3 Kinds of Sneakerheads (Sneaker Culture Explained Part 1)

The "sneakerhead" craze has really gone to amazing heights in a matter of 2 years or so. Imagine a time where the Air Jordan VI White/Varsity Red would hit outlets, welcome to two years ago. Now please imagine an alternate universe where it's being sold for at least 10,000 Php ($250), welcome to the Philippines 2013. Just to clarify, that is not a bad price at all, I guess the thing that's funny is, why did the demand rise? So somebody that didn't like them before actually liked them enough now to pay above retail when they ignored it at 30% off? Again, this isn't desperate times by any means, but let's try to understand why this is happening... if we can.

• The Nostalgic- Let's face it, majority of the people collecting sneakers is a fan of Michael Jordan. His Airness literally created the sneaker culture out of thin air and redefined the way we look at shoes. It's natural that almost everyone from the 80s and 90s love the Air Jordan line from Nike/Jordan Brand that they won't mind buying them over and over. Then here comes the kids that weren't wealthy enough to buy the Jordans they wanted; of course when they get employed after 10 years, they will search for those sneakers. This is probably one of the purest types of sneakerheads, just genuinely wanting a shoe enough to spend whatever amount of money to relive or complete their childhood. This is their base, but The Nostalgics will eventually branch out to New Balance runners, SBs, etc to quench that thirst. They aren't only Jordan-heads at this point though, LeBron, Kobe, TMac and Iverson has developed a niche in the sneaker scene. Their shoes are now considered classics by many and will someday rival the Air Jordan in terms of fan base.

Before they joined the NBA, they all rocked Js

the rest of the article after the jump!

•  The Tech Nerd-If you can recognize everyone in the picture below, then most likely you are one. Aaron Cooper, Eric Avar and Tinker Hatfield has pretty much touched every hyped up shoe we are seeing right now. Jason Petrie has recently led the resurgence of the LeBron line with the Air Max LeBron VII up to the present (LeBron XI, yes, LeBron XI...). Aaron Cooper is best known for his, then, ahead-of-its-time designs of the Alpha Project collection. Can you remember the Ultra Flights, UltraPosite and the revamped Nike Trainer 1. Eric Avar and Tinker Hatfield are a bit more known to say the least. Tinker has basically created this entire hobby you loosely call the "shoe game" with the Air Jordan III and his little innovation called Training. Yes, he's so good he managed to create an entire category out of thin air. Eric Avar is a bit like Tinker with his crazy ideas and industry-leading products. Cooking from the Kitchen, Eric created the hypebeast-friendly Air Foamposite One and if Tinker has the Jordan line- Eric commands the Kobe line which rivals the LeBrons in terms of technology and pushing the envelope.

Enough of the history lesson, long story short, if you're a Tech Nerd, you favor comfrot and performance above all else. Lunar-heads, FlyKnit addicts, Free addicts, Crazy Light fanatics and the Zig-tech testers out there... you are all Tech Nerds. The good thing about these guys is that they love a shoe because of its function and not its value or level of rarity. You often see them beat up expensive shoes while they enjoy the technology and experience everything a shoe can offer. I think it's safe to say that these types of sneaker lovers are in the minority and we can only hope that they rise in numbers sooner than later.

• The Social Media Hoe (S.M.H.)- Yes, welcome to the age where Instagram sluts exist. These people buy shoes for one reason only, to brag about it on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. The term Hypebeast is thrown around loosely these days so it's best to be specific. Hypebeasts are people that buy anything "in". They don't necessarily like what they're buying but they do it to stand out. In the sneaker world, it's pretty hard to differentiate a hypebeast from a real 'head, however, it is fairly easy to note who buys just to take pictures and brag. I'm sure you've noticed a lot of "sneaker lovers" showcasing their new pick ups on Facebook groups and instagram, then after a week posts it for sale above retail. "Unload to Reload" is the mindset as they buy every new Quickstrike release and sell the previous one. It's an ugly cycle and it's far from what being a sneaker enthusiast means. Buying shoes just to show off is just sad. Get what you like and not what you think other people want, that is the only way to actually enjoy this lifestyle- be your own taste maker.

That's it for the first part of this series, stay tuned for more as we dissect the phenomenon of sneaker collecting.