So I think that's what's super cool about sneaker culture is that it really does bring people together

06:01Yeah, I think the tastemakers are usually black women young black women

06:06From New York, I'm just keeping it on it. I'll give Tiana Taylor her props for sure

06:11She's definitely a tastemaker definitely a pioneer and like fashion and sneakers and bringing those two worlds together

06:21Clean laces gotta make sure your laces are clean. No creases

06:28What else what else oh just the new sneaker smell

06:32Am I right you took all of them

06:36Nike shoes Nike socks gotta do it if you're wearing Jordans it works because you know

06:41You can look at a Jordan and see the Nike the Nike check on there

06:44But if you're wearing Adidas like if you got some Yeezys

06:47Never worry. I Nike sock with that. That's a no-go

06:54Fake Yeezy

06:56I

07:04Don't know by everybody else I don't and I don't enjoy that dirty sneaker culture

07:08I don't I just I can't I hate it

07:10I hate it so much or sometimes I just let them build character for a little while like my shadow ones like you know

07:15Air Jordan ones they kind of look cool when they are

07:19worn

07:20You know, you see that you get the vintage look on them going to school

07:24You know, there were many opportunities for you to contact danger where someone could potentially step on your sneaker

07:35Yo, excuse me, I'm sorry, it's about my brand-new white

07:41And it was definitely a whole tactic on how you would avoid that from happening

07:46So I think I'm pretty strong on the Heisman

07:49I

07:54Mean

07:57Okay, what white it's just pure clean

08:03sparkling untouched angelic

08:07Those are the sneakers that when someone steps on them it hurts your feelings I don't

08:13Associate sneaker boxes with clear white boxes. I like to keep them in their sneaker boxes just for that classic feel

08:23Dirty white ups. I hate them. So that's a no-go any scuffs on my sneakers hate those

08:29Anybody sucks on your sneakers like that's a sure. That's a that's a good one

08:34I'm always gonna have a love of sneakers because I'm from Brooklyn and that's just what we do out here

08:43You

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