Sneaker communities have been around for quite some time. But only as of recently has the community taken to the internet to express their love of sneakers to a much bigger audience. Before sneaker communities were limited to physical communities such as family, friends, school, and neighborhoods. But, with the rising of the internet sharing your love and style became much easier. To which many people do their own thing to show their love for sneakers. Sneaker communities have not always been the open-armed welcoming, the worldwide community it seems to be now. It once started as a gatekeeping community where you were only considered a sneaker head if you had good shoes and your physical community deemed it so. But now the community is much more accepting of new people discovering their love for sneakers for the first time. Creating many intertwined communities around the world that revolve around sneakers. Such as outfits that pair well with certain shoes, streetwear and even sneakers that are only fashionable in certain situations. In a huge community like this roles are never really assigned unless your a brand rep. or company rep. But systems are created in order to carry out a nice controlled flow that allows fro newcomers to enter and enjoy while also giving useful information to those who have been around for longer.
Gatekeeping: Prevent certain people from participating due to certain requirements not being met. (Wether personal or community established.)

Something for everyone
The love for sneakers and the sneaker community is a very large blanket term, but underneath the blanket, there are many more levels for the love of sneakers and the variety of interests involving sneakers. Starting at the most basic level, being interested in sneakers. Which brings me to my first interview.
Interview with Staff Writer Matty McFarline of KicksOnFire with 2.9 Million followers on Instagram
“Hello my name is Noe Ruiz and I am conducting interviews with influential social media accounts on the topic of sneakers and its community. The topic will center-around the community involving sneakers and involvement of the community. And personally what you do to participate. If you are willing to go forward with the interview would a call or survey work better you?”
“Hi Noe, I am interested in going through with your interview. I think the best way to go about this would be for you to send me you the survey. Since it is a work account I can only access it from work so, I could knockout all your questions in one swoop when I have time.”
“Okay let me send over the survey.”
Name:
Matty McFarline
Position:
Staff Writer
Why did you pursue this job?
Was looking to be a staff writer position anywhere and this was an option because of my interest in shoes, and luckily enough I was interviewed and was chosen to fill the position.
Do you feel one could learn from this community?
Yes, but it depends also on how useful it will be to someone. It is definitely base by base situation. For example me being exclusively involved around sneakers any information that I come across for a future sneaker release or concept can be useful when deciding on what to post or write about next. Reliable information is hard to come by especially before the sneakers release. It’s a gamble every-time we decide to post something with limited information.
Do you think being on social media helps the participation levels compared to what it would be like without the internet?
Definitely. We rely heavily on outside sources for news on sneakers and without social media or even the internet, we would have to rely on information and rumors delivered by mouth. Severely decreasing the reliability and efficiency of news and article deliveries to others interested in the information. Having a platform to share the news and articles helps that others will share it and give it more exposure.
Do you think the sneaker community is for everyone?
Of course, the love of sneakers is different for everyone and started in different places for everyone. I remember when back in the day you had to have a pair of “grails” in order to be considered part of the sneaker community because having that shoes was something to respect. I think now with many different type of shoes coming out there is options for newcomers to choose and rock with. Not everyone has the same style, and that’s okay. The point of the sneakers community is to showcase your style and tell the world, “Hey I like sneakers and this is how I wear mine”.
Grails: A highly sought after shoes; usually having a general consensus that it is a great shoe.

In what way/s do you think the sneaker community can improve?
I think in general to stop discriminating against “non-expensive” shoes. Just because some shoes carry a larger price doesn't necessarily mean they are a great shoe. It all about how one wears it and the style it showcases. Also “hype beast” need to relax and let the communities enjoy the shoes.
Hype beast: Someone with little or no passion for the shoe itself who buys and deals with popular or exclusive sneakers almost exclusively to profit off of.
Thank you for your time and answers. If okay could I post these on my blog on the sneaker community?
Of course I always like sharing my love for sneakers with others. And yes it is fine please share the link with me I would like to read it when you complete it.
Will do. I’ll send link when I am fully finished and have published it on Medium.
After the interview is that he got lucky enough to land a job where he is doing what he likes and more likely than not learning something new about all types of shoes and then creating post that his followers can learn about too. Being a stockholder in this shoe game.

A good example of a recent shoe that was sold out in record time was the collaboration Jordans with Travis Scott. These shoe were scooped up by bots and hype beats the moment they went up for sale. In order to turn a large profit due to its exclusive numbers.
Bots: Programs created in order to try and buy the shoes at initial release. More bots = higher chance to buy = less for the general consumer.
Because of this the community has been split in various different categories but the most defining ones would be Sneaker Heads and Hype beasts being polar opposites.
Sneaker Heads are the ones that are interested in shoes as a hobby buying, selling, trading a distinguishing shoes are all common traits of a sneaker head. While hype beasts are purely there to hop on trends and make money. While buying up products that the general community will want to enjoy. And the products that are being sold through resellers are marked up in order fo them to make a “living”.
Different but the same
The discovery of love for something can be discovered in different ways for many people. Or it can happen in similar ways that many others experienced. Either way it brings people together and communities start to form. For instance, my good friend re-discovered his love for sneakers that he remembers wearing when he was a kid.
I asked him how he got into sneakers and he said he didn’t pick the sneakers but more they were put on. His parents like mine had us rocking Jordans at a young age. Jordans aren't cheap and haven't been on the cheeper side, so money was a huge barrier on constant participation with the sneaker community. And later you see the same type of shoe but in a different color way and remember all the good memories of you being a child and having a pair of Jordans. And now that you are older and making your own money you can once again re-ignite your love for Jordans. And I also interviewed my brother who just recently became an impulsive spender, I mean part of the sneaker community. Before he only wore Vans and some Nikes but has been buying a couple of pairs of Jordans. So I asked him why did you decide to buy Jordans now? He simply responded becasue I can afford them now. I responded that wearing Vans is not a bad thing. He said he knew but he's seen me with them and they look so clean so he wanted to buy some for himself now that he worked. Showing that as soon as the opportunity arrises some cant help to pick up this hobby/lifestyle. And is only fulled through online resources because he would never known these shoes realize on this day.
What I am trying to explain is that everyone has there own reason to invest time, money and effort into something because they are interested and enjoy it. Since this is a large scale community many activities and events are planned online than are carried out in real life. Such as Sneaker-con is a giant event related to sneakers where there is food, raffles, markets and trading posts all in one big area to really bring everyone who has a love for sneakers together. Friendships can be made but also destroyed here, because people all enjoy and love things to different degrees.
Level Up
I hope you guys aren’t intimated by how big of a shoe geek I am but that’s one of the great things of the sneaker community. You don’t have to be a sneakerhead to participate and have an opinion on shoes. Over the years the sneaker community has evolved to become a more accepting community. Expanding from just Jordans to all varieties of shoes. From athletic to dressy, and cheap to expensive the point is just to admire and share your love of shoes with the rest of the shoe community. Finding your little clove of similar shoe admires isn’t hard either. There are thousands of communities and groups dedicated to anything and everything to do with shoes. Even a combination of fashion and outfits that pair well with the shoes. Well there is levels to this if you do wish to dive into the rabbit hole that is sneakers there are communities for all levels of dedication and interest. Of course you can just browse casual pictures with basic information. But for those who want to see the materials, amounts, produced and expected resell price much more research and investigation is needed. The information, terms and news is all there in order for you to engage and participate with the sneaker culture.
Learning well kind of…
All in all, the sneaker community and the culture around it is a great place to learn and receive information. Whether it has any value to you is dependent on how interested were you in the sneaker community. But all kinds of human interaction are simulated, planned or had when talking about sneakers and how they feel on shoes or sneakers. Creating interconnected roads and webs that allow for opinion, facts and shoes to go through and influence the world around them.
Beginners Guide to being a sneaker head
DS: Deadstock; Never worn, Brand-new
FD: Factory Defect; Value is affected
NDS: Nearly Deadstock; Worn maybe once or twice no visible usage.
Used: Visible Usage, price should reflect condition
Color way: Color-scheme, pattern ex: Bread = Black and Red color
High tops: Go past ankles
Lows: Below ankles
Jumpman: The Jordan logo
OG: Original design
Retro: Original design with a new twist or a update to reflect the time
On Ice: Shoes that have never seen the daylight
Reseller: Buys sneakers with an intent to sell them
Restock: New supply of the one shoe
Size Run: Sizes retailers will carry ex: grade school, adult
Finding the one
Reddit (My personal favorite to acquire knowledge)
Aesthetically pleasing photos and basic information on shoes
Jordan Fan Page (Athlete and Shoe)
Sneaker News (Kicksonfire)

