Hypebeast culture has its fundamental roots in streetwear which traditionally tends to predominantly stem from male communities. Despite streetwear and sneaker culture exuding a sense of community and serving as a breeding ground for tackling sexist beliefs, they’ve been culprits in doing the very opposite, i.e., allowing the whole culture to be “run by the boys.” This results in an environment that can ostracize women that want to partake in the trend and could heavily end up encouraging just male unity.
However, this imbalance in the sneaker industry, particularly, has seen rapid changes all in the favor and support of women. The social climate now promotes the inclusion of women in the sneaker industry by brands in the upper echelon endorsing these beliefs, providing more flexible and abundant sizes along with fabulous sneaker collaborations.
Nike and Jordan Brand have been key players in capitalizing on introducing posh sneakers for women. This clearly indicates that they are serious about giving their female consumers what they want. To commemorate last year’s Air Max Day, Nike dropped its second women-only Air Max model, the Air Max Jewel. We got many women’s versions of the Air VaporMax as well — Bella Hadid championed a Cortez campaign, Serena Williams led a Nike women’s campaign, and Aleali May collaborated with the Jordan Brand.
One of streetwear’s pioneering brands, Supreme, also takes this movement seriously and does not want to deny any sneaker culture experiences from the ladies.
Brand consultant, Selma Kaci, expressed a notable issue in a recent interview. She highlighted that brands work upon this assumption that girls don’t have the same passion or comprehension of these products the way boys do, but with major brands such as PUMA, Adidas, Nike, Balenciaga, etc ., working towards eliminating the sexism in the sneaker-sphere, this will change.
In fact, women actually have a passion that runs deep in this game. This became evident when female stylists (such as Aleali May) were placed in positions where they could be in charge of designing the sneakers that would serve their female consumers. The insights have been inspiring and they hamper the limitations that society places upon women while keeping their identity intact.
Lia McGarrigle, who is a senior writer for Highsnobiety, said that “More women-led sneaker campaigns and female sneaker designers are also really impactful. Instead of male executives deciding what we want, having women in charge doesn’t only result in better sneakers, but it shows that the industry actually cares about our opinions.”
These female-focused projects also have helped uncover the “right-sizing” for women. Nike introduced its Unlaced collection at Paris Fashion Week FW18 just to tackle this issue. Celebrities like Rihanna and Kylie Jenner have helped PUMA regain their platform—Reebok got Gigi Hadid, and Kendall Jenner was enlisted by Adidas. Brands are putting out card after card to not leave any gender behind in this race.
Another active and key issue surrounds traditional feminine color ranges. Many brands are now departing from these because of the stigma attached to them. It seemed as if it was assumed that girls would be more attracted to the color pink. Keep away from the three P’s: Pink, Patronizing and Passive.
There is still a long journey ahead of us until the sneaker world treats men and women as equals. However, the rate at which we are going coupled with the seriousness through which we are handling this gap feels like change. At some point, we hope the female sneakerhead gets everything she ever asked for!