Sneaker Con feeds Hong Kong’s growing hunger for luxury shoes
Sneaker Con Hong Kong, featuring 200 vendors selling more than 60,000 sports shoes, held in city to meet demand for sports shoes with touch of luxury
Sneakers are very big business these days. In June, ESPN reported that a pair of shoes worn by American basketball great Michael Jordan during the 1984 Summer Olympics was sold for US$190,373 at auction. That sum will buy you a house or a Lamborghini supercar.
Businessman Yu-ming Wu, who admits to owning thousands of pairs of sports shoes, is co-founder of Sneaker Con – the world’s premier show for sports shoes that provides venues for vendors and enthusiasts to buy, sell, and trade in footwear.
At my highest level I had around 13,000 pairs of sneakers
He was in Hong Kong last month for Sneaker Con Hong Kong, featuring 200 vendors selling more than 60,000 sports shoes at AsiaWorld-Expo on August 26.
The event is normally held each year in US cities, including New York, Washington, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Miami, but Wu is now expanding its reach by staging the successful Hong Kong show and another event held in May in London.
Wu, who is also founder and editor in chief of Sneakernews.com, a news and information website dedicated to sneakers – is regarded as one of the community’s most influential “sneakerheads” – someone who admires, collects or trades in sneakers.
While he was in Hong Kong we asked him the burning questions – exactly many sneakers does he own? – plus how his hobby turned into his business, and what he thinks of luxury fashion brands teaming up with sports shoe makers.