Footwear x Mental Health: A Collaboration
“We are culture. Nothing moves without us.” — Shawn “Jay Z” Carter
More Than Just A Shoe
Sports, music, and fashion — sneakers to be exact — were amongst the top of my childhood interests. A fresh pair of white Nike Air Force Ones were a must-have during back-to-school shopping, and my friends and I couldn’t wait to wear our fresh kicks to the Christmas basketball tournaments. Not only does footwear serve as a form of expression, it can also be a focal point for socializing. A conversation can be sparked amongst anyone about the kicks they own or are wearing. Some people view sneakers as just another item of clothing, but for others, it’s a feeling: the feeling that comes with wearing a pair of sneakers for the first time; or after opening a box to take in that new shoe smell. Sneakers are more than just shoes. It’s a culture. It’s a community.
From sneaker conventions to online forums, the collective power of the sneaker community is undeniable. Events such as Sneaker Con, one of the most popular sneaker shows held around the world, attract tens of thousands of people in a space to buy, sell, and trade sneakers. Held at Gillette Stadium this past February, I was able to attend Boston Got Sole, an event similar to Sneaker Con held in the New England area multiple times throughout the year. Panelists, vendors, and attendees spoke about their love for the kicks, connections, and community representing the culture. Online communities, such as the r/womensstreetwear, r/streetwear, and r/sneakers subreddits, and popular sneaker blogs including Kicks on Fire, Hypebeast, Hypebae, and Complex sneakers also contribute to community engagement and discussions surrounding the shared interest of sneakers.
Culture Matters
As an African American woman, I love every aspect of my culture. Not just sneakers and fashion, but the cuisine, music, love, spirituality, and the list goes on. Yet in the field of computer science, I’ve experienced my culture — the culture that has made me who I am and represents where I come from — being excluded. African American culture is also underrepresented across many other areas, like politics and health.
Inclusivity is more than a metric; it is a true sense of belonging, respect, and value for who a person is. This sense cannot be measured and constrained to an organization’s “diversity numbers”: nor can it be inauthentically approached. Furthermore, it isn’t synonymous with consumer marketing aimed to increase a company’s revenue. True inclusivity exemplifies collaboration between multi-cultural groups, where backgrounds and experiences are celebrated and acknowledged. Therefore, culture matters. Culture empowers communities to create, contribute, and celebrate who they are.
Footwear x Mental Health: A Collaboration
As Mental Health Awareness month draws to a close, I’m asking for your participation in a call to action to keep the conversation going.
According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), “approximately 46.6 million adults in the U.S. live day-to-day with a mental illness” [1]. Additionally, “half of all lifetime mental health conditions begin by age 14 and 75% by age 24” [1].
Though mental health does not discriminate against who it affects, African Americans are “20% more likely to experience serious mental health problems than the general population” [2]. Barriers to treatment and engagement for African Americans include lack of cultural competence by health professionals, and shame and stigma within the community surrounding the topic. Other barriers affecting mental health engagement include an inability or unwillingness to use creative and innovative approaches to engagement, and an inability to work effectively within and across diverse cultures [3]. These, among many others, are challenges faced by mental health providers.
This is why we need your help in leveraging the power of footwear to unleash innovative pathways to mental health engagement. Sneakers have been involved in initiatives including “Think Pink”, a campaign bringing awareness and social action to breast cancer. The campaign has garnered participation from college and professional sports teams, as well as footwear companies who have donated portions of proceeds to cancer research. This helps prove that sneakers are more than just a shoe or a product. Sneakers impact communities.
How do your kicks collaborate with mental health?
To participate:
- Post a sneaker (one that you designed, already own, or one you admire) on Twitter, along with 1–2 sentences related to how it links to mental health + wellness. You may answer one of the 3 prompts below or share thoughts of your own:
- How does this sneaker inspire you or a friend in overcoming a difficult situation?
- Describe how this sneaker makes you feel.
- How can footwear provide an innovative approach to destigmatizing mental health?
- Include in your post the hashtags: #FootwearXMentalHealth + #MentalHealthAwareness or#BlackMentalHealthMatters .
- Tag 2 people in your post, and encourage them to also share how their kicks collaborate with mental health and wellness.
The content you share will be reviewed to see how footwear may assist in destigmatizing the conversation surrounding mental health.
For more mental health resources, please visit:
For more information regarding this project, please visit our project page.
