Brendan’s journey into sneaker culture began in the early 2000s, navigating online forums like NikeTalk, Highsnobiety, and Hypebeast, where he learned about releases and deals. His passion grew through Nike SB Dunks, realising sneakers could be cultural symbols. Growing up in rural Idaho, online spaces became essential for his passion. Self-taught, Brendan developed an edge by uncovering obscure sneaker stories. He focuses on long-form articles, preserving forgotten moments in sneaker culture. His career took off after joining Sneaker News, eventually leading to a role at Complex in New York, where he continues telling stories on a larger platform.
Brendan, your passion for sneaker style started long before the days of Instagram and TikTok, how did you navigate online forums and the word of mouth networks In the pre-social media sneaker age?
I spent a lot of time on sneaker forums. When I was young, I was mostly just a lurker, I wasn’t the type to post a lot or actively engage in discussions. Instead, I was there to soak up information, scrolling through threads, refreshing pages, and trying to figure out when the Space Jams were dropping or if I had any shot at getting a pair of Yeezys. (The answer was no, by the way.)
I was always eager to stay informed but felt a bit intimidated by the idea of fully immersing myself in the community. I didn’t have strong opinions to share at the time, and I didn’t know much about sneakers yet, so I was more of an observer online. But in real life, I was actively figuring out where to go, whether it was the right mall, outlet, or discount store. I don’t know if y’all have Ross, but I’d be tracking deals through NikeTalk’s outlet thread, finding out where people were spotting pairs for $40, then heading over to grab some Air Maxes for 50%, 60%, even 70% off retail. Those forums were definitely instrumental for me, but I was kind of on the outside looking in.
What was the first sneaker that really got your attention then? What kind of brought you into the space and how did you really discover the forums?
The first thing that really caught my attention was the Nike SB Dunk. It was instrumental in shaping my understanding that sneakers could be more than just functional sportswear, they could be cultural artifacts with stories behind them. In 2025, talking about storytelling in sneakers feels almost cliché, but back in the early 2000s, it felt special. This was probably around 2005 when I first started realising that sneakers had deeper meaning.
From there, I somehow found my way onto forums like NikeTalk, though I honestly can’t remember exactly how. The first sites my small group of friends and I stumbled upon were Highsnobiety and Hypebeast. I’m trying to pinpoint when Hypebeast first launched, I feel like I found Highsnobiety before that, but I really don’t know how I ended up on NikeTalk. The thing is, I had a few friends who were into streetwear, but nobody was into sneakers like I was. Nobody followed that path as obsessively as I did so I did this on my own.
It wasn’t a normal thing where I grew up, in a rural part of Idaho. Being into sneakers wasn’t common, and I didn’t have a local community to share that passion with. That’s why online spaces became so important. Even though I can’t recall exactly how I got there, places like Highsnobiety and Hypebeast were definitely my earliest sources for sneaker news and culture.
Did you find yourself feeling like you’re a part of something? Did you feel like history is being created?
I’ve spoken to people who were around in those times, the early days of SB, and they really felt it was different to what had come before Sandy Bodecker and especially when pairs like the Jedi and the Tweeds came out, everyone was looking at them a bit differently to how other sneakers before them had come. I didn’t necessarily know or feel that sneakers were different or special before my “sneaker awakening”, I didn’t have much precedent for that realisation. I wasn’t paying close attention to what was cool in sports footwear before then.
Unlike a lot of people my age, I don’t have those nostalgic stories about seeing the Jordan 11 on TV for the first time or watching Michael Jordan play and instantly wanting his shoes. I didn’t grow up in a sports household, so I don’t have those kinds of memories. Because of that, I wasn’t really aware of sports footwear until the early 2000s. Before then, the only shoes I really wanted were skate shoes, DCs, Etnies, and other pairs I’d see in skateboard magazines. That was the extent of my interest until I discovered sneakers on a deeper level.
You’ve channelled your love for sneakers into a successful career. How did the self-taught knowledge give you an edge in the industry?
It gives me an edge in the industry because I don’t think a lot of people go to the same lengths to hunt for stories. The way digital media economics work, it’s often more rewarding to write a quick, 150-word breakdown of a new release rather than a deep, 1,500- or 3,000-word piece. A lot of writers simply don’t have the luxury of spending that much time on a single story, or maybe they don’t have the passion to go that extra mile.
Right now, I’m working on a story about the Air Zoom Spiridon from 1997, which just got a retro release. You’ll see people post about it with a three-sentence Instagram caption, something like, “Christian Tresser designed this shoe, and now it’s back.” But when I look at it, I realise no one has ever really told the full story of this sneaker in depth. So I’m the guy who wants to do five interviews, track down the PLM, find the developer, and piece together something more meaningful. I don’t know, I just don’t feel like other people are doing that. And if nobody else is going to, then I will.
You’re one of the only people I know who truly takes the time to tell a story in a thorough and thoughtful way. What drives your approach to storytelling, and why is it important to you?
Sometimes, it’s hard to know just how deep down the rabbit hole to go, where to draw the line between detail and digestibility. I often wonder how many people truly want to read 3,000 words about a Reebok collaboration inspired by a French movie from 1996, but I’m here to write it anyway. Because to me, these stories matter. Maybe they seem obscure in the moment, but everything connects eventually. My hope is that the work I put in now will prove relevant someday, even if it takes years for the right moment to come around.
It’s a tragic example, but just yesterday, David Lynch passed away. Looking back, I felt a sense of pride remembering the work I did reporting on the adidas ad he directed in 1993. At the time, it might have seemed like just another deep cut in the world of sneaker history, but suddenly, it carried new weight. These moments remind me why I chase down the most niche sneaker stories, even when I start questioning why I’m spending so much time on them. Eventually, in one way or another, it always pays off—whether in historical significance, cultural shifts, or simply preserving something that would have otherwise been forgotten.
What are some of the defining moments that have shaped your journey?
I mean, the first defining moment was just getting an email back from the people at Sneaker News to work for them, so that was a big one. Moving to New York to do that full time was just a huge life change for me in the summer of 2012. And then I think the next big step was moving from Sneaker News to Complex in 2014 and just having a bigger platform and more range to be able to tell stories and be able to go more in depth. And then from there, everything transitioned for us when I started to do on camera stuff and really be a face in addition to a voice, and I think that’s helped me out a lot and just I think in the new decade, even sitting at home during the pandemic and having more time than ever and being like, you know what? I’m going to spend way more time on this work. I’m going to go even deeper, because that was one of the few things we had to keep us sane in that period, and that does keep me sane. It does keep me fulfilled doing work like this.
What has been the most rewarding part about joining Complex?
I don’t think there’s just one specific thing, it’s really about having the resources to dive deep into nerdy sneaker content and being able to dedicate 40 hours a week to it. That’s a blessing. A lot of people don’t have the time or resources to spend 20 hours researching a Spiridon piece and another four hours writing it, but Complex gives me that opportunity in a way that many other places wouldn’t, and that means a lot. It’s also incredibly rewarding to look back at the body of work and know we’ve made an impact—whether it’s educating people about sneakers, entertaining them, or telling the truth when others wouldn’t.
How do you decide what stories and angles are going to resonate with the audience?
There’s definitely a balance between covering big, important stories that drive traffic and covering the things we’re personally passionate about. I encourage the team, and I do this myself, to still pursue those niche stories, even if they won’t generate massive numbers, as long as we can produce something meaningful.
I’ve mentioned a few of those types of stories here, but there are so many moments where I’m writing about a shoe that might not resonate with a broad audience as much as others. I wouldn’t call them side quests because they’re still important to the work, but they exist in a different space. A recent example is the Ekiden Pack, inspired by the Zoom Streak Spectrum from 2003. It might not be a mainstream conversation, but it’s something I cared about, so I wanted to tell that story.
I don’t think that was a reference point that a lot of people cared about, even with the Supreme collaboration that had the same references on it, but it meant a lot to me, so I spent a tonne of time writing about it, and actually that thing performed better than expected, but in most cases, spending that time on a shoe or a project or a story like that is not going to be as rewarding from a traffic or engagement perspective as spending the same amount of time on any given air Jordan retro. But I still believe in spending the time on those topics that we are particularly invested in or that we care about or that seem niche and nerdy because this whole sneaker thing seemed niche and nerdy 20 years ago, but now it’s mainstream culture.
How do you view the evolution of sneaker culture? What do you think has been lost and gained through that transition, and how do you see sneaker culture evolving?
I think what’s been lost is sometimes a genuine appreciation for the history of sneakers. When I first got into it, and I hope this doesn’t sound like old man yells at cloud, I felt like the average sneaker enthusiast cared more about history than they do now. But at the same time, we’re lucky to have so many people who want to invest their time, energy, and money into sneakers. It benefits me personally, and it benefits the global community of collectors. It also signals to brands that there’s still value in creating meaningful products for us.
If you could design your own sneaker collaboration or have a retro of a collaboration in your own colourway, what shoe would you do it on?
It’s funny. This is a question I get sometimes, and I don’t always have a great answer. The most honest answer is probably that I wouldn’t, because there have been moments where I had the opportunity to do something like a project with Reebok, and I let it fall to the wayside because I didn’t give it the energy it deserved. And that’s because I’m not really that interested in designing sneakers, I don’t think I have any particular talent for it.
If I had to choose, I’d much rather tell the story behind the shoe than create it, at least in my current role. I know a lot of people have that dream, and I understand it, but for me, I’m not a designer. Sometimes I do regret letting certain opportunities slip by, like the Reebok project, or other shoe ideas I could have made happen. Nothing big or groundbreaking, but I just didn’t. In my most honest version, that’s just the truth.
The thought of designing a shoe feels like a nightmare to me because the standards are so high. I spend so much time critiquing other people’s shoes, so the pressure to create something that resonates with people is immense. I guess part of what holds me back is knowing how hard it is to make a great shoe. It feels like, “You know what? That sounds too difficult. I’ll stick to writing about these things rather than making them.”
How do you think digital platforms, like sneaker resale, augmented reality, and NFTs, are reshaping the way people engage with sneakers? Do you see sneaker culture fully embracing this digital shift, or will the physical ownership of sneakers always remain at its core?
I really felt like, two years ago, virtual sneakers were going to be a thing. If you’d asked me in 2022, I would’ve said yes, especially with how every sneaker brand seemed to be diving into it, rolling out projects tied to some nebulous NFT connection. Right now, though, it doesn’t feel like that’s the case as much. That said, I do still think people will spend more time in digital spaces than they have before, and sneaker brands can definitely make money off it.
I mean, it costs Nike way less to make a shoe in Fortnite with just a handful of polygons than it does to create a physical shoe in a factory with actual materials. So, for brands, it’s a high-margin item. If the opportunity is there and the audience is engaged, I think they’ll go for it. The audience for digital sneakers will probably grow, but at this point, it still feels a bit far off.
How do you handle the responsibility of representing such a wide variety and diverse set of ideas?
Yeah, I mostly try to represent my own taste where I can, but I’ve been involved in enough different parts of sneaker culture to speak to experiences beyond just my own. It’s tricky though, because sneaker culture has grown so much that now there are so many subcultures within it. The version I participate in isn’t necessarily the same as what a lot of 22-year-olds, who discovered sneakers during the pandemic and run cook groups, are into. But I think that’s cool. It doesn’t need to be a monolithic thing. There are so many different versions of sneaker culture now, and I think that diversity is what makes it interesting.
I try to stay aware of what’s happening in all these scenes, but I don’t feel the need to be the spokesperson for the entire culture. Everyone has different experiences, and I recognise that my privilege and access, being able to get sneakers more easily than many people, means I have a different perspective. I try not to lose sight of that.
For anyone trying to break into the sneaker media space, I would say find the stories that others aren’t telling and go deeper than they have. There’s always an opportunity to dive in harder and make your coverage more complete. So many times, the stories are just repeating the same three lines, and no one has taken the time to track down the 10 people who were involved with a shoe or the five retailers who remember how it impacted the scene when it first dropped. There’s still so much room for that kind of work.
What advice would you give to someone who wants to follow in your footsteps breaking into the sneaker media and creating compelling content around the stories?
Even when you look at iconic shoes, like the Yeezy 350, there’s no definitive piece that covers how it came together, who the designers were, and all the behind-the-scenes details. There are huge shoes like that where we don’t actually know as much as we think we do. It’s tough, though, because sneaker brands are often really protective about who can speak publicly or go on record to shape those stories. But many of the people who worked on these shoes don’t work for the brands anymore, and that’s where I’ve found success, just hitting them up on LinkedIn and connecting. There’s a wealth of untold stories out there.
What’s next for you, Brendan? Any new projects, shows, or a Full Size Run return we should watch for?
Right now, there are no plans to bring back Full Size Run, but I’m really focused on finding ways to tell long-form stories, especially those about the people who have spent a lot of time in the sneaker industry. It’s tough because these folks often don’t have the splashy names that some of the big collaborators do, but I’m really passionate about highlighting the product line managers, developers, and designers who don’t always get the recognition they deserve. These people have made significant contributions to the industry, and I want to find a way to better share those stories. They’re incredibly important to me, and I believe they matter deeply to the industry as a whole.
