Jose Colon has spent around $150,000 on sneakers in the last three years.
Colon’s sneaker craze started when his 13-year-old son started asking for expensive shoes. If you like shoes so much, Colon told him, you can sell yours and use the money to buy new ones.
Three years later, his son has lost interest, and Colon’s the one that’s hooked.
“Once you have that rush of buying, buying, buying, it’s like a drug. You can’t stop,” he said, standing in front of a table piled high with sneakers of all shapes and sizes.
Credit: Chaya Tong
Credit: Chaya Tong
He’s one of hundreds who came to Atlanta on Saturday for Sneaker Con, a global convention that turns cities into sneaker hubs for trading, collecting, buying, selling and obsessing over shoes. It’s part consumer frenzy, part art show and part social gathering – all united around the sneaker subculture built on soles and status.
This was Colon’s first time in Atlanta even though his family member, David Justice, used to play for The Braves. But Colon made the 10-hour drive from Miami on Saturday for just one thing: Sneaker Con.
Cobb Galleria transformed from event space to sneaker city as fans and celebrities, buyers and sellers poured in from all over. The convention, which goes from city to city around the world, prides itself on being “the greatest sneaker show on Earth.” Most vendors are local; some local follow the conference from stop to stop.
This week, it’s Atlanta’s turn. Next up is Tokyo.
Sneaker Con has had an Atlanta stop on its itinerary for the last 10 years. Jabari Lewis, media director for the convention, said the crowds, environment and sellers in Atlanta are extra special.
“Atlanta is one of our favorite cities,” he said. “The love is just so intense here.”
Colon said it’s the sneaker community he’s built that has kept him coming back to the convention since he attended his first Sneaker Con three years ago.
“I’m welcome here like a family member,” he said, proudly displaying his Powerpuff Girls T-shirt paired with bright blue sneakers. “This is like a gathering. We’re not in church, though.”
Ironically, Sneaker Con started in a church – a church basement in New York City, to be exact - where so-called “sneaker heads” would come together to buy and sell shoes.
Today, they’re still doing the same thing. But today’s Sneaker Con is a far cry from a church basement. Massive Sneaker Con globes hang from the ceiling.
Celebrity influencers like online streamer Kai Cenat and comedian HaHa Davis roam the room. And of course, everywhere you look, there are sneakers – in piles, on tables, in display cases or just laid out on the floor.
The crowd bustles around the room buying and selling, trading, vlogging. Some follow celebrities like Cenat around the room, straining to get a peek at which shoes he picks out. Some line up for a different kind of elite: celebrity resellers.
Credit: Chaya Tong
Credit: Chaya Tong
Culture Kicks shop, run by Chase Young and Sam Holland, command a booth, two cameras to livestream the event and a long line of hopeful sellers. Sneaker Con has taken them around the country and world, including Australia, Holland’s favorite, and Detroit, Young’s favorite.
Young said the two have been buying shoes all day, but that the best buy was the stuff they bargained down to free – including a couple of pairs worth $120.
It’s not just celebrity sellers or brand names at Sneaker Con.
Credit: Chaya Tong
Credit: Chaya Tong
19-year-old Guillermo Vargas has been coming to Sneaker Con in different cities for the past ten years. He drove in from North Carolina. Vargas said sneakers have always been his passion. He’s been selling them on Instagram for the last six years. Since graduating high school, it’s become his livelihood.
Scott Cormack and his wife, Sarah Watts, are first time convention goers. Cormack, who owns 75 pairs of sneakers, has brought four to sell. He’s on the hunt for two types of sneakers, one of which he finds easily – Travis Scott Velvet Brown Air Jordans. The other, Nike Hayley Wilsons, he’s still searching for.
Credit: Chaya Tong
Credit: Chaya Tong
In the back of the room against the wall is the trading pit, a free-for-all zone where smaller sellers lay out their goods on the floor, hoping to make a sale. Chanel Cornett, an Atlanta native who inherited her love of sneakers from her father, sits behind a wagon and four pairs of shoes, their prices labeled on notebook paper.
“I try to look for things that I wanted as a kid,” she said. “Things that are nostalgic.”
It’s her second sneaker con and already, she’s sold four pairs for $100 each. But she’s in it for passion, not profit. She’s also in it for the community
“There’s a diverse range of ages. I’ve seen kids. I’ve seen older people, men, women, diverse in ethnicity,” she said. “So it’s a big melting pot, which I also love.”
Credit: Chaya Tong
Credit: Chaya Tong
Unlike some people at Sneaker Con, flipping sneakers is a side hobby for Cornett. By day, she’s an attorney in Midtown at a consulting firm for tech companies. Despite a changing world, she said, the sneaker business is a constant.
“The one cool thing about sneakers is, we’re always going to need shoes,” she said.
“I know AI is putting people out of business,” she added, glancing out across the convention hall. “But sneakers will be here forever.”
About the Author
Keep Reading
The Latest
Featured
