“Sneaker Culture” is an art exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum of the Art that has approximately 150 pairs of sneakers on display and looks at the evolution of the sneaker from its beginnings to its current role as status symbol and urban icon. The popularity of sneakers has also spawned a huge market for counterfeits. The quality is very good and most of the fakes come from China.
A book was recently self-published on Amazon with the title: Mustle: I Must Hustle: How I made $50,000 Selling Counterfeit Shoes from the Trunk of My Car by Team9 Logic. I don’t expect any readers of this blog to buy the book, although someone should arrest the author for his chutzpah.
Many counterfeits target consumers who will pay thousands of dollars for limited-edition designer sneakers; these have panache with sneaker aficionados because only a limited number were produced. eBay and Instagram are good outlets for fake shoes because the customer can’t inspect the shoes until they arrive. I’ve read that 90 percent of the sneakers sold on eBay are fake.