FRATPACKER WORLD.

The South African Shoe Culture

South Africa has always been a place of culture, arts, music and fashion, and it’s always been recognised globally as well as locally. One thing that has never received the same love and attention is our love and culture for shoes.

When I think about it maybe it has to do with the fact that naturally and traditionally, we just never were ones to rock shoes, starting all the way from the Khoisan to Shaka Zulu and his warriors. Maybe it has to do with the fact that we are a spiritual people and having our feet to the ground gives us a greater sense of connection to the earth. Honestly, I just believe it’s because everyone takes the sneakerhead culture and community in South Africa for granted.

When people say sneakerhead or show culture, the stereotypical image that comes to mind is hip-hop, air forces, stan smiths, basketball shoes etc. but sneaker culture doesn’t have one look. Now hip-hop may have popularised sneaker culture and elevating the sneaker as a fashion statement but shoes and sneakers play a huge role in our own South African sub-cultures and styles.

To start let’s look at the Pantsula culture and their deep ties with canvas-based shoes. Now what’s the relation between Pantsula’s and canvas shoes. I don’t know to be honest but when I think about it the fact that a canvas shoe is literally that…a canvas that can be painted on decorated making something out of nothing most have been how most black people in the 1970’s most have felt. Trying to paint their own pictures, tell their own narratives and walk their own paths. Maybe the Pantsula’s of the 70’s felt like rebels but artistic rebels and wanted to paint the streets with their style and flavour everywhere they walked. This theory would explain their love for Converse All-Stars, Jack Purcells & Dickies.

Keeping to Kasi Culture, the next shoe phenomenon that has had a deep impact in South African culture is the Italian culture and style, mainly the famous and popular Carvela. The paradox of a formal dress shoe been worn in township areas that are painted brown from the dust in the streets and devoid of colour from the lack of trees and greenery; boy they really cooked with that Apartheid; the Skhothane culture brought colour and high-end fashion to the streets of the culture.

Draped in bright colours of Italian suits, shirts, pants and the centre piece being the Carvela. The Carvela is what made or break you. Seen as the echelon of high-end footwear because of their traditional hand-crafted shoes, mainly their leather and suede coming in a variety of colours with starting price of R2600. I believe this was done with the intention to make a statement that the townships are more than the perceived reality of being devoid of riches, culture, art and style. Has it grown out of control and doing more damage than harm? That’s a topic for a different article so let’s keep stepping.

The final culture we’ll look at, before we walk away into the sunset, is The Culture. You guessed it…Hip-Hop. Now, I did state that Hip-Hop popularised the sneaker culture around the world from; Adidas Stan Smiths, Jordans, Nike Air Forces, Reebok Classics and many more. Starting in Cape Town with the legendary Jack Lemkus store.  A family-owned business established in 1935, they were the first in South Africa to import brands like Adidas, Ascis, Air Jordans and Airmax’s. Becoming a cultural hub for sneakerheads and resellers, cementing the sneakerhead culture in South Africa.

It doesn’t end there. Through the years we’ve seen brands collaborate with cultural figures within South Africa. It begins with the legend, Kabelo ‘Bouga Luv’ Mabalane. Former member of popular South African kwaito group, TKZee. In 2005 he became the first artist outside of the USA to have their own footwear line, with Reebok’s RBk campaign. They created the Bouga Luv sneaker. The same campaign endorsed Jay-Z and 50 Cent giving us the Sean Carter and G-Unit collections, respectively.

In 2019 Reebok reignited their relationship with South African artists, collaborating with the late [R.I.P] Kiernan Forbes, or more famously known as AKA, on the Reebok Classics to bring us the SneAKA. The collaboration was a limited edition with only 600 pairs being available for purchase and all 600 selling out within 10 minutes. Tragically AKA was murdered on February13th of 2023 in Durban.

In honour of his name his family and Reebok decided to make the SneAKA 2.0 and this time it featured the South Africa flag on it. This was a historic moment not just for his family and fans because we all knew how much he loved our country and its people but also because you need special permission from the South African government to print the flag on any type of clothing let alone for retail selling rights. The SneAKA also featured theartist’s signature and only 1000 pairs were released for purchase on the 19^th of October 2024.

In 2021 we saw sneaker collaborations with artists grow to a whole new level when Nike teamed up with illustrator & graphic designer Karabo Poppy on the Air Force 1. The shoe had her iconic trademark illustrations, and her name stitched on the heel of the shoe. The collaboration wasn’t that surprising with Nike having had her design Air Forces for one of their campaigns in 2019 with it doing so well that basketball superstar LeBron James was seen wearing them.

In 2025 we’ve seen brands like Adidas and Puma work and collaborate with artists and creatives around South Africa on campaigns, reviews and shoe launches, showing that the sneaker culture in South Africa has grown from its infancy crawling and slowly fining its feet within the footprints and DNA of the South African People. It was fun kicking it with you and I pray you stay fly in the freshest kicks. I mean you if we have to leave shoes to fill for the youth then it’s like they say,” Life is temporary. Drip is forever.”.