K. Clarence Lawrence

The resale market is cooling, and every headline is treating it like a funeral. They're reading it wrong. Scroll the sneaker coverage this summer and you'd think somebody died. NPR ran a segment openly asking whether 2026 is the end of the sneakerhead era. Resellers are posting videos of unsold stacks. Pairs that used to double the second they dropped are now sitting on shelves at retail — or under it. Here's the thing nobody selling that story wants to say out loud: the sneaker isn't dying....

The town is Herzogenaurach, and the locals earned it a nickname: the town of bent necks. Because in Herzogenaurach, your sneakers weren't a fashion statement. They were a loyalty oath. They told everyone which side of a family war you were on — and that family war gave the world Adidas and Puma.

Some sneakers are designed in a studio. This one was designed in a hospital. On April 12, 2013, Kobe Bryant planted his left foot against the Golden State Warriors, felt his Achilles tendon snap, and did something that instantly became legend: he walked to the free throw line and sank both shots before limping off the court. Two days later he was in surgery. And somewhere in Beaverton, Oregon, his longtime designer Eric Avar started rethinking everything he knew about basketball shoes.