The Rebirth of the New York Sneakerhead
July 15, 2004
By RICHARD A. MARTIN
It didn’t take long for Jon Roy, a Boston native, to discover the passion of New York City sneaker collectors. This spring, Mr. Roy opened a skateboard shop called Rival at 225 Hudson Street, near Canal Street, and a few weeks later showed up for work to find 40 young men and women lined up on the usually empty block on SoHo’s western fringe. They were waiting for the latest limited-edition Nike sneaker, the Air Force One HTM. “The kids knew we were getting the shoes,” he said. “They knew more than we did.” Still, the actual sneakers were not in his store, much to Mr. Roy’s chagrin. “We were like, there’s gonna be a riot if we don’t get these shoes,” he said. Fortunately, a delivery of 60 pairs arrived at noon, and customers were allowed in two at a time to make their purchases.
A riot might not have been out of the question, for a sneaker hysteria has gripped New York of late. Two new stores, Dave’s Quality Meats and Clientele, have opened in the last year, near a skate and sneaker boutique in SoHo named Supreme. Along with other emporiums like Nort and Alife Rivington Club on the Lower East Side, and the Puma and Adidas Originals stores in SoHo, they cater to the new subculture of devotees known as sneakerheads.
Although the new wave of sneakers involves elements like style, exclusivity, art and commerce that are dear to the hearts of New Yorkers, one wonders: Why New York and not Los Angeles? “Because it’s part of the New York way of life,” said Udi Avshalomov, who began selling sneakers at his parents’ store, Broadway Sneakers, in the 80’s, when he was 14. “L.A. is never going to understand the New York sneaker game. New York is not as trendy as the rest of America and the world. It’s authentic, part of the history and heritage of the New York culture.”
The city’s infatuation with the sneaker began in the 70’s and early 80’s. Basketball, hip-hop and the desire to be the first on the block to wear (or “rock”) a new sneaker drove city youths into a frenzy - think of Run-DMC in shelltoes or the Ramones in Converse high tops. That culture waned in the late 80’s and the 90’s - remember Jerry Seinfeld in his clunky, generic white sneakers - but now the sneakerhead is back. Part of the reason is Nike, which emphasizes design and has overtaken Reebok and Adidas to become by far the largest shoe and athletic company. Thanks also go to hip-hop and skateboarding, subcultures that judge a guy by his sneakers, and to that global fashion phenomenon, the youth uniform, that has its roots in the trendsetting stores of Lower Manhattan.
“Jeans and sneakers have become this completely ubiquitous look, so how do you distinguish yourself within that?” asked Abby Guyer, head of lifestyle trend marketing for Adidas. “In New York City, that’s always existed: everyone wants to have something special.” James Jebbia, owner of Supreme, at 274 Lafayette Street, added: “Before maybe you’d have two or three pairs of sneakers. Now it’s nothing to have 20 or 30 pairs.”
Mr. Jebbia, who has collaborated with Nike on models of Dunks and other sneakers that carry the Supreme name, is a forefather of the skate-clothing-and-sneaker business; Supreme opened 10 years ago and has expanded to Japan, with a Los Angeles store on the way later this summer. But while Mr. Jebbia’s Supreme clothes and exclusive Nike sneakers were the first to attract lines in New York during this new sneakerhead era, he is not thrilled with the current level of hype. “Nowadays it doesn’t necessarily need to be special,” he said. “As long as it’s limited, people will wait in line.”
But what constitutes limited? According to Ms. Guyer, Adidas usually restricts such runs to 300 pairs. Nike doesn’t release numbers, but Niketalk, the independent online forum where most leaks of sneaker release dates are posted, is rife with speculation: The Lucky 7 Dunk Hi Pro SB, the current hot sneaker, is supposedly limited to a run of 777. A recent Nike collaboration with the underground New York artist Futura resulted in only 24 pairs of a shoe decorated with prints of foreign currency; the rare sneaker is now reportedly worth about $5,000.
