In an interview with Forbes, Kanye West said that his sneakers’ ‘purpose’ are to bring people an incalculable level of joy. I love this notion, and that incalculable level of joy that he mentioned in that interview lives within me and my passion for sneakers. For those of you who don’t know me, I am Andrew Joiner (Drew for short). I am a former member of DU’s men’s basketball team and Sole Stories is an expression of my love for sneakers and sneaker culture. From breathing, eating and sleeping basketball at DU to starting my own column in partnership with the Clarion, I am excited to be giving my opinion about sneakers and who is wearing what at DU.
All right, enough of introductions. Let’s get into this column’s topic, which is a general dissection of the sneaker community that the DU has. The sneaker community at DU is comprised of several different groups at the university from international students, fraternity and sorority students, students of color and everyone else in between. It is truly amazing to see how everyone wears different sneaker styles and interesting to see how they express themselves through their sole. Some of the most prominent sneaker brands worn on DU’s campus include Nike, Adidas, Vans, Converse and Gucci. A few of the most worn sneaker silhouettes from these brands include high priced and highly sought after sneakers such as the Adidas Yeezy 350 V2 Boost, Adidas Yeezy 700s and Gucci Trainers. The overwhelming majority of campus has more of what traditional general release (GR) sneakers which include Converse Chuck Taylor All-stars, Vans Era’s and Adidas Stan Smith’s, just to name a few. DU’s sneaker community from the perspective of current Sneaker Head and sneaker lover has pockets of diversity but a lot of similarities from the majority of student body.
Nonetheless, a community that I think truly expresses their identity through their sneaker is the International Student community. The students that come in from East Asia more times than not bring with them some of the most exclusive and sought after sneakers in the sneaker market. Sneakers that when they walk by, I break my neck just to get a closer look at what is on their feet. Because of this community I have seen some of the most amazing sneakers on DU’s campus such as the Sean Wotherspoon Air Max 1/97’s and the Jordan 1 Retro High Off-White Chicago’s.
It will be really exciting to see what sneaker styles will be displayed around campus as we get deeper and deeper into Fall. The weather in fall forces people to wear more clothes and really show off their wardrobe. I can’t wait to see how people pull together interesting outfits with the sneakers that they own as the leaves begin to fall around them.
