Slam Dunking
Looking around campus you’ll notice that there are an increasingly large percentage of girls who have kicked their heels or plain sneakers to the way-side, and have opted for a more masculine version of sneakers: dunks.
Across campus, girls have been rocking various Nike dunks with a sense of flair. The people at Nike caught onto this and have started manufacturing dunks with more feminine colors and also an option to create your own dunk online, NIKEiD.
Nike Dunks
However, there might be something more to this, then just a mere trend. There are websites and blogs which are catered toward sneaker fans documenting news within this industry, updating fans when shoes are being produced, who’s producing them, where you can get it, and how. Now, celebrities are teaming up with shoe company’s to brand their own style such as Scarlet Johansson for Reebok and Kayne West for Air Yeezy.
“I actually don’t believe its a trend, but a culture,” says Sarah Abram, a U of Michigan senior from Manhattan, NY. “I think what happened was that a hip-hop culture of sneaker heads and the skateboarding culture merged… Before this merger the more old school/hip-hop culture was about collecting, staying on top of what was new and knowing your stuff.”
“Finding the rarest most sought after pair was every collectors objective, aesthetics aside. The introduction of skateboarding into this culture with Nike sb’s added a new element and familiarity (for a lot of white middle class America) with sneaker culture…. Sneaker blogs such as Kix-files and magazines like Sneaker Freaker have gone from specialized publications most similar to Becketts to mainstream style media,” said Sarah.
Personally, I am a fan. Anything that makes it so UGGS are not wore every single day by every single girl, I am a definite fan of.
I’ve got a pair of shoes somewhat similar to those (DC Manteca Mid) and though I don’t wear them often due to their neon color, I always get a billion “Holy crap your shoes are so cool!” comments when I slip them on. Plus they’re super-comfy, versatile, and, like you pointed out, not UGGs.