‘Heat on your feet’

The beautiful thing about a pair of sneakers is its different purpose depending on whom you ask. Much like sports fans choose their teams, acquiring a particular style or brand of sneaker comes down to preference — whether it’s the look and make of the shoe, the popularity of it, or its comfortability, among other factors.

When considering the sneaker city hubs in America, New York, Los Angeles, or even Miami may first come to mind. But in just the first six months of 2024, several new or recurring sneaker celebrations have popped up in the Philadelphia area.

In an era where accessing the latest shoe release is at the tip of our fingertips and involves a battle against hundreds of thousands of people (and bots) across the country, seeing an actual line wrapped around several Center City blocks is a welcome change. That was the scene near Lapstone & Hammer at 11th and Chestnut Streets during the exclusive local drop of the Nike Dunk Low “Philly” shoes — “For Philly, by Philly,” as Nike captioned it.

But that’s not the only way sneakers are acquired. Got Sole brought its sneaker convention to the Philly area for the first time, about four months after Sneaker Con — and Donald Trump — came to Center City, allowing people to buy, sell, trade, and barter for their desired pair.

Capping a string of events within the sneaker community was former Eagles safety Rodney McLeod’s fourth annual Sneaker Ball, which brings together “fashion and style meeting philanthropy,” and puts people from various arenas, from local politicians to noteworthy local athletes, past and present, in the same room. The black tie gala emphasizes wearing sneakers of your choice as a “great conversation starter,” McLeod said.

In talking with sneakerheads, shoe store owners, athletes, and everyone in between, it’s become clear that Philly not only has roots in the sneaker world, but the city has its own unique flavor, style, and diversity of brands.

And Philadelphians take pride in what’s on their feet.

However you can twist it and just have some heat on your feet that everybody don’t got.

“In a city like Philly that is for the culture and everybody kind of understands basketball and that kind of urban culture — sneakers are part of that,” said former Eagle Malcolm Jenkins, who owns the local menswear store Damari Savile. “That is the cornerstone of the fit most of the time.”

Indianapolis Colts linebacker and Philadelphia native Zaire Franklin added: “Philly sneaker culture, it’s more of a ‘If you know, you know.’ … I feel like in Philly it’s not really about the trendiest sneaker or the sneaker that everybody is talking about, it’s more so the sneaky finds, like the Asics or the New Balances.

“However you can twist it and just have some heat on your feet that everybody don’t got.”

Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts, a Jordan brand athlete, has all eyes on him before, during, and after Eagles games. Hurts almost always has a fresh pair of Jordan cleats, which have become his standard on-field choice.

Whether it was debuting his Air Jordan IV PE cleats during last year’s home finale at Lincoln Financial Field, wearing his Jordan 11′s in the first quarter of the Eagles’ Super Bowl matchup with the Chiefs, then switching to the Air Jordan 1′s for the remainder of the game, it’s clear Hurts has a sleek style he flaunts. He even recently teased a special custom pair of cleats he will wear during the Eagles’ Week 1 matchup against the Packers in São Paulo, Brazil.

But he’s not the only Eagles player who is particular with his footwear. Longtime defensive end Brandon Graham, who attended his first Sneaker Ball last week, said that, growing up, “all I ever wanted to do was save money and get some sneakers.”

“I’m a Jordan guy, I definitely rock Jordans all the time, I like to put on a good shoe when I step out with my wife,” said Graham, who is entering his 15th and final NFL season. “When you get them, you want to make sure when you take them out of the box, that it’s a good moment for you to shine with your shoes.”

McLeod, who spent six years in Philly before spending the last two in Cleveland and Indianapolis, respectively, is heavily into fashion, especially when it comes to sneakers. McLeod and his wife, Erika, began the Change Our Future Foundation, which has headquarters in Bala Cynwyd. They aim to empower youth through education, awareness, and advocacy.

McLeod has seen just how important sneakers have become, not just within the Black community, but how they transcend backgrounds, races, and genders.

“I would say in Philadelphia specifically, and I think even just worldwide now, you’ve seen the sneaker community increase rapidly over the years, to now where everybody’s fighting for not only a Jordan release, but a [Nike] Dunk release,” McLeod said before the Sneaker Ball. “There’s lines down the street for sneakers and it looks a lot different. For instance, in fashion, it kind of starts and lives with the Black community. But now, sneakers have spread to all sorts of ethnicities, ages, religions, all sort of backgrounds. And so it’s cool to see kind of all walks of life care about sneakers and then wear them with confidence.

“It’s special to be able to host the Sneaker Ball that brings in both worlds, the fashion forward and the sneaker community tied in with the charitable aspect and all those things you know live here in Philly.”

It even extends to the baseball diamond, where Phillies star Bryce Harper just debuted custom Wawa-inspired ‘Gottahava Harper’ cleats, the second in his collection of his ninth signature shoe. Under Armour, the brand he’s signed to, helped facilitate the collaboration, after Harper unveiled his latest signature cleats in London. It’s clear, like Hurts, that he keeps fresh heat on his feet.

But when the Nike Philly Dunks came out last month, it was Bryson Stott and the Phillie Phanatic who helped showcase the shoe — with plenty of local Easter eggs inside of them — through a collaboration between Nike and the Phillies. Stott is a collector himself, and said earlier this month that he owns 150 to 200 pairs of sneakers.He’s a big fan of Nike Dunks in general, but also liked Nike’s shoe collaboration with rapper Travis Scott.

Even on the soccer pitch, Union coach Jim Curtin brings the heat with his own sneaker collection, which he estimates was about 250 pairs a few years ago. Curtin, who says he wears the Nike Air Jordan 1s and Nike SB Dunks frequently, parlayed his fresh kicks on the sideline into a deal with Nike.

“We need to be people ... and express ourselves in different ways. Since we’ve started to think like that as a club, we’ve found a tremendous amount of success,” Curtin said in 2022.

Lapstone & Hammer also collaborated with Curtin and a few Union players for a Union collection a few years back.

While sports are a logical place to start in discussing sneaker and sneaker culture, plenty of people outside the game share a strong connection to shoes. And everybody seems to have their own reasons.

Quamir Wilford, 23, lives in Delaware but is from North Philly. Collecting sneakers has always been a hobby, but he’s turned it into a full-fledged online business. Wilford was hooked after getting a pair of Jordans when we was around 9 years old and enjoying the attention he received at school because of the shoes.

He now operates his business, Bagchaser Shoe Restorations, out of his home. And in addition to buying, selling, and trading sneakers, he also restores shoes, which could entail cleaning sneakers or gluing the stitching back together.

Wilford has been building up his collection with his own money since 2019 and said “I’ve seen people come and go” in regard to how the sneaker business can quickly turn over. But more important, he said, he appreciates bringing older sneakers back to life through his restoration.

“Mainly I cater to the hype beasts because they be asking for more of the hyper releases, but for me personally, I love older pairs, so that I can appreciate where they came from,” Wilford said in front of his shoe display at Got Sole. “Everybody got a reason why they loved them, whether they stood outside to go get them or whether they was feeling fly in school when they got them. So when I get to restore them and re-glue them and bring them back to life, like a pair from 2000 or 2005, now somebody can wear them in 2024.”

“I’m like a professional recycler,” he added with a laugh.

While some have found comfort being a part of the sneaker business, others find comfort in sneakers showcasing who they are, like Robyn Addis, 41, of Narberth. Addis, who grew up in Northern Virginia, said sneakers allow her to be comfortable with herself: “I’m not dressing for anybody else. I’m not buying shoes for anybody else … it’s about what makes me happy and I’m showing up authentically as myself,” she said earlier this month.

Sneakers can also create bonds within families, which Mike “Meech” Milici and his three sons can attest to. Milici, a Northeast Philly native, once flipped sneakers for profit over a decade ago but now has narrowed his collection to about 100 pairs shared with his boys, something his oldest son, Joey, said he plans to continue when he has kids.

Anwar Daniels has been fascinated by sneakers since he was growing up in Philly, always wanting the latest pair of Jordans. As with many others, however, his parents didn’t want to spend the money to buy them. So Daniels, now a 38-year-old attorney in Washington, vowed to buy his own shoes once he had his own money.

And that’s exactly what he did — many, many times. He has more than 400 pairs of shoes in his collection, many of which are displayed in clear cases as a backdrop in meetings when he works from home. And the types of sneakers vary: from Jordans to Adidas and a lot of New Balances recently. Daniels said he now buys a lot of “old man sneakers” to keep his feet comfortable.

The latest in his collection? The Nike Philly Dunks. Daniels drove through the night, arriving at 1 a.m. on the morning of May 30, the first day the shoes went on sale at Lapstone & Hammer, just to get in line.

“I’m happy Philadelphia has been recognized for its freshness,” Daniels said. “Everyone always talks about these other cities where they invented fresh, but I think fresh honestly originated in Philadelphia. There’s so many examples of Philadelphians just being fresh around the world. I’m happy we’re getting our just due with our own sneaker finally.”

Brian Nadav saw firsthand how sneakers, fashion, and community go hand-in-hand growing up. City Blue, which opened in 1981 at 13th and Market Streets, is owned by his father, Joseph. The company, one of the first streetwear stores in the city, has since opened 25 stores in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, and Ohio.

Nadav, a Temple alumnus who opened Lapstone & Hammer in 2015, is passionate about sneakers and the community that has been built around them. He and his team at Lapstone & Hammer, along with Creme, played a big part in designing the Philly Dunks, which included a tour with Nike around the city.

But he said his shop represents more than just sneakers, fashion, and streetwear.

“We’re not a nonprofit group, but we’re streetwear, we’re a community, we’re a store and so the most that we can offer is to help use our platform — right? — to help elevate these other individuals and organizations that are doing amazing work,” Nadav said before the Nike Philly Dunk release. “We do an artist series where we take local artists and put their work — fashion designers I’m speaking about — we feel that their work is as important and can stand up to and be as compelling as these international designers that we carry in the store.

We’re not a nonprofit group, but we’re streetwear, we’re a community, we’re a store and so the most that we can offer is to help use our platform ...

“We are seeing people stay in the city because of how livable and how much of the quality of life here that you can have as opposed to one of these top-notch, very expensive cities. So we’re part of that narrative that’s like, ‘You don’t have to leave Philly to make it big. You don’t have to leave Philly to be successful.’”

Jordan Green, the owner of Status on South Street, moved to Philadelphia from Virginia after he and his business partner split up. The 31-year-old Green has been into sneakers since 2004, but he couldn’t afford the shoes he wanted to buy until he bought his first pair of Jordans when he got his first job at 15.

In August, his streetwear and sneaker store will be open for two years. Green saw an opportunity in the local market, as “a lot of people do consignment or buy, sell, and trade.” One thing he’s noticed is how Philly’s sneakerheads stay true to themselves. It also helps, Green said, that his wife is from Philly.

“Philly is going to be Philly,” Green said in front of his store’s display at the Got Sole event a few weeks ago. “Everyone is very organic, they do what they want, wear what they want, and I think they express that very well through the sneakers that they wear.

“The main thing I’ve seen is really the transfer over to more affordability for things that you’re going to wear on a daily basis instead of buying it because it’s the coolest sneaker.”

“It’s a Philly thing” — at least that’s what Hurts, a Houston native, famously said when describing the city’s passionate fans and their support of the Eagles. Well, the same can be said about the Philly’s sneaker community. It’s unique, it’s different, but it’s also inclusive.

Authenticity can’t be replicated. And Philly’s shoe culture has plenty of it.