Limited edition sneakers are now hitting the mainstream market
Singapore — Collecting cool and hard-to-get sneakers was once seen as a niche — and slightly geeky — hobby. Not anymore. Sneakers are enjoying their biggest fashion moment yet, globally and locally, inspired by the high fashion runways and the ever-growing popularity of the hip-hop and rap culture. And the local retail landscape catering to this group of hardcore sneaker fans (oftentimes referred to as sneakerheads) has expanded beyond its once niche circle to the mainstream.
Singapore — Collecting cool and hard-to-get sneakers was once seen as a niche — and slightly geeky — hobby. Not anymore. Sneakers are enjoying their biggest fashion moment yet, globally and locally, inspired by the high fashion runways and the ever-growing popularity of the hip-hop and rap culture. And the local retail landscape catering to this group of hardcore sneaker fans (oftentimes referred to as sneakerheads) has expanded beyond its once niche circle to the mainstream.
Case in point — the opening of The Social Foot, a new multi-label sneaker and lifestyle concept store owned by the RSH (Royal Sporting House) group that is targeted at the local sneaker community. The twist to its concept is that it is designed specifically to be as social-media friendly as possible, with features such as a GIF-creating machine that allows you to project the GIF of yourself in your cool new kicks onto the storefront window.
The store on the ground level of Orchard Central, which opened earlier this month, boasts changing ceiling LED lights and a modular interior that can be transformed into an event space. “The Social Foot is positioned to cater to the sneaker community in Singapore,” said David Westhead, CEO of RSH Ltd for Sports, Fashion and Lifestyle for the Asia-Pacific region. “(The Social Foot) is lifestyle and trend-driven, targeted at the social-media generation between the ages of 20 and 35. We imagine our store will be able to host a series of curated events that puts the sneaker community in touch with people they will want to hear from such as designers. We’ve included social-media elements, movable fixtures to change the store into an event space and we are looking to work with industry stalwarts such as (sneaker convention organiser) Sole Superior.” The group is poised to launch 50 similar concept stores in Asia-Pacific over the next five years.
Uniting Local Sneakerheads
Despite the thriving, organically growing community of sneaker fans here, there hasn’t been many opportunities for its members to interact apart from using online forums and Facebook groups. That realisation spurred the creation of Sole Superior three years ago. The annual sneaker and streetwear convention was the brainchild of Dexter Tan and Jonathan Fong, two sneaker fans who wanted to create opportunities for fellow sneakerheads to come together.
Although the community here is still relatively small, “I would say Singapore has some of the most knowledgeable and connected sneaker communities. We have some big-time collectors here with knowledge and collections which are on par with anybody in the world,” said Mandeep Chopra, founder of Limited Edt. True to its name, the speciality sneaker retailer brings in rare and highly-prized limited-edition designs, and first started with a store at Queensway Shopping Centre in 2013. It has since expanded to eight branches across the island, including the new Limited Edt Underground at Somerset 313, which opened last month.
Chopra observes that the number of sneaker fans here has grown by leaps and bounds over the last two years thanks to the rise of social media, with a lot more interest from women in particular. “Although the sneakerhead community is a niche thing, I don’t think (it) can be classified as underground. Kids, whether 10 years ago or now, still want cool sneakers.”
Singapore as a Growing Market
As testament to the burgeoning interest here in these collectible footwear, Limited Edt had collaborated on creating sneaker designs for sneaker giants such as New Balance and Puma. The four SG50-linked limited-edition collaborations last year with Puma, Asics and Adidas featuring uniquely Singaporean motifs such as the Merlion and Vanda Miss Joaquim flower flew off the shelves, with the batik-influenced Limited Edition x Adidas Superstar 80v spotted on the feet of actor Samuel L Jackson at the recent MTV Music Awards.
“Sneakerheads can vary a lot in what drives them. Many say it is about owning shoes they could not afford as a kid. They can be influenced by a favourite athlete or musician; some just like cool collectible stuff whether it is toys or sneakers. Others are motivated by profit, as sometimes, owning coveted sneakers is like owning a commodity that you can trade and sell. Some can be obsessive about their collections — making sure they are in pristine condition and also going to all lengths to get their sneaker, scouring the Internet and paying big money for these prized possessions,” said Chopra.
While these made-in-Singapore designs may signal the growing interest that sneaker brands have here, both retailers and fans bemoan the fact that Singapore lags behind the bigger European and American market for the launch dates of many international covetable collections. Local sneaker fan and media professional Wei Kang acknowledges that while most of these do eventually come to local stores, “it’s annoying for me that you see a particular sneaker all over Instagram but you only get it in our stores a week or more later. For a lot of limited-edition sneakers, it’s all about the hype, but by the time we get it here, the hype has almost already died down.”
The influence of social media on specialty sneaker retail is one that The Social Foot hopes to harness. “The advent of the Internet has a positive impact on the sneaker industry where one can easily research the latest models. By being able to provide instant updates on the availability of these models, it’s a race among retailers to complete the sale,” said Westhead.