The full story of Sneakerness: from its origins to Milan

As we anticipated here, the second edition of Sneakerness Milano is about to land in the city, this weekend, Saturday, October 5th and Sunday, October 6th at Fabbrica Orobia. Last year's edition saw the presence of more than 10 thousand people, a unique success that reflects Milan's interest and passion for the sneaker culture. Right before last year's edition, we had the chance to talk with one of the co-founders, Sergio Muster, to give you a bit of the back story and ask the questions many of you are wondering about. What follows is a piece that includes his answer. 

Sneakerness started 11 years ago this year in Bern Switzerland, they expected 500 visitors and 1000 showed up, which led to the thought that there might be something in this. Not long after it was the turn of Vienna, and now 11 years down the line Sneakerness has held events in cities all over Europe, such as Paris, London, Amsterdam, Cologne, Berlin, Warsaw, and even ventured to South Africa for Sneakerness Johannesburg. A natural question that comes to mind is of course why it has taken so long to come to Milan, the fashion capital of the world for many? Sergio said that in parts it is exactly that, that Milan has had a strong focus on high fashion and that the timing hasn’t felt quite right for an event that was purely focused on Sneakers, but now with the worlds of street and luxury fusing more and more, particularly through sneakers, the timing feels right. He also went on to say that due to the great passion that Italians, in general, have for life that he felt a gut feeling of anticipation that he likened to what he felt before that very first Sneakerness in Bern 11 years ago. 

So what is Sneakerness, well Sergio described it in its simplest terms as a bazaar for shoes, where on the surface it is a place for people to come to see and buy rare shoes, but on a much deeper level it is about community and bringing like-minded people together to express their love for sneakers. Also, the brands themselves are much more about conveying an experience nowadays rather than simply selling a shoe. He went on to say, how that is probably been the biggest development in the last 10 years, how sneaker culture has now infiltrated so many facets of life. From music to sports to art, sneakers are an integral part of sub-cultures like never before, and that's what Sneakerness is all about celebrating. When asked what he felt about the current influx of luxury brands getting into sneakers, he was positive, as developments are generally always good, and even with both pro and cons, more players will always push the game forward, and luxury brands offering their quality to sneakers elevates the general level of the game as a whole. 

We soon turned towards what we can call some fun facts of Sneakerness history, to start, I had to ask what the most expensive sneaker that was ever sold at Sneakerness was and what it went for. The answer is 4 years ago in Cologne when one of the first edition Nike Back to the Future Air MAG's, first edition in the sense of its first round of reintroduction, not an actual film prop edition. It was sold for the tidy sum of €15’000. 

This year's Sneakerness edition in Milan will be full of surprises and unmissable events, thanks also to a series of partners that include StockX, Foot Locker, Mini, TikTok and Swatch. 

The sneaker culture will return protagonist this weekend during the second edition of Sneakerness in Milan, Saturday, October 5th and Sunday, October 6th at the Fabbrica Orobia, get your tickets here.