BySiddhi Jain

May 23, 2020 (IANSlife) Delhi-based businessan Aditya Bhalla, who is part of India's growing sneakerhead community and is a proud owner of 125+ pairs of sneakers collected over a few years, feels that fashion sales may have taken the COVID-19 hit but is certain that these figures will rise in no time.

"I feel the common man has had his priorities changed and as they should, and I'm sure sales have taken a huge hit, but the numbers will be back up in no time. Though our sneaker community has just been waiting for everything to restart and we will be ready to buy again as soon as shipping of non-essential items resumes. I'm sure it will be normal within a few months," Bhalla told IANSlife.

In the last couple of years demand for these products has grown, and as any other non-essential item the market for them will also be back to normal, he said. At this time of financial low and store closures, the sneaker enthusiast managed to get his hands on the adidas Yeezy 700 Alvah - a new silhouette the community had been waiting for, after the brand's website crashed because of high traffic. "It took me around two hours of non-stop refreshing on the site to finally get my hands on it at 1:45 a.m."
 
Adding, "It's all I think about, daydreaming all day about sneakers, waiting for drops of sneakers, waiting to meet fellow sneakerheads and helping each other cop sneakers and just having a good time, I have literally stopped buying anything else other than food and sneakers," he said.

Talking about the sneakerhead community, Bhalla said that there are many new faces now and the growth is super fast. "We are all excited for the future, our community is very unified and everyone is on the same page. The best part about this is that we finally have someone to share our sneakers and sneaker talks with and the joy of doing what we like together as a community."

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Siddhi Jain can be contacted at siddhi.j@ians.in