ZX8000 Green tea Mint colorway, these come in this special whit box with some green tea prints.
Hype game-riding on that is the stupidest thing you can do in the sneaker world:
Hype culture confuses me and many people. Do you really like shoes just because of hype & scarcity rather than styles you individually and personally like? Why doesn’t get hyped up equal poser? Can you be a sneaker fan who ignores most hypes and without being arrogant or nasty online elitist?
You could be a sneaker head for the simple fact that you like sneakers (especially during the 90's). That’s it. But it has changed a bit.
In June 2022, I bought the dirty denim airmax 1 not because they were hyped, but because I genuinely like the look. I have many sneakers in my rotation that are not hyped or super unpopular shoes but each one has the same want behind it. I’ve always loved shoes since I was a little boy. They make me happy. Does it feel good when someone compliments them. Yes. Do I care if they don’t get well received or respected by the majority? Not really. Hit on the AMM 4s this spring and I kept them in my secret shoe closet in my house. I think I will give them away as a Christmas present to my friend. To me, enjoying sneakers with people I care about is worth more than someone online saying, “those shoes are insane fire, or sick”. Buy what you like, don’t what you don’t, and never care what others think because someone who is that concerned with what you have isn’t worth the calories.
And I think it’s important not to be a sneaker snob who just keeps mocking some other shoe lovers just because they have a totally different taste for shoes than their own.
For example, many Jordan 1 or Dunk lovers mock the people who love Air Force 1 or airmax 1 more than the J’s. And if someone collecting say superstar or Stan Smith then he or she will automatically be mockingly labeled as a casual-head. This is disgusting, why is one must love Jordan or dunk to be approved as a true sneaker-head in most Reddit subs and on YouTube? Always riding on the latest hype waves is the most boring and money wasting thing you can do in sneaker world (in my opinion). I learned this the hard way in the last decade.
Generally speaking, I think it’s more diverse and liberal what type of shoes to like in Asia and Europe than in NA. There are lots of airmax 1 or 90 collectors here, a lot of Stan Smith collectors or even Samba collectors here, even many AF1 only collectors here, even some Puma Rome or RSX collectors here (and they never get labeled as a casual-head or being mocked for what they like here) but I never seen such people in NA at least online shoe community there. In Europe, I even met some Saucony only collectors and they all loved my jazz 4000. I also met some Salomon only collectors in UK. But in those sneaker sites like most Reddit sneaker subs and YouTube (Nike talks, etc.), all we can only see are some Jordan or dunk collectors or some crazy expensive NB Made only collectors who mock people who love some more humble adidas or Nike or even NB non-made shoes.
They don’t seem to be able to play this game without some elitist snobbery or mockery, or name calling contests in every thread. That's really odd to me, and I smell some level of insecurity issues in them. In NA at least online community there, 90% of people that like ANYTHING only like it for the hype. It's not just shoes, it's cars, clothes, guns, phones, etc. too. Sports teams...the cowboys haven't won a damn thing in almost 25 years, but hype keeps them around the most popular teams along with whoever is winning at the time, and all sports channels raving about them. It is really odd to me.
If Beyonce said she ate dog food, there is an entire demographic that thinks Beyonce is God and would start munching dog food. Not because they enjoy it. But because it's cool because Beyonce said so. Now apply that to shoes, with MJ, Lebron, kd, kyrie, kobe...Travis Scott collabs, Kanye having his own crap collection of shoes. Luxury brands working with sneaker companies. Like Prada with Nike, Gucci with adidas, Dior with Jordan, etc.
It's 90% hype and mockery or both. That’s really sad. And now we need a new title or name for those who just enjoy sneakers without any elitist mockery or snobbery attitude towards others. I think sneaker-enjoyer is a good name for them.
Those sneaker enjoyers know what are popular and have opinions on those popular or hyped sneakers as well but haven’t really delved deep enough into sneakers to develop a true sense of individual taste as most sneaker snobs or hyperbeasts label them, or they are just like me or many others in Asia or Europe just do not like the same shoes as those of US or NA based so-called sneakerheads love. I honestly get why Americans especially black people love Jordan’s or Yeezys (after all, these guys are their superheroes), but why do we or should we like or share the same view in shoes as the North American sneakerheads or influencers? In Asia or Europe basketball is not the most popular sport or entertainment at all, in fact, it is relatively a minor sport, so it is not a very special to majority of people outside of the NA, at least not the no1 sport here or in any part of Europe I've visited in the last few months. However, oddly enough still many Asians or Europeans blindly follow the Jordan hypes or Dunk hypes, and those silly copycats here just copy the style of those American sneaker or Jordan heads. That’s really silly.
And that shows what they are actually after: the hype or the privilege associated with certain types of shoes, not the shoes themselves.
And it’s always Nike to them nothing else get hyped up or even talked about online these days unless you look deep into sub-Reddit like Moresneakers. Even then it is not much different there than the main Sneaker sub; they-the denizens of the Moresneakers sub just replace the hyped Nike shoes with some hyped NB or Asics shoes and call themselves the "true-heads" or "liberal-heads" (just because they hate Nike, they think they are liberal).
To me it’s not liberal or honest, they just want to pretend to be liberal or more hardcore shoe lovers than those typical Nike or Jordan obsessed hyperbeasts. At the core, they are basically same, same snobbery and mocking attitude towards someone dislike what they love.
To me “hype culture” and “sneaker culture” are two completely different things.
Hype culture= we wear what influencers wear or say cool or cute (or sexy) just like the Beyoncé story above regardless of if you actually like how they look or go well with your style.
Sneaker culture= we simply love sneakers period. You may have certain shoes you like more than others, but the basic notion is If you see shoes you like, you rock even if they’re not “hyped shoes”.
I have been collecting shoes for well over 3 decades myself now: I sold most of my Jordan and NB Made retro stuffs a long time ago, I don't even see the appeal in TS, Yeezy and OW releases. I see even less appeal in buying re-releases of shoes that originally re-released when I started collecting. Nike and Jordan are easily the two most boring brands in the sneaker business right now, only made worse by truly abysmal materials and QC. My workmates who know absolutely nothing about the scene or its history are the kind of people who froth when they see a hype retro release or some trash associated with some "celebrity" or star-ball-player.
Those of us who really care about the ride, the material and the look of shoes get more interested in NB or some lesser name brands like Reebok or Saucony, or even Hoka these days.
Any way all hypes are artificially generated to bring general attention to something that is a bit more niche than mainstream things. Sneakers have had their cult for a long time, more people being interested in them due to collabs and celebrities adds to the hype. It becomes something larger than just the shoes and becomes an interesting- shared experience. Now whether that's bad or good it doesn’t matter because Nike and all these other companies taking advantage of it don’t care. They’ve got a cult of loyal consumer slaves who will willingly pay $180 or more for their abysmal quality garbage shoes that actually cost them $10 to produce. The sneaker companies are the ones winning, not any of us consumers. As a consumer a Win is having the ability to spend money for some Jordans, that's where I think this whole shit is stupid. They should think about how to get them the cheapest possible to win the battle against Nike and the rest of big shoe manufactures. And if they could get them cheap-cheaper than the retail, then they may want to brag about it rather than bragging about how much they stupidly overpaid for a cheap crap pair of shoes or how they get ripped by the manufactures.
But is it really wrong to want hyped sneakers? Nah, of course no, there’s plenty of hyped shoes that I’d love to have just for sheer sake of collection, but at the end of the day I’m going to wear what I think looks good on me or with my styles. I honestly see little to no point in buying any shoes for 2-5x more than MSRP as the resell game is now slowly dying.
It is really stupid to play the raffle now, SNKRS, Confirmed, NB Raffle, etc. are all some sort of cruel Joke. Now, it is not easy to make money on reselling shoes.
Anyway, my rant is over now, I am afraid I may have sounded too angry or depressed. But I still think Adidas is dying and they may become no3 brand in sneaker very soon.