Sneakerheads converged on DC’s convention center in August for the city’s annual Sneaker Con, which featured more than 200 vendors selling and trading shoes, streetwear, and memorabilia. We spoke to a few attendees about the footwear they were sporting.
1
Piper Holly, an online content creator, was wearing the Air Jordan 1 Zoom CMFT 2 x Teyana Taylor. The kicks, also called “A Rose From Harlem,” are a collaboration between Nike and the One Battle After An-other actor. “You won’t find a lot of sneakers like this,” Holly said. “I like unique detail—that’s part of my style.”
2
Ruen Baker has been building his sneaker collection since he was 13. Now 20, he owns more than 400 pairs, which he estimated cost him more than $300,000. His carefully curated Supreme outfit was half blue, half red, complete with one Air Jordan 4 Retro Flyknit in each color. What inspired it? “America,” he said.
3
These pearl-studded Lanvins were the key part of Bella Trivane’s outfit. “I usually pick something that’s loud and catches the eye, and then I wear something more muted on top,” she said.
4
Brian Strong won these vivid Nike x Cactus Plant Flea Market dunks in a raffle. He came to the convention to sell shoes from his collection, which he has built up over about ten years. “Right now I got, like, 40 [pairs of] shoes, and I don’t wear them for work, so they’re just kind of a collection.”
5
Craft Sutton’s interest in sneakers goes beyond the aesthetic and into the academic, as he said he studies connections between sneakers and Black history. Sutton traveled from southern Virginia to the convention and wore bright-pink Hyperflight DMVs, which pay tribute to DC and feature embroidered cherry blossoms.
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Another pair of Nikes—this time paying tribute to the Grateful Dead and its connections to Oregon, where Nike is based—were worn by Matt Latif, who got into sneakers only about a year ago. “I went from having probably five pairs that you would pick up at Target to over 100 pairs.”
