(4/8) 2021-2022: SneakerCon & Geekout Elite
(NOTE: IN ALL THE EXCITEMENT OF ANOTHER 1TOSTOCK SNEAKER CARD RELEASE, I COMPLETELY FORGOT TO FINISH OUT THIS SERIES. SO…I GUESS…LET’S FINISH IT OUT!)
Along with the pandemic came a new set of challenges for just about everyone in the world in nearly every aspect of life, including myself. I could no longer go to work, so I decided I was going to focus more on The Sneaker Savant and pushing the message of Shoemetrics out to the masses…I found it to be a LOT easier to reach people via Instagram during this time than I did in person at any of these sneaker conventions. During the pandemic is when I started to see some modest growth with my IG account…I attribute that more to opening up a bit more and tamping down the brand messaging. I no longer found myself to be an arbiter of sneaker judgement, but more just a dude who likes sneakers and loves to talk about them.
Towards the end of 2022, I got a call from someone I had met on Instagram…a guy I’ve kept in contact with since around 2020…he told me he was working with a massive company and he kinda knew someone who could possibly (might partially maybe) have some interest in my sneaker grading algorithm, so he invited me on down to San Jose for Sneakercon in order to meet this big wig.
The hardest part, for me, in deciding whether or not I should be going to Sneakercon in 2022, was trying to decide whether or not I should wear a mask to the event…and…also…if there was anything I could bring to show the big wig (I settled on a graded pair of Jordan 1’s in his size that I had on hand).
So I got up super early, put on my custom AM1 Jewel/97 hybrids, some jeans and a hoodie and began the 2 hour drive…in hopes of getting in BEFORE the event was to start. I was semi-freaking out on the drive…thinking…’is this finally it?’ and kinda shit a brick when I saw the line to get in…it was *massive*. Luckily, my contact met me out front and we skipped the whole line. We made our way into the event an hour or two early, walked around, got introduced to some folks and checked out the scene. Honestly…I must’ve seen 10,000 pairs of shoes…it looked like StockX homepage IRL. I’m not really into the ‘latest and greatest’…I’m much more into digging for heat, so the sneaker representation was just of no interest to me whatsoever. And there were only 2 pairs that I had any interest in…these two (so you KNOW I had no business being there):
Really, the whole scene was very similar to how social media made it look. I saw a bunch of people walking around trying to collect content and I saw a bunch of people who I recognized from IG, but I was there for a reason and it wasn’t to collect content nor buy shoes I could buy at the click of a button. I met the big wig, had a brief conversation, stuck around a couple more hours and when they opened the doors to the public and it started getting a bit more packed, I bounced.
Again, I left thinking…’yeah, these things are absolutely not for me.’
A few weeks later, I brought my kids to Denio’s Flea Market in Roseville, California, which I like to do around once a month…they look for Star Wars and cool toys and Pokemon cards and I look for sneakers. Sometimes it’s cold and sometimes it’s hot, but it’s always fun.
Well, on this particular flea market day, it was cold as shit and my mind wasn’t working right. We saw a new table full of Pokemon stuff and the kids went bananas…grabbing everything they could just flipping through shit. Normally, these types of guys are kind of uptight, so I have to make it clear to my kids that we aren’t to just start grabbing everything with our grubby hands, but the dude behind the table was pretty cool. So…we started talking. Within a couple of minutes, another guy behind the table started talking to me and telling me all about their business…’Geek Out Elite’ and how they were set to throw this massive Sneaker and Anime convention a few miles away…apparently ‘sponsored’ by Nike (LOL). I gave the dude a follow on the ‘gram and kept an eye on it. Sneakers and Anime? Could there be a better opportunity for me to show off these Sneaker Cards I’ve been working on?
For a few weeks I debated…”should I buy a table? It’ll be my first time ever, but opportunities for stuff like ‘sneakers and cards’ don’t come around all that often…I should do it…I’ve gotta do it…right? I mean, there was no other option, right?”
After checking out the details, I purchased a table. And then I started the long, arduous process of trying to figure out what I was going to put on it…I set up a table in my living room and worked on it for weeks. Literally, weeks. I hit up basketballcardguy on Instagram and asked for tips and he gave me some great ones. I hit up my buddy who does vintage conventions and asked him for tips. I bought signs and banners and supplies and blah blah blah. And this is (mostly) what I ended up with:
Personally, I thought it came out well… it made perfect sense to me, but looking at it now I can see where I’d do things a bit differently. Problem is, we’ve created roughly 600-700 different cards by now, so fitting that many (or even just the highlights) became kinda difficult to do.
Anyway…so I got all this shit ready…over the course of 2-3 weeks. I was amped. My kids were amped to come with me. FINALLY…I was going to be able to show my creations to an audience that I thought would be receptive to it. The night before, I went to bed early and woke up super early…ready to rock. 6am my alarm went off. I got up, checked my email and got this:
Literally, nearly midnight the night before, this dickhead CANCELS the event. The nerve of this dude!!! I was livid (and secretly-relieved that I didn’t have to face the judgement of other convention-goers). But. My god. Talk about unprofessional (this asshole is nowhere to be found - there was never another date set and dude never sent a refund). I’m STILL livid. But that morning…I was all dressed up with nowhere to go.
As I’m sitting there stewing, I make some breakfast and decide to text my Vintage Market buddy - ‘this dickhead cancelled the event’. Dude responds, ‘well, if you want to come and set up your cards at the back of my booth at Worlds Worst, you’re more than welcome.’
I look at my watch. It’s already 11am. But. Why not? New plan.
Instead of going with my beautiful table setup, I knew I wouldn’t have time. I brought a couple of frames with me and a handful of cards and that was that. I rushed on down to the Worlds worst, found parking, set up my table, posted up and just observed the scene.
The vintage market definitely seemed like a younger crowd than Sneakercon, and folks were much more interested in the obscure items (random T-shirts) and bulk deals (buy 1 get 2 free!) than they were anything else. There were a couple of dudes with sneaker booths, but for the most part none of them seemed to have even half the traffic my buddy did…
That being said, only a handful of people made it towards the back of the booth where I was posted and only one person actually asked about the cards and bought one…for…$1. I made $1. I was there for about 2 hours or so…which was ample time for me to actually think through my thoughts and think about how I wanted it to go…I appreciate my buddy for inviting me down and letting me at least sit down and pick his brain
They say ‘experience is what you get when you didn’t get what you wanted’ and I love that saying. Not for anything other than it lets me know that failure is important to success.
Was $1 a failure?
I mean, sure. But I didn’t stick around to see if I could turn that $1 into $2. I just figured that was good enough for me to get started with…
Next week…my first Sneakercon as a VENDOR.