Let overzealous sneakerheads have their cake and eat it, too; you can help yourself to something else
Kudos to sneaker culture for making people give a damn about what they put on their feet (and by extension what they put on their backs). Now every pair of sneakers has a backstory. Sportswear has become an investment. Even a casual look constitutes a fashion statement. Be it athleisure, high fashion or even anti-fashion, the frenzy over what’s hot and what’s not is obviously still alive and well. It’s only packaged a little differently this time. As with any pop culture movement that amasses a following, sneaker culture was one that spun a little out of control and spawned the hype beast.
Everyone today has at least one hype beast in their social circle. (If they don’t, they’re probably the one.) Now, there’s nothing wrong with having an affinity for branded or designer items; even the in-your-face logomania trend is a look we can get behind. It’s the hype beast’s uninspired desire to blindly accumulate the same, predictable brands that irks us. It’s how he winds up looking like carbon copies of fellow hype beasts yet behaves like some one-of-a-kind alpha that makes us cringe. It’s the fact that the hype beast’s world is the equivalent of “doing it for the gram” except it all goes down in real life. Finally, (and we can’t believe we’re relying on Urban Dictionary to further contextualize, but their definition is unsurprisingly spot-on): “A hype beast is a kid that collects clothing, shoes and accessories for the sole purpose of impressing others. Although the individual may not have a dime to their name, they like to front like they are making far more [than] everybody else. Equipped with [mommy’s] credit card, the Hype Beast will try his hardest to make sure he has every pair of [Nikes] he saw Jay-Z wearing on 106 & Park.”
Don’t let the hype beasts and hype baes of the world suck the fun out of streetwear. For every Supreme, Stussy, Vans, trust that there’s an antidote in the form of PROUDRACE, REVERE, Champion and Randolf.
Join the PROUDRACE.
via @proudrace on Instagram
Kick it old school with New Balance.
Photos New Balance
Rock a little Randolf.
via @randolfclothing on Instagram
Move like a Champion.
Photo Champion
Live it up in your Salad Day.
via @salad_day on Instagram
Worthy of your REVERE.
via REVERE
Don’t forget your Under Armour.
Photo Under Armour
Art Alexandra Lara
