10 Sneakerheads on How They'd Fix the Industry

You don't have to go very far to hear people bemoaning the death of the sneaker game. Either it's 8:10 a.m. on a Saturday and folks are tweeting furiously about bots, or a week before a release where someone is complaining about seeding. But how much of this is true and what can we do to fix it? We talked with some sneakerheads who have very specific vantage points on the shifting landscape and got their opinions on the state of the game. We got in contact with the likes of Jeff Staple, Ronnie Fieg, DJ Clark Kent, and more. So find out what they had to say. Check out 10 Sneakerheads on How They'd Fix the Industry.

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Who: Deon Point
Affiliation: Deon Point is a man of many hats at Concepts in Boston— from buyer, designer, to manager.
Instagram: @DeonPoint

"Its funny to refer to it as sneaker 'culture,' right? At the root it's always been fashion, but over time it has become a subculture in its own right. From blogs to specialty stores to PEs, it's taken on a life of its own. Broken maybe? Dead... Not even close.

The sneaker world has experienced more success than ever before. It has transcended being the status symbol of the inner city youth to being a multi-billion dollar industry. More kids have purchased Jordans since he retired than when he actually played. Never imagined that celebrity endorsements would resonate more with consumers than athlete endorsements. Social media and sneaker blogs have accelerated the footwear world's popularity to new heights. Still, the light that has shined upon the footwear industry can only account for some of the blame. Reselling has become the occupation of choice these days.

We've seen it all from lines being cut to people paying homeless people to wait in line for them. I know Nike has been taking a proactive role in trying to keep it honest. No matter what, reselling will always find a way to beat the system. Who would have thought a problem like bots would eclipse counterfeit goods? As a consumer, I can see how frustrating it can become to track down a shoe you want. I've seen kids wait in line to purchase an item and turn around and sell it in front of the store. Or kids pay kids to wait in line take a pic of all the pairs they paid for and @ cncpts (on Instagram) like we hooked them up. I don't think you fix this. Just let it run its course. Eventually overexposure will take its toll, and the hype will slowly subside."

Who: Andy Oliver
Affiliation: Andy founded the website KicksDeals.com, and is best known for being the digital wizard behind Kith's online presence. He also works as a mobile developer for webstore platform Shopify.
Instagram: @AndyOliverWPG

"Culture is just a representation of the collective voice of the community. The number of 'sneakerheads' has grown so much over the last five years that the collective voice has splintered a bit. I wouldn’t call sneaker culture dead or broken, per se, as there’s clearly hundreds of thousands of kids out there that revel in the way the shoe community currently works. I just think that it doesn’t align as closely with my values as it once did.

As for how the culture will change? There’s two ways that I can see. First, just wait a bit. The sneaker world is heavily trend based, so if you wait long enough, it’s bound to change. The second way is to promote the parts of the culture that you think are lacking in the community. I’m so tired of supposed OGs bitching and moaning about the death of shoe culture rather than creating new content and promoting interesting people. Complaining is easier, but it isn’t going to result in any changes to the culture."

Who: DJ Clark Kent
Affiliation: DJ Clark Kent is a music producer who has worked legends like Notorious B.I.G, Jay Z, and 50 Cent, and has been a staple in the sneaker world since its infancy. Instagram: @DJClarkKent

“Sneakers can’t be a way of life. I just wanted to be fresh. I came from the hood. You had a step up on everyone else. Sneakers could fix the bad outfit. Now it’s about saying that you have it and posting it on Instagram. There’s no, ‘Where’d you get those?’ because everyone already knows. The age of discovery is over. Remember, they’re just sneakers.”

Who: Matt Leahey
Affiliation: Matt Leahey is a sneaker collector who works behind the scenes to help get your favorite celebrities the sneakers that they need. He specializes in player exclusives.
Instagram: @boyt

"I feel the culture has changed, but it is definitely alive. When I started collecting kicks it was more about the love and the fashion. It was about having it first and rocking it like no one else was rocking it. Now it's more about looking like everyone else and hype. It's a way to make a quick buck. I can't knock the hustle but people who don't care about the shoes and never plan to wear them buy them because they have access just to sell them to someone who really wants to have them to wear and doesn't have the same access.

It can't be fixed at this point. If a shoe is hot, then everyone wants it. That creates a demand. With a demand, that creates the opportunity for a high resale value. That opportunity to make money drives kids, parents, grandparents, and non-sneaker enthusiasts to line up at malls and stores to buy as many pairs to maximize profit. It's turned every into entrepreneurs that wants to be involved. It's good that it can generate revenue for people who may have committed a crime for the same amount of money, but, at the end of the day, the ones that suffer are the real enthusiasts who wear and collect. Believe it or not: A few people remember the good days and still do this because they have a passion to do this."

Who: Marcus Gilchrist
Affiliation: Marcus Gilchrist is a strong safety for the San Diego Chargers and a well known sneakerhead.
Instagram: @mgilchr

"I think the status of the sneaker game may be broken, for two reasons: I think that the whole hypebeast theory is very true. So many people are hopping onto the trend just because of that it's trendy, and there is not a genuine respect or love for the way you feel look when you put a certain sneaker on. I think re-releasing older Jordans over and over leaves the older generation out because with true sneakerheads, it's always been about the rarity. Just like a broken bone, I think it can definitely can be fixed. I think it just takes notable sneaker enthusiast to speak up and make it more of a point to express the true meaning of what it means to be a sneakerhead.'"

Who: Chris Bone
Affiliation: Chris Bone is the General Manager for the Canadian sneaker store company LIVESTOCK.
Instagram: @chris_bone.

"In my humble opinion, the sneaker culture definitely has changed. Like everything else in the world, it’s not what it once was. Whether or not that means it is better or worse is pretty subjective. As a retailer, business is great, we are growing rapidly, our team is strong, and I couldn’t be happier about who we are and where we are at. On the other hand, as a sneaker lover and an individual, it’s hard to see the way products are viewed as a commodity. And it’s difficult to watch customers with an opportunist outlook, purchasing purposely with intent to make a quick eBay buck.

The sneaker game itself seems to be stronger than ever, people still love their kicks to no end and haven’t seemed to stop picking up drop after drop with great enthusiasm, which is really exciting to see. The sneaker culture is also alive and well. One example that comes to mind would be the amazing turn outs at Sneaker Cons all over, where the collectors, purists, and re-sellers all come together in appreciation of footwear. I could also easily say it is too alive sometimes as well, one example would be the mob turnouts at certain releases where big crowd mentality takes over and ends up putting a bad mark on the game as a whole—when these issues are usually few and far between. What seems to be completely dead is general courtesy and overall human decency.

Whether is comes to issues such as violence in line ups on release dates, re-selling items at ridiculous rates, or paying people to stand in your place to secure product in line ups, most of the problems fall on the common indecency of the people who are completely addicted to having these material things. Seems as though there is always a small group of people screwing things up for the rest of us.

Lots of different ideas have been hatched as far as handling releases, ticketing systems, raffles and online draws, twitter reservations. Everyone has tried something from the local stores to big brands themselves. Although these ideas are being tested, it doesn’t seem like any one in particular has stuck. And when there’s an angry mob of people all wanting something that not all of them can have, it is hard to handle no matter who you are.

I hope the best for the culture as a whole, and I’m optimistic when I say I feel like certain issues and problems within the game currently regarding violence and other things will hopefully burn out, lose their appeal, and or just fade away. There is no real fix for the consumer machine. It just has to be handled and managed correctly from the end of retailers, brands, and individuals who are involved in making the game what is it."

Who: Ronnie Fieg
Affiliation: The mind behind sneaker store and streetwear brand Kith.
Instagram: @RonnieFieg

“The mainstream is about 10 percent of the market, versus two percent of the market, like it used to be. Mainstream does not mean saturation, it’s not always a bad thing. More people are interested in products that are ‘very special.’ This is happening because everybody wants to be different. But just because something is more desirable doesn’t actually make it special.

I can understand why people say it’s done. I used to think about an underground rapper, ‘he sold out.’ There’s a fine line. I still want [to create projects that are] special. Have something worth people spending their dollars on. it’s never going to be for everyone, mostly people on the coasts: in New York and Los Angeles. If the masses are going to like it, I’m not going to like it. Everybody wants to be different. One tenth of people in the city, or one hundredth of people in Middle America.”

Who: Tony Chen
Affiliation: Owner and founder of Soled Out NYC, a consignment sneaker store, located in Highland Park, N.J.
Instagram: @2chenz_

"I own a consignment store, but, first and foremost, I am a collector. Personally, I believe people should buy what they want no matter how limited or not an item is. I’d like to see companies pay more attention to the detail and craftsmanship of collaborations they put out. Go back to the days when leather actually felt like leather--the days when I pulled a pair of shoes out of the box, touched the material, and was completely floored. That's the experience I want to get whenever I buy a new pair of shoes. I want to see a story with the item and brush the material back and forth and say, “WOW!” I wished that happened more often.

From a consignment shop outlook, of course, I would love to see items be more limited. As everyone knows, it’s all about supply and demand. If we can get our hands on a few of the more limited items, we can allow the consignor to price the item at what he or she pleases. At the end of the day, we are a business and we are in it to make a profit--along with making the consignor completely satisfied. It would help if brands were more honest about the quantity coming out for each individual sneaker. We would know what to stock up on and what to stay away from, because it’s all about numbers. In the end, it would also help consignors to know what to buy and what not stay away from. We have seen many resellers/consignors stock up on certain shoes and lose in the end. This would also help with all of these general releases made in the hundreds of thousands--which still sell out--to be bought from consumers who actually want them. Then they could purchase them at retail price."

Who:Victor Cruz
Affiliation: Victor Cruz is a wide receiver for the New York Giants. He has a Super Bowl Championship and he also has an insane sneaker collection. Instagram:@teamvic

"I actually feel like the sneaker culture is thriving. Kids are still excited and putting sneaker releases on their calendars. They're still lining up and down the block for kicks as well as camping out overnight for them. Being connected to sneaker spots like Sneaker Room in Bayonne, N.J. and Kith in SoHo, I know first hand how explosive the sneaker world still is. As well as Jordan Brand continuing to raise the bar and Nike being as dominant as they usually are, the sneaker world is back at the top in my opinion and is only going up from here. Personally, I still get excited for releases and pay close attention to every upcoming drop like every normal sneakerhead. As long as these sneaker designers continue to outdo themselves, the sneaker world will never falter."

Who: Jeff Staple
Affiliation: Jeff Staple is the man behind Staple Design and Reed Space.
Instagram: @jeffstaple

"I think the current state of sneaker culture is quite precarious right now. Companies have to keep up with demand. But it's the demand that they themselves created. This means that the idea of a 'special project' is no longer really all that special. The comedy is that nowadays, a general release is more exciting than a strategic quickstrike. (See: the Red Octobers.)

I think, in theory, the sneaker game should go back to its roots. Sneakers should just come out when store owners want them to come out. Not on a special release date with a special hashtag and a special line up. The question is, in reality, can this really happen? I believe it can. But I probably am not aware of all the intricacies involved at this point.

In reality, Nike released the Yeezy Red Octobers in the manner that they did because Kanye is now working with the 3-Striped enemy. So Nike probably didn't want to put one cent of effort into the launch. It was a perfect passive-aggressive slap to the face to 'Ye. (The only thing they could have done worse is dropping them in the outlet stores!) But how bad was that release? I thought it was pretty awesome. They just... released them. No one died. No one lost their jobs. Life went on. People still want the shoes. People still got the shoes. I'm hoping that proves to be a litmus test to the sneaker companies, that there might be hope in bringing the sneaker game back to its original raw and unfiltered glory. Let's see what happens."