Community Curated #7 - @sophnsneakers

The sneaker community continues to grow as new members seek ways to secure the latest trainers and socialise with like-minded people at the same time. Our community here at The Sole Supplier is full of long-term sneaker collectors and new joiners — with each individual having unique stories on how they stumbled upon the world of sneakers.

So for the seventh episode of our ongoing Community Curated project, we sat down with Norwich-based sneaker collector and social media star Sophnsneakers to find out how her obsession with sneaker collecting began.

I’m Sophs, aka @sophnsneakers on IG. I started collecting sneakers in 2019! It all started when my mum and nan clubbed together to buy me my first pair of Nike Air Max 1s for my first non-uniform day at school. From there I bought myself a pair of reflective Nike Free Run 2 in the "Triple Black" colourway. No one had reflective shoes in my school at the time, so I liked that I was wearing something unique.

I didn't know anything about the sneaker world until I saw a guy in my sixth form walking around in the Sean Wotherspoon x Nike Air Max 1/97s. I had never seen a pair like them before, so I searched online regularly for them and found that there is a whole community of sneakerheads. It just progressed from there!

So I love plants and greenery a lot! I wanted to combine my passion for plants and sneakers to create a theme that expressed who I was and focused on my interests. The Monstera plant is the backdrop for almost all my pictures. I love how the leaves look, and keeping it with a consistent colour theme has made my feed aesthetically pleasing and memorable. I wanted to start incorporating more fashion content into my page, so that’s when I started my "How to Style" reels which led to my recent growth on Instagram.

The Air Jordan 4 "White Oreo" is my first pair of AJ4s and probably one of the most worn pairs in my collection. I love the colourway, they’re so versatile and they look just as good worn and with a few creases.

I love the meaning and inspiration behind the Patta x Nike Air Max 1 collaboration. The wavy mudguard is a beautiful feature, and the comfort is all there like you would expect from the Air Max 1.

I had a lot of fun winning this one! I made a basketball planter for Offspring's Travis Scott x fragment design x Air Jordan 1 High creative competition, and I was lucky enough to get chosen to cop a pair!

I love seeing girls in the industry getting their say and space. The Sole Womens is the perfect platform to do just that, and Emily Atkins has been a prominent figure on both TSS and TSW platforms and made it feel like a much more inclusive and comfortable space.