Lacing With Less: How Sneakerheads Are Coping With The Cost-Of-Living Crisis

In today's economic landscape, where the cost of living continues to soar, people from all walks of life find themselves navigating a challenging terrain of financial constraints. Among those feeling the impact are the sneakerheads that form the beating heart of The Sole Supplier’s community. But as prices for everyday essentials rise and priorities shift, what changes have they had to make in order to shop on a shoestring budget?

Last year, our very own UNTIED report showed only 28% of sneakerheads planned to buy fewer sneakers in 2023, however, as the economic turmoil continued, many collectors found themselves having to reduce their spending further. According to research firm GWI, the number of people who say they are spending less has risen by 27% since 2022, and the same percentage of people are also planning to spend less on clothing as things get tougher this year.

For the sneaker market, these stats seem to deal a pretty significant blow. However, it's not all doom and gloom. According to the Business of Fashion, the industry is still set to see YoY growth of 3.5% in 2023, although this is far from the dizzying heights we saw back in 2021. That being said, there are multiple factors that are influencing this scene’s tricky period, so let’s unpack just how exactly the cost-of-living crisis is impacting the scene.

Let’s get the elephant in the room out of the way first. Sneakers are already an expensive hobby, and anyone who’s been into them for a couple of years will be the first to tell you just how much prices have risen over the past year or so. Following the fallout from COVID-19 and the Ukraine war, brands adjusted their prices in order to cope with increased shipping and production costs, as well as excess inventory. Naturally, it was really the consumer that ended up footing that bill, and this year we’ve seen the prices of top-selling shoes like Air Jordan 1s and 4s rise to £160 and £210, respectively. In a world where money is already getting tighter, these increases are enough to make some consumers start to become a little more selective with their LPUs.

Mark is a collector from Norwich who’s already noticed a big drop off in the number of pairs he’s bought this year. “There is a hyped release or a big release almost every single week and it’s just impossible to keep up with it, and honestly I don’t really want to,” he tells us. “I like to keep a note of what pairs I buy every year, and for the last three years, I’ve finished the year with 25 to 30 pairs bought. This year so far I’ve only bought 5 pairs, and I’ve actually sold double that.”

Being more selective is undeniably a much more sustainable approach to buying sneakers, but considering the huge inventory sizes that brands were sitting on post-COVID-19, the leftover product is going to find itself somewhere. Given the demand seen just years ago, the increased amount of colourways in production means that styles have become largely oversaturated, and with people buying less, more of these are left to sit on the shelves. Taking into account that the main driving force behind the market is scarcity, this is enough to put some sneakerheads off from buying, although, for others, easy access to products has actually seen them spend more than ever.

“A lot of shoes I couldn’t afford the past few years are now becoming more affordable as time goes on,” says Ed, another collector. “Shoes that would normally sell out don’t even sell in general. For people like me who don’t make a lot of money, this works great. I would even go as far as saying sneakers are now more accessible than they have been over the last few years. It kinda makes me want to buy more now.”

Air Jordan 1 collector, Damo agrees: “As a person who doesn’t resell the current market is brilliant. I’m seeing pairs that were big money in the past now being moved for a lot less as resellers try and get rid of their stock.” he continues, “this is definitely a buyer’s market and buyers are lucky as a lot of pairs are now sitting that would have historically flown off the shelves.”

Though this may seem like a positive, it's one of the industry’s current biggest gripes. With all its once-hyped products now sitting, brands are having to work harder to capture their customer’s imagination’s - hence Nike’s recent leadership reshuffle. As for the leftover product itself, only time will tell as to what’ll happen to the remaining pairs - there could be some serious sale bargains to be had, or it could be shipped off to be destroyed.

Though models like Dunks and Jordans might have dominated the resale market over the past couple of years, it's these same styles that are at risk of becoming oversaturated. In turn, this, of course, pushes down their resale value. The Nike Dunk Low “Panda”, which could resell for as much as £300 at its peak, now has a current market value of around £120 - just £20 over retail, which just goes to show the difference the increased circulation of pairs has made.

As resellers try to shift the stock they’ve been sitting on for some time, many are turning to new ways to gain liquidity. For some, this means adapting to changing product trends - electricals or for a short while, PRIME energy drinks. For reseller Elliot, this has meant moving towards selling through consignment stores, which generally charge higher than private sellers can, therefore helping to protect his profits. “With values dropping it’s been much easier to sell through consignment. Most stores don’t have to lower their prices as much as you would if you based your value on StockX,” he tells us. “In the consignment world, the consumers are people with more money to the point where there’s not much care about how much they’re spending.”

This is not to say the resale market is dead at all though - far from it - instead, it's just kind of preserving itself. Shoes that are still genuinely rare or hyped will still fetch a pretty penny, though buyers with cash are in a much better position to bag themselves a bargain than they would have been this time last year.

Of course, falling resale prices actually open up opportunities for buyers, especially those who see the crisis affecting them more in other areas. Andy, who lives in Manchester, used to enter Offspring’s London-based raffles until inflation caused the train fares to soar, and now finds himself better off paying resale prices instead: “For me, buying resale is a financially better option than winning a raffle at say Offspring or Foot Patrol and travelling to London. At one point I was paying less than £50 for a return train ticket, but now it's nearer to £120 for a return. It makes more sense to pay £300 to a local reseller than win the raffle and spend the same amount and make a 6-hour round trip.”

After talking to more and more collectors, it quickly became clear that there was another solution that could keep the secondary market afloat. Many told us that they were now buying sneakers on a one-in-one-out policy, meaning that the amount of used sneakers changing hands has increased significantly. This doesn’t come as too much of a surprise: GWI data shows that 9% of consumers are planning to buy more second-hand fashion this year, and 16% are planning to sell clothes they own. Plus, second-hand marketplaces such as Vinted have grown hugely over the past couple of years - the site has gone from 1.2 million users in 2021, to 8 million in 2023.

While the rest of the fashion industry has embraced second-hand selling, it seems that it's only now that the sneaker scene is catching up on the same scale. This year, multiple marketplaces have launched the ability to trade pre-worn items - a far cry from the days when undeadstocking your shoes was practically a sin. However, buying used comes with a word of caution - the sellers warn us that there’s not much money to be made on the lower end here, it's only really the grails that are shifting.

Amongst all this, another alternative has emerged. The combination of oversaturation and ever-increasing prices has led customers to look to new brands in order to get their fix. Scott, who runs the Doubledup podcast, points out that there’s a much wider variety of good products this year: “It means that people aren’t clamouring as much for a particular release. You ask people for their top five shoes, and it’s incredibly varied. I think that’s helping.”

Though the sneaker industry has ridden the highs of hyped products over the past few years, 2023, in particular, has seen a huge increase in the demand for what would normally be regarded as ‘general releases’ - with cheaper products leading the way. Spurred on by adidas’ terrace classics and New Balance’s 9060, the current climate has led to people getting more creative with their own personal style and experimenting with sneakers without having to drop hundreds of pounds on a single pair. If brands can manage to maintain a good mix of quality and price point, they’ll be on to a winner.

Louis, a creator who goes by 5ft on TikTok and Instagram, noticed that GRs were the key to solving his cost-of-living woes. Having recently moved into his own place, he noticed his financial priorities change, and like many others, found the cost of keeping up with the hype pretty difficult. “I’ve started to take more of an interest in GR releases such as Sambas, Vomero 5s, Salomons, and ASICS because they’re more affordable,” he says.

“Affordability has driven the GR trend more than anything - it removes the pressure behind that idea that you have to buy £500+ shoes to be considered ‘stylish’. I think people have started to realise it makes more sense to have 5 shoes for £100 each than 1 shoe for £500 - it gives a lot more variety.”

Whether you’ve been cutting back in the interest of staying afloat, you’re experimenting with new brands, or you’re lucky enough to take advantage of sitting stock, it's important to remember that if you’re finding yourself having less money to spend on shoes, it doesn’t make you any less of a sneakerhead. “I think as sneakerheads we consume so much, and it’s very normal for us to spend £150 or £200 on a pair. In reality, for a non-sneakerhead that is a lot of money to spend on shoes!” says Mark. “We should value those pairs we already have and try to appreciate the fact that we have such great ones.”