An event where resellers, collectors, and enthusiasts come together to share an experience like no other. They look forward to trading, selling, or buying sneakers to/from resellers or people with a list of dream shoes they wish to have in their collection. Given that it is held once a year in different places around the country, New York was added back to the list of destinations. Due to COVID-19, the event was canceled and the organizer’s original vendor Jacob Javits Center’s price was too expensive to hold an event such as Sneakercon. The last time Sneakercon was in New York was back in 2017 and was known as “The Greatest Sneaker Show On Earth”. SneakerCon is for anyone and everyone interested in sneakers and collecting them.
The world of sneakers initially emerged as a male-dominated community and was primarily recognized by outsiders as sneakerheads. Sneakerheads were known to have more than one sneaker and be the type of individuals who would cop on the next drop. Over time and throughout the years many people who shared the love of anticipating and, anxiously waiting outside of sneaker stores on release days learned how to benefit themselves by buying as many releases as they could just to resell them. These individuals are called resellers. Resellers could either be your savior or your enemy. They have the power in their hands to have the shoes you want, and no other place such as a store has them. They set their price, but it can never be final if you choose to bargain and agree on a price. Some resellers don’t like to deal and meet you halfway in agreeing on a set price when release days are a gamble to non-resellers who are indecisive about new releases after seeing the list of releases for the month.
“I got into reselling while I was working at a shoe store. I first started buying a couple of new releases for close friends and family to buy just to see if I would like reselling enough to leave my job working for a company,” said reseller Jeremy King “After I got the hang of it I managed to learn more mistakes and things that either worked or didn’t. That allowed me to have regular customers who I sometimes made deals with after knowing them for some time and their loyalty. They didn’t have to come back to me, but they did.”
The stereotype around sneakerheads has always been negative on how they care so much for their sneakers with unwritten rules. One of them is to not let the front of the sneakers crease. If you step on their shoes purposefully that’s a big no-no. Most people who are not into sneakers think sneakerheads are too obsessed with their kicks and become OD when they get the slightest bit of a smudge on their kicks even if they did it themselves. To avoid this from happening sneaker collectors get sneakers and put them on display as deadstock. Deadstock is not wearing sneakers intentionally to not mess up the sneakers if they find them too iconic or if they are a personal favorite.
“You can tell a lot about someone with the shoes they wear just as you would with clothes. Some people pay attention to detail and others pay attention to kicks,” said SneakerCon attendee, Mathew Harris.
Some don’t understand the importance of having and going to an event like Sneakercon as it’s just a bunch of sneakers on display for purchase and to look at. It’s almost like every online reseller is there in person such as GOAT, SNKRS app, Nike, and Stock X to name a few. SneakerCon is a much-needed event in New York because New York is known to be one of the few cities on the East Coast to be a trendsetter in the latest and newest trends not only in music but fashion. Although Sneakercon returned seven years later to New York, the event has always been held at Jacob Javits Center, but when Sneakercon goers asked why the event decided to be held at Coney Island event organizers needed to think outside of the box and do something that’s never been done before.
“The organizers almost went bankrupt with trying to cover the expenses to host the event at the Javits Center,” said a reseller. “It was too expensive. Coney Island is a unique place to hold an event like this. We are literally on a baseball field where the Cyclones play.”
The event was an experience Brooklyn needed to have and host next to the infamous Coney Island amusement park. Many hope to see the return of SneakerCon in the years to come as the community of sneakerheads in New York has waited long enough for the event to come back. Who’s to say next year’s event can’t surpass the success of this year’s?
