Sneakers

"This is the first academic study of sneakers and the subculture that surrounds them. Since the 1980s, members of American sneaker subcultures, popularly known as "sneakerheads" or "sneakerholics", have created a distinctive identity for themselves, while sneaker manufacturers such as Reebok, Puma and Nike have become global fashion brands. How have sneakers come to gain this status and what makes them attractive? In what ways are sneaker subcultures bound up with gender identity and why are sneakerholics mostly men? Based on the author's own ethnographic fieldwork in New York, where sneaker…