"The Sneaker Game"

A sneakerhead is a person who trades, admires and collects sneakers as a past time.  The birth of sneakerhead culture came in the 1980's and has two major sources attributed to it. Basketball and  hip hop music both were big influences on the sneaker culture. Michael Jordan and his line of Jordan shoes were also big influences on sneaker collecting, trading , and selling.  Sneakers soon became used as status symbols and whoever had a limited shoe could then trade that shoe for cash or other less expensive shoes.  "The Sneaker Game" as of 2018 is now bigger than ever, with people lining up for days to cop the latest Off White Jordan collaboration.  

More Popular Sneakers

• Nike Air Maxes
• Air Jordans
• Adidas Yeezy's
• Nike SB's
• Nike Foamposits
• Nike Uptempos
• Adidas NMD's
• Air Forces
• Adidas Ultra Boosts, and many more

Sneaker Con

Sneaker Con is an event where sneaker collectors and sellers get together to trade, talk about, and admire shoes.  People go to Sneaker Con to sell old sneakers, buy new ones for their collection,  or Just admire the shoes and streetwear.  Re sellers typically like Sneaker Con because they can usually barter with the customer and it is a safe place to sell the shoes.  

Sneakerhead Slang

 - Below are the words that are most used in sneaker culture

• Beaters - old sneakers that are worn despite creases, scuffs, stains, and smell
• Breds - Black and red sneakers
• B Grade - Shop worn seconds sold at a discount
• Coke Whites - Pristine white sneakers
• Crispy - Clean
• Colorway - The combo of colors and symbols on a sneaker that make it up
• Cop - as to purchase or aquire
• Deadstock - Pair of sneakers that has never been worn
• Dope - Fashionable
• Double Up - Buying two pairs of identical sneakers
• Fresh - New and cool
• Fugazi - Fake
• Goat - Greatest of all time
• Grail - Very rare sneakers , as in holy grail
• GR - General Release (common)
• Gum Sole - Sneakers with solid rubber soles
• Heat - Rare sneakers that draw looks
• Hypebeast - Trendies who only buy the latest release, Hypebeasts buy whatever celebrites are wearing and try to copy people like Kanye West 
•  High tops - A shoe that rises above your ankle
• Jumpman - The Jordan logo on most Jordan shoes
• Ice - Sneakers with transparent soles
• Instacop - Impulse buying
• Kicks - shoes
• L - Loss 
• OG - Original 
• Reseller - Person who buys shoes only to resell them at a higher price
• Red October - All red sneakers
• Sitting - Referring to large quantities of sneakers that go unsold
• VNDS - Very near dead stock (Like New)
• W - Win (successful purchase) 

Industry Growth

The growth of the sneaker industry has been profitable but also has lead to a growth in counterfeit sneakers.  More auction sites are popping up that allow sneakerheads to cop the latest and rarest shoes.  Usually at a resale price or higher price than the sneaker was released, sites like stockx.com and goat.com will sell you authentic sneakers that they have personally checked.  The sneaker industry is very profitable if you can play the market right.  

Thanks For Reading, 

Sean