To Those Who Remember, What was the Sneaker Game like in the early to mid 1990s?

Everything that's a retro now and a big deal because of the hyped up idea of it being "rare" was current in the 90's and really, so easy to get (if you had the money) that it wasn't a huge deal.

It seemed like people were more into wearing what they liked and willing to experiment with styles, whereas now, everyone that's into sneakers kind of dresses the same or tries to fit a "look".




Sneakers in the 90's were like smartphones are today: everywhere and no one is on your nuts just because you have one. It was just a part of that era. Now that I think of it, cellphones were a bigger deal at the time. :lol: Sneaker were whatever. And dude that said boots were more stylish at the time is right. Everyone had some kind of boots.
 
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one other distinction

back then there weren't two separate lanes like now - the new & the retro (was the word 'retro' coined in '99 on box?)
a few random throwbacks dropped here and there only

so people were all choosing from what was new
so like - some dude like Seinfeld wearing what are now considered classics was a common occurrence
(just dig up some old family photos)

internet - mid-late '90's
 
96 baby 
pimp.gif


wasn't even born yet 
 
i was into shoes and so was my friends but nobody copped because we were too young to have money at that time... but that eastbay catalog would get passed around at the lunch table gossiping about the latest shoes... and believe it or not shoes did sell out back then... when my parents did buy me jays usually after release day i could never get my size and had to resort to a bigger size or was just completely sold out like the 11s or foams
 
you go boy said:
... and believe it or not shoes did sell out back then... when my parents did buy me jays usually after release day i could never get my size and had to resort to a bigger size or was just completely sold out like the 11s or foams
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^
late 90's was kinda like the beginning of all this imo
 
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Nako XL said:
I remember the only people with AM95s in my school (in NY) when they first dropped were the kind of preppy white folk weirdly. This could have been due to socio-economic reasons in my neighborhood of course. (I had a pair of Air Max 93 my dad bought me and basically told me, you're good until you grow out of those.)

But it seemed by fifth grade it turned into an arms race with every kid in the school, who could afford it rocking the newest Barkley's or Agassi's or Jordan's, not even to talk about Larry Johnson Converse or Grant Hill's, or Penny's.
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My hs I went to was 80% minorities, so yes I did stand out with runners. Only dude I remember was the dank man rocking am95. I remember cats rocking bball nike's, kswiss and acg boots. They need to retro my grail am96green/blues!
 
Great post.

I was born in 1980, so the 90s were really 'my time' when it comes to sneakers. My parents wouldn't buy me anything decent until I was 12, and that was a pair of Reebok Hexalites (I still can't track down the model name). By the time I was 14 (in 1994) I started working part-time jobs and that's where things took off for me and I spent every spare cent on kicks.

To answer the question, what was it like?

When the Jordan 1s retro release dropped in 94 they were on the shelves forever. No one bought them and it was pretty much the running joke of the time. No one could figure out why you would buy old shoes when so many great new shoes were on the shelf.

It was all about 'technology' in the 90s. Reebok had pump and Nike had Air. Adidas, Puma, Asics, Saucony all had their own thing going but for me it was always Reebok and Nike streets ahead. It started out that having any air in your shoe was just mind blowing, then there was visible air which just knocked everyone out. After that it was about which shoe had the most visible air......which was easily the Nike Air 180. I still remember the commercial today. The next step was forefoot visible air then zoom air and so on. But technology was definitely a major focus and driver for buying behaviour.

As for endorsements, Jordans were only worn by ballplayers. If you didn't ball and wore ball shoes you were considered a joke. As for seeing seinfeld and fresh prince wearing nice shoes, that didn't really effect me as there was no way I could afford the top end models at that time! That was pie in the sky for me then.

The purchasing experience was definitely more enjoyable too. I was on first name basis with all the footlocker managers and would stop by and call in atleast once a week to see what was up, what they were getting in. I can't remember any shoes selling out in the 90s either. If you wanted it, it was there. The hard part was just staying ahead of what was being released. There was no internet back then so you had to put in the ground work, buy the magazines, talk to the shop owners, try get a look at their stock lists.

There was definitely no game either. There were no resellers back then and I didn't know anyone who had the cash to buy something without wearing it. You bought it you wore it, that was it. If you had a few pairs in rotation at once you could keep them fresh for a little longer.

And finally, the sneaker community was much smaller and the vast majority of people didn't care. At my school I'd say maybe 10% of the guys knew exactly what they were wearing and only half of those had a passion for it.

I miss the 90s!
 
Born in 82. My first pair of J's were the original Infared 6s and i pretty much had them cause Jordan was THAT dude and growing up where I grew up, they was the "cool" joints. If you had on some jordans and a parka aka Starter Jacket, you was doing it!

Anyway, to answer your question OP, there WAS no "sneakergame." Also, people pretty much just copped whatever THEY thought was dope. If your favorite player had a sig shoe, then you'd go and cop that. Back then, you can walk into your neighborhood Copelands, Footlocker, Athlete's Foot, etc and pretty much cop any pair you wanted. If they was sold out, drive down to the next mall, and they'd most likely have it. I NEVER had a problem getting any pairs of kicks back then. It only started geting crazy once this "sneaker game" kicked off. Hell, even during 2003-2005 or so, it was still pretty easy to cop.
 
Thoroughbreds said:
Great post.

I was born in 1980, so the 90s were really 'my time' when it comes to sneakers. My parents wouldn't buy me anything decent until I was 12, and that was a pair of Reebok Hexalites (I still can't track down the model name). By the time I was 14 (in 1994) I started working part-time jobs and that's where things took off for me and I spent every spare cent on kicks.

To answer the question, what was it like?

When the Jordan 1s retro release dropped in 94 they were on the shelves forever. No one bought them and it was pretty much the running joke of the time. No one could figure out why you would buy old shoes when so many great new shoes were on the shelf.

It was all about 'technology' in the 90s. Reebok had pump and Nike had Air. Adidas, Puma, Asics, Saucony all had their own thing going but for me it was always Reebok and Nike streets ahead. It started out that having any air in your shoe was just mind blowing, then there was visible air which just knocked everyone out. After that it was about which shoe had the most visible air......which was easily the Nike Air 180. I still remember the commercial today. The next step was forefoot visible air then zoom air and so on. But technology was definitely a major focus and driver for buying behaviour.

As for endorsements, Jordans were only worn by ballplayers. If you didn't ball and wore ball shoes you were considered a joke. As for seeing seinfeld and fresh prince wearing nice shoes, that didn't really effect me as there was no way I could afford the top end models at that time! That was pie in the sky for me then.

The purchasing experience was definitely more enjoyable too. I was on first name basis with all the footlocker managers and would stop by and call in atleast once a week to see what was up, what they were getting in. I can't remember any shoes selling out in the 90s either. If you wanted it, it was there. The hard part was just staying ahead of what was being released. There was no internet back then so you had to put in the ground work, buy the magazines, talk to the shop owners, try get a look at their stock lists.

There was definitely no game either. There were no resellers back then and I didn't know anyone who had the cash to buy something without wearing it. You bought it you wore it, that was it. If you had a few pairs in rotation at once you could keep them fresh for a little longer.

And finally, the sneaker community was much smaller and the vast majority of people didn't care. At my school I'd say maybe 10% of the guys knew exactly what they were wearing and only half of those had a passion for it.

I miss the 90s!
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Great point regarding correlation with jays and b ball players. Being that I played all 3 major sports, you just felt complete with nike's on your feet.
I remember my mom purchasing me bootleg jordan red 4s. Think they were called void or voit. Moms thought I was on dope thinking she was Gona spend that much on kicks :lol:
Worked with pops & uncles busting concrete and laying bricks after school/weekends and saved my inns for kicks. Use to clean shoes every day after use with toothbrush and soap and lean em over dryer or heater vent to dry.
Good times breh
 
green rhino123 said:
 
Nako XL said:
Did things actors and celebrities like Will Smith, Corey from Boy Meets World, and Jerry Seinfeld wear really influence your purchases?

Did seeing Jordans on tv make you want to go out and buy them more, were you even up on J's like that?
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it was just a bonus
more so than now perhaps - less in the know so to speak

also - i got my white-cement 3's in my adult size months after they came out

i was influenced by seeing them in store, on peoples feet - you have to understand how many more bells & whistles nike air's had over competition, how new some models looked
nike air sneakers were the first ones i feel that completely broke away from everyone else with cutting edge midsole construction starting around 1987 - a big deal to my sensibilities


nike endorsers like jordan made em best on shelf & best in game - sold

guess i'm including the late '80's as well


honestly - timbos & boots were cutting into sneaker sales big time in the early 90s tho
some sneakers started resembling boot construction as a result
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@green rhino123

I remember being enamored with Nike at a super young age just because of the shoe designs, especially the visible air bubble.

It wasn't even about the endorsers (Penny Hardaway and Pippen were my favorite players and to this day I've still only owned 2 or 3 of each player's shoes) and I didn't care so much that Jordan wore his sneakers as much as i was wowed by the way the Jordan XI looked.

I remember people being just as wowed with wacky designs like the all silver Grant Hill sneakers

fila-grant-hill-iv-4.jpg


and the zig zags on the shawn kemp's

reebok-kamikaze-ii-2-shawn-kemp-original.jpg
 

it felt like back then Nike wasn't as universally loved and considered the favorite the way it is now.

You could wear some Stacks and be just as fly as dude in some C. Webbs

Jerry-Stackhouse-Previews-Upcoming-Fila-Vintage-Collection.jpg


500x1000px-LL-c79efa16_SAM_2741.jpeg
 
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KingKoopa said:
No way you copped a pair of 12's or 13's by yourself.

I'm 28 and they came out when we was in the 6th grade
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@KingKoopa

They came out fall I think my 7th grade year. I had saved allowance, worked errands, and skipped lunch (about $3-5) every day for two months saving up for something else, I forget what, when they came out and once I saw them I used the money to buy those.

Wore them to school once and my mom was like "where did you get the money for that???" realized what I'd done and told my dad. He took them away and said he was returning them but put them at the top of his closet next to my nintendo until the next spring or summer.

My mom also packed me weak sandwiches for lunch everyday for the rest of the year.
 
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These same Jordans that people lust over and sell out before you wake up could be had days, weeks and in some cases months after. The 1994 Jordan retros rotted at retail at places like VIM to the point where they became "table" sneakers you could have had for $25.
 
Yea shoes wasn't a problem back in 90s bought ma first pair of penny's and it just felt so good to buy my own **** with my own hard earned money. This was like 97 minimum wage was 5.15 hr kicks were around 100 if u a sz 12. They were ******* tanks!! Every Friday me n the fellas would hit a mall, give the beeper # to a trick or two and look for new kicks. If it was on the shelf they had it. In a way internet made it what it is today. Smh
 
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The people that influated my shoe game in the mid 90's were probably my parents. I was only like 6. They bought all my kicks
 
Nako XL said:
Paging @illphillip
and other old *** NTers :lol:
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First off, **** you. :lol:

It's crazy because I don't even know how to use that @ **** but I just stumble upon these.

To address a few of your questions, celebs wearing sneakers didn't really mean anything to me.

It was about 2 groups.

The ball players. Basketball of course.

And the drug dealers around my way, who always had the fly ****.

What's crazy is people would wear their sneakers out of the story sometime just to get them on the block as soon as possible.

Where now, you keep them on ice forever then bust them out.

There weren't a ton of Nike models. But they made AF1's, Dunks, AF2's in every color for the college teams. So I knew dudes who had EVERY color of some sneakers to match their outfits. It was when they broke out the Forest Green joints. Or the Orange. Or the Maroon. That's when I'd be like "daaaaaaamn".

Jordans were popular. Expensive. People were getting robbed for them. But nothing like now in terms of popularity I feel like.

People wore everything. I remember Filas being popular with the dealers. Diadora. Lotto.

I had a pair of Dominique Wilkins Brooks sneaker. And Olajuwons Etonics.

It was more about being unique and having your own **** than having the same J's everyone else owns.

Just some quick musings. I'll return with more.

Ty would be a good dude to have in here as well.

EDIT I just realized a lot of my references actually date back to the late 80's. Someone mentioned that Timberland was cutting into the footwear game in a major way in the early/mid 90's.

And this held true for me.
 
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damn son I was born in 94 and i can tell you the sneaker game was CRAAAZZZZZZZYYYYY back in the 90s.

If you think its crazy today, trust me, it was crazier back then.
 
Only athletes influenced the sneakerheads in the 90s. Nike commercials. If you follow other people tv or friends and try to get same kicks they would be sold out of your size by the time you want to cop. And another dope new 90s shoe came out.
 
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i don't really think Celebrities TV actors really influence me to buy kick. I only wanted them cuz some of my favorite players were wearing them at the time on tv or cards/magazine. Air Jordans, Grant hills,, Pennys, Pippens, Griffey, zoom turf, foamposite, Silver Total Foamposite, Air max upempo, Flightposite, etc were all purchase because of it

Buying Shoes was so much easier back then lol..Just about everythang was on sale, the rack, or outlet.

My first pair of Air Jordan were the shadow X pass down to me by my aunt after she bought the 11. I still remember the size. It was a 7.5. She got it on sale at Florin Mall for 55 bucks.

My first pair as a kid that I bought with my own money was one of these shoes. Can't remember which came out first.
View media item 1172506or
View media item 1172596

What I did to to help me finance these shoes were cut grass for my neighborhood to finance these shoes, saved up money by not eating at lunch, and money from like birthdays and new years cuz momz wasn't spending 150 on no kicks. Gave me an ear full.

Eastbay/ Slam Magazine were my main source to know what shoes were coming out. Alot of times I was buying the on sale shoes while other kids were wearing the newest models :\...Like kids were wearing the newest Jordan 19 model while I order a pair of 12 for 49.99. Had to get my uncles and aunt to order it for me since i didn't have a credit card/bank account. I sure as hell am not asking my mom lol...I don't know if any of you guys remember but when the XI black/red originally release news outlets were calling them gang affiliate shoes. I had given my money to my uncle to buy and when he showed up with them my mom try to make him return it :smh:....but he didn't. Just kept it for me until I was able to sneak it in my house.

Around the first retro 11, thing started to get crazy. Spacejam, Columbia, and Concord copped without any problem or line up. When the Cool Grey released it was mayhem. Never seen anything like it. Dudes were getting shot/killed/robbed at gun point. Me and my uncle was at Florin Mall and was scared to death. If NTers were at that release they will tell you it was crazy. If I remember correctly, @GetHigh420 was there also. He'll tell you
View media item 1172586Then when the Black/red 11 retro, that was the first time I see dudes camping out for shoes. The hype was crazy too. Bringing tents and camping gear and camping outside of Arden Fair Mall :lol:
Around this time, I found NT. NT and Air-Jordans.com became my source of info....Peep the sign :wink:


Even though I have much more to see, I'll end it here...didn't mean for my comment to go this long.
 
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