So a few weeks ago, I saw an article with my folks @anotherlane_ talking about gentrification in sneakers, and it first put the thought in my head. Gentrification in sneakers…interesting.
If you didn’t know, I’m an older white guy. 41 to be exact. And I grew up in the snow-white-washed paradise of Lake Tahoe, California.
But.
That didn’t really stop me from following sneakers. A handful of people were into sneakers when I was growing up…and when I say a ‘handful’, I mean, literally, like 5. There was usually one person per year that had the latest Jordans. There was usually a few random Nike sig’s floating around - Penny’s, Kidds, Iversons, Kobes, Grant Hills, Rodmans. But no two people in my school had the same pair of shoes at any given time.
So. I don’t know. When I lived in Brooklyn, I didn’t really feel like a gentrifier. I lived in an Italian and Middle Eastern neighborhood and my parents were actually from the neighborhood I lived in so it never really even crossed my mind. But when I lived in Oakland, I definitely felt like a gentrifier (at least, in the beginning). But I don’t think it stuck to me because, for me, to NOT be a gentrifier, it meant becoming a part of the community. Like, I went from some startup office in SF with 175 white people in plaid shirts and Patagonia vests to becoming a High School teacher in East Oakland (and I’m proud of it). Working in the community - I felt like an intruder at first - but I started to talk with my neighbors and did a whole lot of walking around and interacting with people I’d see on the regular. So…Maybe I am a gentrifier, but I also made myself a part of that community and I feel ok with that.
So when that Nike memo ‘leaked’ talking about the gentrification of sneakers, I had to ask myself…what is their angle? I mean, I’ve been in the weeds with a real sneaker community for more than 20 years and I’ll tell you that there has been NOTHING in my life that offered me more of a diverse group of friends than sneakers…so when was this switch flipped? Is it when the pandemic hit and sneakers really hit the mainstream?