Source: air_beau23 on Instagram.
Countless profiles are fill with semi-professional, user-generat content . For many collectors, it is an art to post beautiful photos in which their shoes play the leading role. The number of followers of these accounts can reach hundrs of thousands. In this way, sneaker giants reach millions of potential customers with the help of passionate ambassadors, without spending a cent.
It is striking that there is rarely a face to be seen on the profiles. The content (and user name) is therefore almost never link to someone’s personal life. On the one hand, this reinforces the role of the shoe. On the other hand, this is also a security measure. A collection worth €50,000+ is no longer rare.
Screenshot from the sneaker account @NikeairM3II3r on Instagram
‘Sneaker circle’ – source: @NikeairM3ll3r on Instagram.
hoarding
A shoe doesn’t just become a sought-after collector’s item. A well-thought-out process preces this. What works for kids with Pokémon industry email list (Gotta catch ‘m all), works the same way for sneakerheads. A good example is the release of different ‘packs’. In this case, a series of different sneakers with a certain theme are releas in phases. Collectors must have the complete series, even if they don’t like some of the designs.
What always works is a shoe that is design in collaboration with an artist, performer or athlete ( collab ). Collabs between Nike and for example artist Piet Parra , Kanye West or the Japanese fashion store Atmos are instant hits. The most recent example is the hype surrounding the Patta Waves pack. At the release of the first version, the Patta x Nike Air Max 1 ‘Monarch’, the next color combination was already hint at. Also call color way . Soon zoom-in photos with snippets of the next must-haves circulat on all social mia, forums and WhatsApp groups.
Screenshot of the @AirMAFK account on Instagram
‘Twe pack’ – source: @AirMAFK on Instagram.
The WhatsApp group: a contemporary society
An important part of the community are the many WhatsApp groups about sneakers. Often you are only admitt via-via and you have to comply with the rules of the administrators. Think of ‘respect each other’ and ‘selling counterfeit = get out’.
A good example is the GruppoBigFeet45+, a group for people with sizes that are above average. In this group, members offer their sneakers at a friendly price and ask each other for advice on things like the value or authenticity of a model (price check, legit check – PC/LC). They also talk about the (un)reliability of certain traders and help each other in the search for that one search engine optimization mails pair that is still missing from someone’s collection.
Since I join this group, with no less than 220 participants, I am daily amaz by the level of friendliness and helpfulness among the members. In jargon beautifully express with ‘a high level of favor’.
Hype building
Nike announces early on that shelves. With sneak preview photos and cryptic social posts and teasers they enthuse the target group at an early stage tiktok got us dancing . Nike rarely announces when the sale ( release ) will start exactly. After every piece of news or ‘leak’ information, the online world goes wild.