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tristanvswriting-blog · 5 years

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lit review draft #2

Lit Review

Introduction

From my research as to what is sneaker culture? I’ve come to find that sneaker are far more than shoes, so much is said and thought about sneakers that they carry with them an intrinsic value to the consumer. This value is provided by demand, Influence, and identity.

Identity

Sneakers came from humble beginnings, sneakers where originally and indicator of a working-class individual, the rubber dipped soles of shoes provided better longevity and traction for laborers (Duc Nhat Huy 6 and Chrisman-Campbell). This has evolved to the point where almost everyone has at least one pair of sneakers. Now there are more sneakers than even imaginable, giving the consumer to option to buy shoes that speak to their character. Rob Dyrdek, professional skate boarder and CO-Owner of DC Shoes was quoted in the documentary Sneakerheadz saying, “There are a handful of things that can define who you are without saying a word; shoes, are one of those things (Friendly and Partridge)”. This is where ideas of race, gender, sexual orientation, and personality descriptors come into play. KIMBERLY CHRISMAN-CAMPBELL explains in her Atlantic article, “Sneakers Have Always Been Political Shoes”, as verity grew shoes took on different meaning, for example Vans and other canvas shoes became the staple shoes of youth rebellion (Chrisman-Campbell). In Michael Jordan, Inc. They talk about the ides of race and how by just being the greatest athlete ever black lives were brought into white-household conversation. Thus, provided a backing for the Jordan shoes be a signifier of black excellence as well as promote racial equality (Andrews 47). Other operations to promote the Identity include gender and sexuality. It can be noted that there has been a shift away from the “shrink it and pink it” mentality that used to summarize women in the sneaker industry, to a more natural and comprehensive relationship with women’s sneaker design including using celebrity influence similar to how they’ve marketed to men for years (Miller 42-49). There is also a Nike’s line of Pride shoes that incorporate rainbows in poplar shoe design to show gay pride and support. There have also been interesting movements such as Adidas has a Parley collaboration, Parley be a recycled textiles distributor, who work with Adidas to create popular adidas shoes out of recycled materials. This helped people who identify as social activist to wear a shoe that promote their ideals. Identity is prevalent in all pieces of clothing but from the information collected it seems as though sneakers in particular has had a strong role in helping current, past, and future consumers show the world who they are.

Influence

Much of sneaker culture as we understand it today can be attributed to how people of status make us feel about sneakers. According to a thesis written by Rodney M. Miller, we can attribute the growth of the industry to three key components: physical activity, professional sport, and hip hop culture (Miller VII). Beginning with hip hop culture, Garrett Kalel Grant researched the brand associations attributed to Yeezy brand. Yeezy is a company collaboration between Adidas and Kanye West. According to Grants’ study, “The aggregation stage provided the researcher with eleven associations directly connected to Yeezy brand based on mention: Kanye, expensive, Adidas, overrated, trendy, athleisure, sneaker, Kardashian, fashion, shoes, popular.” Kanye, trendy, Kardashian, and popular; the significance of these is that when solely asked to name things associated with the brand Yeezy (Grant 49-50), the most common and immediate responses contained two celebrities names and multiple forms terms referring to reputation. This is an example of how a sneaker can generate influence beyond its designs as well as the influential impact celebrities have on branding, particularly in the hip hop industry. Next is physical activity. Physical activity has become a mainstream thing, where as in the past it was something only for athletes. This said, the necessity for exercise has influenced an increased demand for sneakers in order to participate in the socially expected (working out). This has influenced athletics companies to create a different shoe for every niche or activity, from walking shoes to lifting shoes; cross-trainer to lifestyle (Archer 56). Lastly, and likely most prominent in the sneaker industry, are athletes. Athletes are placed on a podium, a class of super humans that others aspire to be. That said it has become the status quo that if you are a star athlete you have a signature sneaker. Often people first think of Jordan for his revered line of shoes, but the first athlete with a signature sneaker actually dates back to 1917 when the galosh company Converse created their first signature sneaker; the Chuck Taylor All-Star; named after basketball player Charlie Taylor. From then one we as consumers have been buying signature shoes because we want to “be like mike” or whatever athlete you so choose. There is also an interesting concept of how shoe marketing has influenced males in particular that are presented in the art thesis of Justin Cloud. He ideates that the primal/ carnal impulse and obsession that is instilled in men by marketing has permeated its way into modern art, particularly sighting the sneaker industry and to pieces of his portfolio that are takes on the shoe of the future (Cloud 12-14).

Value

Shoe prices have increased dramatically since the birth of sneakers. Much faster than the rate of inflation. In 1957 Chuck Taylors cost $3.95 (Bengtson), 40 years after they were released. Directly adjusted for inflation they should cost $25.91 today; but on converse.com they cost $55. Also, for essentially the same shoe, but a street wear designer take on the classic silhouette, the Converse Chuck Taylor All-Star Vulcanized Hi Off-White sells on StockX (a popular secondary shoe market) for roughly $1100. Shoes have taken on insane amounts of value because all the things they represent beyond just a devise to be worn on your foot. Often the value of sought-after sneaker will inflate to insane rates immediately following release do to a supply that is lower than the demand for the shoe. Alex Rakestraw says,

“a sneaker’s coolness is inversely related to how many people can potentially get their hands on it… if you’re the only one in your group with a specific shoe, the bragging rights are almost built-in. Beauty may be in the eye of the beholder, but “1/100” is hard, fast, and objectively fresh” (Rakestraw).

He would later explain the conflict for valuable shoes by saying, “The thirst for inherent exclusivity creates an innately competitive culture where the goal is naturally adversarial” (Rakestraw). This has created new industry around shoes from reselling to cleaning like Mai Nhat Huy talks about in her bachelor thesis on Helsinki’s Sneaker Spa, the first provider of sport shoes and sneakers professional cleaning service. Often sneakers are treated like commodities, rather than shoes. This has created a movement of people who collect them like coins, as opposed to buying them to wearing them (Duc Nhat Huy 32). This has created a market similar to that of stock where any one particular shoe can increase of decrease in value at any given time based on external influence as well as demand.

Works Cited

Andrews, David L. Michael Jordan, Inc.: Corporate Sport, Media Culture, and Late Modern America. State University of New York Press, 2001.

Michael Jordan Inc. Is a look into how media and capitalism influence sports culture. Being that Michael is highly regarded as being one of the greatest athletes to ever live, the author thought it best to use him as a focus for his book. The reading has themes of corruption and influenced both on behalf of athletes and consumers. Most often though, corporations making or incentivizing a certain behavior to draw a rise from the consumer. “Nike has played a key role in promoting [certain] values and is thus is a major cultural force, a socializer and arbitrator of cultural and social values, as well as being a shoe company.” This quote directly ties into my research because we have to look into what sneaker culture is, and where it comes from. This implies that it may all be based on the influence of companies rather than the consumers who wear the shoes. This reading will also shed light on the influence of celebrities on the shoes we buy as well as how we value them.

Archer, Jean. “Anatomy of a Sneaker.” Network Journal, vol. 23, no. 2, 2016, p. 56.

Jean Archer, doctor of podiatrie medicine and foot surgery, is a podiatrist at Omnicare Multispecialty Center in Brooklyn, New York. He wrote this article to break down each individual component of a sneaker, and what that contributes to a shoe. He does so because as he puts it, “Most people lack the basic knowledge of what to look for in an athletic shoe.” Archer also talk about how many different sneakers there are for so many different activities. The reason I see this information to be important is a term like “sneaker” can be very ambiguous. For me to base a paper on it I think it best my audience and I be on the same page. Which is why I’d like to use this article from The Network journal, to help lay down some basic components that identify a sneaker, that way me and my reader can be on the same page.Cloud, Justin. “Ruin Runes.”

Bengtson, Russ. “50 Things You Didn't Know About Converse Chuck Taylor All Stars.” Complex, Complex, 20 Oct. 2016, www.complex.com/sneakers/2013/05/50-things-you-didnt-know-about-converse-chuck-taylor-all-stars/.

Russ Bengtson is the former editor-and-chief of Slam magazine, also the ditor for complex sneakers. This article is trying to a paint a picture of the Converse Chuck Taylor All-Star, keing in on interesting facts. This is pertinent to my research because the All-Star is the birth of the modern sneaker as we know it today. So to really understand sneakers you first have to understand Converse. To summarize what converse is Benington says, “ [Converse have] gone from the world's most prevalent basketball sneaker to a lifestyle staple. It remains beloved both for its history and its simplicity.” Converse have a staying power unlike any other shoe, dating back to their creation in 1917 they have been on constant production with no signs of stopping. Converse is doing something right, and without them it is possible that we wouldn’t have a sneaker culture at all.

Cloud, Justin. “Ruin Runes.” CUNY Academy Works, 21 May 2018, https://academicworks.cuny.edu/hc_sas_etds/299/.

Justin Cloud has a Master of Fine Arts form Hunter College, where he wrote his thesis about the correlation between male ideals and how its leaked into his art. In this thesis he aims to draw a connection between male ego and fetishization of things like cares, SHOES, and survivalist mentality; to his modern sculpture movement that involves and invasion of industrial materials. Making lucid the ideas that are pounded into to the heads of men by modern marketing. The idea he presents is that these ideals have become such a staple that they are becoming a fluid part of who Justin Cloud is and therefore cannot be removed from anything he does, in this case: art. I seek to use this thesis, to help support some of the ideas about how shoes have become more than just something you need to wear. Cloud puts it well when he says, “Sneakers culture has completely ascended beyond that of practical footwear.” He goes on to talk about how sneakers are a practical solution for anyone, and marketers know that. So however you identify yourself, there is a shoe marketed towards you. Clouds adds on by saying how this marketing ideology has created a culture –specifically in men—that uses shoes to reinforce who they want to be.

Chrisman-Campbell, Kimberly. “The Long Political History of the Sneaker.” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 28 Dec. 2016, www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2016/12/sneakers-have-always-been-political-shoes/511628/.

Campbell tell the origin of sneakers as well as the political weight with which they carry. She is an author of an upcoming book entitled: Worn on This Day: The Clothes That Made History. In this article, as well as in her book, she focusses on the choices of consumers and industry to say certain things with their clothing. The article starts off with talking about how New Balances support of Trump created outrage with their consumers. It forces people to adopt their brands for the wrong reason (a Neo Nazi group claim that New Balance is the official shoe of white people). This led to bad press, as well as loss of previously held consumers. Even warranted a rebuttal from Nike, whom themselves had faced scandal for supporting specific celebrities. Campbell quotes Elizabeth Semmelhack in her article. Semmelhack is the Acclaimed shoe historian Elizabeth Semmelhack is senior curator at the Bata Shoe Museum, Toronto; also, the author of and curator of the book and exhibit Outside The Box. Semmelhack is quoted saying, “The cultural meaning behind sneakers is a constantly evolving dialogue between the people who produce the sneakers and the people who wear them.” Further contributing to the idea that sneakers have a voice, one that lends itself to self-expression or identity. The article contains themes of race, politics, and class; that push peoples interest in shoes beyond simple design.

Friendly, David T and Mick Partridge, directors. Sneakerheadz. Complex, 2015.

This is a documentary produced by the famed pop culture outlet Complex, known for doing in-depth research and explanations on things important to the teens and young adults. The documentary uses almost exclusively interviews with some of the most famed contributors and creators of modern sneaker culture. They talk about things like, where did the culture come from, how has the culture changed, what did they do to contribute to the culture, their fondest memories involving shoes, their favorite shoes and more. Why? Well because as Rob Dyrdek puts it,” There are a handful of things that can define who you are without saying a word; shoes, are one of those things.” Similar to others this work talks on history, but the documentary takes a look into many different backgrounds, while talking about things like design, selling, reselling, and collecting.Giving both a well rounded and more global perspective on the sneaker industry.

Grant, Garrett Kalel, “A Case Study of Brand Associations for Yeezy Brand” (2018). LSU Master’s Theses. 4716.https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_theses/4716

This is a thesis based on the clothing brand Yeezy, Kanye’s brand underneath the Adidas franchise. The goal was to see how and what consumers associate with the brand Yeezy. They then took this information and saw how it would affect things like brand involvement and brand awareness. While this is a market research report I think it is interesting to understand how consumers preserve brand within the sneaker market. This could inform the obsessive nature of the sneaker consumers or even help us understand why we view shoe companies the way we do. Being also that Yeezy is a co-branded company between Kanye and Adidas, this thesis will talk about the influence of celebrity endorsements on the clothing market. The author says, “The aggregation stage provided the researcher with eleven associations directly connected to Yeezy brand based on mention: Kanye, expensive, Adidas, overrated, trendy, athleisure, sneaker, Kardashian, fashion, shoes, popular. Only the first seven associations could be directly connected to map based on their link strength.” This goes to show us that there are more to brands than just the name and what they sell, we draw external connections and that is what creates influence. I believe these influence could be the creates a culture in the sneaker industry if it is not the brands themselves as is implied in Michael Jordan, Inc.

Miller, Rodney M. Jr, “If the Shoe Fits: A Historical Exploration of Gender Bias in the U.S. Sneaker Industry” (2019). Senior Projects Spring 2019. 80. https://digitalcommons.bard.edu/senproj_s2019/80

Miller gives a history of how the sneaker industry began and has grown over the course of the last one hundred years or so. Citing three key components to growth in the industry; physical activity, professional sports, and Hip-Hop culture. Where Miller differs from other research is he focus on how the sneaker industry is polarizing particularly toward women. He explains how each of the three influences have brought with them their own set of biases towards women. Roughly summed up the author outs it this way: “n, women were discouraged from participating in physical activities because of misplaced fears that exercising was actually worse for women’s health. Additionally, competitive and professional sports show a historic bias against women because of beliefs that women were not anatomically structured to compete in sports. Lastly, Hip-Hop is a culture that has consistently placed constraints on women and ties their value based on their worth and their offerings to the men in their life.” This thesis could help to show who it is that comprise the sneaker culture. If it is found to be true that the culture really is a boy’s club it could warrant extra research as to why that is and the effect that has one women. This thesis also brings forth a interesting concept that is becoming fairly mainstream in modern culture. This being that boys are now the ones who collect and have ore shoes than they could wear, where in the past that had been ideal often associated with women. This thesis helps round out the history of how sneakers have gotten to where they are today.

Nhat Huy Mai. ”Helsinki’s Sneaker Spa Business Evaluation And Service Design.” Laurea University of Applied Sciences, October 2017, https://www.theseus.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/154656/MaiDucNhatHuy_ThesisFinal.pdf?sequence=1

Duc Nhat Huy Mai is Degree Program in Restaurant Entrepreneurship, who wrote a bachelor thesis on Helsinki’s Sneaker Spa, the first provider of sport shoes and sneakers professional cleaning service, started by young entrepreneurs in 2017. While the goal of her these is to create a business plan for the Sneaker Spa, Mai does an amazing job of research to the growth of the sneaker industry and the how it is blossoming into new emerging markets such as shoe cleaning. My goal is to use her research to paint some of the back story of where sneakers come from; as well as, since her research is based in Finland, talk about the globalization of sneaker culture and some of the difference between areas. She says, “sneakers were invented in 18th century in US, when low class attached rubber to their sole to make the shoes more durable”. And I want know how we went from that to sneaker culture as we know it today.

Rakestraw, Alex. “Sneaker Culture Is a Reminder That We’re All Just Animals.” Highsnobiety, Highsnobiety, 5 Sept. 2017, www.highsnobiety.com/2017/09/04/sneaker-culture-competition-or-community/.

Rakestraw write this article to talk about how the search for rare shoes reverts the consumer to a primal state. This is one of the darker sides of the sneaker industry and sadly is often what outsider hear about sneaker culture. The want, or need in the mind a sneakerhead, can cause people to do some crazy things. We hear story of people being trampled robbed or even killed for their shoes. Rakestraw equates this to, “The thirst for inherent exclusivity creates an innately competitive culture where the goal is naturally adversarial: if your friend has a dope exclusive shoe, then your search for a more exclusive (and therefore more desirable) shoe is an ongoing challenge”. This poses interesting ideas as to whether the sneaker culture is a good thing or a bad thing. There are many sources that show he community and family oriented nature of the sneaker community, but what makes the main stream media of the outlandishly bad things the come from the sneaker community, as is the case with many news stories. This will help shape the image of what it looks like to be inside the sneaker culture. Painting the picture of what creates demand and how desire is influence by exclusivity.

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tristanvswriting-blog · 5 years

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Research essay Draft #2

Shoes, essentially everyone has and for the most part people where them every day. For some they are just the thing you put on before you walk out of the door, for others its everything. Sneaker Culture is something that has fascinated me for a long time, I am a self-proclaimed sneakerhead and likely will be until the day I die. That all said I wanted to get down to the brass tacks of, what is sneaker culture? Well the term sneaker dates back to the early 1900s, sneakers where first introduced by yard workers who need a durable shoe with more comfort, traction, and durability than the typical leather shoe of the time. Design was primitive to say the least, worker would just dip the soles of their leather shoes into melted rubber. Thus, the birth of the sneaker (Duc Nhat Huy 6 and Chrisman-Campbell). This quietly caught fire and began sprawling into all facets of life. This first took traction in the tennis industry, but quickly broke out afterpeopl began to realize how versatile that sneakers are. Things really began to heat up with the birth of the Convers All-Star, coming out in 1917 the Chuck Taylor was the first signature sneaker. Breaking ground for athletes for the legendary shoe namesakes we know to today: Jordan, Kobe, etc.. Soon to follow came the break of musicians in the shoe industry. Some staple names to that break through would be RUN DCM, Kanye, and Drake. Today there is a sneaker for almost anything or anyone you can think of. Some might say you haven’t made it big until you have a shoe deal these days, no matter your industry. Others use the shoes made famous by other to immolate their identities to those around them.

Taking me for an example, I wear basketball shoes 85% of the time, but if you saw my jump shot, you’d likely wonder if I’ve ever even heard of the game. I am not alone, I’ve found that the culture has very strong roots in identity. While, yes, some basketball players will identify themselves by wearing Jordan brand, artist similarly will can identify with a Jordan shoe purely based on design. Rob Dyrdek, professional skate boarder and CO-Owner of DC Shoes was quoted in the documentary Sneakerheadz saying, “There are a handful of things that can define who you are without saying a word; shoes, are one of those things (Friendly and Partridge)”. People cling to shoes for certain things, sometime unbeknownst to them. Like how someone can be drawn to a painting not really understand why, shoes can speak to people. Those who are a part of the culture will fall in love with the design, the back story, the person, the era; and shoes become a direct connection to who they feel they are. Beyond that its and industry that is growing exponentially, as more people get involved it draws the attention of people who normally might not be exposed to sneaker culture. A great example of this is the collab’. A collab is when two companies work together to create a joint product, any time you see a brand that is mark BrandA x BrandB that is a collab. Collaborations do exactly what I noted above, bring people who might not be exposed to sneaker culture in by expanding sneaker cultures reach. When artists, musicians, fashion groups, companies, and other brands come together it opens the eye of the consumer (Friendly and Partridge). Another interesting thing about collabs, and most sought-after sneakers in general, is the idea of exclusivity. More often than not people in the sneaker industry want what others can’t have (Friendly and Partridge). Meaning if you can be one of a few thousand people in the world with a specific shoe, you are then above those who can’t have that shoe. This also lend to one of the most detrimental things sneaker culture faces today: violence. More often than not, shoes bring people together, but there has been multiple instances where people die over shoes. “The thirst for inherent exclusivity creates an innately competitive culture where the goal is naturally adversarial: if your friend has a dope exclusive shoe, then your search for a more exclusive (and therefore more desirable) shoe is an ongoing challenge” (Rakeshaw). Sadly, it’s the riots; murders; and theft that make it into the mass media, not the stories of growth and strengthening communities. This leaves people with a sour taste in their mouth because people question why we spend so much on shoes or why anyone would care so much as to harm someone over a pair of sneakers. Fortunately, things aren’t all bad. Shoes are becoming a universal language breaking barriers of race, gender, and ideology. Someday maybe sneakers will bring us piece.

Prior to continuing I’d like to elaborate on the means and location of which I acquired the information which this essay is comprised of. There is a mix of information both peer-reviewed and pop-culture reference which was acquired from a number of sources. Beginning with the Peer- reviewed information I tried my best to find sources that would contribute to the idea of sneaker culture, but because its both a abstract and non-academic subject this did prove to be difficult. This lent to out of the box thinking in order to find information that would directly correlate to my topic. My information came from many different places, from business thesis to art reviews. From medical journals to quasi-biographies. It became a matter of finding ways on which sneaker culture connected to the academic world as opposed to trying to find the academic world speaking on sneaker culture.

Then came my pop-culture refences, this was difficult too, but for a very different reason. I find myself so immersed daily in sneaker culture that I felt there might have even been too many source from which I could draw. Another problem with the sources I use everyday is they can be partial toward sneaker enthusiast. So, in order to find relevant and usable modern information, I tried to sample from a bread of sources. Some known for being very tight knit to the culture of shoes and fashion others being known simply for their literature. I found that there was a lot to be said about the industry outside of what I already knew. It was also intrigued to see all the different areas of research and life that sneakers manage to sneak their way into. Both types of sources brought together, I was able to find some strong corollaries that united all of the sources. These themes being Identity, Influence, and Value.

Identity, as I touched on before, is how people use shoes to tell a story of who they are. There is also some strong associations between certain types of shoes and certain types of people. Kimberly Chrisman-Campbell explains in her Atlantic article, “Sneakers Have Always Been Political Shoes”, as verity grew shoes took on different meaning, for example Vans and other canvas shoes became the staple shoes of youth rebellion (Chrisman-Campbell). There is also strong associations between race and gender identity within the shoe culture. Nike known for their many campaign that promote identity (equality line, pride line, Día de Los Muertos line), they are also on the forefront of introduction of women into the sneaker industry. With the sneaker industry being known as a boy’s club for such a long time, this is huge. Next comes Influence.

Influence is arguably the basis of sneaker culture as we know it today. Many of the shoes we as consumer like are because of who we see where them. Whether it be celebrities, aspirational groups, or identity groups we wear the shoes that will bring us closer to them. According to a thesis written by Rodney M. Miller, we can attribute the growth of the industry to three key components: physical activity, professional sport, and hip hop culture (Miller VII). From this we find the fame of Lebron shoes, the shell toe adidas in relation to RUN DMC, and the popularity of Nike Air max shoes for everyday use. How we view these influencers can also relate to how we value shoes.

Value of shoes is actually an interesting topic. With cites like StockX that value shoes as stocks where you can view market trends and fluctuation of individual shoes and the entire universe that is the resale market we have been able to see insane value coming out of the shoe industry. The high end sneaker market runs on an ideology contrary to that of typical business. Where a normal business you try and make supply meet demand, in the shoe industry the limit supply. Since there is no drop in demand this leads to astronomical resale prices. The other thing is that we value shoes beyond a monetary value, because of the two other things I discussed shoes mean more than money to us. Where some one might see something you step on, a sneakerhead sees a piece of art you can put on your feet. This about concludes the secondary research, to come is the primary portion of my research.

As far as primary research goes, mine was three-fold. Comprised of an Online survey, Video Interview, and a in person observation. The online survey was held through Google forms, comprised of twelve question and distributed by link to my respondents. All responses were acquired online and done so anonymously. The one hundred respondents ages varied, done so because sneaker culture is not limited to a single demographic, and I was curious to see how response varied across demographics like region, race, and age. The interview is to be held was held Via Skype with a close friend and fellow sneakerhead, the interview is comprised of 6 questions and further discussion. Lastly, the in-person observation was held inside of the Anderson Academic commons on the University of Denver’s campus on the afternoon of October 24th, 2019. Shoes worn by people entering the library was documented on a purely observational basis, there was no interaction with the population. Data was then combed in search of trends, such as opinions of sneaker culture, and attempt to define sneaker culture, and anything lending to the themes provided by the secondary research.

Beginning with my observation, I sat across from the entrance to the Anderson Academic Commons on the University of Denver’s campus with a piece of paper marking the shoes of everyone who entered in a twenty-minute period in one of two categories. One category was the brands Nike, Adidas, and Vans; the other simply was other. Its important to know that I also put well know companies that fall under the Nike and Adidas (Jordan, Converse, Yeezy, and Pharrell) in the Nike, Adidas, and Vans category. Over the course of the twenty minutes I observed one-hundred twelve people entering or exiting the library. Of those 68% of those observed fell under the Nike, Adidas, and Vans category. I found this surprising, the number seemed low to me. One thing that needs severe consideration is the fact that the city of Denver did receive snowfall that day. This may lend those viewed to wear shoes with either better traction or those that people would have less worry of damaging. That said I still think nearly 70% is a significant number to observe wearing those brands I associate with sneakers. Another thing to note is there other brands that can and would be consider sneakers that I did not place under the category. For example, Puma and New Balance are notorious for being sneaker companies but would not fall under the category Nike, Adidas, and Vans. In conclusion id derive from my observation that a majority of people entering the library wear sneakers, and in turn have some semblance of a affiliation to sneaker culture. What I would not do is use this observation to draw any hard statistic to the size of sneaker culture of what brands are to be considered sneakers.

Next we’ll discussed what I observed from surveying. The survey began with demographic question Age, Race, Gender, and location of origin. This information only helped me with identifying who I sampled, unfortunately the results aren’t put into a format that didn’t lends its self to identify specific trends based on certain demographic variables. This would have been more fruitful in terms of seeing trends in identity and how background affects opinion, but what can be said is the sample was was predominantly between the ages of 18 and 25. The sample was slightly more Male than Female, the majority of those identifing as White or Caucasian. Then lastly majority of our sample claimed to be from the western United States, this is likely due to the fat that the majority of respondents were located in Colorado. As stated one can understand our sample as a whole, just not specific correlations based on demographic response.

The questions that followed demographic, these could still almost be considered demographic question, but demographic question specific to shoes. From this I was found that my sample strongly favored Nike over any other brand of shoe.

The second question was pertaining to how many shoes they personally own, but the responses were about evenly distributed, 38.7%said they owned between 5 and 10 pair.

The next group of questions were seeking information about Identity. Both were free response questions, but majority of people said roughly, Sneaker Culture is a collection of people with a shared interest in shoes, and that a persons shoes tell mostly what their style is and what their personality is like.

I concluded by asking questions regarding value. There was an interesting change between what people have spent and what they would be willing to spend on shoes.

While the majority of people have spent between $100 and $200 on shoes, a lot more would rather pay less as well as some would be willing to spend more. It would be interesting to know what outside factors contributed to the change in between question, perhaps outside influence such as an outside party purchasing the shoes is responsible for the change.

Interview

The interview process was conduct with Michael Sullivan. Michael is an Omaha, Nebraska native who found their passion for shoes during high school. He has not only an extensive collection, but a valuable one. He went on to say, “I begged my dad for my first pair of Jordan’s when I got to high school and saw the praise that other people got for having them… it seemed like people wearing [nice shoes] weren’t even walking on the same ground as us”. Now a days Michaels passion is less about clout and more about how the shoes make him feel. While when his passion started, he favored brands like Nike and Jordan, today Michael wears exclusively Adidas. Michael can identify with creators/designer/influencer Kanye and Pharrell, because “They seem to have shoes with purpose.” He went on to talk about what goes into deciding the shoes he buys and further on how he feels about sneaker culture. In this continued conversation he brought up two points absent from the rest of the body of research. Those being the industry of counterfeit shoes and shoes across cultures. Beginning with the counterfeits Michael talked about how anyone can get them, and sometime people get them when they think they are buying authentic. For this reason, Michael buys his shoes exclusively through sites which have a shoe verification process (i.e. StockX and GOAT). He said having authentic shoes are so important to him because he, “buys [his] shoes for [him]self”, then going on to elaborate that people who buy fakes do so because they want others to see that they have a particular shoe. Then moving on the culture, this came up when Michael was asked what is one of your best memories related to shoes. Michael tells an anecdote about a time when he was working as a roofing consultant. In this firm many of the workers were immigrants (mostly Latino and Sudanese) who couldn’t speak very much English, but when ever he wore nice shoes to work, they would notice and make it a point to compliment them and try their best to hold conversation. Michael said, “It was crazy to see interested they were, most days the wouldn’t make any effort to talk to me, nor I to them, but for whatever reason shoe bridged that gap.”

The shoe industry is one rife with history and cult followings, that biggest and most diverse of those following probably being that which has been being defined: Sneaker Culture. The special thing I’ve noticed is that in this community anyone can be a player. Whether you have 3 pairs or 3000, been collecting a life time or a week, and whether you buy Jordan or Adidas; the community will welcome you with open arms. One could venture to say it’s because sneakerheads comprehend that it’s the uniqueness of their beliefs that make not only them unique, but their style. Throughout the both the body of research and secondary research, a very common them has been what your shoes say about you, how shoes reflect your identity.

Shoes are designed with a story or purpose in mind, those who are passionate about them with infer those stories or sometimes identify things that never crossed the designers mind. Those who really care can see themselves in the design of a shoe. Whether it be the passion the feel towards the beliefs of a brand, the back story of the designer, or someone that they’ve seen wearing the shoe, these all contribute to the story behind why people buy sneakers. For some they want to be seen as stylish or wealthy, others fascinate over the design elements. The important thing to take away though is that no matter what they see they identify in the shoe, it resonates in how they identify themselves, thus giving sneakers a deeper meaning than just what you wear to walk outside. That deeper meaning is also part of the reason people value their shoes.

As previously noted value can come from a number of places, but one of the most common ways its facilitated is by limiting quantity. Previously noted is an article the referenced that this competitiveness to have a shoe only few can get makes consumers resort back to a primal state, but what hasn’t been discussed is how this contributes to diversity of collection. Because not everyone can get every sneaker that releases, people obviously ended up not having the same shoes. This opens doors for people to not only appreciate other people’s collections, but why they ended up with the shoes that they did buy. This opportunity for conversation is one of the things that makes the sneaker community so tight knit, there is an opportunity for dialogue and variable opinion. Thus, facilitating a community rife with diversity. Another thing not limited on its diversity are those who influence the sneaker community.

Previously noted are those who contribute to creating influence for particular shoes like athletes, Celebrities, etc.; but the thing that has become apparent through out the body of research is that influence is not bound by status. Anyone can influence any one for any number of reasons. Some people just hold higher importance in some people’s eyes. Whether that be family members, friends, or in fact the person whose name is on the box.

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tristanvswriting-blog · 5 years

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comp in new genre

Comp in New Genre: Air-itage

I have been conducting research as to how to define sneaker culture, sneaker culture being something deeply related to how I define myself. Me being a sneakerhead is something that I hold in very close relation to my identity. That said another thing close to my heart is the fact that I want to go into marketing for a career. For these reasons, throughout the entirety of the research process I found it inevitable to not draw connections between the two: sneaker culture and marketing. I propose a video concept for which to advertise shoes in such a way to grab the attention and respect of sneaker heads. Now marketing a sneaker isn’t easy, not every sneaker on the market is worth our attention or at least the marketing campaigns don’t warrant that we pay attention. Thus, we must be creative as to not only understand our market segment, but to position ourselves in such a way that we are welcome into the sneaker culture.

From research, there are three main themes to defining what is sneaker culture: Identity, Influence, and value. To create a powerful marketing campaign to specifically targeting members of the sneaker culture, one must first understand how these three defining factors of sneaker culture resonate with sneaker heads. As Dirk Vogel says in his article “How to Kick it: 5 Digital Marketing Lessons from The Sneakers Industry”, the number one step to having a successful sneaker campaign is knowing your customer (Vogel).

Starting with Influence, those who contribute to influencing the decision of what shoes are worthy of a sneakerhead must be identified. Three key influences which immediately can be identified are designer, celebrities and opinion leaders. All things sneakers begin with the designer because without a design there would be no shoe and thus no culture to go a long with it. The easiest way to understand design (in my opinion) is simply to see it. Presenting doodles to the audience along side designer notes and other drafts of a shoes could create a tangible concept for design. Similar to the ideation process presented by Tinker Hatfield in his Biography on the Netflix series Abstract. When it comes to preserving celebrities, it can come in many different forms. One can look at things celebrities do, what they say, what they wear, or what they believe. That said, using a mixture of any and all of these could be affective background to helping the consumer understand where the shoe comes from and who it is made for. I.e. use of quotes, video clips, images, and sound bites would all be effective form of showing the representation of celebrities in relationship to the product.

Then the last factor contributing to influence is Opinion leaders, a opinion leader is someone from one’s own reference group who they believe to be an expert on the subject matter in question. In other words, the person you would go to if you had questions about shoes. This concept would be hard to depict in terms of a video because likely the video is what an opinion leader would base their initial opinions on. So, a strategy could be to give the shoes to opinion far in advance of their release and then record that person’s genuine reaction by similar means to which were discussed to depict celebrities.

The next major theme from my research was Identity. Being that Identity is by definition a personal attribute it is difficult to market based off of. The best means at which a marketing agency could go about creating an idea of how a member of the sneaker culture views themselves. A New York Times article describe sneaker heads using ideas like cognoscente, the idea of spending, having business in shoes, and the ability to identify craftsmanship (Proulx). One could also add self-aware, so by simply adding ideas similar to the ones listed above then I think that a sneaker head would identify themselves.

Then the last them value. To imply value for a sneaker head they need to imply other things, whether that be a limited quantity, a history that lends itself to praise, or just a quality that makes a collector tell themselves ‘I need this shoe’. Any and all of these things are important, but also sneakerheads find value in the two other themes listed above, so just by elucidating the concepts of Influence and identity and shoe will gain value on its own.

Now that there is a base understanding og how the three key components in defining sneaker culture resonate with the community itself, one can begin to theorize a video concept. My suggestion goes as follows:

The video opens on a blank canvas, then a shoe begins to appear in the form of sketching. Perhaps you here pencil noise, or even some sound bites from the designer. As the design becomes more detailed you realize the view point isn’t changing, but the shoe is rotating. Soon the back ground begins to appear and there are 3 walls. On those wall you begin to see video clips of athletes playing in the shoes, celebrities performing in the shoes, people hold the shoes and talking about the shoes. The videos are popping up all over the walls in the form a video collage. They keep coming until the walls are filled up with hundreds of videos and still clips are popping in and out. Some of which occupied by audio. The combinations of video and audio should continue to get louder and harder to comprehend. All the while, the now physical shoes is rotating in the foreground. Eventually the stimuli should become overwhelming and it is that point that everything should come to a crescendo. The audio becomes loud and its almost impossible to understand, the videos in the background become overwhelming. Then as if a light goes out, the screen goes black. Your ears to ringing from the audio before. Then accompanied by no additional stimuli, text appears on the screen. Frame by frame the black screen will display in white text: “Influence”, “Identity”, “Value”, and “Only few will understand.” Lastly the brand logo will appear and everything will go to black. This will conclude the ad.

While this ad concept is nonspecific to a brand, I to envision the add being run by Jordan. More specifically run by Jordan retro. While their company didn’t start the sneaker industry or the culture, I believe Jordan as a brand has had a huge, if not the biggest, impact on what sneaker culture is today. The marketing of consumer goods is inevitable and my hope is that some day when I have job marketing goods to people, I can market an object the evokes as much passion as shoes do for sneaker heads.

Proulx, Natalie. “Are You a Sneaker Head?” The New York Times, The New York Times, 5 Jan. 2018, www.nytimes.com/2018/01/05/learning/are-you-a-sneaker-head.html.

Vogel, Dirk. “How to Kick It: 5 Digital Marketing Lessons from the Sneakers Industry.” Selligent Marketing Cloud, Selligent, 10 May 2017, www.selligent.com/blog/advice/how-to-kick-it-5-digital-marketing-lessons-from-the-sneakers-industry.

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tristanvswriting-blog · 5 years

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Research Journal 9

It’s hard to say how I did in this class. There was so much work and so much to learn, so many different things going on all at once; put this way it wasn’t difficult to forget things. That said I don’t think I missed to many things, I am almost always in class. I actively try and participate despite my feelings toward writing. As a student I wouldn’t say I’m top tear, but I’m above average. I can say I’m proud of the work I did for this class. But there is one thing I think define this class for me and that is my growth as a person. From my first meeting with Dr.KT where things didn’t go as well as they should have and my thing worried me being the change in who I am, to who I am now is insane. This class in the way it is set up has allowed for me to see my personal growth. Whether it be emotional, academic, or a growth in maturity. I can say that I’m leaving this class a better person than when I entered it. I think that KT can foster that is bigger than writing. But i’d be lying if I said my writing hasn’t also improved.

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tristanvswriting-blog · 5 years

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Research Journal #8

Writing and research, is the back bone to everything you do; that is what I’ve learned from this class. To do anything or understand anything you begin with research. Research itself can come in many forms. There is learning, which can be done through communication, reading, or trial and error. There is primary research which is you actively questioning the world around you. There is secondary research which is you learning from the primary research of other people. Without all that, where would we be. I’m hard pressed to think of anything I’ve done that hasn’t involved some research of some kind, somewhere down the line. Then, there is writing and as Dr. KT said, even pimps Have to write.

I more and more am starting to see how often I write. Whether It be emails, business proposals, homework, or texts; writing is omni present in my life. That said, I have started to come to grasps with the gravity of words. There are instances where it is important to be concise. There are others where you need to show your voice no matter the cost of word counts. Putting words on paper forever puts your ideas into the universe. That’s said it’s important to know what you are saying.

This class is needed so that we may experience the world around us and then add our own thoughts into it. That is a trait intrinsic to humans but taken advantage of by everyone because not everyone knows what they are doing. Now we do… at least somewhat

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tristanvswriting-blog · 5 years

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Map 3

I chose powerful because good writing Carrys with it the ability to insight change. If that's a change of opinion, of outlook, or a change of lifestyle. Words have meaning and power, those can master writing can change everything.

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Essay Outline

INTRO

· Beginning with a history where shoes come from, how we move into sneakers, and how sneakers are omnipresent.

· Introduce statistics about shoe culture

· Talk about where sneaker culture can take us

· Talk about how the history lends itself into the future

LIT REVIEW

· Talk about where I gained information

· Why I looked where I looked

· What I learned

· Introduce themes

o Identity

o Influence

o Value

· Talk about what these mean, why they are important to what sneaker culture is

METHODS

· Survey 100 people

o Likely 20ishes year old people with slight variation

o Both sneakerheads and non-sneakerheads

o 10ish questions

§ Demographic questions

§ Brand prefence questions

§ Money questions

§ Quantity questions

§ Identity questions

· Interview a professional in the field

o Currently reaching out to everyone from the documentary sneaker heads

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tristanvswriting-blog · 5 years

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Research Journal #7

This class in the least has begun to open my eyes to learning beyond the classroom. I find myself often doing external research on topics I found interesting in my classes, sometime in lieu of the homework actually assigned. Also being in the position I am as a transfer, I find myself relearning a lot of things I have already learned and its interesting how prospective changes how I understand things or of professors themselves present the information. Its relevant to the idea the information only has the value of which you bestow upon it. Another thing I’ve found relevant this more in relationship to research, Is I’m going to fail and have failed. weather it’s the process in which I try and find information or the information I actually find, It isn’t going to be perfect. I’ll waste time and I’ll read irrelevant things; but I’m doing my best to learn from these mistakes to not only improve my essay, but to improve myself as a researcher. If not, then this is all futile. The conversation Dr. KT and I had at the beginning of the quarter has really followed me. One, because of how embarrassed I am at how I acted in it, but two because she told me that having the mindset that class is just something you must do, in the long run is only hurting yourself. You have as much to gain from what we are taught as you are willing to receive. I had never really had a positive outlook on school, and honestly, I still don’t believe I’m all the way there yet. School has seemed like the next thing I had to do, but I’m learning to appreciate it beyond a stepping stone.

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Homework post #7

Failure is inevitable. Beyond, it’s inevitability it is necessary. There is an old cliché that was thrown at me a lot as a kid that roughly goes, ‘you can learn little from victory, but you can learn everything from defeat.’ I thought a lot about that during roses essay. She talks about the ambiguity of writing, talks about how its unnatural, and that it can’t be perfected in your head. To really write, well you must write. Putting your thoughts on paper provides the initial opportunity to fail, or as J.K. Rowling says if you are one of the few who do not ever take the risk, lend themselves to no opportunities and thus you fail. Moving on, once you have something on paper, you actually have the opportunity to edit, both you and peers can see your idea (or lack thereof). This opportunity for collaboration can be one of the best teachers, and reveal our mistakes. Had you never put the thoughts out there though you could have never know everything that is wrong with it. This also allows you to see your thoughts placed in context. There is also the idea that once you make that error you should be less likely to do so in the future or at least should find it easier. The other thing I thought about was the failure process in relation to art. I works identically to everything I just explained with writing, but for me art has more resonance. In art like in writing the search for perfection is futile, but the important thing is simply to begin.

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Research Journal #6

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1. Writing is not much different from a nice pair of shoes, they’re both a composition of many pieces all of which culminate in something that deserves appreciation and admiration.

2. This map is more about how writing is composed, where as my first map was more of the ideas that behind good writing.

3. Being that I am more of a visual learner as it is, the mapping process is helping me grasp the abstract theory that is writing. Good writing as I see it now, is as follows:

Good writing begs to be seen, but is back by powerful content to give it purpose

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Lit Review Draft #2

Lit Review

Introduction

Identity

Influence

Value

Works Cited

Andrews, David L. Michael Jordan, Inc.: Corporate Sport, Media Culture, and Late Modern America. State University of New York Press, 2001.

Archer, Jean. “Anatomy of a Sneaker.” Network Journal, vol. 23, no. 2, 2016, p. 56.

Cloud, Justin. “Ruin Runes.” CUNY Academy Works, 21 May 2018, https://academicworks.cuny.edu/hc_sas_etds/299/.

Friendly, David T and Mick Partridge, directors. Sneakerheadz. Complex, 2015.

Grant, Garrett Kalel, “A Case Study of Brand Associations for Yeezy Brand” (2018). LSU Master’s Theses. 4716.https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_theses/4716

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