Students and organizations displayed their favorite sneakers and competed for prizes at Sneaker Expo. | Thom Dwyer/The Cougar
Students were able to discuss and showcase their favorite sneakers at the Student Program Board’s first sneaker expo event Thursday in the Student Center South’s Houston Room.
Tables showcasing shoes were set up by students, on-campus organizations and retailers in the Houston area. Students could buy or trade shoes on display, and a speech was given by UH alum Bryan Angelle, who founded Sneaker Summit in Houston.
“People have comic cons or sneaker cons,” said Aditya Shah Fashi, a design student at the Art Institute of Houston, who was showcasing his shoes at the event. “You just come together, you appreciate the art and it’s pretty dope
Fashi said that sneaker culture has been growing for years now, and when he comes to UH he sees sneaker culture on campus. He said he was contacted by a friend asking if he would like to have his own booth at the sneaker expo.
“I’ve actually never been on this side of it,” Fashi said. “I’ve always gone to sneaker cons, but I’ve always been looking around and never really had my own booth, so I thought this was a great place to do that.”
Sport administration sophomore Andre Jones said he has been into shoes since he was 10, and he enjoyed the event because he was able to see Yeezy’s and other popular sneakers in person for the first time.
“I’ve seen them on TV and the internet, but I’ve never seen them in person,” Jones said. “It was kind of cool to finally see them up close, touch them and see how they look and stuff.”
Students could have their own table to compete for prizes and trade and sell shoes to other students. Hospitality management sophomore Tommy Tran had his own table with his sneakers and said one problem with sneaker culture is all the hype behind them.
“Right now, honestly, it’s all hype. Hypees, hype can bring the value of shoes from like $200 to a thousand,” Tran said. “Sneaker culture is buying, selling, appreciating sneakers. Other people are just like, ‘Oh, they are just shoes you know.’ But we see sneakers in a different perspective.”
Sneaker Summit founder Bryan Angelle came to talk about how he got into sneakers and created one of the world’s largest sneaker events, Houston’s Sneaker Summit. He graduated from UH in 1994 with an electrical design degree but left a career in electrical design to pursue his passion of sneakers.
Sneaker Expo was the brainchild of SPB Social Media and Programming Chair Glende Killough.
“The idea came from my love of tennis shoes and sneakers and wanting to share the culture of that with the University of Houston,” Killough said. “I feel like everybody has tennis shoes, and everybody has a story to tell behind that.”
