Brand Name Sneakers

I’m going to weave together three stories about brand name sneakers today.

I certainly didn’t notice or care much about fashion brands when I was in elementary school. If something had the Hulk or Spider-Man on it, I wanted to wear it, but beyond that, I didn’t have much preference.

Then came David. David introduced me to a lot of things when we met around the second grade. Intellivision might have been the first home video game console I played, and it was David who introduced me to this fancy, cutting edge game system. Exhibit A:

Those tube socks I was wearing were acceptable fashion during the early 80s, but David (on the right) was a step ahead. He wore Stride Rite Zips, a new cutting-edge running shoe, designed just for kids. The lower (or no) sock look was already becoming popular, and David was at the forefront of several notable fashion trends.

Maybe David told me this brand of shoes was the best one and I should buy them too, but I’m not sure I bought into the hype. Maybe I realized my parents couldn’t afford to pay twice as much money on shoes, but David moved away in third grade, and for a few years, the brand of sneaker I was wearing wasn’t much of an issue

Then came my first day of middle school.

That’s when I became acutely aware of a burning feeling behind my ears and a strong feeling of social inadequacy I hadn’t ever felt before. Ostracism felt very strange, especially since I had no idea why I was being ostracized… at least at first.

Soon enough, it became evident that having a particular brand of shoes (Nike or Reebok were the only two that really mattered) was one way to show that you belonged here. Now, I don’t know if I supplemented my parents’ budget so I could have brand name shoes, or if they just ultimately decided that the extra $20 would keep me from bothering them for a few months, but I’m pretty confident that by 7th grade, I was no longer wearing shoes bought at K-mart.

It wasn’t until well into high school that this stupid spell would finally be broken for me. I think it’s the same sort of impulse that leads people to keep up with the Joneses and spend beyond their means, and many folks never break free from these tribal impulses. Tribal acceptance is an important component of the human experience.

I’m on the verge of digressing, and I still owe you one more sneaker story. We need to fast forward at least to seventh grade and the time of brand name sneakers. I was at a state fair, probably—something like a carnival, with little booths where you can pay money and try to win prizes, like a little square mirror with Guns N Roses printed on it, or a giant fuzzy bear.

Among the smallish roller-coaster type rides was a haunted house. My friend and I were captivated: this was the time when horror movies couldn’t faze us, and we made a point in showing off just how unflappable we were. I think every generation does this to a degree, but Gen x did this on steroids. I have my own reasons for concluding this, but I if our generation is known for any one thing, it is being cynical.

Anyway, this haunted house had the usual creepy ambiance like blood splatters on the walls that you could only make out when the strobe light briefly flashed. Badly paid actors would jump out and try to scare the kids and teenagers as they walked through the house. A group of slightly older kids was in front of my group, making their way through the attraction just ahead of us.

One of the bad guys jumped out—probably some cheap amalgam of Jason, Freddy, and Mike Myers, with a hockey mask and a chainsaw. The jumping out part was designed to generate screams, but that’s not what this one older kid did.

Instead, he coolly responded to the fake Jason with a sentence that had a profound impact on me. That sentence was something like:

Hey, these are forty dollar sneakers!

The idea was that the dude wanted the monster to be careful. These sneakers were valuable armor against judgment, and they were a necessary projection of wealth and power for us kids. No monster was about to get in the way of social acceptance.

Also, of course, pretending not to be bothered by anything was the Gen X superpower. I saw that older kid’s response to pressure under fire, and I thought that was just so damn cool.

This combination of being cool under pressure and, simultaneously, needing to project social status in some way completely defined my 80s experience.