Meet three of Melbourne’s uber-cool Sneaker Heads in this, our final instalment of Fashion Tribes, first published in Spectrum/The Saturday Age/The Sydney Morning Herald.
Words: Janice Breen Burns Photographs: Simon Schluter
Sneaker Heads are a loose and scattered global tribe, shape-shifting to the rhythm of who’s hot, who’s not, who’s collaborating, which brand, what sneaker and crucially; ‘When will they land?”
It’s the vintages, the rare factory faults (smuggled out before the production run is destroyed) and the quick-or-you’ll-miss-it match-ups – mega idols with mega brands – that set a SneakerHead’s heart pounding: Kanye, LeBron, Abloh, Jordan, Adidas, Nike, Vans, ASIC, Balenciaga, Off White, ad infinitum.
The most covetted “holy grail” sneakers are decided by who’s looking and how much they can afford: $400, $4000, $40,000.
“The grails change all the time,” says Fraser Lack, 20, a Melbourne property consultant who has collected rare vintage and limited edition sneakers since he was 14. “I’ve got mine.” His Adidas Yeezy Boost 350s do nicely for now.
Fellow Sneaker Head, student Nathan Tran, 23, miraculously scored his grails, Nike X Kanye West Yeezy 2 Red Octobers, in the one-minute window they dropped online about three years ago. “They sell for $5000 or $6000 now,” he says, “But, I’ve said no.”
Patrick Boyle’s ultimate shoe is in a class rocketing among Sneaker Heads right now: bespoke. Boyle, 21, is a shoe designer and mashed a Nike jacket into his ACG Nike React Element 87 sneakers. “So they’re “one-of-one”,” Boyle says. “The only ones.”
“Sneaker heads are a big community,” says Lack, “But here (Australia) we’re mostly online.” It isn’t tricky to pick a fellow head, however, despite sartorial styles ranging from streetwear to bespoke suits, and ages from teen to topping middle age. “When you see another (SneakerHead) on the street, there’s no words,” Lack says. “You just look at their shoes, and you know the care, the initiative that it took to source them. That’s all you need.”
In other words, you know that he knows that you know and he knows you know, and that’s quite enough cameraderie for most Sneaker Heads. As a rule, they don’t flock like other tribes; strangers magnatised by common interest. Even their legendary kilometre-long line-ups for limited releases outside specialty sneaker stores were all but snuffed recently by more practical but banal raffle-style ballots.
“A few years ago I’d line up on the street for a day and a half or two,” says student Nathan Tran who recalls the queues as rare chances to coolly compare in the flesh: “You look at people’s shoes, and; “Yeah, he’s part of the gang” or, “He’s not.”
What you don’t do, if you want some of that wordless Sneaker Head respect, is stop at the shoes. “If you’re going to wear the “holy grail” sneakers with a tank top and baggy jeans or whatever, you’re going to look stupid,” Tran sniffs. “You need the whole thing.”
The Age, Spectrum. FAshion Tribes series , Sneaker Freakers. story by Jan Breen Burns. Pic Simon Schluter 18 October 2018.
