Wait For The Drop: An Interview with snkrINC’s Co-Founder Ivan Dudynsky

By Ben Roazen

Portion’s Drop 0 is curated by snkrINC.

The idea that sneakerheads are “a small community of fanatics” is simply not true anymore. “What was once this insider, underground movement,” explains Dudynsky, “has gone global and it’s now on the edge of going completely mainstream. Just look down.”

In the world of sneakers, it’s all about the drop. Nowadays, shoes drop in limited quantities at specific times, often at select stores and stockists in certain cities around the world. Sneakers themselves have become status symbols — limited-edition pieces of art that signify taste and a certain cultural cache. Hypebeasts are the new dandies, and sneaker collectors are art collectors who have adapted to the age of the internet. It’s impossible to be everywhere at once, but with smartphones, the Internet, and social media, we can hop around the world with just a swipe of our thumb. No one knows this better than Ivan Dudynsky, co-founder of snkrINC, a platform dedicated to the sneaker space.

“snkrINC was born out of the idea that youth culture and street culture rule the world,” explains Dudynsky. Dudynsky has spent much of his professional career launching shows: he worked in network television for over 15 years, directing programs for ABC, NBC, MTV, FOX, CBS and VH1. He also oversaw all creative concepts at Sean “P.Diddy/Puff Daddy/Puffy” Combs’ music television station, REVOLT. “I actually designed the logo,” mentions Ivan, “filmed over 3,000 interstitials, and won a couple awards along the way.” Dudynsky also has three production companies that he runs with his partner, Audrey Morrissey. After a decade and a half in the television space, Dudynsky felt he knew what it takes to build a network from scratch, but he also wanted to find a passion project.

Nowadays, “we make ‘sneaker contact’ before we make eye contact,” says Ivan.

“Sneakers have been a part of my DNA since I was about five years old,” says Ivan. Nowadays, “we make ‘sneaker contact’ before we make eye contact,” says Ivan. And it doesn’t matter if you’re some high-flying TV producer or a kid in Akron, Ohio — everyone loves a fresh pair of kicks. Shoes are also the ultimate conversation starter. That’s where Dudynsky saw his way in. “I realized that the sneaker blogs out there had no true story-telling components. Sure, they were showing photos of what’s dropping today, but they weren’t talking about the people and the culture driving this $55 billion dollar industry.”

To put it in TV terms, explains Dudynsky: “There was no MTV, CNBC, or HGTV for sneakers.”

So Ivan and his partner set a date in 2016 and “just launched it.” snkrINC is part of a new media vanguard dedicated to the streetwear set and the culture that has popped up in its orbit, and Ivan hopes to stay ahead of the curve by applying his television know-how to a new frontier: social media. “It’s massive to our target demo and the culture at large; social media is how people stay connected to the hype-cycle of the sneaker world.” Dudynsky also notes that the vertical has secured a new strategic partnership with Snap, using the social platform’s “geo-mapping technology to aggregate and collect incredible footage from sneaker events around the world.”

As for the future, Ivan says he sees “evolution in design, technology, and data” as the biggest drivers of change in the sneaker industry. For media blogs, he says a focus on the human element: “the stories, the people: the designers and the athletes, artists and influencers.”

Dudynsky says he “would love to take the old auction format and completely disrupt it,” opening it up to a whole new audience, using Portion, the blockchain, and — of course — sneakers.

When asked what the blockchain could do for sneakerheads, Dudynsky had the following to say: “as a collector — of art, sneakers, cars and watches — what excites me most about collaborating with Portion is our idea of The Sneaker Auction.” Dudynsky explains that he has been attending auctions for years, and while the energy and adrenaline of a live auction is undoubtedly off the charts, Dudynsky says he “would love to take the old auction format and completely disrupt it,” opening it up to a whole new audience, using Portion, the blockchain, and — of course — sneakers. Portion leverages recent advances in blockchain technology to completely upend this industry, beginning with scarce digital art, progressing to physical mediums (like sneakers), and giving power back to the artists, Portion will enable anyone to be their own auction house. Dudynsky imagines it as a mash-up of a VMA style event and ComplexCon, complete with kids outbidding one another on their smartphones. It’s worth noting, as Dudynsky does, that the idea that sneakerheads are “a small community of fanatics” is simply not true anymore. “What was once this insider, underground movement,” explains Dudynsky, “has gone global and it’s now on the edge of going completely mainstream. Just look down.”