there was a time not too long ago when the only sneakers in the indian market were tuffs action or bata and 34yearold allen claudiuss story as a sneakerhead starts then when he would paint his 299 tuffs canvas shoes to make them look different they wouldnt hold up for long but i liked customizing my sneakers says claudius then there was the time he and his brother shared a pair of adidas prime runners my brother bought an inbetween size so that we could share it he would squeeze into the shoes because they were a size small for him while for me they were a size big so i would wear two pairs of socks recalls claudius the owner of around 3540 pairs claudius who curates fashion content for a startup started writing about sneakers long before they became the cool new fashion accessory every millennial kid in the country swears by he is among the handful of bonafide sneakerheads in the country and you need to take him seriously when he says that indias sneaker culture is set to take off the next two years are going to see a rise in popularity of sneakers sneakers accessories that have always been considered a subculture adopted by a niche set of people have in the past couple of years claimed their space in mainstream culture being seen everywhere from ramps to music videos to the streets the trend for the longest time stayed firmly in the west with the us donning the sneakerhead culture capital moniker it still does in 2015 sneaker business in the us was pegged at 172billion india was not in the picture so while the early noughties in india saw giant sneaker brands set up stores the footwear was largely looked at as gym wear essential that was until last year kanye west started it two years ago there wasnt much happening in india that changed when yeezy boost 350 was launched in august last year says claudius who attributes the sudden hype surrounding sneakers to none other than mr yeezy aka rapper kanye west himself the shoes were sold within three minutes of the opening says claudius who got a pair for rs 24000 last december there were 15 pairs from the limited collection being sold in bengaluru and there were 250 people waiting to take part in the raffle to buy them i put my name in and i was the 13th guy who bought it says claudius who finds it amusing that many in bengaluru today claims to be a sneakerhead who is a sneakerhead somebody who owns 50 pairs is a shoe hoarder a sneakerhead is a guy who owns limited editions knows their history the technology and is also willing to put in some struggle to buy a pair its not about buying them because of the hype it is about buying because you love them says uday shanker who doesnt call himself one despite owning over 30 pairs