EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The purpose of this report was to focus on sneaker culture and consumption behaviors of self-identified Sneaker-heads. The sneaker culture was first considered as a subculture of basketball players and fans. In time, it transformed into a fashion trend that entices high end brands to join the game and to create products that appeal to consumers with different backgrounds. This report sets out to summarize and gain a broader understanding of brand preferences, and brand identities that may exist within Sneaker-head culture. Applied ethnography was employed as the theoretical framework for this research. Moreover, the findings of this study further define the culture of a Sneaker-head and illuminate on their consumption behaviors and practices within the community. Specifically, the unique culture of Sneaker-heads indicates an understandable sense of group identity as it relates to motivations, behavior, and brand identity within the Sneaker-head community.
KEY POINTS
- Explore how people interact with one another in the sneaker community of the R/sneakers reddit page
- Understand the values and roles of what sneaker play in participants lives in the sneaker community
- Learn about what influences a participant to purchase sneakers
- Understand the values and roles of what sneaker play in participants lives in the sneaker community
- Learn about what influences a participant to purchase sneakers
DESIGN TEAM
Project Manager
UX Researcher Tililade Faminu |
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UX Researcher
Sabina Siddiqui |
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UX Researcher
Witty Boateng |
INTRODUCTION
Utilizing the tool of the Internet to connect people, regardless of place or time, we discover the notion of a virtual form of ethnography. The internet allows for live video chat interviews which are valuable research considerations. This study reports on Sneaker-heads, sneaker culture, and consumption behaviors of self identified Sneaker-heads. Moreover, it is the position of this ethnographic research that we would be able to share and develop new insights into being online researchers. Further, we feel that we were able to engage conversation beyond the range of many traditional face to face interview sessions, considering that the participants thoroughly enjoy more casual interviews and often being organic with their interactions with us. The internet allows for ease in these interactions by allowing interviews to take place while people continue their everyday lives.
DESIGN METHODOLOGY
The main purpose of the ethnographic approach was to gauge a better understanding of observations, interviews, and analysis. In an attempt to contain the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), institutions across the country have adopted social distancing measures and enacted stay-at-home orders. It is essential to emphasize the notion that we were working online because online interviewing can offer something that face-to-face methods cannot, as well as encouraged safety precautions.
For this study, we did an applied ethnography to learn about relationships between people and several aspects of their life, such as history, culture, and behavior consumptions. To begin, we filled out a research form for our professor in order to set the foundation of our student project. In this research form, we had to choose what specifically we wanted to study, why we wanted to study this culture, and agree on what our research questions were going to be. For our field study, we discovered an interesting subculture that helped us tell the story of this report. We wanted to study sneaker collectors on Sneakers Reddit page because they have 2.3 million members and counting. This subculture contains users from all around the world who converse about their favorite sneaker brands and styles and share images and ideas on this public forum. This massive audience inherently contributes to global sneaker culture.
Initially, the bonded group we chose to study was Sneaker-heads within the Facebook Group ATATF (Addicted To All Things Fresh); this was chosen because it is a private group of 46,000+ members locally based in Atlanta. We wanted to investigate value perceptions and consumption behaviors of Sneaker-heads who hold mixed roles of buying from resellers of sneakers and resellers themselves. Resellers are individuals who wait for big sneaker releases and buy up the stock to sell for a higher price than retail. During the course of this study, we faced many obstacles that ultimately caused us to change our field of study to the Sneakers Reddit Page.
For this study, we did an applied ethnography to learn about relationships between people and several aspects of their life, such as history, culture, and behavior consumptions. To begin, we filled out a research form for our professor in order to set the foundation of our student project. In this research form, we had to choose what specifically we wanted to study, why we wanted to study this culture, and agree on what our research questions were going to be. For our field study, we discovered an interesting subculture that helped us tell the story of this report. We wanted to study sneaker collectors on Sneakers Reddit page because they have 2.3 million members and counting. This subculture contains users from all around the world who converse about their favorite sneaker brands and styles and share images and ideas on this public forum. This massive audience inherently contributes to global sneaker culture.
Initially, the bonded group we chose to study was Sneaker-heads within the Facebook Group ATATF (Addicted To All Things Fresh); this was chosen because it is a private group of 46,000+ members locally based in Atlanta. We wanted to investigate value perceptions and consumption behaviors of Sneaker-heads who hold mixed roles of buying from resellers of sneakers and resellers themselves. Resellers are individuals who wait for big sneaker releases and buy up the stock to sell for a higher price than retail. During the course of this study, we faced many obstacles that ultimately caused us to change our field of study to the Sneakers Reddit Page.
CONTEXTUAL INQUIRY
Our contextual inquiry, which is studying what we need to know about our topic in sequence to conduct beneficial research, happened toward the late stages of our project. For the team members that did not have background knowledge in sneaker culture, this was a very essential moment to learn what sneaker culture actually is in the eyes of Sneaker-heads or sneaker enthusiasts. In general, sneaker culture is a large umbrella which can consist of anything from where you should avoid buying sneakers, or talking to someone on a reddit thread to see where they buy sneakers themselves, and why this subculture is so important to them. Before getting started, it was imperative everyone on the team was on the same page and understood the basics of how sneaker culture actually works.
For our research and fieldwork, we understood that people use pawn shops to exchange something of value for monetary gain. The items typically considered high ticket at pawn shops are antiques with history, precious to the owner, and have unique character. The behavior of Sneaker-heads or sneaker enthusiasts in sneaker culture is similar to that of a pawn shop because they commonly either sell or exchange their sneakers for something of higher value. In some cases collectors sell their shoes for money while in other cases they make what is known as a trade for a different pair of equal or higher value sneakers. Owners are able to sell their sneakers for a higher value due to the story behind the sneaker, just like antiques.
For our research and fieldwork, we understood that people use pawn shops to exchange something of value for monetary gain. The items typically considered high ticket at pawn shops are antiques with history, precious to the owner, and have unique character. The behavior of Sneaker-heads or sneaker enthusiasts in sneaker culture is similar to that of a pawn shop because they commonly either sell or exchange their sneakers for something of higher value. In some cases collectors sell their shoes for money while in other cases they make what is known as a trade for a different pair of equal or higher value sneakers. Owners are able to sell their sneakers for a higher value due to the story behind the sneaker, just like antiques.
FIELDWORK
For our fieldwork, we immersed ourselves in as many aspects of the daily sneaker culture lives of people as possible in order to learn their behaviors and interactions. In this study, we split the field work into two sections: observation and interviews
We identified (5) sources of evidence: individual research, documents, interviews, direct observation, and participant observation. However, we found that the interviews, and direct observation were the most useful sources of information. Observations were done separately so we could find meaningful connections between unrelated things. During our individual 12 hours of observation we took notes using a method that includes “jottings and field notes.” The team divided our observations into at least 4 separate sessions; buying and reselling, history, self-expression, and community. Jottings were detailed notes of things we wanted to include, followed by a field note that analyzed the behavior documented in our jotting session. The team created detailed jottings by going through each thread in the reddit forum to see what the majority of their posts were about, if they had anything compelling in their handle name, and how they interacted socially with other accounts within Reddit.
We identified (5) sources of evidence: individual research, documents, interviews, direct observation, and participant observation. However, we found that the interviews, and direct observation were the most useful sources of information. Observations were done separately so we could find meaningful connections between unrelated things. During our individual 12 hours of observation we took notes using a method that includes “jottings and field notes.” The team divided our observations into at least 4 separate sessions; buying and reselling, history, self-expression, and community. Jottings were detailed notes of things we wanted to include, followed by a field note that analyzed the behavior documented in our jotting session. The team created detailed jottings by going through each thread in the reddit forum to see what the majority of their posts were about, if they had anything compelling in their handle name, and how they interacted socially with other accounts within Reddit.
INTERVIEWS
For our interviews, in order to understand the sub culture, we interviewed four participants as a team with one person being the moderator and three others being facilitators. Due to COVID-19, we conducted interviews online through Discord and Microsoft Teams. These four participants sat down with the team and explained what sneaker culture is, their experience within the sneaker community, and why they love collecting sneakers so much.
In Travis and Prince's interview, Witty was the moderator and in Adam's interview, Sabina moderated. For the teams final interview with Carlos, I was able to moderate while the other members wrote notes and recorded the interview. Some of the questions we asked included ones like: “How many sneakers do you own? What makes a sneaker good? Do you consider yourself a Sneaker-head? Does social media influence the kinds of sneakers you purchase? What sneakers do you wish you owned?” Each interviewee had their own take, but they were all able to give us a better understanding of what sneaker culture is and who Sneaker-heads are.
In Travis and Prince's interview, Witty was the moderator and in Adam's interview, Sabina moderated. For the teams final interview with Carlos, I was able to moderate while the other members wrote notes and recorded the interview. Some of the questions we asked included ones like: “How many sneakers do you own? What makes a sneaker good? Do you consider yourself a Sneaker-head? Does social media influence the kinds of sneakers you purchase? What sneakers do you wish you owned?” Each interviewee had their own take, but they were all able to give us a better understanding of what sneaker culture is and who Sneaker-heads are.
Interview Sessions
ANALYSIS
After the interviews concluded, the team came together in Miro to brainstorm similarities and patterns that we noted during the interviews. This included anything from Sabina noticing that many accounts were just posting pictures of sneakers to show people they were a fan of a certain brand, Titilade noticing that over half of the accounts were predominantly of the male gender, although females are slowly becoming more active in the community, and me noticing that people only tend to buy, sell, and collect sneakers that are popular. We created a conceptual matrix chart that helped us to divide information into different categories. We ended up creating five separate categories that everyone found common connections between their research and the specific aspect of sneaker culture. These simple categories fall into: What role do sneakers play in their life? What form of service do they prefer to use when buying their sneakers? What trends were mentioned a lot? What are the drivers and brand preferences? What makes a good-quality sneaker?
Conceptual Order Matrix
CHALLENGE
Aside from the obvious challenge of conducting virtual ethnographic research in a large scale environment, there was also a noticeable trend throughout my observations and interviews. I discovered one of the nuanced challenges to Sneaker-heads and sneaker collecting is being able to verify an item's authenticity.
When collecting first became popular, collectors were using social media to upload receipts and images of items like Jordan sneakers and Nikes to prove authenticity or "Legit Check". While there are still ways to verify sneakers, it has become increasingly easy to fake receipts and photoshop sneakers to look more like the real models. Many sneaker enthusiasts have moved to authenticating barcodes that are put onto the sneakers or blue lights to check for any dissimilarities. This has also given birth to various sneaker apps that can provide professional authenticating services for Sneaker-heads or sneaker enthusiasts.
When collecting first became popular, collectors were using social media to upload receipts and images of items like Jordan sneakers and Nikes to prove authenticity or "Legit Check". While there are still ways to verify sneakers, it has become increasingly easy to fake receipts and photoshop sneakers to look more like the real models. Many sneaker enthusiasts have moved to authenticating barcodes that are put onto the sneakers or blue lights to check for any dissimilarities. This has also given birth to various sneaker apps that can provide professional authenticating services for Sneaker-heads or sneaker enthusiasts.
CONCLUSION
Coming to the end of our research, we were able to answer our research question," Why do Sneaker-heads buy, resell, collect, and wear sneakers?” We also learned a bit more about sneaker culture in general, and how it has become a mainstream pass time. We learned that most Sneaker-heads are similar to other collectors; those who collect precious antiques, coin collections, or even vintage cars. Sneaker-heads see the value and craftsmanship in sneakers and take pride in keeping them in their original condition.
When Sneaker-heads are collecting, it is either because they are trying to get the sneaker that has a story or background to it or because they are popular, and they just want to be part of the trend/conversation. We also learned that shoes were resold in some cases simply to make more money. Resellers will sometimes increase the price of the sneaker by up to four times the original price.
Even though most of these sneakers are bought to be part of a collection, they are still bought to be worn. Some are bought for comfort, to play a sport, or to wear casually and express oneself.
There are many places where these shoes are bought and sold. Knock-offs tend to slide through these stores because of this. During our research, we learned that there were three sneaker apps (GOAT, SNKRS, StockX) that many Sneaker-heads preferred to use because they verify sneakers and assure authenticy to its users.
When Sneaker-heads are collecting, it is either because they are trying to get the sneaker that has a story or background to it or because they are popular, and they just want to be part of the trend/conversation. We also learned that shoes were resold in some cases simply to make more money. Resellers will sometimes increase the price of the sneaker by up to four times the original price.
Even though most of these sneakers are bought to be part of a collection, they are still bought to be worn. Some are bought for comfort, to play a sport, or to wear casually and express oneself.
There are many places where these shoes are bought and sold. Knock-offs tend to slide through these stores because of this. During our research, we learned that there were three sneaker apps (GOAT, SNKRS, StockX) that many Sneaker-heads preferred to use because they verify sneakers and assure authenticy to its users.