Sneakerheads Unite

With the launch of sneakerheads’ communities such as Sneaker Talk India, and sneaker boutiques such as VegNonVeg, the global sneaker culture has finally come home.

- Surekha Rao

WHEN OBSESSIONS ARE SHARED, they are easily fanned. Which is why Delhi-based Atul Sharma started Sneaker Talk India, a sneaker-appreciation community: because two sneakerheads are better than one. “We are a family tied with laces,” he says. “The idea is to create a brotherhood and bond over sneakers. As a community, we must exchange ideas in order to scale this culture in the country.”

A ‘sneakerhead’ isn’t just a bloke with a mad love for sneakers, but also someone who has the deep pockets required to own a sizeable collection: from 65 pairs (Arjun Dutta, owner of The Shoe Factory) to 500 (rapper Badshah). Inspired by the ’90s hiphop culture of the West, when sneakers such as the Nike Air Jordan became symbols of aspiration, today the obsession has taken the form of NMDs, Yeezys, Suedes, and several other variants from different sportswear brands, streetwear labels and, hold your horses, even luxury fashion houses. In 2004, Dior Homme was among the first to include white high-top sneakers in its collection at Paris Fashion Week. Following in those footsteps, Louis Vuitton threw a pair of sneakers into almost every runway look of its Fall/Winter collection last year.