Sneaker Expert Jeff Staple Answers Sneaker Questions From Twitter

My name is Jeff Staple.

I'm here today to answer your questions from Twitter.

This is Sneaker Support.

[upbeat music]

HeelWillMahoney asks,

Still waiting for it to be proven conclusively

who had the superior shoe technology,

Nike Air or Reebok Pump?

They do different things.

Nike Air, visible air, Reebok Pump, right over here.

Nike Air, this visible air unit

that you see that on this particular shoe

is completely crazy at next level,

is a cushioning performance element.

It supports your heel strike

so that every time you pound your foot on the pavement

it's more and more comfortable.

Pump does something a little bit different.

Pump inflates a bladder on the top of your shoe

and locks your foot down.

So it's kind of like a replacement to shoelaces,

so it's kind of hard to really compare,

but if you're looking at dollars as a metric,

then I would say Nike Air fully did the

Mortal Kombat death blow to Reebok Pump.

Jesangs asks, Why are Air Jordans so popular?

Air Jordan, in case you don't know,

is a separate brand that is actually owned by Nike.

Similar to Converse.

Converse is also a separate brand owned by Nike.

If Air Jordan were separated out of Nike

and made its own company,

it would still be a top five brand in the entire world.

Why are they so popular?

Michael Jordan is the GOAT.

There's plenty of great basketball players

that are around Kevin Durant, LeBron James,

Kobe Bryant rest in peace.

We all know the greats.

If you look at sneaker sales of all of these athletes,

it really proves who the actual GOAT is.

Aliciaaforgione has asked,

Real question: Are sneakers cool

because of the name brand

or because of the actual design of the shoe?

I would like to think it's design still,

but I know the hype is real.

Recently, Payless Shoe Source did an experiment

where they took a store in a mall

and created a high-end luxury brand image

and then just put Payless Shoe product in that store,

and people were chomping it up.

They were just eating it like crazy.

They loved it, and it was really

an interesting social experiment

because it showed the smoke and mirrors

of branding can overcome the actual footwear design.

Jaytookstock says,

Designers, what's a good way to improve my logo design?

I feel like the courses I find

don't align to the styles of sneaker twitter.

There's a couple of different ways to approach logo designs.

Some of the early logo designs,

such as Adidas and the three stripes and the new Balance N,

the logo originally was stitched fabric

or leather onto the side of your shoe.

So when those three stripes come across the medial

and lateral side of your foot,

they're actually offering extra support.

And then you've got logos that are just purely ornamental.

A great example of that is the Nike Air Jordan Jumpman logo.

That is actually not an easy logo to work with,

like a little human being that you have to place around.

It's obviously one of the most important logos of all time.

So that being said, your logo that you're designing

for your shoe can pretty much be anything.

It could start with form function.

What does it do for me and my and my fit?

Or it could be strictly ornamental.

It could be your signature.

Make sure it's something that you can really believe in

and live with long term, and it'll be a good logo for you.

Soles and Laces asks,

Is nostalgia hindering design innovation

in the sneaker industry?

This is a hot take.

I'm warning you now.

I think the answer is yes.

What Soles and Laces is talking about is, for example,

the Air Jordan 1 is still one of the most popular shoes

out of all time in the year 2023.

Even though this shoe is damn near three decades plus old,

when you're making bajillions of dollars

off of this old shoe,

why do you need to spend resource, energy, and time

into making new shoes?

We could just put different colors

on this old shoe and we're good to go.

We'll make a couple more billion dollars, right?

I think if someone were to be like a rude parent

and was like, no more Air Jordan 1,

you now have to think of the new thing.

We're not gonna survive

unless you think of the greatest Air Jordan 40 ever,

then I think the Air Jordan 40 is gonna be better

than if you had the Air Jordan 1

making billions of dollars for you.

Jazmine Kionna asks,

Ever wonder what goes into the shoe-making process?

Hmm emoji.

Most sneaker designers wanna start

at the bottom to the top, to the outside.

So what I mean by that is usually start at the outsole.

The reason why is because the outsole

is the most complicated part to make.

So once you have this done,

then you could start working on the upper,

and the upper can change.

It could be different materials.

It could be different shapes.

So for instance, if you don't like this piece here anymore

in in the first design and you want to change that piece,

as long as you've got your bottom done,

it's much easier to do that.

So you're working your way up to the top.

Once you've got your uppers done, this is called the upper,

then you've got your accoutrements, such as your laces,

things like tongue label logo,

the logo hit on the side, prints on the back.

These are all different elements that help identify

and make a shoe unique and special.

Christie Moffat asks,

For those of us who know absolutely nothing

about sneaker culture but want to learn,

where's a good place to start?

There are a couple of really good documentaries

out now that are really, really well made.

One is made by David Friendly, called Sneaker Heads,

and then the other movie that's out is called,

Just For Kicks.

You watch them, you're gonna get a really good understanding

of sneaker culture,

and you'll see a lot more of me in them too.

All right, Bugs_Meany asks,

How did sneaker culture go from OG 80s Air Jordans,

one of the dopest designs in human history,

to these things that look like condoms for aliens?

That's not a shoe, that's a fossilized slug.

This is what is important for sneaker designers

to understand.

When this shoe came out in the eighties and nineties,

this shoe was literally banned from the NBA.

Michael Jordan was fined $5,000 a game

for wearing this shoe,

and the stakeholders at the NBA said,

this is too crazy, too ugly,

and violates all the rules of the NBA.

We are fining you every time you wear this shoe.

So as a designer, you have to put yourself

in zoom out and say

something that actually polarizes me today

may be a staple tomorrow, right?

So 40 years from now these alien condoms

may be a classic staple in the future

for your children or grandchildren.

NelleBuzzin asks,

When it comes to fashion and sneakers,

what does hypebeast mean?

Somebody who, depends on who you're asking,

maybe cares a little bit too much

about fashion and footwear.

That's what a hypebeast is.

If you find yourself buying doubles of things

so that you can keep one to rock and keep one to stock,

or aka keep on ice, you might be a hypebeast.

If you find yourself wearing a pair of shoes

on a rainy day, and then when you come home

you sacrifice your own toothbrush to clean a pair of shoes,

you might be a hypebeast there too.

Hypebeast kind of has a negative derogatory term

in this day and age.

I still love it.

I still think hypebeast just means

people who really care about the origin story

and why things are made.

They care about all the details, they cherish them,

and they savor it.

All right, bybrandonwhite has asked,

How do big brand sneaker collaborations work?

What's the process like as a designer?

Are they pitching you an idea or vice versa?

It kind of goes all different ways.

If you are a lesser known designer

and you have an idea,

you're probably gonna be knocking on doors,

trying to get your ideas brought to light.

I would advise maybe getting into the footwear industry

in any aspect.

Another way that's been really popular

as of late is individuals,

and if you've got the the chops and the skills to do this,

they start making a name for themselves online,

on social media.

They create these really cool things.

It doesn't even have to be real things.

They could just be renderings that you're posting,

and they start tagging the brands that they really like.

There are people that work at footwear brands

whose sole job it is to look on social media

for the next talent.

So if you tag these people enough

and they're like, yo, this guy's actually really got skills,

you will get that phone call

or hopefully they slide into your DMs.

All right, luvz_ais asks.

I just wanna know how people be wearing

Chuck Taylors like they're comfortable.

I must agree with you there.

I have a shoe here by Feiyue.

The bottom of this Feiyue is very similar

to the bottom of a Chuck Taylor.

I don't find them comfortable.

I think it's definitely a fashion over form type thing.

People like the look of a Chuck Taylor,

and in fact, if you go to your local gym,

you probably see a lot of people

doing deadlifts and squats in Chuck Taylors.

It's because the Chuck Taylor is so flat to the ground.

There's no arch support whatsoever.

But when you're lifting heavyweights,

you actually don't want arch support.

You actually basically want to be barefoot.

But the next closest thing to that is the Chuck Taylor.

JaybkMac asks,

What makes an iconic sneaker,

the colorway or the cut?

Actually, Jay, it's neither.

You know what makes an iconic sneaker?

You.

You at home buying shoes, wearing shoes,

talking about shoes online.

You are the people that makes a shoe an icon.

A designer cannot do that, an influencer cannot do that,

and an athlete cannot do that.

And I can prove that by counting the number of athletes,

designers, and influencers that put out shoes

that don't mean crap in the world.

It's only the public that can determine

what makes a shoe an icon.

Markiemvrk asks, Did the resale sneaker market crash yet?

This is a very topical question

because, yes, the sneaker market right now

is starting to decline and crash.

Currently, I think the sneaker brands

have sort of wised up and said,

Hey, we're making too little amount of shoes.

There's too much resell.

It's too hard for people to just

walk into a store and buy shoes.

So they're ramping up production to meet the demand.

They're over-producing right now.

And what's happening is shoes are sitting,

meaning you can actually go on Footlocker,

go onto any app,

and just sort of buy the shoes that you want

really easily in the size that you want

at the price that was originally charged for.

And what that means is that the resell market

is beginning to crash and decline.

Lansdead asks,

Nike is developing the power laces

from Back to the Future.

How? Gotta see this.

That is right.

This is what's known as the Air Mag Marty McFly

strap these on Back to the Future II.

Auto lacing was born,

but then Nike decided to start realizing

how this could maybe become a reality.

It's called Nike Hyper Adapt.

That is the new name for auto lacing.

It is actually connected to your smartphone.

It is also connected to either Alexa or Siri.

You can literally walk home and say,

Hey, Siri, unlace my shoes.

They will unlace, and you can just kick 'em off.

You can say, Hey Siri, I'm about to go into game.

It'll tighten it up for you.

It's pretty amazing.

So shout out to Nike for actually making

power laces a real thing.

GarrixonStudio, my homies out in Philly, asked,

What materials do you want to see more of in sneaker design?

I really am loving what's happening with knit shoes.

So as you can see, traditional sneakers are using leather,

nubucks, and suede.

More modern shoes like this one

is a completely knit upper,

and you can actually knit a high top, a mid top.

You can knit these patterns in it.

You can make it all different sort of funky colors.

You can even knit in eye lace stays

and holes so that your laces can loop into it.

There's much, much less waste.

It's much better for the environment.

It's also much more customizable.

You could also do different knit density,

so you could have areas that are like tighter on your foot

and looser on your foot to sort of mimic

what's going on on a traditional sneaker.

So I really am hopeful for the innovation

in future of knit footwear design.

JDSports ask, wow, JD Sports.

What up JDSports?

You're a big store.

If you could only wear one pair of sneakers,

what are you picking?

People might even say this is not a pair of sneakers,

but I think it is now.

I would wear Crocs if I had to pick one pair of shoe

for the rest of my life because these are damn comfortable.

I think during Covid, Crocs really gained the benefit

because people just started wearing these,

A, at home all the time, then to walk their dog.

Then before you know it,

they're going to the supermarket in Crocs.

Then they're going to the mall in Crocs,

and before you know what they're going on

first dates and weddings and Crocs.

It just became like a thing and there's no turning back.

All right.

That's all the questions.

Hope you had fun.

Hope you learned something.

Until next time.