Exploring the ‘Rise of Sneaker Culture’ Exhibit

When most people think about museums, they think about exquisite paintings, historic sculptures and school trips accompanied by chaperones and seat belt-deprived yellow buses.

But there’s one museum in particular that focuses in on the history of shoes. The Bata Shoe Museum in Toronto has been documenting and displaying the evolution of footwear since its doors opened in 1995.

It wasn’t until 2010 that senior curator Elizabeth Semmelhack decided that it was time to bring sneakers into the fold.

What transpired from that original idea was a traveling exhibition called “The Rise of Sneaker Culture.” This in-depth traveling display tapped into the core of what makes sneakers such an important part of today’s society.

Why sneakers? For starters, the industry rakes in more than $55 billion a year in international revenue, per Matt Powell of Forbes. After starting off in Drake’s home city of Toronto, the display took up residency in Brooklyn, New York, at the world famous Brooklyn Museum. That’s where it will stay until October 4 of this year.

First off, this isn’t your average sneaker display. It’s a beautiful, vast compilation of footwear pieces that can now be classified as works of art. Legendary kicks like the original Converse All-Star from 1917 and every Air Jordan model from the initial AJ I to the AJ XXIII provide fans with an educated glimpse on how sneakers have grown and become part of everyday life.

Walking the halls of the exhibit allows one to really get a feel for where sneakers started and how far the industry has come throughout the years.

In my conversation with Semmelhack, we covered a variety of topics. One of the most fascinating ones was how two people and one group changed the sneaker world forever: Michael Jordan, Tinker Hatfield and Run-D.M.C.