Ah, culture vultures. Those who steal traits, language or fashion from a certain group in order to create their own false identities. People who leech the good out of something, and cause outsiders looking in to stereotype. Every subculture has their own set of culture vultures, and the sneaker world is no exception.
There’s three main kinds of culture vultures that you may come across during your experiences in the sneaker game, and we’ve got them all listed here for you so you can identify them easily and keep them at arm’s length. Let’s get right into it.
Resellers
There’s no more blatant and obvious type of sneaker culture vulture than the reseller. Resellers use people’s passion and love for sneakers to charge them exorbitant prices for the kicks that they want. We all understand the hustle, and that it’s important to make a buck or two when you can, but overcharging the living shit out of people for something they’re passionate about isn’t the way to do it. To make matters worse, some resellers even try to act like they’re sneakerheads themselves. You’re not a real sneakerhead if you’re out here laying shameless taxes on the community.
Shameless Hypebeasts
We’ve all got a little hypebeast in us. It’s part of the game, and it’s unavoidable. Companies are great at getting us caught up in the hype for various kicks. However, the shameless hypebeast is a culture vulture for two reasons: he lacks knowledge, and he’s thirsty for anything that’s “hot” at the moment. These are the types of people that would go nuts over Court Classics (look em’ up) if Kanye wore them, and seem to lack any ability to think for themselves. They just want to take part in sneaker culture to get whatever’s in so they can be “cool”
The Mindless Consumer
Finally, the mindless consumer. The mindless consumer found out about sneakers recently, and although he’s only been collecting for a year or two, he has more heat (and far less sneaker knowledge) than you do due to his no limit American Express that his father pays off at the end of every month, or due to his lack of a house or car (or a rent payment). It’s easy to build a sneaker collection when all you do is spend and spend on every release, and the mindless consumer is on here because he goes hand-in-hand with the reseller…he’s the only one that can afford (or choses to) to pay the prices that the reseller charges. Anyone can buy sneakers if they have the money, but not everyone loves sneakers. The mindless consumer is a perfect example of the gluttony that can run rampant in the sneaker game.
There it is in a nutshell. Three sneaker game culture vultures. Any other types you can think of? Let us know in the comments, or on Twitter.
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