These sneakerheads from Delhi are not just here for the kicks

Meet the sneakerheads from India’s Capital

Our ongoing series of spotlighting sneakerheads in India has led us to tell stories about a bunch of cool sneaker enthusiasts from across the country who share a common love for shoes. We’ve previously covered sneakerheads from North East India, Bengaluru, and Mumbai, apart from featuring some of the more popular sneakerheads in the country, including women. As the sneaker community grows exponentially (as per Statista, in 2022, the revenue from the sneaker segment in India amounted to $2.46 billion and is expected to grow annually at 8.93 per cent till 2027), this time around, we turn our focus to the Capital to spotlight sneakerheads who are proud to be a part of this growing community of enthusiasts in the country.  

Ankur Bhatia

Bhatia doesn’t like to keep a count, but if he had to guess, he owns about 30 pairs of sneakers. “My love for basketball sparked a passion for sneakers,” says the Delhi native, who works as an automobile manufacturer in Gurugram. “I’ve been a Michael Jordan for as long as I can remember. Unfortunately, there was a lack of information and access to basketball growing up. The new Golden State Warriors way of basketball rekindled my love for the sport again. During this time, a number of sneakers also dropped,” says Bhatia. His interest in sneaker culture began soon, and he even tried copping a few sneakers during exclusive drops and raffles, but with little luck. “I realised I loved sneakers sans their exclusivity. A Jordan 1 High retro colour is as good as a Curry Flow 9. What’s important is the story behind each pair and how it makes me feel. I’ve been on the lookout for sneakers that don’t require me to battle online bots or queue up for drops ever since,” he adds, admitting that he would make an exception for iconic pairs like the Nike Air Jordan 1 Lost and Found, which he managed to cop for his newborn son. Bhatia’s first pair, though, was the Nike Air Force 1 Low in mystic red. Now that he owns an envious collection of sneakers, the Nike Air Jordan 1 High Biohack being his most prized possession (and the most expensive), he’s hoping to get his hands on the Joe Freshgoods x New Balance 993 in powder pink.

Suhana Sethi

Sethi believes in the power of stories, especially concerning sneakers. “The designer’s ideas and thought process, even when it’s collaborations, is what intrigues me,” she says. Sethi works as an experiential marketeer while moonlighting as a content creator. “Because I enjoy the creative aspect of sneakers, I have an emotional connection with my collection and feel that they tell my story. There are a few silhouettes that I resonate with, like the Air Jordans for example, because Michael Jordan has been a role model,” she says. But it wasn’t long ago that Sethi became fully immersed in the sneaker culture. “I always enjoyed footwear, being more into high heels than sneakers, actually. But my love for sneakers sparked in lockdown. It was during this period that I started reading about them and building connections with the sneaker community in India,” she says. After buying her first pair, the Puma RS-X, she built a personal collection of sneakers that now boasts over 30 pairs. Sethi has hosted two experiential sneaker events, the first being ‘Sneak Her,’ which brought together women-owned streetwear and sneaker brands, and the other being ‘Sneak+Art,’ a sneaker and art exhibition. “The reason people are passionate about sneakers is because of the ease and comfort it provides, while allowing you to also look chic. I’ve noticed a growing number of Gen Z sneaker enthusiasts too. I guess it’s easy to make a statement with sneakers while also being effortless,” she says, hoping to cop the Nike SB Dunk Lobster, in collaboration with Concepts, sometime soon.

Karan Singh

"I don't necessarily subscribe to the hype culture as I only purchase what fits my style," says Singh, a visual designer and art director from Gurugram, who admits the new drops in 2021 and 2022 have been underwhelming. "I've been thinning out my closet and I'm down to 35 pairs of sneakers. I don't intend on owning 50 pairs of shoes anytime soon," he says. Although Singh enjoyed basketball and skateboarding, he got into collecting sneakers much into his adult life, around the 2010s. "I used to import skate shoes from Vans, Lakai and Osiris from eBay, way before Vans officially landed in India," he says. His first pair was the Nike Foamposites, which he got as a kid. "I saw my favourite basketball players hoop in those and I just had to get them." Although Off-White's 'Out of Office' sneakers is the most expensive pair of sneakers he owns ("This was one of Virgil's last releases before his death"), Singh is hoping to add a few more pairs of New Balances to his collection ("I recently got a pair of 9060s and am looking to add colorways of 991s, 992s, and 2002R"). 

Singh admits that there's been growing interest in sneakers and that the scope and scale for this subculture to grow in India is vast. "Brands have taken notice of this trend and are scaling up. Nike is opening up more direct-to-consumer stores, New Balance is allocating more of its prized sneakers here, Adidas is upping its game here, Asics and Onitsuka Tiger are also enjoying quite a bit of success in the country, and brands like Brooks and ON Footwear also plan to open shop in India. Local boutiques like VegNonVeg and Superkicks are also supporting the culture with great events and releases. It's an ever-growing community and I can't wait to see how much it grows," he says.

Hannu Saraf

Saraf’s is currently looking to build his collection of Nike Air Jordan 1s. “I want all the colourways that are available, particularly the Air Jordan 1 Obsidians and Air Jordan 1 Travis Scott x Fragments,” Saraf says. The Delhi native has always been an avid admirer of sneakers. “I remember coming eyeing the Adidas Originals high tops, which I copped during a trip to London when I was in the eight grade. On another vacation, I copped a few pairs of Air Force 1s. These purchases ignited my passion for building a sneaker collection,” says Saraf, who owns about 40 pairs of sneakers, with the Off-White Off-Court 3.0s in black and white and the Air Jordan 1 Mochas (copped at resale) being the most expensive in his collection. As a content creator, Saraf is aware of the hype around the sneaker culture in India. “Currently, the hype is at an all-time high with the revenue around $2.6 billion in 2022 with the market expected to grow annually by around 9 per cent by 2027. Sneakers now have a wider customer base since women are also investing, bringing the demand to an all-time high,” he explains, adding that the age group of sneaker enthusiasts has expanded, starting from as young as 15 (“I’ve seen my cousins cop sneakers”) to 60-year-olds (“my dad and his friends buy sneakers now”). Singh believes there’s a bright future for the sneaker community in India. “Renowned creative brands are entering the Indian market and catering to a huge demand,” he says.

Aahana Sharma

Sharma began building her sneaker collection in 2020. “I wanted to start my own clothing brand in lockdown and delived into research on streetwear,” she says. Her findings led her down a YouTube wormhole where she chanced upon a YouTuber who emphasised that you must be a brand yourself before launching your brand. “I started creating outfit checks on Instagram and soon I realised that sneakers are a crucial part of streetwear. So I got one pair just to stay up to date with trends, but little did I know that I’d become obsessed with sneakers,” she says. Sharma’s first pair of kicks was the Nike Air Jordan 1 Mid in light smoke grey. The multi-hyphenated sneakerhead not only dreams of starting her clothing label someday but is also a hotelier (“our newest venture, Hotel Palchan, is expected to launch in December 2022”) and content creator (with over 20,000 followers), who says while the hype surrounding the sneaker culture is growing, there are very few who actually “culture” themselves in the process. “It has become a status symbol for some, which is not what sneaker culture is about. There are only a handful of people who cop a pair because they relate to it, dig into its back story and want a diverse sneaker collection,” she says.  

Sharma is drawn to the Nike SB Low Dunks and hopes to it them to the collection but on a condition. “If I don’t cop them at retail, I would not pay resale for them because they are expensive,” says Sharma. “I am also hoping that the Pokémon customised concept sneakers that we’ve been seeing on the Internet off late becomes available for purchase soon,” she says. 

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