When I was growing up back in the 80s and starting my love affair with sneakers, the main source for fresh kicks were independent retailers, end of! Of course you had the old high street chains like Cobra and Olympus Sports, which you could say were the original JD Sports and Footlockerâs of the world, but if you wanted to take your passion a step further it was all about the independent retailers.
If you wanted to get your hands on a pair of those exclusive sneakers, the sneakers that had street appeal, that swagger factor, basically the sneakers that no one else on your manor was rocking, you had to know of an independent that wasnât common knowledge.
Now depending on where you’re from, youâre going to have an Independent sneaker retailer that is close to your heart, those shops that had the real heat when you were growing up, those shops that only the real sneakerheads knew about. Being a South London Brixton boy, for me it all started with Frank Johnsons. Now the thing about Frank Johnsons is everyone and his dog knew about it, mums, dads, all your friends, so it wasnât a secret like other independent stores that werenât on your manor.
Everyone knew about Frank Johnsons, and more importantly your mum knew about Frank Johnsons and those were the days when your mum or dad was your main source for financial relief.
On a Saturday morning I would go to Brixton market with my mum and we would walk past Frank Johnsons and the window display would jump out at me, I needed those gems behind that glass, I accepted there and then, that one pair, two pairs wasnât going to be enough for me, I wanted them all. I fell in love instantly. If I could somehow own those gems I would be the man!
So everyone in my circle knew about Frank Johnsons, so it wasnât availability or supply that kept the unworthy from getting the same kicks as you in the beginning, it was the price. The price and actually having a knack for knowing what’s hot.
Now most of the time knowing what’s hot means actually seeing your peers wearing them and then going out and copping them for yourself. There was always that guy, that girl, that had heat all day, everyday like it was nothing, you would take your lead from those people. The influencers back in the day, getting likes and views way before Instagram and Facebook.
âWhen youâre young thereâs this sense of wanting to express yourself, an importance of individualityâ, Pharrel Williams
My older brother had friends that I could use as a reference, they had kicks on a level my own crew wasnât on at the time. There weren’t many that would catch my eye but certain people had undeniable swagger, it wasnât just the sneakers, it was the whole outfit and the way they wore it, it was ultimately about their natural swagger, before we even used the word. I could name a few but one person I have to shout out is Jason Olly, swagger, x-factor, whatever you want to call it, he had it. When everyone was pretty much wearing the same three or four different styles of adidas, Olly would take it somewhere else and pull it off with ease. There was a time when he owned the world, in my eyes. Thatâs how much of an effect an influencer can have, the power to take culture and style in a direction others can only dream of pulling off.
âItâs not just about the sneakers, its also about a lifestyle, people who are free, who are exploring their creativity, through a kind of free format of music, sports and fashion, visual styleâ.
âFresh Dressedâ – Directed by Sacha Jenkins
As your knowledge grew, you could be more original and rock what you thought was hot and if you were lucky, becoming the trend setter yourself. That feeling when you bopped down the street it was like everywhere you stepped was a runway, red carpet with every step, You could physically feel the love, admiration and hate of course, the likes and comments were always there, even before social media, if you think about it even the sharing was there because you were telling people about what you saw and where you saw it, the streets are always talking.
In the early days most relied on their parents and whatever little extra money you got from family members to keep you up to date, some of us had Saturday jobs and others had earnings from roadworks, wink wink. But you also had certain manâs in your crew that had family in the States that they would visit from time to time, so automatically their kicks game was tidy, they had those sneakers that you couldnât get in the UK. For the lucky few this gave you instant swag on the streets.
I would make arrangements with friends going abroad to buy me sneakers and lets just say it never really materialised, friends would come back with their exclusives but for one reason or another nothing for you, looking back it kinda makes sense.
So if you had that overseas connection you had game, an instant swagger monster on road. But remember most of us didnât have it like that so the independent retailers were your go-to for those overseas flavours. The shops that had exclusives, one-aways.
The swagger monsters had to have a secret independent that catered to their super powers, there would have been one, more than likely two or three really spectacular spots that always had something for you. Iâm not talking about the shops that had maybe three or four pairs that you would buy and you’d end up cleaning them out in a couple of months. No Iâm talking about the sneaker shops that had 15 maybe 20 silhouettes you wanted and you knew walking into the shop for the first time that this was going to be a long, productive relationship.
Now everyone has their own way of dealing with such discoveries, you could run back to you crew and fill them in on the Aladdins cave of gems youâve just discovered, or more often than not, tell no one, well not until youâve bought at least 60% of the sneakers you want from their hoard. Or maybe thatâs just me?
The independents were the shops that kept you looking fresh! So relationships were formed with these retailers, these owners, and as you became a regular customer that relationship grew to a point where you would get benefits like discounts, leaving deposits for months, orders by request, whatever it may have been, you weren’t just Joe Bloggâs walking into the shop off the street, and this meant something.
Most, if not all of these shops sold clothes as well so a lot of the time youâd also get your garms at the same place. Now when it comes to your garms just like your sneakers, you want to stand out from the crowd, you’ve got to keep it fresh and these spots are your source of freshness.
âYour clothes were your wings, so if you wanna fly, if you wanna be fly you’ve got to put on something nice and by doing that with the style that the street guys have, once we put on your clothes its a whole different story, we put on your clothes and take it to the next levelâ. Nas
I had many spots but one of my favourites was downstairs in a little clothes boutique round the corner from Carnaby Street. The clothes were a bit out there but unbeknown to many, they sold sneakers downstairs. Their taste was eccentric and the sneaker colorways were of the same theme. I donât think many from my manor knew about this shop and I would always find a nice pair of sneakers, and more often than not they were on sale. I loved that shop, but for the life of me I canât remember its name. There were many like this plastered all over London.
Over time, JD Sports and Footlockerâs appeared and very quickly the independent retailers and those personal relationships disappeared. The business model of the large chains was buying in bulk and selling to the masses and this diluted the sneaker culture in the UK overnight.
OK so there might have been some pros to the high street shops, but the impact on the culture was a negative one for the true sneakerhead because it meant the demise of the independent retailers that we grew up with and loved. We lost that personal shopping experience, the stories behind each pair added to the shoes personality and that, to some degree, was lost when the high street brands took over.
âThat’s the other thing you get from an independent retailer, that customer care from a sneakerhead, the independent shop has a consciousness of some sort unlike the high street chain where you get the supermarket vibeâ. Lawrence – Owner -Crep Select
In recent years the independent retailers have made a comeback and you could argue that JD Sports and Footlocker, have played a part in this.
The kids brought up on JD Sports and Footlocker now have a taste for the sneaker culture and demand something that is less available than the basics on offer on the high street, so in a sense, they have helped to keep the culture alive.
This has created a demand for something a bit more special, a bit more unique, more personal. The need for a style the high street chains couldnât provide has created a resurgence in the independent retailer. Independents such as âCrep Selectâ in South London, have a long history in the sneaker/fashion scene and âSports Dimensionâ in West London, who are a second generation business that was originally a sports shop that focused on sporting equipment, that is now run by the next generation of family that grew up as sneakerheads.
Theyâve recognised the upward trend for demand and having grown up with sneakers theyâve organically created and grown businesses focused solely on what the customer canât get enough of, sneakers!
With the birth of online shopping, access to sneakers from any part of the world has become a much simpler process. Back in the day, you could get sneakers on mailorder and this was another method of buying trainers for me, but it had itâs limitations in terms of style, selection, and sizes. Online shopping today is safe, very reliable and most importantly most stores have simple returns policies which make it such a risk-free purchase so you donât have to give it much thought. You can pretty much buy anything within the limits of your wallet and imagination.
Online shopping – good or bad, you can decide, but I feel something was lost. Do you remember that feeling on a Friday when you finished work and knew you were going clothes/sneaker shopping on Saturday? You were all wongaâd up, got your outfit picked out and you and your crew were going to make a day of it. Walking down Oxford Street with the designer shopping bags, walking into sneaker shops and the people in the stores showing you love based on what’s on your feet, that vibe, that energy. The experience was powerful, you felt like Superman on those days.
You canât get that online, you just canât, ok there are elements to the old school shopping experience you could argue is a pain, carrying the heavy bags, the walking from shop to shop, trying stuff on, the whole physical effort that you put in, and maybe it’s just me but the effort is part of it, the physical effort that we as a society are so quick to get rid of to make our lives easier.
In my opinion easier isnât always better and gone are the stories that accompanied those journeys in our pursuit of freshness. Much like Hip Hop, sneakers have a life of their own and no-matter what highs or lows the culture might face, it always manages to transcend its times and grows despite whatâs going on around it.
The sneaker culture has a firm footprint on popular culture and itâs so huge thereâs room for the online market, high street chains, re-sellers, social media sneaker-porn, the casual wearer, the die-hard sneakerhead and for me, the unsung heroes in the trenches creating those stories, building those relationships with like minded people, nurturing our love for sneakers, a love that will last for the rest of our lives, the Independent retailers. To the Independent retailers Jumpman Journals salutes you, long may your reign and existence continue.
By Mark Thomas – 15th July 2021