A sneakerhead is a person who collects, trades or admires sneakers as a hobby. A sneakerhead may also be highly experienced in distinguishing between real and fake replica sneakers. Sneaker collecting is a hobby often manifested by the use and collection of shoes made for particular sports, particularly but not limited to basketball and skateboarding.
The birth of sneakerhead culture in the United State came in the 1980s and can be attributed to two major sources: basketball, specifically the emergence of Michael Jordan and his eponymous Air Jordan line of shoes released in 1985, and the growth of hip hop music. The boom of signature basketball shoes during this era provided the sheer variety necessary for a collecting subculture, while the Hip-Hop movement gave the sneakers their street credibility as status symbols. The sneakerhead culture has emerged in European nations such as the Great Britain and the Czech Republic in the last decade.