Meet M: A Sydney Sneakerhead’s Story

M is a 21-year-old Sydney marketing student who turned a teenage love of Air Max into a full-time passion for finding the pairs everyone wants. We sat down with him to talk about his first pair, his current favourite and what it takes to keep up with sneaker culture today.

Who is M

Sneaker culture has gone mainstream in Sydney, and with it has come a new kind of sneakerhead: people who spend their days tracking drops, hunting sold-out pairs and moving them on to the collectors who want them. Cities like LA and London have had this scene for years. For many people it is still a foreign idea, so we asked one of the people who knows it best to explain.

He asked us to protect his identity, so he goes by the name M. When we caught up with him, he was in the middle of what sneakerheads call cooking*. His answer when we asked him to take a break: “Hahaha I still am.”

Why stay anonymous? “I prefer people to not know who I am because it just feels better that way,” he told us. “I just don’t like a lot of people knowing what I do.”

M is 21 and a full-time student in his last semester before graduating. He studies marketing, which he says explains why he is so interested in business. What he is sure of is that he never wants a 9 to 5.

His favourite pair right now

Ask M for his current favourite and he doesn’t hesitate: the Air Max 97 Undefeated in White.

It is a fitting choice for someone whose story starts with Air Max.

How he got into sneakers

M got into sneakers in high school, before he had any money of his own. He borrowed from his mum to buy his first pair of Air Max 1s from an online seller, who also had a pair of Air Safaris listed, so he took both.

When they arrived a week later, he fell in love with the Air Max 1s. The Air Safaris were not for him, so he listed them online and they found a new home within a few days. That was the moment the idea clicked: the pairs he didn’t keep could help him get the ones he loved.

A few years later, in January 2017, he started taking it seriously. Now, instead of chasing a single pair of Yeezys on release day, he goes after twenty or more each time they drop, along with Air Max, Jordans and NMDs.

What does he enjoy most? Getting to spend his days on something he loves. “I enjoy sneakers,” he says. “I enjoy the journey, and seeing how far I’ve come.”

The hardest part

It is not all easy. The biggest challenge, M says, is getting pairs at all. Most of his come from international retailers and other sellers, and competition is fierce.

Many releases are now botted*** and gone in moments. For the most anticipated drops, the only way to cop**** is to win a retailer’s raffle, and the odds are small. His answer is to keep adapting and to keep finding new ways to secure pairs and get them to the people who want them.

Why he uses PUSHAS

M finds buyers through people who already know him on Facebook and through Facebook groups, but he says he uses PUSHAS the most. When we asked if he was only saying that because we were interviewing him, he laughed. “Nah, I’m dead serious.”

For him, PUSHAS takes care of the parts of the process that eat into his time: meet-ups, back-and-forth with buyers and payments. He sends his pairs to PUSHAS, PUSHAS looks after the customer, and he gets to focus on what he is best at, which is finding the next pair. In his words, the aim of the game is to move your sneakers fast.

If you have sneakers you are looking to sell, apply to become a PUSHAS seller here.

His advice for the next generation

M’s advice for anyone who wants to follow his path is simple: “Google is your best friend.” Research how the scene works, learn from what you find and build from there. That is how he started.

And despite everything he has built, he stays humble about it. “I’m not special, anyone can do it.”

When sneakers are your passion, your rotation is next level.

Editor’s notes: the terms

A few words in this interview may need defining.

*Cooking [sneakers]: The process of hunting down rare, often sold-out sneakers. Someone who does it is often called a ‘Cook’ or ‘Chef’.

Plug: A contact, usually in another country, who can get sneakers in larger quantities, for example because more stock is released where they live. Plugs are often cooks themselves.

***Bot/Botted: Software that checks out a sneaker automatically. When everyone is trying to buy the same release, some people use code to do it faster than clicking through by hand.

****Cop: To successfully buy a sneaker.

By Justin PUSHAS