In 2015, sneaker culture hit peak exposure. I’d like to blame generational divides. Or social media. Or another nebulous, macro-level force. Instead, the enthusiasm I have towards everything footwear may have caused something I love to hit critical mass right before my eyes. My cool, exclusive, differentiated hobby had suddenly become everyone’s cool, exclusive, differentiated hobby. Sneakers have always been casualwear. But now, sneakers had become… casual.

That’s not the fault of footwear, though: since the turn of the twentieth century, American fashion has only ever become more casual. Even notable anti-casual reactions (the homogeneous “man in the grey flannel suit” of the postwar 50’s, etc.) are mere blips in a far grander trend line. Look no further than the modern “white shoe” workplace to see these effects firsthand: a traditionally conservative, “business professional” law firm is now the subject of a New York Times editorial on “statement suits.” Quite a contrast from the white shirt-black suit days of old.

From Wall Street to Silicon Valley, the emphasis has changed. Business casual has become business casual. As early as 2013, “office style” guides have included designer sneakers as dress shoe alternates suitable for the younger, style-conscious business professional. Men’s magazine Esquire even broached the subject of pairing sneakers with a suit all the way back in 2010. Perhaps sneakers – long considered oafish and unrefined - had instead just gained broader legitimacy and instead become fashionable. Sneakerheads have always thought their deadstock pairs were the best-looking shoes on the block; the rest of the world just needed time to catch up.