Misconceptions Sneakerheads Have About Sneakers

Image via Complex Original

OK, sure, you broke a lot of necks in the hallway and at the mall and on the block. At least you think you did. Most people have no idea what your sneakers even are, let alone care what you paid for them. And some of those necks you broke were just people wondering whether you turned the lights on before you got dressed.

For collecting purposes, nothing beats an original release. Even if an older sneaker is unwearable, it's cool to have it in its original form. Retros, unless they're a new colorway or a PE, don't even belong in a collection at all. And if it's a shoe that's going to get worn, why not wear the newest? If you try to explain to the average person that your Fire Red IIIs are actually the 2006 release, not the 2013, they won't have any idea what you're talking about.

There are roughly three kinds of people in the sneaker industry. There are the obsessives—people like you—who know everything there is to know about sneakers, even outside of whatever brand they work for. They are a decided minority. Then there are the people who know just what they have to know, and forget it as long as they don't have to know it anymore. These are people like athletes and those PR people who want to seem well versed. Lastly, there are the people who view your dream job as just a job. They don't know and they don't care beyond their paycheck showing up on time.

Even if that was true, which it probably isn't, it's up to you—rather us—to be the change we want to see. Gandhi didn't actually say that, but he probably would have agreed with the basic sentiment. (Although he would have been confused as hell at people spending thousands of dollars a month on sneakers.) Think kids are approaching things the wrong way? Talk to them, don't just make fun of them on Twitter.

There is no doubt that some people have put together sneaker collections of huge historical import—see the adidas Spezial exhibition. But for every one of those, there are literally thousands of people who think their closet full of GR Jordans will put them (or their kids) through college. A few words of advice: Get a job.

Sneakerheads may not care about the Air Monarch line or the Reebok Club C, but the companies who produce them sure do, as do millions of people who just think of sneakers as another article of cloting to be worn out and replaced. What, you thought Nike was making billions just off Kobes and LeBrons?

Hahahahahahahaha. Uh-huh.

The truth is, most designers don't think back on their past designs much at all. Oh sure, they can speak on them if prodded, some more eloquently than others. But for the most part. designers are constantly looking ahead. And as for new colors on their old designs-don't even ask.

What, you think overgluing and crooked stitches are a recent phenomenon? You think companies used the best possible materials in the '80s, profit be damned? Yeah, right. Why is it that the people who clamor most loudly about the high quality of '80s sneakers always seem to be people who were born in the '90s?

Limited releases are definitey important-when it comes to a brand's reputation. As for how they directly affect the bottom line, well, not much. Let's say a quickstrike LeBron releases in a thousand-pair run for $250. That's $250,000. Not bad. Until you consider that Nike made $24.1 BILLION in 2012.