The rise of sneaker culture: The streetwear hype which is becoming luxury. Complications for the industry and the community

• Autor(a) principal: Metos, Nikolaos
• Data de Publicação: 2022
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10071/26274
• topic: Sneakers; Sneakerheads; Streetwear culture; Collaborations; Brand preference; Luxury; Ténis; Cultura do streetwear; Colaborações; Preferência de marca; Luxo

Streetwear and particularly sneakers have gradually evolved from an underground sub-culture to a global phenomenon and fashion trend. The growing interest among the sneakerheads community has brought in new tools and opportunities for businesses that revolve around the love for sneakers. What was once perceived as a pair of athletic shoes with mostly functional value is now considered a demonstration of social status and wealth. Practicality and comfort have been replaced with more hedonistic motivations that are characteristic of conspicuous consumption. A thorough evaluation of the available academic literature produced until present day shows that history and culture of sneakers as well as the evolution of resale market have been well documented, however the sentiments of the sneakerheads regarding the recent shift towards luxury through collaborations is missing. Thus, the objective of this research is to observe the level of approval of various actors in the sneaker community to the phenomenon of “luxurisation” of streetwear culture. This paper also attempts to find answers to the questions: “Can sneakers be considered an entry point to luxury shopping?” and “How important are collaborations between brands for high fashion companies to penetrate the streetwear fashion?”. Sixteen semi-structured, in-depth interviews were conducted for this qualitative research in which Leximancer analysis tool was used to spotlight the essential topics mentioned by the respondents. Results show that there is a notable antithesis between groups of individuals regarding their stance toward luxury entering the world of sneakers and their opinion mainly depends on their function in the sneaker community.