In honor of National Sneaker Day, we identified 6 pivotal kicks that took the athletic shoe from grimy foot lockers to curated high art auctions.
The CBC: What started decades ago as a signature look in the urban community, then popularized by hip-hop culture and celebrity collaborations, from rapper Kanye West to Louis Vuitton’s creative head Virgil Abloh, sneaker culture is catching the attention of experienced investors. Those within the community have always viewed the footwear as a form of art, Hardie says. But outside investors recognizing that value is relatively new. Entrepreneur Miles Nadal recently paid more than $1 million for 99 pairs of rare sneakers from Sotheby’s auction house. He then shelled out close to $600,000 for an additional rare pair, setting a new world record for sneakers sold at auction.
The following is #GayNrd’s highly subjective selection of the six most important kicks in history that elevated the functional athletic shoe from threadbare basic to the highest form of art coveted and obsessed by sneaker heads everywhere.
The Air Force 1 The Air Force is a range of athletic shoes made by Nike that began with the Air Force 1 and went on to include the Air Force 2, Air Force 3, Air Force STS, Air Force 5, Air Force XXV and Air Force 09. Sneaker News: Since 1983, the Nike Air Force 1 Low has accomplished a lot. From popularizing new technology to partnering with unlikely collaborators for game-changing product, Bruce Kilgore’s design has secured its spot in the history books. For its latest proposition, the low-top silhouette has appeared in a medley of greys as part of the Nike Athletic Club collection.
The Adidas Stan Smith Also known as the ‘Fairway Green’ edition, Adidas brought back this first-ever colorway of the Stan Smith classic in 2014. GOAT: Originally created for the tennis star in 1973, the design is distinguished by white full-grain leather with perforated Three-Stripes atop a matching rubber outsole. The iconic look is completed by green leather accents with classic Trefoil branding on the tongue and heel tab.
The Air Jordan 1 Mid ‘Banned’ The Air Jordan 1 Mid ‘Banned’ showcases a familiar palette that recalls the iconic Black/Red AJ1 from 1985, inaccurately mythologized as the shoe that earned Michael Jordan a $5,000 fine every time the rookie wore the two-tone colorway during NBA games. (The real culprit was the Nike Air Ship.) Like its predecessor, this pair utilizes a leather upper in a contrasting black and red finish. Color blocking is nearly identical to the original, save for an added hit of red on the shortened eyestay. A red Jumpman icon replaces Nike Air branding on the woven tongue tag.
Chuck Taylor All-Stars One of the most recognizable silhouettes in the world, the Converse Chuck Taylor All Star arrived as a basketball shoe in the 1920s. Over the last century, the sneaker has become a versatile lifestyle shoe, famed for its iconic design, lightweight construction and subcultural connections.
The Nike Mag ‘Back To The Future Immortalized in the 1989 film Back to the Future II, the Nike Mag was finally released to the public in September 2011. Though the shoe lacks the self-lacing feature, it’s an aesthetic match to its filmic counterpart, complete with an electroluminescent Nike logo on the strap and glowing LED arrays at the midsole and heel. The 2011 production run was limited to 1500 pairs and released through charity eBay auctions where proceeds went directly to Michael J. Fox’s Foundation in finding a cure for Parkinson’s Disease.
Balenciaga Triple S The Triple S is the shoe to be thanked – or blamed, depending on who you ask – for the dramatic U-turn in footwear fashion. It’s an elegantly absurd piece of design that had fashion editors scribbling in notepads and high-street shops churning out copycats the second it stomped onto the runway in January 2017. There are few items which can truly lay claim to being instant icons, but this is one of them. Here we chart the reasons why and delve into the history of one of the sneaker world’s most polarising designs. According to Fashion Beans, they were “created in collaboration between Demna Gvasalia and storied high-fashion footwear designer David Tourniaire-Beauciel – a man who has created shoes for the likes of Maison Margiela, Givenchy and who frequently works with Balenciaga – the Triple S was set for greatness from the beginning. The ‘S’ in Triple S stands for sole. In other words, this shoe has three of them. Moulds were taken from a running shoe, a basketball shoe and track shoe, which were then stacked to create the 6.5cm platform that gives the Triple S both its unique look and its name.
At a time when streetwear and haute couture were still awkwardly courting, this crossover design helped to close the gap. In essence, The Triple S is time-stamped proof that two worlds really have collided in such a way as to now be virtually indistinguishable from each other.
National Sneaker Dayaccording to the Sioux City Journal is celebrated annually on October 9. Sneakers, originally designed for use in sports and physical exercise, have become popular choice for daily footwear. Other terms such as tennis shoes, kicks, or gym shoes are also used for them, and the term sneakers is most often used to describe this type of shoe in the Northeastern United States and Southern Florida. The name has been used at least since 1887, when the Boston Globe used it and said it was “the name boys give to tennis shoes.”
In 1917 Henry Nelson McKinney, an advertising agent, used the term “sneaker” because the rubber sole made the shoe stealthy and quiet, and much easier to sneak up on someone without them noticing. Leather soled dress shoes were the norm of the era, and were much louder.
The first rubber soled shoes were introduced in the United States in 1892, and sneakers gained in popularity after World War I. It was also during this time that sports players began to endorse sneakers, also increasing the popularity of the shoes; for example, Chuck Taylor endorsed Converse All Stars.
Sneakers began being used more for everyday use in the 1950’s, increasing their popularity some more. Jogging shoes became a popular type of sneaker in the 1970’s, and each type of sport had shoes made specifically for it. Wearing a certain type of sneaker is now often seen as a fashion statement, and certain sneakers have long been associated with rock ‘n roll—such as Converse—and with hip hop—such as Puma, Nike, and Adidas.
Collectors of sneakers are known as sneakerheads.
The New Balance 574 Loved by white dudes everywhere, the 574s could be considered the official sponsor of casual Fridays nationwide. Favored by Apple impresario Steve Jobs, Hollywood director Bryan Singer, and writers and stand-ups Neal Brennan and John Mulaney… they impart a sense of style that says I am too brilliant and have too much to think about to think about what sneakers I will wear.
And they look good with just about everything.
Curating this list would have been impossible without the invaluable assistance of sneakerheads & connoisseurs Thomas Freeman (Maxim and Chill magazines) and Melo McFlii owner of Restoration n Customs.
