SneakerWeek 2024 Launches in Pioneer Courthouse Square July 26

The people behind SneakerWeek want us to go beyond the “sneakerhead” culture of collecting.

As cofounders Herbert Beauclere and Megan Davis point out, there is a world of artistic expression in the athletic shoe genre, beyond high-profile celebrity design partnerships. And they want to bring more BIPOC creators further into the fold.

“People are using footwear to create conversations, whether that’s of awareness of equality or gender issues or uplifting North American communities, sneakers are just a vessel to help tell the story, and that’s what I admire most about it,” SneakerWeek cofounder Herbert Beauclere said in an interview. “What I think independent creatives offer the industry is an unfiltered point of view, pure honesty, pure creativity, something that is not tarnished by the hierarchy of a certain nature. I think it’s just something that individuals feel in their heart and their soul…It’s not necessarily a ‘I’m doing this for this reason’ outside of their own creative nature.”

Deanna Smith, SneakerWeek Program Director and CFOThat’s why SneakerWeek was first launched in 2017. Now the first three days of the event, dubbed the K.I.C.-Off Festival, will take place in Pioneer Courthouse Square. Friday July 26 is Knowledge Day, with an educational overview of sneaker culture that focuses on history, detailed by experts in the field. July 27, Innovation Day, highlights technological trends in the industry and gives attendees the chance to be present for product launches alongside interactive exhibits and tech demonstrations. The goal of the day is to push boundaries in the industry and ignite creativity. July 28 is Culture Day, a celebration of the sneaker community itself and its diverse influences. Attendees can look forward to live performances, fashion shows, art and other displays to foster belonging and connection among designers, aspiring designers and enthusiasts alike.

The rest of SneakerWeek will be a series of quadrant-specific open houses hosted by local restaurants, creative agencies and retailers. July 29 is Northeast Portland, July 30 is Southeast, July 31 is Southwest and Aug. 1 is Northwest Portland.

And there’s plenty of room for novelty outside the shoebox. Consider the Nike Air More Uptempo Couch, unveiled at SneakerWeek 2017, which upgraded a black leather sofa with Nike AIR branding and air bubbles at the base, showing how sneaker culture is about more than just kicks.

An Inclusive Platform

The vibrancy of the sneaker community is concurrently on display in a unique exhibit currently running at the Portland Art Museum. Future Now: Virtual Sneakers to Cutting-Edge Kicks features 60 designs of note, like limited-edition pairs made from mushroom leather (the Zvnder x Nat-2 Fungi), the whimsical and eye-popping Mr. Bailey's Octopus design, which combines street art aesthetic with a cephalopodic structure, to the pop culture homage Nike MAG, self-lacing shoes that mimic a pair worn in Back to the Future II.

The exhibit examines the heart of so many sneaker designs, countering the more mainstream special editions bought up by collectors. And that is in line with the ethos of SneakerWeek – and Beauclere’s own entry into the industry.

“I took some color and material courses and then some color theory courses, and I really do like that piece,” Beauclere said during a 2021 interview. “But when I was introduced to brand and marketing, and the storytelling part of it, and really uncovering the purpose of why these shoes are created and connecting back to that person – that was where I felt most comfortable. I would have never known that if I didn’t continue to explore and really ask myself, ‘What is it that I like about shoes?’”

SneakerWeek is also about equity, providing opportunities for BIPOC creators to participate in an industry that has profited so much from the BIPOC community while hardly benefiting it on the retail side. In 2021, market research company Statista reported the $70 billion-a-year sneaker industry was projected to be worth $102 billion by 2025, yet only 5% of sneaker retailers were Black.

Now in its seventh year, the festival supplies impressive stats about its success: During its run, SneakerWeek has reinvested more than $250,000 into local businesses and has led to more than $750,000 in funding to support BIPOC entrepreneurs. Thirteen BIPOC and women-owned companies have launched during the festival.

“Herb and I were laughing that Portland has a week for everything,” Davis said of the origin of SneakerWeek.

“Literally a week for pizza, a week for burgers, a week for chicken wings, I think there’s a slushie week now – and we were like, This is the footwear capital of the world! This is where so many brands are: your Nikes, your Adidas, your Under Armour, Columbia. So much innovation comes from Portland, but there’s no Sneaker Week! We thought, we can do this. Let’s just do this. And then we made it happen.”

“I think Portland offers creatives the environment to network, to collaborate and to build, to do things that you might not be able to see in other cities,” Beauclere said. “Opening your eyes to a whole new world that footwear and sneaker culture has to offer. It’s not just buying shoes, it’s being part of a whole community.”

Tickets to the K.I.C-Off Festival are $20 to 85 and are on sale through July 26. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit https://www.sneakerweekpdx.com.