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What’s up with sneakers?

Traversing the distance from utilitarian, inexpensive footwear to performance-oriented and high-tech necessities, sneakers have catapulted into yet another realm of being: collectible and cultish objects of fetishism.

Walk into any shoe store and you are faced with a dizzying assortment of brands, styles, and colors … but true sneakerheads know that the treasures they crave are not to be found so easily. What’s at stake? Bragging rights to be the first or only person in your circle to have the latest exclusive shoe. Prices can go sky-high for the rarest releases. The most sought-after sneakers are limited editions like the Nike Pigeon Dunk (Nike’s suggested retail price was $69; some sold for $300 retail but later went for up to $1,000 on eBay). Collaborations between street artists and the big companies, often in limited releases, inflame the desire of sneaker collectors.

In order to score the latest in urban sneaker chic, sneaker addicts must stalk the specialty sneaker temples. These ultra-exclusive boutiques are often in unmarked storefronts, with word-of-mouth as their only means of attracting customers. In New York City, stores such as Dave’s Quality Meats, Alife, Nort235, and Nom de Guerre are clustered on the Lower East Side. But you have to know where these stores are and how to get in: Alife is completely unmarked and clients must be buzzed in through a security door. Hard-to-obtain styles are preciously displayed on mahogany shelves, and the more exclusive and expensive models are locked in glass cases like museum pieces. Nom de Guerre is a subterranean cavern accessible only by a cellar staircase. The most expensive sneakers on sale are $800—a pair of Slim Shady Nikes.

The sneaker culture scene is huge in Japan; and, because this trend tends to be very urban, there are also active scenes in London, Berlin, Paris, Barcelona, and even Mexico City. Besides these, New York City, Miami, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Los Angeles also sport a sizeable sneakerhead subculture.

Competition for the latest releases can be fierce: This March, sneaker fanatics in New York City tried to jump the line that snaked around the block for the new Nike Pigeon Dunk at The Reed Space, sparking fistfights (no arrests were made). The Reed Space was also the site of a recent break-in, clearly the work of unscrupulous and desperate sneaker aficionados.

Sneaker expert Bradley Carbone, associate editor at Complex magazine, asserts that while some sneakerheads are teenagers and early 20-somethings, most are “grown-up kids who now can purchase the sneakers that they couldn’t afford when they were younger.” Carbone says that while the younger collectors may have tens of pairs, some of the more mature collectors have hundreds. “Companies are rereleasing the classic popular silhouettes redone in new ‘colorways’ and functions, like the Dunk, which was originally a basketball shoe, now is a lifestyle shoe, and which was recently remade as a skateboard shoe.” The Jordan collection is a prime example. “It was big in the ’80s and ’90s, and now they have retroed almost all of them.”