Sneakerness Amsterdam celebrates biggest edition to date

Sneakerness was back in the Dutch capital last weekend, bringing together a collection of the industry’s biggest brands, shops and private sellers for what has become Europe’s biggest event dedicated to sneakers.

Running between 1-2 June, the show kicked off on Saturday and marked its biggest Amsterdam edition to date, welcoming some 8,600 sneaker enthusiasts over the two-day event, up from 7,500 last year.

In total, 140 private sellers and 25 brands participated in this year's Sneakerness, lining the stalls in the vast 4,000 square meter Kromhouthal in the North of Amsterdam with 10,000 pairs of sneakers. Whatever your style, Sneakerness had it covered: The show brought together an eclectic mix of old school classics and the newest trends; slick sportswear to lavish luxury. Brands attending this year’s event included StockX, Swatch, Foot Locker, Vans, Crep Protect CollectID, Bos icetea, Vedett, Orange Jungle, SneakerFreaker, Prime, Vabrik.

As well as buying and selling, visitors of the event could also get involved in a number of sneaker-related activities including fashion talks, live paintings, an art gallery and photo exhibition (all sneaker-related, of course), a corner with a makeup artist and nail bar, and a dedicated barbour and tattoo pop-up section.

Dutch company VIJZ was also at the event, showcasing a selection of its custom-made bespoke sneakers, including the Handcrafted Air max 1 Jungle Book, Handcrafted Air max 1 AH (Albert Heijn), Handcrafted Air Jordan 1’s, and Handcrafted Air max 1 Off White (pictured in that order below).

Sneakerness Amsterdam attracts 8,600 sneaker enthusiasts

A new edition to this year’s event was the 'drop-off point' from partner of the event, Detroit-based company StockX. The new area allowed visitors to determine the value of their sneakers and get paid on the spot for them. Afterall, they might need a few more euros to buy that pair of Chanel sneakers, right?

There was also a booth where visitors could design their own 'one of a kind' watches, a photography workshop by Nikki van Toorn, and US sneaker company Foot Locker had a display of sneakers made from Lego. I mean, why not?

“This was our most successful event till date,” organisers of the event said in a statement. “Record breaking visitors numbers despite the crazy temperatures all weekend and the best side program we ever had.”

The first edition of Sneakerness was launched in Bern, Switzerland in 2008, before landing in the Netherlands for the first time in 2011 with its Amsterdam edition. Fast forward to 2019 and the event has become the biggest of its kind in Europe, with annual editions in Amsterdam, London, Berlin, Paris, Warsaw, Zurich, Milan and Cologne.

Photo credit: FashionUnited