Entry-Level Jobs That You Can Get in the Sneaker Industry Right Now

Image via Complex Original

Wage: Varies (mostly unpaid or for school credit)
Job Description: Fair warning: Most, if not all, of the jobs on this list will start as internships. The titles of any of these internships may be different, but it's likely that the responsibilities are exactly the same. Whatever the responsibilities include, you’ll get really good at your boss’ coffee order and how he or she takes their lunch. And don’t get the wrong dressing for their salad—even if you’ve never gotten it before—or you’re going to receive the ire of whoever is supposed to hire you at the end of your ringer. Smile, nod, and hope for the best.

For anywhere between at least one college semester or six months, you'll suffer through this with no guarantee of getting a paid position at the end of it. Competition for these positions is so high at this point that previous experience may not help at all.

Wage Range: Minimum Wage - $10/hr
Job Description: If you're a sneakerhead, chances are you don't only buy from the big retailers. Places like Amazon fill a lot of orders with robots, but that's not the way most places do it. Most places have people who print off your order and start searching through stock rooms that are maintained by humans. Shoes are in the wrong place or missing. The brand sent the wrong size, but the store doesn't know until you've already paid for your pair. Some days there are five orders, other days there are 75. And then there are the returns and exchanges. It's dirty, sweaty, messy work with papercuts and tape everywhere. The biggest problem with this job? If the company doesn't grow exponentially, this will not lead to a larger position.

Ever notice how the first comment on a blog post about a release date is, "When do these release?" Sneakerheads aren't big on being thorough, and that means that customer service is a trip. The company website says: "No returns or exchanges." Cue 100 requests for returns or exchanges. Or inquiries about a shoe that released years ago. Or people asking if your nationally recognized store sells legitimate or fake products. This is only a tiny bit of the insanity on the other side of CustomerService@yourfavoritesneakerstore.com. On top of that, the person answering your emails likely doesn't get paid more than minimum wage and future job prospects are only if their supervisor quits. The only time these people get recognition is when it’s negative. So take an extra breath before putting that customer service rep on blast. This is one of the most thankless jobs in the industry.

Wage: Varies
Job Description: In the last five years, it's become impossible to compete in the industry without a strong social media presence. Technology has caught up with this, creating a slew of applications and websites that allow for a social media roll out to be prepared entirely in advance—removing the necessity of constant work. That means that for most places, all the tweets, Instagrams, and Facebook posts for a week can be automated in one day. This is rarely a full-time job, unless it's at a huge company or agency.

Wage: Varies
Description: Everyone thinks they can string a bunch of words together into blog posts that communicate ideas clearly to the average reader. Ask any editor, and you'll learn that's not the case. By a long shot. The overwhelming number of applicants thirsty for these jobs has driven average pay way down, regardless of work quality.

The industry standard for a contracted writer at any magazine or blog is about $1,000 a month (Glassdoor), but in the sneaker world it may be half that (some don't even pay at all). And the idea that these jobs come with a ton of free shoes? That's all smoke and mirrors. There are editors who have worked at top publications for years and haven't received more than a few pairs over their entire tenure. Just because someone says "thanks" on Instagram doesn't mean they didn't pay for the shoe.

Wage: Minimum Wage - $10/hr 
Job Description: Ask around the sneaker industry, and you'll find the common thread that a lot of people started off as the kid who worked at Foot Locker. Are you ready to sell what you love to unsuspecting people? For a starting wage, you should expect minimum wage, $10/hr if you're lucky. Sales people work on commission, right? They get a percentage of every sale they make? At some places, yeah. And almost no one who's just starting gets it. That usually kicks in months later. A perk of this job? The employee discount, right? Not so fast. Most stores have very specific restrictions on this rule. For instance: No discount in the first two weeks a shoe is out. That means if it's a shoe that's worth stunting with, you're probably going to have to pay full price. At least you won't have to campout.

Wage: Varies
Job Description: Just like social media people, most stores don't get enough product in to necessitate a full-time photographer. A lot of stores don't even bother. For some places, a quick iPhone snap is all they need to put the sneaker on their website. Even those that get a ton of product in don't want to waste their money, so you better take quality photos very quickly. You can expect at least $100 per day a few days a week at the beginning of each season. But the editing will happen on your own time, and not be paid for. If you're lucky your images might get picked up by blogs and magazines. But these publications don't pay for the honor, so you won't see a single additional cent. The best you can hope for is to build your portfolio of product photography to get hired by other companies and brands.

Wage Range: 20-25k + minimum benefits
Job Description: If you're not familiar with the way retail works, here's a quick primer on what a buyer does: A buyer decides what goes in the store. You know that time that your local shop that usually has every New Balance but didn't get the ones you were looking for last year? It's probably because the buyer thought they wouldn't sell and decided not to carry them.

Buyers have to deal with every shoe from every brand in every season, then follow what's selling, what isn't, decide what goes on sale or sent back to the sneaker brand—if possible. It's a lot to keep track of, so many buyers have assistants. To assist a buyer requires a certain amount of education: One has to be able to sift through lots of numbers, complete algebra with fractions, and recognize statistics and trends all while maintaining professional relationships with a long roster of brand representatives. Because of all these factors, this job pays a little better than most on this list and has room to grow. But these positions only exist at the largest stores, and even then there's only one or two openings.

Wage Range: 20-25k/year
Job Description: How do brands get editorial coverage in magazines, blogs, and on TV? Public relations staff. PR can be a lucrative (and fun) industry to work in, and most brands and retailers need them. But as social media has taken over the sneaker world, those brands have recognized that traditional forms of PR are less bang for the buck. As a result, these jobs are rare and don't pay particularly well. On top of that, you're the front line when it comes to dealing with a crisis.

Did your brand postpone a release date? Ship a pair of shoes more than 15 minutes after the customer ordered it? Is there a glue stain on the aglet of the third pair of laces that aren't going to be used? You're going to hear about it, and have to come up with an elegant way to deal with it without giving away money or free products. Smile and nod. And smile some more. You're going to have send constant stream of emails to bloggers to get them to write about your product. And then, maybe, they'll publish an article about your brand's newest release.

Wage Range: 27-34K a year
Job Description: You want to assist a designer at a brand? Good luck. You're ready to join thousands of other vying for one or two open positions a year. That means you better have a graduate degree from a top design school (See: RISD or Parsons, each charge in excess of $40k a year), and have interned for this company for at least one or two cycles.

You want this job? If you're reading this and your grades are less than a 3.5 GPA, or your portfolio is less than the best in your class, it's time to look elsewhere on this list.

Wage Range: Varies. Widely.
Job Description: More into expressing yourself artistically? You could always be a sneaker customizer. Depending on whether you want to go the painting route or the materials route (or a combination of the two), there are a lot of overhead costs. Airbrush machine, respirator, plenty of paint, sewing machine, exotic leathers. You're going to need some capital to start. And that's not even considering what you have to do to get good at it. You're gunna mess up dozens of pairs before you get it right, and then you have to get it right a bunch of times before people start paying you real money. Sure, once you get really good at it you can charge a bundle, but until then just worry about breaking even. Realistically, even if you're the top of the heap, it could take years before you can support yourself exclusively on your work.

Wage Range: $0 - $1.20/1000 views
Job Description: Don't want to wait for someone to approve your entry into the sneaker world? You could always make your own way. If you have a video making device (a webcam, an iPhone, a digital camera) you can make sneaker videos and upload them to YouTube. Maybe you want to review shoes, provide unboxing videos, or have in depth conversations with other sneaker personalities. 

Unlike the other gigs, there's not going to be any on-the-job-training, so the learning curve is pretty steep. This is a numbers game: people will only care about what you're doing if other people care about what you're doing. You have to be good and you have to be unique. You're not going to pull viewers away from the dude with 30k subscribers unless you're better than him. But even if you partner with Google for Ads, it's about $1 for every 1000 views. Get ready to make fan merch and spend most of your time promoting your channel: 95 percent of this job is doing things other than filming your videos.

Wage: Varies
Job Description: Like being a part of #TeamEarly? There’s a group of people who get their pairs even earlier than Team Early. Team Earliest are the wear testers among us. When a brand is working on a new sneaker, what they do in the lab doesn’t always translate to the street, court, or track. The only way to tell if a sneaker is successfully performing the job it was created for is to test it in its natural environment. Sneaker wear testers get sneakers as soon as the prototypes are done. This means that they get them before celebrities, athletes, or even people who work at the brand.

Since these pairs are in prototype, and haven’t been cleared for production, their existence is entirely secret. Yes, you’re a part of Team Earliest, but no one is allowed to know. You will not be posting your pair on Instagram, you will not be wearing them to a sneaker show, this is not a stunter. You wear the shoe, report back, and—in many cases—return your pair so the tech designers can see how the materials stood up to your wear. When they come out, you can know in your heart you were an important piece of the shoe’s development. But don’t you dare tell anyone.